• Offered by Law School
  • ANU College ANU College of Law
  • Course subject Laws
  • Areas of interest Environmental Studies, Law, Legal Practice

The course aims to take students inside the practice of environmental litigation to teach the practical skills of being a litigator set within a wider theoretical context of environmental regulation.

The course is aimed primarily at litigation lawyers working in environmental law in private practice and government regulators but will also be relevant to managers, policy officers, and enforcement officers in environmental regulators.

The course aims particularly to complement training available to environmental regulators through the Australian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulators Network (AELERT).

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

Managers of environmental regulators:-   
  1. Improve skills and knowledge to lead or manage a regulatory team in the public sector
  2. Complement AELERT Diploma in Government (Investigations).
Litigation lawyers:-   
  1. Integrate litigation skills within an overall policy and regulatory framework
  2. Practical training in problem-solving and decision-making in litigation
  3. Advocacy and legal drafting skills
  4. Ability to analyse evidence and advise on prospects of success at trial
  5. Avoid and narrow issues in dispute to achieve cost-effective outcomes for clients.
Policy & enforcement officers:-
  1. Gain advanced knowledge of civil and criminal litigation practice
  2. Complement CERT IV investigations and statutory compliance training.

Other Information

This is an intensive course with 3-4 days of compulsory attendance required (see LLM timetable for dates).
Approximately 6 weeks from the completion of the intensive your final assessment will be due. Contact with fellow students and the convenor, both prior to the intensive and after, is conducted via the Wattle course site.

Indicative Assessment

It is likely the assessment be comprised of the following:
  1. Short Essay (25%, 1000-2000 wds)
  2. Practical Exercise (25%, 1000-2000 wds)
  3. Research Essay (50%, 4000 wds) OR Practical Exercise (essay 4000 wds and oral submission) (50%)
Students must rely on the approved Course Study Guide which will be posted to the Wattle course site approximately 4 weeks prior to the commencement of the course.

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

26 Contact Hours (Intensive Delivery) plus private study and reading time.

Click here for the current LLM Masters Program timetable

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course you must be studying in one of the following programs; Master of Laws (7300) Master of Laws (Legal Practice) (7312) Master of Diplomacy/Master of Laws (7883) Graduate Diploma in Law (6300) OR you must be studying one of the following programs; Master of Legal Studies (7305) Master of Environmental Law (7309) Master of Government and Commercial Law (7313) Master of International Law (7310) Master of Law, Governance and Development (7317) Master of International Security Law (7318) Master of Diplomacy/Master of International Law (7893) Graduate Diploma in Law, Governance and Development (6317) Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies (6305) Graduate Diploma in Environmental Law (6309) Graduate Diploma in Government and Commercial Law (6313) Graduate Diploma in International Law (6310) Graduate Diploma in International Security Law (6318) Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (6303) Graduate Certificate in Environmental Law (6351) AND have successfully completed LAWS8189

Preliminary Reading

Spend 1-2 hours reading the case studies of environmental litigation available at http://www.envlaw.com.au/case.html, particularly the initiating process (i.e. the Applications and Statements of Claim initiating the litigation).

The Course Study Guide will be posted to the Wattle course site approximately 4 weeks prior to the commencement of the course.

The course will focus on the case studies available at  http://www.envlaw.com.au/case.html but the following are useful general references for the course:

  • Bates G, Environmental Law in Australia (7th ed, Butterworths, 2010).
  • Dovers S, Environment and Sustainability Policy: Creation, Implementation, Evaluation (The Federation Press, 2005).
  • Gunningham N and Graborsky P, Smart Regulation: Designing Environmental Policy (Oxford University Press, 1998).

Assumed Knowledge

A working knowledge of environmental law in Australia. LAWS8189 Fundamentals of Environmental Law is a prerequisite subject for non-law graduates.

The course is aimed primarily at environmental lawyers in private practice or community legal centres and staff in Commonwealth, State, Territory and local government environment and natural resource departments.

The course is not specifically designed to teach civil and criminal procedure or substantive environmental laws but these topics are an incidental component of the course.

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
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2015 $2958
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2015 $4146
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

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.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Winter Session

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
6817 24 Aug 2016 24 Aug 2016 02 Sep 2016 07 Oct 2016 In Person N/A

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