Anyone considering University of Melbourne Law School?

vanessa fisher

Hey everyone,
I was just picking out my schools to apply to on LSAC for U.S and Canada schools and noticed they have one school under the international section, the University of Melbourne.

I ended up looking it up and doing a bit of research on it and the school seems to have a really good international reputation. Scored 8th worldwide for law schools and seems to have a distinguished staff and alumni. As a Canadian, I have been so focused on Canadian and U.S schools that I didn't even consider Australia (I'd already ruled out UK cause of Brexit among other things).

Anyways, I've never been to Australia, but would be open to moving there (I lived abroad for 5 years so I know I adjust well). Anyone spent any time in Melbourne? Any thoughts on what the culture is like and other pros and cons of living in Australia?
Anyone else considering applying there or know anything else about the law program there that would be good to consider?

Alex

It's an amazing school if you want to live and work in Australia. The thing is it lacks a lot of the portability that other schools offer and I would imagine coming back to working in Canada or the states would be fairly difficult.

dennisgerrard

For Asia(Hong Kong) job market, University of Melbourne is a great school. Is the only law school considered in Australia? University of Sydney?The city is great too. It holds Australian Open(Tennis). I would say pay a visit to school and city and see how it goes. For me, Seattle is my choice to live(maybe for work also). If you wanna pass bar exam in U.S, America school is still be your choice.

vanessa fisher

thanks for the thoughts @"Alex Divine" and @dennisgerrard

I actually would consider living in Australia, so I'll look into it a bit more and see if it is worth it or not.
@thisissparta sent me an interesting thread on the topic here: http://lawstudents.ca/forums/topic/26511-australian-law-schools-melbourne-vs-bond/

One guy had this to say about his experience:
"I graduated last from the JD last year, landed an articling position at a good corporate firm, received permanent residency and am generally loving life. Here are a few of my brief (and random) observations:

Australian schools (or at least Melbourne JD) grade on a much, much harsher curve than the top Canadian schools (UofT/McGill/UBC). At Melbourne Uni, a low 70s average will land you almost any job. A high 60's average will keep you very competitive for summer clerkships/articling positions and a low 60's average means it will be very difficult but not impossible.

The legal graduate market in Australia is terrible at the moment. There are hundreds of very good unemployed Australian law students, let alone the international students. I would estimate that around 40% of the international students landed articling positions.

It is HARD as an international student to find post-grad employment. However, hard is not impossible. I was lucky enough to land a good articling position and I have a few international friends (Canada and US) who managed to do the same at Freehills, Allens Linklaters and Norton Rose Fullbright. As the saying goes, it only takes one!"

stepharizona

They sent out some recruitment emails in early July, they try to promote some of the major international firms and discuss how because its a JD can be portable. It was interesting to read about. It did seem like their application was closing soon.

natb1895

I live in Melbourne and am attending unimelb as an undergrad with the goal of studying law there. The university is great as is the law school (I've done some classes there) and has great facilities. I love living in Melbourne (having previously lived in Europe and Asia) but don't like how far away Australia is from everything else. If you've got any questions about Melbourne, Unimelb etc feel free to hit me up!

vanessa fisher

@natb1895
Perfect! I'd love to ask you some questions about Melbourne and the university there.
I'll probably hit you up with a PM later today.

Melbourne does seem like a cool place. I could probably see myself living there but also want to make sure there are good job prospects.

Disha Mehta

Hi! @"vanessa fisher"

I have received offers from UniMelb and UNSW. Can't decide which one to pick! I am an international student. Never been to Australia. So I don't know which would be better than the other.
UNSW has offered me 36 credits (about six subjects). That reduces time and money for me (about 19,000 AUD). So I'm not sure what considerations to weigh in.
As an international student, priority would be to get placed. So 1) Would Melbourne have better opportunities for placements than UNSW; 2) Would it be so competitive for me that it would reduce my chances of being placed (as opposed to UNSW?); 3) if I want to move to another country (such as US or UK) at a later time, would a Melb JD be more valuable than UNSW JD?

Thanks in advance!

studyingandrestudying

Where do you want to practice law later? Is an LLM later something you're interested in?