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 a Chemical  engineering degree with First Class Honours.
Email: kyra.reznikov@finlaysons.com.au

On successful completion of this course, students will 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”, 9th edition, 2016, 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)
   Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act, 2016
• 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).

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).
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:

Schedule

Week	Lecture	Tutorial
1	Introductory matters, Sources of law (Lecture will use all 3 hours in the first week)
2	Australian Legal System, Constitution and the Environment, International Law	Intro to Environmental law, Sources of law
3	Ecologically Sustainable development (ESD)	(over 2 hours) Australian legal system, Constitution and the Environment
4		(3 hours of tutorial) International law, ESD, Exam preparation
5	(over 3 hours) Land Use Planning & development law (including environmental impact assessment requirements)
6	Control & licensing of environmentally significant activities & pollution	Planning and development problem
7	Commonwealth Environment protection laws-Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999	Environment Protection Act (pollution) problem
8	Climate Change & the law	Role of Commonwealth law and government in environmental matters
9	Water resources law and policy	Site Contamination problem
10	Conservation of Biological Diversity	Water resources problem
11	Revision & research essay discussion (1 hour)	(2 hours) Major projects and EIA, Biodiversity issues problem question
12	Group Presentations

It is expected that students attend and actively participate in 10 out of the 12 weekly 3 hour lecture/tutorial sessions.

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.

Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Weighting	Length	Redeemable	Learning Outcome
Tutorial Assignment No 1	Individual	Submission prior to week 3 class	10%		No	1,3
Tutorial Assignment No 2	Individual	Submission prior to week 8 class	10%		No	1,3
Group Assignment (3,000 words) and Presentation (15 minutes to class)	Group	Submit written assignment by Tuesday 29 October 2019 by 5pm. Presentation in week 12 seminar	30%		No	1,4
Research essay (3,500 words) Topics to be made available in Week 5	Individual	Monday 4 November 2019 by 5pm	50%		No	4,5,6

(i) Tutorial Assignment No 1(10%)

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 Weeks 1 and 2.
Students must submit their assignments prior to the Week 3 class. 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.

(ii) Tutorial Assignment No 2 (10%)
This assignment will relate to material dealt with in Weeks 5 through to Week 7. The questions will be issued at the start of Week 5. Assignmments must be submitted prior to the Week 8 class and the same rules re late assignments as outlined above will apply.

(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. The written report assignment from the Group must be submitted through Turnitin by5pm on Tuesday 29 October 2019.

(iv) Research Essay (50%)

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 3,500 word limit.It must be submitted through Turnitin by 5pm on Monday 4 November 2019.

Presentation of Assignments

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

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

3. 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
It is intended that assignments  be returned to students within 3 weeks of the due date with written feedback.
Students will be notified by email when assignments are available.

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.

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.

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.

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 many other professions including engineering.