Contents: Ch. 1. Discovering law studies & lawyers -- Ch. 2. Legal education -- Ch. 3. Origins of Australia's common law -- Ch. 4. The Australian Constitution -- Ch. 5. The elements of government : executive, legislature, and judiciary -- Ch. 6. The Australian courts -- Ch. 7. Judges, lawyers, the adversarial system -- Ch. 8. The legal profession -- Ch. 9. Development of the common law -- Ch. 10. Precedent -- Ch. 11. Stare decisis and the hierarchy of courts -- Ch. 12. Ratio decidendi and obiter dicta -- Ch. 13. Statutory interpretation -- Ch. 14. The categories of law -- Ch. 15. Legal writing -- Ch. 16. The skill of interviewing clients -- Ch. 17. The skill of dispute resolution - Ch. 18. The skill of advocacy -- Ch. 19. Using information technology -- Ch. 20 Looking for a job -- Legal style guide