LAW electives (2 Viewers)

[dynasty]

I'm trying to decide which electives to choose for next semester. Does anyone have any recommendations for subjects? This is what I can choose from:

LAW 461 Discrimination- Therese MacDermott
LAW 466 European Law and Institutions- Roy Baker
LAW 468 Indigenous Peoples and the Law- Anne McGuigan
LAW 478 Trade Practices Law- Susan Carter
LAW 479 Information Technology Law- Niloufer Selvadurai
LAW 490 Local Government and Planning Law- Paul Govind

Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[andyfg88]

Not to highjack, but I think we could possibly utilise this thread to create a knowledge base and share information on electives for forthcoming students, so any information on the following would be much appreciated also:

LAW572 - Advanced Torts (Penelope Watson)
LAW571 - Health Law and Ethics (George Tomossy - Oh God)
LAW477 - Trial Advocacy (Proposed 2012 summer unit, Penelope Watson among others)
LAW473 - Intellectual Property Law (Niloufer Selvadurai)
LAW452 - Family Law (Penelope Watson)
LAW465 - Dispute Management and Resolution (Lise Barry)
LAW471 - Foundations of Commercial Law (Shayne Davenport)

 

[Atlas]

andyfg88 - you should put down the names of the lecturers, you'll get more accurate feedback that way. A unit may have a brilliant description that makes the subject sound very interesting, but delivery of a unit is very important...

dynasty - S Carter is a good lecturer, clear and direct, you will like 468 if you like black letter law with lots of hypotheticals, the unit is not conceptually difficult, but there's quite a bit of reading cases/applying legislation. Niloufer is a really organised lecturer who likes to give students lots of warnings and prepares everything very early on, great for students who like to start their work before the start of semester/beginning of semester - gives good feedback, helpful, sets out the topics neatly and clearly; if you do IT law, you may also want to do IP law (473) - there is a neat correlation between the two subjects, the topics are interesting, but both can be quite technical/legal, expect hypotheticals with some conceptual/essay/legal reform component. Didn't do 490, but Paul was a fantastic tutor, really knows how to explain things to students and can deliver complex material in a easy to understand way. Don't know MacDermott. I am deliberately not mentioning the other mentioned units for a reason...

 

[andyfg88]

andyfg88 - you should put down the names of the lecturers, you'll get more accurate feedback that way. A unit may have a brilliant description that makes the subject sound very interesting, but delivery of a unit is very important...

dynasty - S Carter is a good lecturer, clear and direct, you will like 468 if you like black letter law with lots of hypotheticals, the unit is not conceptually difficult, but there's quite a bit of reading cases/applying legislation. Niloufer is a really organised lecturer who likes to give students lots of warnings and prepares everything very early on, great for students who like to start their work before the start of semester/beginning of semester - gives good feedback, helpful, sets out the topics neatly and clearly; if you do IT law, you may also want to do IP law (473) - there is a neat correlation between the two subjects, the topics are interesting, but both can be quite technical/legal, expect hypotheticals with some conceptual/essay/legal reform component. Didn't do 490, but Paul was a fantastic tutor, really knows how to explain things to students and can deliver complex material in a easy to understand way. Don't know MacDermott. I am deliberately not mentioning the other mentioned units for a reason...

Good point kind sir! I have updated the list. Another idea would be if anyone has the unit outlines for these subjects from previous years maybe they could upload them? Or more specifically describe what the assessment criteria is and how much each item is worth (i.e. Assignment 1 - 20%, Assignment 2 - 30%, Take Home/Sit-in exam - 50%, Class Participation - 20% etc...). At my old uni, when you would go through the handbook after the unit description it would have the assignment breakdown for you exactly which was brilliant when it came to picking electives because you could do classes that have no class participation and with only two 50% assignments.

I agree with you about Paul, I had him as a tutor for contracts... he was brilliant.

 

[Atlas]

Good point kind sir! I have updated the list. Another idea would if anyone has the unit outlines for these subjects from previous years maybe they could upload them? Or more specifically describe what the assessment criteria and how much each item is worth (i.e. Assignment 1 - 20%, Assignment 2 - 30%, Take Home/Sit-in exam - 50%, Class Participation - 20% etc...). At my old uni, when you would go through the handbook after the unit description it would have the assignment breakdown for you exactly which was brilliant when it came to picking electives because you could do classes that have no class participation and with only two 50% assignments.

I agree with you about Paul, I had him as a tutor for contracts... he was brilliant.

Will post another comment about the units later. LOL feeling lazy at the moment

Re unit outlines - be aware though that many units do change since convenors like to mix it up a bit. I don't think there is a single law unit that will not have some form of class participation requirement.

Which uni did that?

 

[AussieVesti]

Anything to say about LAW317?

One of my best friends is doing it soon and I would like to pass on some tips.

 

[andyfg88]

Anything to say about LAW317?

One of my best friends is doing it soon and I would like to pass on some tips.

La Trobe university... There was class participation but it wasn't compulsory, so like if you didn't show up to tutorials at all you simply lost 10% but you didn't actually fail the subject because of it.

In my view this is both good and bad. Good because it encourages even more independent learning and doesn't force you into things while giving you more time to do other things. Bad because it sort of promotes a lax environment in a way.

 

[andyfg88]

Anything to say about LAW317?

One of my best friends is doing it soon and I would like to pass on some tips.

I'm doing this in summer school. I've heard mixed opinions, some say its tough other say its easy as long as you do the readings.

 

[dynasty]

dynasty - S Carter is a good lecturer, clear and direct, you will like 468 if you like black letter law with lots of hypotheticals, the unit is not conceptually difficult, but there's quite a bit of reading cases/applying legislation. Niloufer is a really organised lecturer who likes to give students lots of warnings and prepares everything very early on, great for students who like to start their work before the start of semester/beginning of semester - gives good feedback, helpful, sets out the topics neatly and clearly; if you do IT law, you may also want to do IP law (473) - there is a neat correlation between the two subjects, the topics are interesting, but both can be quite technical/legal, expect hypotheticals with some conceptual/essay/legal reform component. Didn't do 490, but Paul was a fantastic tutor, really knows how to explain things to students and can deliver complex material in a easy to understand way. Don't know MacDermott. I am deliberately not mentioning the other mentioned units for a reason...

Thanks for your insights! I agree with you about Susan, she was my tutor for torts and she was fantastic. 468 sounds comparable to contracts, in terms of course structure was there a take home exam or open book sit down?

Therese was my tutor for Law, Lawyers & Society and I really liked her, so if 461 is anything like how she taught LLS then I would do it. I just don't know anything about the assessment structure though.

IT law looks convincing as well, you mentioned that the content can get quite technical so is this a subject that is hard to do well in?

 

[misericordia]

dynasty - ive done Indigenous Peoples and the Law before. assessment structure consisted of class participation and 2 essays. anne isnt the best lecturer/tutor so you have to study on your own but readings are light and both cp and essays are marked leniently. and contents are actually interesting (you study more than native title) so if you want a cruisy and interesting unit id say go for it.

andyfg, my friend did Health Law in sem 1. assessment structure consisted of research review (that formed the basis of research essay), 50mins group presentation (also had to submit 2 page precis) and 3500 words research essay. she said content of the unit was very interesting but mentioned that george is super unorganized and students had hard time especially with the research essay. apparently students got to sit on beanbags though.

btw im wondering if anyone has muls 2008 electives guide? i used to have it but i lost it, and i cant find it on the muls website... it was the most useful thing ever

 

[Atlas]

IT law looks convincing as well, you mentioned that the content can get quite technical so is this a subject that is hard to do well in?

Niloufer's assessment structures are quite fair, overall, the mark you get will reflect the effort you put into the unit. IT Law is technical, but not to the extent that it will require someone doing an IT degree to understand it - the main challenge is the legal aspect not the IT content.

 

[Atlas]

andyfg, my friend did Health Law in sem 1. assessment structure consisted of research review (that formed the basis of research essay), 50mins group presentation (also had to submit 2 page precis) and 3500 words research essay. she said content of the unit was very interesting but mentioned that george is super unorganized and students had hard time especially with the research essay. apparently students got to sit on beanbags though.

btw im wondering if anyone has muls 2008 electives guide? i used to have it but i lost it, and i cant find it on the muls website... it was the most useful thing ever

Health Law: +1, the assessments are difficult to understand or gauge what is required of you. And the beanbags won't be a feature the second time round since he has mentioned that he wants to experiment with delivering the unit with lots of technology e.g. new C5C forum.

MULS guide - here it is, it's a bit old and someone should convince MULS to do a newer version - many of the units have changed since the guide as well as many of the lecturers are no longer working at Mq View attachment publications_electives_guide.pdf

 

[andyfg88]

Health Law: +1, the assessments are difficult to understand or gauge what is required of you. And the beanbags won't be a feature the second time round since he has mentioned that he wants to experiment with delivering the unit with lots of technology e.g. new C5C forum.

MULS guide - here it is, it's a bit old and someone should convince MULS to do a newer version - many of the units have changed since the guide as well as many of the lecturers are no longer working at Mq View attachment 23970

In Torts with Penelope last semester our tutorials were in that room with the bean bags, it actually got incredibly annoying after the second class... lol

As for George experimenting with the new C5C forum, he did that last semester with Crim. I wasn't in that class but he ran a class of about 60 I think it was.

You know, it's a shame. I really wanted to do Health Law, but my experience with George this last semester really really just put me off completely.

 

[Atlas]

In Torts with Penelope last semester our tutorials were in that room with the bean bags, it actually got incredibly annoying after the second class... lol

As for George experimenting with the new C5C forum, he did that last semester with Crim. I wasn't in that class but he ran a class of about 60 I think it was.

You know, it's a shame. I really wanted to do Health Law, but my experience with George this last semester really really just put me off completely.

The worst part about bean bags is getting up at the end of class - hilarious watching all these young fit twenty-somethings groan as they try to get up...

Personally, if you are interested in Health law - pick up a health law book and have a read to see which area you like - the unit doesn't allow you to really explore the area and I don't think it will be suitable for those who are passionate about the topic.

 

[dynasty]

Atlas- Thanks so much for the MULS guide!

misericordia- I do like the sound of Indigneous peoples and the Law..it's just the lecturer which is putting me off doing it.

andyfg- omgosh same I had my torts tute in that room too and I hated it but then our class moved rooms after the first 2 wks and then i ended up loving torts. I second that with George, I wanted to do health law as well but it doesn't sound too promising esp after Crim.

 

[misericordia]

misericordia- I do like the sound of Indigneous peoples and the Law..it's just the lecturer which is putting me off doing it.

well if this makes you feel better ... i dont think its possible to fail the unit and also if you are thinking of applying for aboriginal legal service internship (law 551) i think its useful to have studied the unit. but i do understand your concern.

and i never thought bean bags are that bad haha.