Litigation and Dispute Processing (7047.4)

Please note these are the 2018 details for this unit
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Litigation and Dispute Processing
Available teaching periods Delivery mode Location
View teaching periods
EFTSL Credit points Faculty
0.125 3 Faculty Of Business, Government & Law
Discipline Study level HECS Bands
Canberra Law School Level 4 - Undergraduate Advanced Unit Band 4 2021 (Commenced After 1 Jan 2021)
Band 4 2021 (Commenced After 1 Jan Social Work_Exclude 0905)
Band 5 2021 (Commenced Before 1 Jan 2021)
This unit will provide students with a grounding in various dispute resolution methodologies. Particular attention will be given to issues of jurisdiction, standing, court procedures and the duties of advocates and the rights of parties. The course will also introduce students to alternative modes of dispute resolution (eg negotiation, mediation, and arbitration).

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Understand the nature, appropriateness, strengths and weaknesses of various forms of dispute resolution and will have acquired a basic understanding of the rules of civil procedure, the principles underlying those rules and their relationship to substantive law.


Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - evaluate and adopt new technology
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development


Prerequisites

Completion of Legal Systems or equivalent. Entry to the LLB program.
Year Location Teaching period Teaching start date Delivery mode Unit convener
Not available

Required texts

Pre-admission lawyers must have either a copy of:

  • Bernard Cairns, Australian Civil Procedure (Thomson Reuters, 11th ed, 2016) (‘Cairns') OR
  • Stephen Colbran, Peta Spender, Roger Douglas and Sheryl Jackson, Civil Procedure: Commentary and Materials (Lexis Nexis, 6th ed, 2015) (‘Colbran et al').

Pre-admission lawyers are not required to purchase both.  Cairns will continue to be of value even after graduation.  The Co-Op Bookshop will have copies of Cairns to purchase.  However, acknowledging that texts are expensive and pre-admission lawyers often purchase second hand texts, Colbran et al (which was the text from last year) is just as good.  All of the required readings in the Unit Timetable provide paragraph references for both Cairns and Colbran et al.   

Pre-admission lawyers must also have:

  • access to the Court Procedures Rules 2009 (ACT) available from the ACT Legislation Register, AND
  • Roger Eastman and William Rose,  Pleadings Without Tears A Guide to Legal Drafting Under the Civil Procedure Rules (Oxford University Press, 9th ed, 2017). 

Pleadings Without Tears is an English text and refers to the UK Civil Procedure Rules.  However, it is an invaluable resource not only for drafting formal pleadings (which is an assessment task) but for legal drafting generally.  I still have and treasure my copy of a much earlier edition which I bought as an undergraduate. It is also relatively inexpensive for a legal text.  However, the UC Library also has copies of earlier editions. 

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

All of the assessment tasks form part of a litigation simulation.  That means that, just as in real life, all assessment tasks must be served on the pre-admission lawyer acting for the other party.  This is a crucial part of the assessment and, if omitted in real life, may result in your client's claim or defence being struck out and costs awarded.  See the assessment details for further information. 

In the context of this assessment, late submission also presents a difficulty for the pre-admission lawyer acting for the other party.  If you are going to be late in submitting an assessment task, as a matter of professional courtesy you should also let the pre-admission lawyer acting for the other party know.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Learner engagement

Attendance at tutorials is not compulsory.  However, in this unit, you will be confronted with drafting and writing tasks that you will not have attempted before in law school.  Many of the tutorials are constructed to provide direct instruction on how to prepare letters, pleadings, affidavits and submissions.  There are also opportunities to practise and develop oral advocacy skills.  That is, all of the tutorials are designed to support your assessment.  Please consider this when deciding whether you will attend.  

Participation requirements

None.

Required IT skills

None.

Work placement, internships or practicums

None.