Undergraduate - UnitLAW4176 - Applied legal research

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 3, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Law
Offered	Not offered in 2015

Synopsis

Classes in legal problem-solving techniques. A guide to the theory of legal argumentation and explains how those skills can be applied for maximum benefit in dealing with legal problems. Development of students' legal research skills with emphasis on teaching students how these skills can be applied to produce efficient and accurate legal writing. Presentation and defence of a legal submission, enhancing their oral presentation skills and their ability to work with others. While print sources will be referred to, a greater emphasis will be placed on electronic sources with the resources of the Internet.

Outcomes

Upon completion of this unit students should have developed:

an ability to undertake independent legal research, both electronic and paper based
an understanding of the method for location of case law, legislation and secondary sources together with the relevant methods and sources for updating
an ability effectively and efficiently to apply the results of research to draft a variety of legal documents, including academic style papers, letters of advice and court submissions
an ability to present legal arguments orally.

Assessment

Individual Research Project: 30%
Group Research Topic (written group submission: 30% and oral presentation/defence of submission: 30%): 60%
Class participation: 10%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Prerequisites

LAW1100 or LAW1101 and LAW1102 OR LAW1104; LAW3300 or LAW3301 and LAW3302; LAW2100 or LAW2101 and LAW2102; LAW2200 or LAW2201 and LAW2202