So, in my talk today I will briefly speak about
the Graduate Diploma of Law, the LLM and the Master of Legal Practice.
But before I start that I just want to briefly say
that I have a bit of an idea of what it's like to be in your shoes.
So, about 15 years ago I was sitting in my apartment in Toronto, Canada.
So, I'm from Canada in case you were curious about my accent.
And I had completed an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration Degree
in Canada and I was gonna be moving to Perth
and I knew I want to study law.
And I didn't know anything about the law schools in Western Australia.
In fact, I didn't really know much about Australia generally
except that there were kangaroos and there was a city named Melbourne.
So, I asked the one Australian I knew
where I should study law in Western Australia and he said,
"You must study at the University of Western Australia."
And so based on his recommendation and some of my research online
I decided to study law at UWA.
So, I moved to Perth in about February 2006
and I started studying at UWA Law School in February 2006.
And after finishing my studies here I did a PhD,
worked as a lawyer, still do practice law as well.
And approximately four years ago I came back to UWA as staff.
And I'm really fortunate
because this law school has the most amazing people working here.
So, in terms of the LLM and the Graduate Diploma of Law
there are three main reasons why I would recommend
that you should study in either of those programs at the Law School.
So, number one are the academics.
They're very knowledgeable, they care about their students.
Many of them are either working as lawyers
or have worked as lawyers in the past.
Sometimes judges do guest lectures,
so the academics here they're just outstanding.
The second reason why I'd recommend
that you take one of those two courses
is because of the incredible variety of units.
So, in the Graduate Diploma in Law you have to take 24 points
of whatever units you choose that are listed
and in LLM you can take 48 points of unit
and you can choose those units.
So, in both of those programs, you can choose units you want to take.
There are no mandatory units they are all electives
and there's so much to choose from.
So, there's units like Health Law and Policy,
Family Law, Income Tax Law, Oil and Gas Agreements,
International Criminal Law, Climate Change Law and Emission Trading,
Environmental Protection Law,
International Human Rights Law, Comparative Law.
So there's just so many really interesting units to choose from
which I think is fantastic and one of the many
things that students love of those programs.
And then the third reason why I would recommend
that you take one of these programs at UWA Law School
is just the UWA network.
So, by being a student here then you have access not only
to the resources of UWA but also to our vast alumni network.
And we're talking about people who are in all sorts of industries,
law, business, NGO's and they're very happy to help out
people who are current students at UWA Law School or graduates.
So, those are three of the many reasons why I would recommend
that you take the LLM or the Graduate Diploma of Law at UWA Law School.
Next, I'm just gonna talk very briefly about
the Master of Legal Practice at the UWA Law School.
Now, the Master of Legal Practice is coordinated by
the fabulous Dr Penny Carruthers.
And if you have any questions about that program, please do contact her.
Interestingly, Penny taught me Property Law in 2007
and then for the past approximately four years,
I've had the pleasure of working with her.
So, the Master of Legal Practice.
Why should you take the Master of Legal Practice?
Well, the Master of Legal Practice is a degree specifically for people
who are trained as lawyers outside of Western Australia
but have moved to Western Australia
and want to practice in Western Australia.
So, they take the Master of Legal Practice in order to take the unit,
that they're required to by the Legal Practice Board of WA,
in order to practice law in the state.
And a couple of the great things about this degree are number one,
that as far as I'm aware it is the only masters degree
in Western Australia where you can get your qualifying units
to become a lawyer in WA and get a masters degree at the same time.
And certainly many employers recognise a masters degree
as being sought after
and a very good asset for graduates to have.
And then another great thing about this degree is that
aside from, in addition to rather, taking the units
that you're required to from the Legal Practice Board
to practice as a lawyer in WA.
But you also, in addition to that, have the ability
depending on how many units the Legal Practice Board
decides that you must take,
you can also have the ability to choose from many different
and interesting elective units.
And you can just choose whichever you like
after you satisfy whatever the WA Legal Practice Board
requires you to take.
And in terms of these electives,
so you have access to taking the electives
that I just mentioned for the LLM and the Graduate Diploma of Law.
And there are even more electives that you can choose from to take
and I'm not gonna list all them
' cause I might be here all-day potentially.
But they're really interesting, really cutting edge
and they can be quite useful to you
no matter what you decide to do career-wise.
So, if you have any questions about the Graduate Diploma of Law
or the LLM, please contact me.
marilyn.bromberg@uwa.edu.au
I'm happy to answer any of your questions or have a telephone call
or else meet you on campus,
on a very beautiful campus, for a coffee.
As well, if you have any questions about the Master of Legal Practice,
please do contact Dr Penny Carruthers.
penny.carruthers@uwa.edu.au
Thank you so much for watching this short virtual open day video
and I wish you all the very best
in terms of choosing what you will be studying.
And I really hope that I get to see you soon sometime on campus.