LAW7401 - Civil Litigation Practice

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Introduction

Welcome to the Civil Litigation Practice Unit in the Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Skills & Ethics Course.

Purpose

In this Unit you will

examine the legislative and administrative structures established for the resolution of civil disputes at the State and Federal levels;
learn the basic principles and procedures that underlie the processing of a civil claim in the state and federal jurisdictions in which you will practice -- this includes looking at the State and Federal jurisdictions and the various alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms that might be available in these jurisdictions;
explore typical ethical issues and dilemmas that may confront a legal practitioner working in the field of civil litigation.

The topics covered in this Unit are foundation topics and provide useful examples and opportunities to engage in the practical application of basic civil litigation principles in legal practice.

Time Investment

You will need to commit approximately 120 hours to working on this Unit. This includes the time that you will need to spend

online - reading, completing activities, visiting websites and participating in the Unit discussion forum
offline - researching in your organisation, completing activities and thinking.

Learning outcomes

This Unit is about developing your practical legal skills of interviewing, analysing, advising, communicating, drafting and negotiating in connection with the various transactions commonly associated with a civil claim.

At the successful completion of this Unit you should be able to

take full and accurate instructions from your client and pick out the relevant facts from instructions and documents provided
identify and analyse the legal issues
assess and articulate the strengths and weaknesses of your client’s case
identify alternative methods of dispute resolution that may be appropriate to achieve the best outcome for the client
identify the procedures for the resolution of civil claims in the various jurisdictions
prepare documents for litigation
prepare and present evidence in a manner most advantageous to your client
comply with the relevant rules of court and practice notes, rules or directions
address ethical issues that typically arise when you are instructed in a litigation matter.

Modules

This Unit is divided into 8 modules. If you click on any of the titles below it will take you to a brief introduction for that Module.

1. Introduction
2. Assessing the merits of a case and identifying dispute resolution alternatives
3. Initiating and responding to claims
4. Interlocutory and default proceedings
5. Case management
6. Gathering and presenting evidence
7. Working towards settlement
8. Enforcement of judgments and orders

These modules will be supplemented by other content delivered to you in face-to-face sessions.

Teaching staff

This Unit is taught by Rachel Chrapot from the Law Faculty at Monash University and they can help you with your enquiries in regards to the content and assessment of this Unit. You can contact Randall on weekdays as follows:

By email at rachel.chrapot@law.monash.edu.au
By phone: (03) 990 53344

Attendance

You must attend all face to face sessions to pass this Unit. If you have any difficulties in attending please contact Rachel as soon as possible.

Other

If you have any other enquiries please contact the following

Administrative - please contact Wendy Panaccio
Technology - please contact the Webmanager

Assessment

Assessment overview for this unit

Please note that this unit is designed for both individual and collaborative assessments. In the latter case, the same marks will be awarded to each collaborator for any work jointly submitted.

Please note that assessments handed in late are subject to a penalty of 10% per day from both the skill (where appropriate) and the content. Please consult the Course Handbook provided in hardcopy at the commencement of the online course about assessment regulations.

Resources

You will find a range of useful resources available to help you in this Unit including

If you find any resources that you think might be helpful for this Unit can you please email your teacher with the details.

Plagiarism

The University applies strict policies on plagiarism. If a piece of assessable work contains significant plagiarised material it may be graded at zero. Furthermore, conscious or intentional copying can be regarded as cheating and dealt with under the University’s Disciplinary Procedures. It is also an offence for a student to permit their work to be copied by another student for submission.

It is critically important that graduates do not plagiarise. The program emphasises professional ethics and plagiarism by a solicitor has been treated as grounds for suspension from practice.

You must therefore take particular care that all the work you submit for assessment is genuinely your own work (apart from legitimate legal sources such as precedents). You are encouraged to discuss the requirements of an assessable task with your colleagues but the final product submitted must be your own. Where collaboration with fellow graduates is allowed you must contribute your own fair share to any work that is jointly submitted.

You should bear in mind that your instructor will be marking a relatively small number of assessments and improper similarities between the work of two or more graduates are strikingly obvious.

You should also bear in mind that it is improper to allow your work to be copied and both the copier and the copy-ee may receive a zero grade for the work.

Worksite

If you are an enrolled student you can now enter the Unit worksite by clicking on the link "Go to the online resources" in the blue box at the top right hand side of this page. Once you have logged in using your Monash "Authcate" password you will go to the Unit Organiser.