Legal Practice Experience (LPE) is a compulsory component of the Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (GDLP). This workplace experience/placement is designed to meet the APLEC/LACC Competency Statements for Entry-Level Lawyers for admission as a legal practitioner.
The LPE Guidelines contain more information about the requirements that apply to LPE.
Students complete 60 days of placement in a legal environment.
Subject to the LPE Guidelines you may do a placement with:
• a legal practitioner in private practice
• a government, semi-government or corporate legal office
• a community legal service
• a legal aid service
• a state or Commonwealth Prosecuting authority
• a judge or magistrate
• a Tribunal member (who is a legal practitioner)
• the Legal Workshop's Legal Aid Clinic Program
• any other place which the LPE Convenor is satisfied provides appropriate practical experience.
The work experience or placement must involve you in legal work, exercising legal skills in a legal environment (in contrast to administrative, financial or research/academic work). A person admitted to practise who has substantial experience in practising law and is currently practising law and is currently of good standing in the legal profession must supervise the work experience or placement.
The purposes of workplace experience are to provide an opportunity to:
(a) apply, test and reflect on what has been learned during the GDLP coursework while interacting with practising lawyers, other staff, government officers, clients, stakeholders and others;
(b) develop an understanding the nature of legal practice; and
(c) develop an aptitude for engaging in legal practice.
Ideally, you will:
• Be exposed to the systems, procedures and work commonly found in legal practice, which applies equally to government legal practice,
• Have contact with, and responsibility to, clients - which includes government and corporate clients, and
• Be exposed to the professional responsibilities of a lawyer.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Development of legal skills. Some of the legal skills students are expected to develop during the placement period are: advocacy and persuasion, communication - both oral and written, legal drafting and writing, interviewing, negotiation, research and analysis, time and file management. This list is not exhaustive.
- Demonstrate a capacity for reflective practice. Students will be required to reflect on their skills development over the whole program and take responsibility to improve their skills.
- Understand the requirements of legal practice. This includes ethical requirements, necessary skills and appreciate the contribution they can make to the legal profession and to the community.
Other Information
When Offered and Delivery Mode: This online 8 week course is offered four times a year in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th teaching periods.
Classification in Graduate Studies Select: Specialist. In addition an elective in the GDLP program, can be used as part of the articulation into the LLM and LLM (in practice) programs.
Indicative Assessment
- Satisfactory completion of 60 working days of placement, evidenced by completion of a Placement Report reflecting on skills developed during the placement and signed off by the placement supervisor.
- Participation in interviews with the Placement Supervisor and Academic Mentor. (Note in some cases email reporting will be substituted for telephone interviews).
- Completion of 5 discussion postings in LPE Online and performing the role of e-moderator for the discussion group on one occasion.
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
- 60 days placement (this can be undertaken at a minimum of 1 day per week).
- Two 15 minute telephone interviews (or 3 email reports of about 200 words each).
- Completion of a 4 page pro forma Placement Report.
- 5 discussion postings of no less than 250 words in LPE Online.
- Read and summarise postings on one discussion topic to acquit e moderator requirements in LPE Online.
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
None
Preliminary Reading
None
Reading lists are available through the course website in WebCT.
Assumed Knowledge
Students cannot undertake LPE Online before undertaking their placement. LPE Online is a discussion forum about legal practice issues and must be undertaken at the same time as, or after, the placement.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you 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). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 34
- Unit value:
- 9 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 9.00 | 0.18750 |
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.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Summer Session
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1663 | 01 Jan 2021 | 31 Mar 2021 | 31 Mar 2021 | 31 Mar 2021 | Online | N/A |
Autumn Session
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3620 | 01 Apr 2021 | 30 Jun 2021 | 30 Jun 2021 | 30 Jun 2021 | Online | N/A |
Winter Session
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4739 | 01 Jul 2021 | 30 Sep 2021 | 30 Sep 2021 | 30 Sep 2021 | Online | N/A |
Spring Session
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6586 | 01 Oct 2021 | 31 Dec 2021 | 31 Dec 2021 | 31 Dec 2021 | Online | N/A |