LAW 2518 - Moot Court | Course Outlines

LAW 2518 - Moot Court

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2019

Students are eligible for the subject by application and selection only. A call for applications will be sent to all students via email before the start of Semester 2. Participation in Moot Court subject will enable students to develop skills in preparing written submissions and in oral advocacy at an advanced level. Central to the learning in this subject is the preparation and participation in the 'Sir Harry Gibbs National Moot Competition (Constitutional Law)'.

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Course Details

Course Code	LAW 2518
Course	Moot Court
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Law School
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate Law (LLB)
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Prerequisites	LAW 1501
Restrictions	Students are able to undertake Moot Court only once during their studies.
Quota	Team by selection only
Assessment	Will include both group and individually prepared written submissions and oral moot presentations.

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Anna Olijnyk

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

Acquire a high level of written advocacy.
Acquire a high level of oral advocacy.
Analyse legal problems and research the legal issues in a collaborative group environment.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	1
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	3
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	2
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	4

Learning Resources

Required Resources

There are no required texts.

Competition rules, moot problems, and associated materials will be placed on MyUni.

Recommended Resources

J Snape & G Watt, How to Moot: A Student’s Guide to Mooting (2nd ed, Oxford 2010)
Christopher Kee, The Art of Argumentation: A Guide to Mooting (Cambridge 2006)
TA Mauet & LA McCrimmon, Fundamentals of Trial Technique (3rd ed, Lawbook Co 2011)
Lee Stusser, An Introduction to Advocacy (2nd ed, Lawbook Co 2011)
J Butler & T Gygar, Australian Mooting Manuel (2nd ed, LexisNexis 2012)

Online Learning

MyUni will be used to post announcements, post additional course materials, and announce assignment tasks. It will also contain electronic copies of the Course Profile, Lecture and Seminar Guides, and Course Materials.

Students are expected to check MyUni regularly to keep up to date with these materials and additional learning resources throughout the course: https://myuni.adelaide.edu.au/webapps/login/
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

Seminars will be conducted on a twice weekly basis and will involve the analysis of the legal issues arising in the moot problems and the preparation of written and oral submissions. Oral mooting practices will also be held on a regular basis.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

Contact time: There will be 2 seminar and moot practice contact hours per week. Students are expected to attend all classes throughout the semester unless an absence is excused due to illness or compassionate reasons are provided. Appropriate documentation may be required. Students who fail to attend more than THREE (3) classes without a valid excuse may receive an overall fail grade for the course.

Preparation time: In addition to attending formal classes it is anticipated that students will do substantial independent work to prepare for classes and to complete the course assignments. It would be expected that an additional 9 hours of preparatory work will be undertaken.

Learning Activities Summary

A full timetable of all learning activities will be arranged in consultation with the students participating in each mooting team at the commencement of the course.

Specific Course Requirements

Students will be required to travel to Melbourne for the Sir Harry Gibbs Constitutional Law Moot on 3-5 October 2019. Flights and accommodation will be provided by the University.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Weighting	Task Type	Due	Length	Redeemable	Learning Outcome
Written Submissions	30%	Group	TBC		No	1-3
Practice Moot #1	20%	Individual	TBC		No	1-3
Practice Moot #2	50%	Individual	TBC		No	1-3

Assessment Related Requirements

There are no additional assessment-related requirements.

Assessment Detail

The assessment tasks are designed to both enable students to develop advanced skills in legal analysis, written and oral advocacy. The assessment is designed to allow students to demonstrate their ability to evaluate complex legal scenarios and identify the relevant legal issues that need to be considered.

The written submissions are assessed taking into account the following factors: Were the arguments properly organised for clarity and comprehension? Were they presented in a logical sequence? Was effective use made of the best authorities and the best policy arguments? Were the arguments and authorities effectively woven into the facts of the case? Were cases properly analysed to support arguments or identify similarity to the case under decision?

Oral presentations are assessed on the following factors: Did the introduction properly focus the Court’s attention on what are going to be presented as the primary arguments? Was the presentation concise focusing on the more important arguments rather that a too detailed presentation that detracted from those arguments? Were any essential matters omitted from the oral presentation? Was the presentation concluded with a concise and effective summary of the arguments? Was the presentation effective in answering questions posed by the Judge?

Submission

All written work in the Law School is required to comply with the approved Law School style guide, the latest edition of The Australian Guide to Legal Citation.

Extensions: Requests for extensions must be made electronically according to law school policy. Extensions will be granted only for unexpected illness, hardship or on compassionate grounds in accordance with University Policy. Work commitments, travel, holidays or sporting engagements are not unexpected circumstances.

Penalties:

Late Submission: Submission penalties of 5% (of the total mark of the assignment) each day (or part thereof) will be deducted for late submission (including weekends and public holidays), (ie an essay graded 63% will have 5 % deducted if it is one day late, for a final mark of 58%, 10% if it is two days, etc).
Word Length: Is determined by the rules of the moot competition.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Courses for which a result of conceded pass has been obtained may not be presented towards the degree requirements for the Bachelor of Laws or the Honours Degree of Bachelor of Laws programs, or any postgraduate law program, nor to satisfy prerequisite requirements within any law course.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Finality of Assessment Grades

Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).

Moderation

In accordance with the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:

assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.

Approval of Results by Board of Examiners

Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the University are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
The University Writing Centre provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the University of Adelaide.

The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

Lex Salus Program
Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.

Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our Facebook page, website and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.

Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.

Student Life Counselling Support
The University’s Student Life Counselling Support service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life.
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Academic Honesty
Academic dishonesty is a serious act of academic misconduct. All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Honesty Policy.

Academic dishonesty is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic dishonesty (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia.

Academic honesty is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator