Australia has a detailed and comprehensive consumer protection regime dealing with the supply of goods and services, including financial products, to consumers. Primary legislation is the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), found in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010(Cth); equivalent provisions in the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) (ASIC Act) applying to financial services and products; and, for consumer credit, the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (NCCP Act). This subject provides students with a detailed knowledge of key features of the consumer protection regimes underlying the supply of goods, services and credit to consumers, along with the common law principles and policy imperatives that underpin these regimes. The lecturers include one of the Law School's private lawyers with specialist expertise in consumer law, and a leading practitioner in this field of law.

Principal topics include:

• Purposes of consumer protection law
• The regulatory toolkit
• Common law doctrines underlying the legislative regime
• Enforcement and remedial strategies.
• Key consumer protection regimes under the ACL, ASIC Act and NCCP Act:
  • Misleading or deceptive conduct
  • Unconscionable conduct
  • Interest rate caps and responsible lending
  • The specific regulation of small amount loans
  • Unfair contract terms.
  • Consumer guarantees and implied terms

This subject examines the fundamental principles under Australian law relating to the provision of credit by financiers to businesses and consumers. The subject has as its focus the legal design of key financing transactions and the chief means by which financiers manage the risk of a borrower’s default or insolvency. The topics covered range from 'vanilla' unsecured loans to loans supported by security interests and more complex title-based transactions. The subject also discusses recent Australian reforms in the field of banking and finance law, including the Personal Property Securities Act.

This subject is a preparatory subject for the more specialised subjects in the Banking and Finance Law program.

Principal topics include:

• The financier–borrower relationship and key governance issues in banking and finance transactions
• Building blocks of banking and finance transactions
• Law relating to guarantees and security interests
• Legal design of more complex banking and finance transactions
• Recent legal reforms.

Blockchain is one of the most important technologies to impact law and business in recent years, and presents many challenges and opportunities for lawyers. Blockchain is revolutionising finance, eliminating the need for "trusted” human intermediaries and using computer code to facilitate automated transactions.

This subject is designed to introduce students to the emerging social, economic and legal issues associated with blockchain and cryptocurrencies. It will initially consider the extent to which we should allow regulation and government intervention to influence the development and adoption of blockchain technologies, including cryptocurrencies, balancing the maintenance of social and legal norms against the need to let a nascent technology innovate and disrupt. The subject will then analyse how to maintain rule of law through appropriate legal and regulatory levers. The subject is grounded in the law, but also seeks to be broad and interdisciplinary.

Principal topics will include:

• Introduction to cryptocurrencies and blockchains
• Introduction to smart contracts and governance design
• Regulation of finance and securities markets in the age of blockchain
• Initial coin offerings and their regulatory framework
• Digital identity and privacy
• Intersection of blockchain technologies with existing legal frameworks
• Legal services use-cases for blockchain technologies

This subject will be delivered online in 2020 over the scheduled dates.

This subject focuses on skills and strategies that are key to negotiating, swaying and influencing counterparties in business negotiations and deal-making. In this subject, skills will be developed by constantly improving as business negotiators by asking the right questions, framing issues, gaining lessons learned, defining success metrics and negotiating with others with different skill-sets, perceptions and backgrounds. The subject will have a particular focus on negotiations in cross-border settings. The teacher is a leading expert in negotiation training, having taught and researched at prestigious institutions such as Berkeley, Stanford and Harvard, and trained executives at some of the world’s largest companies. He will draw on both real-world transactional and academic experience in leading the subject.

Principal topics and skills include the following:

• Understand why conflict arises between people and business organisations, within both a domestic and international context
• Assess and apply various strategic frameworks in diverse settings (business-to-business, private-public sector, etc)
• Define specific success metrics within diverse teams and groups before, during and after business negotiations and deal-making settings
• Apply and leverage the main conceptual frameworks related to transaction planning and conflict resolution within diverse environments - including distributive, integrative, and mixed motive negotiation styles (among others)
• Analyse and synthesise business negotiation theories, skill-sets and studies as current or future business negotiation professionals
• Recognise implicit and explicit biases and nudges that may hinder or help business negotiations, while developing strategies on how to bridge and create value from such gaps
• Develop, and learn how to continually develop, a value-added business negotiation toolbox and confidence as business negotiators and deal-makers
• Understand key contractual terms that may pivot business negotiators and negotiations
• Enhance effective communication skill-sets, both verbal and nonverbal, and develop an empathetic understanding of how and why counterparties may see things differently from you and your business unit
• Possess an overall understanding of the nature of disputes and conflict resolution, including ethical, cultural, economic, psychological and emotional factors.

This subject will be delivered online in 2020 over the scheduled dates.

Equitable doctrines and remedies lie at the heart of commercial conduct, transactions and private law litigation. They provide unique standards of conduct that restrict and guide commercial dealings and a raft of powerful personal and proprietary remedies that dictate defendant liability when transactions fail. Over recent years their influence has been seen not only in important judicial decisions affecting commercial dealings, but in the raft of legislation that now builds on those equitable foundations. This subject considers some of the more pressing points of convergence between equitable doctrine and commercial practice, and examines their ongoing relationship with key statutory counterparts. In doing so, the subject is tightly structured to ensure that students are exposed to cutting-edge legal theory concerning court-led equitable developments and to the ramifications of those developments at the coal-face of commercial practice and dealings.

This subject will be relevant to transaction lawyers involved in planning, initiating and drafting contracts, for corporate lawyers and regulators involved in consumer and banking law and for commercial litigators. The lecturers are internationally recognised experts in the commercial applications of equitable doctrines and remedies. They are also exceptional teachers, evidenced by the consistently outstanding results in the student experience surveys for this subject.

Principal topics include:

• The role of equity in commercial transactions
• The nature of the fiduciary obligations, including the avoidance and ‘management’ of fiduciary conflicts
• Undue influence, mistakes and the enforcement of domestic guarantees in banking contexts
• Quistclose trusts
• The role of estoppel in commercial transactions
• Equitable remedies for breach of obligation, with special reference to gain-based awards and constructive and resulting trusts.

This subject will be delivered online in 2020 over the scheduled dates.

This subject is concerned with the regulation of financial intermediaries, including financial product issuers, broker/dealers, fund managers, custodians, financial planners and investment advisers. Orthodox approaches to the regulation of financial intermediaries have been under significant challenge since the Global Financial Crisis, with more to come. The subject combines a thorough technical grounding in the current law governing the provision of financial services to retail and wholesale clients in Australia with broader perspective on likely future directions in financial services regulation.

This subject examines the regulation of financial services providers and the legal dimensions of their relationship with their clients. In particular, it deals directly with relevant parts of Chapter 7 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the general law relating to brokers, dealers and financial advisers. It also covers the related topic of financial product disclosure.

Principal topics include:

• Policy underpinning Chapter 7 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
• Theoretical and comparative approaches to regulating financial intermediaries
• The Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensing regime
• Financial services disclosure
• Statutory and general law duties of financial services providers
• Financial product disclosure
• Roles and powers of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)
• The impact of new technologies in financial services: regulating for disruption.

.

This subject will be delivered online in 2020 over the scheduled dates.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are arguably the two least understood and most controversial international organisations. Both are key components of the international financial system. They also play a vital role in national economies (as seen for example in the IMF's involvement in the Euro-zone rescue and its analytical work on the historic rise in sovereign debt) and international development. This subject will focus on the IMF and World Bank while also providing students with a sophisticated understanding of the broader international financial system and its problems. It is taught by Katharine Christopherson, Assistant General Counsel in the IMF Legal Department, and Danielle Malek Roosa, Senior Counsel at the World Bank. The subject provides a valuable insider's perspective on the 'Bretton Woods' institutions.

Principal topics include:

• Key institutions of the global financial order, namely the IMF and the World Bank, including their history, powers, policies, practices and political and economic rationale
• The role of these institutions within the globalisation debate
• The linkages between these institutions and other institutions, including the World Trade Organization (WTO)
• The IMF, including its Articles of Agreement, IMF surveillance and conditionality
• The role of the IMF in the prevention and resolution of financial crises
• The institutions of the World Bank Group, their Articles of Agreement and their respective roles in promoting development
• The operational cycle of the World Bank, its financing instruments and policies
• The role of human rights and other ‘political issues’ in the work of the World Bank
• Current challenges to the IMF and the World Bank, and proposals for their reform.

Hedge funds and private equity funds involve the allocation and investment of trillions of dollars, ultimately in a wide range of financial instruments and numerous operating companies across a variety of industry sectors. In recent years, managers of these ‘alternative investment funds’ have become subject to heightened scrutiny from regulators and the media. This subject provides an opportunity to learn in detail about the structuring and operation of hedge funds and private equity funds, providing students with an advanced and specialised knowledge in the relevant areas of law, and will examine recent developments in these areas.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to hedge funds and private equity funds
• Dramatis personae
• Overview of regulatory issues relating to structuring
• Overview of regulatory issues relating to marketing
• Investors and due diligence issues
• Investment objectives and restrictions
• Legal documentation for a hedge fund
• Current issues related to hedge fund managers and investors
• Legal documentation for a private equity fund
• Current issues related to private equity fund managers and investors.

This subject will be delivered online in 2020 over the scheduled dates.

Newspaper headlines frequently concern global economic issues, from trade disputes between countries and investment claims by foreign investors against sovereign states, to countries facing balance-of-payments crises and seeking assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This subject examines the law governing global economic issues. It is designed both as a comprehensive introduction in its own right to this important field, as well as a foundation for further exploration through specialist subjects in the curriculum. It begins with a historical and theoretical background to the field before turning to focus on international trade law, particularly the rules and dispute settlement procedures of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It then discusses contemporary developments in international trade law and policy, including the negotiations for regional or bilateral preferential trade agreements. The subject then considers international investment law, examining key substantive obligations relating to investor protection and investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms (particularly through the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)). Finally, the subject provides an introduction to the lending policies and practices of international financial institutions, particularly the IMF and the World Bank.

Principal topics include:

• Nature, evolution and context of international economic law
• The law of the WTO
• Dispute settlement in the WTO
• International investment law
• Investor-state arbitration under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention
• International financial institutions (particularly the IMF and the World Bank).

In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, the visibility of finance and financial regulation has increased dramatically. This subject will provide an overview of the global financial system and international efforts to build structures to support its proper functioning. Taking an integrative approach, the subject will look at the evolution of the global financial system, its structure and regulation. In doing so, it will analyse financial crises, especially the GFC, and responses to it, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Principal topics include:

• The historical evolution of the international financial markets from Bretton Woods to the present
• Costs and benefits of internationalisation and globalisation of finance
• International debt and derivatives markets
• International prudential regulation and capital adequacy
• The rise of emerging markets and their integration into the global financial system
• Major international financial crises, their causes and implications
• Regulatory responses to financial crises and mechanisms for crisis resolution
• The international financial architecture and its evolution
• The impact of technology on global finance and its regulation: FinTech and RegTech.

This subject will be delivered online in 2020 over the scheduled dates.

The purpose of this subject is to give students an advanced and integrated understanding of the legal issues that arise in international financial transactions. This is achieved by looking at the principal transactions, analysing the ways in which they are structured and implemented, and identifying relevant legal issues. This subject provides students with an insight into cross-border transactions and the role of international finance lawyers. It is therefore of particular interest to lawyers practising or seeking to practise law in this area and also to lawyers and bankers in commercial and investment banks.

Principal topics include:

• The regulation of international finance
• Financing options: bank financing versus capital markets financing
• Debt capital markets
• Syndicated lending
• Techniques of loan sales: novation, assignment and participation
• Legal issues, including insolvency, security, the use of trusts, contractual rights and governing law
• Islamic finance
• Transactions: derivatives, asset securitisation and project finance.

International Legal Internship allows students to gain credit for undertaking advanced legal research and analysis on an approved international internship of at least eight weeks of full-time work in an approved international institution or organisation. This subject is focused on providing students with an opportunity to engage with legal and policy issues in contemporary society through work experience and further develop oral and written communication skills. Students are required to secure and fund their internships personally.

Students are encouraged to discuss their internship proposals with the subject coordinators. Students who successfully enrol in International Legal Internship must arrange a meeting with at least one of the subject coordinators both prior to their internship and upon completion, to develop a better understanding of research and the role of international institutions in international law and relations.

Is sustainable finance the answer to climate change, poverty and inequality? The purpose of this subject is to immerse students in sustainable finance in international practice, from micro-finance to green bonds, renewable energy and refugee financing. Across these markets, key legal concepts, structural features and documentation are covered in detail. By engaging in-depth, through term sheet negotiations, the students jointly develop the skills to assess, prioritise, challenge and negotiate these transactions.

The subject coordinator draws on his own experience in global sustainable finance, and invites experts from international law firms and consultant, to help you become ‘more than a lawyer’.

This innovative subject will combine classroom teaching with online learning. Students will be expected to attend four days in class and participate in online learning prior to the subject being taught.

Principal topics include:

• The Sustainable Development Goals, their evolving regulatory framework, their implementation by banks, funds and corporates in international practice
• Development Finance, the actors and the law, covering such diverse issues as sanctions law, immunities and aspects of state aid, as well as environmental and social law in financial transactions
• Understanding the structural features of international financial transactions with a focus on sustainability
• Inclusive finance, through microfinance, gender finance and small and medium enterprise (SME) lending, and relevant regulation
• Green bonds, SDGs bonds and social impact bonds, furthering sustainability the capital markets
• Local currency financing as a means for derivatives to provide sustainable development
• Legal aspects of renewable energy project finance
• Impact investing (private equity and funds)
• Examples of structured sustainable finance, for instance through refugee finance, vaccine bonds, drought risk transfer and microfinance securitisation
• Examples of litigation in sustainable finance, for instance the risk of mis-selling ‘green’ products, and legal means to address this risk in documentation as well as through strategic means.

Insurance is a cornerstone of effective risk transfer. It is often critical to the viability of commercial enterprises and transactions. However, insurance contracts and arrangements have become increasingly complex, and specialised knowledge is required to understand their operation and limitations. This subject will provide an in-depth understanding of liability insurance, which indemnifies insureds against liability to third parties, and comprises a large part of the insurance market. It will examine the roles and obligations of participants in the insurance industry, different types of liability insurance, key principles of the common law regarding insurance, and legislative intervention, especially the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth), including recent amendments to the Act. The lecturers are barristers specialising in insurance law, who for many years have represented and advised both Australian and overseas insurers.

Principal topics include:

• The structure and operation of contracts of liability insurance, and the main forms of liability insurance, including professional indemnity insurance public and products liability insurance, and directors’ and officers’ insurance
• The operation of the global insurance industry and the roles of various insurance industry participants, such as underwriters (including Lloyd's syndicates), excess insurers, co-insurers, reinsurers, captives, underwriting agents, claims officers, lawyers, insurance brokers and loss adjusters
• An overview of the legislative and regulatory framework for the Australian insurance industry
• The construction of insuring clauses and extensions
• The construction of exclusion clauses and conditions, including cross-liability, severability and non-imputation clauses
• The operation and effect of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) and its interplay with the laws of contract, equity and tort, on matters including:
  • The duty of utmost good faith
  • Misrepresentation and non-disclosure
  • Notification of claims and circumstances
  • Section 54 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) and remedies for breach of insurance contracts
  • Cancellation of insurance contracts
  • Rights of third party beneficiaries
  • Subrogation
• Double insurance
• An analysis of issues requiring further legislative reform.

This subject will be delivered online in 2020 over the scheduled dates.

Project finance is the financing of major projects. It often takes the form of a financing arrangement under which the monies raised for a project are repaid primarily from the project’s cash flow, with the project’s assets held as collateral. It enables the sponsor of a project to arrange financing with no recourse, or limited recourse, to the sponsor’s balance sheet. Project finance is complex in view of the number of parties involved, the security that is taken over the project’s cash flow and assets, the nature of the rights that are exercised by the lenders in respect of the project generally and the cross-border character of stakeholders. Project finance lawyers need to have an in-depth understanding of both the legal issues that arise as well as the commercial and operational aspects of the project.

The lecturer is a leading practitioner in this area and will introduce students to the key legal, contractual and structural issues concerning major projects and project finance, and analyse these issues in the context of a number of case studies in the mineral, energy and infrastructure sectors.

Principal topics include:

• Characteristics of suitable projects
• Characteristics of project financing in Australia
• Project financing techniques
• Identification of risk and techniques for allocation of risk
• Structuring financing requirements for a project
• Contractual arrangements
• Project financing default and remedies
• Case studies of project financing in mineral, energy and infrastructure sectors.

This subject will be delivered online in 2020 over the scheduled dates.

In recent decades, the rate of technological innovation in financial services has accelerated, posing new challenges for regulators and regulated financial services firms around the world. This course will provide a brief introduction to the existing technologies and business models used by established financial services firms and the regulatory framework that applies to them, before examining how new technologies and new business models are transforming financial services around the world. Different law reform strategies adopted by regulators in different countries will be assessed, as will business strategies of regulated firms to accelerate their rate of innovation. As national regulators confront the challenge of protecting local consumers in global markets, they may respond by collaborating with other national regulators, with extraterritorial enforcement of their laws, collaboration with private regulators, or ceding the terrain to private regulators. Although cryptocurrencies, blockchain and distributed ledger technologies may receive the most media coverage, many other case studies of disruptive 'FinTech' innovation and its regulation in both advanced and emerging economies will be examined.

Principal topics include:

• Commercial banks and bank regulators
• Global harmonization of bank regulation
• Payment systems and payment law
• Legacy technologies and internal controls
• Economics of networks and platforms
• Economic drivers of innovation
• Better regulation and new governance
• The rise of smart machines
• Evidence-based problem solving
• 'RegTech' is the new FinTech
• Faster payments/immediate payments
• Bitcoin, blockchain, distributed ledger
• FinTech regulation in the United States; United Kingdom and European Union; China; and India.