| Effective Term: | 2024/05 |
| Institute / School : | Institute of Innovation, Science & Sustainability |
| Unit Title: | Legal Research Methods |
| Unit ID: | BULAW1506 |
| Credit Points: | 15.00 |
| Prerequisite(s): | (BULAW1502) |
| Co-requisite(s): | Nil |
| Exclusion(s): | Nil |
| ASCED: | 090901 |
| Other Change: | |
| Brief description of the Unit |
This is a foundation course for students completing the law major within the Bachelor of Commerce and involves three related areas understanding legal discourse and its ethical context, application of legal research skills and developing legal literacy. Each focus area is delivered and assessed by a different strategy. Like any discipline, law uses its own language and media forms and the course is designed to enable students to master these. Legal authorities must be recorded in a specific official format and discussion about these rules systems involves following conventional modes of expression. Law is fundamentally concerned with written text and this course introduces a variety of genres within legal texts and encourages students to develop critical legal reading and comprehension strategies. Particular attention is given to the primary sources of law, legislation and case law, and to their interaction. |
| Grade Scheme: | Graded (HD, D, C, P, MF, F, XF) |
| Work Experience Indicator: |
| No work experience |
| Placement Component: No |
| Supplementary Assessment:Yes |
| Where supplementary assessment is available a student must have failed overall in the Unit but gained a final mark of 45 per cent or above, has completed all major assessment tasks (including all sub-components where a task has multiple parts) as specified in the Unit Description and is not eligible for any other form of supplementary assessment |
| Course Level: |
| Level of Unit in Course | AQF Level(s) of Course | | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | | Introductory | | |  | | | | | Intermediate | | | | | | | | Advanced | | | | | | |
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| Learning Outcomes: |
| Knowledge: |
| K1. | Understand how law addresses social problems and ethical issues in particular contexts |
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| K2. | Locate and critically evaluate the impact of legal authorities case law, legislation and regulatory instruments - to wide ranging contemporary contexts |
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| Skills: |
| S1. | Contextualise legal research within problems relating to legal issues; |
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| S2. | Discuss the evolving nature of statutory interpretation, including examining methods and conventions of statutory interpretation in traditional and modern contexts; |
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| S3. | Adapt knowledge of humanities and social science research methods to contextualise and critically examine legal information; |
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| S4. | Develop problem-solving skills in the context of complex legal problems and scenarios |
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| Application of knowledge and skills: |
| A1. | Articulate opinions in an academic manner supported by research evidence and confirm development in legal literacy skills; and |
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| A2. | Contextualise legal knowledge in relation to other academic, social and community discourses |
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| Unit Content: |
Topics may include: 1.Critical evaluation of sources of legal information, both primary (statute and case law) and secondary (reports, summaries and analyses) 2.Legal Research Approaches and Protocols 3.The rules and requirements of statutory interpretation 4.Legal Reasoning5.Statute and case law and their use in legal research |
| Graduate Attributes: |
| | Learning Outcomes Assessed | Assessment Tasks | Assessment Type | Weighting | | 1. | K2, S2, S3, A2 | Identification, analysis and critique of secondary legal resources and their value to research | Essay | 25-35% | | 2. | K1, K2, S1, S2, S3, S4, A1 | Research, critically analyse and apply a range of legal resources to a legal problem and/or issue | Research Essay/Assignment | 30-55% | | 3. | K1, K2, S1, S2, S4, A1, A2 | Articulate and justify views on legal research, apply problem-solving skills to legal problem scenarios | Examination or test | 20-35% |
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