The New Lawyer, 3rd Edition

Preface vii About the authors viii Part 1 Knowing 1 Chapter 1 The life of a lawyer 2 Introduction 3 1.1 Being a lawyer: myths and realities 3 Myths about being a lawyer 4 The realities of legal practice 6 1.2 A diversity of career options 9 A changing profession 9 Traditional career paths 10 Work sectors 12 1.3 Your legal education 19 Legal education in Australia 19 The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on legal education 24 Making the most of your legal education 25 1.4 Developing a professional identity 32 What is a ‘professional identity’? 32 The importance of a positive professional identity 33 Academic integrity 33 Key terms 37 Exercises 38 Acknowledgements 38 Chapter 2 Fundamental legal concepts 39 Introduction 40 2.1 Law 40 What is ‘law’? 40 The categories of law 42 The need for law 46 The changing law 49 2.2 Law and extrinsic standards 51 Natural law theory 51 Legal positivism 56 2.3 Law and liberal values 59 Liberty 61 Reason 64 Rights 67 Private property 69 Equality 73 Key terms 76 Exercises 77 Acknowledgements 78 Chapter 3 A history of Australian law 79 Introduction 80 3.1 First Nations Australians and the law 81 Who are the First Nations Australians? 81 Customary law 82 Terra nullius 83 3.2 The development of British law 86 Early British history 86 The rise of parliament 87 The social contract 88 Common law and equity 90 3.3 The development of Australian law 92 Colonial law 92 Federation 94 3.4 The law today 96 First Nations legal issues 97 Recent developments 101 Key terms 105 Exercises 106 Acknowledgements 106 Chapter 4 The Australian legal system 107 Introduction 108 4.1 Seven key characteristics 108 The rule of law 108 A liberal democracy 109 A common law legal system 111 A constitutional monarchy 111 A federation 112 The separation of powers 112 Responsible government 113 4.2 The Australian Constitution 115 Structure of the Constitution 115 Constitutional conventions 116 Federal and State relations 117 Residual powers 121 Regulating the Territories 122 Rights and freedoms 123 Changing the Constitution 124 4.3 The State constitutions 125 Similarities and differences between the State constitutions 127 4.4 Executive government in Australia 128 The Governor-General and the State Governors 129 The Executive Council and the Cabinet 130 Challenging the executive 132 Key terms 136 Exercises 137 Acknowledgements 137 Chapter 5 The sources of law in Australia 139 Introduction 140 5.1 Legislation 141 What is ‘legislation’? 141 Parliamentary sovereignty 142 5.2 The structure of parliament 142 Federal Parliament 143 State and Territory parliaments 144 The role of the Crown in parliament 145 Parliament in operation 145 Types of legislation 150 Delegated legislation 151 5.3 Case law 155 What is ‘case law’? 155 Court systems 155 Court processes 162 The doctrine of precedent 173 Key terms 177 Exercises 180 Acknowledgements 180 Part 2 Doing 183 Chapter 6 Thinking skills 184 Introduction 185 6.1 Legal reasoning 185 What is ‘legal reasoning’? 186 The IRAC method 186 Legal reasoning and logic 192 Legal reasoning and policy 201 6.2 Critical thinking 203 What is critical thinking? 203 Criteria-based judgement 203 Three types of critical thinking for law 205 An act of thoughtful disobedience 207 Becoming a critical thinker 208 6.3 Creative thinking 216 What is creative thinking? 216 Creativity in law school and legal practice 217 Becoming a creative thinker 218 Key terms 220 Exercises 221 Acknowledgements 221 Chapter 7 Legal research skills 223 Introduction 224 7.1 Adopt a systematic approach 226 Plan your research 227 Undertake some background reading 229 Think carefully about your search terms 230 7.2 Know where to look 232 Primary and secondary sources 232 Legal research tools 233 Finding secondary sources 235 Finding case law 236 Finding legislation 238 7.3 Access good-quality information 240 Online versus hard-copy sources 241 Use current information 242 Use authoritative information 242 Use relevant information 243 Be patient 245 Know when to stop looking 246 7.4 Read actively and efficiently 246 Reading actively and efficiently 247 Reading case law 249 Reading legislation 250 7.5 Apply your research 251 Applying research to legal problem solving 251 Applying research to writing a paper 251 Citing your research 252 Key terms 256 Exercises 256 Acknowledgements 256 Chapter 8 Interpretation and application skills 257 Introduction 258 8.1 Reading the law 259 Legislation 259 Case reports 264 8.2 Interpreting the law 272 The need for interpretation 272 Statutory interpretation 273 8.3 Interpretation in practice 294 Meaning and intent 295 Text, context and purpose 296 Using ambiguity 296 A practical guide to interpretation 297 Statutory interpretation problem-solving examples 301 Key terms 311 Exercises 312 Acknowledgements 313 Chapter 9 Communication and collaboration skills 315 Introduction 316 9.1 Communication skills 316 The importance of effective communication skills 316 The objectives of legal communication 317 Understanding the audience 323 9.2 Communicating effectively 325 Written communication 325 Oral communication 333 Non-verbal communication 338 9.3 Collaboration skills 342 The importance of effective collaboration skills 342 Collaborating effectively 343 Key terms 348 Exercises 348 Acknowledgements 348 Chapter 10 Self-management skills 351 Introduction 352 10.1 The importance of self-management 352 Mental health and wellbeing 353 10.2 Six self-management skills 355 Independent learning 356 Reflective practice 360 Using feedback appropriately 362 Resilience 365 Hope and optimism 369 Mindfulness 372 Key terms 374 Exercises 374 Acknowledgements 374 Part 3 Being 375 Chapter 11 Being realistic 376 Introduction 377 11.1 Formalism vs realism 377 Strict formalism 378 Moderate formalism 379 Legal realism 383 Judicial activism 384 11.2 Law and power 386 Marxist legal theory 387 Critical legal studies 388 Postmodern legal theory 390 Feminist legal theory 395 Critical race theory 400 Key terms 402 Exercises 402 Acknowledgements 403 Chapter 12 Being committed to justice 405 Introduction 406 12.1 The nature of justice 406 Theories of justice 406 Types of justice 407 12.2 Access to justice 414 The problem 414 Some solutions 419 Key terms 427 Exercises 427 Acknowledgements 427 Chapter 13 Being ethical 429 Introduction 430 13.1 Ethics 431 What is ‘ethics’? 431 Knowing the ‘right’ thing to do 432 The relationship between laws and ethics 436 Extending moral status 438 13.2 Professional ethics 448 The duties of a lawyer 448 Ethical rules 449 Conflict between professional and personal ethics 452 Ethical considerations for a sustainable future — environment, social and governance issues 456 Key terms 458 Exercises 458 Acknowledgements 459 Chapter 14 Being future-ready 461 Introduction 462 14.1 Disruption and transformation 463 Globalisation 463 Diversification 464 Emergent technologies 466 The end of lawyers? 468 14.2 Preparing for the future 469 Be flexible and open-minded 470 Be committed to lifelong learning 470 Service skills 471 Be globally minded 472 Be positive and optimistic 484 Key terms 489 Exercises 490 Acknowledgements 490 Index 493