Law Reform (LAWS50098)

If you could change one law, what would it be?

Imagine, genuinely imagine, that for one day you were given the powers of Parliament to create or amend laws. What would be the first thing you did? What problem would you want to solve? Where do you see the greatest injustice? There are so many answers to these questions, but some examples include the destruction of cultural heritage, indefinite immigration detention, Ministerial approvals for developments impacting the environment, tax subsidies for real estate investments, rent caps, the age of criminal responsibility, and universal basic income. Most of the time lawyers tend to focus on problems, but in this subject we take the opportunity to create solutions. Given the chance, what one piece of legislation would you change, and why? Would your solution remove, amend or create something entirely new? And how might your change be interpreted? 

This subject explores how and why we undertake the work of law reform. Law reform is not simply change, but change for the better. This makes law reform highly controversial, because not everyone agrees on what is ‘better’. While Courts and Parliament both effect change, they do so differently. In a context of ever-increasing legislative activity, this subject focuses primarily on legislative reform. In legal practice, lawyers play many different roles in legislative reform, including key roles in law reform commissions, parliamentary counsel and as instructing solicitors. This subject addresses those roles. 

Indicative list of principal topics:

• Law reform – what is law reform, how does it work, and what does it mean to change law for the ‘better’? 
• Lawyers – In legal practice, what different roles do lawyers play in making this change, such as in law reform commissions and parliamentary counsel? 
• Problems – How to identify, research and articulate legal problems that can be best addressed by legislation? 
• Solutions – How to draft legislation to solve legal problems?
• Words – When creating legislative solutions, how to choose the ‘right’ words? Can we ever really figure out the right words?
• Interpretation – What if the words we choose are interpreted by courts or the legal profession in unexpected ways? 

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• Evaluate the efficacy of the legal systems and structures within which law reform operates, including the roles of legislatures and judiciaries
• Synthesise knowledge of legal theories, practices and procedures, involved in the creation and amendment of laws, recognising the diverse roles that lawyers play in shaping law reform
• Create innovative and appropriate legal solutions by identifying, researchin gnad analysing legal issues and gaps within existing laws in order to propose coherent law reform submissions
• Design, draft and assess legal documents necessary for law reform, including law reform submissions and legislative drafting.

Generic skills

• Formulate and evaluate law reform processes, policies and players through critical analysis, recognising ethical, political and practical impacts in order to advocate for legal change.
• Construct and articulate complex legal arguments by deploying authoritative legal precedents and statutes to effectively communicate law reform proposals.
• Navigate complex legislative frameworks with confidence, employing a deep understanding of statutory interpretation and legislative drafting to develop, evaluate and refine law reform initiatives.
• Conduct and refine legal research to identify complex legal problems and creatively design statutory based legal solutions through legislative drafting and law reform submissions, ensuring comprehensive coverage of relevant legal materials.