Diploma in Prosecution and Advocacy

This course will no longer be offered from 2021.

Course Aims

This course aims to provide students with the legal knowledge and skills to conduct defended criminal proceedings in the criminal justice system, with a focus on: the discretion of the prosecutor in investigation, charging and plea negotiation, case analysis, interviewing witnesses, as well as other aspects of case handling and courtroom advocacy.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: demonstrate a broad and coherent understanding of the Australian legal system, courtroom proceedings, values and theoretical principles for working in a legal context and an awareness of legal issues in Criminal proceedings; use autonomy and professional judgement to prepare, strategies, develop and critically evaluate persuasive legal arguments that consider the evidence, facts, cases, legislation applicable to a specific legal case; demonstrate clear, coherent and structured advocacy skills to communicate persuasive legal arguments to both legal and non-legal audiences; and work collaboratively with others in a way that respects diverse opinions and perspectives, including effective listening, teamwork, organisation and interviewing skills to problem solve and communicate outcomes in diverse legal scenarios.

Graduate Attributes

Knowledge of a Discipline Knowledge of a discipline is taught, practised and assessed in all units. Students will gain an understanding of effective legal prosecution. Students will be encouraged to consider Criminal law and prosecution through Indigenous, theoretical, social and political perspectives. Legal resources may include international law, comparative material such as case-law and legislation from other jurisdictions and also social, political and economic perspectives. Communication Skills Communication skills are taught, practised and assessed throughout this course. Students will develop oral advocacy and presentation skills relevant to legal contexts through assessments such as essays and oral presentations. These skills will benefit students as they will have well-developed communication skills which are essential to collaborate and liaise effectively with clients and colleagues in legal and non-legal contexts. Problem Solving This graduate attribute is taught, practised and assessed throughout the course using scenarios requiring students to use cognitive and critical thinking skills to identify legal issues, analyse and evaluate the relevant legislation and cases to construct relevant solutions and ethical legal arguments. Information Literacy Information literacy is taught, practised and assessed throughout the course as students need to identify, access, and navigate complex databases to retrieve primary and secondary material. Students need to critically evaluate this information to complete assessment tasks. Ethical Conduct and Social Responsibility Throughout the course, ethical conduct and social responsibility is taught, practised and assessed. Students need to reflect on the principles of professional and social responsibility and apply these to a range of ethical issues and scenarios. This is assessed through evaluation and analysis of reflective based and scenario based assessment tasks. Lifelong Learning Lifelong learning is taught and assessed in this course through reflective tasks that encourage critical analysis on professional experience, and appreciation of the law as a dynamic discipline. Independence and Collaboration This graduate attribute is taught, practised and assessed in this course. Students are required to work independently and complete learning and assessment that requires self-directed learning and initiative. Students must also collaborate together in a variety of learning and assessment tasks over the course.