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New Ideas in Legal Scholarship (LAWS50114)
Graduate coursework level 5Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Semester 1
Email: law-aso@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 4475
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Overview
Availability(Quotas apply) | Semester 1 |
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Fees | Look up fees |
This subject is designed for second and third year JD students who are interested in learning about new ideas and directions in academic legal scholarship. It will expose students to current debates and introduce them to the process of producing scholarly work at a professional level. Students will learn how to critically and constructively assess academic works in progress, and will develop their own views about particular debates, topics, and methods of inquiry in legal scholarship. Students who are interested in pursuing academic careers in law are especially encouraged to enrol but this is not a prerequisite: students with any career objective will benefit from the unique educational experience that this subject provides.
Students will be expected to demonstrate skills and knowledge acquired in a series of ‘response papers’ that comment on/critique the works in progress under examination. Response papers will form the basis of assessment for the subject.
Students will meet with the subject coordinator nine times over the course of the semester. There are two kinds of meetings students will be required to attend: those held concurrently with the regularly scheduled meeting of the Legal Theory Workshop (‘on’ weeks); and Student Workshop meetings held during weeks when there is no Legal Theory Workshop meeting scheduled (‘off’ weeks).
The Legal Theory Workshop is Melbourne Law School’s works-in-progress discussion forum for faculty and research higher degree students, which meets approximately twice a month. Each workshop meeting features an unpublished article-length paper from a guest author, circulated and read in advance by workshop participants. Workshop guests regularly include distinguished legal scholars from across Australia and overseas. Topics vary depending on the guest’s particular area of scholarly expertise and interest, but cover a wide range of issues in legal scholarship across all sub-disciplines. Past guest paper topics have included:
- International legal obligations and indigenous peoples;
- Moral disagreement and legal justification;
- Private law and social illusion; and
- Religion and legal reasoning.
During ‘on’ weeks, students will meet for one hour before the Legal Theory Workshop meeting to discuss student response papers and the workshop guest's paper. After that hour is over, students will attend the 2 hour workshop meeting.
In addition, during two ‘off’ weeks, students will meet for one hour with the subject coordinator to discuss topics related to legal scholarship and academia. This may include meeting to discuss supplementary or background materials depending on guest paper topics and student interests.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will have an advanced understanding of, and be able to critically analyse, and reflect on:
- Current debates in legal scholarship (including who holds what position in those debates);
- The challenges of defining research topics or questions, and ways to approach those challenges;
- Different methods and approaches to researching a topic or question;
- Formulating hypotheses and developing strong and persuasive lines of argument;
- The process of writing and revising in light of feedback and comments; and
- The process of giving oral and written feedback and comments on the academic work of colleagues.
Generic skills
On completion of the subject students should have developed and demonstrated skills in the following areas:
- Reading: learning to identify key claims, arguments, and assumptions in scholarly work with precision;
- Oral communication: learning to speak with greater confidence and clarity in an academically rigorous environment, particularly on topics outside of one's expertise;
- Written communication: learning to write with greater analytical clarity and focus, and to express complicated ideas, to specialist and non-specialist legal audiences, more effectively and efficiently; and
- Analytical: learning to generate and evaluate complex ideas to form the basis of scholarly work, or to critique the scholarly work of others.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Only approved applicants can enrol into this subject.
Successful completion of all the below subjects:
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS50023 | Legal Method and Reasoning | Summer Term (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50024 | Principles of Public Law | Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50025 | Torts |
November (On Campus - Parkville)
Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville)
|
12.5 |
LAWS50026 | Obligations | Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50027 | Dispute Resolution | Semester 1 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50028 | Constitutional Law | Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50029 | Contracts | Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
LAWS50031 | Legal Theory | Semester 2 (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Assessment
Additional details
- Hurdle Requirement: Participation and attendance;
- Response papers (100%): students will be required to prepare and submit 6 response papers of 1,200 - 1,500 words.
The due date of the above assessment will be available to students via the Assessment Schedule on the LMS Community.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- Semester 1
Principal coordinator L K Weis Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 23 hours Total time commitment 144 hours Teaching period 27 February 2017 to 28 May 2017 Last self-enrol date 16 October 2016 Census date 31 March 2017 Last date to withdraw without fail 5 May 2017 Assessment period ends 23 June 2017 Semester 1 contact information
Email: law-aso@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 4475
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Time commitment details
144 hours
Additional delivery details
This subject has a quota of 15 students. Interested students should send a short email (1-2 paragraphs) to the Subject Coordinator outlining why they are interested in this subject.
Applicants are selected through a competitive application process. Please refer to the JD LMS Community for more details.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
There are no specifically prescribed or recommended texts for this subject.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Juris Doctor
Last updated: 3 November 2022