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Law & Justice

Law Honours

6 arms high in the air, most with black graduation gown sleeves showing, hold black graduation mortar board hats. Trees and building in the distant background.

To be awarded Honours in Law, students are not required to complete an additional year. Honours in Law is based on academic excellence throughout the degree.

Completing Honours in Law gives you a competitive edge when you graduate and will set you up for success. Those taking Honours will complete an independent research project in an area of law that they are passionate about. It will also give you the opportunity to work closely with leading academics from the Faculty of Law and Justice.

  • Program Duration: The Honours Program will now span two terms.

    Enrolment Options:

    • Terms 1 and 2: Students can enrol in Term 1 and complete the program over Terms 1 and 2. 
    • Terms 2 and 3: Students can enrol in Term 2 and complete the program over Terms 2 and 3.

    Students completing Honours will now enrol in two Honours courses over the two terms: LAWS3900 Introduction to Law Honours Research and Writing (0 UOC) and then LAWS3901 Law Honours Research Thesis (6 UOC) in the following term.

  • To enrol in Honours, LLB students will need to have:

    1. Completed a minimum of 96 UOC of LLB courses
    2. Completed at least 84 UOC of core LLB courses
    3. A minimum 75 WAM in core LLB courses
    4. At least 6 UOC remaining in the LLB program. 

  • There are FOUR criteria relevant for awarding Honours:

    • Completion of a mandatory Research Methods Workshop. This will run in O-Week of the first term you undertake Honours  
    • Completion of a supervised 6 UOC ‘Honours Research Thesis’. The research thesis will be of 10,000 words, including footnotes.  To complete the thesis, students will be enrolled in 
    • Completion of all remaining LLB compulsory and elective courses necessary for graduation
    • Attainment of the Honours Weighted Average Mark (WAM) in Law

    Honours WAM will be calculated using the WAM from all non-Honours, graded LLB courses taken at UNSW as 75% of the Honours WAM, and the WAM from the Honours Research Thesis as 25% of the Honours WAM. 

    The Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree will be awarded as follows:

    • Honours Class 1: Honours WAM of 80.00 or greater 
    • Honours Class 2: Honours WAM between 75.00 and 79.99

    Honours Class 3: Honours WAM below 75.00
    1. Students will need to find a supervisor for their Honours project before applying. Students should submit a 1-page outline to their proposed supervisor outlining their research topic. A list of academic staff and their research interests can be found on the Faculty of Law & Justice website.
    2. Once students have found a supervisor, please complete the Honours application form and include the email approval from your supervisor.
    3. Once approved, students will receive confirmation from the Nucleus and will be enrolled in LAWS3900 Introduction to Law Honours Research & Writing.

    Applications for Term 1 2025 will have now closed.

    Applications for Term 2 2025 will open from Monday 3 February and close on Sunday 23 March.

    Apply here!

JD with Distinction

The Juris Doctor with Distinction will be automatically calculated for those students who are eligible at the end of each Term. Students will not need to apply for this.

  • Students must achieve a Distinction WAM of 75%.
  • The Distinction WAM will be calculated using the WAM from core courses as 60 percent of the Distinction WAM and the WAM from the elective courses as 40 percent of Distinction WAM.
  • Only courses completed at UNSW will count towards the WAM calculation.
  • Students are to have no academic misconduct throughout the duration of their degree.
  • Students are to have NO more than one failure in the Juris Doctor Program.

Prizes in Law & Justice

The Faculty of Law & Justice offers a number of prizes, most awarded annually to recognise top-performing students. In addition to prizes, the annual Dean’s List recognises outstanding achievement in a course.

Check out more information about .