LAWGENRL 433 : Family Law

Law

2020 Semester One (1203) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

The law relating to cohabitation and marriage, the establishment of parenthood, and the relationship between parent and child. Study of the interrelationship between the state, the family and child protection and support.

Course Overview

Family law is about the legal formation of family relationships, the resolution of family disputes and the influence of public policy on family affairs. The course covers all aspects of family law. In particular, this course will explore how the family justice system resolves parenting, financial, violence in the home, property and relationship disputes. The course will develop both the practical and theoretical understanding of family law. The practical will be developed through a compulsory 70% assignment whereby each member of the class will act as a lawyer as well as a client in a family dispute that covers most aspects of the course. The course will also give you the opportunity to do an optional assignment that enables you to research, in some depth, a particular aspect of family law that you have an interest and a passion about. Family law is a major area of legal practice. A key outcome of this course is that by the end of it you will feel confident to be able to master the key skills of the family lawyer as well as understand the challenges and tensions that families face when they are in conflict.

Content Objectives
This course will provide a practical introduction to family law practice and provide an overview of how it all fits together. Family law is an extremely important specialist area of practice. Even if you do not wish to become a family lawyer, all lawyers are expected to have a working knowledge of issues such as dissolution, relationship property, day-to-day care and contact, domestic violence, removal of children into care, adoption, and assisted human reproduction.
There are two main objectives to the course:

• To develop the knowledge and skills necessary to practise family law. The practical nature of the course will not just provide you with the opportunity to sharpen your legal research skills, but will also help you develop additional skills such as dealing with people, making practical decisions on ethical issues, negotiating legal agreements, using court procedure, preparing agreements and court documents, and exercising judgement on the appropriate course of action. The overarching purpose of this exercise is to teach you how to use the law to reach the best outcome for your clients.
• To critically evaluate family law policy and to discuss ways of improving the law. Lawyers should be more than technicians who manipulate current legislation and rules in the best interests of their clients. Lawyers need to be able to look beyond the rules and put the law into a broader context. Lawyers not only practise the law, they are also often the guardians of the direction the law is taking. The law prioritises some interests over others. This prioritisation process is also open to being questioned. Critical reasoning and a sense of justice will be developed in the process of analysing current family law policy.

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: LAW 211 Restriction: LAW 426, LAWGENRL 402

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 2: Critical Thinking
Capability 3: Solution Seeking
Capability 4: Communication and Engagement
Capability 5: Independence and Integrity
Capability 6: Social and Environmental Responsibilities
Graduate Profile: Bachelor of Laws

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Identify, articulate and apply key legal principles and concepts to all aspects of family law – children, violence in the home, finances, relationship property, care and protection, adoption and surrogacy (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.3, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 6.1)
  2. Critique the underlying assumptions and values that family law is based on. (Capability 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3)
  3. Demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills, including demonstrating the ability to research and finding family law, negotiation, writing a legal opinion, drafting legal agreements and documents. (Capability 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 and 5.1)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Online quiz Individual Coursework
Family file 70% Individual Coursework
Final Exam 30% Individual Examination
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3
Online quiz
Family file
Final Exam
There is not plussage in this course. 

Online Quiz:
The online quiz will comprise the early formative assessment task in this course. It will give each member of the class a chance to see if they understand the basic principles of the family court process and how decisions are made about the placement of children and what principles these decisions are based on. This assessment and the feedback from it will help each student with the preparation for the compulsory family file part of the course due later in the course. It will be completed through Canvas and feedback will be provided in class.
Family File:
The word limit for the family file is 5,200 words. This assignment requires students to interview a client, obtain relevant information and instructions, write a comprehensive legal opinion, write appropriate correspondence to their client, negotiate with the other side of the file, draft appropriate legal agreements and/or court documents, critically self-assess your own work and peer access your partner’s interviewing and negotiation skills. The legal issues to be covered in this exercise include: separation, dissolution, day to day care, contact, relationship property, maintenance, child support, protection and assisted human reproduction issues. You will be divided into negotiating pairs. You will be asked to play the role of client and lawyer in the exercise. This will enable you to see a legal problem from more than one perspective.
Final Exam:
The final examination will consist of two questions which will be compulsory. One question will be a problem-based question and the other will be an opportunity to analyse an area of family law that is to be considered for potential reform.  

Optional Assignment: (20%)
In addition to the above, students can elect to complete an opitional assignment of 1,500 words. If a student elects to the optional assignment, their final mark will comprise 70% Family File, 20% Optional Assignment and 10% Final Exam.

The Optional Assignment allows each student to choose an area of family law that interests them the most which they are encouraged to do independent research to identify key issues, to critique them and to look for alternatives.

Learning Resources

Casebook :
It is strongly recommended that you purchase a physical copy of the  casebook, particularly as the exam is open book.

Recommended Text :
The principal study resource for this course is the course casebook. There is no prescribed textbook for family law, but these textbooks are recommended: 
Mark Henaghan et al Family Law in New Zealand (19th ed, LexisNexis, Wellington, 2019).
Mark Henaghan and Bill Atkin (eds) Family Law Policy in New Zealand (5th ed, LexisNexis, Wellington, 2020).

Other Reference Works:
Family Law Manuals – Available on reserve in the Law Library.
• LexisNexis – Family Law Service (online at LexisAdvance– See website access instructions below).
• Brookers – Family Law.
Specialist Reports – Available on reserve.
• New Zealand Family Law Reports (online through LexisAdvance – See website access instructions below).
• Family Reports New Zealand (online through Westlaw NZ – See website access instructions below).

Website Access:
Family Law reference materials (cases, journals and commentary) are available online. The process for accessing this reference material is set out below:
1. Go to the Law Library’s Law Subject Guide page: https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/guides/law.
2. Look at “Law Databases” on right-hand side of page.
3. Click the link for LexisNexis NZ (for cases, journals, and commentary) or Westlaw NZ (for cases, journals, commentary, and legislation).

Workload Expectations

This is a standard 15-point course. There will be around 36 hours of lectures in this course. As a general guide, you should expect a workload of three hours outside of the classroom for each hour spent in class. The guideline for the total workload for this course is 150 hours.

Digital Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course director, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website at http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a Student Academic and Support Adviser as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter (https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html).

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.

Published on 20/12/2019 09:57 a.m.