Program Overview

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Laws and Psychology

Bachelor's degree/Bachelor's degree

The Laws and Psychology double degree equips you to tackle complex legal issues with a deeper understanding of human behaviour and mental processes. This course is your first step to a career in law or any number of other career paths where knowledge of law and psychology is an advantage.

Course Details

Location

• On-campus at Clayton: Full time

Duration

• 5 years (full time) This course is equivalent to 5.25 years of full-time study and may be accelerated to complete in five years. This will require a one unit overload in each of two semesters.
• 10 years (part time)

Start date

• First Semester (February)

Fees

Information about fees

Career Outcomes

A non-legal career where combining law and psychology is an advantage might include being a business consultant, community development officer, policy analyst, human resource manager, people and talent manager, victim support officer, social research officer, or academic.

Legal careers with a psychological edge include being a criminal lawyer, employment lawyer, family lawyer, or sports lawyer. You could also pursue a career in justice or the courts, in legal community centres or providing in-house legal counsel to organisations and governments.

With further study in psychology you could also progress to a career in forensic psychology.

Progression to Further Study

Successful completion of this course may also provide a pathway to a Master of Laws (L6004) or a Graduate Research Degree in Law.

Successful completion of this course may also provide a pathway to the Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) (M3708), the Graduate Diploma of Psychology Advanced or the Graduate Diploma of Professional Psychology (D5002)

Entry Requirements

Entry Requirements (International students)

You need to satisfy all of the following requirements to be considered for entry into this course.

Minimum Age Requirements

At the time of enrolment in a course at Monash University, you must be at least 17 years of age.

Academic Entry Requirements

All Monash undergraduate courses require you to have successfully completed a minimum of an Australian Year 12 qualification (or equivalent) and achieve the required academic entry score. Most Monash faculties generally use your most recent studies for admission however other guidelines may apply where your prior qualification may be considered.

• Secondary education:
  • For country specific qualifications, the academic entry score required for this course are detailed below:
    • ATAR: 95
    • Monash University Foundation Year: 85%
    • Monash University Diploma Part 2: Case by case
    • Monash Advanced Preparation Program: 85%
    • UNSW Foundation Studies: 9
    • Foundation Studies - Trinity College, University of Melbourne: 90%
    • GCE A Level: 13
    • International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme: 36
    • Advanced Placement: 9
    • ACT: 30
    • SAT - Total score out of 1600: 1360
    • Pearson International Advanced Levels: 14
    • All India Senior School Certificate: 85%
    • Indian School Certificate Examination: 80%
    • High School Diploma (Bằng Tốt Nghiệp Trung Học Phổ Thông): 8.7
    • Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education: 23
    • Ontario Secondary School Diploma: 91%
    • British Columbia Certificate of Graduation: 85%
    • Gaokao: 80%
    • SMA 3 – 100% scale (60% pass): 90%
    • STPM: 10.3
    • UEC: 1.8
    • College Scholastic Ability Test: 365
    • High School Diploma: 90%
    • Higher School Certificate and General Certificate of Education Advanced Levels: 13
    • Singapore Cambridge GCE Advanced Levels: 13
    • Sri Lankan General Certificate of Education (Advanced Level): 14

English Entry Requirements

All Monash undergraduate courses require you to satisfy English entry requirements in one of the following ways:

• English subject (Australian Year 12 equivalent): You can meet English entry requirements if you have completed an English subject in your prior secondary studies that is equivalent to an Australian Year 12 level (score requirements also apply).
• Language of instruction: You can meet English entry requirements if you have completed half a year of full time study (equivalent to 24 Monash credit points) at Australian VET Diploma (AQF level 5) or higher (or equivalent) at an institution where English is the language of instruction, communication and assessment for all aspects of study for the whole of the educational institution.
• English tests: If you have not met English entry requirements as outlined above, Monash accepts the following English tests where the entry scores for this course are as follows:
  • IELTS (Academic): 7.0
  • IELTS (Academic) UKVI: 7.0
  • IELTS One Skill Retake (Academic): 7.0
  • IELTS One Skill Retake (Academic) UKVI: 7.0
  • IELTS Online: 7.0
  • TOEFL iBT: 94
  • TOEFL iBT Paper Edition: 94
  • TOEFL Essentials: 9.5
  • Pearson Test of English (Academic): 65
  • Pearson Test of English (Academic) UKVI: 65
  • C1 Advanced (Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English): 185
  • C2 Proficiency (Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English): 185

Prerequisite Subject Requirements

You must satisfy the following prerequisite subject requirements for this course:

• English:
  • VCE: Score of 35 in Units 3 and 4
  • IB Diploma Programme: Score of 5 in Standard Level English A: Literature or English A: Language and Literature, or score of 4 in Higher Level English A: Literature or English A: Language and Literature

Law

The Bachelor of Laws (Honours) course is a specialist course that develops through themes: legal methodology and legal practice; public law; and private law. The specialised knowledge and advanced skills are imparted in later year elective units, including a final year project involving intensive research and writing.

Part A. Legal Methodology and Legal Practice

This theme includes the nature of law, and particularly statute law enacted by parliaments and common law developed by courts. It also includes the key concepts, principles and methods of research and reasoning that enable lawyers to identify and interpret law and apply it to relevant facts in order to provide legal advice. It covers the law of procedure and evidence that governs judicial proceedings, alternative methods of resolving legal disputes, and the code of ethics that regulates the professional conduct of legal practitioners.

Part B. Public Law

Public law includes constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law. It concerns the powers and procedures of the legislative, executive and judicial organs of government, and how they are regulated and controlled by 'the rule of law'. It also concerns the legal relationship between government and individuals, including the protection of individual rights.

Part C. Private Law

Private law deals with legal relationships between legal persons, including corporations as well as individuals. It includes the study of property rights, contractual rights and obligations, wrongs (called 'torts') such as trespass and the negligent infliction of injury, and the law of equity and trusts.

Part D. Extending Specialised Knowledge and Advanced Skills: Law Electives

In later years of the course, you will be able to choose from a broad range of elective law units. High achieving students may also include one or two master's units in their final year of study. Elective law units enable you to develop specialised knowledge and advanced skills in areas of law that suit your own interests, skills and career goals. In addition to public and private law, these include international law, commercial law and human rights law. You will have opportunities to study overseas, and to undertake work-based learning, for example, in our legal clinical program and in local and international internships.

Psychology

The Bachelor of Psychology is structured in two parts: A. Psychology APAC accredited sequence, B. Psychology in practice and society. In this double degree you complete:

Part A. Psychology APAC Accredited Sequence

These studies will address core areas of psychology, including the theoretical and empirical basis of our current understanding of human psychology, brain function and evidence-based approaches to psychological intervention. Building a strong foundation in your understanding of psychology and neuroscience will enable you to appreciate the major challenges in psychology today and in the future. These studies will develop your understanding of scientific methodology and its application in psychology. You will learn to critically evaluate contemporary and historical claims relating to human behaviour and mental processes and apply your understanding to the generation of new research questions.

(This Psychology sequence is accredited by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC)).

Part B. Psychology in Practice and Society

These units of study will enable you to understand and apply knowledge to a range of contexts such as; personal, social, organisational, technological, global and use knowledge and its practice in an ethical manner, for the benefit of society in general.

Fees

Fees are subject to change annually.

International Fee

Fees are per 48 credit points which represents a standard full-time course load for a year. The fees for 2025 are:

A$51,600