This course aims to support Indigenous JD students, enable students to gain familiarity and practical experience dealing with the legal system and to demonstrate to students how the study of law can be put into practice to assist people in the community. It will be a particularly valuable preparatory course for the core course Lawyers, Ethics and Justice (JURD7130).
Students attend the Faculty's clinic, Kingsford Legal Centre (KLC), two hours each week. The clinic is a community legal centre which provides a free legal service to the local community. Students obtain first hand experience of interviewing clients, preparing legal advice, practical legal problem-solving, and other aspects of community legal practice. Students have the opportunity to experience law in a practical setting and thus gain an enhanced understanding of the general legal system, the legal aid system and the relevance of legal practice to a community. This course also has an emphasis on developing oral and written communication skills and will enhance students' understanding of the legal principles, cases and theory they are studying in their first year program. Students also attend a weekly one hour tutorial in Torts to support their study, during which they review and consolidate their knowledge and discuss assignments.
Students also complete an independent research project, which complements a core course from their first year program.
Enrolment in this course is limited to Indigenous JD students, who have the consent of the Director of Indigenous Legal Education.