Social welfare law has been ignored at law school for too long. It is the law governing social security benefits and grants for people who are unemployed, or are unable to work due to illness or caring responsibilities. The legislation is the Social Security Act 2018 and the Social Security Regulations 2018. Hundreds of thousands of people in Aotearoa NZ rely on social security to make ends meet, and yet there are almost no lawyers available to assist them when things go wrong. You can help change that!
The format and content of this course is unusual. It is a full year course, comprising components A and B. In addition to classes and academic assessments, students in this course complete real life case work for social security claimants (as far as possible). Note the following further points:
- Students must enrol in both A and B components to successfully enrol in the course. You cannot do one component without the other.
- The Semester One component (A) is 10 points and the Semester Two component (B) is 5 points.
- There are classes only in the first semester.
- The second semester provides the time needed for case work. There is no schedule for this. As far as possible, each student will be paired with another student to take on one case. Cases will be assigned as they become available from May or June. Once a case is assigned, the students will work on it as and when required until it is completed, or until the end of the second semester.
- Case work cannot be guaranteed; if no case is available, alternative work will be assigned that is as practically relevant as possible.
Class participation in the first semester is important in order to prepare you for the case work. Participation will therefore be assessed.
Numbers for this course are capped. When you enrol, you will be placed on a waitlist, and you will be asked to submit a statement of up to 150 words and an unofficial academic transcript. In the statement you will be asked to address the following two questions:
- Please explain why you want to take this course.
- Outline any experience you have (in your life, studies and/or work) that is relevant to social welfare.
The deadline for enrolment is 10 December 2024. Selection will take place after that, and you will hear whether your enrolment has been confirmed before Christmas.
Turning to the content and assessment, there are three main components to the course:
(1) Law:
In the first half of the first semester, you will study the Social Security Act and Regulations, the case law on this and the large volume of Ministerial Directions and internal guidelines.
This will be assessed by a test (written or possibly oral - tbc) before you commence any case work. The test will be worth 30% of your final grade.
(2) Policy:
In the second half of the first semester, you will study and discuss literature on the policy debates concerning social security. This will range from explanations of the policy objectives of the mainstream approaches to radical critiques.
Your engagement with these debates will be assessed by an essay (or possibly an optional class presentation - tbc). This will be worth 25% of your final grade.
First semester assessment also includes participation, worth 5% of your final grade. For each class in which you make a contribution to class discussion, you will receive one mark, up to the total available 5 marks.
(3) Action:
The third component of the course is the case work. As far as possible, this will take the form of writing submissions and, if needed, appearing as advocates for social security claimants who are seeking to challenge Ministry of Social Development (MSD) decisions. This will be either for an application for review to a Benefits Review Committee or for an appeal to the Social Security Appeals Authority. This case work will be supervised by lay advocates, possibly Community Law Centres, and/or myself. Students usually work in pairs for this.
It is important to note that sufficient work of this nature cannot be guaranteed for all students in the class. Any student who cannot be given the opportunity to write submissions for a review or appeal will instead be assigned alternative written work that will be as closely related to practical matters as possible. For instance, it may involve assessing MSD guidelines for their compliance with the Act, exploring law reform on some issue, or advice on a hypothetical situation that is closely based on an actual common problem (which can then assist other advocates in future reviews or appeals).
Your work will help address an unmet need for representation and advocacy in the social security area. It will also be an opportunity for you to see the law in action and gain invaluable practical experience, as well as to gain some insight into the challenges encountered by people in need of social security.
Your preparation for this case work will include not only your study of the relevant law, but also some classes on practical aspects of the work such as client interviewing. I also hope to arrange for most students to have the opportunity to observe some client meetings either at MSD or with lay advocates earlier in the course, before the clinical component.
Only your written work for the case work component will be assessed, and this will be worth 30% of your final grade.
Once you have completed the case work component, you will also write up your reflections on your experience in this course. You will be expected to write at least 750 words, and may write up to 1,500 words, and this will be worth 10% of your final grade