| CODE | CVL5023 | ||||||
| TITLE | Advocacy Skills 2 - Practicum | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | Not Applicable | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Civil Law | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This unit aims to give each registering student an experience of actual legal work by means of a practical placement. This entails supervised work with lawyers offering pro bono legal assistance in the fields of consumer law, or refugee law or areas relating to family law. Each student will be expected to work in a team of two and will be assigned a case by the time the study unit commences. Arrangements have been reached with organisations working in the fields of asylum and consumer law to permit this. Each team will be expected to continue working on the case at least until the end of the first semester and each student is expected to dedicate a minimum of fifty hours work to his/her case. Each team of students will be assigned two supervisors, with whom they are expected to meet every fortnight. Supervisory meetings will alternate with case rounds at University, in which issues arising from the cases will be discussed with lecturers. The aim is to ensure that all students have the opportunity to practise the advocacy skills taught in CVL5022. Attendance at lectures is obligatory. Students are to note that the work they perform in the context of this unit may be carried out either in Maltese or in English or in both languages, since this study-unit prepares students for practice before the Maltese courts. Study-unit Aims: The study unit aims: 1) to give each student the experience of practising each of the advocacy skills covered in Advocacy Skills I in the context of a supervised work placement; 2) to provide students with the opportunity to experience and experiment various models of advocacy; with the aim of identifying their individual "best practise"; 3) to give students the opportunity to experience each of the fundamental advocacy skills in practise; 4) to provide students with continuous feedback from experienced practitioners as to the work they perform; 5) to develop students' capabilities to critically evaluate and assess the work they and others perform. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1) Know from experience how best to approach key legal tasks; 2) Relate with colleagues and clients in a manner which is professional, ethical and mutually beneficial; 3) Evaluate their own experience and learn from it; 4) Start understanding the working practices and attitudes which make a responsible professional advocate. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: 1) Deal with people from different backgrounds to theirs in a professional and trustworthy way; 2) Allocate their time in a manner which enables him to cope with the key tasks involved; 3) Learn how to distinguish between their goals and those of their client and to negotiate a mutually acceptable objective; 4) Learn how to work effectively with other professionals in an ethical manner; 5) Conduct themselves in a professional, serious and reliable way before a court or tribunal; 6) Conduct research and draft legal documents in a professional way. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Text: - Stefan H. Krieger & Richard K. Neumann, 2011. Essential Lawyering Skills, 4th Edition (Aspen Coursebook Series) [Paperback]. Supplementary Readings: - Maughan, C. & Webb, J. 2005. Lawyering Skills and the Legal Process, Cambridge University Press. - Commission for the Administration of Justice, The Code of Ethics and Conduct for Advocates, published in Valletta by the Malta Government Printing Press. - Miller, B. 1994. “Give Them Back Their Lives: Recognising Client Narrative in Case Theory,” Michigan Law Review, Vol. 93, pp. 485 – 576. - Plowden, P. & Kerrigan, K. 2002. Advocacy and Human Rights, London: Cavendish Publishing Ltd. |
||||||
| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Students taking this study-unit need to have a background in law. | ||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Independent Study, Practicum & Tutorial | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
||||||
| LECTURER/S | Jotham Scerri Diacono Antoine Grima Nadine Lia Lorraine Poole Kurt Xerri David E. Zammit |
||||||
|
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
|||||||