LASC Workshops

Legal Academic Skills Centre Workshops

Intensive Workshop Series

Chantal Morton’s Masters Students Skill Building Workshop Series runs for two weeks starting Monday 27 February 2023 and running through to Friday 10 March .

There are 3 options:

  • Mornings 10 AM – 12 PM in-person (room 609)
  • Afternoon 12:30 – 2:30 PM in zoom (link to be sent to those who register)
  • Afternoon 3 PM – 5 PM in-person (rooms 202/203)

PLEASE REGISTER 

We have limited space in the rooms and I will need to send you the zoom link for the virtual session so PLEASE REGISTER.

This workshop series is designed primarily for Masters students and is an opportunity to develop your common law legal analysis and communication skills. Non-masters students are also welcome to attend.

Workshops are held at a relaxed pace with opportunities for practice and discussion.

There are ten sessions over the two weeks and they cover the following topics:

Week ONE

    1. Monday – Strategies for reading legal materials
    2. Tuesday – Critical engagement with your material – logical fallacies
    3. Wednesday – Taking notes and time management for completing assignments
    4. Thursday – Reading case law
    5. Friday – Reading case law continued

 

  1. Week TWO
    1. Monday – Common law legal reasoning – using our new skills
    2. Tuesday – Strategies for Writing Legal Research Papers – setting a research question and structuring your argument
    3. Wednesday – Using law and secondary sources to support your argument
    4. Thursday – Referencing (Footnotes) and the AGLC
    5. Friday – Preparing for weekend take-home exams and writing an answer to a hypothetical problem

Standalone Sessions

Chantal Morton also runs standalone sessions on legal analysis and writing essays and exams.  These sessions are fast-paced workshops designed for people already familiar with the basic elements of the common law legal system and writing for law.

Essays Saturday 22 April 12 PM – 3 PM  (Zoom) Please REGISTER 

The essay workshop is appropriate for someone new to writing an 8,000 legal research paper for Melbourne Law School. Topics covered include:

    • Setting a research question
    • Critical engagement with the material
    • Developing an argument
    • Structuring your analysis
    • When to footnote
    • Formatting your document according to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation

Register in advance for this meeting

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting

Exams Saturday 29 April 12 PM – 3 PM (Zoom) Please REGISTER 

The exam workshop is primarily designed for people who are new to the common law legal system.

    • Preparing for the exam (review and exam ready notes)
    • Managing your time over the weekend
    • Answering hypothetical problems
    • Answering exam essay questions

2023 July Winter Writing Camp

2023 6-Session Series

The new and improved (I hope!) Writing Camp 2023 will run again in July 2023.  More information later in semester.

Each session will include an opportunity to socialise with your colleagues, an explanation of a grammar principle and how it is important for clear legal writing, and an opportunity to practice and get some feedback.

Possible topics:

    • modifiers (how to use them and where to put them)
    • active and passive voice (and when to use these techniques)
    • pronouns and referents/antecedents
    • indefinite and definite articles
    • nominalisations
    • Subject-verb agreement
    • and in the ‘other’ category some of my favourites: sentence structure, linking, and vocabulary/legal terminology