PLEASE NOTE: Applications for International Law Moot for 2018 have closed. Applications for 2019 will open in the second half of 2018.

In summer 2018, students enrolled in International Law Moot will compete in the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.

Students enrolled in semester 1 2018 will compete in the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot.

For Summer (Jessup Moot):

Course Coordinator (for University administrative purposes only): Associate Professor Matthew Stubbs

Faculty (for Jessup Moot purposes) Advisor: Mark Giddings

Team Coach: TBC

For semester 1 (Manfred Lachs Moot):

Course Coordinator (for University administrative purposes only): Associate Professor Matthew Stubbs

Faculty (for Manfred Lachs Moot purposes) Advisor: TBC

Team Coach: TBC

The course is taught through irregular meetings and mooting sessions, scheduled as determined by the course coordinator in order to prepare adequately for the Jessup competition.

The full timetable of all activities for this course can, therefore, NOT be accessed from the Course Planner.

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

1	Undertake self-directed international legal research, analyse and synthesise international legal information and materials.
2	Apply international law to complex issues, and critique the law from a practical perspective, either individually or as part of a team.
3	Generate and structure appropriate and practical written and oral arguments for a specialist legal audience.
4	Undertake practical legal work at the highest level as a member of a team.
5	Analyse law from international and policy perspectives.
6	Reflect on their abilities to effectively undertake legal work as a member of a team.

For Summer: Jessup Moot Competition materials, available from https://www.ilsa.org/jessuphome

For Semester 1: Manfred Lachs Moot Competition materials, available from http://www.iislweb.org/lachsmoot/

• Stephen Hall, Principles of International Law (LexisNexis Butterworths, 4th ed, 2014).
• James Crawford, Brownlie’s Principles of Public International Law (Oxford University Press, 8th ed, 2012).
• Donald R Rothwell et al, International Law: Cases and Materials with Australian Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
• Gillian D Triggs, International Law: Contemporary Principles and Practices (LexisNexis Butterworths, 2nd ed, 2010).
• Vaughan Lowe, International Law (Oxford University Press, 2007).
• Malcolm N Shaw, International Law (Cambridge University Press, 6th ed, 2008).
• Peter Malanczuk (ed), Akehurst’s Modern Introduction to International Law(Routledge, 7th rev ed, 1997).
• Donald K Anton, Penelope Mathew and Wayne Morgan, International Law: Cases and Materials (Oxford University Press, 2005).
• Sam Blay, Ryszard Piotrowicz and Martin Tsamenyi, Public International Law: An Australian Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2005).
• Robert Jennings and Arthur Watts (eds), Oppenheim’s International Law (Longman, 9th ed, 1992).
• David Harris, Cases and Materials on International Law (Sweet and Maxwell, 7th ed, 2010).
• Anthony E Cassimatis et al, An Australian Companion to Harris (Lawbook Co, 2nd ed, 2011).
• Martin Dixon, Textbook on International Law (Oxford University Press, 6thed, 2007).
• Antonio Cassese, International Law (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2005).
• Australian Guide to Legal Citation (Melbourne University Law Review Association, 3rd ed, 2010).

Students are expected to check MyUni regularly to keep up to date with announcements, materials and learning resources throughout the course.

The required oral presentations (moots) will provide an opportunity for students to test their understanding of their work completed in preparing their group Memorials, and to refine their skills of oral advocacy.

Contact time: attend 36 hours of discussions and moots over the duration of the course.

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

Mooting of Memorial	In the weeks prior to submission of memorials
Final draft of Memorial submitted to course coordinator for comment	By negotiation
Submission of Memorials	In accordance with the Jessup Rules
Practice Moots	Between Memorial Submission and Departure for Canberra
Australian National Rounds (Canberra)	As announced by the National Administrator of the Jessup Moot Competition

You will be provided with after-hours access to the Law Library to facilitate your research in this course

Not applicable.

Assessment Item	Per cent of final mark	Dates	Length	Redeemable	Course Learning Outcomes
Group Memorials (Compulsory)	30%	In accordance with the Jessup Rules	In accorance with the Jessup Rules	No	1,2,3,4,5,6
Individual Oral Presentations (Compulsory)	70%	Various	N/A	No	3,4

Students should note that the majority of assessment in this course is individual. Marks in the course will, therefore, vary according to achievement (sheer effort is not rewarded).

The course is designed to provide students with the maximum amount of feedback permissible under the Jessup Moot rules. Students will receive prompt feedback on a draft of their Group Memorial, and at the conclusion of each practice oral presentation throughout the course. Feedback on the Group Memorial itself will be available after the Jessup Moot competition has concluded.

To be eligible to pass, students must: (1) attend all meetings and mooting sessions (except with prior approval from the course coordinator); and (2) complete all compulsory assessment.

Each item of assessment, and each meeting or mooting session, is indispensable to the team’s success. Failure by any student to complete any task would prevent the entire course from achieving its objectives, and will result in a fail grade

1.               Group Applicant and Respondent Memorials 30%

Due Date: In accordance with the Jessup Moot rules

Please note – compliance with the Jessup Moot rules relating to date and time of submission is required. Failure to meet the Jessup rules will be penalised – submitting a copy for assessment in this course by 2pm on the following day will be acceptable, providing the copies required by the Jessup rules are submitted within the timelines dictated by the Jessup rules.

The group memorials must comply with all rules specified in the International rules and National rules of the Jessup competition. Any failures to comply with those rules may be punished either in accordance with the provisions listed below, or in accordance with the rules (International and/or National) of the Jessup competition, or in any other appropriate manner at the discretion of the Course Coordinator.

The group memorials assessed will be those submitted by the team to the Jessup competition. The memorials will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Coherent organisation of memorial
• Logical structure of argument
• Clarity of expression
• Identification of relevant legal principles
• Identification of the sources and nature of those principles
• Identification of the application of the principles to the parties
• Appropriate argument for each party given the factual information provided
• Presentation of a balanced and persuasive argument (including acknowledgement and appropriate handling of weaknesses)
• Compliance with obligations to the court

Each member of the group will receive the group mark for this assessment item, except in exceptional circumstances. Without limiting the circumstances that will be considered relevant, a common mark is awarded to group work on the basis that the contribution and performance of each student has been roughly equal. Each student’s contribution is measured in respect of the quality of the academic work they individually performed within the group, but also takes into account their contribution to the group more broadly (including performance of administrative tasks, regularity and equity of contribution, cooperative behaviour, time and task management etc).

If inequity of contribution is identified as an issue, the student(s) involved will be informed of the manner in which it is believed that have performed unequally, and will be asked to explain their contribution to the group and justify why they believe they are entitled to share in the joint group mark. Having considered all relevant submissions from group members, the Course Coordinator will decide as to whether individual marks should be awarded to a student or students, and if so, what those marks should be.

Students experiencing group work issues are urged to contact the Course Coordinator at the earliest possible opportunity. When a difficulty is notified, action will then be taken to seek a cooperative solution to the problem. Difficulties notified only after group work has been completed are unlikely to justify separate marks being awarded.


2.               Oral Presentations 70%

Each student will be expected to participate in moots in Adelaide (most of which will be in January) in preparation for the oral rounds of the Jessup competition. Each student will be assessed on two oral presentations, which will be undertaken as close as possible to the team’s departure to Canberra. Each exercise will be marked by either the Course Coordinator or the guest judge, and an average of the two marks awarded will be credited to the final grade.

The assessment criteria will mainly follow the Jessup guidelines, which are:

• knowledge of law (approximately worth 30% of each oralist’s score);
• application of law to the facts (approximately worth 25% of each oralist’s score);
• ingenuity and ability to answer questions (approximately worth 30% of each oralist’s score);
• style, poise, courtesy and demeanour (approximately worth 10% of each oralist’s score); and
• time management and organization (approximately worth 5% of each oralist’s score).

The assessment criteria will also take into account your ability to anticipate and persuasively respond to your opponent’s argument, your compliance with appropriate ethical and procedural obligations, and the overall quality of your engagement with the judge(s).

The availability of a remark for oral presentation marks may, for practical reasons, be more limited than with written assessment. In the extremely unlikely event that you feel the final oral presentation mark awarded to you is not fair, I encourage you to discuss this with me. If there is a recording of your presentation (and some of your presentations will normally be recorded on MyUni) then the recording could be re-marked – you would have the usual 10 business days (from the date on which you are advised of your oral presentation marks) in which to lodge a remark application. If there are no recordings, and I am not convinced by your argument, the only avenue available would be a formal appeal under the provisions of the Student Grievance Resolution Process. No student has ever pursued a remark application or appeal in my time as Course Coordinator of the International Law Moots, but I include this information for the sake of completeness.

Students must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.

All assignments in this course are to be submitted electronically by email to the Team Coach. Students will be expected to comply with the declarations regarding academic integrity which are included in the course MyUni site.

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

The quality of English expression is considered to be an integral part of the assessment process.

Extensions: Requests for extensions must be made electronically according to law school policy. 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.

Penalties: For the Group Memorials, penalties for any breach of the Jessup Moot rules apply at the discretion of the Course Coordinator.

Turnaround time: Written feedback will be provided on the individual papers and draft memorials within one week of submission. Feedback on oral presentations will be provided at the conclusion of each moot session. The group memorials will be returned to students after the Jessup Moot competition is completed.

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 Honesty

Academic dishonesty is a serious act of academic misconduct. All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Honesty Policy.

Academic dishonesty is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic dishonesty (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 honesty 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.