Juris Doctor Online

Legal Foundations is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online. It introduces students to the sources, authority, and institutional structure of Australian law. The subject situates legal doctrine within historical, Indigenous, international and political contexts, examining how legal power is constituted, justified, and contested. Students engage with competing theoretical perspectives on law, legitimacy, and justice, and analyse the foundational concepts that underpin the Australian legal system. The subject develops foundational written and oral legal argument skills and establishes the analytical and contextual framework for later doctrinal and skills-based subjects.

Legal Skills is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online. It develops the core methods, reasoning processes, and communication practices used in professional legal work. Students learn how to research, interpret, and apply statutes and cases; analyse legal problems; and select appropriate dispute-resolution strategies. The subject emphasises professional written and oral communication, ethical decision-making, and applied problem-solving through structured exercises and simulated practice contexts. It provides an essential bridge between foundational legal knowledge and advanced doctrinal and practice-oriented subjects.

Contract Law is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online. It examines the principles governing the formation, content, enforcement, and termination of contracts, including capacity, consideration, privity, vitiating factors, discharge, remedies, and assignment. Contract doctrine is analysed within its commercial, social, and regulatory contexts, with attention to both common law and statutory frameworks. Students develop advanced doctrinal reasoning, risk assessment, and professional advisory skills relevant to contractual transactions. The subject covers the prescribed areas of knowledge in satisfaction of the academic requirements for admission as a legal practitioner.

Tort Law is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online. It explores the principles governing civil liability for harm, including intentional torts, negligence, statutory civil liability regimes, and emerging forms of responsibility. Students analyse how liability is allocated across complex factual scenarios and how responsibility is translated into remedies. The subject emphasises rigorous doctrinal reasoning alongside critical evaluation of the policy and normative foundations of tort law. Through applied problem-solving, students develop advanced skills in legal analysis and professional argument. The subject covers the prescribed areas of knowledge in satisfaction of the academic requirements for admission as a legal practitioner.  

Criminal Law and Procedure is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online. It integrates substantive criminal law with criminal process within the Australian legal system, with a particular focus on Queensland criminal law and procedure. The subject covers offence elements, doctrines of criminal responsibility, defences, procedural safeguards, investigative powers, and trial processes. Students analyse criminal liability and adjudicative fairness in complex scenarios, drawing on both statutory and common law sources. The subject situates criminal law within broader ethical, institutional, and social contexts, including its impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and develops foundational oral communication and advocacy skills. The subject covers the prescribed areas of knowledge in satisfaction of the academic requirements for admission as a legal practitioner.  

Property Law is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online. It examines the nature of property and the creation, recognition, and protection of proprietary interests. The subject addresses common law, equitable, and statutory regimes governing land and other property, including registration systems and native title. Students engage in applied problem-solving to resolve competing claims and remedies. The subject emphasises dispute resolution strategies and skills relevant to property transactions and prepares students for advanced commercial and practice-based subjects. The subject covers the prescribed areas of knowledge in satisfaction of the academic requirements for admission as a legal practitioner.

Constitutional Law is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online program offered by the Faculty of Law. It examines Australian constitutional law in both a local and a comparative context, considering State and Commonwealth constitutions and constitutional systems. Topics considered include the rule of law, the separation of powers, principles of constitutional interpretation, the rules governing exercises of legislative, executive and judicial power, constitutional change, constitutional principles relating to individual rights and freedoms, the relationship between federal, state and territory governments including inconsistency of laws, and fiscal federalism.

Company Law is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online. It examines the legal regulation of companies and corporate activity, including corporate personality, incorporation, governance, directors’ duties, shareholder rights, fundraising, and insolvency. Students analyse corporate rights and obligations within complex commercial contexts through statutory interpretation, doctrinal analysis, and professional simulations. Emphasis is placed on business and commercial acumen, ethical and professional judgment, and effective communication in corporate advisory settings. The subject covers the prescribed areas of knowledge in satisfaction of the academic requirements for admission as a legal practitioner.

Equity is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online program offered by the Faculty of Law. It examines the law of equity, including the nature of equity; equitable rights, titles and interests; equitable assignments; estoppel in equity; fiduciary obligations; unconscionable transactions; and equitable remedies. It also includes an examination of trusts, with particular reference to the various types of trusts and the manner and form of their creation and variation; the duties, rights and powers of trustees; the consequences of breach of trust; and the remedies available to, and respective rights of, beneficiaries.

Administrative Law is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online program offered by the Faculty of Law. It examines administrative law with a focus upon organisation and structure of the administration; administrative law theory; common law and statutory avenues of judicial review at Commonwealth and State level; grounds of judicial review; remedies; Crown immunity; the Commonwealth Administrative Review Tribunal, and the State and Territory Administrative Tribunals; statutory review; and freedom of information.  

Evidence is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online program offered by the Faculty of Law. It examines evidence law and practice in civil and criminal proceedings, focusing on the basic principles and categories of evidence, competence, compellability and examination of witnesses, privilege, the hearsay rule and its exceptions, admissions and confessions, and illegally obtained evidence.

Civil Dispute Resolution is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online program offered by the Faculty of Law. It examines the formalities involved in bringing civil proceedings, with a focus upon court adjudication under an adversary system; the cost of litigation and the use of costs to control litigation; service of originating process; joinder of claims and parties; defining the questions for trial; obtaining evidence; disposition without trial, including the compromise of litigation; extra-judicial determination of issues arising in the course of litigation; judgment; appeal; enforcement. Litigation proceedings are contrasted and compared with alternative dispute resolution measures and requirements. The professional obligations of practitioners engaged in litigation and dispute resolution, and the obligations of parties involved in disputes are also considered.

Ethics and Professional Responsibility is a compulsory subject in the Juris Doctor Online program offered by the Faculty of Law. It examines the regulation of the legal profession and the scope of lawyers’ professional responsibilities, with a focus on the practitioner's duties to the law, to the courts, to clients, and to fellow practitioners. It includes an introduction to the principles relating to the holding of money on trust.

Law Placement is a compulsory final semester subject in the Juris Doctor Online program offered by the Faculty of Law. It provides students with the opportunity to gain practical experience in a legal workplace. The subject aims to develop students' understanding of legal practice and enhance their skills in a professional legal environment. The student must complete at least 15 days in an approved legal workplace.