Course outline handout

FACULTY OF LAW LA369 ENGLISH LEGAL READING AND RESEARCH (SEC8100/04) (3 credits) COURSE OUTLINE – Semester 2, 2010INSTRUCTOR Name: Mr Chacrit Sitdhiwej Loca4on: Room 617, Faculty of Law Building, Rangsit Centre Telephone: 02 696 5129 (work) email: schacrit@tu.ac.th facebook: hOp://www.facebook.com/schacrit/ Course Website: hOp://www.minidot.net/ 1

COURSE OBJECTIVESKNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDINGAccording to the Course Descrip4on, this course is designed to “provide a prac4cal forum for studying and prac4sing reading documents in the legal profession eg textbooks, ar4cles and law reports of different jurisdic4ons. Students will also be given prac4ces in researching laws of foreign jurisdic4ons.”COMMUNICATION SKILLSThe con4nuing development of good inter-‐personal and communica4on skills is widely recognised as important for all graduates. This course specifically seeks to develop students’ abili4es to work in groups, make group presenta4ons and write personal reflec4on reports.GRADUATE ATTRIBUTESThis course aims to provide students with a number of graduate aOributes, including:Knowledge To develop an understanding of: • the arrangements of collec4ons of the major legal systems of the world; • the fundamental arrangements of the common law precedent; • the precedent and principle in the European Court of Jus4ce; • the rela4onship between the European Community law and English law; • the use of legisla4on and cases; and • the selected emerging fields of law such as compara4ve law, cyber law, energy law, environmental law, gene4c law, planning law and the Law of the Sea.Intellectual and Social CapabiliVes To develop: • the skills to find, cite and use the sources of law of major legal systems of the world; • the cogni4ve skills to analyse, evaluate and synthesise informa4on from a wide variety of sources and experiences arising among class par4cipants so as to iden4fy and address appropriate legal and related issues; • an awareness and apprecia4on of the poli4cal and socio-‐economic context of the selected emerging fields of law; • cri4cal thinking and problem solving skills; • oral and wriOen communica4on skills of high order, including the use of appropriate modern communica4on technologies; • the capacity and commitment to learn and maintain intellectual curiosity, and to engage in life-‐long personal and professional learning; and • familiarity and proficiency in legal research techniques, including the appropriate use of modern research technologies.AWtudes and Values To develop: • the capacity to be informed, responsible and cri4cally discrimina4ng in rela4on to the development and applica4on of English legal reading and research; and • an understanding of social and cultural diversity, and sensi4vity of the opera4on of the law and legal structures in development and applica4on of law.COURSE OVERVIEWREADINGA set of reading materials will be provided. You must read the materials for each class prior to your par4cipa4on in that class. 2

TextbooksThere are no recent general textbooks on English legal reading and research. However, two texts are recommended. These are: • Ian Mcleod, Legal method, Palgrave MacMillan law masters (Hamshire, 2007); and • Emily Finch and Stefan Fafinski, Legal skills (Oxford, 2007).CLASSESStudents in this course are expected to aOend all classes throughout the semester. Each class involves one 3 hour lecture/workshop each week for 16 weeks.Classes will be held at 9.30am in Room SC3037 every Monday from 8 November 2010. Please note that week 10 to 15 classes will be held at 9.00am. This is to make up the missing week 5, 8 and 9 classes, as required by the University’s policies and rules.Topics Week Date Reflec*on Lecture/Workshop Wrap-‐up/Assignment 1 8/11/2010 Pre-‐test Introduc2on -‐ • Course arrangements 2 15/11/2010 -‐ • SWOT analysis (1) -‐ • Personal SWOT analysis 3 22/11/2010 •Pre-‐test results •Personal SWOT Class SWOT analysis Experience with Google analysis results SWOT analysis Experience with 4 29/11/2010 Personal reflec2on results Wikipedia 5 6/12/2010 NO CLASS (public holiday) Experience with • Basic electronic research techniques 6 13/12/2010 Google and • Mastering Google and Wikipedia Job hun2ng experience Wikipedia Job hun2ng 7 20/12/2010 Entering the legal workforce (1) experience 8 27/12/2010 NO CLASS (mid-‐term exam) 9 3/1/2011 NO CLASS (public holiday) 10 10/1/2011 Job hun2ng Entering the legal workforce (2) The regula2on of biotechnology 11 17/1/2011 Job hun2ng and nanotechnology 12 24/1/2011 Personal reflec2on English law and courts NB: These six classes start at 9.00am 13 31/1/2011 Personal reflec2on EC law and English law 14 7/2/2011 Personal reflec2on The precedent and its effects 15 14/2/2011 Personal reflec2on Anatomy of cases and statutes 16 21/2/2011 FINAL EXAM (Start at 9.30am) 3

MINIDOT AND FACEBOOKminidot <hOp://www.minidot.net/> is the website the instructor has created and used to aid student learning experience. It provides students with an access to certain course contents and materials through the internet. Par4cularly, the instructor olen posts videocasts of his certain past lectures on minidot. Students can watch these videocasts at their convenient 4me.Facebook, the world’s most popular social network, allows students and the instructor to communicate and share their views fast and conveniently. The instructor’s Facebook site is at hOp://www.facebook.com/schacrit/.Students are encouraged to take advantage of these online services.CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATIONPlease check your email, Facebook and minidot regularly. Course-‐related announcements are communicated via these tools.The instructor will be available for consulta4on in Room LA617 from 1.00pm to 4.00pm every Tuesday. In order to develop your communica4on skills of high order through the use of appropriate modern communica4on technologies, you are encouraged to contact the instructor via email or Facebook.ASSESSMENTAssessment for this course will be made up of: (1) class aOendance; (2) class par4cipa4on; (3) personal reflec4on; and (4) final exam. Students must sa4sfy all the requirements to pass the course.CLASS ATTENDANCE (5%)AOendance at classes is compulsory and assessed in order to provide you with a beOer founda4on for undertaking your personal reflec4on and final exam.There are 13 classes for the semester. Ten out of 13 class aOendance is required as a compulsory requirement of undertaking the final exam. Students will be marked pass or fail at each lecture. You must a_end at least ten classes to pass your overall class a_endance and to be eligible to undertake your final exam.There will be an aOendance sheet to sign as proof of aOendance at each class. It is essenVal that you sign this sheet every week. If you do not sign the sheet for the relevant week you will be deemed to have not aOended. Class aOendance will be worth 5% of your final mark.Students who do not sa4sfy the requirements will be permiOed to pass only on the submission of wriOen work in lieu of class aOendance and if a genuine reason is given for missing more than the allowed number of classes.CLASS PARTICIPATION (30%)Each class the instructor will note if you are present and will assess your level of par4cipa4on in the class ac4vi4es. AOendance alone is not equivalent to par4cipa4on.Each week you will be assigned one of the following grades, based on evidence of prepara4on for the class and your contribu4on to the ac4vi4es: Excellent (7.5-‐10), Good (5-‐7), Poor (1-‐4) or Zero (0). At the end of semester, the best ten of the 16 class marks will be taken and averaged for your par4cipa4on mark. This will be worth 30% of your final mark.Class ac4vi4es over the semester are designed to improve students’ knowledge and understanding, communica4on skills and graduate aOributes men4oned earlier in the Course Objec4ves. Par4cipa4on marks provide a basis for assessing students’ ability to intelligently discuss and debate the course maOers and their applica4on. Par4cipa4on marks also assess students’ oral communica4on skills. 4

A guide to the award of par4cipa4on is as follows: Zero (0) – no evidence of prepara4on or contribu4on to small group of larger class discussion. Poor (1-‐4) – evidence of some prepara4on but no or very liOle contribu4on to small group or larger class discussion; poor quality of contribu4on displaying liOle understanding of the issues and demonstra4ng poor oral communica4on and legal skills. Good (5-‐7) – evidence of good prepara4on, ac4ve contribu4on to small group discussion; contribu4on of a quality that displays a reasonable to good understanding of the course maOers, and good oral communica4on and legal skills. Excellent (7.5-‐10) – evidence of thorough prepara4on, ac4ve contribu4on to small group discussion and par4cipa4on in the larger class; high level understanding of the course maOers and cri4cal analysis, evidence of excellent oral and legal skills.PERSONAL REFLECTION (35%)A set of personal reflec4on, comprising a learning journal and a compilaVon of terms and expressions learned in the course, must be submiOed by 4.30pm on Friday 25 February 2011. This will be worth 35% of your final mark.The personal reflec4on is designed to promote each student’s abili4es to realise and understand his/her strengths and weaknesses in rela4on to English legal reading and research, and to keep pace of his/her development in rela4on to the course, as well as his/her academic and professional capaci4es, while being aware of the relevant opportuni4es and threats.The personal reflec4on will also assess wriOen communica4on skills – the ability of students to write clearly and concisely about their strengths, weaknesses, opportuni4es and threats, as well as their development.FINAL EXAM (30%)Final exam will be held at the last class ie on Monday 21 February 2011. This will be worth 30% of your final mark.PLAGIARISM AND OTHER FORMS OF CHEATINGPlagiarism is a serious act of academic misconduct. Plagiarism is a serious maOer and is treated as such by the Faculty of Law and the University. Please be aware that ‘academic dishonesty’ (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for refusal by the industry to admit a person to prac4ce as a legal prac44oner. Plagiarism and academic honesty are also essen4ally aspects of ethical and honest behaviour, which are central to the prac4ce of law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer. The instructor adheres strictly to the Faculty of Law’s and the University’s policies, rules and guidelines on examina4ons, assessment, plagiarism and chea4ng in examina4ons and related forms of assessment. 5

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