Assessment Task 2_Assignment

 

DUE DATE:  Friday (midnight) Week 9

 

TOTAL MARKS: 30 marks (30% of overall assessment)

 

WORD LIMIT: 1500 words

 

SUBMISSION:  Electronically in Black Board under the Assessment tab. Ensure that you include a cover page with your name, the name of your tutor and day and time of your tutorial.

 

QUESTION:

 

Gerry Toomey is a director and chairperson of Anthrax Ltd, an airline company operating out of Hervey Bay. Anthrax Ltd provides air transport to Fraser Island and joy flights around the Fraser Coast. Gerry is also the majority shareholder in Virgin Bush Pty Ltd, a management consultancy, which provides advice to tourism enterprises and operates out of Brisbane.

Anthrax Ltd has met with hard times due to a slump in overseas and domestic visitors to the Fraser Coast. Global market forces suggest that a further downturn in the market is imminent and recovery will be slow. The directors of Anthrax Ltd believe that a restructure is necessary and are aware that this will mean job losses. The board has called for expressions of interest from businesses specialising in management strategies.

 

At the last directors’ meeting two expressions of interest from management companies were tabled and discussed. Gerry gave particular attention to the documentation supplied by Virgin Bush Pty Ltd and emphasised the company’s stated experience in tourism and in redundancy planning and implementation. A resolution was passed, on which all directors present voted, to engage Virgin Bush Pty Ltd for the planning and implementation of the restructure.

 

Last week, one of the other directors of Anthrax Ltd, Frieda Frenzy, learned from a colleague in Brisbane that Gerry Toomey is a major shareholder in Virgin Bush Pty Ltd.

Frieda is alarmed and angry that the board has been unaware of Gerry’s involvement with that company.

 

Frieda comes to you for advice as to what action can be taken against Gerry.

Advise Frieda.

 

 

ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES

 

The following guidelines are based on a review of common errors made in assignments. Students are asked to read these guidelines carefully as they will be taken into account in marking your papers.

 

The information to follow is presented under the headings of:

• Assessment criteria
• Content and analysis
• Structure and style
• Referencing
• Formatting
• Rubrics for this assessment piece appear on page 5.

 

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

 

As noted in the course outline and further explained above the assessment criteria for this assessment task are:

1. Demonstration of knowledge of the law, as evidenced by accurate statement of relevant legal principles
2. Demonstration of understanding of the law as evidenced by cogent and coherent application of legal principles to the facts; and
3. Demonstration of requisite academic communication skills, as evidenced by logical structure of arguments, appropriateness of conclusions, accuracy of referencing and use of appropriate expression.

CONTENT AND ANALYSIS

 

In order to demonstrate knowledge of the law for this assignment, you need to state the relevant legal principles accurately and reference them appropriately by citing case law and legislation.

 

In order to demonstrate understanding of the law, you need to apply the relevant legal principles to the facts of the case study in order to reach a conclusion.

 

You need to adopt a logical structure (you may use headings), avoid spelling and grammatical errors (see further under ‘Structure and Style’ below) and present your arguments in a coherent and convincing manner.

 

Note that the use of footnotes, or endnotes, is the preferred method of referencing for legal writing (you can use the ‘insert’ function in word).

 

The following guidelines stem from the criteria stated above:

 

• It is not enough to discuss the facts in a general way without reference to legal principle/s.
• It is not enough to state relevant legal principles without explicitly applying those principles to the facts.
• Statements of legal requirements/ principles must be accurate. Use of your own words is encouraged but must convey the substance (meaning of) the legal principle/s.
• Merely reproducing the facts given in the problem will not attract marks. This problem commonly occurs in written introductions, where it would appear that the writer is not sure where to start.
• Answers should include an introduction, analysis and conclusion (but not include these headings as such).
• The introduction should contain statements of:
• The legal terms given to the relevant parties on the facts
• The nature of the action to be taken by the party advised
• The party who must prove the action (burden of proof)
• The relevant standard of proof
• The elements of the action requiring proof.
• The analysis should state:
• The elements requiring proof (from the legislation) and interpretation of those elements (from legislation and case authorities as appropriate)
• An application of the legal requirements (elements) and their interpretation to the facts in question
• A consideration of legal remedies available to the injured party should the action be proven.
• The conclusion should contain:
• A summary of previous discussion and conclusion as to the likelihood of proof of the action. No new material should be included in this part of an answer.
• Accurate and full reference to cases and legislation must be used (see further below).

 

STRUCTURE AND STYLE

The following guidelines reflect the requirements of formal academic writing generally and those more specifically relevant to law.

 

• Executive summaries should NOT be included.
• Headings may be used.
• Headings using IRAC (ie the words issue, rule…etc) should NOT be used.
• Headings using ‘Introduction’, ‘Analysis’, and ‘Conclusion’ should NOT be used.
• Headings should reflect the legal issues raised by the problem.
• Avoid abbreviations- eg use ‘has not’ instead of ‘hasn’t’.
• Avoid informal language- eg use ‘Therefore..’ instead of ‘So..’ or ‘Well..’.
• Avoid use of emotive language- eg use ‘I argue.., “I would argue..’, ‘I assert.., or ‘I contend..’ instead of ‘I believe..’, ‘I feel..’ or even ‘I think..’.
• Be mindful that legal analysis is about logical argument based on principles as applied to the facts and not about personal responses- emotional or value-laden.
• Avoid use of ‘slang’ (or poor grammar generally)- eg use ‘should have’ instead of ‘should of’.
• An opinion may be stated but must be based upon an application of legal principle to the facts.
• Check spelling and grammar; use the spell and grammar checks available on computer.
• Full sentences, containing a subject, verb and object must be used.
• When beginning a sentence with a reference to a section of legislation use ‘Section..”
• When referring to a section of legislation mid-sentence use‘s.…’.
• When referring to a court’s finding or judgement use, for example, ‘It was held in that case that..’ or ‘The court held that..’(Note third person and past tense used).
• When first referred to in a sentence cite legislation in full, and the full name of cases plus the year of reporting. For example;
• It was found in Smith v Jones (1986) 5 CLR 98 that..
• Section 67 of the Town Planning Act 1987 (Cth) requires that…
• Subsequent references may be summarised or truncated to, for example;
• In Smith’s Case…
• The Town Planning Act…; or
• The Act…
• Care should be taken in the use of quotations and reproduction of sections of legislation.
• Generally a quotation should only be used when the author conveys her own very specific idea that you are referencing, or when the author conveys an idea in a manner that is convincing and that you can not adequately paraphrase.
• Reproduction of provisions of legislation should be limited to very brief sections or parts of sections

 

REFERENCING

• Although for your non-law courses you may be using the Harvard style of referencing, or that appropriate to another discipline, in law the most accepted style footnoting or endnoting.
• The law reference guide is the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) (3^rd ed) and is posted with your assignment. There is a great deal of detail in this guide. For our purposes, please note the following and refer to further instruction in the lectures:
• Use footnotes or endnotes by using the ‘insert’ icon in Word and scrolling down to footnote or endnote. Footnotes will appear at the bottom of the page you are working on; endnotes will appear at the end of your work as it progresses (either are acceptable).
• Your note should contain references to cases and legislation.
• Accurate, complete references to cases and legislation must be given (and may be found in your text).
• References to legislation must contain the relevant section to which you are referring.
• References to either legislation or cases must NOT contain spelling errors.
• Case names and legislation should be presented in italics or underlined.

 

FORMATTING

• An assignment cover page should be attached to your work.
• The name of your tutor and the day and time of your tutorial MUST appear on the assignment cover page.
• Appropriate margins should be provided on each page of your work.
• A copy of your paper should be retained for your reference.
• Use Times New Roman 12 font and 1.5 line spacing.

Assessment criteria	Outstanding (HD)	Very Good (D)	Good (Credit)	Satisfactory (Pass)	Unsatisfactory (Fail)
1. Knowledge of the law	Very thoroughly researched, effective use of materials; comprehensive identification and discussion of issues	Well researched, appropriate use of materials; good identification and discussion of issues	Competently researched, good use of materials; majority of relevant issues identified and discussed.	Some relevant materials overlooked; some use of research materials; possibly some misunderstanding of issues or materials	Limited research, relevant materials overlooked or misunderstood; failure to identify and discuss relevant issues
2.Understanding of the law	Thorough analysis, deals effectively with complexity of issues; persuasively argued throughout, contrary arguments anticipated, good critical evaluation of materials	Good analysis, argument well-developed and supported, some critical evaluation of materials	Some analysis of issues; argument may be under-developed or unpersuasive, synthesis of materials with limited critical evaluation	Mainly discursive with little analysis of issues; basic argument is unclear or undeveloped or not well supported, some reference to relevant material	Insufficient analysis, argument is lacking or unsound, failure to use relevant materials, may indicate confusion or misunderstanding
3. Academic communication skills	Clear and logical structure. Minimal errors in expression, grammar, spelling or punctuation; full and accurate citation of authorities and sources; thoroughly edited.	Generally well written. Occasional minor flaws in expression, grammar, spelling or punctuation; authorities and sources are generally cited correctly; well edited	Reasonably well written. Some flaws in expression, grammar, spelling or punctuation; may have some missing, incomplete or incorrect footnote citations; some oversights in editing	Writing may be difficult to follow in parts. Flaws in expression, grammar, spelling or punctuation; a number of missing, incomplete or incorrect footnote citations; editing with little care	Poorly written, difficult to follow. Frequent or repeated flaws in expression, grammar, spelling or punctuation; inadequate citation of sources; poor editing