DELIVERY

Students are expected to attend one two hour lecture and one tutorial each week.

Lectures begin in week one, tutorials commence in week two.

Lectures are also available on ilecture, but students are reminded that if they have not either attended a lecture or completed the ilecture prior to the tutorial they will not understand the tutorial discussion, will not benefit from it, and will not be able to participate in the discussion.

TECHNOLOGY

Students are encouraged to check the unit webpage regularly, which can be accessed through http://ilearn.mq.edu.au Unit materials, including tutorial questions, are available through the unit webpage. 

The assignment and the take home exam are to e submitted using the turnitin portal on the unit webpage.

PC and internet access are required, as are basic computer and word processing skills.

REQUIRED READING

Texts 

·         Bruce Alex, Restrictive Trade Practices Law, 2nd edition (LexisNexis, 2013) 

·         Bruce Alex, Consumer Protection Law 2nd edition (LexisNexis, 2014) 

Legislation

• You will need access to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). The versions on line are always up to date, but not as helpful as the printed, annotated legislation. Two versions of the annotated legislation are available - one by Miller and one by Steinwall. Both are excellent, and it will be advantageous if you obtain a copy of the annotated legislation of your choice.

RECOMMENDED READING

• Corones S G, Competition Law in Australia, 5th ed, Law Book Co, 2010

• Corones SG, The Australian Consumer Law, Law Book Co 2011
• Corones SG, Clarke PH, Australian Consumer Law, Law Book Co 2011

Useful websites

·         Australian Competition and Consumer Commission www.accc.gov.au 

·         Australian Federal government consumer site www.consumer.gov.au

·         Australian Productivity Commission www.pc.gov.au

  ·         Consumers Federation www.consumersfederation.com

• European Union consumer materials www.europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/ 

·         Home Page of Recalled Items www.recalls.gov.au 

·         Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs www.consumer.gov.au

·         New Zealand Consumer Affairs www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/productsafety/ 

·         Office of Fair Trading New South Wales www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au 

·         Standards Australia www.standards.org.au

 GRADING CRITERIA

GRADING CRITERIA FOR INDIVIDUAL ASSESSMENTS

1. 1.    ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR ASSIGNMENT

FAIL (49% AND BELOW)

-       does not answer question;

-       few if any identifiable arguments;

-       inappropriate and/or irrelevant content;

-       plagiarism, use of other students’ work, ‘recycling’ own work from other units;

-       difficult to read and/or understand through poor grammar, spelling, expression or structure.

PASS (50% - 64%)

-       attempts to answer question, but does not answer the entire question, or follow through with reasoned argument;

-       does not demonstrate engagement with the issues;

-       descriptive summary of material relevant to question;

-       superficial use of material and tendency to paraphrase and/or quote heavily;

-       minimal analysis and evaluation;

-       adequate expression.

CREDIT (65%-74%)

-       mostly answers the question;

-       contains no significant errors and covers relevant issues fairly well;

-       articulates own argument including critical evaluation of the issues;

-       good use of material relevant to question;

-       has clear structure and clear expression

DISTINCTION (75%-84%)

-       completely answers the question;

-       articulates own argument including critical evaluation of the issues;

-       excellent use of material relevant to question;

-       excellent expression and free from errors

HIGH DISTINCTION (85% and above)

-       satisfies all the criteria for a Distinction; and

-       contains striking originality in analysis;

-       innovative use of material relevant to the question;

-       exceptionally well written and exceptionally well-structured.

1. 2.    ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR PROBLEM QUESTIONS

FAIL (49% AND BELOW)

-       fails to identify  and discuss relevant issues of law raised by facts;

-       contains incorrect statements of law;

-       does not provide relevant authorities for propositions of law;

-       inappropriate and/or irrelevant content;

-       plagiarism, use of other students’ work, ‘recycling’ own work from other units;

-       difficult to read and/or understand through poor grammar, expression or structure

-       fails to comply with formatting instructions.

PASS (50% - 64%)

-       correctly identifies and discusses a limited number of issues of law raised by the facts

-       contains no significant errors of law;

-       provides correct authorities for propositions of law;

-       attempts to apply relevant law to the given facts;

-       adequate expression.

CREDIT (65%-74%)

-       correctly identifies and discusses most of the issues of law raised by the facts;

-       contains no errors of law;

-       provides correct authorities for propositions of law;

-       successfully applies relevant law to the given facts;

-       identifies differences between facts in the question and fact patterns in cases, and attempts to discuss relevance of this to the solution;

-       identifies discrepancies/inconsistencies within the law, and attempts to resolve these where they are relevant to the given facts;

-       attempts to explain which outcome is more likely where there is more than 1 possible solution to the problem;

-       has clear structure and clear expression

DISTINCTION (75%-84%)

-       correctly identifies and discusses all of the issues of law raised by the facts;

-       contains no errors of law

-       provides correct authorities for propositions of law;

-       successfully applies relevant law to the given facts;

-       identifies differences between facts in the question and fact patterns in cases, and successfully discusses the relevance of this to the solution;

-       identifies discrepancies/inconsistencies within the law,  and successfully resolves these where they are relevant to the given facts;

-       successfully explains which outcome is more likely where there is more than 1 possible solution to the problem;

-       has very clear structure and clear expression

HIGH DISTINCTION (85% and above)

-       satisfies all the criteria for a Distinction;

-       is exceptionally well written and exceptionally well-structured.

-       demonstrates superior and original analytical skills.  

LATE SUBMISSION

Law School Policy is late submissions will not be marked and will be given zero, unless prior dispensation has been sought and received, in accordance with the special consideration policy.

EXTENSIONS

Extensions are only available in extraordinary circumstances in accordance with the special consideration policy. http://www.student.mq.edu.au/ses/Special%20Consideration.html

CHANGES MADE SINCE LAST OFFERING OF THE UNIT

Since the last offering of the unit the following changes have been made:

• New editions of the texts have been prescribed
• The Assessment weighting has changed to reduce the weighting of the final exam and increase the weighting of the assignment