By Annelise Adams, EAGLE Facilitator
Disputes and Ethics, commonly referred to as ‘D&E’, is a subject that combines two of the ‘Priestley 11’ subjects – civil dispute resolution and ethics. Unlike the other compulsory subjects you’ve studied, which focus on different areas of the law, this subject explores the actual processes involved in dispute resolution itself, and the ethical responsibilities of legal professionals. This practical focus requires you to adjust your mindset and approach so that you can develop a critical understanding of how dispute resolution and lawyers’ ethical obligations operate in practice. The subject’s dual focus will provide you with knowledge of how disputes are resolved, and the ethical framework that guides legal professionals in their work.
Revise the course with the aim to gain an understanding of the three dispute resolution processes (negotiation, mediation and litigation) and the role of lawyers (their professional skills, ethical responsibilities and legal obligations to the client and administration of justice). The course materials have been selected with the purpose of enabling students to critically reflect on the processes and outcomes of civil disputes.
Understand the ‘big picture’ of D&E
The content in D&E does not necessarily follow the sequential and methodical order that you might have observed in some of your previous subjects. For example, the topic of ‘negligence’ in Torts (duty of care–breach–causation–damages) or ‘estoppel’ in Obligations (assumption–inducement–detrimental reliance–reasonableness–unconscionability–departure) have a relatively clear outline that is used to approach a hypothetical question. D&E does not involve this kind of template-style approach, so it is important that you continually reflect on and understand the range of topics that have been covered.
D&E is a subject that allows you to understand and formulate your own views by fully embracing the course. It is important to group topics together or draw connections between them in a way that makes sense to you. For example, you could structure your notes according to a timeline of how a case would progress through the stages of dispute resolution, or categorise them based on whether they pertain to ‘disputes’ or ‘ethics’.
Regardless of how you choose to organise your notes, it will be helpful to have a comprehensive ‘contents’ page that outlines all the topics (and potentially their sub-topics) and their corresponding page number. It is important to keep a broad overview of the entire course in the form of a contents page, list, or mind map, as this will act as a visual cue that can help you to avoid missing potentially relevant topics that might not have necessarily entered your mind as you were reading the exam questions.
During the reading time of the exam, you will be able to refer to this page and highlight the topics that are relevant to each question. This way, you can keep into perspective the number of topics that you anticipate you will discuss in your exam answer, enabling you to predict with greater certainty the amount of detail that can be included as you write. It may also guide the scope of your issue spotting, as you can look at the number of topics you have flagged as being relevant and determine whether you have chosen an appropriate amount of content to discuss (it is unlikely that the entire exam will be on a single topic, and equally unlikely that it will cover each and every topic).
An example list of the topics, categorised based on the type of question to be asked
Summarise the statutory rules, but keep the full version handy
One of the most important skills associated with D&E is learning how to effectively navigate the relevant statutory rules. Keep in mind that you can only be assessed on the sections that have been assigned or discussed in class, so it is not necessary to explore provisions that are beyond this scope.
Although summarising rules is generally a good practice since it requires you to revise and understand the rule in order to be able to write it out in your own words, this may not be helpful when it comes to statutory provisions. This is because statutes are generally already concise, and attempting to refine them further may mean you cut out key information. However, it is also counterproductive to copy and paste large amounts of statutory text into your notes, as this will greatly extend their length and require you to flick through a lot of pages during the exam.
A good compromise may be to include only the ‘heading’ of the section (and possibly a brief elaboration if the title is vague) in your hypothetical notes under the relevant topic. That way, you know what each section is about at first glance and can more easily narrow down which section is relevant to the exam question. Once you have identified this, you can then look at the full section in the legislation.
An example of some sections and their headings from the Civil Procedure Act 2010
Read the content based upon the style of question
Since D&E covers a lot of content, it is important to tailor your reading and note-taking style according to the type of question that could be asked with relation to the topic. This will ensure you can manage your time more effectively by taking useful, exam-ready notes for the readings as you complete them, rather than having to continually revisit the material.
For example, if the assigned readings for a topic are applicable to an essay-style question, you may wish to look out for the author’s contention, their arguments, and the overarching themes of the reading. It may be appropriate to include some short, direct quotes in your notes that you will be able to incorporate into and elaborate from in your essay response. Alternatively, if the reading is to be assessed by a hypothetical problem, it is more important to look for and define the key terms and concepts, taking note of any rules and the details that would help you to apply these to a given scenario. It is useful to consider how the information might appear within a set of facts and anticipate the ways that they may arise in a hypothetical.
Be confident that your preparation will pay off!
If you are feeling lost, or unsure how the topics relate to one another, the subject reading guide for D&E contextualises each topic and contains a summary with an overview of the key sub-topics. It might be helpful to print this out and read it again so that you can refresh your memory of how the subject is structured and what is covered. Remember there is always a time limit on exams and there is only so much that you can be tested on during this time. The purpose of the exam is simply to demonstrate your knowledge of the materials and how they apply to a hypothetical situation or an essay topic, so you can be confident that by revising the materials and practicing questions, you will succeed.
By Annelise Adams, EAGLE Facilitator
Disputes and Ethics, commonly referred to as ‘D&E’, is a subject that combines two of the ‘Priestley 11’ subjects – civil dispute resolution and ethics. Unlike the other compulsory subjects you’ve studied, which focus on different areas of the law, this subject explores the actual processes involved in dispute resolution itself, and the ethical responsibilities of legal professionals. This practical focus requires you to adjust your mindset and approach so that you can develop a critical understanding of how dispute resolution and lawyers’ ethical obligations operate in practice. The subject’s dual focus will provide you with knowledge of how disputes are resolved, and the ethical framework that guides legal professionals in their work.
Revise the course with the aim to gain an understanding of the three dispute resolution processes (negotiation, mediation and litigation) and the role of lawyers (their professional skills, ethical responsibilities and legal obligations to the client and administration of justice). The course materials have been selected with the purpose of enabling students to critically reflect on the processes and outcomes of civil disputes.
Understand the ‘big picture’ of D&E
The content in D&E does not necessarily follow the sequential and methodical order that you might have observed in some of your previous subjects. For example, the topic of ‘negligence’ in Torts (duty of care–breach–causation–damages) or ‘estoppel’ in Obligations (assumption–inducement–detrimental reliance–reasonableness–unconscionability–departure) have a relatively clear outline that is used to approach a hypothetical question. D&E does not involve this kind of template-style approach, so it is important that you continually reflect on and understand the range of topics that have been covered.
D&E is a subject that allows you to understand and formulate your own views by fully embracing the course. It is important to group topics together or draw connections between them in a way that makes sense to you. For example, you could structure your notes according to a timeline of how a case would progress through the stages of dispute resolution, or categorise them based on whether they pertain to ‘disputes’ or ‘ethics’.
Regardless of how you choose to organise your notes, it will be helpful to have a comprehensive ‘contents’ page that outlines all the topics (and potentially their sub-topics) and their corresponding page number. It is important to keep a broad overview of the entire course in the form of a contents page, list, or mind map, as this will act as a visual cue that can help you to avoid missing potentially relevant topics that might not have necessarily entered your mind as you were reading the exam questions.
During the reading time of the exam, you will be able to refer to this page and highlight the topics that are relevant to each question. This way, you can keep into perspective the number of topics that you anticipate you will discuss in your exam answer, enabling you to predict with greater certainty the amount of detail that can be included as you write. It may also guide the scope of your issue spotting, as you can look at the number of topics you have flagged as being relevant and determine whether you have chosen an appropriate amount of content to discuss (it is unlikely that the entire exam will be on a single topic, and equally unlikely that it will cover each and every topic).
An example list of the topics, categorised based on the type of question to be asked
Summarise the statutory rules, but keep the full version handy
One of the most important skills associated with D&E is learning how to effectively navigate the relevant statutory rules. Keep in mind that you can only be assessed on the sections that have been assigned or discussed in class, so it is not necessary to explore provisions that are beyond this scope.
Although summarising rules is generally a good practice since it requires you to revise and understand the rule in order to be able to write it out in your own words, this may not be helpful when it comes to statutory provisions. This is because statutes are generally already concise, and attempting to refine them further may mean you cut out key information. However, it is also counterproductive to copy and paste large amounts of statutory text into your notes, as this will greatly extend their length and require you to flick through a lot of pages during the exam.
A good compromise may be to include only the ‘heading’ of the section (and possibly a brief elaboration if the title is vague) in your hypothetical notes under the relevant topic. That way, you know what each section is about at first glance and can more easily narrow down which section is relevant to the exam question. Once you have identified this, you can then look at the full section in the legislation.
An example of some sections and their headings from the Civil Procedure Act 2010
Read the content based upon the style of question
Since D&E covers a lot of content, it is important to tailor your reading and note-taking style according to the type of question that could be asked with relation to the topic. This will ensure you can manage your time more effectively by taking useful, exam-ready notes for the readings as you complete them, rather than having to continually revisit the material.
For example, if the assigned readings for a topic are applicable to an essay-style question, you may wish to look out for the author’s contention, their arguments, and the overarching themes of the reading. It may be appropriate to include some short, direct quotes in your notes that you will be able to incorporate into and elaborate from in your essay response. Alternatively, if the reading is to be assessed by a hypothetical problem, it is more important to look for and define the key terms and concepts, taking note of any rules and the details that would help you to apply these to a given scenario. It is useful to consider how the information might appear within a set of facts and anticipate the ways that they may arise in a hypothetical.
Be confident that your preparation will pay off!
If you are feeling lost, or unsure how the topics relate to one another, the subject reading guide for D&E contextualises each topic and contains a summary with an overview of the key sub-topics. It might be helpful to print this out and read it again so that you can refresh your memory of how the subject is structured and what is covered. Remember there is always a time limit on exams and there is only so much that you can be tested on during this time. The purpose of the exam is simply to demonstrate your knowledge of the materials and how they apply to a hypothetical situation or an essay topic, so you can be confident that by revising the materials and practicing questions, you will succeed.