The New Lawyer

Preface vii

About the authors viii

Part 1 Knowing 1

Chapter 1 The life of a lawyer 2

1.1 Being a lawyer: myths and realities 3

1.2 A diversity of career options 9

1.3 Your legal education 19

1.4 Developing a professional identity 32

Chapter 2 Fundamental legal concepts 39

2.1 Law 40

2.2 Law and extrinsic standards 51

2.3 Law and liberal values 59

Chapter 3 A history of Australian law 79

3.1 First Nations Australians and the law 81

3.2 The development of British law 86

3.3 The development of Australian law 92

3.4 The law today 96

Chapter 4 The Australian legal system 107

4.1 Seven key characteristics 108

4.2 The Australian Constitution 115

4.3 The State constitutions 125

4.4 Executive government in Australia 128

Chapter 5 The sources of law in Australia 139

5.1 Legislation 141

5.2 The structure of parliament 142

5.3 Case law 155

Part 2 Doing 183

Chapter 6 Thinking skills 184

6.1 Legal reasoning 185

6.2 Critical thinking 203

6.3 Creative thinking 216

Chapter 7 Legal research skills 223

7.1 Adopt a systematic approach 226

7.2 Know where to look 232

7.3 Access good-quality information 240

7.4 Read actively and efficiently 246

7.5 Apply your research 251

Chapter 8 Interpretation and application skills 257

8.1 Reading the law 259

8.2 Interpreting the law 272

8.3 Interpretation in practice 294

Chapter 9 Communication and collaboration skills 315

9.1 Communication skills 316

9.2 Communicating effectively 325

9.3 Collaboration skills 342

Chapter 10 Self-management skills 351

10.1 The importance of self-management 352

Part 3 Being 375

Chapter 11 Being realistic 376

11.1 Formalism vs realism 377

11.2 Law and power 386

Chapter 12 Being committed to justice 405

12.1 The nature of justice 406

12.2 Access to justice 414

Chapter 13 Being ethical 429

13.1 Ethics 431

13.2 Professional ethics 448

Chapter 14 Being future-ready 461

14.1 Disruption and transformation 463

14.2 Preparing for the future 469

Key terms 489

Exercises 490

Acknowledgements 490

Index 493