Course Coordinator (Lecturer & Tutor Weeks 5-12) Paul Leadbeter
Paul is located in the Adelaide Law School, Ligertwood Building, Room 227, Ph: 8313 4441
Email: paul.leadbeter@adelaide.edu.au
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/paul.leadbeter


Lecturer and Tutor (Weeks 1-4) Kyra Reznikov
Kyra is a lawyer in private practice who has a large environmental law practice for a range of corporate and private clients. She also has an engineering degree.
Email: kyra.reznikov@finlaysons.com.au

On successful completion of this course students should be able to:

1. Explain the legal framework within which laws addressing environmental issues in Australia operate;
2. Critically appraise from both a theoretical and practical perspective the concept of ecologically sustainable development (“ESD”)
    particularly in the context of environmental legislation;
4. Critically appraise the scheme of environmental regulation at a State, Federal and international level;
5. Describe issues which might create environmental law problems in the workplace and generate an appropriate methodology by which such
    potential issues might be managed;
6. Critically appraise the legal requirements and processes for environmental impact assessment in relation to developments and projects at
    both Federal and State level, and

There are no required resources for this subject, however there are a number of recommended resources.

The following is an excellent recommended (but not required) text. Several copies are held on reserve in the law library. A lecture outline and recommended reading for those wishing to explore the topics further and reading materials for each seminar will be available on line through MyUni.

• GM Bates, “Environmental Law in Australia”, 8th edition, 2013, LexisNexis Butterworths

• Other useful texts include:
DE Fisher, Australian Environmental Law (2nd ed, Thomson Reuters, 2010).
Bates and Lipman, Corporate Liability for Pollution (LBC Information Services, 1998).
Godden, Lee & Peel, Jacqueline, Environmental Law: Scientific, Policy and Regulatory dimensions, Oxford University Press, 2009
The Australian Law Journals most frequently referred to in this area include:
Environmental & Planning Law Journal (EPLJ), Thomson Reuters
Local Government Law Journal (LGLJ), Thomson Reuters
The Australasian Journal of Natural Resources Law & Policy, University of NSW.

Legislation
• Development Act 1993 (SA) and Development Regulations 2008 (SA)
• Environment Protection Act 1993 (SA) and Environment Protection Policies
• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (selected sections to be advised)
Legislation can be downloaded free from www.legislation.sa.gov.au/index.aspx (SA Attorney General’s Department) or www.austlii.edu.au/databases.html (Australian Legal Information Institute) and South Australian legislation may be purchased from the Service SA Government Legislation Outlet (EDS Centre, 108 North Tce, Adelaide, SA )).
You will be required to use the legislation to answer tutorial questions.
It is for your own benefit to have the legislation in class (in hard copy or electronic form).Arrangements will made at the start of the semester to have hard copies of some legislation available for purchase from the Image and Copying centre.

Cases
Most cases can also be downloaded from the Attorney General’s Department site or Austlii (see the web site addresses above) or obtained from the law library.

The course uses a mixture of lectures (always recorded), powerpoint presentations, video clips and in class discussion as well as the MyUni discussion board to support learning and teaching.
All reading lists and connections through to the listed materials and readings will be available on MyUni.
Announcements during the semester will also be posted on MyUni and emailed to all students listed in the course.
As noted above (and technology willing) it is the intention to record all lectures. If for some reason a lecture does not record and a student did not attend that lecture it will be the responsibility of the student to find someone who attend the missed lecture if they want details and notes about what was covered at the time.

The course consists of a weekly 3 hour class that will be a combination of lectures and tutorials. The tutorials will comprise a mixture of discussion points and problem-solving sessions developing and assisting students to gain an understanding of the practical application of some of the material covered in lectures.
Students will be required to use the internet to access a number of relevant policy documents such as development plans, water allocation plans and environment protection policies and in class demonstrations will explain how to locate and interpret such policies and apply them to help resolve problems. MyUni is used extensively and students are required to locate relevant documents via links provided as part of the explanatory and background materials for each week.
The group assignment requires students to take a problem, identify the legal issues and prepare a written report with recommendations for future action as if they were reporting to the Board of directors of a corporation or the senior executive within a government agency. They will then be required to present a verbal summary to the class in the same way that they might have to present a verbal report to senior management within a workplace.

Environmental law is a large area and this course seeks to provide students with an introduction to a number of the key areas covered under the generic title of “environmental law”. It is accepted that the course is being taught to students without a legal background and an attempt has been made to structure the course in a way which has regard to that fact. The core information will be provided in the lectures with the tutorials being used to further discuss topical issues and illustrate the application of some of the legal principles in a practical setting through problem solving tutorials.
The problem exercises will also illustrate some of the inherent complexities of applying a mixture of law and policy measures in this area as well as the very political nature of so many of the government decisions and actions on environmental issues.

The lecture and tutorial topics for each week are set out below. At the commencement of the course a more detailed timetable for each week will be made available on MyUni:

Week 1:
Lecture: Introductory matters, Sources of law (Lecture will use all 3 hours in the first week)

Week 2:
Lecture: Australian Legal System, Constitution and the Environment, International Law
Tutorial: Intro to Environmental law, Sources of law

Week 3:
Lecture: Ecologically Sustainable development (ESD)
Tutorial: (over 2 hours) Australian legal system, Constitution and the Environment

Week 4:
(3 hours of tutorial) International law, ESD, Exam preparation

Week 5:
Lecture: (over 3 hours) Land Use Planning & development law (including environmental impact assessment requirements)

Week 6:
Lecture: Control & licensing of environmentally significant activities & pollution
Tutorial: Planning and development problem

Week 7:
Lecture: Commonwealth Environment protection laws-Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999
Tutorial: Environment Protection Act (pollution) problem

Week 8:
Lecture: Climate Change & the law
Tutorial: Role of Commonwealth law and government in environmental matters

Week 9:
Lecture: Water resources law and policy
Tutorial: Site Contamination problem

Week 10:
Lecture: Conservation of Biological Diversity
Tutorial: Water resources problem

Week 11:
Lecture: Revision & research essay discussion (1 hour)
Tutorial: (2 hours) Major projects and EIA, Biodiversity issues problem question

Week 12:
Group Presentations

1. It is expected that students attend and actively participate in 10 out of the 12 weekly 3 hour lecture/tutorial sessions. Students have the responsibility for ensuring their names are marked off each week.

The Group Assignment will constitute a Small Group Discovery Experience for students undertaking this course. The Group Assignment requires students to be in groups of 4-6 students. They will be presented with a problem scenario of the kind likely to arise in a work environment. They are required to research the relevant law and policy and determine an appropriate course of action. They must then do a verbal presentation to the class as if the class were the Board of Directors or equivalent senior management team on that recommended course of action.A written report is then provided by the group. 

Task name	Due Date	Weighting % of final mark	Individual or group	Redeemable	Course Learning Outcome
Tutorial Assignment	Submission prior to week3 class(7/8/2017)	15%	Individual	No	1,3
Group Assignment (3,000 words) and Presentation (15 minutes to class)	Submit written assignment by Monday 30 October 2017 by 2pm. Presentation in week 12 seminar	30%	Group	No	1,4
Research essay(3,000 words)Topics to be made available in Week 5	Wednesday 15 November 2017 by 2pm	45%	Individual	No	4,5,6
Attendance & participation in classes	Must attend 10 out of 12 classes	10%	Individual	No	6

It is expected that students attend and actively participate in 10 out of the 12 weekly 3 hour lecture/tutorial sessions. Students have the responsibility for ensuring their names are marked off each week. Merely attending classes but not participating will not give you the full 10%.

(i) Attendance and participation at classes (10%)

Students must attend and participate (where relevant) at 10 out of the 12 classes. Students should be familiar with the reading materials and be prepared for the topics of discussion for each class.

It is the responsibility of each student to ensure his or her name is marked off the roll.

Lectures and tutorials are interactive and may generate discussion. Participation for lectures and tutorials should be meaningful and reflect adequate preparation for class. This will include reading the background material and preparing for tutorials. Students should undertake readings in advance to maximise ability to participate meaningfully.

(ii) Tutorial Assignment (15%)

The assignment will consist of a series of questions which will be issued at the start of the semester. The questions will relate to material covered in the lectures in Week 1 and Week 2.

Students must submit their assignments prior to the Week 3 class (7/8/2017). 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.

Submission instructions will be provided with the assignment questions.

(iii) Group Assignment and Presentation (30%)

Students will form groups of 3 or 4 and will be required to look at a problem scenario which raises a number of legal and policy issues in the environmental area. They will be required to assume that they have been asked to prepare a report for either an Executive Board or the Senior management team within a private organisation or government agency. That report will need to set out the nature of the problem and suggest strategies for dealing with that problem
The length of the report will be 3,000 words maximum. The report should be footnoted and, where references are made to other authorities, accompanied by a bibliography. The footnotes and bibliography are not counted in the calculation of the length of the report. Each group will be required to make a 15 minute presentation to the class on the topic dealt with in their report as if they were presenting to the Board of an organisation or the senior management team. The group will receive a mark for the report and presentation. There will be a number of scenarios available for this exercise. They will be made available in Week 4.

Marks will be deducted for late submissions in accordance with the standard law school policy: 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.

Marks will be deducted for exceeding the word limit. 5% of the total mark possible for a written assessment will be deducted for every 100 words (or part thereof) by which it exceeds a stipulated word limit. For example, a 3000 word essay graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is between 3001 and 3099 words long for a final mark of 58%. Word limits include all words in the text, in headings, and in footnotes, though not in any separate bibliography or list of sources.The group presentation will be in the week 12 class. Tghe written report assignment from the Group must be submitted through Turnitin by2pm on Monday 30 October 2017.

(iv) Research Essay (45%)

Students will be required to write a research essay on a topic relevant to the matters discussed during the course. A list of topics will be made available in week 5 although students can, with the approval of the course coordinator, undertake a research essay on a topic of their own choice. The essay has a 3000 word limit.It must be submitted through Turnitin by 2pm on Wednesday 15 November 2017.

Presentation of Assignments

1. Students must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.

2. Group Assignments must be submitted both electronically and in hard copy. Details of the process for electronic submission (through MyUni) will be provided during the early part of the semester.

3. All individual assignments must be attached to an Assignment Cover Sheet which must be signed and dated by the student before submission. Lecturers will withhold a student’s results until such time as the student has signed the Assignment Cover Sheet.

4. Markers can refuse to accept assignments which do not have a signed acknowledgement of the University’s policy on plagiarism (refer to policy on plagiarism below).

5. The Law School’s standard penalties in relation to late submission and assignments exceeding the word limit apply to Introduction to Environmental Law. (It is understood that these standards are fairly consistently applied across the university.) The penalties are:
(a) for late submissions: Submission penalties of 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 assignment graded 63% will have 5% deducted if it is one hour late, for a final grade of 58%, 10% if it is 25 hours late, etc.;
(b) for assignments over the word length: 5% for every 100 words over 3,300 words. The limit of 3,300 includes a 10% margin over the base word limit of 3,000 words.

MyUni
Consistent with Law School policy, the primary communication mechanism for this course will be through placing announcements on MyUni. It is essential that students regularly check the announcements page for information. It is your responsibility to check MyUni regularly to ensure you have the most recent information. Any urgent information (such as unexpected cancellation of classes due to illness) will be sent to you by email as well as placed on MyUni.

Return Of Assignments and Feedback
Assignments will be returned to students within 3 weeks of the due date with written feedback.
Students will be notified by email when assignments are ready for collection from the Law School Front Office.

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level (see: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/700/ )

https://access.adelaide.edu.au/sa/login.asp)

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.

For more information please check out the Writing Centre website at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/


Lex Salus Program

Lex Salus was founded in 2013 by Adelaide Law School Wellbeing officers Ms Corinne Walding, Ms Kellie Toole and Dr Mark Giancaspro. Lex Salus is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at raising law student awareness of the importance of mental, physical and nutritional health across all year levels of the degree, and of the various counselling, disability and equity services both within and outside the University that can provide help. Research shows that law students, both in Australia and in many jurisdictions around the world, experience the highest levels of stress, anxiety and depression out of any other discipline. Many do not get enough sleep, maintain a healthy diet or achieve a realistic work/life balance. Making matters worse, they are unwilling or afraid to speak up for fear of feeling 'weak' or because of the negative stigma that attaches to seeking help. Lex Salus is dedicated to tackling these problems head-on.

Counselling Service

The University Counselling Service provides a free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Counselling service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life. More information is available at https://www.adelaide.edu.au/counselling_centre/.