Laws and Engineering

Laws and Engineering is a double degree which develops your powers of analysis and legal reasoning, as well as building the creative thinking and technical skills required in your chosen field of engineering. This degree presents career options for either field, or one which combines the two.

Deepening your understanding of how technology and the law interact, this double degree course produces engineers skilled in the legal, corporate and commercial fields. The need for legally trained engineering graduates continues to grow, with opportunities arising in areas such as project management, research and development, consulting and construction law.

The study of law develops problem-solving skills and powers of analysis. It teaches precise and imaginative use of language. The study of engineering develops creative thinking, your problem solving skills and team-based skills alongside technical savvy. The combination is a winner.

This course leads to two separate degrees. Depending upon your specialisation, you will be awarded one of:

  • the Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (Honours), or
  • the Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (Honours), or
  • the Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours), or
  • the Bachelor of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering (Honours),

or

  • the Bachelor of Materials Engineering (Honours), or
  • the Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Honours), or

and also

  • the Bachelor of Laws (Honours).

You will gain all the benefits of each degree course and be fully equipped to pursue a career in either separately or both in combination. Law firms need lawyers with technical expertise and the engineering industry needs technical specialists with legal knowledge. Demand for these skills is high.

For example, graduates may work in legal teams at large engineering, manufacturing and technology firms. This could be as a specialist construction and engineering solicitor or barrister, or in intellectual property law focusing on patents and designs, copyright and competition law. Alternatively, graduates may work as an engineer with national and multinational engineering and construction corporations or in areas such as project management, minerals exploration and mining.

This course requires students to complete a total of 420 hours of continuous professional development, in order to graduate. This professional development may be in the form of 12 weeks of relevant vacation employment or an equivalent combination of approved professional development and/or engineering employment, taken throughout the duration of the course. Students are required to submit a series of reflections on their experience, with particular reference to development of each of the key Engineers Australia Stage 1 competencies.