NOTE YOUR INTEREST
The School of Law is excited to announce the opening of expressions of interest for our new online short course, Legal Advocacy Skills.
What is it?
This is a new, unique online course designed to make you a better legal advocate, wherever you are in the world. It is intensely practical, taught by two lawyers (one a barrister, the other a tribunal judge and academic) who have 60 years of combined advocacy experience. The expert tutors present the course jointly, in a ‘Bar and Bench’ delivery approach.
What will I learn?
On completion, you are equipped to:
- Understand the aim and nature of legal advocacy
- Frame high quality written legal arguments
- Conduct effective witness questioning
- Develop or hone key practical cross-examination techniques
- Take accurate, concise and informative witness statements
- Deliver effective opening and closing submissions
- Present a persuasive proposal in a negotiation process, to an opponent or your client
Whether you are starting out your legal advocacy career or you wish to improve your technique, this course will help you. There will be a wealth of hints, tips, techniques and examples to reflect the practical focus of your learning experience.
Who will teach and assess it?
Your course tutors are Mr Ian Whitehurst and Professor Derek P Auchie.
Ian is an English Barrister, arbitrator and lecturer specialising in criminal and regulatory law. He has appeared in hundreds of trials and appeals across a broard range of courts and tribunals in his career and has appeared also in offshore jurisdictions and international tribunals.
Derek is a former civil and criminal litigation solicitor, who became and academic and then a tribunal judge now sitting in four jurisdictions. He has represented hundreds of clients in a wide range of judicial settings, and he has chaired over a thousand judicial hearings. Derek is also an arbitrator and mediator. He has taught advocacy technique at undergraduate, postgraduate and professional levels.
How will the course be delivered?
It will be taught purely online across 6 weeks, by a mixture of reading, recorded lectures, interactive online activities and live online tutorials.
Student numbers will be limited for each delivery, to ensure a high quality, small group learning environment.
The course design is flexible, to be available to those with a busy professional life: the estimated weekly time commitment is around 9 hours. With the exception of three 90-minute online live tutorials (one per fortnight), you can complete the weekly work whenever and wherever convenient to you.
Assessment is based on your participation in the online activities and online live tutorials and on a single written reflective piece, due two weeks after the 6-week tuition period.
How much does it cost?
The total course fee is £1500 plus VAT, to include all materials, tuition and assessment. You will not need to purchase any reading materials, as you will have access to the impressive online library at the School of Law while on the course. All essential course materials will be available in electronic format at no additional cost.
Discounts for group course bookings, current University of Aberdeen students and Alumni may be available.
When will it start?
The course will commence November 2024. More detail to follow.
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST HERE: