LAW 3525 - Alternative Dispute Resolution

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2023

The Anglo Australian legal system prioritises the trial as the pinnacle of legal dispute resolution. In reality, court trials occur in only a minute percentage of cases and are ill suited to sorting out real problems between real people. Alternative Dispute Resolution brings legal problem solving into the 21st century, looking at the psychology, dynamics, behaviours, motives, and human perspectives that inform disputes. The course covers a broad range of contexts: environmental, Indigenous, criminal, civil, international, human rights, commercial, discrimination, construction, neighbourhood, and family. It explores the different models that are used to identify and manage disputes and critiques the justice implications of court and non-court based models. Students will gain a strong practical grounding exercising skill through live roleplay, interaction with guest facilitators, and creation of dispute resolution models for different contexts. The course takes a multidisciplinary approach, with a socially ethical orientation. It introduces students to the theory and skills of dispute management and resolution that they will encounter in professional life.

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Course Details

Course Code	LAW 3525
Course	Alternative Dispute Resolution
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Law School
Term	Semester 1
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
Incompatible	LAW 3010
Assumed Knowledge	LAW 3501
Restrictions	Available to LLB and B.Criminology with B.Laws and BArts Advanced with B.Laws students only
Assessment	Typically will include seminar and discussion board participation; on line and class learning exercises and role play participation; reflective journal; group class presentation; research essay. Details TBA

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Margaret Castles

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:

Demonstrate knowledge of the social relevance and historical context of DR models in Western and other social contexts; Capacity to identify and analyse the complex drivers of dispute behaviour in the community; active reflection of the theoretical models of dispute resolution and capacity to analyse their operation in both legal and social contexts
Capacity to engage in advanced dispute resolution systems design; Ability to adaptively apply ADR theory in varied practical contexts, including international, industrial, and socio political
Demonstrate sophisticated understanding of the ethical and legal ethical issues surrounding Dispute Resolution models and practice, demonstrated through written verbal and roleplay communication.
Conduct a mediation roleplay exercise in role as mediator demonstrating effective communication and dispute resolution skills.
Apply the contextual and interpersonal dimensions of human needs theory in written verbal and active evaluation of complex ADR scenarios
Demonstrate interpersonal and relational communication skills in diverse roleplay and evaluative exercises in workshops.

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)
Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.	1-4
Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.	1,2, 4, 5
Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.	1,2, 5, 6
Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.	1,2, 3
Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.	3-6
Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.	1,2

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Primary text to be advised.

Additional texts and resources will be recommended.

Reading materials, seminar guides – available on MYUNI

Recommended Resources

Supplementary reading, internet and other resources as recommended in seminar guides and via MYUNI or other electronic media.

Online Learning

Seminar guides, other useful material, and links to websites will be provided on MYUNI. Instructions for mediation and negotiation roleplays will be provided in MYUNI. Social media interface may also be implemented. Students may be asked to post comments or short summaries of material online for their seminar group. Discussion boards for the entire cohort and individual seminar groups will be used, as will file exchange, as appropriate, to facilitate students supporting each others’ learning process. Students are required to check MYUNI regularly to keep up to date with material announcements.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

This course focuses on interactive seminars and workshops of varied duration during which students will engage in a series of workshops including mediation, dispute system design, dispute system evaluation, guided discussion and problem solving, negotiation gaming, structured debate, and student led presentations.

12 x 3 hour seminars per week, which will consist of a mix of lectures, group work, practical workshops, and individual and group outcome focussed exercises.

A detailed timetable of activities including guest lectures seminars and workshops will be provided before the course commences.

Attendance at 2 x mediation roleplay workshops will attract a 5% attendance and active participation grade for attendance at both. This is not redeemable.

1 x dispute system design workshop will be related to an assessable Dispute System Design assignment which is done in groups of 2-3. Students who are unable to attend the workshop will be given a different assessable exercise to complete individually.

This course has broad themes and will draw on the ideas and creativity of students. Students will be asked to engage in self directed seminar preparation including internet research, focussed research, observation and investigation of human interactions and court and other processes, exploration of different topics, and preparation for guided discussion on allocated topics. Preparation will range from reading and commenting on texts and materials, investigation of different approaches to ADR theory and practice, and may include informal evaluative inquiry of other persons, students, or organisation. This preparation will link directly to seminar programs.

The scaffolding of lectures, student led preparation and investigation, synthesis of this investigation and preparation in seminars, and student led engagement throughout the course, aims to invest students with the basic knowledge and theory of ADR, and to enable them to build on this knowledge and theory in a self directed and inquisitive manner, sharing their perspectives and conclusions with their class. Students will draw on their own and others’ research and investigation, assisted by tutors, in developing a strongly analytical evaluative approach, that supports curiosity and investigation in this varied and interesting area, as well as encouraging imaginative approaches to ADR in a local and global context whilst maintaining an ethos of robust critical evaluation.

Workload

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

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements. The University expects full time students to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. In addition to 36 contact hours, students can expect to complete seminar preparation in approximately 2 – 4 hours per seminar topic. This does not include preparation for small group presentation, or other assessment.

Learning Activities Summary

Students will attend lectures, participate in active exercises in workshops and seminars, and engage in critical evaluation of a range of ADR processes and experiences in a range of contexts. Seminars will entail small group discussion, individual presentations and engagement, small group exercises, and the opportunity to engage in discussion with practitioners in the ADR field.

Specific Course Requirements

There are practical roleplay and dispute system design components during seminars in this course.

There is a 5% mark for attending and actively participating in (and being prepared for) BOTH mediation roleplay exercises which are held in Weeks 5 and 6.

Attendance at the DSD workshops in Week 10 and 11 is expected, and work completed during those workshops, including record of consultation with seminar leader, will be included in submission of project work.

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	% of final mark	Due date	Task Type (Group or Individual)	Redeemable?	Length	Learning Outcomes
Three in class tests # 1 = 15% 40 minutes (Week 4) # 2 = 15 % 40 minutes(Week 7) # 3 = 20% 90 minutes(Week 10) Tests # 1 and # 2 are a mix of multiple choice and short answer questions. Topics for Test # 3 which will comprise 3 short essay questions will be provided in advance.	50% in total	Test # 1 Friday Week 4 40 minutes first hour of class. Test # 2 Friday Week 7 First hour of class 40 minutes Test # 3 available online betwen 12 noon and 3 pm Week 10. Test will only be open for 90 minutes for each student.	Individual	No		1-6
Dispute Resolution Design assignment.	20%	Week 13 Monday 6 pm	Groups of 2-4	No	1500 words	2, 4, 5
Assignment Either a literature review on nominated topics OR a critical evaluation of a nominated area of ADR practice/theory OR a popular discussion piece in the style of The Conversation or similar. Topics will be provided. 2500 words including bibliography and in text references or footnotes depending on reference system chosen.	25%	Week 14 Friday 6 pm	Individual	NO	2500 words	1, 2,3

ATTENDANCE at 2 x Mediation Roleplay Exercises in Weeks 5 and 6 will attract a 5% mark for bona fide preparation (ie prepared and engaged) for participation in BOTH exercises.

Assessment Detail

1 20% Group Dispute System Design Exercise Groups of 4. Exercise partially completed in class over two seminars with teacher support and then written report submitted.

2 55% in class tests: OPEN BOOK
Test # 1: 15%; 10 questions multiple choice and/or short answer; in class (first hour) Week 4. Definitions and understanding of process. 40 minutes (online)

Test # 2: 15 %; 10 questions multiple choice and/or short answer; in class (first hour) Week 7. Practical applicaton theory and process. 40 minutes (online)

Test # 3: 25%; 3 short written answers; in class (first hour) 75 minutes; 7 questions will be provided week prior; 5 questions will be in the test; must answer 3 questions. One answer MUST evaluate mediation roleplays that students participated in.

3 25% Assignment – 2500 words, on set topics.

Submission

Late submission : When an assessment is submitted after the due date, and without an extension, 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend. For example, an essay that is submitted after the due date and time but within the first 24 hour period, and that has been graded at 63%, will have 5% deducted, for a final grade of 58%. An essay that is more than 24 hours late will lose 10%, etc. Hard copy submissions made after 5.00pm on a Friday will be assumed to have been submitted on the next business day and will be penalised 5% per day for every day including weekend days and public holidays. This penalty may be increased where the assignment is to be completed in a period of less than a week. Extensions on medical or compassionate grounds will be in accordance with University Policy (see below). As far as practicable, each item of assessment will be returned to students within 3 weeks of submission. Assessment that forms part of mid semester assessment will be as far as practicable returned within 2 weeks of submission.

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.

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.

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

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 feedback The course is constantly being updated and revised to reflect the evolution of the law, to respond to student feedback, and to engage with the latest teaching practices. Student feedback is collected each time the course is run, including through SELT reports. Previous SELT reports, and staff feedback on them, are posted on the course MyUni site for students to view and consider.
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 Integrity
All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Integrity Policy. Academic Misconduct is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic Misconduct (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 Integrity 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