Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Scholarly Teaching Fellow Caitriona McCabe caitriona.mccabe@mq.edu.au 6 First Walk Room 519 Monday 2 - 3 pm Amanda Head amanda.head@mq.edu.au
Credit points	Credit points 3
Prerequisites	Prerequisites LAW115
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status This unit is co-badged with LAW208
Unit description	Unit description This unit focuses on the institutional arrangements of public and private law and the role of the legal profession(s) in their administration. The unit covers the history and profile of the legal profession, the development of ethical reasoning and application of ethical systems to legal practice. Importantly the unit focuses on discrete problems of legal ethics such as confidentiality, access to justice, truth in the adversarial system, conflicts of interest and relationships between lawyers, clients and society. The unit introduces students to general skills of ethical problem solving and to the importance of sound communication skills for the practise 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:

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 communication skills required for ethical practice, especially listening skills, interviewing skills, cross cultural communication skills and negotiation skills.
Apply the principles of plain English to written communication for a variety of audiences and in different formats.
Develop legal research skills, including the ability to search for relevant primary and secondary sources.
Identify and respond to legal ethical issues under time pressure.

General Assessment Information

Students should be aware of and apply the University policy on academic honesty.

All assessments are submitted electronically. Turnitin plagiarism detection software is used to check all written assessments.

Students should carefully check that they submit the correct file for an assessment as no re-submissions will be accepted after the due date and time, including instances where students upload an incorrect file in error.

Word limits are strictly applied. Work above the word limit will not be marked. Footnotes are to be used only for referencing. Referencing must conform to the requirements set out in the Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

Marking of all assessments is moderated through a process of blind marking and the use of detailed marking rubrics.

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Hurdle	Due
Participation	20%	No	weekly
Client interview video	10%	No	Wednesday 9th Oct 9pm
Ethics research essay	40%	No	Wednesday 6th November 9pm
Online multiple choice quiz	30%	No	Wednesday 20th November

Participation

Due: weekly
Weighting: 20%

Internal and external students will be required to participate in tutorial role plays, problem solving discussions, debates, reflective exercises, in-class quizzes, online discussions and other activities. Both online and face to face activities will contribute to a student's participation marks.

If students are unable to attend one of their weekly tutorials they should submit the remedial work listed on iLearn to their tutor. Students who miss more than two tutorials should apply for special consideration and will also be expected to complete the remedial work for that week.

External students will be assessed for participation at the on campus sessions and will undertake the readings and prepare the exercises listed for the weekly tutorials. More information on the structure of the on campus sessions and the required preparation will be available on iLearn. Students who are unable to attend the on campus session should request special consideration. If that request is accepted, alternative work will be set in lieu of on-campus attendance.

A detailed marking rubric for class participation will be provided on iLearn.

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 communication skills required for ethical practice, especially listening skills, interviewing skills, cross cultural communication skills and negotiation skills.
Apply the principles of plain English to written communication for a variety of audiences and in different formats.
Develop legal research skills, including the ability to search for relevant primary and secondary sources.
Identify and respond to legal ethical issues under time pressure.

Client interview video

Due: Wednesday 9th Oct 9pm
Weighting: 10%

Students will be required to submit a ten minute video demonstrating their client interview skills.

Full details of the skills required to be demonstrated will be available on iLearn. A marking rubric will be provided.

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved:

(a) a penalty for lateness will apply of two (2) marks out of 100 deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date; and

(b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline.

On successful completion you will be able to:

Describe and explain the role of the lawyer in Australian society.
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 communication skills required for ethical practice, especially listening skills, interviewing skills, cross cultural communication skills and negotiation skills.

Ethics research essay

Due: Wednesday 6th November 9pm
Weighting: 40%

This essay will test your writing and research skills and your knowledge of legal ethics.

The essay question and marking rubrics will be released on iLearn in week 1. Full instructions will be released on iLearn.

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved:

(a) a penalty for lateness will apply of two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date; and

(b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline.

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 communication skills required for ethical practice, especially listening skills, interviewing skills, cross cultural communication skills and negotiation skills.
Apply the principles of plain English to written communication for a variety of audiences and in different formats.
Develop legal research skills, including the ability to search for relevant primary and secondary sources.

Online multiple choice quiz

Due: Wednesday 20th November
Weighting: 30%

This is a time limited multiple choice exam of one hour to test students' understanding of the law of professional responsibility. All material from week 1 to week 12 is examinable.

Students can open the exam at any time after 3pm. The exam will automatically shut down at 9pm. Students will have one hour to complete their answers from the time that they open the paper. When one hour has expired, all saved answers will be automatically submitted.

Some of the questions will relate to a problem scenario that will be released for reading before 6pm on Monday 18th November.

Full details will be released on iLearn.

This is a timed assessment and no late submissions will be accepted.

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.
Identify and respond to legal ethical issues under time pressure.

Delivery and Resources

There are no "live" lectures for this unit. Weekly lectures are pre-recorded and presented in combination with other learning resources including readings, web content, e-learning modules and videos. Students are expected to listen to the lectures and work their way through the other materials on a weekly basis.

There is a weekly two hour face to face tutorial from weeks 1-12 for internal students and a compulsory two day on campus session for external students.

The required text is: Lise Barry (ed) Lawyers: Roles, Skills and Responsibilities (Thomson Reuters, 3rd ed, 2017). Available from the Macquarie University Co-op Bookshop

Additional reading will be available via iLearn and the unit reading list maintained by the library.

Students require access to a computer and a secure and reliable server. All Unit requirements and a weekly teaching and reading schedule are outlined in iLearn.

Unit Schedule

A more detailed schedule of readings, learning materials and tutorial topics is outlined on iLearn
Week 1 What it means to be a professional An overview of the profession Tutorials begin in week 1
Week 2 Introduction to Legal Ethics Overview of regulation of the profession Statutory Interpretation and delegated legislation
Week 3 Duty to the client
Week 4 Fiduciary duties and the duty of care
Week 5 Conflicts of interest
Week 6 Confidentiality and privilege
Week 7 Duty to the court
Week 8 Ethics in criminal law Duties of prosecutors Ethics in negotiations
Week 9 Duty to the community Pro bono work Access to justice
Week 10 Costs Duty to Account
Week 11 Duty to the profession Admission requirements
Week 12 Discipline and regulation
Week 13 Revision

Learning and Teaching Activities

Client interview role plays

Students will engage in mock client interviews and will be given the opportunity to practice core interview skills

Written communication activities

Students will prepare correspondence to apply plain English techniques

Small group discussion

Students will be presented with a variety of legal problems related to the application of the law and principles of professional responsibility and will be expected to engage in class discussions, debates and other activities to develop their ethical deliberation and problem solving skills

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Academic Appeals Policy
Academic Integrity Policy
Academic Progression Policy
Assessment Policy
Fitness to Practice Procedure
Grade Appeal Policy
Complaint Management Procedure for Students and Members of the Public
Special Consideration Policy (Note: The Special Consideration Policy is effective from 4 December 2017 and replaces the Disruption to Studies Policy.)

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

If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/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 ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Late assessments

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.

Word limits are strictly applied and anything beyond the word limit will not be marked.

Student Support

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

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

If you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

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.

Graduate Capabilities

Capable of Professional and Personal Judgement and Initiative

We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

Describe and explain the role of the lawyer in Australian society.
Apply the principles of plain English to written communication for a variety of audiences and in different formats.
Identify and respond to legal ethical issues under time pressure.

Assessment tasks

Participation
Client interview video
Ethics research essay
Online multiple choice quiz

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

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 communication skills required for ethical practice, especially listening skills, interviewing skills, cross cultural communication skills and negotiation skills.
Develop legal research skills, including the ability to search for relevant primary and secondary sources.
Identify and respond to legal ethical issues under time pressure.

Assessment tasks

Participation
Client interview video
Ethics research essay
Online multiple choice quiz

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

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.

Assessment tasks

Participation
Client interview video
Ethics research essay
Online multiple choice quiz

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

Develop legal research skills, including the ability to search for relevant primary and secondary sources.

Assessment tasks

Participation
Ethics research essay

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

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 communication skills required for ethical practice, especially listening skills, interviewing skills, cross cultural communication skills and negotiation skills.
Apply the principles of plain English to written communication for a variety of audiences and in different formats.
Identify and respond to legal ethical issues under time pressure.

Assessment tasks

Participation
Client interview video
Ethics research essay
Online multiple choice quiz

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

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.
Identify and respond to legal ethical issues under time pressure.

Assessment tasks

Participation
Client interview video
Ethics research essay
Online multiple choice quiz

Changes from Previous Offering

Changes have been made to the assessment regime to include an early writing task and the weightings for individual assessment tasks have also been changed.