Hypothetical Problem After working for several years at Lucky Star Caf as a full-time barista and kitchen hand, Frida Mahlo decided it was time for a career change. She enrolled as a 23-year- old mature-age, first-time university student in a four-year law degree at Digital University, a Queensland university offering online degree programs. Needing an income to support herself through university, Frida continued to work part-time for the Caf. During a particularly busy period at work, including significant overtime, Frida fell behind in one of her second-year courses. Rather than approaching her course teacher about an extension for a written assignment, she decided to take a shortcut to submit on time, copying a portion of her assignment from a journal article, and passing off the work as her own. The lack of proper attribution was identified by her teacher, she was awarded a mark of zero, failed the course and had to re-sit the course the following year. She was severely embarrassed by the incident, apologised for her wrongdoing in writing to the Head of the Law School, and promised not to engage in similar acts in the future.

Towards the end of her final year, Frida worked with another student on a joint written submission for a moot assessment (i.e. the submission was to be in both their names and they were allowed to work on the submission together). They prepared different aspects of the submission, combining their work for the final product. Frida is horrified when the submission is returned with a mark of zero. It turns out her colleague had copied some portions of the submission from a version submitted by a student the previous year in the same course and which was freely available on the Internet. Frida had noticed that some parts of the writing of her colleague were much more polished than others and wondered whether she should check the origins of those portions of the submission, but in the end turned a blind eye for fear of discovering the truth. While both students were sanctioned with a mark of zero, they were still able to pass the course. After completing her degree, Frida left Lucky Star Caf to take up a graduate law position with a firm specialising in intellectual property legal services. After completing her practical legal training over the first six months of her employment with the law firm, she applied for admission as a solicitor. In the affidavit supporting

her application she disclosed the two incidents of academic misconduct referred to above. She swore in her affidavit that in the second of those incidents, it was her colleague who engaged in the copying. The Admissions Board requested Frida to clarify whether she knew her colleague had engaged in plagiarism, and Frida replied that she had her suspicions but did not investigate. Frida relies on references as to her good character. One is provided by her long-standing boss at Lucky Star Caf. The other is provided by a senior colleague at her law firm, attesting to Frida's outstanding performance in her six months at the firm, that she had disclosed to the firm at th