Module LAW1107: LEGAL SKILLS

Department: Law

LAW1107: LEGAL SKILLS

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• This module provides students with a 'hands on' grounding in research, analysis, writing and IT skills. It seeks to establish key analytical and transferable skills essential not only in the students' legal studies but beyond. Most importantly, it represents an intensive induction of students into the legal community of practice, equipping them with the skills and the understanding of disciplinary conventions necessary to succeed on the LLB programme and become members of that community.

Content

• Western academic conventions;
• Conventions of legal academia;
• Conventions of law practice;
• Law School assessment criteria;
• Library and electronic legal research methods;
• Legal writing methods;
• Legal analysis and problem-solving.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of this course, students will:
• understand the fundamental principles of analysis and communication which underpin legal academic and professional practice in England and Wales;
• know and be able to work within the academic and professional conventions applicable in the Western law community of practice;
• have a working knowledge of Law School assessment criteria and how they are applied.

• By the end of this course, students will be able to:
• research and analyse the law from primary resources;
• to construct appropriate arguments both where the law is disputed and where it is clear; and to apply the findings of such work to complex factual situations to produce solutions to legal problems;
• communicate legal arguments, findings, and solutions, both orally and in writing, appropriately to the needs of a variety of audiences;
• use the English language and legal terminology with care and accuracy;
• identify appropriate and effective technological aids to researching, formulating, and presenting legal argument;
• locate and use reported cases and statutes;
• apply information in a structured argument drawing upon the methods of legal scholars: theoretical, historical, and textual;
• access legal materials, both in print and electronically, in the library and through specialist databases;
• read, understand and analyse cases, statutes and academic articles.

• By the end of this course, students will be able to:
• communicate complex ideas and arguments in clear written form;
• use standard paper and electronic resources to produce up-to-date information;
• conduct efficient searches of websites to locate relevant information;
• produce word-processed text and to present it in an appropriate form;
• give an effective oral presentation.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Nine seminars will be delivered in Michaelmas term (two per week and a separately-scheduled library workshop) in the first four weeks of term. Some part of the time in seminars will be used to convey information (eg, about writing conventions, referencing, research methods, assessment criteria), but most of seminar time will be devoted to more “hands-on” learning.
• Some of the early Michaelmas seminars will involve working through formative assignments and becoming conversant with the applicable assessment criteria. At least two will involve problem-based learning, where students will learn skills of synthesis and analysis by solving problems taken from other core subjects (eg, Contract, Tort, UK Constitutional Law).
• Three seminars will take place in early Epiphany term, and will revolve around a summative moot exercise (a mock legal appellate argument). Instruction will be provided in the first seminar, and the other two seminars will be used to present the moots.
• Six formative assignments are used to develop subject-specific and key skills. Five of the assignments will consist of progressively more complex tasks, starting with a simple library search (an assignment set in First Year Induction and due by the first seminar) and progressing to the submission of a formative essay. These assignments will have to be completed in a short time and feedback returned in a short time, providing an intensive and iterative feedback loop. Emphasis will be placed, in seminars, on ensuring that students understand how law-specific assessment criteria were applied to their assignments.
• A sixth formative assignment will consist of an oral presentation of the summative essay, with formative feedback feeding into the later moot.
• There are three summative assignments on the module: a resubmitted essay, a moot, and a portfolio. The resubmitted essay is the penultimate task from the first four weeks of the module (the ultimate task being a formative oral presentation). It will have been previously submitted for formative feedback; it must be revised in light of the feedback, and resubmitted for marking. The moot will be an oral summative assessment, marked using a marking template and two tutors. The final summative will be the submission of a portfolio, which will consist of drawing together and reflecting on the progressive series of formative exercises and the other two summatives.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

A library search exercise A case brief (500 words max) A summary and critique of an academic article (500 words max) An essay outline with bibliography (500 words max) A formative essay (1,500 words max) An oral presentation of the summative essay (10 minutes)

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University