Section 1

Explain the court system and its alternatives

You will need to:

• Explain the differences between criminal and civil law

 A simple comparison is needed here, with some examples of what is a criminal and what is a civil offence to illustrate the differences

• Enalyse the role of individual courts and assess their effectiveness within the court structure Here you need to, briefly describe the role/purpose/jurisdiction/personnel/procedures of:

 Criminal courts:Magistrates court; Crown court; Court of Appeal; House of Lords; European Court of Justice

 Civil courts: Small Claims court and jurisdiction; County court; High Court; Court of Appeal; House of Lords; European Court of Justice

• Evaluate court roles in live cases/case study material and present findings

 Select an actual case that you can research  ideally one that has some relevance to your organisation or business sector  and evaluate the role of the court(s) which processed the case

• Explain the meaning of ADR and analyse its usefulness

 This is about Alternative Dispute Resolution  you will need to discuss its meaning, how it attempts to bring about conciliation; mediation and arbitration processes used; the advantages and disadvantages of the ADR approach

Section 2

Assess the finance of representation

You will need to:

• Explain sources of legal advice

 Here you will need to describe and explain the purpose of: sources of legal advice; the duty solicitor scheme; funding sources

• Assess implications of changes in funding

In the UK recently there have been a number of significant changes to the funding of legal advice and legal defence  including a major change to what is known as Legal Aid

• Evaluate the role of solicitors, barristers and judges

Just as asked Describe and evaluate the roles of these

Section 3

Evaluate the different sources of law

You will need to:

• Evaluate the current day importance of the sources of law

Briefly describe how these operate and their advantages and disadvantages: judicial precedent, statute, delegated legislation; Rules of Statutory Interpretation; European law

• Analyse the application of the sources of law in live situations/a case study and present findings

Select an actual case that you can research  ideally one that has some relevance to your organisation or business sector  and identify and describe the sources of the law which led to the case being brought to court, and on which it was judged

• Assess the effectiveness of the rules of interpretation

 Here you need to discuss how court interpretations (for example on the meaning of words, phrases, terms, or how a piece of legislation should be applied) and therefore decisions, are made. You will need to refer to Common Law, Statute, European Law, and International Law

Section 4

Evaluate how you would select an appropriate legal entity

You will need to:

• Evaluate the legal principles which influence choice of business entity in a given situation
• justify your choice of legal entity

Very simply, describe the pros and cons of legal entity: sole trader; partnership; limited liability partnership; limited company; public limited company and describe why one is the most appropriate choice for a particular type of organisation  and then justify your choice. Be careful, though, as such decisions are not always clear-cut and easy to make.