Undergraduate Module Descriptor

LAW1036: Legal Foundations

This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.

Module Aims

The module aims to provide you with a foundational understanding of the nature and sources of law and legal principles to enable you to undertake other undergraduate law modules. In particular, the module aims to give you the necessary academic, legal, theoretical, legal practice and ethical knowledge and awareness to study other law modules on the programme, as well as to enable you to start to develop the necessary academic, study and legal practice skills and competencies necessary to study on an undergraduate law degree.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.

On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. identify and analyse (with guidance) the basic organisation and structure of the English legal system and the main general concepts and principles underlying it;
2. identify, select relevant information from, and analyse a variety of legal sources using appropriate interpretative techniques and demonstrate an understanding of legal reasoning and its application;
3. demonstrate an understanding of the place of advocacy and negotiation within the practice of law, and a basic understanding of the skills and competencies required to be able to engage successfully in advocacy and negotiation respectively.
4. demonstrate competent understanding of some of the relevant legal practice, social, economic, political, historical, philosophical, ethical and cultural contexts within which the law operates;
Discipline-Specific Skills5. demonstrate understanding of a range of legal concepts, values, principles, institutions and procedures, and the ability to explain the relationships among them;
6. make an informed judgement about the merits and relevance of particular information and make reasoned choices between alternative solutions or arguments;
7. communicate technical legal information and argument effectively and concisely, orally and in writing, in a manner appropriate to the discipline;
Personal and Key Skills8. take responsibility for your own learning (with support), meeting obligations to the other members of the group;
9. to work effectively with others within a group;
10. reflect upon your own skills development;
11. identify, retrieve and use efficiently a range of library-based and electronic resources with some guidance;
12. manage time efficiently in preparing for learning activities, and to work independently within a limited time frame, to complete a specified task.

How this Module is Assessed

In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.

Formative Assessment

A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.

Form of assessmentSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Group Video Presentation10 minutes1-10Group written feedback
Online Multiple-choice quiz30 minutes1-8, 10, 11Online automatic feedback
Individual oral presentation of legal opinion15 minutes1-8, 10, 11Oral feedback and general written feedback

Summative Assessment

A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
06040

...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Oral advocacy presentation with written skeleton argument4015 minutes, 500 word written skeleton1-8, 10, 11Individual written feedback and general feedback
Examination602 hours1-8, 10, 12General feedback to the whole cohort and opportunity for individual feedback
0
0
0
0

Re-assessment

Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.

Original form of assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
Oral advocacy presentationWritten advocacy argument (2500 words)1-8, 10, 11August / September referred / deferred period
Exam Exam (2 hours)1-8, 10, 12August / September referred / deferred period