Legal Reasoning and Technological Change
UndergraduateTAS-LAW1082025
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- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- Subject may require attendance
- Entry requirements
- No ATAR needed, No prior study
- Duration
- 14 weeks
- Start dates
- 24 Feb 2025
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Legal Reasoning and Technological Change
About this subject
Upon completion of this subject, the student should be able to:
- Analyse and make cogent arguments in writing with statute and common law.
- Provide written advice in response to legal problems.
- Comprehend and critically consider a range of legal reasoning techniques and the role of new technologies in legal decision making.
- What is Legal Reasoning? Pt 1 - Case Study
- Library Skills (Cases)
- Analysing Judgements
- Providing Legal Advice - Common Law
- Introduction to Complex Cases (Thorne v Kennedy)
- Ratio Decidendi
- Expressing a Ratio
- Drafting Advice
- What is Legal Reasoning? Pt 2 - Judicial Impartiality and Judicial Analytics
- Library Resources and Skills (legislation)
- Sources of Ambiguity in Statutory Interpretation
- Providing Legal Advice - Statutes
- The Purposive Approach and the Acts Interpretation Act
- Intrinsic and Extrinsic Materials and Providing Advice
- Statutory Presumptions
- The History of Statutory Interpretation
- What is Legal Reasoning? Pt 3 - Past, Present, Future
Strong legal reasoning skills are critical to student learning and performance while at law school and eventually to the quality of your legal practice. More broadly, many employers beyond the legal profession consider the ability to solve problems by identifying issues, developing arguments and expressing reasoning processes and decisions in a clear and cogent manner to be a highly desirable attribute.
The subject is designed with one ultimate aim in mind: to equip students with the analytical legal reasoning skills and knowledge needed to perform well across the remainder of their legal studies. Having successfully completed this subject, you should feel confident in your ability to find, read, analyse and make strategic arguments with case law and legislation. You should also understand how technology is providing lawyers (including judges) with new ways to carry out legal analysis and make decisions pursuant to law and how these changes challenge traditional conceptions and approaches to law and legal reasoning. These changes raise new and fascinating legal and ethical challenges which are explained throughout this subject, with references to recent case studies. The Legal Reasoning subject reflects the diversity of the institutions and laws within Australia's legal system, adopting design principles and learning from Australia, England and America and the case studies used are drawn from a range of common law countries.
- Quizzes (10%)
- Final Exam (40%)
- Case Analysis and Making Arguments (50%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
No entry requirements
Additional requirements
- Other requirements - Teaching Arrangement: Lecture: 2 hours weekly online. Tutorial: 2 hours fortnightly online.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
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UndergraduateTAS-LST-DIP
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