Across international, national, sub-national and local communities, questions of access to justice are occupying the attention of legal professionals, policy makers, researchers, civil society organizations and the general public. Over the past few decades, the concept of access to justice has broadened, moving beyond access to legal representation for judicial processes to encompass meaningful participation in the governmental processes and institutions that formulate, implement, enforce and apply law. At the same time, the related concept of legal empowerment has become prominent in debates about social and economic development in so-called developing countries and also for significantly marginalized groups, especially indigenous populations, in so-called developed countries.
This course provides students with an opportunity to critically examine the concepts of access to justice and legal empowerment from a variety of perspectives, as well as to explore the practical challenges of how to improve participation in judicial, legislative and administrative settings in global and local contexts. This course provides students from diverse areas of interest, expertise and specialisation with a general framework for understanding and assessing access to justice and legal empowerment that they will then develop or apply through case studies or theoretical inquiries in the particular contexts of most relevance to them. The key topics of defining, assessing and improving access to justice and legal empowerment will include thematic emphasis on the professional and ethical responsibilities of lawyers and the emerging role of technological innovation. In geographic and jurisdictional terms, the course will focus on Australian and Asia-Pacific experiences and perspectives, while also drawing from Canadian and other contexts.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Explain core and advanced concepts of access to justice and legal empowerment;
- Apply a framework for assessing access to justice and legal empowerment;
- Evaluate the means for contextualising the assessment of access to justice and legal empowerment;
- Analyse and explain the range of options for improving access to justice and legal empowerment in particular contexts;
- Analyse the role of law, lawyers, legal experts and others in providing access to justice and legal empowerment;
- Plan and execute an independent research of access to justice and legal empowerment, including options for improving access to justice and legal empowerment, in a particular context or an independent conceptual inquiry into theoretical issues.
Indicative Assessment
- Class Participation (10) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
- Student Research Projects individual presentations (10) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6]
- 5,000 words Student Research Project research assignment (80) [LO 1,2,3,4,5,6]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
Classes offered in non-standard sessions will be taught on an intensive base with compulsory contact hours (approximately 26 hours of face to face teaching). The course will also require advanced preparation through assigned readings. In total, it is anticipated that the hours required for completion of this course (class preparation, teaching and completion of assessment) will not exceed 120 hours. Classes offered during semester periods are expected to have 3 contact hours per week.
Click here for the LLM Masters Program timetable.
Inherent Requirements
Not applicable
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
There is no prescribed text for this course. All materials will be sourced and available online.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 3
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2019 | $3840 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2019 | $5460 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
