Unit Synopsis
LAWS13017 Civil procedure explores the issues of cost, delay and access to justice as critical issues in modern case management. In this unit you will examine in detail the following issues in civil litigation: court adjudication under an adversary system; the cost of litigation and the use of costs to control litigation; service of originating process - as foundation of jurisdiction, including service out of the relevant State or Territory and choice of forum; joinder of claims and parties, including group proceedings and the defence of prior adjudication as instances of the public interest in avoiding a multiplicity of proceedings and inconsistent verdicts; defining the questions for trial - pleadings, notices to admit and other devices; obtaining evidence - discovery of documents, interrogatories, subpoena and other devices; disposition without trial, including the compromise of litigation; extra-judicial determination of issues arising in the course of litigation; judgment; appeal; enforcement; alternative dispute resolution; and obligations of parties and practitioners relating to the resolution of disputes. This unit meets the LPAB requirements for civil dispute resolution.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-requisites: LAWS11059, LAWS11066, LAWS11069, LAWS12066. Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 35% |
| 2. Practical Assessment | 35% |
| 3. Online Quiz(zes) | 30% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 78.95% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 29.23% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Sendbird chatbot analytics.
The trained unit chatbot received positive feedback.
The chatbot be continually refined and updated and used again in 2025 Term 2.
The chatbot was retrained based on updates to the study guides as part of the normal refresh of the unit each term. Additional content was included based on QLS practical guidelines and additional cases.
Source: Email
Response times for sessional staff need to be maintained through out the term.
The unit be taught by a full-time staff member in 2025 Term 2.
The unit was taught by a sessional staff member supervised by a full-time staff member.
Source: Chatbot usage data and analysis of questions asked.
The chatbot has been a welcome addition to the unit.
The chatbot be continually updated and included in the unit.
In Progress
Source: General in class comments.
The addition of a second practice assessment was appreciated.
Practical authentic assessments will be used wherever possible subject to accreditation requirements.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Comprehend and critically examine the court adjudication process under the adversarial system in Australia in comparison with the Civil Law inquisitorial system
- Articulate and apply Supreme Court civil procedure, referencing legislation, rules, practice directions and court forms
- Research and draft appropriate pleadings for a hypothetical fact situation
- Apply civil procedure knowledge in a clinical setting including ethical considerations
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 2 - Practical Assessment | • | • | ||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |