LAW4032 - Legal Skills

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Recognise and select the key relevant issues, and to formulate them with clarity.
Apply acquired knowledge and understanding to problems and substantive legal issues, making personal and reasoned judgements based on an informed understanding of standard arguments in the area of law in question.
Identify and retrieve accurate, current and relevant information from a range of appropriate sources, including primary legal sources and standard paper and electronic sources.
Communicate knowledge and arguments in written form appropriate for the purpose and audience, using proficient English and correct legal terminology.
Demonstrate awareness of fundamental aspects of professional ethics in legal practice.

Content:

This module provides students with the skills required to study law at undergraduate level, and to develop the critical and research skills required for both the study and practice of the law. The skills studied will be applied in different contexts through other modules on the degree programme, providing students with the opportunity for progressive development. In particular, students will be introduced to the case study format, legal method and the specific legal application of Knowledge and General Transferable Skills under the Joint Statement as required by the SRA and BSB for a QLD, and the particular skills of:

- research
- analysis
- critical judgement
- literacy, technical language and communication
- ethical practice (as informed by SRA's Code of Conduct)

Though the skills of case analysis and research will inform a range of modules at Level 4, LAW 4022 Contract Law will have the specific role of developing the practical and applied aspect of these skills and this module will be used to reinforce and hone the relevant methods and skills.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The module will provide an introduction and overview of the basic format for reviewing, analysing and evaluating specific cases in relation to the relevant legal principles, courts and likely outcomes. The main teaching methods relate to rehearsing this method in order to identify, clarify and support the specific learning techniques and methods required to study, research and revise legal subjects. The case studies in this module will researched, prepared and written, rather than performed in a 'live' context (viva or exam). This is to help develop the understanding of the basic processes that will then be deployed in 'live' contexts in other modules.

Advice will be given on analysis, evaluation and the articulation of knowledge, as well as on the importance of identifying how to relate various case content to the most appropriate legal process or rule, using key indicators or features to help with classification, and key terminology. The SRA's ethics guidance will also be used to indicate fundamental aspects of legal practice, so that students are prepared for their end of year placements.

The module will also cover the marking standards, and key resources and search tools (and how they will be progressed by level).

Lectures, seminars, tutorials
Hours: 40
Intended Group Size: Cohort

Guided independent study
Hours: 160

Further details relating to assessment
Coursework: this is a basic topic investigation that is designed to test capability in research methods, techniques and practical knowledge of key research tools. Practical Assessment: This assessment tests the range of skills (case analysis, statutory interpretation, research, organisation of legal sources, legal reasoning and legal writing). These skills will be related to the case study format (used throughout the Law programme). This will be done by written work based on a real or hypothetical problem or case study, and requiring independent research. This assessment should provide formative support for the Integrated Assessment task at the end of Semester 2.

Integrated Assessment: This is an advocacy exercise which involves a court presentation based upon a case study in criminal law. Students are required: to research the relevant area of law, to prepare a brief based upon the facts of the case and then to present oral arguments within a court setting. The advocacy exercise must include a 500-word reflective journal dooumenting their experience.

Formative assessment in this will be ongoing, and will be provided within seminar activities and linked to the development of: research skills; analysis of cases; critical judgement, and presentation (written and verbal).

Assessment:

001 Practical; 2,000 word equiv.; mid-semester 1 25%
002 Coursework; 2,000 word equiv.; end of semester 1 40%
003 Integrated assessment; end of semester 2 35%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Julia Aveyard
Level - 4
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 4YL

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