Students

LAWS1100 – Law, Lawyers and Society

2025 – Session 1, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Amanda Head
Contact via iLearn
see iLearn
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to LLB
Corequisites Corequisites
LAW115 or LAWS1000
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

In this unit students are introduced to applied legal ethics and the law that governs the roles and responsibilities of solicitors and barristers in Australia. The unit covers the history and profile of the legal profession, the development of ethical reasoning and application of ethical systems to legal practice. Students will study the legal and philosophical problems confronting lawyers, including confidentiality, access to justice, truth in the adversarial system, conflicts of interest and relationships between lawyers, clients and the community. They will learn how the legal profession is regulated and analyse the effectiveness of the professional disciplinary regime. The unit also introduces students to general skills of ethical problem solving and to the importance of sound communication skills for the practice of law.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Describe and explain the role of the lawyer in Australian society.
  • ULO2: Identify different theoretical approaches to legal ethics and relate these approaches to a range of problems and settings.
  • ULO3: Explain and apply the law of professional responsibility that regulates the practice of law in Australia, including duties owed to the court, to the client, to practitioners, and to the community.
  • ULO4: Explain and apply skills required for ethical practice, especially listening skills, interviewing skills, cross cultural communication skills, negotiation skills and writing skills, with an emphasis on plain English.
  • ULO5: Communicate, interact and collaborate professionally and effectively in verbal and non-verbal contexts across diverse settings.
  • ULO6: Work independently, meet deadlines and take initiative.

General Assessment Information

All written assessments submitted electronically must be submitted through the link provided in iLearn. This unit will utilise Turnitin plagiarism detection software. Students should carefully check that they submit the correct file for an assessment, as re-submissions will not be accepted after the due date and time, including instances where students upload an incorrect file in error.

The design, moderation and feedback of all assessments is in accordance with the Macquarie University Assessment Procedure (link provided under ‘Policies and Procedures’ below).

Late Submission Policy

A maximum penalty of five (5) percentage points of the total possible marks will be applied per day to late submissions, for up to a maximum of seven calendar days. Tasks that have not been submitted within the maximum number of additional late days will receive a mark of zero. This provision does not apply to online exams or other assessment with a time limit of less than 24 hours.

Penalties for late submission will be applied consistently and equitably to all students enrolled in the unit. Where short-term, serious and unavoidable circumstances have affected their ability to submit an assessment task, a student must submit a formal application for Special Consideration as per the Special Consideration Policy. Students should not request an informal arrangement from their tutor, lecturer or Unit Convenor.

Where an application for Special Consideration is approved, and the outcome is an extension to the due date of a task, submissions that are received after the new due date will be subject to late penalties that are calculated from the new due date. This only applies where the outcome is an extension to the due date – see the Special Consideration Policy for a schedule of all possible outcomes.

Special Consideration

Students should submit applications for Special Consideration electronically via the Service Connect portal, along with the supporting documentation. Before submitting their applications, students should refer to the Special Consideration Policy (link provided under ‘Policies and Procedures’ below).

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Professional Skills 20% No Ongoing
Practice-Based Task 40% No 22/04/2025
Exam 40% No University Exam Period

Professional Skills

Assessment Type 1: Practice-based task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 0 hours
Due: Ongoing
Weighting: 20%

 

Students will engage in classroom activities including mooting, presentations or demonstrations, structured discussion and problem solving, doctrinal analysis, simulated client consultations, and collaborative legal research. Through these activities students will develop skills in oral advocacy, legal analysis, critical reasoning, teamwork and team leadership, and/or strategic problem-solving. These activities are designed to strengthen students' ability to communicate legal concepts verbally and engage professionally within a supportive learning environment.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Describe and explain the role of the lawyer in Australian society.
  • Identify different theoretical approaches to legal ethics and relate these approaches to a range of problems and settings.
  • Explain and apply the law of professional responsibility that regulates the practice of law in Australia, including duties owed to the court, to the client, to practitioners, and to the community.
  • Explain and apply skills required for ethical practice, especially listening skills, interviewing skills, cross cultural communication skills, negotiation skills and writing skills, with an emphasis on plain English.
  • Communicate, interact and collaborate professionally and effectively in verbal and non-verbal contexts across diverse settings.
  • Work independently, meet deadlines and take initiative.

Practice-Based Task

Assessment Type 1: Practice-based task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 18 hours
Due: 22/04/2025
Weighting: 40%

 

An assessment on professional skills and knowledge relevant to the unit. This could be a legal or policy brief, a report, an essay, a law reform proposal, legal pleadings or other related professional task. This assessment may require students to prepare a response through research and adhere to discipline-specific scholarly conventions.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Describe and explain the role of the lawyer in Australian society.
  • Identify different theoretical approaches to legal ethics and relate these approaches to a range of problems and settings.
  • Explain and apply the law of professional responsibility that regulates the practice of law in Australia, including duties owed to the court, to the client, to practitioners, and to the community.
  • Explain and apply skills required for ethical practice, especially listening skills, interviewing skills, cross cultural communication skills, negotiation skills and writing skills, with an emphasis on plain English.
  • Communicate, interact and collaborate professionally and effectively in verbal and non-verbal contexts across diverse settings.
  • Work independently, meet deadlines and take initiative.

Exam

Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 18 hours
Due: University Exam Period
Weighting: 40%

 

An invigilated exam held in the formal examination period. The exam may cover any or all topics and materials covered in the unit.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Describe and explain the role of the lawyer in Australian society.
  • Identify different theoretical approaches to legal ethics and relate these approaches to a range of problems and settings.
  • Explain and apply the law of professional responsibility that regulates the practice of law in Australia, including duties owed to the court, to the client, to practitioners, and to the community.
  • Explain and apply skills required for ethical practice, especially listening skills, interviewing skills, cross cultural communication skills, negotiation skills and writing skills, with an emphasis on plain English.
  • Communicate, interact and collaborate professionally and effectively in verbal and non-verbal contexts across diverse settings.
  • Work independently, meet deadlines and take initiative.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

Lectures: There is a weekly two-hour face-to-face lecture from weeks 1 to 12 and a revision lecture in week 13. The lectures will also be live-streamed and recorded.  Students are expected to attend and listen to the lectures and work their way through the other materials on a weekly basis. All lecture recordings and associated slides will be accessible through iLearn.

Tutorials: There is a weekly one-hour face-to-face tutorial on campus from weeks 1 to 13 for students.

This unit is worth 10 credit points, which equates to 150 hours of work. Therefore, students should expect to commit an average of 10 hours per week to this unit, including all scheduled and unscheduled activities and preparing and executing the assessment tasks.

Resources

The required textbooks are:

  • Kim Bailey, Practical Legal Ethics (Thomson Reuters, 2022)
  • Nichola Corbett-Jarvis and Brendan Grigg, Effective Legal Writing: A Practical Guide (LexisNexis, 3rd ed, 2021)

Students can purchase these textbooks online from online resellers such as Booktopia, Amazon and Zookal. 

Additional readings will be accessible through iLearn.

Students require access to a computer, internet with decent speed and a secure/reliable server. The iLearn page contains all Unit requirements and a weekly schedule for teaching, readings and tutorials. Information about all assessment tasks is also available on iLearn.

Unit Schedule

Topics Include:

  • Perception of Lawyers
  • Admission to Practice
  • Regulation of the Profession
  • The Retainer (including duties to clients and third parties)
  • Conflicts of Interest
  • Confidentiality and Privilege
  • Communication
  • Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession
  • Civility and Courtesy
  • Access to Justice
  • Duty to the Court
  • Complaints and Discipline
  • Duty to Account

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit connect.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via the Service Connect Portal, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2025.04 of the Handbook