LAW1121: INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LAW AND LEGAL METHOD

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• This module provides students with a 'hands-on' grounding in legal research, analysis, writing and IT skills. It seeks to establish critical analytical and transferable skills essential not only in the students' legal studies but beyond. It introduces students to the English legal system and the diverse forms legal analysis can take.

• Introduction to law and the English legal system; the courts and actors in the legal system; legal research and referencing; the doctrine of precedent; statutory interpretation; reading cases and statutes; answering essay and problem questions; law in practice; unconscious bias in law; mooting.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• By the end of this course, successful students should be able to recognise the key legal institutions, actors and processes of law-making and understand how law works in practice

Subject-specific Skills:

• By the end of this course, successful students should be able to:
• Critically understand the English legal system
• Demonstrate legal research, writing and IT skills;
• Locate and use reported cases and statutes;
• Critically analyse relevant materials;
• Explore legal problems through critical enquiry, thoughtful reflection and the willingness to question assumptions;
• Apply information in a structured argument, drawing upon methods of legal scholars;
• Access legal materials, both in print and electronically, in the library and through specialist databases;
• Read, understand and analyse cases, statutes and academic articles.

Key Skills:

• Key skills developed in this module include being able to communicate complex ideas and arguments in clear written form.

• Lectures cover all aspects of the course. They will be used to impart knowledge and suggest approaches to evaluation and critical analysis.
• Seminars are used to convey information (e.g. about writing conventions, referencing, research methods, assessment criteria), but most seminar time will be devoted to more hands-on learning, for example through mooting exercises;
• Formative assignments are used to develop subject-specific and key skills. They include an essay outline with bibliography (500 words max), and one formative essay (1,500 words max).
• The essays test the ability to engage in legal research and demonstrate IT skills, particularly (but not exclusively) in relation to locating and using cases and statutes.
• The course will also include a Law in Practice lecture series, to provide insight into how law operates in the professional world.

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