Are you interested in exploring emerging issues and concepts in the law industry? Presented by esteemed guest lecturers and experts, our Law & Justice Special Topics courses are an opportunity to discover exciting new topics not usually offered at UNSW.
Each term, you'll have the opportunity to participate in unique, one-off courses that cover a range of exciting topics and specialties.
If you enrol in one of these courses, the full title of the course (including the name of the special topic) will be shown on your transcript.
Check out the courses on offer in Term 2 and Term 3 2025 below! From the US legal system to marine insurance law and European private law, there's something for every interest.
Special Courses in Term 2 2025
Special Topics in Sociolegal Studies: Land, Law and Dispossession
In this course taught by visiting expert Dr Sarah Keenan from Queen Mary University of London, you’ll gain a critical understanding of the legal processes and social and political effects of making land into property.
The course aims to:
- Introduce some of the major legal, political and theoretical issues associated with land law reforms and regimes which dispossession particular populations.
- Give a historical grounding in the enclosure and marketization of land throughout the common law world and highlight the legal mechanisms through which this took place (including legal forms relating to land imposed through colonialism, development and financial securitisation).
- Develop knowledge and understanding of the populations dispossessed through land enclosure and marketization, as well as the tools to critically evaluate the relationship between land, law and dispossession (including critical theories of property, legal geography and settler colonial theory).
Sarah Keenan joined Queen Mary University of London School of Law in September 2024, after having held academic posts at Birkbeck, SOAS and Oxford Brookes. At Birkbeck Sarah co-founded the Centre for Research on Race and Law. They have held visiting fellowships at the LSE, Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, University of British Columbia, Osgoode Hall Law School, City University of New York Graduate Centre, University of Melbourne Law School and University of Wollongong School of Law.
Sarah’s work sits at the intersection of legal and political thought, geography, feminist theory and postcolonial studies. They are particularly interested in the malleability of the concept of property and how it might reshaped for a better world.
Special Topics in Private Law: European Legal Harmonization and European Private Law
This course, taught by visiting Teaching Fellow, Professor Ádám Fuglinszky from the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest, introduces the uses and methodology of comparative (private) law both at the European level and at the level of the EU member states.
The course will:
- Briefly introduce the relationship of European harmonization of private law with the national private laws of the member states and on comparative law and legal transplants.
- Analyse recent developments illustrating the interplay of European and national (private) law, including:
- Consumer protection among European countries regarding a direct remedy for specific performance (repair/replacement) against the manufacturer in contrast with fully harmonized areas such as consumer sales law, consumer contracts on supply of digital content and services and product liability (with a view on ongoing reform of EU product liability law regarding AI)
- The EU regime on cross-border successions by means of solving practical cases on jurisdiction and the applicable law
- The impact of European regulatory policy on the civil liability of railway companies.
Aiming to awaken interest for comparative private law and contribute to the understanding of the EU as a supranational legal phenomenon, this course would be of interest to students considering careers that might meet (and work within) the EU legal framework. For example:
- students seeking to apply for academic exchange programs in Europe.
- graduates who might enter diplomatic service and serve either at the EU or in any of the EU Member States.
- graduates who wish to keep up with global legislative tendencies on current issues having significant impact on private law.
- graduates who wish to be part to academia and have an increased interest for comparative and European private law.
- legal practitioners representing clients who may enter into contractual relationship with business partners in the EU or who may wish to enter the internal market of the EU.
Prof. Ádám Fuglinszky is a distinguished professor of civil law with an extensive academic background, having earned his JD from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, an LL.M. from Heidelberg University, and a PhD from the University of Hamburg. He has been involved in numerous international research projects, including the EU-funded GoInEu and GoInEuPlus projects.
Prof. Fuglinszky has served as an attorney and is also a listed arbitrator with the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to legal scholarship, including the Pierre Savard Award and the Rector’s Excellence Award.
Contemporary Issues in Commercial Law: Marine Insurance Law
Taught by visiting expert Professor Özlem Gürses from King’s College London, enrol in LAWS8851 Contemporary Issues in Commercial Law to learn about:
- The principles of marine insurance and how a marine insurance contract can be formed,
- what common perils are insured and excluded from marine insurance contracts,
- what the ‘proximate cause’ means and why it is significant in every marine insurance claim,
- what specialist terms are used in the contract,
- what duties are imposed on the assured, and
- what consequences follow in case the assured fails to comply with them.
Special Courses in Term 3 2025
Contemporary Issues in Global Law: US Legal System
Taught by visiting expert Professor Ray Campbell, from Peking University School of Transnational Law, enrol in LAWS8853 Contemporary Issues in Global Law for an introduction to the United States legal system from a global perspective, looking at the foundations of US Law and Governance, and practical aspects of the US legal system that are relevant to international legal practice.
Contemporary Issues in Commercial Law: Tax Treaties & Multilateral Obligations
Taught by Associate Professor Yan Xu, LAWS8851 Contemporary Issues in Commercial Law to learn about Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs), focusing on their principles, application, and the models underpinning them.
Contemporary Issues in Public Law: Foundations of Public Law
Co-delivered by Dr Harry Hobbs and Professor Rosalind Dixon, enrol in LAWS8852 Contemporary Issues in Public Law to learn about comparative constitutional law with an emphasis on Australia and an exploration of key emerging issues.