C02027v3 Doctor of Juridical Science

Overview

This course combines coursework subjects and original research culminating in a Doctoral dissertation. Candidates develop their Doctoral topic through the coursework component. The dissertation must have a legal focus and analysis representing an original investigation, criticism or review of a field of legal research of a standard suitable for publication.

This program was the first professional doctorate of its kind in Australia. It counters the isolation experienced by many PhD candidates by providing a combination of postgraduate coursework subjects and a dissertation, and allows candidates to benefit from contact with coursework students and the academic staff of the Faculty.

Career options

Graduates may find work in universities, undertaking research, or other academic work including teaching and legal publishing.

Additional admission requirements

Applicants require a Master of Laws degree or a Bachelor of Laws degree with First Class Honours or Second Class Honours (Division 1).

Eligibility for admission is not a guarantee that an application will be accepted. Support for the project, availability of supervision, availability of places and the applicant's overall abilities and experience are all taken into account.

Applicants must submit a research proposal at the point of application. Once final approval is obtained for a research proposal, the topic cannot be changed except with the approval of the University. Topics principally involving non-legal techniques (such as sample surveys) or the application of non-legal categories (such as principles of explanation of other disciplines such as psychology or sociology) will not qualify. In such cases, students are counselled to pursue the PhD.

Detailed information about the application process can be found online at:

Course duration and attendance

The course duration is four years of full-time, or six years of part-time study.

There are no attendance requirements once the coursework component is completed. The dissertation component may be carried out either on University premises, at a site external to the University, or some combination of both. However, candidates are required to make contact with their supervisor(s) at least once a month to discuss the progress of their dissertation. The Faculty recommends that candidates spend no longer than one-third of the maximum course duration on the coursework subject component, and no less than two-thirds of the maximum course duration on the dissertation component.

Course structure

This course requires completion of eight postgraduate coursework subjects, and a dissertation of approximately 50,000–70,000 words.

While the SJD thesis may be shorter than a PhD thesis, taking account of the coursework component, it is expected to exhibit the same level of originality, criticism and intellectual rigour normally associated with a PhD thesis.

Both the candidate and the candidate's principal supervisor are required to submit progress reports at the end of each semester following commencement of the dissertation. Within the first year of commencement of the dissertation for full-time students, or the first two years for part-time students, candidates must complete a formalised Doctoral Assessment to ensure that the candidate has gained the prerequisite knowledge and skills to allow successful and timely completion of the proposed research program, that the candidate's progress is consistent with completion of the research program in the prescribed time and that the candidate demonstrates the potential to complete the work to standard.

Doctoral candidates are also required to make an Oral Presentation of their dissertation six months prior to submission of their dissertation for examination.

Further details about candidature can be found at:

Course completion requirements

Course program

Candidates choose five postgraduate subjects (30 credit points) from one of the following major areas of study and a further three postgraduate subjects (18 credit points) from across the major areas. Alternatively, students can choose not to major in a particular area and instead choose eight subjects (48 credit points) from across the major areas of study.

The coursework subjects must be completed before the dissertation is commenced as the subjects provide the basis of the research for the dissertation.

Other information

Further information is available from: