Handbook 1996 : Faculty of Law (Volume 3 page 224)
Law subject : Next:730-318 | Prev:730-347 | Search | Help
Optional Law subject.
Prerequisite: Torts and the Process of Law; History and Philosophy of Law.
Contact: 2 hours per week
Timetable: Both semesters
Objectives:
Students completing the course should: have examined the interface between issues of professional conduct and matters of substantive law; have considered the philosophical issues in professional ethics, and the economic and organisational issues confronting the profession; and have studied in depth client trust accounting.
Content:
The Profession. Nature of the profession. History of the profession. Organisation of the profession: barristers and solicitors; Queens Counsel; specialisation; the Bar Council and the Law Institute. Profile of the profession: lawyers in business, politics and public service. Academic lawyers. Women and the law. Admission to the profession: fit and proper person to practice. The moral foundations of legal ethics: The concept of role morality. The nature of the adversary system. The concept of the lawyer's role as a neutral partisan of the client's interests. Critiques of and alternatives to neutral partisanship. Duty to the law: Duty to comply with the law. Law reform. The activist lawyer. Duty to the Court: Duty of honesty. Duty as to the law and as to facts. Relationship between judge and advocate. Nature of the jury system. Duty to the client: Duty to accept work and to continue to act. Duty to inform, advise, and act on instructions. Duty of competence and car. Duty of confidentiality. Duty of loyalty: conflict of interests. Barrister's duties. Counsel's Rules: the Rules of the Bar. Acting for a guilty client. Immunity from suit for negligence in court. Negligence. Barristers. Solicitors. Duty to fellow practitioners. Legal Profession Practice Act 1958 and the Rules thereunder. Discipline. Trust accounts. Access to justice. Access to justice and the rule of law. Legal rituals, formalism and obscurantism. Is Australia underlawyered and overlawyered? The legal needs of the poor and middle class. Excessive litigiousness. Theories of distributive justice. Mediation and negotiation. Alternative dispute resolution. Costs. Contingency fees. Pro bono representation. Class actions. Delivery of legal services. Advertising. Other forms of attraction of work. Legal aid. Roles for non-lawyers. The ethics of judging. The nature of judging. The separation of powers. The independence of the judiciary. The notion of impartiality. The interventionist judge. The activist judge. The publicist judge. The political judge.
Assessment:
Research Paper 3,000 words (30 per cent) and Final Exam 2 hours in July in Trust Accounts and Final Exam 3 hours in November on Ethics and Conduct (70 per cent).
Prescribed texts:
Law subject : Next:730-318 | Prev:730-347 | Search | Help
Handbook 1996 : Faculty of Law (Volume 3 page 224)
Status: Official 1996 Date created: Oct 9 1995 Last modified: Oct 9 1995 Authorised by: Academic Registrar Email enquiries: Course_Information@registrar.unimelb.edu.au
Maintained by: Faculty of Law.
Copyright © University of Melbourne 1995,1996.