This course prepares students to advise clients on the availability of, the procedures and remedies in relation to consumer complaints and to represent clients in consumer related negotiations or legal proceedings.

The course considers:

• consumer protection provisions under trade practices and fair trading laws
• sale of goods legislation
• dispute resolution for consumer related proceedings
• financial products and services and consumer credit
• guarantees
• residential tenancies laws
• domestic building contracts
• residential tenancies
• motor vehicle transactions.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• recognise the ‘patchwork' of consumer laws, consumer protection schemes and bodies involved in consumer protection - which is currently going through major changes
• identify situations to which consumer protection applies and identify the appropriate laws and apply them to your client's case
• advise a client on appropriate causes of action and remedies
• identify key factual issues relevant to a client's case
• understand the strengths and weaknesses of a client's case
• argue a client's case effectively by making convincing arguments and dealing with counter-arguments
• accurately advise a client on their rights and obligations and make strategic recommendations for resolving legal problems
• draft a court pleading.

The assessment tasks include:

• preparing an initial oral advice to give a client (incorporating interviewing skills to accurately obtain relevant information from a client to accurately identify the appropriate laws that may apply to a client's case and provide accurate advice)
• follow-up written advice including various options available and making a recommendation of the most appropriate way forward
• drafting a court pleading
• an online quiz which will cover various topics in the course generally.

More information about the means of assessment (and due dates) will be available on the course home page at the beginning of the course.

There are no set contact hours for this course as there are no live tutorials.  Students will be required to:

• undertake reading
• listen to tutorials
• undertake independent research
• participate in the discussion forums

in preparation for the assessments and the hours required will depend on each individual student.

The course is designed for law graduates intending to proceed into legal practice.

Students enrolled in the Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice must complete the Becoming a Practitioner course before beginning this course.

There are no incompatible courses.

None

Nil

A list of useful texts, consumer-related websites and other resources will be available in the Content Book and under the "Resources" section on the course home page.

This course is taught purely online using WATTLE and makes extensive use of online technology for accessing resources, news, activities and assessments.  It is in your best interests to ensure you have a secure computer where you can access all online information without restriction or difficulty.

If you intend on using a computer supplied by your employer, please be aware that you may experience difficulties accessing key online resources due to firewall and security restrictions.

The computer you intend to use should meet the following minimum specifications:

Hardware:

• CD ROM/DVD player
• sound card and speakers
• video card
• modem
• broadband (dial-up access is not recommended) and access to an internet service provider
• printer

Software:

• Firefox is the recommended web browser
• Adobe Acrobat Reader (free download)
• Real Player (free download)
• Microsoft Word (or equivalent).

WATTLE relies heavily on the use of "pop ups".  You will need to disable "pop up blockers" for WATTLE on your internet browser and/or firewall/anti-virus software and toolbars.

This is an 8-week online course and is offered four times a year in 2011:

• Summer Session commencing 24 January
• Autumn Session commencing 4 April
• Winter Session commencing 11 July
• Spring Session commencing 19 September.

This is a specialist classification in Graduate Studies Select.  In addition to being an elective course in the GDLP program, it can be used as part of the articulation into the LLM and LLM (in practice) programs.