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The Law School's Placement Program

Background

In 1999, the Law School at Flinders University commenced its Practical Legal Training ("PLT") Program. If you want to practice as a lawyer, you need more than a Law degree. You also need to complete a course of Practical Legal Training which essentially teaches you how to be a lawyer. The studies you undertake for your law degree equip you with knowledge about the law. Practical Legal Training equips you with the skills required to act as a legal practitioner on behalf of a client.

PLT is a requirement everywhere in Australia for potential lawyers. Each state offers various PLT courses. The Flinders PLT program is quite different from most PLT courses around the country in that it is integrated within the undergraduate course. Flinders students graduate with an "LLB/LP" - a Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice.

Students do not do all of the PLT topics within their last year (which is the case in many Australian PLT programs). They are integrated throughout the degree, and some skills components are integrated within other substantive law topics (eg students learn Interviewing skills in the topic Administrative Law).

There are some PLT topics which are taken in the final year. One of those topics is called Legal Practice Management. Students must undertake a 6 week period of work experience in a legal office as part of Legal Practice Management . This is referred to as their "Placement".

The Placement.

Every student enrolled in Legal Practice Management must complete a Placement. Legal Practice Management is a compulsory topic for all law students wishing to practice as lawyers.

At the time of enrolling in Legal Practice Management, students must decide whether they wish to find their own Placement, or if they want one to be found for them.

The Law School runs this topic in conjunction with the Law Society of South Australia. Students who require a Placement to be found for them must complete a form advising of the type of firm they would like to do their Placement (eg small city firm, large commercial firm, government department, sole practitioner, etc). They also give an indication of the type of work they would like to be involved with (eg Criminal Law, Family Law, Commercial etc).

The Law Society then works in conjunction with all of the legal offices to find a spot for all of the students. Students' preferences are accommodated as much as possible. However, it is inevitable that if 20 students want to work in large commercial city firms, and there are only 10 such available places, some of them will not get their first preference.

Some students already have part time jobs in law firms or they know someone who is happy to provide the work experience for them. Students can do their Placement in a firm of their own choice provided that:
1) The supervising solicitor in the firm has been admitted as a legal practitioner in South Australia for at least 5 years;
2) The supervising solicitor has a current practising certificate;
3) The Placement is within the period of enrolment in legal Practice management. Students cannot do their Placement within the summer holidays preceding the year of enrolment. Thisis because they have to undergo a specific week of classes before doing the Placement.

If a Placement is found for the student, that Placement can be completed at one of three different times during the year. Each Placement block is 6 weeks. Students elect which block they prefer (March/April, June/July or September/October).

Those students who find their own Placement may do the Placement over a longer period than 6 weeks (eg if they go into that office 2 days per week). The main requirement is that they complete 225 hours and that they complete all of the set tasks (see below).

Being on Placement means more than just turning up every day and doing whatever the supervisor has prepared. Students are given a "Placement Handbook" which contains (as well as guidelines etc) a list of tasks which must be completed within the 225 hours. These tasks cover:
1) Interviewing and advising
2) Legal research
3) Letter writing and drafting
4) Using court registries and public records offices
5) Negotiation
6) Advocacy
7) Practice management

Students must complete all of the specified tasks and write reports on them, and the supervisor must verify that the tasks have been completed satisfactorily.

Evaluation

Rachel Spencer, the Director of PLT in the Law School commissioned a survey of all of the students who completed a Placement in 1999. The most repeated positive comment about the Placement program was that students enjoyed the chance to put theory into practice and that Placement has given them an idea of the realities of the practice of law. In particular, students found that the Placement program was a great way of finding out which areas of law appealed to them, or which areas were not to their liking.

Asked to give advice to future Placement students, the Placement students of 1999 gave the following hints:
· Use it to find the areas of law which do/don't interest you.
· Be courteous, professional, confident and work hard because firms use PLT as a recruiting tool. However, don't be shy and be prepared to make some mistakes.
· Take advantage of the opportunity to "skill up".

The Law School's first year of the Placement program has been very successful. We hope to build on that success and implement new ideas so that it continues to be an enjoyable and worthwhile experience for all.

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