LAW4009D Introduction to Legal Skills 2024-25 Semester 2 Assessment Please submit your assignment electronically through Turnitin in Canvas. For full submission instructions see the submission guidelines in the assignme

LAW4009D Introduction to Legal Skills

2024-25

Semester 2

Assessment

Please submit your assignment electronically through Turnitin in Canvas. For full submission instructions see the submission guidelines in the assignment section on Canvas but please note in particular:

• Failure to submit, or late submissions without an authorised extension, will be considered as non-submission and you will receive a mark of zero. Allow yourself plenty of time to submit as IT issues are not grounds for an extension. Your assignment will be checked for plagiarism using Turnitin.
• In the assignment section on Canvas, linkswill be created foryou to submit the final version ofyour assessment,and it is your responsibility to ensure you submit the CORRECT work BEFORE the deadline
• Programme Administration and/or Module Leaderswill be unable to amend/delete or resubmiton your behalfany work which has beenpresented within the submissionlink.
• Your assignment must be in one of the approved file types otherwise it will not be marked.. The permissible formats are limited to the following file extensions:?.doc, .docx, .txt, .pdf where there is an exception to this it will be specified in the assessment requirements in your module handbook

• You should put your UB number on every page of your work. Do not put your name anywhere on the document to assist anonymous marking.

Please note that you should keep a copy for your records.

Method	Description	Final Element?	Weighting (%)	Length/ Duration	Test LOs
Coursework	Research and draft advice letter and letter before action		50	2000 words	1,2,3

Based upon the factual summary of the case of Zahra and Josephine below:

• Research and write a client advice letter for Zahra.
• Prepare and draft a Letter Before Action addressed to Josephine

Your letter should be in the format, style and structure of the sample letter/template placed on Canvas in week 9 of Semester 2.

The Letter before Action should be in the format of the sample templates provided to you in week 6 of Semester 2 and should be complaint with the CPR rules and address the issues set out on the lecture slides for that week.

You should reference using footnotes and a bibliography in the usual way. All statements of law or principle must be supported by authority.

The assessment MUST be submitted via Canvas no later than 3pm on Wednesday 16^th April 2025.

The case of Zahra Ali and Josephine Adeyemi

You are instructed by Zahra Ali, a partner at ABC Accounting Ltd.

Story of Josephine Adeyemi

Josephine Adeyemi left school at 16 due to personal circumstances. She had always planned to go back to school once she managed to get herself settled. Her dream was to be an accountant or a maths teacher as she was very good with numbers.

After leaving school, Josephine worked in a charity shop for a while and then went on to secure a job as a shop assistant in Primark in the city centre in Southampton.

Josephine was born and raised in Southampton. Living so close to the sea meant that Josephine had access to several water sports throughout her childhood. One sport she absolutely loved was speed boating.

While working in Primark, Josephine took up some night classes in ACCA (an accountancy qualification).

Once she had passed her level 1, she was conscious that she would need practical experience to become a certified accountant.

Josephine sent several applications to various accountancy firms over a period of 15 months and was unsuccessful is securing a position. Josephine then decided to continue with her studies and went on to complete Level 2 of the ACCA while working in Primark.

One day, a woman, Zahra Ali, came into Primark and needed Josephines assistance in locating the home section. Josephine is generally a friendly person and as they were going up the stairs to the 3^rd floor where the home section was, Josephine mentioned her quest of becoming a chartered accountant. As it happened, Zahra was an accountant herself, and they had just advertised a vacancy for a trainee accountant.

Certified Accountant at last

Josephine submitted her application for the role of trainee accountant to ABC Accounting Ltd as suggested by Zahra and was offered the position.

Josephine worked as a trainee for 3 years whilst continuing with her ACCA and eventually qualified as a certified accountant.

Zahra was a senior accountant at ABC Accounting Ltd and was Josephines trainer and mentor throughout her time at ABC Accounting

The Speed boat

Zahra, like Josephine, has always been active in water sports and owns a speedboat which she purchased several years ago.

Zahra used to go out on the speedboat most weekends with her husband and children. However, her children have grown up and moved to London for work. Zahras husband unfortunately passed away and she is no longer keen on speed-boating.

Early in Josephines training, Zahra had offered to sell the speedboat to Josephine. Josephine did not feel she could afford it financially and politely declined the offer.

Zahra had subsequently mentioned selling the speedboat to Josephine on a few other occasions and each time Josephine politely declined as she could not afford it.

At the start of 2025, the office annual new years party was held on Friday 10^th January 2025, which was exactly one week after Josephine had become a fully-fledged chartered accountant. As with all such parties, there was plenty of food and drink at the event.

Zahra only had soft drinks, but Josephine consumed around 3 glasses of prosecco (alcohol). Towards the end of the evening, Josephine went over to speak to Zahra and to thank her once again for all her support. Zahra took the opportunity to bring up the sale of the speedboat again suggesting that Josephine would now be in a position to afford it. As a chartered accountant, Josephine had received a substantial pay rise as she would now be in a position to deal with additional matters.

After a brief discussion, they agreed that Josephine would purchase the speedboat for 10,000. Josephine paid an initial payment of 2,000 that very night with an agreement that she would pay the balance of 8,000 in 8 equal monthly instalments of 1,000 each on the 10^th of every month starting from 10^th February 2025. There was a further agreement that if Josephine defaulted one any instalment, then the full outstanding balance would be due and payable immediately following the default.

They scribbled these terms on the back of a cigarette packet.

Josephine then got a job offer to work with KPMG in their London office and left ABC Accounting on Friday 7^th February 2025. ABC Accounting were very supportive of her new position and allowed her to leave without working her full notice period.

Josephine has not made any further payments, and Zahra has been unable to reach her via telephone or email.

The Litigation

It is now 10^th of March 2025 and Josephine has still not made any payment. Zahra has now come to you for advice on where she stands. Zahra is particularly concerned about:

1. Whether their agreement constitutes a valid contract

1. What steps she can take to get the full outstanding balance paid by Josephine (assuming there is a valid contract)

Based upon the factual summary of the case of Zahra and Josephine below:

1. Research and write client advice letter for Zahra.

1. Prepare and draft a Letter Before Action addressed to Josephine.

Learning Outcomes being assessed in this assessment.

LO1: Apply legal knowledge and understanding accurately and analytically to solve legal problems in academic and clinical contexts

LO2: Conduct effective legal research into primary and secondary legal sources, providing accurate and consistent references

LO3: Communicate legal knowledge, understanding, and argument accurately and effectively both in academic and clinical contexts

Marking Criteria.

The Standard Law Criteria is set out below.

In addition to that criterion, we will also be taking into consideration the following:

1. Have you followed the format and structure of the sample letter/template?

1. How accurate and applicable was your legal analysis?

1. The quality and accuracy of the advice given

1. The form and content of the Letter Before Action

1. The legal and procedural accuracy of the Letter Before Action

	Fail	3rd	2:2	2:1	1st
CRITERIA	Less than 40%	40-49%	50-59%	60-69%	70% and over
KNOWLEDGE	Insufficient details of relevant law	Some basic detail of relevant law	Reasonably good statement of relevant law	Very good statement of relevant law	Excellent statement of relevant law
APPLICATION	Fails to identify key issues, poor or no attempt at application of law	Identifies obvious issues only, weak application of law	Identifies obvious issues only, good application of law	Obvious and subtle issues dealt with, very good application of law	Excellent coverage of issues, excellent application of law
EVALUATION	Poor/no attempt at evaluation, critical judgment, or problem solving	Weak evaluation, critical judgment and problem solving	Reasonable evaluation, critical judgment and problem solving	Good evaluation, critical judgment and problem solving	Excellent evaluation, critical judgment and problem solving
RESEARCH	Very poor referencing, no research apparent	Weak referencing, evidence of basic research only	Adequate referencing, evidence of some further research	Clear referencing, evidence of some detailed research	Excellent referencing, bibliography, and research
COMMUNICATION	Inadequate spelling, grammar, messy and careless presentation	Significant errors in spelling, grammar, careless structure	Reasonable spelling and grammar, satisfactory presentation	Good spelling and grammar, well organised structure	Excellent spelling, grammar, structure, and presentation