University of Technology Sydney

75424 Legal and Professional Skills

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2024 is available in the Archives.

UTS: Law
Credit points: 6 cp
Result type: Grade and marks

Requisite(s): (102 credit points of completed study in spk(s): STM90688 102cp Core subjects LLB OR 108 credit points of completed study in spk(s): STM90832 LLB Core Subjects OR 108 credit points of completed study in 108Credit Points spk(s): STM90831 c Juris Doctor Core Subjects) AND (114 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C04236 Juris Doctor OR 162 credit points of completed study in spk(s): C10124 Bachelor of Laws OR 114 credit points of completed study in spk(s): STM90691 144cp Law Stream OR 114 credit points of completed study in spk(s): STM90401 Law Stream Combined Degree BA Communication Bachelor of Laws OR 132 credit points of completed study in 132Credit Points spk(s): C04320 c Juris Doctor Graduate Certificate Professional Legal Practice)
The lower case 'c' after the subject code indicates that the subject is a corequisite. See definitions for details.
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses. See access conditions.

Description

This subject covers the skills, practice areas and values required to be admitted to practise law as prescribed by the ‘competency standards’ set out in the Second Schedule to the Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 2015. The subject assumes an understanding of disciplinary knowledge taught in core law subjects in a relevant degree. Students learn and practise the application of this knowledge through the development of skills and reflection in preparation for professional practice as an entry-level lawyer. It is complemented by the other three Practical Legal Training (PLT) subjects – Transactional Practice, Litigation and Estate Practice and Practical Experience.

The practice of law requires an understanding of the legislative and regulatory environment in which the legal profession operates. The integration of practical and theoretical approaches to legal ethics and legal practice provides a basis from which students can better integrate ethical priorities within their own moral compass and develop personal priorities around resilience. Students apply their legal skills and understanding of the ethical responsibilities of legal practitioners, including obligations relating to a solicitor's trust account.

Participation in drafting, interviewing and negotiation workshops and in online discussions enables students to practise essential skills in a client focused environment. The weekly activities also provide practical scenarios in which students can better understand how conduct rules apply in a professional context and the operation and application of trust accounting procedures.

Students also develop and reflect on the targeted graduate attributes including the application of resilience strategies for personal benefit and in the workplace environment.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Upon successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. Identify issues, respond appropriately to problem solving from the client’s perspective and collaborate to discuss a range of options applying the principled bargaining approach to dispute resolution;
2. Apply advanced oral and written communication skills using Plain English; to demonstrate effective client focused communication, including in culturally diverse communities;
3. Develop an ethical framework for the practice of law to recognise and resolve ethical challenges;
4. Apply the principles governing trust and general accounting in legal practice;
5. Reflect on and explain the relationship between personal and professional conduct and values including the development of strategies for risk management and resilience;
6. Collaborate effectively with other professionals to identify issues and generate options to solve legal problems.

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject also contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes which reflect the course intended learning outcomes:

  • Ethics and Professional Responsibility
    a. An advanced capacity to value and promote honesty, integrity, cultural respect, accountability, public service and ethical standards, including an understanding of approaches to ethical decision-making, the rules of professional responsibility, an ability to reflect upon and respond to ethical challenges in practice and to exercise professional judgment.

    b. Recognise, reflect upon and respond with professional judgment to ethical and professional responsibility issues that arise in legal practice. (2.1)
  • Communication
    a. Appropriate professional communication skills including highly effective use of the English language, an ability to inform, analyse, report and persuade using an appropriate medium and message and an ability to respond respectfully.

    b. Communicate accurately and appropriately with multidisciplinary audiences in a range of specialised formats, including productive collaboration with professional teams and clients. (5.1)
  • Collaboration
    a. Specialised collaboration skills, including effective team work to achieve a common goal in a group learning environment or the workplace.

    b. Take responsibility to give feedback and to respond to feedback in a professional context, to work effectively with colleagues and other stakeholders and to resolve challenges through effective negotiation. (6.1)
  • Indigenous Professional Capability
    Graduate Certificate Professional Legal Practice graduates will:
    Critically reflect on Indigenous Australian contexts to inform professional cultural capability to work effectively with and for Indigenous Australians as clients, legal practitioners and colleagues. (7.1)

Teaching and learning strategies

Strategy 1: Preparation for Professional Practice

Students are introduced to learning for professional practice through their weekly preparation for lectures and assessment tasks using specific resources and materials. Students build on their preparatory learning in face-to-face workshops and online activities based on the work of an entry-level lawyer. Preparation for lectures and activities includes reading lectures slides, articles and engaging with instructional video and other online resources. Students collaborate in groups online, distributing tasks, providing feedback comments to peers about their contribution to the documents and completing activities together. Teachers provide feedback on workshop tasks completed. In this preparation, students are also required to draw on their knowledge of the law in their academic study in order to understand its application.

Strategy 2: Lectures

Lectures given by clinical practitioners and guest lecturers from the profession provide students with real-world knowledge, skills and values relevant to legal practice. To assist students, lectures are recorded and complemented by additional resources on CANVAS. Students are provided with practical scenarios demonstrating the application of knowledge and skills in legal practice. The lectures form the basis for work undertaken in workshops and on CANVAS.

Strategy 3: Workshop activities – online and face-to-face

Workshop activities, face-to-face and online, are planned to enable students to achieve the competencies required by the Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB). These activities, based on the work of lawyers in practice, are designed to scaffold student learning in the academic degree through to the development of professional skills and an ethical framework.

Students are encouraged to discuss the professional tasks undertaken in the workshops and on CANVAS. Structured opportunities are provided to allow students to practise professional skills and to receive peer and clinical practitioner feedback prior to undertaking practical assessments, including a simulated negotiation applying the principled bargaining approach and simulated client interviews.

Workshop activities are the platform for assessment tasks, engaging students to think, reflect and apply legal knowledge from their learning in core and elective subjects to a practical application. Students have the opportunity to experience the role as an advocate in a court, utilising the mock trial courts with video equipment enabling students to observe and reflect on their and fellow students’ experience.

Strategy 4: Online learning

All students access material and resources on CANVAS. Students engage in student-led discussion and workshop activities. For allocated group activities all students have access to an online Discussion Board forum on CANVAS providing students with resources to assist in the collaboration of tasks.

Students are encouraged to share their questions, experience and helpful information on the on CANVAS Discussion Board with prompt guidance and support from the Subject Coordinator.

Strategy 5: Ongoing feedback

Ongoing formative feedback is provided to students individually and in groups throughout the subject on practice-based activities; and on CANVAS group task discussion forums, as well as giving written feedback on marked assignments. This formative feedback is provided on weekly activities from Week 1 providing students with multiple early opportunities to gauge their learning and progress by Week 3.

Students are encouraged to conduct themselves as a professional and to produce work of a standard expected of an entry-level lawyer. In order to achieve this, students practise, refine and receive feedback on their oral and written communications and their ability to receive and apply feedback. Students have the opportunity to reflect on how to give feedback to peers that is considered and measured. Students are able to engage with resources in relation to resilience in order to recognise the duty to self as well as others and to develop as self-directed and autonomous professionals within a practice of work/life balance. The ongoing provision of feedback enables students to develop the capacity to work effectively in a team, to mentor peers and to understand the value of professional development.

Strategy 6: Communication and Collaboration

Activities for developing advanced oral communication skills are practised by students in a professional context through negotiation and interview simulations. These activities simulate legal practice which will assist students in their legal and professional careers. Tasks for developing advanced written communication skills are practised by students through drafting letters and file notes. Peer and clinical practitioner feedback is given during the practice activities to enable students to reflect on and apply feedback to assessed tasks.

Students learn collaboratively in the workshop and online groups through peer feedback and discussion. In workshops, students prepare in small groups for practice-based tasks, including negotiations and communications with clients. Students give feedback to each other prior to discussing the tasks as a workshop group.

Subject Delivery

This subject is delivered as follows:

  1. A weekly recorded lecture;
  2. Zoom sessions throughout the semester;

  3. Workshops:
    a. Face to face seminar workshops where students collaborate and work in small groups to complete workshop activities;
    b. Online seminar workshops where students are allocated into small online groups to collaborate and complete workshop activities.

  4. Face to face attendance at UTS (or online zoom attendance if necessary) for participation in simulated negotiation and client interview assessment.

Content (topics)

  • Introduction to legal practice; Trust Accounting
  • Client interviewing
  • Communication and problem solving; Plain language and drafting
  • Risk management
  • Best Practice: Resilience
  • Practical Application of knowledge and theory: Negotiation and Client Interview
  • Professionalism and personal practice; Social Justice and Cultural Awareness

Assessment

Assessment task 1: File Note, Letter to client and Accounting Obligations

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

This task contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes:

2.1 and 5.1

Weight: 40%
Length:

The total length of Assessment 1 is 2000 words plus 10% leeway

Part A: Accounting Obligations to be no more than 500 words (15%)

  • 10% leeway permitted

Part B: File note (15%) and Letter (10%) to be a combined length of no more than 1500 words

  • 10% leeway permitted

Footnotes ARE NOT to be used in Part A or Part B.

Students are expected to use structure tools and apply learning from 'Plain language and drafting' for Part A and Part B.

Accounting Part A

  • References to Uniform legislation in the Accounting Obligations are not included in the word count.
  • Short, brief concise answers only required for Part A - no sentences required.

File note and Letter Part B

  • Letterhead and particulars of firm are not included in word count.
  • Any Pro Forma detail/information at beginning of file note are not included in the word count.
Criteria:
  • Development and communication of appropriate and clear future management strategy.
  • Reflection, analysis and evaluation of issues, client’s perspective and ethical implications evident in file note.
  • Integration and development of a comprehensive strategy for the issues identified in the file note that is clearly communicated to the client.
  • Demonstrates effective and clearly structured written communication and use of plain language in letter to client.
  • Evidence of knowledge and application of relevant trust accounting principles in accounting transactions and client letter. Understanding of the fiduciary obligations of lawyers when managing client’s money evident in transaction(s).

Note: Students must comply with the UTS Student Rules including Rule 16.2 on student misconduct. Student misconduct includes:

  • Copying or reworking any material (e.g., text, images, music, video) from generative AI tools, and claiming this work as your own without declaring use of the relevant tool.
  • Using generative AI tools, unless permitted use is specified for that assessment.

Students are advised that vivas or other invigilated tasks may be used to verify student achievement of learning outcomes (UTS Coursework Assessment Policy s 4.28). This includes where a marker or Subject Coordinator has questions about the acknowledgment of sources or authenticity of work submitted or has reason to believe that students have engaged in misconduct (Rule 16 of the Student Rules). Failure to participate may result in a fail mark for this assessment and/or impact your progression in this subject/course.

Assessment task 2: Negotiation reflection and general participation

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

1, 2, 3 and 6

This task contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes:

2.1, 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1

Weight: 30%
Length:

Simulated group negotiation 60 minutes (approx.) for each negotiation including teacher feedback.

Negotiation Reflection is to be no more than 1000 words (NOTE there is NO % leeway of word count).

There is no word count attributed to the Effective Team Player Quality Audit. Marks are impacted if this is not uploaded with the Negotiation Reflection.

Negotiation Reflection and Effective Team Player Quality Audit is due via Canvas portal on the day following the simulated negotiation:

  • if negotiation conducted on 10 April then Negotiation Reflection and Team Player Audit due 11.59pm 11 April 2024;
  • if negotiation conducted on 13 April then Negotiation Reflection and Team Player Audit due 11.59pm 14 April 2024.
Criteria:

Negotiation Reflection

  • Provide feedback on colleagues’ participation in the group negotiation process that is constructive, specific and individualised.
  • Offer recommendations for colleagues’ future development as legal professionals working in a team.
  • Comment on personal experience of an interest based negotiation, reflecting on knowledge, skills and of prior learning.

General Participation

  • Contribution to effective collaborative workshop activities.
  • Thoughtful discussion around ethical challenges and the role of lawyers in the community.
  • Application of the law and ethical conduct principles as an entry level lawyer.
  • Evidence of professionalism and ethical decision making in online and face to face workshop

Note: Students must comply with the UTS Student Rules including Rule 16.2 on student misconduct. Student misconduct includes:

  • Copying or reworking any material (e.g., text, images, music, video) from generative AI tools, and claiming this work as your own without declaring use of the relevant tool.
  • Using generative AI tools, unless permitted use is specified for that assessment.

Students are advised that vivas or other invigilated tasks may be used to verify student achievement of learning outcomes (UTS Coursework Assessment Policy s 4.28). This includes where a marker or Subject Coordinator has questions about the acknowledgment of sources or authenticity of work submitted or has reason to believe that students have engaged in misconduct (Rule 16 of the Student Rules). Failure to participate may result in a fail mark for this assessment and/or impact your progression in this subject/course.

Assessment task 3: Client Interview and Reflective Review

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

1, 2, 3 and 5

This task contributes specifically to the development of the following graduate attributes:

2.1 and 5.1

Weight: 30%
Length:

Reflective Review after the client interview - 800 words.

  • 10% leeway permitted
Criteria:

Criteria for Reflective Review

  • Evaluates application of legal interviewing skills in the role of a solicitor.
  • Reflects on the personal experience of being a client to improve their strategies for professional practice.

Criteria for Client Interview

  • Clear oral communication, listening skills and rapport demonstrated throughout client interview.
  • Evidence of client focus and cultural sensitivity in all communications.
  • Awareness of client’s perceptions of legal issues demonstrated through questioning techniques.
  • Ethical and professional approach in dealing with transactions, preparation of documents and face to face interactions.
  • Reflection, evaluation and integration of knowledge to communicate, orally and in writing, an appropriate and clear future strategy to client.

Note: Students must comply with the UTS Student Rules including Rule 16.2 on student misconduct. Student misconduct includes:

  • Copying or reworking any material (e.g., text, images, music, video) from generative AI tools, and claiming this work as your own without declaring use of the relevant tool.
  • Using generative AI tools, unless permitted use is specified for that assessment.

Students are advised that vivas or other invigilated tasks may be used to verify student achievement of learning outcomes (UTS Coursework Assessment Policy s 4.28). This includes where a marker or Subject Coordinator has questions about the acknowledgment of sources or authenticity of work submitted or has reason to believe that students have engaged in misconduct (Rule 16 of the Student Rules). Failure to participate may result in a fail mark for this assessment and/or impact your progression in this subject/course.

Required texts

Legislation referred to in lectures and workshop activities (available on austlii), including:

  • Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 2015
  • Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules 2015
  • Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Barristers) Rules 2015
  • Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Solicitors) Rules 2015
  • Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015
  • Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules 2015
  • Legal Profession Uniform Legal Practice (Solicitors) Rules 2015

Recommended texts

For the Ethics component of this subject:

Gino E Dal Pont, Lawyer’s Professional Responsibility (Thomson Reuters, 6th ed, 2016)

John Littrich and Karina Murray, Lawyers in Australia (The Federation Press, 4th ed, 2019)

Ross Hyams and Adrian Evans, Practical Legal Skills (Oxford University Press, 5th ed, 2022)

For the Skills component of this subject:

John Littrich and Karina Murray, Lawyers in Australia (The Federation Press, 4th ed, 2019)

Ross Hyams and Adrian Evans, Practical Legal Skills (Oxford University Press, 5th ed, 2022)

Bobette Wolski, Skills, Ethics and Values for Legal Practice (Lawbook Company, 2nd ed, 2009)

Nickolas James, Rachel Field and Jackson Walkden-Brown The New Lawyer: Foundations of Law (John Wiley & Sons Australia, 2019)

Jerome Doraisamy, The Wellness Doctrines for Law Students & Young Lawyers (Jerome Doraisamy, 2015)

Michele Asprey, Plain Language for Lawyers (The Federation Press, 4th ed, 2010)

Brendan Grigg and Nichola Corbett-Jarvis, Effective Legal Writing A Practical Guide (Lexis Nexis, 2014)

J K Aitken and Peter Butt, Piesse, The Elements of Drafting (Lawbook Company, 10th edition, 2004)

Ros Macdonald and Deborah Clark-Dickson, Clear and Precise, Writing Skills for Today’s Lawyer (Thomson Reuters, 3rd ed, 2010)

David R Evans et al, Essential Interviewing: A Programmed Approach to Effective Communication (Brooks/Cole, 8th ed, 2011)

N Spegel, B Rogers and R Buckley, Negotiation: Theory & Techniques (Butterworths, 1998)

Roger Fisher, William Ury and Bruce Patton, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (Penguin Books, 3rd ed, 2011)

Allan Chay, Judith Smith, Legal Interviewing in Practice (LBC Information Services 1996)

Kay Lauchland, Marlene Le Brun, Legal Interviewing A How to Guide (Lexis Nexis Butterworths 2015)

For Trust Accounting component of this subject

Materials by the Law Society of NSW as well as material on Canvas.

Other resources

Article by David Spencer on Negotiation (located Canvas - Negotiation topic)

Administrative Decisions Tribunal – Legal Services Division

Websites, including:

(Law students are automatically members of Young Lawyers. Young Lawyers gives students the opportunity to gain first-hand insight into the profession you will soon be part of. Young Lawyers’ website includes information on Mental Health and Wellbeing.)