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The Sydney LLB - Clinical Skill-Based Training

The Sydney Law School offers students undergraduate units of study that aim to improve their clinical skills and broaden their professional horizons.

Amicus Litigation Clinic

This clinical course will involve students in devising and running an Amicus Curiae intervention in an appellate case that raises an important issue of principle in a matter of public interest. The students will be read materials on, and be trained in, questions around test litigation such as matters of standing and strategy. Case studies on successful and unsuccessful test litigation in Australia and elsewhere will be analysed. Then students will be given the task of finding a case that is suitable for an amicus intervention on appeal. Only one case will be selected from this pool and proceeded with, based on what was practical and on the availability of a partner organisation who is likely to achieve standing. This course is limited to 12 students final year students only. Entry to the course is determined by a competitive application and interview process.

Advocacy, Interviewing and Negotiation

The primary focus of this unit of study is on three areas of legal practice: trial advocacy, negotiation and client interviewing. Students are expected to engage in seminar discussions, and to participate in workshops. A simulation model is used in the workshops and students will be asked to conduct client interviews, to negotiate settlements, and to present the various components of the trial process. This is a hands-on program which explores the nexus between facts and law, theory and practice, means and ends. In the process, principles of effective communication, aspects of substantive law and procedure, the rules of evidence, trial tactics and ethics will be considered.

Dispute Resolution

There has been a very rapid growth in the use of 'alternative' dispute resolution in recent years. This unit of study introduces a range of methods of resolving disputes, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and expert processes. The relationship of 'alternative' methods to the formal justice system is considered. This unit enables students to learn skills in interviewing, negotiation and mediation.

External Placement Program

In this unit of study students are afforded the opportunity to work for up to one day per week during the semester in a 'public interest' placement site. In addition, students attend fortnightly seminars which are designed to promote discussion and reflection on a range of issues that may arise during the course of the placement as well as seminar presentations on matters relevant to public interest externships. The unit has a public interest focus which is reflected in the selection of placement sites.

Placement sites include:

  • Amnesty International
  • Arts Law Centre
  • Australian Law Reform Commission
  • Environmental Defenders Office
  • Family Court of Australia
  • HIV/AIDS Legal Centre
  • Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission
  • Legal Aid Commission of NSW
  • Mental Health Review Tribunal
  • National Native Title Tribunal
  • NSW Attorney-General’s Administrative Decisions Tribunal
  • NSW Attorney-General’s Criminal Law Review Division
  • NSW Combined Community Legal Centres Group Advocacy and Human Rights Officer
  • NSW Director of Public Prosecutions
  • NSW Law Reform Commission
  • NSW Public Defenders Office
  • Public Interest Advocacy Centre
  • Refugee Advice and Casework Service
  • Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Service
  • Women's Legal Resources Centre.

Jessup International Law Moot

The unit of study is based on the Jessup International Law Moot Competition conducted annually among law schools throughout the world. Students in the unit work as a team preparing written memorials on a problem of current interest in international law. Mooting usually takes place over three days at the Australian Regional Rounds held in Canberra.

Practising in the Public Interest

The unit consists of the following components:

  • A five-day intensive offered prior to the commencement of semester
  • A volunteer placement over the course of the semester at a public interest site selected by the student and approved by the unit coordinator
  • Three seminars held periodically during the semester
  • Completion of a project, approved by the unit coordinator, designed to be of benefit to the volunteer placement site.

Sydney Law Review

The unit of study is offered annually under the supervision of the Editor of the Sydney Law Review, who is a member of the full-time teaching staff. Each student will complete a range of tasks with respect to the Review, including the following:

  • an initial reading of two allocated articles, etc. submitted to the Review, and the preparation of a written recommendation to the Editor as to whether the article should be accepted for publication
  • checking articles which have been accepted for accuracy and completeness
  • assisting in the editing and proofreading of accepted articles in the production process
  • writing for submission to the Review one essay plus one case note.

For further information, please visit the Sydney Law Review website.