Undergraduate - UnitLAW4805 - Mooting and advocacy competition

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	Clayton Second semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Ms Rowena Cantley-Smith

Quota applies

The number of places available in this unit is 30 - 40 (depending on the number and identity of the competitions in which students enrolled in the unit participate)

Synopsis

Admission to this unit is by competitive application. The unit will be capped depending on the number of competitions offered from year to year. Criteria for selection will include course progression, marks in completed units, experience or skill in mooting, debating or other advocacy (assessed through an oral advocacy exercise).

Students will be allocated to teams for various external mooting competitions in which they will represent Monash University. These will vary from year to year, but may include:
Michael Kirby Contract Moot
Shine Torts Moot
Gibbs Constitutional Law Moot
Administrative Appeals Tribunal Moot
National Women's Moot
Castan Centre Human Rights Moot
National Environmental Moot
National Family Law Moot
Oxford Intellectual Property Moot
World Human Rights Moot
International Humanitarian Law Moot
Seminars are provided on advocacy techniques, research techniques and the drafting of court documents. Students will then work as a team on the problem relevant to their assigned competition, including researching the problem, preparing written submissions and formulating oral arguments. Attendance at scheduled sessions is compulsory.

Where permitted by the rules of the respective competitions, students will be invited to critique the practice performances of their peers in other competitions. Regular practice moots will also be held for each team, overseen by academics and external guest judges with expertise in the relevant field.

Outcomes

By the end of this unit, students will be able to:

Analyse a practical problem to identify the legal issues
Plan and execute a legal research task independently
Conduct legal research and locate appropriate case law, legislation and secondary materials
Draft concise written summaries of complex legal arguments
Interpret and apply legislative provisions in solving a legal problem
Engage in self-directed learning
Orally present a complex legal argument in a concise and compelling manner
Answer legal questions from a judge or arbitrator in real time
Identify and evaluate relevant ethical and moral issues in legal situations
Work as a team in solving a legal problem
Critique the work of peers in a professional manner

Assessment

Participation in seminars: 10% - This includes both class participation and engagement in constructive critique of other students' presentations.

Written submissions: 30% - Group mark (approximately 1500 words for each of the appellant/applicant and respondent)

Oral presentation: 60% - Individual mark, judged in the final practice moot before competition.

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.

Chief examiner(s)

Ms Rowena Cantley-Smith

Prerequisites

LAW1102 and LAW1104
This unit is subject to a quota. Further information is available from the Law Faculty.