LAW4309 Lawyers ethics in practice
Faculty of Law
LAW4309 Lawyers ethics in practice is a level 4, 6-credit-point, undergraduate unit from the Faculty of Law, offered in 2025 in Summer A, Semester 1 and Semester 2 at Clayton. It has no prerequisites.
- Credit points
- 6
- Offered in 2025
- Summer A, Semester 1, Semester 2
- Clayton
- Assessment
- Exam 50%
- and 2 other tasks
- Workload
- 144 hours
- per semester
This is the 2025 handbook entry. See the 2027 entry.
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Requisites
Before LAW4309
No prerequisites or corequisites besides the enrolment rules below.
After LAW4309
No unit lists LAW4309 as a prerequisite in the 2025 handbook.
Enrolment rules
You must have passed 48 points of law study.
Overview
This unit provides a practical and critical introduction to ethical decision-making and the law and codes of professional responsibility in lawyering. It introduces different ethical approaches to legal practice, focusing on the justifications for, and criticisms of, the traditional adversarial advocate approach and alternatives to it in the context of different areas of practice. The unit also examines the way that lawyers' ethics and conduct are regulated and set out in legal principles and codes.
Students will be encouraged to develop awareness of their own ethical orientation and expected to apply varied ethical approaches to hypothetical scenarios. They will be expected to identify and resolve ethical issues that arise in legal practice using the law of lawyering. Students will also be expected to critically assess the way lawyers' ethics are regulated in the context of multiple approaches to legal ethics and disparate practice contexts.
Offerings in 2025
| Teaching period | Campus | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Summer semester A | Clayton | On campus, block |
| First semester | Clayton | On campus |
| Second semester | Clayton | On campus |
Assessment
- Online QuizQuiz / Test10%
- Ethics AnalysisWritten40%
- Take-home examExamination50%
Learning outcomes
When you finish this unit, you should be able to:
- 1
Explain the law, principles and values integral to ethical practice of the Law
- 2
Demonstrate approaches to ethical decision-making that require recognition, reflection and response to ethical issues likely to arise in legal practice, with particular attention to exercising professional judgement in the areas of justice promotion and community service.
- 3
Use critical analysis to make reasoned choices and demonstrate creativity in applying these to specific ethical issues
- 4
Communicate how they would effectively, appropriately and persuasively apply professional responsibility principles across different practice contexts to resolve ethical issues
- 5
Demonstrate autonomy, accountability and professionalism in relation to ethical judgement and make effective use of feedback.
Workload and teaching
- Seminars36 hours
- Teaching approachActive learning
Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.
Learning resources
Required resources
See the Moodle unit page for prescribed and recommended resources. Prescribed texts are usually available for purchase through the University Bookstore and are sometimes available for short-term loan or as eBooks through the library.
Contacts
- Chief Examiners
- Dr Victoria Lambropoulos
- Associate Professor Ross Hyams
- Ms Jessie Taylor
Common questions
What are the prerequisites for LAW4309?
LAW4309 has no prerequisites, but enrolment rules apply.
When is LAW4309 offered?
In 2025, LAW4309 runs in Summer A, Semester 1 and Semester 2 at Clayton.
How much work is LAW4309?
The handbook expects about 144 hours of study across the semester. No students have rated its difficulty yet.
Does LAW4309 have an exam?
Yes. The exam is worth 50% of the final mark, alongside 2 other tasks.