Learning Outcomes

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

1. Critically analyse and reflect on concepts including, but not limited to, personal and societal legacies of colonialization, cultural security, and voice, and evaluate how self-determination can empower both Indigenous and non-indigenous people to improve social justice outcomes.
2. Critically discuss how the idea of epistemic injustice is being used to critique settler-colonial law in Australia and consider how this may be applied to critique legal education, legal practice and justice.
3. Examine and critically evaluate legal problems within substantive areas of law impacting on Aboriginal people in the Kimberley using doctrinal and social policy approaches and approaches applying critical Indigenous legal theories.
4. Identify and critically evaluate a range of legal practice approaches and collaborative actions, having regard to an ethos of service and the wishes, interests and rights of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley.
5. Design, plan, collaborate on and complete a research-based project relating to an aspect of law, justice or legal education as it impacts on Aboriginal people in the Kimberley.

Indicative Assessment

1. Hotdesk Clinic paralegal work of 10 x 7-hr days (mandatory) worked at a minimum pace of 1 day / week for semester long courses and 2 days / week for winter and summer session courses. Total, about 70 hrs. (NCN) (0) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
2. Workshop attendance and participation (mandatory). Orientation and topic focused. About 8 -12 hours in total e.g. for semester long courses 4 x 2 hr workshops and for winter and summer session courses 2 x 4 hr workshops. (NCN) (0) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
3. Reflective case study 15% (750 words). Due end of week 3 for semester long courses and end of week 2 for winter and summer session courses. (15) [LO 1,2,3,4]
4. Reflective case study 15% (750 words). Due end of week 6 for semester long courses and end of week 4 for winter and summer session courses. (15) [LO 1,2,3,4]
5. Reflective case study 15% (750 words). Due end of week 10 for semester long courses and end of week 6 for winter and summer session courses. (15) [LO 1,2,3,4]
6. Research Project (2,750 words max). Due on date to be advised not earlier than 2 weeks after completion of the Hotdesk Clinic paralegal work component. (55) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]

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

The course involves about 150 hours of study i.e. about 70 hours of independent

study and about 80 contact hours. The independent study includes researching, reading, thinking and writing for assessable work. The contact hours consist of:

• 8-12 hours of workshop participation during the course e.g. 4-6 x 2 hours for semester long courses and 2-3 x 4 hours for winter and summer sessions,

• 2 hours of individual or small group contact (e.g. regarding research papers, progress, coaching), times arranged within business hours usually via Skype or similar,

and

• 70 hours of paralegal engagement at the KCLS ANU Hotdesk (10 x 7-hour days).

Inherent Requirements

Not applicable

Requisite and Incompatibility

You will need to contact the ANU Law School to request a permission code to enrol in this course.

Prescribed Texts

Patrick Dodson, Foreword in Mandy Yap and Eunice Yu, ‘Community Wellbeing from the Ground Up: A Yawuru Example’ (2016), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Report 3/16

State Coroner RV C Fogliani, Inquest Findings, Inquest into the deaths of Thirteen Children and Young Persons in the Kimberley Region, Western Australia, (Coroner’s Court of Western Australia, 7 February 2019)

Preliminary Reading

Allan Ardill, 'Non-Indigenous Lawyers Writing About Indigenous People: Colonisation in practice' (2012) 37(2) Alternative Law Journal 107.

Maggie Brady, ‘Law reforming lawyers and aboriginal social controls: The case of the Western Australian Aboriginal Communities Act’ (2013) 17(1) Australian Indigenous Law Review 38.

Marcelle Burns, 'Towards growing Indigenous culturally competent legal professionals in Australia' (2013) 12(1) The International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives 226

Mick Dodson, ‘From 'Lore' to 'Law': Indigenous Rights and Australian Legal Systems’, (1995) 20 (1), Alternative Law Journal, 2

Kim Mahood, 'Kartiya are like Toyotas: White workers on Australia’s cultural frontier ' (2012) 36 Griffith Review 43.

Martin Nakata, 'The Cultural Interface' (2007) 36 Australian Journal of Indigenous Education 7

Nicole Watson, 'Indigenous People in Legal Education: Staring into a Mirror without Reflection' (2005) 6(8) Indigenous Law Bulletin 4

Irene Watson, 'Buried alive' (2002) 13(3) Law & Critique 253

Mandy Yap and Eunice Yu, ‘Community Wellbeing from the Ground Up: A Yawuru Example’ (2016), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Report 3/16

Peter Yu, ‘Reconciliation, Treaty Making and Nation Building’ (2018 ANU Reconciliation Lecture, ANU Canberra, 23 February 2018) 

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links