LAW5218 - Family law assistance program - professional practice

Leader: Malcolm Bennet

Offered

Clayton Summer semester A to Semester one 2008 (Day)
Clayton Trimester 2 2008 (Day)
Clayton Term 3 2008 (Day)

Synopsis

This unit is open to those who have completed a family law unit and placement and wish to broaden their knowledge and develop their practical skills in family law.
The unit will run in a 17 week format and requires students to run their own family law files, and take a mentoring role to less experienced students. Under the supervision of a family law practitioner, students will draft documents, advise clients, brief counsel, attend court to instruct counsel and do general correspondence. Students are rostered for FLAP client contact sessions, work on ongoing files, take on new matters as initiated and attend on roster the duty lawyer service at the Family Court at Dandenong each Monday.

Objectives

Students who successfully complete this unit will:

• understand and be able to apply the more complex areas of family law and related legislation such as child support to real life problems of clients;
• have developed the ability to create, maintain and attend to all substantive and procedural aspects associated with the running of family law files;
• have gained advocacy experience in the Family Court and / or Federal Magistrates Court relating to Family law matters;
• have developed skills in assessing the needs of clients and communicating to clients the nature of their legal options and the implications of each option; and
• understand the importance of, and be able to achieve, client-acceptable outcomes from family-law representation.

Assessment

Casework performance including attendance and punctuality, taking instructions and relationship with clients, discussion with supervisor, follow-up work, drafting documents, family law advocacy skill, compliance with office and regulatory procedures, understanding of appropriate file initiatives 70% AND 1 individual research activity or assignment 30%. The assignment is to be 4,800 words. In place of the assignment, students can develop and present a research activity after firstly discussing a topic with the supervisor.

Contact hours

Students will attend a seminar program for 6-8 weeks involving 2 hours contact per week plus regular tutorials.
Students will also be required to allocate 14 hours per week for client-group consultations, private research, preparation of materials and client presentations.

Prerequisites

Participation in a prior placement at FLAP as a part of a Monash family law unit or completion of Professional Practice LAW5216. See www.law.monash.edu.au/forms.html for an application form and more information.