LAWS13025 - Law Practice Management

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Law Practice Management assists students in making the transition from law school to legal practice. The unit provides a broad overview of how legal practices are managed and the role of the legal practitioner within legal practice structures in Australia. Topics include business models and strategy; risk management; professional standards and ethics; electronic practice management systems; automation and technological innovation including social innovation; sustainability, growth and marketing; financial management; self-management; and leadership. This unit is essential for students wanting to understand and research the business of law and prepare for the business aspects of legal practice, including the regulatory requirements of legal practice.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

48 credit points of law units.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 3 - 2024

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Critical Review 30%
2. Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books 70%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

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.

Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Evaluate and research alternative legal business models, assessing their risk profile, and recommending strategies for their management, including adherence to professional and ethical standards
  2. Compare alternative practice management systems and their ability to promote automation and innovation, including social innovation
  3. Prepare a plan for sustainability, growth and marketing of a legal practice
  4. Evaluate your ability for self-management and leadership skills in maintaining sustainable financial management of a law firm.

It is anticipated that the current review of the Priestley 11 Admission requirements being undertaken for the Law Admissions Consultative Committee by Prof Sally Kift will recommend the inclusion of technology, management and business skills. While the entire law curriculum is being reexamined and mapped to include these elements it is important to develop a specialist capstone elective unit for those students seeking advanced knowledge of this topic as they transition to legal practice.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Critical Review • • • •
2 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • •
8 - Ethical practice • •
9 - Social Innovation • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10