Bachelor of Laws with Honours
There are three main reasons for doing Honours in Law. First, it allows you to develop depth and expertise in a topic area of vital interest to you. Secondly, you have the opportunity to develop your legal writing and research skills to an advanced level – laying down a necessary foundation for, and keeping open the possibility of, higher degree study at some future time. Thirdly, the ”Honours“ tag may serve to elevate and differentiate you in a competitive legal job market.
There are three separate steps to achieving the degree of Bachelor of Laws with Honours:
- admission to candidature in the Honours program;
- enrolment in and successful completion of the unit, LS 400 (Honours in Law); and
- the award of Honours (and, if so, of what class) at the discretion of the Faculty on the recommendation of the School of Law.
- Admission to Candidature
As set out in the relevant rules for the Bachelor of Laws degree, the Juris Doctor degree, and the law component of the undergraduate double degrees in law, a candidate entering the final year of study who has obtained a Credit average (which equates to a grade point average of 5.0, where HD = 7, D = 6, C = 5 and P = 4) or better with no failures in the preceding eight Legal Studies units, or with a meritorious performance in those units, by permission of the course co-ordinator on the recommendation of the Head of School may be admitted to the Honours program (Rule 15 of the Faculty of Economics Business and Law Rules).
In 2005, the School initiated the process for changing the entry requirement by increasing the grade point average to 5.5. This standard will be applied to students commencing their ”eight Legal Studies units“ from the start of semester 1, 2006. Transitional arrangements will apply to students who commenced their ”preceding eight Legal Studies units“ prior to the start of semester 1, 2006.
- LS 400 – Honours in Law
A candidate admitted to the Honours program must enroll in and complete the unit LS 400 – Honours in Law. This is a stand-alone unit in the sense that successful completion does not necessarily translate to an award of Honours, but does carry a value of 12 credit points towards the Bachelor of Laws degree or the Juris Doctor degree. In other words, passing LS 400 is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for the award of a law degree ”with Honours“.
With this unit, you are stepping more deeply into the realm of legal research than ever before. You are embarking upon a large scale, full year research project which will require you to develop and utilize skills in self-discipline, organization, independent learning, legal research, creative thinking, deep reflection and sophisticated analysis.
Many students find this unit - as an advanced, ”independent research“ unit – very different from anything they have studied so far – and well outside their ”comfort zone“. This is good. It offers new challenges and opportunities, all directed at stretching you!
To a very large extent, the content and process (and success) rests in your own hands. This creates an opportunity, but also a responsibility. You are offered the opportunity to stake out a claim to a level of expertise within your own field of interest. In doing so, you have before you another unique opportunity – that is, the chance to work closely (one-to-one) with an academic Supervisor. You should grasp these opportunities – with both hands – and make the most of them.
Although so much of this unit is self-directed, there is in place a significant amount of ”scaffolding“ to support your progress. This includes: (a) the placement of assessment and related tasks at strategic points throughout the academic year; (b) the prescribed text; (c) the WebCT unit home-page, including a series of 12 ”modules“ with generic information, links and tips to help guide you through the research process; (d) your fellow Honours students; (e) the unit co-ordinator, and (f) most importantly, your Supervisor.
The process will culminate with your Thesis – a paper in which you will set down a novel legal argument crafted from the stuff of your own mind. If done well enough, there may be spin-off opportunities for publication in an academic journal. So, grasp this chance to produce a truly substantive and rewarding piece of work.
On the successful completion of this unit you should be able to:
- display advanced verbal and written communication skills, including a capacity to clearly describe and explain the law (basic), together with a capacity to analyse, apply, generalize and hypothesize about, and reflect upon, the law – verbally and in writing (higher),
- identify a research topic and research question, describe a legal problem (basic), and formulate – through refinement and reflection – a defensible thesis (higher);
- conceive, plan and implement a program of legal research (basic), demonstrating an advanced capacity to apply both ”traditional“ and Internet-based legal research techniques (higher);
- demonstrate an accurate knowledge of an area of law, including the relevant case law, legislation and academic or policy debate (basic), and a capacity to compare, contrast, draw links between and generalize about relevant principles, theories and policies (higher);
- display intellectual curiosity about – and questioning of – the law (basic), combining a capacity for creative and critical thinking, and for making novel linkages within the law, and from the law into other contexts (higher); and
- produce a logically structured paper which applies legal research and legal reasoning (basic), together with evidence of novel or independent thought, towards supporting a defensible thesis (higher).
Thesis
Central to the unit is the concept of the thesis. It needs to be understood that a thesis is an argument. It is thus more than a topic area or research project. As an example, an acceptable research project might be to discover and report on the laws of quarantine in Australia. This is not an acceptable thesis because it is not presented as an argument. It could be turned into a thesis by arguing that administrative discretion has too large a role in the implementation of Australia's quarantine laws.
Suggested word length for the thesis is 12,000 words, with an enforceable maximum of 15,000 words (not including bibliography and tables).
Topic and Supervisor
You must select a topic for the thesis. This should generally be an area of the law which you have previously studied. The coordinator may give you permission to pursue a topic in an area not previously studied (even, perhaps, an area which is not included in any unit offered) but that fact must be clearly identified by you and there must be clear justification for the choice.
The choice of thesis supervisor will normally go hand in hand with the choice of topic area. In the first instance, you are responsible for finding a suitable supervisor. The supervisor must be a member of the academic staff of the University of New England and should be a member of the School of Law. In circumstances where you seek permission to consult someone who is not a member of our academic staff or where it otherwise appears desirable to appoint such a person to assist the student, the coordinator may appoint that person to be a co-supervisor of the thesis, if satisfied that an exceptional case is made out.
You must consult with your preferred choice of supervisor about your topic and, using the “Proposed Topic and Supervisor Nomination” form in the Study Guide, submit this proposal to the unit coordinator for approval.
Proposal
A formal "Thesis Proposal" must be submitted, in accordance with the requirements set down in the Study Guide.
The proposal is not meant to serve as a straitjacket. The process of research and writing involves active engagement with the proposal and continuing refinement and modification. Accordingly, the final thesis need not comply with the proposal in every respect. If it is necessary or desirable to depart from the proposal substantially, a candidate must discuss his or her perception of this with their supervisor. You are not bound to submit a revised proposal to the coordinator.
Literature Review
In the first semester, the candidate must prepare and submit a literature review related to the topic of the thesis. The review is worth 15% and must not exceed 2000 words in length (excluding footnotes and bibliography). Further information is contained in the Study Guide.
Research
As law is primarily a discipline of using authority to support argument, research will normally be library-based. The limitations of the UNE Law Library are acknowledged and the School will make every endeavour to help candidates to overcome these limitations within the limits imposed by resource restraints. You are urged to make full use of electronic resources available on the Internet and may need to make use of other libraries. Research should go hand in hand with writing. You are strongly advised not to attempt to do all the research before beginning to write.
Writing
You should, through this process, consult your supervisor within an agreed timetable of consultation. Fortnightly discussions are recommended but will not be required. It is the student’s responsibility to adopt this procedure and failure to do so will not of itself be reflected in the grade awarded to the paper. On the other hand, your decision not to follow this recommendation will be a consideration if questions arise as to the quality of the paper and, for example, in connection with a request for an extension of time.
An important part of the process of writing a thesis is the revision, correction and perfection leading up to the final draft. Accordingly, you must submit a draft version of each section of the thesis to your supervisor for comment and must consider any comments and attempt to revise and rework the section in accordance with the comments received.
Seminar Presentation
You are required to give a seminar presentation of your thesis and attend and contribute to discussion of the Honours theses of other candidates. Although these presentations are to be considered work in progress sessions, the presentation is assessable. The function of the presentation is to enable you to speak to your argument and to receive feedback and suggestions to strengthen the final thesis. The presentation will be assessed by the academics in attendance.
The residential school at which the presentation is to be made is compulsory. If numbers require it, seminars for Internal students will be arranged for a date to be advised outside the Residential School period.
Submission for Examination
You must submit two copies of the thesis for examination. These copies should be in soft binding. The thesis must comply with the style requirements set down in the Study Guide. The thesis must comply with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC).
Examination
An Honours thesis will be examined by the two examiners appointed by the unit co-ordinator, not all of whom will have specialised expertise in the topic area. The thesis may be: (a) passed, (b) passed subject to minor revisions, (c) required to be submitted for re-examination after major revisions, or (d) failed. If passed, or passed subject to minor revisions the thesis shall be graded.
Final Submission
If the thesis is passed subject to minor revisions the candidate must make the revisions. The supervisor is responsible for certifying that the corrections have been completed. Students are then requested to submit a copy of their thesis in hard binding for retention in the Law Library.
Final Grade
The final assessment for LS 400 comprises:
literature review 15% seminar presentation 10% thesis 75% 100% A candidate who receives a result (other than an N or NI) for LS400 will be eligible for consideration for the award of their degree with Honours.
- The Award of Honours
The award of Honours is at the discretion of the Faculty, on the recommendation of the School of Law. Under Rule 15.4.2, the Faculty is obliged to consider the following matters in determining the level of award:
- the candidate's level of performance in LS400;
- the candidate's performance in elective units taken from Groups B, C and D for the Bachelor of Laws component of a combined degree program; and
- the candidate's rate of progress through the degree program.
Policy for the Calculation of Honours Recommendation
In formulating its recommendation to the Faculty, the School of Law generally applies a policy by which the recommended result is calculated in the following way:
- 60% of the final result is based on a grade point score for the best 15 units taken towards the degree; The results awarded in Group B and Group C must be counted and the result in LS 400 must be disregarded. For this purpose, grade point scores are calculated as follows: P = 1, C = 2, D =3, HD = 4.
- 40% of the final result is based on the grade awarded in the unit LS 400 – Honours in Law on a scale as follows: P = 20, P+ = 22, C- = 24, C = 26, C+ = 28, D- = 30, D = 32, D+ = 34, HD- = 36, HD = 38, HD+ = 40.
Grades of Honours
Applying the above formula may lead to the recommendation of the following grades:
- First Class
75 marks and above - Second Class, Division A
At least 70 marks but fewer than 75 marks - Second Class, Division B
At least 65 marks but fewer than 70 marks - Third Class
At least 60 marks but fewer than 65 marks
Students who achieve less than 60 marks will be awarded a pass degree only.