The College of Law is the school of professional practice for lawyers in Australia and New Zealand. They are also the largest provider of practice-focused legal education in Australasia. Their mission is to deliver innovative, practice-focused and flexible education and training to enhance the careers of professionals in the legal services industry. Since commencing operations in New South Wales in 1974, the organisation has grown to become largest provider of practical legal training (PLT) in Australia and New Zealand. The College claims more than 100,000 graduates, with more than 50,000 of these in New South Wales. In 2016, annual enrolments in the College's award programs in Australia exceeded 5,000.

Courses

In addition to the PLT Program (which is the prerequisite program for practising law in Australia or

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), the College offers the

LLM A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

(Applied Law) and other post graduate applied law programs, as well as Continuing Professional Development short courses for lawyers, in the following specialisations: * Business law * Commercial litigation * Commercial transactions * Family law * Government and public sector law * In-house practice * Legal practice management * Mediation and dispute resolution * Property law * Wills, estates and estate planning.

Structure

A public company limited by guarantee, the College of Law Limited is regulated by the

Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is the regulatory authority for charities and not-for-profit organisations within Australia. The Commission was established in December 2012 as part of the ''Australian Charities ...

. In Australia, the College is a Self-Accrediting Authority recognised by the

Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is Australia's independent national quality assurance and regulatory agency for higher education. The agency's purpose is to protect student interests and the reputation of Australia' ...

(TEQSA). In New Zealand, the College is accredited by the

New Zealand Qualifications Authority The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA; mi, Mana Tohu Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is the New Zealand government Crown entity tasked with administering educational assessment and qualifications. It was established by the Education Act 1989 ...

, which rated the College "Highly Confident" in its educational performance. The chief executive officer and principal is Neville Carter AM. The chair of the College of Law Limited is Joseph Catanzariti AM, who is also vice-president of the

Fair Work Commission The Fair Work Commission (FWC), until 2013 known as Fair Work Australia (FWA), is the Australian industrial relations tribunal created by the ''Fair Work Act 2009'' as part of the Rudd Government's reforms to industrial relations in Australia ...

History

The College of Law was founded as a subsidiary of the

Law Society of New South Wales The Law Society of New South Wales is a professional association which represents over 29,000 solicitors in Australia. The Law Society has statutory powers and regulates the practice of law in New South Wales.http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawl ...

in 1974. Established as a charitable trust for educational purposes, the College was to provide practical legal training (PLT) to qualify law graduates for admission as lawyers (replacing the former articles of clerkship), as well as continuing legal education for the needs of legal practitioners in New South Wales. From 1977 to 1995, the College operated as a school within the aegis of the Ku-ring-gai College of Advanced Education, and then as part of the

University of Technology, Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 2021 ...

(UTS). At the end of 1995, the College became an autonomous education provider within the evolving higher education regulatory regime of New South Wales. In 2002, the College was registered as a Higher Education Provider (HEP) and the Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (PLT Program) was accredited. In 2005, College was approved as a Higher Education Provider (HEP) for Fee-Help purposes under the Higher Educations Support Act (HESA) 2003. Branches in Australian state capitals and New Zealand were opened progressively from 2005 onwards. In 2006, the College introduced the Graduate Diploma of In-house Legal Practice which was developed in partnership with the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association (now part of the

Association of Corporate Counsel The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), founded as the American Corporate Counsel Association (ACCA) in 1983, is a professional association serving the business interests of attorneys who practice in the legal departments of corporations, as ...

). In 2007 the College had its first master's degree accredited – the Master of Applied Law (Family Law). The Master of Applied Law (Commercial Litigation) was accredited in 2008, and further master's degrees in Wills & Estates, and In-house Practice were added in 2010. The Graduate Diploma of Family Dispute Resolution was accredited in 2014. In 2009, the College separated from the Law Society to become a stand-alone, not-for-profit entity. In December 2015 the College was awarded Self Accrediting Authority (SAA) by the Tertiary Education Quality & Standards Agency (TEQSA). In 2016, the College established its own research centre, the Centre for Legal Innovation (CLI). Also in 2016, the College established an office in Kuala Lumpur as its Asia headquarters. In November 2017, the College signed an agreement with the Inter-Pacific Bar Association to establish a co-branded master's program. The Master of Laws (Applied Law) in ASEAN+6 Legal Practice commenced in February 2018.

Publications

The College produces a series of textbooks to support its PLT training, known as the Practice Papers, which are self-published. Covering a number of core practice areas, the Practice Papers also serve as practical guides for lawyers in their early years of practice. From 1983 to 1998, the College published The Journal of Professional Legal Education on behalf of the Australian Professional Legal Education Conference.

Notable people

Honorary fellows of the College include Federal Court court justice

John Dowsett John Alfred Dowsett is a former judge of the Federal Court of Australia. Justice Dowsett was appointed to the Federal Court on 14 September 1998,. Prior to his appointment to the Federal Court, he served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Qu ...

and former

Australian Human Rights Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but opera ...

president

Gillian Triggs Gillian Doreen Triggs (born 30 October 1945) is an Australian academic specialising in public international law. In 2019, she was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Natio ...

External links

The College of Law

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:College of Law (Australia), The Law schools in Australia Educational institutions established in 1974 1974 establishments in Australia Education in Sydney Education in Melbourne Education in Adelaide Education in Brisbane Education in Perth, Western Australia