University of Sydney Handbooks - 2018 Archive

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Units of study K-O

Sydney Law School postgraduate units of study K-O

LAWS6071 Labour Law

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Prof Joellen Riley Session: Intensive March Classes: Intro class: Mar 13 (6-8) then Mar 23, 24 and Apr 6, 7 (9-5) Prohibitions: LAWS5146 Assumed knowledge: MLLR students must either have completed or be concurrently enrolled in LAWS6252 Legal Reasoning and the Common Law System (core) as well as this unit before undertaking the labour law elective units Assessment: assignment (20%) and 1.5hr in-semester 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.
LAWS6848 Law, Business and Healthy Lifestyles

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Prof Roger Magnusson Session: Intensive September Classes: Intro Class: Aug 6 (6-8) then Aug 16, 17 and Sep 13, 14 (9-4.30) Assessment: Option 1: one short response question (20%) and 6000wd essay (80%) or Option 2: one short response question (20%), 3000-3500wd essay (40%) and one take-home exam question (40%) or Option 3: one short response question (20%) and two 3000-3500wd essays (80%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
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.
LAWS6932 Law and Investment in Asia

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Prof Simon Butt, Prof Vivienne Bath Session: Intensive May Classes: Apr 13, 14 and 27, 28 (9-5) Assessment: assignment (30%), 6000wd essay (70%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
The aim of this unit is to provide students with a broad overview, on a comparative basis, of the key legal issues commonly faced when investing and doing business in Asia. This unit looks at the regulation of investment across chosen jurisdictions across Asia, including Japan, China and Southeast Asia (particularly Indonesia, but it may also look at jurisdictions such as Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and India) and compares them with each other and with the Australian regulatory system. It also looks at international treaties which increasingly impact on foreign trade and investment regulation in the region; aspects of corporate governance, contract and/or competition law; corporate social responsibility and anti-corruption law; 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: Assoc Prof David Chaikin Session: Intensive August Classes: Aug 17, 18 and 24, 25 (8.30-4.30) Assessment: in-class assessment (30%) and 6000 to 7000wd essay (70%) 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.
LAWS6047 Law of the Sea

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Prof Tim Stephens Session: Intensive October Classes: Oct 18, 19 and 25, 26 (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.
LAWS6928 Law, Justice and Development

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Adj Prof Livingston Armytage Session: Intensive April Classes: Apr 3, 4 and 23, 24 (9-5) Prohibitions: LAWS3478, LAWS5178 Assessment: class participation (20%), 2x3000wd essays (2x40%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: This unit is compulsory for MLawIntDev students.
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: Prof Simon Butt, Assoc Prof Salim Farrar Session: Intensive July Classes: Jul 9-13 (Indon) and 16-19 (Malay) 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: Students cannot enrol directly into this unit in Sydney Student. Enrolment instructions will be provided upon successful pre-enrolment registration. For further information, please visit http://sydney.edu.au/law/offshore/index.shtml.
This unit introduces students to the legal systems of Southeast Asia, focusing on Indonesia and Malaysia. The unit surveys a very wide range of topical legal issues from the region - from human rights and development, environmental law, to the practice of commercial law, including Islamic banking. The unit emphasises legal pluralism - that is, the operation of different bodies of law for particular groups in those countries, colonial, national, Islamic and customary law - and compares how countries in Southeast Asia have handled it.
LAWS6252 Legal Reasoning and the Common Law System

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Ms Alexandra Fowler Session: Intensive April,Intensive August,Intensive March,Intensive September Classes: S1CIMR (Group A): Mar 5, 6 and 8, 9 (9-5); S1CIAP (Group B): Mar 26, 27 and Apr 9 and 10 (9-5); S2CIAU (Group C): Jul 30, 31 and Aug 2, 3 (9-5); S2CISE (Group D): Aug 20, 21 and Sep 3, 4 (9-5) Prohibitions: LAWS6881 Assessment: in-class test (30%) and take-home exam (70%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: Students are recommended to enrol well in advance of classes in order to complete pre-class readings (normally available to enrolled students 3 weeks prior to the first class). Law graduates from a non-common law jurisdiction are also recommended to complete classes for this unit during the first week of their commencing semester.
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 Health Law; Master of Labour Law and Relations 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.
LAWS6827 Legal Responsibility and Philosophy of Mind

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Adj Prof Christopher Birch Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2-hr lecture/week Assessment: class participation exercise (20%) and 6000wd essay (80%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) evening
Many legal doctrines in both criminal and civil law depend upon being able to characterise conduct as intentional, leading to ascriptions of fault, blame or responsibility. Most serious criminal offences depend upon establishing mens rea as a relevant mental element. Civil liability is often dependent upon whether conduct was intended, or whether the cause of loss was brought about by either intentional conduct or conduct involving some lesser notion of fault. All of these doctrines make important assumptions about the nature of our mental states and the operation of mind. Many of these assumptions are philosophically controversial and current developments in the philosophy of mind may lead us to reconsider or radically revise our attitudes to the law. The unit will look at contemporary philosophical work on free will consciousness, mind, and causation and apply this work to present problems in regard to concepts of legal responsibility.
Textbooks
Lowe, EJ An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind, Cambridge U.P., Cambridge 2000
LAWS6944 Market Manipulation and Insider Trading

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Greg O'Mahoney Session: Intensive November Classes: Oct 25, 26 and Nov 1, 2 (9-4) Assessment: class participation (20%), presentation (20%) and 5000wd essay (60%) Mode of delivery: Block mode
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.
LAWS6341 Media Law: Comparative Perspectives

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Prof David Rolph Session: Intensive July Classes: Jul 9, 10 and 12, 13 (9-5) Assessment: 2000wd casenote (30%), 7000wd essay (70%) Practical field work: Sydney Law School in Europe Mode of delivery: Block mode
Note: Students cannot enrol directly into this unit in Sydney Student. Enrolment instructions will be provided upon successful pre-enrolment registration. For further information, please visit http://sydney.edu.au/law/offshore/index.shtml.
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 April,Intensive December Classes: Intensive April (Group A): Apr 6, 7 and 20, 21 (9-5); Intensive December (Group B): Nov 30 and Dec 1, 7 and 8 (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 withdraw well in advance of the first class so their place can be offered to the next student. Please note enrolment priority will be given to MLLR students who are currently enrolled at Sydney Law School.
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 (5th ed) 2016 Thomson Reuters
LAWS6877 Mental Illness: Law and Policy

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Adj Prof Duncan Chappell Session: Intensive September Classes: Aug 27, 28 and 30, 31 (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.