LAW4805 · Mooting and advocacy competition

Overview

Admission to this unit is by competitive application. The unit will be capped depending on the number of competitions offered from year to year. Criteria for selection will include course progression, marks in completed units, experience or skill in mooting, debating or other advocacy (assessed through an oral advocacy exercise). You will be allocated to teams for various external mooting competitions in which they will represent Monash University. These will vary from year to year, but may include: Michael Kirby Contract Moot Shine Torts Moot Gibbs Constitutional Law Moot Administrative Appeals Tribunal Moot National Women's Moot Castan Centre Human Rights Moot National Environmental Moot National Family Law Moot World Human Rights Moot International Humanitarian Law Moot Seminars are provided on advocacy techniques, research techniques and the drafting of court documents. You will then work as a team on the problem relevant to your assigned competition, including researching the problem, preparing written submissions and formulating oral arguments. Attendance at scheduled sessions is compulsory. Where permitted by the rules of the respective competitions, you will be invited to critique the practice performances of your peers in other competitions. Regular practice moots will also be held for each team, overseen by academics and external guest judges with expertise in the relevant field.

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. Undertake independent research to identify appropriate case law, legislation and secondary materials.
2. Analyse and respond to legal problems by applying properly interpreted legislative provisions to their resolution.
3. Interact and collaborate with peers to synthesise and evaluate information derived from a range of sources.
4. Communicate effectively in both oral and written modes by delivering concise but convincing responses to complex legal problems.
5. Demonstrate understanding of legal questions from a judge or arbitrator by responding to these directly and appropriately in real time.
6. Demonstrate the capacity to reflect critically and with honesty in regard to personal learning goals and the development of key legal & cognitive skills.
7. Critique the work of peers in a constructive and professional manner.

Workload

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.