Legal Research builds upon your existing legal research skills acquired in Introduction to Law to enhance your ability to locate, analyse and apply legal and interdisciplinary sources in a range of contexts in preparation for your future law studies and legal practice. In this unit, you will engage in authentic research exercises you would be expected to complete as a trainee or newly qualified lawyer and carry out related skills-based tasks, such as conducting a client interview and drafting a letter of advice. You will also prepare a research portfolio in response to authentic research tasks.

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Feedback from SUTE comments, feedback from students to tutor.

Some students suggested the assessment weight for the components of the research portfolio be revisited (presentation - 20%, collection of weekly workshop tasks - 10%) given the amount of work involved in learning about the research topic and preparing for the presentation.

Review the assessment weightings for all assessment tasks, including the components of each assessment task.

Feedback from Feedback from students to tutor.

Feedback students received on their client interview helped students to understand the importance of this skill and the need to practise and enhance their skills in this area. Students also noted that the presentation incorporated into the portfolio enhanced their oral communication skills.

Retain the focus on oral communication skills, and in particular the oral presentation on a current research topic and the client interview exercise.