Course Outline
LAW414 Legal Internship
Course Coordinator:Kirsty Mackie (kmackie@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
2026Trimester 1
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
What is this course about?
Description
This course gives you the opportunity to participate in the daily work of a lawyer and to compare that experience with the knowledge and skills acquired at Law School. You will observe how legal practice requires integration of legal knowledge with the capacity to consider the human and commercial context in which legal issues arise. You will utilise your graduate level information literacy, organisation and communication skills working in a complex legal environment.
How will this course be delivered?
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Placement – Placement at external legal practices for one day per week for 12 weeks | 84hrs | Not applicable | Once Only |
Course Topics
Legal professional practice skills and work experience
What level is this course?
400 Level (Graduate)
What is the unit value of this course?
12 units
How does this course contribute to my learning?
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Successfully apply theoretical knowledge to practical situations exercising appropriate judgement. | Engaged |
| 2 | Critically and systematically review, analyse and synthesise the operation of the legal system through participation in professional work. |
Knowledgeable Engaged |
| 3 | Exercise critical thinking and judgment to generate appropriate responses to legal issues. | Creative and critical thinker |
| 4 | Reflect on and learn from professional experience demonstrating personal and professional responsibility for own learning and work outcomes evidenced by self-evaluation of performance and development of improvement strategies as required. |
Creative and critical thinker Engaged |
| 5 | Display ethical conduct and values to prepare for professional employment in the legal sector. | Empowered |
| 6 | Demonstrate effective communication skills to write for a professional audience. |
Empowered Engaged |
Am I eligible to enrol in this course?
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Pre-requisites
((LAW100 or LAW101) and (LAW105 or LAW103) and LAW423)) or (144 units LAW coded courses including LAW311 and a GPA of 4.5 or above)
Co-requisites
Not applicable
Anti-requisites
Not applicable
Specific assumed prior knowledge and skills (where applicable)
Not applicable
Microcredential Information
Not applicable
How am I going to be assessed?
Grading Scale
Limited Grading (PNP)
Details of early feedback on progress
In Week 3 there will be a Zoom meeting of participants and the Course Coordinator, and a Placement Partner review of performance to provide formative feedback.
Assessment tasks
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Quiz/zes | Individual | 10 questions |
Week 3 | Online Test (Quiz) |
| All | 2 | Report | Individual | 1500 words |
Week 12 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Placement performance | Individual | 84 hours of placement |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | To Supervisor |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Quiz | ||||||||||
| Goal: | To complete an online quiz to consolidate and confirm learnings from the workshop and online components. |
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| Product: | Quiz/zes | |||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||
| Format: | Quiz answers |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | ||||||||||
| All - Assessment Task 2:Internship Report | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To complete a reflective report about your placement which demonstrates your understanding of how legal practice often requires integration of legal knowledge and an appreciation of the human and commercial context in which particular legal issues arise. |
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| Product: | Report | ||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | This is a 1500 word individual assignment. It should indicate any major task/s you have been working on and should contain observations about matters such as how your law studies to date have prepared you for legal practice. The report should concentrate on issues about practice and the particular way the placement partner's business/ office operates. You should reflect on how that met with your expectations or otherwise, and how and why the particular practice structures and practices are in place. You should seek feedback from your placement partner during your placement and reflect on what you have learned from that feedback. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Collaboration |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Student's Continuous Compliance with the Legal Internship Student Placement Code of Conduct, attendance at and engagement in the placement workplace | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | This task requires you to adopt and comply with a code of conduct that prepares you for the rigorous standards of the legal profession and meet the expectations of a legal workplace. |
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| Product: | Placement performance | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | During your WIL experience, you are required to complete 84 hours of work experience. To be eligible to pass, you are required to complete the internship satisfactorily per the criteria below. See Canvas for the Student Placement Code of Conduct. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Organisation |
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Directed study hours
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
What resources do I need to undertake this course?
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Prescribed text(s) or course reader
Specific requirements
You are expected to be attired appropriately for a legal placement site. In some circumstances this may require a suit (male and female).
How are risks managed in this course?
What administrative information is relevant to this course?
Assessment: Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Assessment: Additional Requirements
This course will be graded as Pass in a Limited Grade Course (PU) or Fail in a Limited Grade Course (UF) as per clause 5.1.1.3 and 5.1.1.4 of the Grades and Grade Point Average (GPA) - Academic Policy.
In a course eligible to use Limited Grades, all assessment items in that course are marked on a Pass/Fail basis and all assessment tasks are required to be passed for a student to successfully complete the course. Supplementary assessment is not available in courses using Limited Grades.
Assessment: Submission penalties
You must contact your Course Coordinator and provide the required documentation if you require an extension or alternate assessment.
Refer to the Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs – Procedures.
Links to relevant University policy and procedures
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
- Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs
- Review of Assessment and Final Grades
- Supplementary Assessment
- Central Examinations
- Deferred Examinations
- Student Conduct
- Students with a Disability
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
Student Charter
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
General Enquiries
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: