| CODE | LAW5012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Professional Practice for Advocates | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 30 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Faculty of Laws | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit focuses on the teaching of Generic and Applied Advocacy Skills through lectures and experiential learning. Generic Advocacy Skills lectures cover best practices in commercial/ criminal fields and client onboarding, client interviewing skills, counselling skills, client-centred lawyering, handling cultural issues in lawyer-client interactions, fact investigation and narrative analysis, affidavit drafting, case theory, case planning, applied legal research and drafting written pleadings, oral advocacy in civil and criminal court and online lawyering skills, mediation and negotiation skills, witness examination, managing a law firm and working in a law firm, time management skills, negotiating skills, mediation & conciliation, closing a case, compiling a portfolio, preparing a handover memo & billing. Applied Advocacy Skills are taught through the medium of weekly two-hour lectures incorporating case rounds to small groups of 20 or less students. Issues and difficulties encountered by students in their work in the Law Clinic at the University of Malta are shared by them and form the basis of these lectures in which the lecturers explain what skills must be deployed in order to tackle these issues in line with best practice. Accompanying the lectures in Advocacy Sills, students are also taught: (1) Professional Ethics for Advocates, (2) Psycho-Social and Reflective Practitioner Skills for Legal Professionals, (3) Litigation Skills before Ecclesiastical Tribunals and (4) Advocacy Skills in relation to Arbitration hearings. These lectures are intended to accompany, extend and inform the teaching of Advocacy Skills by training students to be ethical professionals who can evaluate clients and cases not only from a narrowly legal, but also from a broader humanistic perspective; which encompasses multidisciplinary cooperation, the application of a systemic/relational perspective to criminal and family law and reflective practitioner skills. Furthermore, students are also taught the Advocacy Skills necessary for ethical legal practice before the specialised tribunals of the Ecclesiastical Court and in relation to Arbitration and Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Prevention law. Experiential learning takes the shape of: (1) simulations, role plays and classroom-based exercises and; (2) clinical law teaching through supervised pro bono work with real clients in the context of the Law Clinic at the University of Malta. Simulations consist of moot courts; mock trials; fact investigation exercises; affidavit drafting, case theory formulation, witness examination and client interviewing exercises. Clinical law teaching encompasses the acquisition of these and other legal skills through the medium of supervised law practice in the context of the Law Clinic of the University of Malta. Study-Unit Aims: The aim of the study-unit is to equip future advocates with the necessary skills needed once in the profession through experiential learning focused on supervised pro bono lawyering with clients in the Law Clinic of the University of Malta. Experiential learning poses a direct challenge to students to apply what they would have learnt in class to real world situations. This study-unit further aims to contribute to develop a crop of legal professionals who learn how to apply University-gained legal knowledge and experience to their clients’ needs. It aims to ensure that students will not only learn from their own individual experience but also from their colleagues, Faculty academic staff and clients. In sum, it aims to produce a more knowledgeable and experienced legal professional. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Learn by doing, thereby acquiring knowledge through experiential learning; - Write about and explain how s/he is advising his/her client with regard to the giving of advice or adoption one course of action in favour of another in a given case; - Reflect upon the implications of advice given and propose a course of action in a simulated environment. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Acquire various legal skills such as research skills, communication skills, interviewing skills, counselling skills, negotiating skills, problem solving skills, interpersonal skills, organizational skills, reflective practice skills and pro bono skills; - Participate in simulation exercises and solve problems as though they were given by a client in a real life situation through moot courts, mock trials, mediation and conciliation exercises, client interviewing exercises, witness and interviewing exercises. Main texts and supplementary readings: The Course Textbook: - Stefan H. Krieger, Richard K. Neumann, Jr., Renee McDonald Hutchins, Essential Lawyering Skills: Interviewing, Counseling, Negotiation, and Persuasive Fact Analysis (Aspen Coursebook Series) 6th Edition, Wolters-Kluwer: 2020. Supplementary Readings: - Cane, P. and Kritze, H. (eds.) (2010) The Oxford Handbook of Empirical Legal Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Hart, C. (2001) Doing a Literature Review: releasing the social science research imagination, London: Sage Publications. - McConville and Chui, W.H. (2007) Research Methods for Law, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. - Webley, L. (2010) Legal Writing (2nd edition) Abingdon: Routledge-Cavendish. - Hill, J. (2009) A Practical Guide to Mooting. - Kee, C. (2007) The Art of Argument: A Guide to Mooting. - Eatt, G. and Snape, J. (2010) How to Moot: A Student Guide to Mooting, (2nd edition). - Hill, D. and Pope, D. (2011) Mooting and Advocacy Skills. 2nd edition. - Madinger, J. (2011) Money Laundering: A Guide for Criminal Investigations, (3rd edition). CRC Press. - Cox, D. (2014) Handbook of Anti-Money Laundering, Wiley. - Parkman, T. (2012) Mastering Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing: A Compliance Guide for Practitioners, FT Press. P.S. A more detailed reading list will be distributed during the first lecture. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Students shall be required to pass all the components of the professional practice study-unit. If students fail in, or for a valid reason approved by Senate, do not complete any component of the professional practice study-unit in the first or second semester, they shall be allowed to repeat that component in the supplementary session, whilst in the case of students who fail in, or for a valid reason approved by Senate, do not complete any component of the professional practice study-unit in the third semester, they shall be allowed to repeat that component in an additional year of study. Please note that the pass mark for each assessment component and for the study-unit as a whole is 50%.Pass mark for each assessment component and for the study-unit as a whole is 50% and students shall be required to pass all components of the professional practice study-unit. If students fail in any component of the professional practice study-unit in the first or second semester, it means that they failed the first attempt of the study-unit and they shall be allowed a reassessment of the failed component/s, as a final attempt, in the supplementary session under resit conditions. If successful, the overall result for the study-unit as a whole will be D*50%. If students, for a valid reason approved by Senate, do not complete any component of the professional practice study-unit in the first or second semester, they shall be allowed to be assessed in the supplementary session as their first attempt however if unsuccessful, it means that they failed the first attempt of the study-unit and they shall be allowed a reassessment of the failed component/s, as a final attempt, in an additional year under resit conditions at the next available session. If successful, the overall result for the study-unit as a whole will be D*50%. If students fail in any component of the professional practice study-unit in the third semester, it means that they failed the first attempt of the study-unit and they shall be allowed a reassessment of the failed component in an additional year under resit conditions at the next available assessment session. If successful, the overall result for the study-unit as a whole will be D*50%. If students, for a valid reason approved by Senate, do not complete any component of the professional practice study-unit in the third semester, they shall be allowed to be assessed during an additional year at the next available assessment session as their first attempt however if unsuccessful, it means that they failed the first attempt of the study-unit and they shall be allowed a reassessment of the failed component/s, as a final attempt, in the supplementary session under resit conditions. If successful, the overall result for the study-unit as a whole will be D*50%. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture, Clinical Practice and Simulation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Phyllis Aquilina Hans-Karl Attard Reuben Balzan Timothy Anthony Bartolo Austin Bencini Matthew Brincat Edward Mario Camilleri Stefan Camilleri Evelyn Caruana Demajo Mario Caruana Claire Casha Anthony Cremona Antoine Cremona Jeanise Dalli Louis Degabriele Vincent A Degaetano Roberta Farrugia Debono Ruth Farrugia Antoine Grima Mary Muscat Alexia Rossi Ibtisam Sadegh Kevin Schembri Kurt Xerri David E. Zammit (Co-ord.) |
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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. |
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