1. Most law students start work with only an undergraduate law degree. It would be rare for a student to go straight from an LLB to an LLM without getting into the work force first - unless they were looking at going on to do research/academia. So, starting salaries are really based on LLB graduates, not LLM graduates. Unless there is practical experience to back up the LLM, it is unlikely to make any difference in the starting salary. I don't actually have any statistics, but in the big firms, graduates would probably start on between $50,000 and $60,000. Small to medium firms would be less than this.
2. To be eligible for admission to the legal profession in Queensland, anyone with an overseas law degree must have that degree 'assessed' to determine which courses they need to do to satisfy the academic requirements for admission - http://www.law.uq.edu.au/evaluation-of-overseas-qualifications. Once they have completed the academic requirements, they then need to satisfy the practical legal training requirements ie either a one-year traineeship OR a practical legal training program (which would be the more likely option for OS students). Unfortunately students from civil law backgrounds like China are usually required to complete ALL the compulsory courses for a law degree, which means over 2 years of full time study to satisfy the academic requirements.
3. Job prospects are probably not great. There are a lot of law graduates coming out of Queensland each year and positions, especially with the medium to large firms, are very competitive. If the OS students have something special to offer in the way of previous experience which might appeal to specialist firms, they will have a better chance. But, if they are just competing against Australian graduates for graduate positions, then it will be tough going.
4.There is nothing stopping students from doing the #24 LLM (Adv) which contains a compulsory #4 research component. Aside from this, their only other option would be an MPhil or PhD.
5.Unfortunately there is no practical component to the LLM; it is purely coursework. The only opportunity for work experience would be positions advertised by firms, and these would be extremely competitive.
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