LAW5042 - Advanced Legal Skills

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Apply research results and knowledge to complex situations and to offer evidenced conclusions, addressing complex actual or hypothetical legal problems, exercising independent thought, asking and answering cogent questions about law and legal systems, and engaging in critical analysis and evaluation.
Undertake independent research with appropriate guidance, using and analysing the law from relevant primary and secondary sources to produce current and accurate legal information.
Present coherent informed and critical arguments, orally and in writing, about key issues based on advanced research skills.

Content:

This module further develops the skills required for the application, as well as the practice, of law, building on the LAW4042 Legal Skills module, and other Level 4 modules which applied legal skills. The skills studied will be applied in different contexts through other modules on the degree programme at both Level 5 and Level 6, providing students with the opportunity for progressive development. Students will also be given opportunity to practise the skills in applied contexts, such as client interviewing, advocacy, on either side of an argument, and advanced legal research, and opportunities for doing so will be provided particularly within LAW5032 Torts.

The module meets the requirements in the Joint Statement for a QLD, by addressing the specified Knowledge and General Transferable Skills.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The module will be delivered through a diverse range of teaching methods, including seminars, group tutorials, simulated activities (such as mock trials and client interviewing), directed learning and formative feedback. The emphasis will be on practice of skills, although seminars will be used to provide students with an understanding of methodology and the application of the skills in different context, and to support learning strategies to help students develop advanced skills. Group tutorials and activities and simulations will allow students to build on the seminars by undertaking active learning activities to practise the skills and receive feedback.

Workshops/seminars/tutorials
Hours: 36
Intended Group Size: Cohort

Guided independent study
Hours: 164

Further details relating to assessment
The two practical assessments test advanced skills, involving oral communication as well as written communication, based on the understanding of legal method developed at Level 4. The first practical assessment is set in a client interviewing context and the second in a moot or mock trial context. The mock trial context allows for opportunity for collaboration with other Schools, such as Journalism or Criminology, but will be scheduled if no such collaboration is possible in a particular year. The greater degree of difficulty in assessments involving oral skills is justified by the advanced level of the module.

Assessment:

001 Practical assessment 1; 15mins; end of semester 1 40%
002 Practical assessment 2; 15mins; end of semester 2 60%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Marjan Parkinson
Level - 5
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 5YL

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