Making Law More Accessible: Designing Collaborative Learning Environments for Physically Remote Generation Y Students

In addition to an understanding of substantive law, the undergraduate law degree at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) aims to develop students’ lifelong skills. In the unit ‘Principles of Equity’ the skill developed includes teamwork, in the context of legal letter writing. Given the increased technological mobility of Generation Y students, the presenters have developed and trialled a model that enables these skills to be learnt and practiced online. The result is a more flexible environment that not only ensures congruent learning experiences between internal and external (or physically remote) students, but provides a connected or engaged educational program to supplement existing teaching method. This paper outlines the above project, the pedagogy that influenced it, and its impact on student learning experiences. Some issues for the development of such learning innovations in the future are also addresse

Fatal flaws : the risks for beneficiaries who assist a suicide.

The recent criminal conviction of Queensland teacher Merin Nielsen for aiding the suicide of an elderly acquaintance, Frank Ward, raises some timely issues, particularly for succession lawyers

Wills Formalities in Post-Pandemic World: A Research Agenda

The COVID-19 global pandemic has brought new focus to human mortality. The virus has reminded many people that they need to have a valid will or otherwise make plans for the effective transmission of their property on death. Yet stay-at-home orders and social distancing recommendations make it difficult or impossible to comply with the traditional rules for validly executing wills. Across most common law jurisdictions, the traditional requirements call for two witnesses in the physical presence of the testator. Because of the practical difficulties of safely executing documents during the pandemic with witnesses assembled in physical proximity, many jurisdictions internationally have implemented emergency measures that permit the remote witnessing of wills and other estate planning documents via audio-visual platforms like Zoom, Skype, or FaceTime. This essay employs a dual Australian-United States perspective to investigate the purposes of traditional will-making requirements and to suggest their continued vitality in the context of remotely witnessed wills. Although emergency measures adopted in both countries arguably have made it easier to execute wills during the pandemic, these provisions will, for the most part, sunset in the near future. The desirability of increasing access to legal services generally, and will-making specifically, might argue in favor of making permanent the pandemic-era rules for will executions. Before embracing a permanent change, though, there needs to be more research. This essay proposes a research agenda comprised of four future empirical studies of pandemic and post-pandemic-era will-making. These studies aim to identify and address any problems with the remote witnessing of testamentary documents. The results of these and other studies can facilitate the development of evidence-based, workable rules for effective will-making in the twenty-first century

The Challenge of Providing Work-Integrated Learning for Law Students – the QUT Experience

This paper explores the elements necessary for a university to create an academic model for a successful work-integrated learning experience in light of the current policy imperatives of the higher education sector in Australia. It identifies some of the practical issues encountered in attempting to implement those models and hypothesises on what an effective work-integrated learning experience for undergraduate law students should look like taking into account the available research on students’ perceptions of engaging learning experiences. It culminates in the proposal of a Virtual Work Integrated Learning Project which is currently under design in the Faculty of Law at the Queensland University of Technology

Expert witness immunity in Australia after Attwells v Jackson Lalic Lawyers: A smaller and less predictable shield?

Expert witnesses act as "injury brokers" in contributing to the analysis of what qualifies as legally recognised and compensable injury in medical negligence litigation. The orthodox approach in Australia is that expert witnesses, like advocates, are immune from suit in negligence. In Attwells v Jackson Lalic Lawyers Pty Ltd (2016) 90 ALJR 572; [2016] HCA 16, the High Court of Australia upheld, but narrowed, advocates' immunity. This article outlines the decision in the Atwells case and after reviewing Australian authority on expert witness immunity argues that, given the recent narrowing of the scope of advocates' immunity, similar limitations are likely to be placed on the scope of expert witness immunity with two effects – it will be less commonly available and less predictably available

A Behavioral Economics Analysis of Will Making Preferences: When to Begin and Who Should Have the Most Input

The global COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to plan for death, including the transmission of property through a valid will. Surprisingly little is known, however, about when people tend to make wills, how they go about doing so, and whether those practices vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. To begin building a foundation of knowledge, a research team comprised of United States and Australian lawyers and economists recently conducted the first-ever behavioral economics empirical study exploring these questions. This Article reports the results of the team\u27s survey of both members of the Australian general public and estate planning lawyers in that country. The research aim was to elicit and compare the attitudes of members of both groups on three questions: (1) when people should begin to plan their estates in anticipation of death; (2) the relative role that the lawyer (compared to the client) should play in the estate planning process; and (3) whether remote witnessing rules for wills--newly adopted during the pandemic in several jurisdictions including states in Australia and the United States--have any impact on individuals\u27 expressed preferences towards will making. The study yields three significant findings. First, members of the legal profession in Australia tend to prefer the execution of a will at a much younger age than members of the general public do. Estate planning attorneys tend to cite age 29 as the “right” time to make a will, but the general public tends to think that age 47 is best. Second, laypeople in Australia tend to hold widely divergent opinions on the appropriate balance of client vs. professional input into the estate planning process. Those who already have engaged at least once in the will making process tend to desire far greater levels of input from estate planning attorneys than those who have never made a will. Attorneys, in contrast, have relatively uniform views about the same question, tending to cite 70% as the appropriate percentage of estate planning decisions that should be driven by the client. Finally, among both members of the general public and attorneys in Australia, expressed preferences on these matters appear to be largely unaffected by any stated benefits or drawbacks of remotely executed wills. The survey\u27s focus on Australia was intentional. Australia is an industrialized, democratic country with both a largely capitalist economic and a history of innovation in the law of wills, trusts and estates. Furthermore, Australia\u27s population is smaller than that of the United States, making it easier to obtain a more representative sample. At the same time, we conceive of this study as the beginning point for further, cross-jurisdictional inquiries. Future research can explore whether or how attitudes about will making differ across jurisdictions, using the results reported here as a touchstone. Separate from any country-specific considerations, knowledge about when people make wills, how they do so, and differences between and among jurisdictions will allow lawmakers to make more informed decisions about whether to make permanent some of the pandemic-era rules that enabled the remote online audio-visual witnessing of wills

Expanding the diversity of mycobacteriophages: insights into genome architecture and evolution.

Mycobacteriophages are viruses that infect mycobacterial hosts such as Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. All mycobacteriophages characterized to date are dsDNA tailed phages, and have either siphoviral or myoviral morphotypes. However, their genetic diversity is considerable, and although sixty-two genomes have been sequenced and comparatively analyzed, these likely represent only a small portion of the diversity of the mycobacteriophage population at large. Here we report the isolation, sequencing and comparative genomic analysis of 18 new mycobacteriophages isolated from geographically distinct locations within the United States. Although no clear correlation between location and genome type can be discerned, these genomes expand our knowledge of mycobacteriophage diversity and enhance our understanding of the roles of mobile elements in viral evolution. Expansion of the number of mycobacteriophages grouped within Cluster A provides insights into the basis of immune specificity in these temperate phages, and we also describe a novel example of apparent immunity theft. The isolation and genomic analysis of bacteriophages by freshman college students provides an example of an authentic research experience for novice scientists

Lecturing Law with Powerpoint: What is the point?

The escalation of the digital age has seen academics who teach law increasingly adopt powerpoint software as a teaching tool. While this implementation of powerpoint reflects a prevalent commercial trend, the use of powerpoint in teaching is not justifiable unless it has the effect of enhancing student learning. Laurillard concurs: ‘There is no point in using communications and information technology unless it clearly improves the quality of learning in some way’

Sale of property gifted under a will by an attorney acting under an enduring power of attorney : Does the gift adeem and what is the attorney's duty?

The authors examine Moylan v Rickard and how the case illustrates the effectiveness of the Powers of Attorney Act 1998 (Qld) to provide remedies and other possible avenues of redres

Online Skill Development for Generation Y Students: A Case Study of an Online Negotiation Model for External Law Students

The majority of undergraduate students attending Australian universities now belong to Generation Y, and bring with them a unique outlook shaped by the social, political and cultural context of their childhood years. This change in outlook brings with it a shift in learning preferences, so to ensure a more effective learning environment for Generation Y students, learning and teaching strategies must adapt to address these preferences. In particular, research has shown that Generation Y learners favour experimental activities, the use of technology, structure and teamwork. This pedagogy has been adopted in the development of an interactive online model which adapts chat room technology to increase flexibility for external law students engaged in the development of negotiation skills in the undergraduate law unit, Trusts, at the Queensland University of Technology