The Legal Profession Unit of Study is a mandatory ‘Priestley 11' subject. We critically examine issues relevant to lawyers' role in society: professionalism, lawyers' conduct, lawyers' ethical obligations and choices, and the regulation of legal services. We examine the nature of legal professionalism and its inherent relationship with ethics, values and morals, as well as its relationship with commerce. We explore the shifting profile of the profession, the response of the profession to these demographic changes, and the major cultural and economic forces that operate on legal professionalism and regulation of the profession. From that base we analyse access to justice issues, different notions of lawyering, the structure of the legal profession, and diverse theoretical views and models of regulation. We move on to consider the lawyer-client relationship and strategies to facilitate equality and effective communication in the delivery of legal services. Finally, we examine lawyers' duties to clients and the Court, and the ways in which the rules and principles of confidentiality and conflicts of interest affect the advice and representation lawyers provide for clients. This unit of study requires your active participation in class discussion, and your critical reflection on the issues raised throughout the semester.
Unit details and rules
Academic unit | Law |
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Credit points | 6 |
Prerequisites
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None |
Corequisites
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None |
Prohibitions
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LAWS5009 |
Assumed knowledge
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None |
Available to study abroad and exchange students | Yes |
Teaching staff
Coordinator | Rita Shackel, rita.shackel@sydney.edu.au |
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Lecturer(s) | Sascha Callaghan, sascha.callaghan@sydney.edu.au |
Lucy Quinn, lucy.quinn@sydney.edu.au | |
Natalie Gouda, natalie.gouda@sydney.edu.au | |
Sara Golru, sara.golru@sydney.edu.au |