JD electives

Enrichment electives

Melbourne Law School offers a range of JD electives that provide enrichment opportunities to students through public interest law clinics, legal internship, global learning opportunities, moot competitions and as editors of law journals.

• Melbourne Law School Clinics and Legal Internship

  Melbourne Law School Clinics is the hub for clinical legal education and public interest law at Melbourne Law School.

  Each of these subjects offered in 2024 has its own application process. Watch for announcements and view application information on the JD LMS Community - Information about internships and clinics.

  Handbook entry:

  • Indigenous Legal Advocacy Clinic (LAWS90209)
  • Legal Internship (LAWS50059)
  • MLS Tax Clinic (LAWS90164)
  • NDIS and Disability Benefits Clinic (LAWS90189)
  • Public Interest Law Clinic (LAWS50116)
  • Stateless Legal Clinic (LAWS50126)
  • Street Law (LAWS50102)
  • Sustainability Business Clinic (LAWS50126)

  Students can self-enrol in the following subject if the quota has not been met:

  • Law Apps (LAWS90033)
• Global and interstate subjects

  JD students wanting to study overseas or focus on global legal practice have access to many exhilarating international opportunities through global learning opportunities.

  Each of these global and interstate subjects offered in 2024 has its own application process. Watch for announcements and view application information on the JD LMS Community - Global and interstate learning opportunities.

  Handbook entry:

  • Access to Justice on Country (LAWS90257)
  • Indigenous Law in Aotearoa and Australia (LAWS90214)
  • Law and Legal Practice in Asia (LAWS90006)
  • New Technology Law (LAWS90107)
• Executive Branch Research Lab (LAWS90258)

  The Executive Branch Research Lab aims to foster innovative, practice-led JD legal research into the largest and most elusive branch of the constitutional order: the executive. Against a background of tuition in core concepts and practices relevant to study of the contemporary executive branch – including the political philosophies of the ‘welfare state’ and ‘neoliberalism’, the centrality of contracting to contemporary governmental practice, and how to understand the ideal of the rule of law in relation to different executive branch activities – the Research Lab will support enrolled students to acquire the academic and practical skills needed to pursue research on and analysis of the contemporary executive branch ‘in action’. Engaging closely with participating faculty, and working together on group projects, enrolled students will receive training to undertake such activities as making submissions to current parliamentary and law reform inquiries, writing blog entries on issues arising from current executive branch practices for the Research Lab’s dedicated website, conducting interviews with present and former ‘frontline’ executive branch actors with a view to intergenerational dialogue and learning, and participating in ongoing (year-to-year) research projects convened under the auspices of the Research Lab.

  Handbook entry: Executive Branch Research Lab (LAWS90258)

  How do I apply?

  Applications open: 12am on 1 June 2024
  Applications close: 11.59pm on 30 June 2024

  Submit an application

• Jessup Moot (LAWS50042)

  This subject involves five students competing as a team in the prestigious Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, which has been running for more than half a century. Each team represents both the applicant and the respondent by preparing written memorials and presenting oral pleadings in a simulated case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Participation involves intensive work from November to February and additional work before and after that period. The problem is generally released in September and memorials are due in January. The national oral round is typically held in Canberra in February and the international finals are held in Washington DC in April.

  Handbook entry: Jessup Moot (LAWS50042)

  How do I apply?

  Application information will be announced on the JD LMS Community.

• Melbourne Journal of International Law (LAWS50060)

  This subject is available only to students who are Members of Melbourne Journal of International Law (MJIL) and are committed to a position involving a substantial intellectual contribution to MJIL during the enrolled semester.

  Handbook entry: Melbourne Journal of International Law (LAWS50060)

  How do I apply?

  Only approved applicants can enrol into this subject with the permission of the Subject Coordinator.

  To obtain permission, the student must undertake in writing to the Subject Coordinator to make a substantial intellectual contribution to the Melbourne Journal of International Law during the semester that the student is enrolled in the subject.

• Melbourne University Law Review (LAWS50058)

  This subject is available only to editors of Melbourne University Law Review (MULR), who, as editors, are committed to making a substantial intellectual contribution to MULR during the enrolled semester. The nature of the ‘substantial intellectual contribution’ required may vary depending on the nature of their work with MULR.

  Handbook entry: Melbourne University Law Review (LAWS50058)

  How do I apply?

  Only approved applicants can enrol into this subject with the permission of the Subject Coordinator.

  To obtain permission, the student (who is an editor) must write to the Subject Coordinator to make a substantial intellectual contribution to the Melbourne University Law Review during the semester that the student is enrolled in the subject.

• New Ideas in Legal Scholarship (LAWS50114)

  This subject is designed for second and third-year JD students who are interested in academic legal scholarship. It will expose students to current areas of research and introduce them to the process of producing scholarly work at a professional level. Students will learn how to critically and constructively assess scholarly works-in-progress, and will develop their own views about particular debates, topics, and methods of inquiry.

  Handbook entry: New Ideas in Legal Scholarship (LAWS50114)

  This enrichment subject is available for self-enrolment if the quota has not been met.

• Projects and the Environment Practicum (LAWS90241)

  Projects and the Environment Practicum gives students an opportunity to explore how the law works in practice, with a focus on environmental and social issues as they appear through the stages of a major project, from finance to operation.

  Students will encounter and analyse these issues across multiple areas of law, including contract law, environmental law, property law, and administrative law. Students will gain familiarity with the roles and perspectives of the diverse multidisciplinary actors with whom lawyers work when developing (or challenging) a major project, including financiers, community groups, consultants, scientists, and regulators. Topics will be taught using a real-life central case study to explore relevant issues.

  Handbook entry: Projects and the Environment Practicum (LAWS90241)

  How do I apply?

  Applications open: 9am on 12 December 2023
  Applications close: 11.59pm on 8 January 2024

  Submit an application

• Start-Up Law (LAWS90108)

  This subject will provide students with the legal skills to advise start-up companies on the legal issues those companies are likely to face in their early years of operation. The subject will cover the substantive law relevant to the particular circumstances of a start-up, including intellectual property, privacy, structuring options, start-up funding including crowd funding and Initial Coin Offerings, regulatory restrictions applying to LegalTech start-ups, the Australian Consumer Law, employment law and the tax incentives available for start-up companies in Australia. It will also cover some of the ethical issues involved in advising start-ups, such as the issues associated with advisers taking equity in their clients.

  The subject will provide students with the opportunity to develop the specialist practical skills used in advising start-up companies.

  Handbook entry: Start-Up Law (LAWS90108)

  This enrichment subject is available for self-enrolment if the quota has not been met.