Leo Cussen Institute

Average quality. Your experience, stress, workload, enjoyment all seem to be based on chance. The experience can be relatively pleasant if you happen to get a good mentor ( a lawyer that works with a group of ~15 'students' to correct work and give guidance ). If you don't , well that's just bad luck and you may do more work than others, stress more than your peers.

Visiting Barristers and lawyers teach most of the content. This is also variable quality. Almost none have any teaching qualifications or experience. The most you'll see is the mentors, who all have a certificate IV in education and training.

This PLT industry is almost entirely unregulated and unsupervised. Quality is from mediocre to horrible.

Many students do not enjoy the experience. The course was created at some point in the past, and aside from small tweaks, it seems fairly rooted in an outdated model.

The computer systems onsite are from 2008. The buildings are relatively unchanged from the 1970s.

The tone from management varies from slight condescension to outright condescension..

Approximate cost: $9999

I completed my postgraduate diploma in legal practice here in 2010 and was very pleased with everything. It was 5 months on-site training. Everyday was new and different. The teaching consisted of lectures, tutorials and independent study. Teachers were industry professionals, some quite well known. Assessments were relevant and mimicked real-life practice. This course culminated in my admission to practice, at the Supreme Court of Victoria. As a side note this school boasts the fact that it trained Julia Gillard some nearly 20 years ago! As a legal professional I continue my CPD training with Leo Cussen.

Approximate cost: $7500