Details:
This assessment task requires you to produce a memorandum of advice.
This will involve consideration of a set of facts which give rise to a set of legal problems and / or policy issues. You will be asked to set out for your client a legal analysis of considerations, including legal principles (including case law and legislation) and/or policy issues, or how a court may decide the merits of a matter.
Your written response will be no more than 2,500 words. Reference style must be AGLC
Please see attached assignment instruction and class not for how to write memorandum.
Microsoft Word - Law of Torts - Assigment 1 Instructions.docx 1 RMIT UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND LAW LAW1020 / LAW2397: LAW OF TORTS COURSE COORDINATOR AND LECTURER: DR TINA POPA Assignment 1 – Memorandum of Advice (25%) Due Date: 11.59 pm Sunday 25 August 2019 You are a junior lawyer employed at Townsend Riley Hughes Lawyers. Eric Townsend, the principal lawyer at your firm, has asked you to prepare a memorandum of advice addressed to him with respect to one of the firm’s clients, Sally Neuhaus. Sally is an award-winning journalist working for a prominent Melbourne newspaper. John Godiva is a freelance journalist who is also based in Melbourne. John and Sally have had a longstanding rivalry, particularly over securing interviews with celebrities and being the first to ‘break’ a story. In January 2019 Sally secured a coveted interview with an Australian celebrity which made John quite jealous. When the story aired a month later, Sally received national recognition and praise, which further infuriated John. By March 2019 Sally used her new-found fame to secure even more exclusive stories, including investigating serious affairs of corrupt or criminal practices. Sally’s award-winning status meant sources trusted her and confided in her. In May 2019, John became aware that Sally was investigating ‘something huge’ and suspected Sally was about to uncover corrupt practices in a well-known Australian organisation, involving Banker X. On a quiet Monday evening on 15 June 2019 Sally finishes work early to attend her weekly karate class. John is good friends with Sally’s colleague Tom, a sports journalist, so he happens to be in Sally’s office the same evening. When left alone for a moment, John sees this as a perfect opportunity to snoop around Sally’s desk in the newspaper’s open-plan office. He discovers some handwritten notes relating to the story on Banker X. Wanting a copy of the notes, and wanting to hinder Sally’s investigation, John takes the 10 handwritten pages of notes belonging to Sally. Through discussions with Tom, John knows the cleaners collect recycling on Monday evenings so he expects Sally will think the cleaners accidentally collected the notes. 2 John also sees Sally’s leather compendium containing an additional notepad. John knows he cannot get away with stealing the notepad, as it is attached to the leather compendium, so he takes out his mobile phone, picks up the notes and snaps photographs of the notes relating to Sally’s investigation on Banker X. The next day Sally discovers her loose handwritten notes are missing. She’s outraged and immediately suspects John. On Tuesday evening she marches to John’s house and bangs on the door yelling, ‘Open up thief!’ John reluctantly opens the door. ‘Where are my notes? I know you took them. I saw you snooping around the office the other night, pretending like you were there having drinks with Tom but I’m onto you. You were there to steal my notes!’ Sally sternly says. John feigns surprise and tells Sally it is not his fault she is a careless and disorganised journalist. In response, Sally pushes past the front door and into the corridor of John’s home. ‘Where are they?’ she yells. ‘Get out of my house now. You are not welcome here. If you don’t leave this instant I’m telephoning the police,’ yells John. ‘Oh yeah?’ yells Sally. ‘What are you going to do to stop me?’ By this stage Sally had made her way further into John’s house, past the corridor and into the kitchen where John was in the middle of cooking dinner. John grabs a wooden cooking spoon, stands menacingly and leans into Sally’s face shouting, ‘If you don’t leave my house this instant I’m going to chase you out and you’ll regret this!’ Sally grabs a wine glass from the kitchen bench and throws the contents towards John, with the liquid splashing into John’s face. John is so outraged that he grabs his briefcase from the kitchen chair, pulls out Sally’s papers and shouts, ‘Now you’ll never get your precious notes back!’ He walks to the lounge room and throws the notes into the burning fireplace. ‘And the rest? I have digital copies of all of your other work - so much for your exclusive story!’ 3 Sally is angry, so she shouts, ‘You are a lying, cheating thief! See you in court!’ She spits on John and runs out of the house. As Sally runs out, she tramples on John’s perfectly manicured front lawn and prized flowers which are planted in the front yard. Sally has now come to your office seeking legal advice regarding the incident. Sally has met briefly with your boss Eric Townsend to relay the incident that occurred and to seek legal advice. Eric is quite busy, so he has asked you to conduct legal research for him prior to his next meeting with Sally. You are required to: 1. Prepare a memorandum of advice to your principal lawyer, Eric Townsend, of no more than 2,500 words. 2. In the memorandum you are required to advise Eric whether Sally has any cause of action against John in tort law. 3. Sally is also concerned her actions on 16 June 2019 might lead to liability on her part, so she is seeking advice as to whether she also faces any liability in tort law. 4. In your response consider any defences that may be applicable and entitlement to remedies. 5. Confine your responses to tort law. You are not required to research criminal law for the memorandum of advice. Assignment Instructions to Students: The research should be a thorough coverage of the critical legal points and some conclusions should be drawn concerning the issues. Students should form their own opinions after informing themselves of the different views and relevant issues. Students should aim to examine this area of law at a deeper level than the level of the course lecture materials and a textbook. Your research should contain a variety of sources including: a) journal articles (targeted at academics and / or professional practitioners) b) case law 4 c) legislation d) tort textbooks Your own critical analysis is required, not just a summary of existing articles. Your referencing and footnotes should adhere to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th edition). A bibliography should also be included. Footnotes and the bibliography are excluded from the 2,500 word count. Assignment Submission Your assignment must be submitted online on Canvas via Turnitin. Marks Distribution Marks will be allocated generally in accordance with the following: Students must demonstrate the ability to accurately identify the facts and legal issues which arise as a result of the facts. 30% 7.5 marks Students must demonstrate their legal learning by applying the correct law (case and/or statute) to the issues and in doing so demonstrate their legal analysis and critical thinking in their answer in a clear and logical fashion. 50% 12.5 marks Students must reach a conclusion in relation to each problem. 10% 2.5 marks Writing must be clear, logical, and grammatically correct. The use of correct citation is required. 10% 2.5 marks Contract A Writing a legal memo Some things to think about when writing memoranda for assessment tasks…. and in the real world. ‹#› 1 Planning, planning, and more planning There is no one right way to organise a memorandum You can structure it as suits your purposes. The structure will depend on many things: purpose; reader's needs; instructions; nature of the issue; your legal findings; scope of research etc etc. This slide pack draws heavily on materials that were prepared for junior lawyers writing memos in practice* – but the principles are great for thinking about memos written for assessment *Gannage M, How to Structure your Legal Memorandum, Vol 8 Perspectives: Teaching Legal Research and Writing Fall 1999) ‹#› 2 There's no magic to getting started…… ‹#› 3 Table of contents? Completely up to you. Think about your word limits. Can provide a useful outline for your reader – helps them find specific parts etc If it's a long memorandum (say, more than 10 pages) it's a really good idea. Let "Bill" generate it for you. ‹#› 4 1. Background / introduction etc Describe the context. State briefly what you have been asked to do and why (e.g., upcoming court appearance, client seeking legal opinion, legal question arising from draft agreement, proposed legislation, bench memo for a pending case). Identify scope of instructions and research. Again, some would say optional. Brevity is key. Write it last? See later: 5. Conclusions ‹#› 5 2. Facts This part ensures that you and your reader are starting with the same information. It tells your reader the genesis of your research and analysis and the basis of your conclusion. It permits your memorandum to stand on its own. • Summarise all legally relevant facts as you understand them. If appropriate, do so in a chart, table, or diagram. In any case, be concise and precise. • Identify your sources. Some possible sources are your reader; the client (if he or she is not your reader); the file; your own investigation. • Chronological order is often most helpful (unless another order seems more logical and makes the information more clear, such as grouping sets of facts that raise separate issues). Separating and numbering the facts might make them more understandable. • If there is some disagreement or uncertainty about the facts, say so and state both sides. • A summary of the facts might instead come after the issue/question and conclusion In this case you can assume that the "reader" has provided you with the facts and incorporate them by reference….. ‹#› 6 3. Assumptions If you have legally relevant, unanswered questions, you might have to make certain assumptions. Identify them either in a separate section or by including them in the above section retitled “FACTS AND ASSUMPTIONS.” ‹#› 7 4. Issues State the legal question(s) asked or the issue(s) considered in the memorandum. They map your approach to the problem. • Articulate briefly, clearly, simply, concisely, precisely, and accurately. • Break down each