LAW 6514OL - Consumer Law Practice

Course Details

Course Code	LAW 6514OL
Course	Consumer Law Practice
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Law School
Term	Trimester 2
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	Online
Units	3
Contact	Online Intensive
Assumed Knowledge	LLB
Restrictions	Available to GDLP students only.
Assessment	Assessment in this course will include the following: Short answer questions, drafting a letter of demand, preparing a consumer dispute checklist and attendance at oral assessment to provide client advice.

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Desiree Holland

Course Coordinator-Desiree Holland

Course Supervisor - George Kamencak

Adelaide Law School Liaison Academic-Dr Mark Giancaspro

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

There is no set course timetable for this online course. Three 1 hour online video conferencing classes are offered across 3 weeks, from the commencement of the course.

Course Learning Outcomes

Course Learning Outcomes

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

1	Demonstrate knowlege of the legal principles of consumer law.
2	Critically evaluate and interpret information necessary to perform competently as graduate entry lawyer in the field of consumer protection.
3	Apply different formats to create works containing effective, clear communication in the field of consumer protection.
4	Identify relevant legal strategies to apply with the practice of Consumer Law, appropriate to a graduate entry lawyer and represent clients in related negotiations or proceedings.
5	Identify and apply ethical principles which govern legal practice in the field of consumer protection.
6	Demonstrate skills in communicating orally and in writing to advise clients on the procedures and remedies available in relation to consumer protections complaints and disputes.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.	1,4
Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.	2
Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.	3,6
Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.	4
Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.	5
Attribute 6: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural competency Graduates have an understanding of, and respect for, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values, culture and knowledge.	3,5,6
Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.	6

Required Resources

No textbooks are assigned for GDLP courses.

Seminar resources and readings are available on MyUni ONLY. This is an online course only.

Due to emphasis on current legal practice other materials may be added after the course outline has been posted. Students are required to check MyUni daily to keep up to date.

Recommended Resources

Most course resources are provided to students online via MyUni. Relevant legislation can be accessed online via:

http://www.comlaw.gov.au

http://www.legislation.sa.ogov.au/index.aspx

http://www.austlii.edu.au/

MyUni will be used to post annoucements, post additional lecture materials (including slides, and where available, audio recordings of lectures) and annouce assignment tasks. It will also contain electronic copis of the Course Outline, Lecture and Seminar Guides, and Course Materials.

Students are expected to check MyUni daily to keep up to date with these materials and additional learning resources throughout the course.

Online Learning

The course is supported by the MyUni course website. The website contains the following resources:

1. Course information – including seminar schedule and assessment outline.
2. Course materials – such as lecture presentations, seminar materials, readings and resources.
3. Assessment – items of assessment and online submission.
4. Grade centre – where students’ results for assessments are entered.

MyUni will also be used to post announcements in both this course and GDLP Essentials. Students are expected to check MyUni daily to keep up to date.

Students must check daily their University of Adelaide email.

Learning & Teaching Modes

The course will be taught intensively. Problem-solving seminars and practical exercises are supported by online lectures and readings.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

Contact time
This course will be taught intensively.
Three 1 hour online video conferencing classes are offered across 3 weeks, from the commencement of the course.

Preparation time
It is anticipated that students will do substantial independent work to prepare for classes and to complete the course assessments.

This is a three-unit course and the university workload measurement for students on this course, including class contact time, is 156 hours. This includes any required pre-reading before the classes commence, and any research and writing of assignments after the end of formal classes.

Learning Activities Summary

Engagement with course content is facilitated by online lectures, curated readings and resources, and self directed study supported by three online tutorial workshops.

There are four modules with learning scaffolded across the modules to ensure that students develop their knowledge.

Course Structure

The course is divided into the following topic areas:

Course introduction and overview
Overview of consumer law and the regulatory framework
Consumer law dispute resolution-remedies and options
Representing the client in a consumer law dispute

Specific Course Requirements

The course is based on the rules of the Legal Practitioners Education and Admission Council (LPEAC) 2018 which specifies the expected competency standards for entry level lawyers at the point of admission.

In this course, the following elements of the National Competency Standards for Entry Level Lawyers are embedded:
Ethics and professional responsibility
Lawyer's skills
Problem solving
Work management and business skills

For further information please contact the Law Society of SA Program Manager (GDLP).

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessments will be made available to students, prior to the nominated deadline.

The assessment tasks and due dates and day may vary to what is currently scheduled.

Assessment item	Task type	Due	Length	Weighting	Redeemable	Learning Outcomes
Pre task -6 short answer questions	Individual	1 day (Tuesday) before course commences	Maximum 3,000 words	n/a	yes	1,5,6
Consumer dispute checklist	Individual	Week 2 Wednesday	Maximum 500 words	n/a	yes	1-2,6
Advice to client-oral assessment	Individual	Week 3 Thursday	Approximately 15 minutes	n/a	yes	3,5-6
Draft a letter of demand and a Calderbank letter	Individual	Week 3 Friday	Approximately 500 words each	n/a	yes	1,6

Assessment Related Requirements

The purpose of the GDLP program is to facilitate your transition from undergraduate academic law studies to the legal professional employment environment through the demonstration and practice of professionally-based skills and competencies.

Assessments will be made available to students, prior to the nominated deadline. Assessment deadlines will be posted on MyUni prior to the course commencing. Assessments guidelines will be provided for each assessment task.

Assessment Detail

All assessments are competency based (non-graded pass). Competence must be demonstrated in all assessment tasks and activities. MyUni requires a numerical value to display that competency has been demonstrated. Please note:

1= Competency demonstrated
0= Competency not demonstrated

Pre task -6 short answer questions-maximum 3,000 words
With reference to the online materials, provide a written response to the 6 pre task questions.

Consumer Dispute Checklist-maximum 500 words
Prepare a Consumer Dispute Checklist, in preparation for your meeting with your client.
The list should set out the key steps and considerations that will enable you to take instructions, provide advice, and represent your client in relation to the consumer dispute.

Oral assessment-Approximately 15 minutes
Advise your client of the key issues that are relevant to her consumer dispute, including:
substantive matters of law that apply to her situation;
procedures and remedies that may be available;
options and next steps in resolving the dispute.

Draft a letter of demand and a Calderbank letter
The draft letter of demand is before proceedings.
The Calderbank letter is sent in hope of avoiding the need to issue proceedings.

Further details will be provided on MyUni.

Submission

Students must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.

All assignments in this course are to be submitted electronically through Turnitin. Submissions to Turnitin are to be in Microsoft Word format (NOT in pdf)’.

Students work will be marked in accordance with the marking rubric.

Resubmission

Students must demonstrate competency in all elements of the national competency standards, and failure to do so will result in the relevant assessment being marked as non-competent. If the assessment is deemed, non-competent, students may be offered the opportunity to revise and resubmit the assessment. A resubmission is only allowed if a bona fide attempt has been made in the initial submission. In most cases, only the parts of the assessment that do not attain competence will be required to be resubmitted. Students may access supplementary teaching. Usually, only one resubmission is allowed per assessment.

Final assessments that do not attain competence on resubmission (fail), per University policy, are double-marked before the results are released back to the student.

Extensions

Requests for extensions must be made electronically via GDLP Enquiries GDLPEnquiries@lawsocietysa.asn.au Students MUST apply for an extension prior to the deadline. 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.

Late Submission

Assessments submitted late without an approved extension will not be marked.

Failure to complete assessments

All assessment in this course must be completed. Failure to complete any of the assessments will result in course failure.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

GS8 (Coursework Grade Scheme)
Grade	Description
CN	Continuing
FNS	Fail No Submission
NFE	No Formal Examination
F	Fail
NGP	Non Graded Pass
P	Pass
C	Credit
D	Distinction
HD	High Distinction
RP	Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

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 GOS 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 the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. 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.

Student feedback

The course is constantly being updated and revised to reflect the evolution of the law, to respond to student feedback, and to engage with the latest teaching practices. Student feedback is collected each time the course is run, including through SELT reports. Previous SELT reports, and staff feedback on them, are posted on the course MyUni site for students to view and consider

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.

This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.

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.

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator