Advanced Standing and Recognition of Prior Learning

Students enrolled in law degrees at other universities or a diploma in law through the Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB) may be eligible for credit towards a UNE law course. Students who have completed law units as part of a degree other than a Law degree may also be eligible for credit, but only in the circumstances detailed below.

Since UNE law degrees are professionally accredited, we must conform to requirements set by the Legal Profession Admission Board in considering advanced standing applications.

Recognition of Prior Learning

Students who are or have been enrolled elsewhere in a law degree or an award leading to admission as a legal practitioner

Advanced standing is usually awarded on a one-for-one basis (ie one unit at UNE for every unit at the other institution) but this will not always be the case. For example some institutions require a student to complete one unit concerned with introducing the legal system and another introducing students to legal research. In that case, you would have to do both to receive advanced standing for LAW100. To give another example, some universities offer a unit in trust and another in equity. In that case, you would have to do both to get advanced standing for LAW340.

Where a university teaches property, contracts or torts over one teaching period only, we give advanced standing for one UNE unit and an exemption from the other.

In considering equivalent units, the level at which they are offered may be relevant. For example, an introductory legal research and writing unit will not be considered equivalent to LAW480, nor will a unit involving the teaching of jurisprudence offered as an introductory unit be considered equivalent to LAW455.

Enrolled elsewhere in law units undertaken as part of a non-law degree

You may receive advanced standing for such units if the unit you have undertaken is also available to students at your university as part of the law degree offered at that university.

To identify whether a unit you have done as part of a non-law award can count toward your UNE law degree you need to:

Identify the unit code and name used by the University where you studied;
Look up the website for that University's law school and find details of their law program;
Look to see if law students can do the same unit that you did as part of their law degree. It must be precisely the same unit. This would be indicated by the same unit code. If it is available, the webpage address which indicates that information should be included with your application.

We only give advanced standing for units completed at another University where those units were completed BEFORE you commenced your studies at UNE.

No advanced standing for Law units will be given for the following units studied:

Enrolled in programs provided by professional bodies, enterprises, private educational institutions and/or other providers recognised by the School;
Students with relevant work or other forms of practical experience.

Advanced standing:

with respect to units studied as part of an overseas law degree: in relation to the units you have undertaken, you need to apply to the Legal Profession Admission Board to see what advanced standing those units should receive in relation to the Diploma in Law offered by the LPAB. The LPAB has expertise in dealing with overseas law degrees. If the LPAB gives standing in relation to some of those units, that advice can be employed in seeking advanced standing for units here. If you are admitted as a lawyer in New Zealand then your qualifications will not be assessed by the LPAB; you will need to lodge an application directly with the Supreme Court of NSW, pursuant to the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997 (Cth).

in relation to non-law units undertaken as part of the four-year LLB: a diversity of units taken elsewhere can be employed for advanced standing in relation to the eight units of non-law units that must be undertaken as part of this degree.

How to apply

For applications relating to law units previously undertaken, please fill out the Online Advanced Form in AskUNE. You need to include a link to the web page from the institution where you studied that law unit. This web page should indicate the list of units available as part of a law degree at that institution. The unit(s) you studied should be on that list. As indicated above, only law units that are offered as part of a law degree can receive advance standing. The point in providing the link is so that we can not only check that the unit you are seeking credit for is offered as part of the law degree at the institution you studied at, but how the unit fits within the structure of the law units offered there.

Your application will be initially assessed in Student Central. If it has a precedent, Student Central will administratively enter your advanced standing. If not, the matter will be referred to the Law Course Coordinator.

You may make informal enquires through AskUNE in relation to your applications.