LAWS5225: Legal Internship

Class participation (10%)

Class participation will be unstructured. Students will be expected to participate and contribute to each class. Students should demonstrate engagement with readings and discussions by coming to class prepared, having read the assigned readings and reflected on the issues raised. In particular, students should consider their professional responsibilities in their internship placements and how their Law studies have prepared them for a professional placement. Students will be given the opportunity to demonstrate this in class discussions and group work.

Reflection Note (15%)

Students will be required to prepare a reflective piece (maximum 1000 words) relating to their experience during the course, both in class and on placement. Reflection Note is due at 23:59 on Friday 26 September 2025 (Sydney, Australia time).

Research Essay (60%)

The research essay is an opportunity for you to demonstrate the depth of your understanding of issues that have been raised in the unit, and to draw together theory and practice in relation to your legal internship. It will require you to undertake research in respect of your chosen topic and enable you to develop your legal scholarship skills in critical analysis, constructing reasoned arguments, and correctly referencing your research. Your topic must focus on an aspect or aspects of professional practice and draw together the theoretical and the practical. That is, you must draw on theoretical literature and analyse or assess it by reference to practical examples from your internship experience. The maximum word limit is 3500 words. The research essay is due at 23:59 on Monday 27 October 2025 (Sydney, Australia time).

Presentation (15%)

Presentations will be held in class in week 13 (Friday 7 November). Students will attend class and present on their research essay. Presentations will be approximately 10 minutes long and students can present to the class with or without visual/digital aids. Students will need to respond to questions from the Subject Convenor. Students will be able to discuss their topic with the convenor during the semester.

Internship Placement (pass/fail): In addition to the weighted assessment tasks, students will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis on their internship placement. Students will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis by the unit coordinator in conjunction with the internship supervisor.  As would be the case in a workplace environment, students will be expected to attend all days of placement unless they have a valid, documented reason for not doing so. They will also be expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner in respect of matters such as punctuality, presentation, productivity, and collegiality.  Subject to any policies or procedures of placement sites, students at risk of failing to meet placement requirements will be given the opportunity to improve their performance before a fail grade is awarded.

The internship placement is an integral component of this unit. Students who do not meet the minimum 84 hours may fail the course. Student circumstances and placement supervisor reports will be considered before a decision is made on this basis.

Internships can be undertaken in areas of public service, public interest, and public law. The convenor will generally take a broad definition of these concepts to allow a wide range of experiential learning. Purely commercial placements will not meet the requirements of the unit. Clerkships at commercial law firms are not eligible for the internship unit.

Students who have an existing employment relationship with an organisation cannot complete an internship at that organisation.

Internships must be completed after enrolling in the unit. Students who have volunteered or worked at an organisation prior to enrolling in the unit cannot count that time towards the 84 hours placement requirement of the unit.

Students can organise their own internships if they meet the above criteria, but the University requires an agreement with the placement provider before a student commences the internship for unit credit. Students can only meet the 84-hour placement requirement of the internship unit after enrolling in the unit.

Word limit penalty: A piece of assessment which exceeds the prescribed word limit will attract a penalty of 10% of the total marks available for the piece of assessment for every 100 words, or part thereof. The total word count for essay and other written assessments will exclude all footnotes and any bibliography (if required), and exclude acknowledgements of assistance from editors, automated writing tools or generative AI (where use is permitted). 

Referencing: The Sydney Law School expects you to use the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th edition, 2018) for your footnoting style, although you should confirm this with your lecturer. A link to the library website where this is set out comprehensively is available at Referencing and Citation Styles: AGLC4. 

Special consideration: Successful grants of Special Consideration may involve alternative tasks, as appropriate.  

Assessment requirements to pass a unit of study: A student must make a genuine attempt at all assessment tasks set out in this Unit of Study in order to obtain a Pass mark and grade (or above); otherwise an Absent Fail grade will be recorded as the student’s result for this Unit of Study.