TE PIRINGA FACULTY OF LAW
Advanced Civil Litigation 2013 Outline
1.
Identification of Paper
Paper: LAWS523-13B
This paper carries 30 points
2.
Staffing
Les Arthur
(Convenor)
Phone: 6021
Room: G29
email: larthur@waikato.ac.nz
email to make an appointment
3.
Description and Structure of Paper
(a) The focus of this paper is current and significant issues in civil litigation, with an emphasis on
the ways in which about concerns about access to justice are changing the way in which litigation
is practiced across the common law world.
(b) Structure of the Paper
General
This is a semester paper. The teaching component comprises seminars with lectures and
presentations by students.
Timetable and room
Friday 11-1 in Law G.02
4.
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this paper will gain an understanding of current
debates relating to reform of the civil justice system in common law jurisdictions. Students will
gain knowledge about case management, the changing role of lawyers and judges in the conduct
of civil litigation, the role of ADR in the civil justice system. Students will also acquire knowledge
about third party funding civil litigation and class/representative actions. The paper will provide
students with the opportunity to undertake research into the areas covered.
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Workload
Students should expect to spend 300 hours in total on this paper. In addition to seminar
attendance, significant time will need to be spent on background and complementary reading
particularly in relation to seminar presentations and the research paper. Students are advised to
select a research topic early in the paper in order to ensure the development of a quality research
essay
6.
Required and Recommended Reading
All law students are required to purchase, for use in all law papers, a copy of McLay, Murray &
Orpin, New Zealand Law Style Guide, 2nd edition Thomson Reuters (2011). This is available from
Bennetts, at an approximate price of $21.85 incl GST
In addition, the Law School requires that students purchase the course materials book(s) for this
paper. These are available from Waikato Print
Further material may be provided on the paper site on Moodle (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz), the
University of Waikato’s online learning system. Any such material is provided on the following
terms:
University of Waikato owns the intellectual property rights, including copyright, in and to this site,
or has acquired the necessary licenses to display the material on the site. As a student of the Te
Piringa Faculty of Law, you are granted a limited license to use (access, display or print a single
copy) the material from the papers in which you are enrolled for the purposes of participating in
the paper only, provided the information is not modified. Materials may not under any
circumstances be copied, stored, distributed or provided in any form or method whatsoever to
any third party. Any other use of the material is prohibited. None of the material may be
otherwise reproduced, reformatted, republished or re-disseminated in any manner or form
without the prior written consent of University of Waikato. To obtain such consent, please
contact the Te Piringa Faculty of Law.
7.
Online support
Online support for this paper is provided via Moodle.
8.
Assessment
a)
Requirements for assessed work
School procedures for the presentation of course work are set out in the Te Piringa Faculty of Law
Graduate and Postgraduate Handbook which is available from:
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate.
See also paragraph 12 below on referencing guidelines and plagiarism.
Assignement resources are available online at http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/student/
b)
Coursework: Final Examination Ratio: 100/0
c)
Assessment Components
2
Component
1. Seminar presentations (2)
to be advised
Percentage of final mark
Due Date
15% (5% on paper materials, 10% 0n research Paper)
2. Research Proposal
15%
3pm 26 August
3. Research paper
70%
3 pm 25 October
Rationale:
The aim of this paper is to provide students with the opportunity to present undertake research
and to present seminars on topics related to contemporary issues in the conduct of civil
proceedings.
Seminar Presentations:



Students will be required to make a 15 minute presentation on course readings in class
and to answer questions and contribute to leading the discussion for the assigned session:
5%.
Students will also be required to make a 15 minute presentation based on their research
proposal: 10%.
Presentations will be marked having regard to the following criteria:
1. Demonstration of knowledge about the material and context of the material presented
2. Scope and depth of understanding of the materials
3. Ability to answer questions and to stimulate discussion about the material, including
questions addressing concepts and theories
Research Proposal:
The proposal should identify the topic in the form of a question or questions and answer the
question with an outline of an argument. Include a thesis statement paragraph with a statement
of the question and a summary of your answer; an outline of the major sections of the paper
which should flow as steps in in an argument answering your question; and a brief annotated
bibliography of approximately 10 core books ,articles or other sources. An annotated bibliography
provides a couple of sentences on each item indicating that you have read the item and indicating
where it supports your argument. The proposal and bibliography should demonstrate that you
have investigated four types of research sources: primary sources (cases and statutes); secondary
sources (articles and commentary); other legal database sources; and internet/ website searching.
Do not rely solely on web sites and information available on the internet.
There is a 5 page limit.
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Topics for your research must be cleared with the lecturer.
You will be given an opportunity to discuss your topic in class.

Research Paper:
o The research paper is the result of the finalised research indicated in the proposal. It is
an 8,000 word (including footnotes and bibliography) assignment which will require
the exercise of legal research skills, legal analysis and legal writing. At LLM level
students are expected to know how to do research, write a research paper and make a
legal argument. If you are not familiar with this process you should consult student
services. There will not be time to teach research and writing in this class.
o The research paper should present a coherent, in-depth argument on the topic. It is
not sufficient for students to present summaries of the work of others.
o It is suggested that students critically read their own papers with a view to improving
the coherence and depth of the argument. It may be helpful to have others read and
critique the paper as well. Do not hand in a rushed first draft.
o In marking the research papers the quality of the following will be assessed:
 Clear statement of the thesis;
 Satisfactory primary, secondary, database and internet research;
 an understanding of the work already covered on the area;
 sound analysis of policy, legislation, case law, etc;
 an original and well developed argument that demonstrates a sound basis of
thinking in the analysis and clear thinking about the issues;
 useful conclusions;
 writing– major deficiencies in structure, style, grammar, spelling, proofreading
and references will result in lower marks;
 A fully referenced bibliography, including primary and secondary sources, other
database sources, and internet sources.
Texts available in the library that are highly recommended to students for writing research
papers are:
 Block, Effective Legal Writing (1992)
 Armstrong and Terrell, Thinking Like a Writer – A Lawyer’s Guide to Effective Writing
and Editing (1992)
 Ray and Ramsfield, Legal Writing: Getting it Right and Getting it Written (1987).
d)
Handing in, marking time and collection
All assignments must be submitted electronically through Moodle (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz).
See Te Piringa Faculty of Law Graduate and Postgraduate Handbook, available at
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate. Where practical, it is the policy of Te Piringa Faculty of
Law to return marked work to students within five weeks of submission.
If you require assistance with Moodle, or encounter any problems, please contact the Help Desk.
You can send a message to Help Desk by using the instant message service in your paper’s
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Moodle site (from the participants list within the People block). Alternatively, you can email them
directly at help@waikato.ac.nz or call 838 4008.
e)
Measurement of Achievement
Achievement in assignments and presentations will be measured in terms of levels of
understanding and knowledge gained, in terms of the originality and the sophistication of analysis
provided, in terms of coherent and logical structure, and in terms of the fluency and accuracy of
expression and referencing.
f)
Management of assessment deadlines, process for requesting extensions and special
consideration, and for appeals
i)
Extensions
Students are required to complete and submit all internal assessment by specified dates. The
meeting of deadlines is a mark of professionalism and its enforcement is essential for fairness to
all students taking the paper. Handing in course work on or before the due in date also facilitates
the timely return of marked work by academic staff. Students should meet requirements as to
time deadlines for course work, or make a request for an extension or special consideration in
appropriate circumstances (see Graduate Programmes Manual available from the School of Law
Graduate website http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate/.) Failure to comply with
requirements as to the time deadlines for internal assessment without having successfully applied
either for an extension or special consideration with supporting evidence before the due date will
result in deduction of 2.5 marks for each day the work is late. Lateness of more than a week may
result in the work not being marked. No deadlines may be extended beyond two weeks after the
last teaching day of the semester(s) in which the paper is taught as final grades must go to the
Board of Examiners at this time. Unless an extension in writing has been granted, a lecturer may
refuse to accept a piece of work which is submitted after the specified date, and automatically
award it no mark, or may lower the mark as a penalty for lateness.
Applications for extension, on the form obtainable from the Resource Room, must be submitted
to the Convenor of the course. Extensions will be granted only on evidence of illness, family
bereavement, or serious personal accidents or circumstances. Please note that too many
assignments due at the same time is NOT an acceptable reason, neither are claims that
computers and/or printers have crashed). Account will be taken of the time in which the student
has had to complete the assessment before the supervening event occurred. It will be important
to consider if the grant of the extension will give the student in question an unfair advantage over
other students. A maximum period of 14 days will be given as an extension unless there are
exceptional circumstances. In determining applications the Convenor or lecturer of the relevant
paper may consult with the Chief Examiner or nominee.
ii)
Special Consideration
The Assessment Regulations 2005 as set out in the University Calendar 2013 list in detail the
university-wide policies and procedures, which apply concerning missed examinations, impaired
performance or impaired preparation time for an examination, and missed or impaired course
work. Students are responsible for ensuring that they comply with these regulations. Application
forms for special consideration for internal assessment are available from the Resource Room.
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iii)
Appeals (University Calendar 2013, Assessment Regulations 2005, Reg. 24)
A student may appeal against any decision taken under these regulations.
An appeal, comprising a written statement of the circumstances of the appeal, together with
supporting evidence if available, must be submitted by the student in writing to the Director of
Student & Academic Services not more than seven days after the date on which notification of the
relevant decision is received.
Appeals under this section are considered and decided by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor by
delegated authority of the Academic Programmes Committee.
A decision by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor is notified in writing, and is final.
9.
University Calendar Regulations and Policies
Your attention is drawn to the following regulations and policies, which are published in the
University Calendar 2013.
Assessment Regulations 2005
Student Discipline Regulations 2008
Computer Systems Regulations 2005
Policy on the Use of Māori for Assessment
Student Research Regulations 2008
Ethical Conduct in Human Research and Related Activities Regulations 2008.
10.
Links to other papers
This paper develops topics discussed in Dispute Resolution, Legal Ethics, Mediation and Civil
Procedure. Students who have not studied these papers should not be overly concerned as I will
give lectures outlining the key issues.
11.
Fees
Refer to http://calendar.waikato.ac.nz/admission/tableoffeesandcharges.html.
12.
(a)
(b)
Referencing guidelines and caution against plagiarism
Referencing must be in accordance with the New Zealand Law Style Guide.
All written work submitted for the purposes of assessment must be your own work.
Copying or paraphrasing all or part of another person’s work, be it published or
unpublished, without clear attribution, is plagiarism. Plagiarism is misconduct and is dealt
with under the disciplinary procedures of the University as outlined in the Student
Discipline Regulations 2008 in the University Calendar.
“Plagiarism means presenting as one’s own work the work of another, and includes the copying
or paraphrasing of another person’s work in an assessment item without acknowledging it as the
other person’s work through full and accurate referencing; it applies to assessment presented
through a written, spoken, electronic, broadcasting, visual, performance or other medium.” See
section 3, Assessment Regulations (2013 Calendar)
Unless approved otherwise by the examiners of the papers concerned, a student must not submit
as assessment material that is substantially the same as material submitted as assessment for a
different paper.
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(c)
The Te Piringa Faculty of Law’s policy regarding plagiarism is contained in the Te Piringa
Faculty of Law Graduate and Post-Graduate Handbook and the Te Piringa Faculty of Law
Graduate Programmes Manual, available from http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate/.
13.
Health and safety
The Law School’s Health and Safety representative is Ms Alison Saunders who is in Room Law G44
at ext 4167.
14.
Class representation
At the commencement of the semester, a class representative will be elected by the students in
Advanced Civil Litigation. This representative is encouraged to communicate regularly with the
Convenor. Students in this paper are encouraged to liaise with their representative to discuss
issues of concern. Contact details for the Student Representation Coordinator, Academic Services
Division, are as follows: Samantha Whittle, Student Services, ext. 6264, CHSSG.25 email:
student.reps@waikato.ac.nz
15.
Complaints procedures
The brochure Student Concerns and Complaints Policy provides details of the University’s process
for handling concerns and complaints and is available from Faculty and School Offices, The
Gateway and Student Services Division and is contained in the Calendar 2013. See also the
document Student Support Structure at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, available from the Resource
Room.
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Proposed Lecture Schedule B semester
Week Commencing
Programme of proposed t lecture/seminar
topics
8 July (B Semester begins)
Introduction; Overview of purpose of civil
litigation, outline of civil justice reforms
15 July
Reform in England and Wales with
emphasis on case management in
enhancing access to justice
22 July
Civil Justice Reform in Australia; Student
presentations
29 July
Reform in NZ with particular reference to
case management and discovery; Student
presentations
5 August
Truth and civil justice; the role of ADR in
the civil justice system including pre action
protocols; student presentations
12 August
Costs in relation to ADR,
presentations
19 August
Teaching Recess
26 August
Teaching Recess
2 September
Privilege and settlement negotiations;
student presentations
9 September (12 Sept Kingitanga Day)
Funding litigation
16 September
Representative and Class Actions
23 September
Student presentations; research proposal
30 September
Student presentations; research proposal
7 October
Student presentations; research proposal
14 October
Study Week
21 October
Examinations
8
student
28 October 28 Oct Labour Day
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Examinations