BLB1101 Australian Legal System in Context – Research Assignment – Case Summary
| Due date | Monday Week 3 at 11.59pm |
| Total marks | 30 marks = 30% of total marks for the unit 1000 words in total |
| Submission requirements | Submit electronic copy via Assignment DropBox link on unit’s VU Collaborate space. Please name the file with your full name and student number. Please upload your assessment in a MSWord or PDF format only. Please note that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated tools such as ChatGP is not permitted to be used in this assessment. |
| Late penalty | 5% per day |
| Referencing requirements | AGLC compliant footnotes and an AGLC compliant bibliography must be included |
| Presentation Requirements | Please use 2.0 (double) paragraph spacing. Please use Times New Roman 12pt. Headings should be AGLC compliant and in bold font. |
CASE SUMMARY (1000 words)*
Write a case summary of the following VCAT (Residential Tenancies) case as reported in Austlii (www.austlii.edu.au):
- Unison Housing Ltd v XWW (Residential Tenancies) [2021] VCAT 1311 (3 November 2021)
Your answer should take the form of a case summary. (Additional information on this task and its requirements are provided below, plus some additional resources are provided on the unit’s VU Collaborate space). Note the cases above are not AGLC Compliant and in your assignment you will need to present them in accordance with the AGLC rules.
Further guidance/clarifications
- Form of Writing: The case summaries must be written in the third person.
- Subheadings: Use of sub-headings is expected as they add clarity for the reader and often provide direction for the writer. Modern legal writing commonly uses sub-headings, eg in case summaries, court judgments, letters of advice, articles and essays.
- Descriptive writing or critical/analytical writing? The case summary requires summarising the background facts, central issues, the decision, and the reasoning of the case. The purpose of the case summary is to provide a clear and succinct explanation of the relevant factual and legal aspects of the case. This will involve explaining the legal reasoning of the case. The legal reasoning refers to the reasoning of the Tribunal Member in coming to their decision. You will need to explain how the VCAT member arrived at their decision, by considering the legal issues they needed to consider and how they applied the law in coming to their decision.
- Use of external sources: Research into relevant legislation is required to be required to fill in ‘gaps’ for comprehensive case summaries regarding the hearings and to demonstrate your understanding of the relevant legislation. (eg Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (Vic), Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic), Australian Consumer Law;) Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic).
Total word limit for the Case summary is 1000 words excluding footnotes and bibliography. The word limit will be strictly applied.
Please scroll down to see your assessment rubric.
When you receive feedback on the case summary, you will receive a raw mark out of 100 in the dropbox as well as a mark out of 30 in the gradebook that reflects the 30% weighting of this assignment in the unit overall. You will also receive detailed feedback in the form of a completed assessment rubric and general comments that provide an overview of how effectively you have responded to the assessment criteria.
Rubric
| High Distinction | Distinction | Credit | Pass | N Underdeveloped | 0 Not Demonstrated | |
| VCAT Case summary 1 (addressing requirements of the task) (50% marks) | Reports on the allocated case in a succinct, logical and sophisticated way, citing relevant evidence to support summary statements; pays close attention to recounting and describing facts and legal issues; demonstrates meaningful insights; well-reasoned; findings reported are appropriately related to the allocated case. | Reports on the allocated case in a mostly succinct, logical and sophisticated way, citing relevant evidence to support summary statements; pays close attention to recounting and describing facts and legal issues; demonstrates some meaningful insights; well-reasoned; findings reported are mostly well related to the allocated case. | Acceptable description of facts and issues of allocated case; evidence used from the case report is mostly relevant but may occasionally used without demonstrated understanding and/or consistency. Alternatively/additionally, there are occasional gaps in reasoning; occasionally demonstrates a lack of balance in the way on which the material within the VCAT case is relied. Findings are generally competent but may have occasional flaws or inconsistencies in the way they are explained to the reader. | Acceptable description of facts and issues of allocated case; evidence used is mostly relevant but may not always be used with understanding and consistency. Alternatively/additionally there are significant gaps in reasoning reported; evidences a lack of balance in the way on which material provided the VCAT allocated case. Findings are generally competent but may have some significant flaws and inconsistencies in the way they are explained to the reader. | Fails to show real understanding of the allocated case; lack of clarity and focus evident in description of case facts and/or issues; arguments and use of evidence are poorly expressed, hard to follow and/or lack conviction; report relies on unsubstantiated claims and/or demonstrates a lack of balance and consistency; major elements are missing. | No Case summary, or summary of incorrect case |
| Demonstrates contextual awareness and uses research sources to fill any gaps in law used in the hearing (30% marks) | Uses research skills well to appropriately fill most gaps in the case allocated regarding jurisdiction and the law used in the tribunal’s reasoning. | Uses research skills fill most gaps in the case allocated regarding jurisdiction and the law used in the tribunal’s reasoning, may have occasional gaps. | Demonstrates some attempt to use research skills to fill gaps in the case allocated, regarding jurisdiction and/or the law used in the tribunal’s reasoning, but leaves a significant gap or may cite some inappropriate law. | Demonstrates an attempt to use research skills to fill gaps in the case allocated regarding jurisdiction and/or the law used in the tribunal’s reasoning, just at an acceptable standard. may have significant gaps | Demonstrates some attempt to use research skills to fill gaps in the case report regarding jurisdiction and/or the law used in the tribunal’s reasoning, but cites only inappropriate law. | Relies mostly on information supplied in the case allocated – and very little attempt to use research skills to fill gaps in the case allocated or the law used in the tribunal’s reasoning. |
| Demonstrating legal literacy skills through use of appropriate language, structure and style: (10% marks) | Writes in error-free, clearly structured (including use of sub-headings) and well-phrased language, appropriate to a legal context and the type of task involved, that ‘gets the message across’ accurately and proficiently, including consistent use of third person form. | Writes generally in error-free, clearly structured (including use of sub-headings) and well-phrased language, appropriate to a legal context and the types of task involved, that ‘gets the message across’ accurately and proficiently, but with occasional patches where clarity, language and/or use of third person form can be improved. | Writes in mostly correct and proficient language with some strengths evidenced in structure and phrasing suitable for a legal context. Additionally or alternatively, some defects occur in clarity of meaning, level of formality, use of third person, use of sub-headings and/or readability, leaving the writer’s messages being a little difficult to follow at some points. | Writes generally in proficient language with generally acceptable structure and phrasing largely suitable for a legal context. Additionally or alternatively, significant number of defects occur in clarity of meaning, level of formality, use of third party form, use of sub-headings and/or readability, which disrupt the readability/clarity/flow of the work for the reader. | Writes in underdeveloped or inappropriately informal, poorly structured (including lack of sub-headings) and/or poorly-phrased language. Meaning is often unclear; work is often hard to understand. Fails to achieve an acceptable level of written expression for a legal context. | Writes in significantly underdeveloped or inappropriately informal, poorly structured (including lack of sub-headings) and/or badly-phrased language. Meaning is very often unclear and/or very often hard to understand. Fails to achieve an acceptable level of written expression for a legal context. |
| Applying AGLC correctly, including footnotes and bibliography: (5% marks) | Applies AGLC correctly throughout, including in footnotes and bibliography. | Applies AGLC throughout with only occasional minor errors, including in footnotes and bibliography. | Generally applies AGLC largely correctly, but with several minor errors, including in footnotes or bibliography. | Generally applies AGLC correctly, but with some significant errors and lapses, including in footnotes and/or bibliography. | Shows some severe deficiencies in AGLC usage and application, including in footnotes and bibliography or alternatively submission was originally missing bibliography. | Shows several severe deficiencies in AGLC usage and application, including in footnotes and bibliography. |
| Compliance with word limit (including 10% tolerance). (Note: minor excess is assessed here, but for major excess submissions will not be marked beyond 1300 words): (5% marks) | Submission does not exceed the word limit (with its inbuilt 10% tolerance), ie does not exceed 1100 words. | . | Overly excessive in length (exceeds 1300 words.) (Note: in addition, the contents of the submission have not been marked beyond 1300 words). |
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