What does a law degree in New Zealand involve?

Short answer first: six universities teach the Bachelor of Laws in New Zealand: Auckland, Waikato, Victoria University of Wellington, Canterbury, Otago and AUT. The LLB takes four years, and four of the six limit entry to second-year law, so your first-year marks decide if you go on. Otago caps it at 300 domestic places; Auckland guarantees entry at a LawGPA of 6.50. The New Zealand Council of Legal Education sets the core subjects. After the degree comes Profs, 13 weeks full time or its equivalent, then admission in the High Court.

This guide is for someone choosing a law school, or already sitting first-year law and working out what the next three years hold. It puts the six schools side by side wherever their rules differ, and it follows the degree through to the day you are admitted as a barrister and solicitor.

Where can you study law in New Zealand?

Law is a four-year undergraduate degree at every school, and the same Council oversees all six: the deans of the six law faculties sit on the Council of Legal Education as ex officio members. Getting into first year is mostly a matter of University Entrance, covered in our guide to moving from NCEA to university.

• Auckland's LLB is four years and 480 points. Its programme page combines compulsory and elective law courses with non-law courses from another degree.
• Otago's LLB is four years and 504 points. Its regulations include 108 points of papers from other programmes and two research skills requirements, LAWS 398 and LAWS 498.
• Waikato teaches all four years in Tauranga as well as Hamilton. Its Bachelor of Laws page lists two intakes, in February and July, and a two-year Diploma in Law in Tauranga that can be credited to the degree.
• Victoria requires 480 points, 390 of them in law. Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington's 2026 undergraduate guide says about 80 per cent of students add a second degree.
• A Juris Doctor is approved but not running. The Council has approved a JD proposal from Auckland, and says the Auckland JD is not yet on stream.

The four-year length is the same everywhere, but the first year is not. Each school decides how much law you take in year one and how hard it is to stay, which is the real difference between them.

What do you study in first-year law?

First-year law sits alongside non-law courses or papers from another degree, from half the year at AUT to a single law paper at Otago. Those non-law results count at some schools, so they deserve the same effort.

• Auckland: three law courses. LAW 121G Law and Society in Semester One, then LAW 131 Legal Method and LAW 141 Legal Foundations in Semester Two, with five non-law courses around them.
• Victoria: three law courses and MAOR 126. LAWS 121 Introduction to New Zealand Legal System comes first and is a prerequisite for LAWS 122 Introduction to Case Law and LAWS 123 Introduction to Statute Law.
• Canterbury: two law courses. LAWS101 Legal System: Legal Method and Institutions runs all year, alongside LAWS110 Legal Foundations, Research and Writing.
• Otago: one law paper. LAWS 101 The Legal System is taught in three lectures and one tutorial or workshop a week, all to be attended in person.
• Waikato: three law papers. Its 2027 law regulations list LEGAL103 Legal Method A, LEGAL104 Legal Method B and LEGAL106 Legal Systems and Societies.
• AUT: two 30-point courses. Its Bachelor of Laws page lists LAWS509 Legal Reasoning and Writing and LAWS510 Tikanga Māori and the Settler State Legal System of Aotearoa New Zealand, with 60 points from another degree.

Notice how much of the first year is legal method: reading cases, reading statutes and writing about them. Those skills carry every later course, so treat them as the foundation, not a warm-up.

How do you get into second-year law?

Here the schools part ways. Four select on marks against a limited number of places, and two promise a place once you meet a standard.

• Auckland's LawGPA double-counts two courses. The Part II application page weights LAW 131 and LAW 141 twice, LAW 121G once and your best 60 points of eligible non-law courses once; the minimum typically lands between 5.0 and 6.5.
• Auckland's Part II calendar runs from October to December. It recommends applying by 1 October, takes UTAS, GPA variation and hardship applications by 9 October, closes on 1 December and releases outcomes in late December.
• Otago decides in December and January. Its 2026 explanatory notes set the 1 October deadline, a qualifying mark in The Legal System fixed each year, and 15 November for claims that your record does not reflect your ability.
• Victoria ranks on your LAWS grades. Its limited entry page gives first-time applicants who have passed MAOR 126 preference, then ranks by LAWS grade point average when places run short.
• Canterbury looks at the whole first year. Its entry page bases admission on LAWS101, LAWS110 and your other first-year courses.

Māori and Pacific admission routes

Victoria reserves 10 per cent of 200-level places for Māori students through its Māori Admissions Process and 5 per cent for Pasifika students through Targeted Admissions for Pasifika Achievement, both with an interview panel. Otago considers applicants of Māori descent against a minimum academic standard it determines, once ancestry is verified. Auckland's UTAS reserves places for Tauira Māori, Moana Oceania students and other equity groups, open to those who finish Part I with at least a C+ average. Canterbury runs two discretionary applications, Te Tono Whakatapoko and Tagata o le Moana.

Which subjects does the Council of Legal Education require?

The LLB is a professional degree, so part of it is fixed by regulation rather than by your school. The Professional Examinations in Law Regulations 2008, in the Council's version consolidated on 2 March 2026, set out what every law graduate must pass.

• Seven subjects of examination. The Legal System, the Law of Contracts, the Law of Torts, Criminal Law, Public Law, Property Law, and Tikanga Māori | Māori laws and philosophy, the last inserted in 2025.
• Property Law can be split. The regulations treat Land Law plus Equity and the Law of Succession as its equivalent, and Auckland, for one, teaches LAW 305 Land Law and LAW 304 Equity as separate compulsory courses.
• Tikanga Māori applies if you started from 2025. The transitional rule exempts anyone who commenced or completed the LLB before 1 January 2025. In a statement dated 23 May 2025 on its home page, the Council records that Parliament disallowed two provisions on Wednesday 21 May, one of them a paragraph of the definition of the Tikanga Māori Requirements; the consolidated text marks both repealed.
• Legal Ethics is required for admission. Auckland lists LAW 458 Legal Ethics as an elective that is required if you intend to practise, Victoria names LAWS 334, and Waikato makes LEGAL436 mandatory for anyone seeking admission.
• Core exams are moderated nationally. Except for the Legal System, each exam paper is settled with a moderator appointed by the Council, and the marked scripts are assessed by a teacher from another university.

That moderation has a practical side. Waikato warns that, under the Council's moderation requirements, you may have to sit exams for the core papers in person in Hamilton or Tauranga, even where the rest of the paper runs online.

Can you combine law with another degree?

Many law students do; at Victoria it is about 80 per cent. The combined degree has different names, conjoint at Auckland, Victoria and Waikato and double degree at Otago, Canterbury and AUT, and different lengths.

• Victoria: usually five and a half years. Its undergraduate guide gives that length for an LLB combined with another degree.
• Canterbury: five and a half years with a three-year degree. The 2026 LLB handbook names LLB/BCom, LLB/BA, LLB/BCJ and LLB/BSc as common choices.
• Otago: typically about five years. Its law study page gives that length, and the LLB regulations allow up to 180 points of 100- and 200-level papers to be cross-credited between the two degrees.
• Auckland: six partner degrees. The conjoints pair the LLB or LLB(Hons) with a BA, BCom, BHSc, Bachelor of Global Studies, BMus or BSc, and entry requirements are higher than for the LLB alone.

A second degree changes the first year too. Your non-law courses are the first steps of the other degree, so choose them for that degree's prerequisites as well as for your Part II application.

How is law taught and assessed?

Teaching styles differ by school, and so do the rules on tests and exams. What follows is what the schools publish.

• Victoria teaches by the Socratic method. Its undergraduate guide says you will be questioned on your set readings during lectures.
• Canterbury grades most full-year subjects on a test and a final exam. Its handbook adds essays in some subjects, allows no resubmissions or re-sits, and deducts 1 per cent of the marks for every 1 per cent over a word limit.
• Special consideration at Canterbury covers tests and exams only. You apply within five working days; for essays and assignments the Faculty offers an extension process instead. For how this works elsewhere, see our guide to exams and special consideration.
• Auckland requires attendance in internally assessed courses. Its law examinations page also describes papers in lieu of an examination in some courses, and recounts, not re-marks, within seven weeks.
• Open or restricted book depends on the paper. Auckland's book designations let you bring books, dictionaries or Acts into an open book exam, and only examiner-specified material into a restricted one.
• Generative AI is misconduct unless permitted. Canterbury's handbook lists using an AI tool in a way not expressly permitted, or without acknowledging it as instructed, as academic misconduct.

Answering problem questions

Canterbury's grade descriptors show what markers reward. An A+ answer identifies and answers all the major points and canvasses alternative arguments; a bare pass raises about half the issues. So find every issue in the facts first, then state the rule, apply it to those facts and reach a conclusion before you move on.

Referencing with the NZLSG

Victoria's library describes the New Zealand Law Style Guide as the Faculty of Law's official referencing style, to be used in all writing for the Faculty. Auckland's library notes it is a footnote style, now in its third edition. Learn it in first year, while your assignments are still short.

What is Profs?

After the LLB you complete the Professional Legal Studies Course, known as Profs. The Council's regulations describe a national course of 13 weeks full time, or the equivalent for other ways of delivering it, training you in skills such as interviewing, advising, drafting, negotiation, mediation and advocacy.

• Two providers run it. The College of Law New Zealand and the Institute of Professional Legal Studies, which the Council describes as its own provider arm.
• The College of Law offers three lengths. Its Profs page lists 13 weeks at 37 hours of study a week, 18 weeks at 27 hours and 40 weeks at 12 hours, with courses starting every fortnight.
• No exams at the College of Law. You complete practice-based tasks and three workshops, in interviewing and advising, negotiation and mediation, and advocacy, assessed as achieved or not yet achieved.
• StudyLink depends on the length. IPLS says its 13-week and 18-week options count as full-time study for loans and allowances, while the College of Law says its 40-week option does not qualify for living costs or the Student Allowance.
• You can start before your results arrive. IPLS lets you begin after your last LLB exam or final piece of coursework, and puts your course on hold if you then fail a paper.

How are you admitted as a barrister and solicitor?

Admission is governed by Part 3 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006. Under section 49, a New Zealand graduate qualifies by holding every qualification the Council of Legal Education prescribes, being a fit and proper person and meeting the admission rules. The Law Society's admission page turns that into steps.

1. Finish the LLB, including Legal Ethics, and complete Profs.
2. Apply to the Council for a certificate of completion. Its page for New Zealand graduates asks you to allow 6 to 8 weeks, and the standard fee is 200 New Zealand dollars including GST.
3. Apply to the Law Society for a certificate of character.
4. File your application for admission in the High Court, with both certificates attached, at least one month before a scheduled group admission hearing.
5. Take the oath in court, then apply to the Law Society for a practising certificate.

• Fit and proper has a statutory checklist. Section 55 lets the High Court or the Law Society consider good character, bankruptcy and convictions, including the nature of an offence, the time since and your age then.
• The certificate of completion expires. The regulations make it valid for three calendar years, and the Council may reassess any qualification for admission that is 10 or more years old.
• Without a practising certificate you are not a lawyer. The Law Society says people without a current certificate cannot describe themselves as lawyers.

The oath under section 52 is a promise to "truly and honestly conduct myself in the practice of a barrister and solicitor". With the High Court's order you are admitted to the roll of barristers and solicitors, and the practising certificate is the last step before you can work as a lawyer.

How do you study law week to week?

Law rewards steady reading more than late cramming, because each course builds on cases you were meant to read in week two. A simple routine keeps you ahead.

Before each class

Read the set cases and statutes, and write a short note on each case: the facts that mattered, the issue, the decision and the reasoning. At Victoria you may be questioned on those readings in the lecture itself, so the note doubles as preparation.

Each week

Rewrite the week's cases into your outline for that subject under the issue they decide. Then answer one past or tutorial problem question against the clock, and test yourself on the leading cases without notes, using active recall rather than rereading.

Where Notibo fits

Notibo is a study aid for the reading and lecture side of law. It records a lecture on a computer, or takes an audio file you upload, and produces a transcript and structured notes; on Pro it also makes flashcards from the recording and schedules them for spaced repetition. It also turns PDF, PPTX and DOCX files into notes and flashcards, which suits long judgments and readings; turning a PDF into notes and flashcards shows the method. Recording a lecture needs permission, so read our guide to recording lectures first.

You can correct the transcript and notes in the app and export them as PDF or Word. You get Pro free for 14 days, with 240 minutes of audio, and no card is asked for. After those 14 days the free plan covers 30 minutes of audio a month; Pro is 9.99 euro a month or 88.99 euro a year. Files are stored in the EU, transcription and the AI notes run on US processors under standard contractual clauses, and audio is deleted once the transcript and notes are saved.