The Melbourne JD (Juris Doctor) is a three-year graduate law degree that has set a benchmark for legal education in Australia. It is available if you already have an undergraduate degree in a discipline other than law or if you have a law degree from a different legal system.

The Melbourne JD equips you with the skills and knowledge to take a leading role in a range of careers including legal practice, business, government and community organisations.

You will be taught by respected academics who are genuine leaders in their fields in Australia and around the world, who draw on legal research and practice to deliver an intellectually challenging degree.

Your JD experience will be as much about your fellow students as your teachers. The cohort system means that you will complete your first semester classes with the same group of students, making it easier to get to know your classmates, develop friendships and build your network.

You will study in small, seminar-style, discussion-based classes with students from a range of undergraduate backgrounds, adding new perspectives and approaches to your learning.

The Melbourne JD leads to admission to the legal profession in all Australian jurisdictions, and can be used as a basis for seeking admission in many overseas jurisdictions.

The Melbourne JD is well-regarded by a wide-range of employers and can be used to pursue a variety of careers in different sectors. Our most recent careers survey reveals outstanding employment outcomes for our JD graduates, with an employment rate of 98 per cent for the class of 2017.

Melbourne Law School graduates work as:

• Judges, Judges’ Associates and others in the judicial sector
• Barristers and public prosecutors
• Lawyers in law firms
• In-house and corporate lawyers
• Lawyers in the community sector (ie community legal centres)
• Lawyers in not-for-profit organisations (ie human rights NGOs)
• Government lawyers
• Policy analysts and advisers in government
• Management consultants
• Merchant bankers
• Entrepreneurs
• Parliamentarians