Program Overview

La Trobe's Bachelor of Laws (Honours)/Bachelor of Global Studies is an immersive and flexible double degree giving you the skills and knowledge to succeed.

Become a legal expert with valuable expertise in global affairs. You'll develop your legal knowledge and skills as you build a deep understanding of global issues, diplomacy, politics, and international trade.

Your law degree will introduce you to the fundamentals of legal practice and build your skills in advocacy, negotiation, and dispute resolution – all highly valued by employers across a range of industries.

At the same time, your global studies degree will immerse you in a wide range of global issues, including international relations and geopolitics, contemporary security issues, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and contemporary armed conflict and terrorism. Tailor your studies to your interests with a choice of five curated majors – international relations, conflict and negotiation, Asian politics and security, government and policy, and human rights.

When it comes to learning, there's no substitute for hands-on experience. You'll have the opportunity to take on real-world work placements in settings such as community legal centres, law firms, government agencies, and with judges and magistrates (subject to availability) and bolster your education with a practical global studies placement subject. You could also put your legal skills to the test in law competitions, both locally and internationally.

You'll learn:

• Dispute resolution: Build key skills in negotiation and mediation to support your future practice. Learn about the processes of arbitration, conciliation, mediation, and negotiation in international disputes.
• Private and public law: Learn how to apply the legal principles underpinning contract law, develop the skills to specialise as a corporate legal expert, and discover how government power is distributed, exercised, and controlled.
• Global issues and organisations: Understand the complex systems, structures, laws, and practices that shape global issues from a range of political, social, legal, and cultural perspectives.
• Theory and practice of politics: Build your understanding of political systems, actors, and processes at local, national, and global levels.
• Grassroots development and sustainability: Global decisions have impacts on individual communities and environments. You'll explore how the big decisions impact the human quality of life and the environments we all depend on.

Major: Conflict and negotiation

A major in conflict and negotiation will train you to analyse the causes, conduct and resolution of a wide range of conflicts around the world.

In this major you will explore how military, political, and legal actors negotiate the conduct and settlement of war, deliver social and criminal justice, as well as struggle against state oppression and environmental degradation.

Across a range of global cases, you will learn about how conflicts are waged and develop appropriate responses that negotiate a variety of competing interests.

This major will connect you to experts in peace building, legal systems, political theory, nationalism, social movements, democracy and democratisation, climate change, and the history of Indigenous struggles.