LLB101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: United States Military Academy, Conveyancing, Ethical Dilemma
LLB101 LECTURE 5
What is a lawyer?
Seems like an obvious question?
More than you might think: -
Solicitor – suburban practice
Solicitor – national/multinational
Barrister
In-house counsel
Community legal sector
Business
Part of the legal community
Admitted as a “officer of the court”
Committed to the administration of justice
Knowledgeable about how Australia is governed through the rule of law
Contribution as an informed member of the community
Politician????
Overview – Ethics
Topic 1 – Ethics and the law student
Topic 2 – Ethics and the lawyer: duties to clients, duties to the court and to the
administration of justice
Topic 3 – Structure and regulation of the legal profession in Queensland
Death of Ivan Ilyich
Ivan Ilyich Golovin, a high court judge in St. Petersburg, is dying, and in the process, begins
to reflect on whether he has lived “a good life” . . . something which he has not considered
in any meaningful way until faced with his own (immediate) mortality:
As a law student he had done things which had before seemed to him vile and at the time
had made him feel disgusted with himself; but later on when he saw that such conduct was
practised by people of high standing and not considered wrong by them, he came not
exactly to regard those actions of his as all right but simply to forget them entirely, or not be
troubled by their recollection.
Topic 1
Ethics and the law student
Academic misconduct
MOPP –
5.3.1 What is academic dishonesty?
One purpose of assessment is to give students due credit for work undertaken and
submitted by them, in providing a record of achievement or certification of competency.
Students are expected to exhibit honesty and ethical behaviour in undertaking
assessment requirements.
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Any action or practice on the part of a student which would defeat the purposes of
assessment is regarded as academic dishonesty, and may be dealt with in accordance with
these procedures.
Types of academic misconduct
Cheating in examinations and plagiarism are two commonly recognised forms of academic
dishonesty.
Cheating in examinations may include conduct such as bringing unauthorised material into
an examination, bringing written notes into an examination whether on some object or paper
or on the student's body, communicating with others during examinations (whether by
speaking or other, possibly electronic, means) or reading the work of other examinees during
the exam. Cheating also includes any attempt to do these things.
Spectrum – large-scale organised cheating through to inadvertent unattributed (plagiarised)
text
West Point Academy – some (then) hi-tech cheating??
Other forms of academic misconduct
For example:
giving one's own work to another for copying,
recycling an item of assessment from one unit or course and using it in another,
fabricating or falsifying data, experimental results or sources of information,
collaborating with another student about assessable work and representing that as individual
work when this has not been contemplated by unit outlines or assessment requirements.
“Web-based” misconduct:
an increasing variety of web-based tools which provide assignment completion and
assistance techniques, the use of which may defeat the purposes of the assessment item
and so be regarded as academic dishonesty.
Why does it matter . . . ?????
● Not “why does it matter” to the University? . but what additional significance does it
have for law students?
Legal Profession Act 2007: governs the admission of Legal Practitioners to the Supreme
Court of Queensland
Legal Profession Act – re Admission
Step 1: Eligibility – s30
Section 30: Eligibility
Eligibility for admission to the legal profession under this Act
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(1) A person is eligible for admission to the legal profession under this Act only if the person
—
is a natural person aged 18 years or more; and
has attained approved academic qualifications or corresponding academic qualifications;
and
has satisfactorily completed approved practical legal training requirements or corresponding
practical legal training requirements.
Suitability – s31
31 Suitability for admission
A person is suitable for admission to the legal profession under this Act only if the person is
a fit and proper person to be admitted.
(2) In deciding if the person is a fit and proper person to be admitted, the Supreme Court
must consider—
each of the suitability matters in relation to the person to the extent a suitability matter is
appropriate; and
other matters that the Supreme Court considers relevant.
(3) However, the Supreme Court may consider a person to be a fit and proper person to
be admitted to the legal profession under this Act despite a suitability matter because of
the circumstances relating to the matter.
So – why does it matter??
The Court of Appeal – the admitting Court – has signalled that “academic misconduct” is a
matter which the Court regards seriously in the determination of whether a person is of good
fame and character (s9), and hence a fit and proper person to be admitted (s31)
See Re Liveri [2006] QCA 152
. . . Mr Morris also emphasized the fact that the misconduct occurred before this Court first
drew attention in plain terms to the potential impact upon applications for admission of
established academic dishonesty
NOTE: The Court does not specifically refer to plagiarism, but to the broader concept of
academic dishonesty
The Court went on to add that it didn’t really think that anyone would need to be told that
dishonest practices in the course directly leading to admission as a lawyer would be
something which ought to be eschewed.
What is disclosable . . . ?
The University breaks academic dishonesty into two categories: major and minor academic
dishonesty.
Based on the relevant parts of the Legal Practitioners Act and experience of how widely the
Court views the obligation of candour borne by applicants for admission as a Legal
Practitioner, both forms are matters which the Court would consider relevant to the concepts
of fitness to practise and good fame and character – and so should be disclosed.
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Document Summary
Knowledgeable about how australia is governed through the rule of law. Contribution as an informed member of the community. Topic 1 ethics and the law student. Topic 2 ethics and the lawyer: duties to clients, duties to the court and to the administration of justice. Topic 3 structure and regulation of the legal profession in queensland. One purpose of assessment is to give students due credit for work undertaken and submitted by them, in providing a record of achievement or certification of competency. Students are expected to exhibit honesty and ethical behaviour in undertaking assessment requirements. Any action or practice on the part of a student which would defeat the purposes of assessment is regarded as academic dishonesty, and may be dealt with in accordance with these procedures. Cheating in examinations and plagiarism are two commonly recognised forms of academic dishonesty. Cheating also includes any attempt to do these things. Spectrum large-scale organised cheating through to inadvertent unattributed (plagiarised) text.
