The course is designed to introduce students to planning law problems – the law relating to how land can be used and developed, and what can be built on it. 

To understand planning law, a lawyer needs to be able to understand the relevant statutes and an increasing number of (often overlapping) planning instruments, from which it can be determined if the proposal is a lawful use of the land. 

Once a use is lawful, planning decisions involve a myriad of relevant considerations that have to be weighed up  in making the decision.

Planning decisions are often controversial – even the simplest. A proposal to build a multi-unit complex on empty land will attract differing views – the developer will want to proceed to make a profit, and potential owners will be happy. However, adjoining landowners may see their amenity being reduced by increased noise and traffic (and possible over-looking). Others may value the vacant land for what it is, or for its environmental attractions. 

The local council may well see the advantages in more housing and more ratepayers, but may be concerned about the need to provide infrastructure to support the development - roads, parking spaces, sewerage and waste services, and also have to balance all the competing factors in coming to a decision.      

The course is very practical. It requires students to prepare advices, draft Court / Tribunal documents and attend a directions hearing about a planning and environmental law scenario on land set in the jurisdiction of the student's choosing.

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Investigate, analyse and evaluate the client’s situation to identify that the matter is a planning and environment law problem(s).
2. Analyse, research, interpret and evaluate the facts of the matter, identify and synthesise the relevant law applicable to the client’s case to explain the rights and obligations of the client and to identify potential commercial and public implications of any proposed actions.
3. Analyse, research and evaluate the client’s rights and obligations, remedies, penalties and options and critically reflect on the breadth and scope of legal issues and applicable law to be able to communicate to the client advice and options for resolution of the matter in accordance with law and good practice
4. Research and draft relevant document(s) to transmit information (facts and evidence) as required by rules of the relevant tribunal or court to apply for approvals and consents.
5. Identify, prepare, and document all orders and settlements in accordance with relevant law, rules and policy.
6. Demonstrate and reflect critically on their ethical and professional behaviour and responsibilities.
7. Demonstrate and apply the knowledge, skills and values required to achieve the ‘Competency Standards for Entry Level Lawyers’ as determined by the Law Admissions Consultative Council

Research-Led Teaching

Your course convenor, Peter Christensen has practiced in a wide range of legal areas, including planning law for many years. In conducting the course Peter keeps up to date with developments across each jurisdiction and regularly reviews relevant decisions.

Required Resources

It is crucial that you read all the materials which are available on the Planning and Environment Law practice course Wattle site (as they relate to your jurisdiction) and listen to all multimedia/mp3 audio or other files which are accessible under the Resources section on the course Wattle home page.

You are expected to carry out independent research during the course to complete some of the assessments (as you will do in practice). You can pursue much of the independent research online.

Staff Feedback

You will be given written and/or oral feedback pointing out things that have been done well and those that could be done better or differently. You will be given written or oral feedback following any submission of an assessment. This is typically available 1-2 weeks after submission of the assessment. You may seek further elaboration on any feedback - either from your marker or by the convenor. If you feel that your feedback and grade does not reflect your performance, please contact the convenor in writing and outline your concerns. Your submission will be re-marked by a new examiner.

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). The feedback given in these surveys is anonymous and provides the Colleges, University Education Committee and Academic Board with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement. The Surveys and Evaluation website provides more information on student surveys at ANU and reports on the feedback provided on ANU courses.

Other Information

Competency Standards

The GDLP draws together the compulsory skills, practice areas and values from the Law Admissions Consultative Committee (LACC) Competency Standards for Entry-Level Lawyers. The LACC competencies set out the standards that you must achieve during your professional legal training (PLT) to be eligible for admission to practice.

You can find the PLT Competency Standards for Entry-level lawyers at https://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/files/web-pdf/LACC%20docs/224336988_10_LACC%20-%20PLT.pdf.

Requesting an Extension

If you think other circumstances justify an extension you should discuss your circumstances with your Convenor, before the due date. Whether or not an extension will be granted remains in the discretion of the Convenor. Convenors will not usually grant extensions if the reason for your inability to complete work on time is due to a commitment that you knew you had at the start of the course. Alternatively, an extension is likely to be granted if an issue / commitment arises during the course that you could not have predicted.

In some circumstances (illness, injury, family crisis etc.) an extension will be granted as a matter of course. The Convenor may ask you to provide documentation – e.g. a medical certificate. 

Retrospective extensions will be granted only in exceptional circumstances. Convenors recognise that circumstances can arise when it is impossible or impracticable for a student to request an extension prior to the submission date.

Convenors may notify the Sub-Dean when responding to your extension request. The Sub-Dean may contact you with regard to your extensions request(s) if they identify that you may benefit from additional and/or coordinated support due to your circumstances.

External Resources

Information about the ANU Law Library, including details of E-Legal research online resources (for example, CCH Intelliconnect, Legal Online, LexisNexisAU, etc) is available to ANU students and can be found at http://anulib.anu.edu.au/subjects/law. For access to the online resources please go to: http://virtual.anu.edu.au then type in your student number and password. At various points throughout the course you will be directed to other useful external resources.

Word Limits

As the assessment in the GDLP Program is authentic to legal practice, we do not impose word limits. However, you will often be given a word ‘recommendation’ to guide you, taking into account the purpose of the document and the length it is likely to be in practice.

 

Sub-Dean, GDLP/MLP

The GDLP/MLP Sub-Dean can be contacted via email on subdean.slp@anu.edu.au

Wellbeing Support Services for Lawyers

You will find an abundance of wellbeing support information for lawyers on the ANU School of Legal Practice website.

We also encourage you to read Being Well in the Law – a guide for lawyers which is a toolkit is provided by the NSW Law Society, written by our ANU Academics.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Resources Course Materials Your Jurisdictional forum Group AUDIO TUTORIAL 1 Activities Pick your jurisdiction Read your jurisdiction’s materials Read and respond to other students' postings	AE1
2	Resources Your discussion group's postings AUDIO TUTORIAL 2 Activities Engage in on-line discussion about AE1 in your jurisdiction’s form. Read and respond to other students' postings	AE1
3	Resources Your draft letter to the Responsible Authority (AE1) Your discussion group's postings Court/Tribunal websites AUDIO TUTORIAL 3 Activities Do final draft of AE1 Start thinking about AE2 – look at relevant Court/Tribunal website	AE1 Do AE1, submit online (to arrive by Sunday 16 June 11.55pm) AE2
4	Resources Course Materials Precedents Your discussion group's postings AUDIO TUTORIAL 3 Activities Read Decision documents and AE2 Do final draft of application Read and respond to other students' postings	Submit AE2 (to arrive by Sunday 23 June 11.55pm)
5	Resources Links Precedents: Hearing Information sheet (Re)Read Materials Review instructions Your discussion group's postings Activities Review Practice Directions Begin Preparations for appearance	AE3 Book Directions Hearing between 26 June - 7 July
6	Activities Further Directions hearings Marks released. Course evaluations

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Advice on planning application	0 %	16/06/2019	01/07/2019	1,2,3,6
Application to Court/Tribunal	0 %	23/06/2019	08/07/2019	2,3,4,6
Directions hearing in Court/Tribunal	0 %	07/07/2018	05/08/2019	5,6

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Misconduct Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Policy and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using 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. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website. In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Wattle’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Participation

You have elected to enrol in an intensive practice course – give it your full commitment by keeping up to date, being informed and actively participating in the course.

Check Wattle announcements and forum discussions as well as your ANU email at least every 24-48 hours. Alternatively, set your personal setting to provide you with all the reminders you need to achieve this. At the end of the day, it is your responsibility to ensure you are actively committed and involved in this course.

All email correspondence from the ANU will be sent to your ANU email address.

You may arrange for your ANU Email to be forwarded to an email address you check daily.

Only for students who did not complete the PPC prior to 1 January 2017.

If you enrolled in the PPC course in January 2017 or beyond, you are required to build a portfolio of your professional formation, and that you keep copies of work that has assisted your professional development.

You should store them on a memory stick, or anywhere you choose, so that you can access and use the material when you enrol in Ready for Practice. You will finalise this portfolio in your last course, LEGW8152 Ready for Practice. Portfolio Tasks in this Course

In this course, you are required to complete and save the following to your portfolio. A quick pre-course assessment of competency and confidence against the practice area specific competencies, and a final formation analysis completed at the conclusion of the course.

Assessment Task 1

Advice on planning application

Students are briefed to advise the Responsible authority on the legality, merits and appropriateness of a development application including:

·      Reviewing the relevant planning instruments and the facts to ascertain the legality of the proposed development

·      Identifying discretionary matters to be taken into account in making a decision on the proposed development

·      Identifying the necessary steps to be taken in dealing with the application, including the ethical responsibilities of the responsible authority.

Preparing a letter of advice to the responsible authority dealing with the above issues.

Assessment Due Date: 16 June 2019, 11.55 pm

Assessment Task 2

Application to Court/Tribunal

Students are briefed to make an application to the relevant court or tribunal, including:

·     Obtaining the objector’s instructions

·     Undertaking research to determine the appropriate court/tribunal and the appropriate remedies to be sought

·     Preparing the application in accordance with the relevant law and court/tribunal rules

·     Documenting the process of filing and serving the application.

(or, if no relevant right of review exists, providing advice on what other steps the objector can take and preparing a letter of advice).

Assessment Due Date: 23 June 2019; 11.55 pm

Assessment Task 3

Directions hearing in Court/Tribunal

Students are briefed to represent the applicant, the objector or the responsible authority in the Court or Tribunal matter.

Students are to negotiate relevant directions for the conduct of the matter, document the proposed directions, appear by telephone at the directions hearing, answer questions in relation to the form of the directions sought and the conduct of the matter, and to file final orders

Assessment Due Date: Directions hearings will be scheduled between 26 June - 7 July 2019

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of our culture as a community of scholars. At its heart, academic integrity is about behaving ethically. This means that all members of the community commit to honest and responsible scholarly practice and to upholding these values with respect and fairness. The Australian National University commits to embedding the values of academic integrity in our teaching and learning. We ensure that all members of our community understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. The ANU expects staff and students to uphold high standards of academic integrity and act ethically and honestly, to ensure the quality and value of the qualification that you will graduate with. The University has policies and procedures in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. Visit the following Academic honesty & plagiarism website for more information about academic integrity and what the ANU considers academic misconduct. The ANU offers a number of services to assist students with their assignments, examinations, and other learning activities. The Academic Skills and Learning Centre offers a number of workshops and seminars that you may find useful for your studies.

Online Submission

Please ensure that you keep a copy of all the work you submit.

The submission requirements specific to each task will be set out on the course Wattle site by the Convenor.

Generally, you will submit written assessments through the course Wattle site in the appropriate submission box under the heading “Assessments”. You must complete the electronic academic integrity certification. Ensure you confirm your submission has been properly submitted (click “send for marking”), and not merely uploaded as a draft file.

You will complete oral assessments through the web-conference platform provided on the course Wattle site (Adobe Connect) or through Skype under extenuating circumstances. Oral assessments will be recorded and webcam will be required for student verification only. You must have your student card, driver’s licence or other form of photo identification available to show your assessor. You can then turn your camera off.

Hardcopy Submission

No hard copy submission will be accepted in this class.

Late Submission

If you submit an assessment late, without receiving an approved extension from the Convenor, the following penalties will apply: 

1.   You will not be able to achieve a Higher Level Performance (HLP) grade for the assessment in question.

2.   If your assessment is graded as Not Yet Competent (NYC) you will not be offered the opportunity to resubmit the assessment, or to submit a supplementary assessment.

3.   Assessments submitted more than 72 hours after the due date will be automatically graded NYC.

The Convenor has overriding discretion to accept an assessment and/or to allow a student to resubmit an assessment, or to submit a supplementary assessment.

Referencing Requirements

Accepted academic practice for referencing sources that you use in presentations can be found via the links on the Wattle site, under the file named “ANU and College Policies, Program Information, Student Support Services and Assessment”. Alternatively, you can seek help through the Students Learning Development website.

Returning Assignments

Your written work will receive feedback and grading via the course Wattle site under the corresponding assessment drop box. Assessment results are typically available between 1-2 weeks after the due date via the same dropbox your assessments were submitted to. The Convenor will post announcements about when you can expect your assessment results.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. The Course Convener may grant extensions for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Resubmission of Assignments

Students who make a bona fide attempt at assessable work and who submit it on time (or are granted an extension), and who receive a Not Yet Competent (NYC) grade for the assessment item, will be offered additional assessment.

Additional assessment is EITHER one opportunity to resubmit the assessment, OR one opportunity to submit a supplementary assessment. The Convenor has the discretion to decide which form of additional assessment to utilise.

Both the opportunity to resubmit work that has been graded NYC, or to submit a supplementary assessment, are considered to be supplementary assessment in the course. 

No further supplementary assessment will be offered once a student receives an N (fail) grade as a final result for the course.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Diversity and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students