Extracted from the Memorandum and Articles of Association. 

Eligibility for membership as Fellow

A person who:

  • is a registered medical practitioner or dentist with the appropriate licensing authority in Australia or New Zealand or, if from another jurisdiction, a Council approved licensing authority; and
  • holds a qualification in legal or forensic medicine which the Council considers appropriate, being at least a bachelor's degree or the equivalent in law, or a master's degree in medical law relevant to the practice of legal medicine, or a master's degree or equivalent relevant to the practice of forensic medicine; and
  • has successfully completed the expert witness program, the law intensive courses and an examination, each conducted by the College, within two years following the date of an application for membership as a Fellow; and
  • has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Council that he or she has completed at least 6 years of clinical practice relevant to legal and/or forensic medicine; and
  • check
    has attained membership as an Associate or as a Member of the College

is eligible to apply for membership as a Fellow of the College.

A Fellow is entitled to claim his or her membership of the College as having specialist knowledge, skill and experience in legal and/or forensic medicine.
A Fellow is entitled to use the abbreviation "FACLM" after his or her name and primary qualifications to denote his or her status as having specialist knowledge, skill and experience in legal and/or forensic medicine.

Eligibility for membership as Member

A person who:

  • is a registered medical practitioner or dentist with the appropriate licensing authority in Australia or New Zealand or, if from another jurisdiction, a Council approved licensing authority; and
  • holds a graduate qualification in the field of law which the Council considers appropriate, being at least a graduate diploma or equivalent relevant to legal medicine, or being at least a graduate diploma or equivalent relevant to forensic medicine (for example a diploma in medical jurisprudence); and
  • has successfully completed the expert witness program, the law intensive courses and an examination, each conducted by the College, within two years following the date of an application for membership as a Member; and
  • has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Council that he or she hascompleted at least 3 years of clinical practice relevant to legal and/orforensic medicine; and
  • check
    has attained membership as an Associate or as a Member of the College

is eligible to apply for membership as a Member of the College.

A Member is not entitled to claim his or her membership as a Member of the College as denoting specialist knowledge, skill and experience, but may use the abbreviation "MACLM" after his or her name and primary qualifications to signify membership as a Member of the College.

Eligibility for membership as an Associate member

A person who:

  • is a registered medical practitioner or dentist with the appropriate licensing authority in Australia or New Zealand or, if from another jurisdiction, a Council approved licensing authority; and
  • is currently undertaking, or in the foreseeable future is proposing to undertake, a graduate qualification relevant to legal or forensic medicine; or
  • is currently practicing in a field of medicine or dentistry which the Council considers relevant to legal and/or forensic medicine, but who is not undertaking or proposing to undertake, a graduate qualification relevant to legal or forensic medicine; or
  • check
    has successfully completed the graduate requirements for membership as a Member or as a Fellow, but who is yet to complete the expert witness
    program, the law intensives and an examination, each conducted by the College;

is eligible to apply for membership as an Associate member of the College.

An Associate Member is not entitled to claim his or her membership of the College as denoting specialist knowledge, skill and experience, nor may any abbreviations be used after his or her name to signify membership of the College.

Eligibility for membership as an Affiliate member

A person who:

  • is a health practitioner, not being a medical practitioner or dentist, registered with the appropriate licensing authority, who has formal legal training and/or who works in the field of legal or forensic medicine; or
  • is a registered legal practitioner.

is eligible to apply for membership as an Affiliate member of the College.

There is no College post-nominal to be used by an Affiliate. An Affiliate otherwise enjoys all College privileges and opportunities and will pay subscription fees.

Eligibility for membership as an Student member

A person who:

  • is a registered medical or dental student with a College approved university and is currently undertaking, or planning to undertake, a qualification relevant to legal or forensic medicine.

is eligible to apply for membership as a Student Member of the College.

There is no annual subscription fee for student members. A Student Member does not have the right to vote, to nominate, or to hold office in the College and there is no College post-nominal to be used by a Student Member. A Student Member otherwise enjoy all College privileges and opportunities,
including access to the College website, and will pay no subscription fees.

Eligibility for membership as a Retired member

A person who:

  • has been a financial member of the College and has now reached retirement through age or ill health and wishes to continue association with the College.

Retired members continue to pay a reduced annual subscription fee as approved by the College Council.

A retired member does not have the right to vote, to nominate, or to hold office in the College. Retired members otherwise enjoy all College privileges and opportunities.

Other categories of membership

  • Members or those considered to have made extraordinary contributions to the College may be elected to the positions of either Honorary Fellowship or Life Fellowship of the College. These categories cannot be applied for, they are by invitation only.

    • Appeals process

    The appeals process is outlined in the Memorandum and Articles of Association section 10A.

    Maintaining your membership status

    It is a requirement that relevant, continuing professional development is undertaken to maintain Fellowship, Membership or Associateship, with the
    relevance of the professional development undertaken to be determined by Council as required.

    Recommended Post Graduate or Diploma courses

    Melbourne University and Sydney University both offer a Masters in Health Law; Monash University offers a Masters of Forensic Medicine; and a number of universities offer courses in health law, forensics, and criminology at certificate and graduate diploma level.