2Professor (Dr) Christopher Symes
Room 2.23
Phone 8313 4452

Email christopher.f.symes@adelaide.edu.au
(note this is a little different to most email addresses at Uni of Adelaide)

No other staff teach this course

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

1. Identify the informal and formal insolvency procedures available to corporate Australia, the legal principles governing the cross border insolvency and the key economic and social aspects of the practice of corporate insolvency law

2. Explain, analyse, evaluate, synthesise and solve practical issues about corporations, corporate officers, shareholders and creditors in the insolvency setting

3. Write clearly and concisely about Corporate Insolvency Law 

4. Apply excellent research skills to identify and effectively use Corporate Insolvency Law resources

5. Develop critical thinking about how to improve Corporate Insolvency Law

6. Comment on the ethical development of Corproate Insolvency Law

The textbook used is Symes & Duns, Australian Insolvency Law (3rd ed, 2015) combined with Symes, Brown, Wellard, Australian Insolvency Law Cases and Materials (2016)

Students will also require a copy/access of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and any of the legal publisher’s versions (lexisnexis, Thomson Reuters or CCH) is acceptable.

Murray & Harris, Keay's Insolvency Personal and Corporate Law 10th edition 2018

Throughout the course a list of other resources will be provided on MyUni

This course will use MyUni for announcements, display of Powerpoint slides, lecture outlines and any additional case and other material required to be read for seminars. This course will also require you to use MyUni for some assessment, including submission of essays, case comments and Online Quizzes.

Lectures will generally take the form of an outline of the topic and its key issues. Students are expected to keep up with the corresponding reading in Symes and Duns, or as otherwise indicated by the lecturer. The lecturer may provide outlines, slides or additional material.

Seminars, that immediately follow the lecture, will concentrate on in-depth consideration of questions, including problem-solving, provided in advance of the seminar. Students are expected to read the cases and other materials and questions set prior to the seminar.Seminars are an important component of your learning in this course and therefore it is in your interests to make every effort to stay and attend them and participate. The communication skills developed in seminars by regularly and actively participating in discussions are considered to be important by the School, and are highly regarded by employers and professional bodies.

Online activities - Each student will be required to undertake and submit on MyUni one written piece of assessment being a case comment or essay. Each student will be required to complete a quiz online during the course. See under 'Assessment'.

Contact time: attend the weekly two hour lecture and one hour seminar. This amounts to 36 hours of formal class contact time.

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.

Week 1

Introduction to Corporate Insolvency – statistics, theories, principles, reports, definition


Week 2

Receivership – appointment, powers, duties, agency, creditors, relationships


Week 3

Voluntary Administration I – objects clause, appointment, conduct, meetings



Week 4

Voluntary Administration II – effect, moratorium, court involvement



Week 5

Deeds of Company Arrangement – deed administrator, content, effect, powers and duties, variation, terminations and transition


Week 6

Liquidation I – provisional liquidation, introduction to types


Week 7

Liquidation II – statutory demands, powers and duties, effect


Week 8

Liquidation III – antecedent transactions, division of assets


Week 9

Liquidation IV – examinations, de-registrations, reinstatements


Week 10

Insolvent Trading


Week 11

Australian Cross Border Insolvency Law

Revision

Assessment Task	Task Type (Group or Individual)	Due	Weighting	Length	Redeemable?	Course Learning Outcome
Online Quiz	Individual	25th March 2019	20	40 questions	N	1
Case comment/Essay	Individual	29th April 2019	35	2,500 words	N	1,2,3,4,5,6
Take-Home Exam	Individual	Tues 18 June 2pm	45	1,500 words	N	1,2,3

Online Quiz
There will be a quiz to be completed by Monday, 25 March, counting for 20%. This can be completed online through MyUni, and will relate to the work in Weeks 1-4. There will be 40 questions in the quiz. Students may attempt multiple times.

Case Comment or Essay
Each student will be asked to write a case comment on a recent voluntary administration case or an essay from a list of topics that will be posted in week 1. There will be a guide available on MyUni that assists in the choice and preparation of the Case Comment. The comment or essay will be submitted using Turnitin. It is due on Monday 29th April at 2pm. The Case comment or essay will be marked according to the student's ability to source, collate and analyse relevant primary and secondary material, their demonstrated ability to understand the relevant law and their critical discussion. Marks will be awarded for lucidity of expression, logical flow and structure of discussion and argument and compliance with AGLC and good English expression. The written task essay counts for 35%.

Exam
An Take-Home Exam will be conducted. The take-home exam will count for 45% and will be on any aspect of the course.

Essays and Case Comments will be submitted electronically. MyUni will outline the steps to submit using turnitin.

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.

3. Failure to lodge a hard copy with a Turnitin receipt will mean that your assignment has not been validly submitted and a special penalty
of 5% may be applied.

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 places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as CEQ surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/ ) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at least once every 2 years. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

SELT was conducted on Corporate Insolvency Law when it was last offered in Summer 2014. Students found the seminars provided good explanation of the law. No suggestions for improvement were provided however 2014 saw the introduction of an on-line quiz and the removal of a final exam added to the focus of an enjoyable course providing both broad and in-depth knowledge. Both changes were well received.

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.

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.

For more information please check out the Writing Centre website at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/  

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 at https://www.facebook.com/LexSalusALS/ , our website at https://law.adelaide.edu.au/lex-salus/
and regular allstudent emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness. Our Lex Salus Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN5jQ44r8SmVn0txjaNcj3w  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.

 
Counselling Service

The University Counselling Service provides a free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Counselling service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life. More information is available at https://www.adelaide.edu.au/counselling_centre/. 

Further information regarding the Law School Policies and Procedures in relation to Supplementary Assessment, Extensions, and Remarks etc can be found at:

https://unified.adelaide.edu.au/group/law-school/policies-and-procedures

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.