Semester 1:

Course Coordinator: Assoc Prof Matthew Stubbs

Lecturers: Dr Francesco de Zwart

Seminar Leaders: Details will be advised on MyUni.

Semester 2:

Course Coordinator: Dr Francesco de Zwart

Lecturers:

Dr Francesco de Zwart
Other lecturers will be advised on MyUni

Seminar Leaders: Details will be advised on MyUni.

Contact details for consultation will be advised on MyUni.

This course will be taught intensely in the first three weeks of term, with up to 7 contact hours in these weeks. Thereafter the course will be taught in a 1 hour lecture and a two hour seminar weekly. A full timetable for the course is available on the MyUni course website.

Both Seminars and Lectures begin in Week One. It is essential that students attend from week 1. Those who miss the first three weeks will be unable to catch up with the course.

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1	Identify sources of law in Australia, analyse cases, apply principles of statutory interpretation, and undertake legal research at a foundational level using legal databases.
2	Apply basic strategies to solve legal problems, and engage with legal theories to critique the operation of the law.
3	Communicate effectively individually and as part of a team.  Work in collaboration with others to solve problems, prepare written documents, and deliver a presentation. Engage with team members in an ethical and professional manner.
4	Exercise professional judgement in the application of case law and statute to solve legal problems.
5	Analyse the impact of case law and statute from a policy perspective.  Appreciate the ethical dimension of the role of lawyers, and the functioning of law and legal systems.  Critically reflect on the operation of the law as a social institution in the context of Indigenous and theoretical perspectives.
6	Reflect on their ability to effectively undertake work as a member of a team.

The Legal Practitioners' Education and Admissions Council (LPEAC) sets rules for the academic requirements for admission to legal practice in South Australia.

Students must demonstrate a satisfactory level of understanding and application of 11 core areas of legal knowledge. This course teaches the following topics within these core areas:

ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY:
Professional and personal conduct in respect of a practitioner's duty:
(a) to the law;
(b) to the Courts.

• Lecture and Seminar Guide (on MyUni)
• Course Readings on MyUni
• Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) and Legislation Interpretation Act 2021 (SA)
• Robin Creyke et al, Laying Down the Law (LexisNexis, 11th ed, 2021) (the 10th or 9th editions are also fine)

• Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, 2018) Melbourne University Law Review Association, Melbourne (available for viewing on the web at http://law.unimelb.edu.au/mulr/aglc/about and available for purchase). A link has also been placed in the ‘Additional Materials’ folder on the MyUni subject website).
• A dictionary of legal terms such as LexisNexis, Concise Australian Legal Dictionary (6th ed, 2020) or Oxford, Australian Law Dictionary (3rd ed, 2018). Again this is a resource students will find useful throughout their degree.

The course is supported by the Foundations of Law MyUni website. The website contains links to the following resources:

1. Course information, including the lecture and seminar guide.
2. Course materials – such as items of assessment, lecture PowerPoint slides, and other course materials which will be posted from time to time.
3. Lectures – lecture recordings will be posted (where available) on MyUni as soon as possible after each lecture.
4. Discussion Forum – This is available for students to discuss the course among themselves and to communicate with academic staff in relation to administrative or substantive questions about the course.
5. Grades – where students’ grades will be entered for each assignment.

MyUni will also be used to post announcements, and assignment tasks. Students are expected to check MyUni regularly to keep up to date with these materials and additional learning resources throughout the course.

Students should also regularly check their email.

This course will be taught intensely in the first three weeks of term, with up to 7 contact hours in these weeks. Thereafter the course will be taught in a 1 hour lecture and a two hour seminar weekly. A full timetable for the course is available on the MyUni course website.

Lectures and seminars commence in the first week of semester.

Seminars examine and apply the material addressed in the lectures and in the readings, as well as covering new material that is better taught in a ‘hands-on’ way, such as legal research. It is essential to prepare for the seminars by undertaking the prescribed reading for the week and preparing the exercises.

In addition to attending formal classes it is anticipated that students will do substantial independent work to prepare for classes and to complete the course assignments. Students should expect to spend about 4 – 6 hours a week reading and preparing materials for lectures and seminars. In addition, students will expect to spend between 4-6 hours attending Court and preparing a report, 3-5 hours preparing for and completing the quizzes, 15-25 hours preparing for each of the two major assignments.

The University expects full time students (those undertaking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies.

Schedule

Week	Lecture	Seminar A	Seminar B	Assessment
MODULE A: SOURCES, LAWYERS AND CASES
Week   1	Wed 10am: The Concept of Law Thurs 2pm (2 hrs): Sources of Law / Doctrine of Precedent / Australian Courts	Introductions	The concept of law
Week 2	Wed 10am: Solving Legal Problems / McBain Case Analysis Thurs 2pm (2 hrs): Legal Profession / Re AJG Case Analysis	Sources of Law and Solving Legal Problems	The legal profession / Citation	Academic Honesty Quiz due Friday 2pm
Week 3	Wed 10am: Review of Case Analysis	Case analysis (Part 1)	Case Analysis (Part 2)
MODULE B: STATUTES
Week 4	Introduction to Legal Research	Legal Research (in a computer suite - see your timetable for location details)
Week 5	Wed 10am: Lecture/Workshop on Statutory Interpretation Problem Qu A	Statutory interpretation (pt 1)		Court Observation Exercise due Monday 2pm
Week 6	Wed 10am: Lecture/Workshop on Statutory Interpretation Problem Qu B	Statutory interpretation (pt 2)
MID SEMESTER BREAK
MODULE C: LEGAL THEORY AND INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES
Week 7	Wed 10am: Indigenous Perspectives and Legal Theory (pt 1)	No seminar		Case Analysis and Statutory Interpretation Assignment due Monday 2pm
Week 8	Wed 10am: Indigenous Perspectives and Legal Theory (pt 2)	No seminar
Week 9	Wed 10am: Indigenous Perspectives and Legal Theory (pt 3)	Reconciling Indigenous and non-Indigenous understandings of law
Week 10	Wed 10am: Indigenous Perspectives and Legal Theory (pt 4)	Revisiting the story of colonisation and the clash of legal systems
Week 11	Wed 10am: Statutory Interpretation Feedback	Aboriginal Heritage, Development and the Environment		Indigenous Perspectives and Legal Theory Quiz due Monday 2pm
Week 12	No lecture	No seminar
Week 13	No lecture	No seminar		Statutory Interpretation and Indigenous Perspectives & Legal Theory Assignment due Friday 2pm

**This program is subject to change. A more detailed progarm will be posted on MyUni in O'Week**

Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Weighting	Length	Redeemable	Learning Outcomes
Academic Honesty Quiz	Individual	Friday Week 2, 2pm	2%	10 questions	No	1,2,4
Court Report	Group or Individual	Monday Week 5, 2pm	3%	3 pages	No	1,3,5,6
Case Analysis and Statutory Interpretation Assignment	Individual	Tuesday Week 7, 2pm	45%	2000 words	Yes (providing minimum 40% / bona fide effort - see below)	1,2,4,5
Indigenous Perspectives and Legal Theory Quiz	Individual	Monday Week 11, 2pm	5%	10 questions	No	1,2,5
Statutory Interpretation & Indigenous Perspectives & Legal Theory Assignment	Individual	Friday Week 13, 2pm	45% or 90%	2500 words	N/A	1,2,4,5

Redeemable grades

The Academic Honesty Quiz, Indigenous Perspectives and Legal Theory Quiz and Court Report components of the interim assessment are not redeemable.

In order to redeem an interim assessment mark for the Case Analysis and Statutory Interpretation Assignment, a student must achieve 40% or a bona fide effort as assessed by the course coordinator in that item of interim assessment.

Court Report (3%)

Student groups (of 2 or 3) are required to observe a South Australian Court while in session and each group must submit a report based on their observations that responds to specific questions [students who are unable to attend court may, on application, be permitted to submit an individual court report based on a virtual court tour instead]. Instructions and questions to be answered will be posted on MyUni. The reports must be submitted by Monday of Week 5 at 2 pm and are worth 3% of the grade for the course.

Academic Honesty Quiz (2%)

Students are required to complete a 10 question quiz as their first item of assessment in Law School, in order to familiarise them with the expected standards of Academic Honesty required at Adelaide Law School. Students can take this quiz multiple times, but must score 80% or more in the quiz on at least one attempt in order to receive any marks for this item of assessment (e.g. if a student's highest mark in this quiz is 70%, they will receive 0/2 for this assessment; if their highest mark is 90%, they will receive 1.8/2 for this assessment).

Indigenous Perspectives and Legal Theory Quiz (5%)

Students are required to complete a 10 question quiz to test their understanding of the material covered in the videos of the Indigenous Perspectives and Legal Theory Module of the course.

Analysis and Interpretation Assignment (45%)

The Analysis and Interpretation Assignment comprises two parts. In part 1 students will be given a passage from a judgment in a case, and will be required to answer questions similar to those modelled in the seminars on case analysis. In part 2 students will undertake a process of statutory interpretation in a form similar to the exercises undertaken in seminars. Detailed instructions with marking criteria will be distributed with the Assignment.

Statutory Interpretation & Indigenous Perspectives & Legal Theory Assignment (45%)

This assignment comprises two parts. In part 1, students will undertake a process of statutory interpretation in a form similar to the exercises undertaken in seminars. In part 2, students will answer questions addressing the Indigenous Perspectives and Legal Theory module of the course. Detailed instructions with marking criteria will be distributed with the Assignment.

All assessments will be submitted and monitored through text or code comparative software (e.g. Turnitin) where possible.

Submission requirements for each piece of assessment will be set out in the information provided when the assessment item is released. Students should read the information on MyUni carefully in relation to submitting each piece of assessment and follow the instructions.

Extensions

Extensions beyond the due date will only be granted in the case of serious and unforeseen incapacity. Extensions will be granted only for unexpected illness, hardship or on compassionate grounds in accordance with University Policy. Work commitments, travel, holidays or sporting engagements are NOT unexpected circumstances. If you require an extension, you will need to use the on-line application form available on Unified as soon as you are aware of the need for an extension, and before the due date of the assignment.

The course coordinator will reply by email, determining whether an extension is warranted, what evidence is required to verify the student’s incapacity, and the length of the extension. Evidence of the incapacity must be submitted with the assignment, and must be consistent with details in the email requesting the extension. If the details of the request for an extension, and the medical or other evidence verifying the extension are not consistent in all respects, the extension is nullified, and the assignment may be penalised.

All written work in the Law school is required to comply with the approved Law School style guide, the Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

Penalties:

1. Late Submission: 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that submission is late, including each day on a weekend. For example, an essay that is submitted after the due date and time but within the first 24 hour period, and that has been graded at 63%, will have 5% deducted, for a final grade of 58%. An assignment that is more than 24 hours late will lose 10%, etc. Hard copy submissions made after 5.00pm on a Friday will be assumed to have been submitted on the next business day and will be penalised accordingly.
2. Word Length: Assignments which exceed the allocated length (word length ) will be subject to a penalty of 5% of total marks possible per 100 words or part thereof (ie with a word limit of 1,250, an essay graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is 1,251 words long, for a final grade of 58%, 10% if it is 1,351 words long, etc). Words are calculated including all footnotes and headings within the text but excluding cover page information. Quotations and all referencing information are included in the word count.

Finality of Assessment Grades

Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).

Moderation

In accordance with the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:

• assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
• detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
• sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
• reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
• comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
• automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
• the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.

Approval of Results by Board of Examiners

Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the University are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester.

The University Writing Centre provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the University of Adelaide.

The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

Lex Salus Program

Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.

Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our Facebook page, website and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.

Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.

Student Life Counselling Support

The University’s Student Life Counselling Support service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life.

Academic Integrity

All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Integrity Policy. Academic Misconduct is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic Misconduct (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia. Academic Integrity is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.