University of Sydney Handbooks - 2016 Archive

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Units of study K-O

Faculty of Law postgraduate units of study K-O

LAWS6071 Labour Law

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Assoc Prof Shae McCrystal Session: Intensive March Classes: Intro Class: Feb 23 (6-8) then Mar 11, 12 & Apr 1, 2 (9-5) Prohibitions: LAWS5146 Assumed knowledge: LAWS6252 Assessment: class presentation and 1000wd related assignment (20%) and 1.5hr exam (80%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: The unit is compulsory for students enrolled in the MLLR. However, the requirement to take this unit may be waived upon application to the Program Coordinator if the student can demonstrate proficiency in the unit objectives gained through completing a recent undergraduate law unit in labour law or work experience. Credit will not be granted for WORK6116 Employment and the Law and completion of this unit will not be sufficient to obtain an exemption from this MLLR compulsory unit.
The purpose of this unit is to introduce students to the principles of labour law. It is designed specifically for MLLR students who do not have a law degree or for any students with a law degree who have not recently undertaken an undergraduate labour law course. The goal of the unit is to equip students with the fundamental principles of labour law that they will need to undertake more advanced labour law units within the MLLR and LLM Degrees. It provides an introduction to the contract of employment and the relevant principles governing the employment relationship, including termination of employment. It then introduces students to the workplace relations framework including collective bargaining and industrial conflict; the modern role of awards and statutory regulation of wages and conditions.
LAWS6932 Law and Investment in Asia

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Prof Luke Nottage Session: Intensive May Classes: May 6, 7 & 20, 21 (9-5) Assessment: take-home exam (30%), 6000wd essay (70%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
The aim of this unit is to provide students with a broad overview of the key legal issues commonly faced when investing and doing business in Asia. This unit covers areas of commercial law across Asia, including Japan, China, Southeast Asia (especially Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar) and India. It focuses especially on international treaties increasingly impacting on foreign trade and investment regulation in the region; aspects of corporate governance, contract and/or competition law; corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption law and consumer protection; dispute resolution (especially international commercial and investor-state arbitration); and key issues in modern comparative law which may assist students in their study of 'foreign' legal systems. The unit also involves case studies and occasional guest lecturers.
LAWS6953 Law of Asset Protection

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr David Chaikin Session: Intensive August Classes: Aug 18, 19 & 25, 26 (8.30-4.30) Assessment: 8000wd essay (100%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Asset protection is concerned with the preservation and transmission of property of individuals, families or corporations. It has the broad purpose of minimising legal, business and political risks, by safeguarding assets from seizure, loss and diminution in value. It is concerned with the protection of assets from potential creditors, government expropriation, excessive taxation and catastrophic loss. It is a vital component of tax advice, wealth management and financial planning.
This unit examines the legal aspects of asset protection, from both Australian and international perspectives. It provides a sound understanding of the legal techniques and principles of asset protection. The complex interaction between company law, the law of trusts and property, tax and estate planning laws, bankruptcy and insolvency laws is analysed. The unit focuses on the laws of a select number of offshore jurisdictions, as well as international trust law. It examines the legal impediments and ethics of asset protection. Anti-money laundering rules and the civil and criminal liabilities of trustees and professional advisers are also covered.
LAWS6112 Law of Tax Administration

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Assoc Prof Celeste Black Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week. First class will commence on Jul 20. Assessment: class work (30%) and 2hr exam (70%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) evening
Tax Administration is a study of the theoretical and practical issues that arise in the administration of the Australian tax system, concentrating primarily on the income tax. The unit of study is structured around the key design features of any system of tax administration, namely ascertainment of liability (particularly self assessment), dispute resolution, and collection and recovery of tax. Particular emphasis will be given to the reforms implemented as a result of the Government's Review of Self Assessment. Wherever relevant, the interaction of administration issues with the substantive provisions of the tax law will be considered. Students should gain an understanding of the foundational rules underlying the administration of the income tax laws and a detailed knowledge of the application of those laws to a variety of common dealings between taxpayers and the tax administration.
LAWS6047 Law of the Sea

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Prof Tim Stephens Session: Intensive April Classes: Apr 21, 22 & 28, 29 (9-5) Assessment: 5000wd essay (60%) and take-home exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
The oceans cover two-thirds of the world's surface, and are vital to international commerce, are a store of important living and non-living resources, and provide indispensable environmental services including stabilising the global climate system. This unit reviews the major areas of the law of the sea as it has developed over the centuries. The unit takes as its focus the 'constitution' of the oceans, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and also considers a range of other international conventions and agreements, and current state practice. Each of the major maritime zones is assessed, and there is also a detailed review of several sectoral issues, including the protection of the marine environment, fisheries, navigational rights and freedoms, and military uses of the oceans. Where appropriate, reference will be made throughout the unit to relevant Australian law and practice, and to other state practice in the Asia Pacific Region.
LAWS6848 Law, Business and Healthy Lifestyles

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Prof Roger Magnusson Session: Intensive March Classes: Intro Class: Mar 7 (6-8) then Mar 10, 11 & Apr 18, 19 (9-5) Assessment: one short response question (20%) and 6000wd essay (80%) or one short response question (20%), 3000-3500wd essay (40%) and one take-home exam question (40%) or one short response question (20%) and two 3000-3500wd essays (80%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: This unit replaced LAWS6848 Law and Healthy Lifestyles (formerly: New Directions in Public Health Law and Policy). This unit may be substituted for LAWS6839 Critical Issues in Public Health Law as a compulsory unit in the MHL.
This unit is about legal and regulatory responses to tobacco use, obesity, poor diet, harmful use of alcohol and sedentary lifestyle - the leading causes of preventable disease in Australia, in high-income countries generally, and increasingly, in developing economies. Cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and tobacco-related diseases (known as 'non-communicable diseases' or NCDs) are society's greatest killers. But what can law do - and what should law be doing - to prevent them? Unlike other health threats, NCDs and their risk factors are partly caused by consumer choices that are lived out every day across the country. The challenge of encouraging healthier lifestyles cannot be separated, then, from the regulation of the businesses that all too often have a vested interest in unhealthy lifestyles. Law's relationship with smoking, alcohol and food is complex and contested. Nevertheless, governments around the world are experimenting with a wide range of legal strategies to encourage healthier lifestyles. This unit will focus on developments in Australia and the United States, placing legal developments in these countries in an international context. During the course, we will confront some important over-arching questions. What are the global determinants of NCDs, and to what extent are global solutions needed? What do global solutions look like? To what extent should law intervene to influence the behaviour of populations-as distinct from treating lifestyle-related risk factors as the personal responsibility of each individual? Does a regulatory approach to the prevention of NCDs imply coercion? Does it signal the emergence of the 'nanny state'? Does progress depend on motivating people to consciously improve their habits and lifestyles? Is it possible to regulate business without micro-managing or dictating commercial decisions and 'legislating the recipe for tomato ketchup?' Throughout the unit, students will be encouraged to explore the tension between personal responsibility and freedom, and the broader public interest in a healthy population and a productive economy. Key topics include: Frameworks for thinking about law, and environments that support healthier lifestyles; Global health governance and the prevention of non-communicable diseases; Tobacco control: where to from here? Personal responsibility for health, and law's role; Regulating alcohol; Obesity prevention; and Law's role in improving diet and nutrition, and encouraging active living.
LAWS6928 Law, Justice and Development

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Adj Prof Livingston Armytage Session: Intensive April Classes: Apr 6, 7 & 13, 14 (9-5) Prohibitions: LAWS3478 Assessment: class participation (10%), class presentation (10%), 2x4000wd essays (2x40%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: This unit is compulsory for MLawIntDev students and replaced LAWS6928 Law and Economic Development.
This unit provides a critical overview to law and justice reform in international development. It analyses the global reform experience over the past half-century. It interrogates the nature and justification(s) of reform 'theory', studies the empirical evidence of various approaches, and examines the conceptual/practical challenges of evaluating development endeavour, using case studies from the Asia/Pacific region. Students enrolling in this unit will develop an evidence-based understanding of the use of law and justice reform in broader development strategies.
LAWS6149 Legal Pluralism in Southeast Asia

Credit points: 12 Teacher/Coordinator: Assoc Prof Simon Butt, Assoc Prof Salim Farrar Session: Intensive July Classes: Jul 11-15 (Malay) & Jul 18-22 (Indon) Assessment: class participation (10%), take-home exam (40%), 8000wd essay (50%) Practical field work: field school in Indonesia/Malaysia Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: Department permission required for enrolment
Note: This unit will be taught offshore with the cooperation of Gadjah Mada University (Yogyakarta, Indonesia) and International Islamic University (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). These institutions will provide guest lecturers. These institutions can be contacted through Assoc Prof Simon Butt and Dr Salim Farrar. Students must register their attendance before enrolling. For further information, please visit http://sydney.edu.au/law/caplus Registration enquiries law.offshore@sydney.edu.au Enrolment enquiries law.postgraduate@sydney.edu.au
This unit will be taught offshore with the cooperation of Gadjah Mada University (Yogyakarta, Indonesia) and International Islamic University (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). These institutions will provide guest lecturers. These institutions can be contacted through Assoc Prof Simon Butt and Dr Salim Farrar. Students must register their attendance before enrolling. For further information, please visit http://sydney.edu.au/law/cstudent/offshore/index.shtml Registration enquiries law.offshore@sydney.edu.au Enrolment enquiries law.postgraduate@sydney.edu.au
LAWS6252 Legal Reasoning and the Common Law System

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: S1CIMR (Group A) & S1CIAP (Group B): Assoc Prof Belinda Smith and S2CIJL (Group C) & S2CISE (Group D): Mr Michael Skinner Session: Intensive April,Intensive July,Intensive March,Intensive September Classes: S1CIMR (Group A): Feb 29 & Mar 1-2 & 4 (9-5); S1CIAP (Group B): Mar 18, 19 & Apr 8, 9 (9-5); S2CIJL (Group C): Jul 26 to 29 (9-5); S2CISE (Group D): Sep 2, 3 & 16, 17 (9-5) Prohibitions: LAWS6881 Assessment: in-class test (25%) and take-home exam (75%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: International students who are required to enrol in this unit must undertake classes during the first week of their study. Health Law and Public Health students should enrol in LAWS6881 Introduction to Law for Health Professionals in lieu of LAWS6252, if available. This unit is not available to MLawIntDev students who have been granted a reduced volume of learning. Students must attend all classes on the timetabled dates as prescribed for their enrolled session/group. An Absent Fail grade may be granted to students who fail to attend the correct session/group.
This is a compulsory unit for all postgraduate students who do not hold a law degree or equivalent from a common law jurisdiction entering the: Master of Administrative Law and Policy; Master of Business Law; Master of Environmental Law; Master of Environmental Science and Law; Master of Global Law; Master of Health Law; Master of International Business and Law; Master of Labour Law and Relations; Master of Law and International Development as well as Graduate Diplomas offered in these programs. The unit has been designed to equip students with the necessary legal skills and legal knowledge to competently apply themselves in their chosen area of law. Instruction will cover the legislative process; the judiciary and specialist tribunals; precedent; court hierarchies; legal reasoning; constitutional law; administrative law; contracts; and torts. Some elements of the unit will be tailored in accordance with the requirements of the particular specialist programs.
LAWS6077 Legal Research 1

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Em Prof Terry Carney Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week Assessment: class participation (10%) and 4000-6000wd essay (60%) and critical analysis of another student's research strategy essay (30%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) evening
Note: Core unit for all research degree students. The unit must be undertaken within the first year of candidature. It is not available to coursework students.
The primary goal of this unit is to develop skills in undertaking a significant piece of legal research at levels of sophistication suitable for examination (in case of thesis students), and/or publication. At the conclusion of the unit it is anticipated that members of the class will be able to conceptualise the issues to be researched; will be able to locate relevant legal and other materials (using both hard copy and electronic bibliographic aids); will be able to place and sustain an argument (a 'thesis'); and will be able to assess both the quality of that work and to judge the merits of other approaches to planning such research. It is expected that students will become familiar with using comparative materials (both within the federation and international), and will gain a working familiarity with relevant research techniques of other disciplines in the social sciences. The unit aims to encourage debate about the respective merits of different approaches, ethical issues, and the hallmarks of 'quality' research.
LAWS7001 Legal Research 2

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Em Prof Terry Carney Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week Prerequisites: LAWS6077 Assessment: class participation (30%) and preparation of an approved foundation chapter (70%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) evening
Note: Core unit for PhD and SJD students.
The unit will cover the following topics: higher degree research - students, supervisors and the faculty; refining your thesis - lessons from the strategy; developing/locating your thesis - lessons from the strategy; comparative law techniques; using international law materials; using historical materials/methods; conceptualising and researching the law in action; narratives, interviews, case-studies and other 'selective' forms of analysis; quantitative research methods - common pitfalls; quantitative research methods - forms of presentation and analysis; current problems in research and presentation; current problems II; and overview and review.
LAWS7002 Legal Research 3

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Assoc Prof Shae McCrystal Session: Intensive October Classes: Students are required to attend an initial meeting as scheduled on the timetable. One other session involving a two day conference in which students give presentations of their thesis will be held in later in the year. The date will be confirmed at the first meeting. Prerequisites: LAWS6077 Corequisites: LAWS7001 Assessment: Seminar presentation on an aspect of the student's thesis; a written outline of goals for the unit and written reflection on achievements during the unit and reading, commenting on and providing written feedback on a chapter of the thesis of another class member. The unit will be assessed on a pass/fail basis. Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: Core unit for PhD and SJD students.
This unit provides students who are nearing the end of the process of writing their thesis with the support and resources to assist them to complete in a timely manner. It provides opportunities for participants to refine and improve their writing by exposing central ideas from their theses to constructive criticism by colleagues; to develop the skills of presentation of scholarly work in an academic setting; to provide access to a group of people who are all engaged in completing theses and who can provide informed support. The unit can be tailored to the needs of individual students.
LAWS6944 Market Manipulation and Insider Trading

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Greg O'Mahoney Session: Intensive October Classes: Oct 6, 7 & 27, 28 (9-4) Assessment: class participation (20%), presentation (20%) and 5000wd essay (60%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: This unit replaced LAWS6944 Regulation of Market Manipulation and Abuse (formerly Manipulation and Abuse in Global Securities Markets).
This unit aims to introduce students to key concepts at the heart of capital market regulation focusing on practices that threaten the integrity of global securities markets. The unit focuses on recent developments (including high profile prosecutions for market abuse) in Australia and the United States while selecting other jurisdictions (most notably China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Europe and Hong Kong) that are relevant to the different subjects considered. The topics addressed will include: market manipulation, insider trading, non-disclosure and fraud-on-the-market, penalties, regulation of hedge funds and developments in emerging markets.
LAWS6332 Media Law in Practice

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Assoc Prof David Rolph (Coordinator), Ms Sally McCausland, Mr Matt Vitins Session: Intensive August Classes: Aug 12, 13 & 19, 20 (9-4.30) Assessment: class participation (25%), 7000wd essay (75%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: A legal or media background (or both) would be useful but not required.
A wide range of statutory provisions and common law and equitable principles have an impact on what the media can print, broadcast or disseminate. Through a series of case-studies, this unit explores how professional, ethical and commercial considerations interact, and often conflict, with the media in their daily operations. It will canvass issues such as the disclosure of journalists' sources; the impact of suppression orders on social media; the direct and indirect protection of privacy; and current issues in defamation law. Taught by highly experienced media law practitioners, this unit considers how the tensions between law and journalism can be negotiated and hopefully resolved.
LAWS6341 Media Law: Comparative Perspectives

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Assoc Prof David Rolph Session: Intensive July Classes: Jul 4-8 (9-4.30). Please visit the Sydney Law School in Europe website http://sydney.edu.au/law/cstudent/offshore/index.shtml Assessment: 2000wd casenote (30%), 7000wd essay (70%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: Department permission required for enrolment
There are striking similarities and overlaps between Australian and English media law, reflecting their common origins, but there are also important differences and divergences. In relation to English media law, the impact of the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union is a significant factor. This unit of study analyses a number of key issues in media law, ranging from defamation law, privacy and breach of confidence, contempt of court, open justice, suppression and non-publication orders and other restrictions on court reporting, as they arise in Australia, the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 2016, the unit taught in Cambridge will include guest lectures by leading media law academics, lawyers and commentators from the United Kingdom.
Textbooks
Rolph, Vitins, Bannister and Joyce, Media Law: Cases, Materials and Commentary, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 2015
LAWS6821 Mediation - Skills and Theory

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Prof Tania Sourdin, Mr Garth Brown Session: Intensive December Classes: Dec 2, 3 & 9, 10 (9-5) Prohibitions: LAWS6935 Assessment: class and role play participation evidenced by reflective journal (formative assessment) (30%) and 5000wd essay (70%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: Department permission required for enrolment
Note: Students enrolling in this unit need to commit themselves to attending all classes. The skills learning takes place in class and skills are built incrementally from the beginning to the end of the unit. Students cannot catch up on elements they have missed by doing reading outside class - they must participate in all scheduled sessions. If students have a problem with attendance, they should postpone enrolling or transfer to another unit by the relevant census date. This unit has a restricted class size. Enrolment applications must be received by the Law Postgraduate Team Email: law.postgraduate@sydney.edu.au before 15 Jan 2016. Successful applicants will be notified of the outcome shortly after the closing date. Please note priority will be given to students who are (i) currently enrolled in a full award course at Sydney Law School and (ii) completing their final semester of studies. Waiting lists will be made available for the late applicants.
This unit will teach you the fundamental skills and theory of mediation. The skills component of the unit is extensive and is the reason for the limited enrolment. The unit is designed to enable interested students to progress to accreditation as mediators (additional external study with coaching and assessment will be required) and the content of the unit is designed to meet the content requirements of the National Mediator Accreditation System. In particular the content of the subject is designed to explore the competency areas required for accreditation and the knowledge, skills and ethical understanding competency framework set out in the National Mediator Accreditation Standards. However, mediation is not simply a procedural template that can be learned and applied to every dispute with benefit. It raises interesting and complex issues of theory and ethics, which will be integrated with the skills components of the unit. Issues of culture, power, mediator neutrality and ethical dilemmas for the mediator will be considered.
Textbooks
Tania Sourdin, Alternative Dispute Resolution (4th ed) 2012 Thomson Reuters
LAWS6877 Mental Illness: Law and Policy

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Adj Prof Duncan Chappell Session: Intensive September Classes: Aug 29, 30 & Sep 5, 6 (9-5) Assessment: 3000wd assignment (40%) and 4500wd essay (60%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
This unit deals with the law relating to mental health issues in Australia including human rights principles. Background material on the nature and incidence of mental illness, psychiatric and medical issues, as well criminological and public policy literature will be considered where relevant. The unit covers substantive issues from civil treatment, welfare law, and criminal law. Topics covered will include: the social context of mental illness and the current and historical approaches to treatment of the mentally ill; contemporary State, Territorial and Federal involvement in mental health policy and legislation; the present framework of NSW mental health law and related welfare law including the Mental Health Act, Guardianship Act, Protected Estates Act and Mental Health (Criminal Procedure) Act; the process of scheduling persons with a mental illness; review mechanisms including the roles of the medical superintendent, magistrates, the mental health review tribunal and the Supreme Court; longer term detention of the mentally ill; community treatment and community counselling orders; protected estates and guardianship orders; electroconvulsive therapy; consent to surgery and special medical treatment; the defence of not guilty on the grounds of mental illness, the review of forensic patients and the exercise of the executive discretion; the issue of unfitness to be tried; the involuntary treatment of prisoners in the correctional system; and proposals and options for reform.
LAWS6837 Morals and the Analysis of Legal Doctrine

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Adj Prof Christopher Birch Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week Prohibitions: JURS6022, JURS6023 Assessment: class participation exercise (20%), 6000wd essay (80%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) evening
Note: This unit replaced LAWS6837 Aspects of Law and Justice
The unit will seek to analyse the central concepts of some of the main areas of civil law, including tort, contract and property from the perspective of a number of contemporary moral theories. The unit will examine the work of moral philosophers in the fields of distributive and corrective justice such as John Rawls, Jules Coleman and Ernest Weinrib. The unit will also consider theories associated with the economic analysis movement in legal philosophy, especially the theories of Richard Posner. The unit will apply moral theories on the one hand, and rational action theories such as the economic analysis view of law on the other, to better understand legal doctrine. In addition to property, contract and civil wrongs, the unit will look at constitutional structures and international law. While considering a wide variety of legal doctrines, the focus of the unit will always be on the way these doctrines are better understood from the perspective of theories of justice or versions of rational action theory.
LAWS6335 Neurolaw: Brain Mind Law and Ethics

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Sascha Callaghan Session: Intensive August Classes: Aug 18, 19 & Sep 15, 16 (9-5) Assessment: class presentation (10%), 2000wd essay (30%), take-home exam (60%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
This unit explores the intersection between the emerging neurosciences and law, examining the implications of new brain sciences research for key legal principles, as well as ethical questions concerning the need for special regulation of brain and mind research. Students will critically analyse the potential and limits of the use of neuroscience research as evidence in the courtroom on questions of criminal responsibility and civil liability ¿ what does it mean to claim that ¿my brain made me do it?¿. We also explore the use of neuroscience evidence as proof of ¿invisible injuries¿ such as pain and psychiatric harm, and in proving human consciousness, for end of life decision making. Students will consider the potential for neuroscience research to contribute to the definition of legal capacity, and efforts to support legal decision making for people with mental impairments. The ethical implications of brain sciences research will also be critically analysed as part of a broader consideration of whether special regulation is warranted.