Inherent requirements of Law Courses

Requirement

Law is a profession governed by competency standards, rules and codes of ethics, professional conduct and professional boundaries where lawyers are accountable and responsible for ensuring professional behaviour.

Compliance with laws, codes, guidelines and policies facilitates safe, competent interactions and relationships for students and/or the people they engage with. This ensures the physical, psychological and emotional wellbeing of the individual is not placed at risk.

In the course of their studies, students must be prepared to engage in and understand the requirements of ethical behaviour in an academic context.

Adjustments must not compromise codes of conduct or result in unethical behaviour.

Examples of Tasks

• Complying with academic and non-academic misconduct policies
• Demonstrating appropriate behaviour with confidential information in classroom, clinical and placement settings; and
• Demonstrating compliance with professional conduct rules, rules of natural justice, honesty, courtroom and professional etiquette.

Requirement

Behavioural stability is required to function and adapt effectively and sensitively in a demanding professional role.

Behavioural stability is required to work individually and in teams in changing, challenging and unpredictable environments. Law students may be exposed to emotionally challenging and intellectually demanding situations and human suffering and will be required to have the necessary behavioural and intellectual stability to manage these events objectively and professionally.

In the course of their studies, students must demonstrate:

• the behavioural stability required to work constructively in a diverse and changing academic and professional environment;
• the emotional health to utilise their own intellectual abilities appropriately;
• capacity to cope in stressful or emotionally traumatic situations.

Adjustments must support stable, effective and professional behaviour in academic and professional settings.

• Being perceptive, receptive and professional in responding; appropriately to constructive feedback;
• Coping with own emotions and behaviour effectively in an academic context; and
• Treating academic and professional staff with appropriate courtesy and respect.

Requirement

Effective written communication, reading and writing, is fundamental to legal practice.

In the course of their studies, students must demonstrate capacity to perform the following tasks in a timely manner:

• Read and comprehend complex legal and other texts; and
• construct coherent written communications in Plain English, using correct grammar, punctuation and standard Australian spelling.

Adjustments must enable written adjustments to demonstrate necessary standards of clarity, accuracy and accessibility in written communications.

• Completing and comprehending prescribed readings in a timely fashion; and
• Constructing written assessment tasks to academic standards in law.

Requirement

The ability to acquire and disseminate information verbally, as well as in written form, is necessary in legal practice. The ability to read, listen, decode, interpret and comprehend multiple sources of information is an inherent professional skill.

Verbal communication, including good listening skills, is inherent in aspects of legal practice, such as court room advocacy, taking instructions from clients, advising in conference, mediation, and negotiation of disputes.

In the course of their studies, students must demonstrate the ability to understand and respond to verbal communications accurately, appropriately and in a timely manner.

Adjustments for impaired verbal communication must address effectiveness, timeliness, clarity and accuracy.

Examples of Tasks

• Participating in tutorial discussions and moots; and
• Listening and note-taking in lectures.

Requirement

Cognitive skills are necessary to understand complex legal issues in a timely fashion and to provide competent legal advice.

Delivery of quality legal advice and being able to advocate and negotiate a client's case is based on knowledge that must be researched, understood and applied to enable the provision of best practice legal assistance. Often, advice must be founded on the rapid but reliable processing of information from diverse and complex sources.

In the course of their studies, students must demonstrate an ability to:

• Comprehend a range of materials including theoretical, doctrinal and contextual materials;
• Process relevant information;
• Integrate and implement knowledge in practice; and
• Perform the above tasks in a timely fashion.

Adjustments must not compromise a clear demonstration of knowledge and cognitive skills.

• Conceptualising and using appropriate knowledge in academic assessment items; and
• Reading, understanding and applying law as found in case law and statutory materials.

Requirement

Legal practice imposes a range of professional obligations on practitioners, including duties of competence, diligence and courtesy. Included among these are the duties to work independently, manage workload and act in a timely manner, having regard to deadlines, court dates and the reasonable expectation of clients and others. Legal practitioners need to be able to deal with others impartially, courteously and sensitively in a variety of situations.

In the course of their studies, students must demonstrate an ability to:

• Manage their time and workload effectively
• Communicate with staff and other students with courtesy and respect, regardless of the student’s personal emotional context
• Respond to others with cultural sensitivity and in recognition of the norms of non-discrimination and substantive equity and
• Identify and accept their responsibilities within the academic context.

Adjustments must support stable, effective and professional behaviour in academic and professional settings.

Examples of Tasks

• Submit assessments items by the due dates; and
• Interact with students and staff, including from other cultures, with sensitivity and professionalism.