Advantages/disadvantages of ANU when applying for Melbourne law positions

[Duck]

Okay now this could be a difficult one but has anyone heard stories of any graduates applying for jobs at Melbourne law firms? What I mean is do umelb and monash grads fare better by nature of having gone to uni in Melbourne or are the core courses different in some way that firms would prefer graduates from the state/city in which they are based?

[ninwa]

Okay now this could be a difficult one but has anyone heard stories of any graduates applying for jobs at Melbourne law firms? What I mean is do umelb and monash grads fare better by nature of having gone to uni in Melbourne or are the core courses different in some way that firms would prefer graduates from the state/city in which they are based?

Just had a look at ANU's law course and compared with Monash's. The only substantive differences I can see are:

- ANU offers equity and trusts as a combined subject, Monash has them as separate ones, therefore Melbourne law firms might feel you don't focus enough on them
- Can't see criminal law in ANU, I'm going to guess it comes under "Australian public law", you might have to check this just to make sure - at Melbourne unis you can't get your law degree without having done crim, obviously Melbourne law firms would take this into account
- Not sure what the equivalent of "Lawyers, Ethics & Society" is at ANU, I'm guessing it's "Lawyers, Justice and Ethics", in which case completing ANU's program would mean (I'm guessing) that you have fulfilled the requirements for admission to practice as a solicitor in Victoria
- Melbourne unis don't have international law as a compulsory subject, or "Litigation and Dispute Management" or "Legal Theory" :S (not that it really matters)

I would've thought ANU graduates would be at a slight advantage considering ANU is the best law school is Victoria

Also remember there is craploads of competition from Victorian students as it is. Wouldn't have a clue whether that really disadvantages interstate students though. Law firms would take you if your CV is amazing even if you were from Timbuktu

And remember there are plenty of amazing law firms in Canberra/Sydney, why would you want to come back to Melbourne anyway?

[Duck]

Thanks for that and obviously I want to comeback to the best city in the world haha. Just weighing up options at the moment.

[ninwa]

I would've thought ANU graduates would be at a slight advantage considering ANU is the best law school is Victoria

Sorry had an idiot moment there. I meant to say "ANU is the best law school in Australia"

[florallover]

criminal law is a compulsory second year law subject, ninwa might have just missed it http://studyat.anu.edu.au/courses/LAWS1206;details.html

another difference is that monash spends a year on contracts, anu spends a semester. as with the equity thing though, it doesn't really matter as by the time you go to practice the law you studied will probs have changed anyway.

really among group of 8, law is law. i personally wouldn't move to canberra just for law if i could get into monash or sydney, but many of my friends with perfect or near perfect enters did. one word of advice though, if you're looking at anu because you don't think you'll get into monash but don't want to leave melbourne, consider deakin over latrobe. latrobe's law school is shockingly disorganised. deakin on the other hand promotes a really practical hands-on legal programme which employers like a lot (i've heard that monash is looking to reform its law programme to make it more practical as well). so if you had a great cv and good marks from deakin you would probably not be disadvantaged against the group of 8s.

[Duck]

Yeah floral I'm pretty much certain that I'll stay in Melbourne if I get into law but the question is if I don't get into monash should I go to UMelbourne on the chance that I'll get into the JD or do I go to Canberra. Also, I've heard nothing but good things about deakin, particularly the business faculty so I would definitely consider it over LaTrobe.

[florallover]

it's going to be almost impossible to get into melbourne jd unless you get 99.9+, or unless you are actually amazing during your undergrad years. there are 100 places and 20 of those are already promised, i personally know of 6 who intend on taking those places. and i think anyone who got over 99 is promised a full-fee place. then you get a lot of people from interstate, other countries, and plain old other universities who are going to apply, many of whom will already be mature-aged/have relevant life experience. apparently this is a controversial topic here though.

though have you considered applying for jd interstate? nobody else needs LSAT. sydney uni arguably has the most prestigious law school, and its entrance is 75% uni marks 25% ATAR. unsw is 100% uni marks. also, monash is uni marks and an application/interview... and its postgrad law is taught in the city apart from the first 9 weeks. you might find you really excel in undergrad and find what aspect of the law you're interested in, or discover that you didn't want to do law in the first place.

don't know anything else about deakin except that its science is terrible, heh. arts is apparently okay.

[ninwa]

Thanks for pointing out my mistake I'm going blind.

All I know about Deakin is that they are very business-law focused - for example taxation law is apparently compulsory (I don't think it's compulsory in any other uni)

[Duck]

floral, that's all stuff that i will consider if i don't get into law at ANU because at the moment, even if it is easier to get into Sydney Uni than Melb, i would still rather definitely get a law degree at ANU (assuming i get the marks to get in) than have a chance to do postgrad somewhere, as long as an ANU law degree gives me similar employment prospects. Also, is there really only 100 places in the JD at Melb? I would have thought they would increase it by alot starting next year due to next year being the first year of applicants who never had the chance to do undergrad law (at Melbourne.) Surely they were taking more than 100 undergraduate law students in other years, why would they drastically reduce the number of places in their law degree like that? They would still have the infrastructure to take as many JD places as they did undergrad law 3+ years ago.

[Eriny]

It may or may not be relevant, but ANU's law speciality is international law (which may be why its compulsory?).

[Duck]

Hmm, i have also heard that ANU sees alot of graduates go into public practice. I guess in the end it doesn't really matter that much which uni you go to but rather grades/electives/extra-curriculars. That is, if i wanted to do international law and went to Melbourne i'm sure i could succeed just as i could if i went to ANU with the intention of doing private law. I also just noticed that i've posted like half of the comments in this thread, and most of those consist of me convincing myself about going to ANU .

[Caspar]

Isn't Usyd generally considered to be the best law school ninwa?

[ninwa]

I honestly cannot be certain. I've merely heard a lot of people say ANU is the best.

This website puts UoM 1st, USyd 2nd and ANU 3rd but I don't know how accurate it is. (It doesn't look like it's been updated since UoM removed undergraduate law)

[Eriny]

UniMelb and USyd definitely have a better graduate network in the respective cities. I don't know how much of a difference this makes in reality. Maybe someone who went to the same uni as you is more likely to employ you? (I doubt it)

[herzy]

i think ultimately it doesn't make much of a difference... i was tossing up reputation etc when i was thinking of going to Bond for law (on a full scholarship) but decided to go to monash rather than ANU or USYD mainly because i doubt it'll make a difference if you get good marks, and i didn't really want to move. I would probably advise deakin rather than UoM or ANU, but ANUs not a bad option from what friends tell me...