Faculty of Law Undergraduate Handbook - Faculty of Law - The ...

Legal Research andWriting RequirementsThe LLB and LLB(Hons) degrees have a large legal research and writing component:LAW 299 Legal Research 1 (0 points)LAW 399 Legal Research 2 (10 points)LAW 499 Legal Practice (0 points) or LAW 400 Legal Research 3 (10 points)LAW 299 is a compulsory course and a corequisite for all the LLB Part II courses. New Part II studentsneed to enrol in LAW 299 before enrolling for any other Part II courses.LAW 399 is a compulsory LLB Part III course with a value of 10 points. Students should enrol for thiscourse in the same year that they take their first Part III courses, provided they have already completedall their Part II courses.LAW 299 — Legal Research 1 (0 points)Students enrol for LAW 299 first and then enrol for their other LLB Part II courses. Students sign uponline and self-stream. The course is taken in the first semester of Part II. The course is an introduction tolegal research within the New Zealand jurisdiction, including legal language and the structure of legalinformation, case law, legislation, secondary materials and the process of undertaking legal research.Emphasis is placed on the practical use of legal materials in both print and electronic format. LAW 299consists of five one-hour classes, four on-line modules and tests, and a final test. The course is assessed100% on-course with 50% consisting of 4 worksheets, 4 online modules and tests via CECIL, and 50%final test. The course is graded pass/fail.LAW 399 — Legal Research 2 (10 pts)Students enrol for LAW 399 when they take their Part III courses. The course may be taken in either thefirst or second semester. The course concentrates on advanced research skills and includes anintroduction to multi-jurisdictional legal research. The course is assessed 100% on-course comprising: 2research exercises, each worth 15% of the final mark or students may use the second research exerciseas 30% provided that a mark of at least 40% is attained for the first research exercise; a research trail70%. This course is graded. Students are strongly recommended to link their research trails for thiscourse with the formal writing requirements for an opinion, elective or Honours dissertation.LAW 499 Legal Practice (0 points)LAW 400 Legal Research 3 (10 points)In Part III and Part IV of the degree, students are required to undertake sustained and substantial legalresearch and writing.Prior to 2009 this was under the rubric of LAW 499 Legal Practice, which was ungraded and carried nopoints: see transitional arrangements for LAW 499 below.Because the Faculty of Law is serious about legal research and writing, LAW 499 has been replaced byLAW 400 Legal Research 3 (10 points), which is graded.74 | 2010 Faculty of Law Handbook