For first year Monash law peeps...

[grevenchorf]

... If you were as keen as I was at the beginning of last year, I wanted to get stuck into studying straight away, but, as you will learn, Monash is pretty much the worst when it comes to releasing reading lists and unit guides on time. I remember posting and asking for old unit guides from people last year, but I don't think anyone had them, so I remembered to save copies when they finally came out.

 I've uploaded the unit guide for LAW1101 (Introduction to Legal Reasoning) and the reading list/unit guide for LAW2101 (Contract A) for anyone that's interested (See links below). Just be aware that the reading list for ILR will vary depending which stream you are in (there are about 6 lecturers for that unit), but the Contract A reading list should change very little from last year to this (they're all really old cases). The biggest bit of advice I can give is to get stuck into the reading as soon as you can, if you start early, you'll be able to get through more of the cases (don't believe the hype, nobody ever reads everything), but you do get so much more out of reading a decision than reading a summary of the case online or in other sources, so if you've got a spare few weeks, might be a good idea to get a headstart if you're gunning for the best marks

On that note, if anybody has any questions about anything to do with Monash Law, feel free to ask as well

ILR Unit Guide - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/595396/ILR%2520new%2520unit%2520guide%25202012-1.pdf
Contract A Reading Guide - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/595396/Contract%20A%20Reading%20Guide%2020120.pdf
Contract A Unit Guide - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/595396/Contract%2520A%2520Unit%2520Guide%252020120.pdf

[platypus]

thanks ! I was looking for something like this but wasn't sure if anyone had it...

so do you suggest reading the material for Contract A only? and am I supposed to dl/buy the required resource?

[grevenchorf]

If you've done legal studies, the first five weeks of ILR is pretty much just that - you go over the role of parliament, the constitution and then look at a couple of landmark cases like Mabo etc, so you won't need to do very much, if any, reading for that part of the semester. From halfway through the semester, ILR goes into more legal theory. It's really a mixed bag in terms of who you get as your lecturer when it comes to how much you have to read. Do absolutely everything in your power to get into Ross Hyams' stream - he is one of the best academics Monash has. ILR lectures are only meant to hold around 40 people, but towards the end of semester we had upwards of 70 come to our classes because the other lecturers were so poor in comparison to him.

With Contracts, you'll need to do readings, especially if you want to do well. One thing I would recommend everyone purchase for Contracts is the case summary book (this one: http://www.liv.asn.au/Bookshop/Student-Texts/Case-Summaries-Lexis-Nexis/LexisNexis-Case-Summaries---Contracts-e7), which is available from Legibook for around $30. It pretty much has every case you will cover in Contract A and B and breaks down the judgment into a half-page summary of the key facts, issues and the reason for the judgment. This is really relevant, because the average contracts case is about 8+ pages of very thick, heavy language (especially some of the early cases), and you'll have around 10-12 cases a week to read, plus all your other readings - so to be able to pull that out is a godsend. I'll admit I didn't use my prescribed case book much after the first half of semester 1, but again, the earlier you start, the more time you'll have for reading, and the better you'll understand the content

[platypus]

I didn do legal in VCE, so should I be reading anything to prepare?

Also how early should I start the contract A readings? Bcos I definitely know if I read a case now or the next month nothing would make sense

[AT]

I didn do legal in VCE, so should I be reading anything to prepare?

Also how early should I start the contract A readings? Bcos I definitely know if I read a case now or the next month nothing would make sense

You don't necessarily have to start now, just make sure you keep up to date. In particular before the tutorials you will want to have at least a basic grasp of the cases so you can learn how to apply them to a given scenario. Whenever you're reading a case, just think about the underlying principal that is often given in the judgement. The reading guide divides the topics up nicely, and usually a few contrasting cases are given under each heading to provide examples of different outcomes.

No point stressing yourself out a few weeks before the exam trying to learn everything.