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70103 Ethics Law and Justice – Assessment Task 1 – Autumn 2026

Instructions and Marking Criteria Assessment Task 1: Essay

Intent: This task introduces you to essay writing in the UTS Faculty of Law.

Objectives: This task addresses subject learning objectives 1, 3 and 5. This task contributes to the development of graduate attributes 2 and 5.

Task 1 – Essay

Weight: 30%

Task: Written communication skills are critical to legal study and professional practice.

This task introduces you to essay writing at UTS Law.

Length: 1499 words maximum (not counting footnotes).

There will be no leeway on the word limit. Students who exceed the upper word limit will be penalised one mark for every one hundred words (or part thereof) in excess of the limit. (That is, students who exceed the word limit by 1 to 100 words will be penalised one mark. Students who exceed the word limit by 101 to 200 words will be penalised two marks. And so on.)

Due date: Monday, 30 March 2026, 11:59pm.

Essays must be submitted via Canvas.

Question

"It is a lawyer's duty to advocate clients’ interests as zealously as possible within the adversarial system and the bounds of the law, without regard for any other impacts, interests or consequences. It is only by serving the legal system in this way that lawyers can serve and promote justice."

Do you agree with this statement in relation to lawyers in Australia? To answer, critically analyse this statement in order to explain whether you agree, and why, with particular regard to the Australian context.

In your answer, you must refer to and critically analyse at least two of the following sources:

Vivien Holmes and Francesca Bartlett, Parker & Evans’s Inside Lawyers’ Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 4th ed, 2023) 28-56.
Nickolas James, Rachael Field and Jackson Walkden-Brown, The New Lawyer (Wiley, 3rd ed, 2023) 426-434.
John Littrich and Karina Murray, Lawyers in Australia (Federation Press, 5th ed, 2025) 106-126.
Martin Luther King, ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail’ (16 April 1963)
Nora Hanagan, ‘Preferring Justice to Order: Martin Luther King on Responsibility, Extremism and Democratic Politics’ (Conference Paper, Annual Meeting of the Western Political Science Association, 2013)
Judith Jarvis Thomson, ‘The Trolley Problem’ (1985) 94 Yale Law Journal 1395.

You are also encouraged to refer to other sources. You must support your arguments with evidence and examples where possible.

Use of generative AI for this task is strongly discouraged. Please follow the guidance in the ‘Use of Generative AI’ section in the ‘Get Started’ Module on Canvas.

AI is good at generating generic, general sentences (although it is not good at ensuring the truthfulness or reliability of those sentences). But this is an assessment that requires critical analysis, not just generic, general statements. Essays full of generic, general statements will receive poor marks. Only essays with detail, specifics, quotes and a clear understanding of the issue will receive good marks.

If you use genAI for this task, you must acknowledge its use in your first footnote in your essay and explain how you used it. For example: ‘AcaWriter was used to suggest improvements to the flow of ideas and the structure of paragraphs’.

Unacknowledged use of genAI can amount to academic misconduct and may carry severe penalties.

Instructions

Your essay must include an introduction, body and conclusion:

Introduction: The introduction to your essay must include a clear thesis statement (that is, one or two sentences clearly identifying your argument in response to the essay question). Your introduction must also provide an outline (or road map) of the main issues which will be addressed in the body of the essay, and the order in which these issues will be analysed.
Body of the essay: You need to confine and limit your response to the specific question. You are being asked to critically analyse the question, which requires you to be specific and not simply to describe issues at a very high level of generality. If you try to cover too many topics, or too broad a topic, you will fall into the trap of simply describing content, not analysing it – and you will lose marks!
Conclusion: Your conclusion must ‘wrap up’ your argument. It must not introduce new ideas or information.

In deciding how to approach this task, you should follow these steps.

1. Identify the topic: What issues does the question raise?

2. Review the assigned readings listed above: While approach additional research can be rewarded, you are not required to go beyond the subject materials and assigned readings. If you do engage in additional research, please ensure that any additional sources you use are relevant and authoritative. You should avoid citing unreliable material.

3. Develop an essay plan: Your essay plan should identify a logical flow between ideas in the body of your essay. These ideas should work together to build a persuasive argument, directly linking back to your thesis statement (that is, your answer to the essay question). Remember to stay focused on answering the essay question – we are looking for an argument, not just a description of everything you know!

Your essay plan should follow the following structure:

1. Introduction

2. Body:

a. section 1 (comprising one or more paragraphs, with a clear and specific purpose within your essay)

b. section 2 (as above)

c. section 3 (as above)

d. etc

3. Conclusion

You should structure your essay with subheadings to clearly distinguish different parts and sections of your essay.

4. Write your essay: Be prepared to write several drafts. Proofread and edit your essay carefully; check your grammar, spelling and footnotes. You will lose marks for inadequate proofreading or obvious mistakes. No bibliography is required.

5. In refining, editing and finalising your essay, refer back to the Essay

Marking Criteria and Essay Checklist (as set out below). Do not submit the

Criteria or Checklist with your essay.

Submission process instructions:

1. CHECK REFERENCING: All your referencing (footnotes) must be in accordance with the Law Faculty’s selected style guide, set out in the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (MULR Assoc, 4th ed, 2018).

2. WORD LIMIT: Max. 1499 words with NO LEEWAY. Footnotes are not included in the word count. Headings are included but not the essay question. If you exceed the upper limit of the word count, you will be penalised one mark for every one hundred words (or part thereof) in excess of the limit (i.e. one mark penalty if you are 1–100 words over, two penalty marks if you are 101–200 words over, etc).

3. INCLUDE YOUR WORD COUNT in your submission document (for example, at the top of the first page). There is no need to attach a cover sheet to your submission.

4. SUBMIT ON TIME: Assignments must be successfully submitted by the due date and time – 11.59pm on Monday, 30 March 2026. Late assignments will be penalised by 5% of the marks for the assessment task per day (that is, 1.5 marks per day) that the assignment is late, unless you have obtained an extension. Multiple submissions to Canvas can be made prior to the due date.

5. Information about how and when to apply for an extension can be found here.

6. FORMATTING: We recommend you use one consistent font and font size, such as Arial 11 or Times New Roman 12, and minimum 1.5 line spacing for your main text. Footnotes can be size 10 font and single-spaced.

	Unsatisfactory	Satisfactory	Good	Very Good	Outstanding
Argument clearly stated in the Introduction	The argument or thesis of the essay has not been included in the introduction. The introduction does not set out the structure of the essay that follows.	Attempts to state an argument/thesis in the introduction. However, the marker struggles to identify the thesis (which is not as clear as it should be). Provides some indication fo the structure that willfollow.	States argument/thesis in the introduction. Attempts to provide a clear structure setting out how the argument will be made through the essay.	Effectively states the argument/thesis that will flow through the essay. The issues to be explored in the essay are clearly stated and presented in a logical flow.	Clearly, concisely and effectively states the thesis of the essay. The structure of the essay is clearly stated and presents a logical and persuasive flow.
Demonstrated developing understanding of different forms of ethical reasoning.	Superficial and general. Does not identify relevant issues and instead provides a historical or descriptive account.	Demonstrates relevant knowledge and understanding but does not include sufficient detail. Satisfactory identification of issues.	Demonstrates relevant knowledge and understanding in sufficient detail. Identifies key issues.	Demonstrates detailed relevant knowledge and understanding of the topic. Identifies key issues and explains their relevance to the question.	Demonstrates superior knowledge and understanding of the topic. Provides aninnovative and comprehensive view of the issues raised by the question.
Development of coherent and persuasive argument(s).	Provides few or no identifiable arguments.	Attempts to develop argument, but may be poorly expressed and structured, which hampers clear understanding.	Provides a reasonable flow of argument, with some evidence to support argument.	Follows a coherent flow of argument, including addressing counter-arguments with evidence in support.	Follows a coherent flow of argument and integrates counter-arguments in a sophisticated way. Follows structure set out in introduction and ‘proves’ the stated thesis.
Written clearly and concisely with correct grammarand spelling.	Difficult to read. May favour passive voice or use colloquial expressions. Requires significantly more work.	Insufficient use of active voice. May contain superfluous words and phrases. May tend to paraphrase and/or incorporate long or unnecessary quotations.	Generally well expressed, but may benefit from a further draft to correct minor errors in grammar, spelling and expression. Mostly favours active voice.	Well-written, with only minor errors of grammar, spelling or expression. Mostly favours active voice.	Consistently clear and succinct. No grammatical or spelling errors. Favours active voice.
Accurate and complete referencing in accordance with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (MULR Assoc, 4th ed, 2018) (‘AGLC4’)	Referencing either not attempted or contains numerouserrors. Demonstrates little or no grasp of where a citation is required.	Referencing according to the AGLC4 has been attempted, but requires significantly more work. Demonstrates a basic grasp of where a citation is required.	Referencing is appropriate and in the style set out in the AGLC4, with only minor errors. Demonstrates a good grasp of where a citation is required.	Referencing is appropriate and in the style set out in the AGLC4 with only minor errors. Demonstrates a very good grasp of where a citation is required.	Referencing is appropriate and in the style set out in the AGLC4. Demonstrates an excellent grasp of where a citation is required.