Professional Conduct

Course aim

The aim of this course is threefold: firstly to ensure that students know the legal and ethical responsibilities of a professional lawyer; secondly to ensure that students have an understanding of how to react to particular professional and ethical situations that might arise in the future and thirdly, to facilitate legal career development planning.

Course content

The focus of this course is on the professional conduct responsibilities of legal practitioners in South Australia and on preparing students for admission to the profession. This requires understanding of:

The Nature of the Legal Profession
• What is a profession?
• The professional responsibilities of lawyers
• The source of these responsibilities

The Regulation of the Legal Profession
• The structure of the profession and the regulatory framework
• Career Development – Preparing for Legal Practice

Discipline and Standards of Conduct
• Legal and Ethical standards
• Removal from the profession

Duties Owed to the Client
• Avoiding conflicts of interest
• Confidentiality and Privilege
• Competence and Care

Duties to the Court and the Administration of Justice
• Not misleading the court; undertakings
• Where a client confesses guilt
• Duties of Prosecutors

Dealing with client funds
• Duties in relation to the management of trust accounts

Textbook(s)

Ross Y 2010, Ethics in Law - Lawyer's Responsibility and Accountability in Australia, 5th, Butterworths, Sydney

Prerequisite(s)

Common to all relevant programs
Subject Area & Catalogue Number	Course Name
LAWS 1012	Legal Institutions and Methods
LAWS 1010	Law, Society and Justice
LAWS 1013	Legal Research and Writing

Corequisite(s)

Nil

Teaching method

Component	Duration
INTERNAL, CITY WEST
Lecture	3 hours x 10 weeks
Tutorial	1 hour x 10 weeks

Note: These components may or may not be scheduled in every study period. Please refer to the timetable for further details.

Assessment

In class test, Problem solving assignment: submission of 2 exercises, Written assignment: policy-based

Fees

EFTSL*: 0.125
Commonwealth Supported program (Band 3)
To determine the fee for this course as part of a Commonwealth Supported program, go to:
How to determine your Commonwealth Supported course fee. (Opens new window)

Fee-paying program for domestic and international students
International students and students undertaking this course as part of a postgraduate fee paying program must refer to the relevant program home page to determine the cost for undertaking this course.

Non-award enrolment
Non-award tuition fees are set by the university. To determine the cost of this course, go to:
How to determine the relevant non award tuition fee. (Opens new window)

Not all courses are available on all of the above bases, and students must check to ensure that they are permitted to enrol in a particular course.

* Equivalent Full Time Study Load. Please note: all EFTSL values are published and calculated at ten decimal places. Values are displayed to three decimal places for ease of interpretation.