The emergence of Asia as an economic powerhouse is driving enormous interest in doing business in the region. This subject provides students with an opportunity to examine commercial law in an Asian context. Although parallels can be drawn between Asian jurisdictions in terms of their economic and legal development, their commercial law systems are too diverse to be treated uniformly. Instead, the focus is on analysing key legal aspects of doing business in Asia – including contracts, business entities, international trade, competition law, dispute resolution and the role of lawyers – by reference to systems and case studies in various Asian jurisdictions. Singapore and Australia will be used as reference jurisdictions. The lecturer previously worked as a lawyer and academic in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore and has written extensively on specific Asian business law topics.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to economic, political and cultural context of Asian laws
• Commercial contracts
• Business entities
• Foreign investment
• Overview of World Trade Organization and international trade regulation
• Competition law
• Overview of finance and capital markets
• Courts and dispute resolution in Asia
• The role and regulation of lawyers.

In this subject, students will act as lawyers advising an international investor in a hypothetical investment project in a developing Asian jurisdiction (based on real life experience of the subject coordinator). Students must identify the legal risks and potential disputes in this developing environment and advise ways to mitigate such risks and avoid or resolve disputes. Students will study relevant laws, draft contractual documents, analyse legal issues, give advice, negotiate with the local government, project finance lenders and other parties and bring the deal to closure.  Students are also involved in a dispute scenario arising out of the transaction.  After the subject, students are expected to have an overview of the key risks and potential disputes in investment deals in developing Asian systems and ways to mitigate such risks through negotiation and documentation. Students can also research more deeply into particular legal issues such as expropriation, change in law, currency conversion or performance by state-owned companies and dispute resolution. Throughout the subject, students will study different areas of law such as investment, administrative, conflict of laws and international dispute resolution.

Principal topics include:

• General overview of risks and potential disputes for investors
• Risks of expropriation
• Risks of illegality
• Performance by state-owned enterprises
• Currency conversion
• Permits and regulatory approvals
• Choice of law, dispute resolution and the arbitration process
• Negotiating with local counterparties and international project finance lenders
• Resolving disputes and closing the deal.

Islam does not, in theory, recognise a distinction between religion and law because for Muslims both are derived from their god‘s revealed message. The result is the inevitable tension between Islamic beliefs and the modern (secular) nation state that lies at the heart of the politics of Islam in South-East Asia. It has become the subject of major global controversies and conflicts in recent decades, as religious and political leaders compete with, and – in most cases – accommodate, each other. This tension, and the legal, political and social controversies that result from it, are the focus of this subject, which is based on selected comparative case studies of efforts to achieve legal Islamisation from a range of countries in Australia’s region. Teaching is led by a scholar who has conducted extensive fieldwork across South-East Asia and worked closely with Islamic legal institutions in the region. He is supported by guest lecturers specialising on South-East Asia, who will bring their own perspectives to class discussions.

This subject examines the relationship between the modern nation state and Islam in Asia, focusing on the 240 million Muslims in Australia’s South-East Asian neighbourhood.

Principal topics include:

• How the original Arabic-derived legal thought has been adapted in new Asian homelands
• The essential position of Islamic legal traditions as an alternative authority to the contemporary nation state
• Current political and religious controversies arising in South-East Asia. These will be selected from a range that may include:
  • Islamic legal codes and laws for Muslims
  • The Qadi, Islamic judicial traditions and courts for Muslims
  • Islamic criminal punishment
  • Interest-free banking, ‘Islamic economics’ and commercial law
  • Islamic approaches to the status of women (fiqh Al-Nisa)
  • Zakat and other forms of philanthropy
  • Education and the role of madrasa and pesantren
  • The introduction of revivalist Islamic codes
  • Islamic radicalism and terrorist groups in South-East Asia, including Darul Islam, Jemaah Islamiyah and Al Qaeda.

Payment systems around the globe have gone through tremendous changes and developments in the last decade. The technological and multimedia developments, recent financial crises, commercial changes and financial markets globalisation have all led to the emergence of new advanced payment devices coupled with a rapid rise in non-cash payment transactions. Fintech companies have been quick to follow this trend while striving to enhance digital payments. As payment transactions are a key component in any modern financial system, policy makers, courts and legal practitioners are now facing more challenges than ever before.

The subject deals with the law and practice of payment devices, focusing on the most recent changes and advanced innovations in the payment market. It is designed to provide students with unique knowledge of one of the building blocks of commercial and financial markets from a comparative and global perspective. In the course of studies we will analyse the main payment devices and innovative Fintech payments that are being used these days in Australia and other jurisdictions, while focusing on policy considerations, current legal frameworks, scholarly theories and business practices.

Principal topics include:

• Policy considerations in designing a payment system
• Characteristics of the Australian payment system
• Modern payment devices and their legal framework
  • The cheque as the paradigm payment device
  • Payment cards: credit cards, debit cards, stored-value cards and e-money
  • Electronic banking
  • Advanced payment networks (PayPal, Bpay, POLi, P2P networks)
  • Emerging trends - Mobile payments, digital currency (Bitcoin), contactless payments.
  • International payments.
• Consumers protection, in payment markets (unauthorised use of a payment device, stop payment order, error correction, distant payments, issuer insolvency, unused funds)
• Clearing and settlement (including real-time networks)
• The banking system and its effect on the payment market regulation
• Recent crises and the emergence of new payment systems
• The future of payments - an outline of the cashless society.

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. The lecturer is a former Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Regional Commissioner and one of Australia’s leading experts in the areas of funds management law and 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.

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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.

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.

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.

This subject involves the study and analysis of the structure, purpose and key provisions of cross border lending documentation, including large market standard syndicated credit agreements (governed by New York or English law). Students will focus on anticipating potential concerns and tensions in the negotiation process and will have the chance to review and study all the agreements and documents such as the credit agreement, other ancillary documents, schedules and deliveries that they will encounter in practice. Students will also study the structure and standard documents used in the cross-border repo market, one of the most important international capital markets.

Christian Johnson is the Dean and Professor of Law at Widener Commonwealth Law School in the United States. Dean Johnson has worked for large international law firms in New York and Chicago. In addition to teaching previously at Melbourne, he has taught lending and finance documentation to lawyers and bankers in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Professor Johnson has his JD from Columbia Law School and is a CPA.

Principal topics include:

• Study of the key interbank credit markets
• Analysis of the various structures and purposes of different cross-border lending transactions
• Discuss the key differences between New York and English law in lending transactions
• Review of the key provisions and clauses found in cross-border lending documentation
• Study of the key clauses found in New York/English guarantees
• Analysis of the key legal, credit and business issues in repo transactions.

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 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, and with the Australian Consumer Law,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.

Historically a computer was “programmed” by a human utilising a precise set of instructions. Within this paradigm the computer was able to “process” information “fed” to it and produce a particular output based on such programming and information.

The human input was clear and transparent. As artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved in concert with the internet, cloud computing, big data gathering, data storage and data processing capabilities and the ubiquitous uptake of interactive smartphones and other “smart” devices, the relationship between the computer and direct and immediate human stewardship or control of outputs has become less readily identifiable. In turn this has given rise to significant legal issues.

There are substantial legal implications of AI which require ongoing, flexible and informed responses from lawyers and legal policy makers. This subject seeks to inform practicing lawyers, legal policy makers and non-lawyers in respect of those issues and how they might be dealt with.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to AI. What is AI?  Where is AI headed?
• The legal issues raised by AI.
• Overview of current AI legal reviews underway in the USA, EU and UK and Australia’s response to these reviews
• Intellectual property issues raised by AI
• Criminal liability in respect of AI
• Civil legal liability – examination of who is (or should be) responsible/liable for AI caused loss and harm.
• Mandatory insurance schemes for loss or damage caused by autonomous robots or AI 
• The legal regimes governing use of AI in security, law enforcement and military contexts
• Privacy and confidentiality implications of AI

This subject examines some legal aspects of a modern entertainment industry – in particular, contractual arrangements and intellectual property rights, as well as publicity and privacy rights. Particular reference will be made to the United States, home of the largest entertainment industry in the world, and Australia, which of course has its own important entertainment industry, but other countries will also be considered. The focus will be both on the written law (with an emphasis on legal development and policy) and the law as it is practised, with the latter part of the course devoted to a contract negotiation exercise. Cases and examples will mostly come from the fields of music, book publishing, the visual and performing arts and live theatre.

Principal topics include:

• The entertainment industry and measures of social value; stakeholders within and outside the industry; need for law; range of relevant laws
• Intellectual property and misappropriation: copyright and neighbouring rights, moral rights, trade mark rights, publicity rights, passing off, trade secret protection and unfair competition
• Contracting in the entertainment industry: licensing, joint ventures, examples of contracts in use (such as book publishing, music touring, character merchandising), and processes and strategies adopted in negotiation
• Expansion of rights: technological developments, sui generis or incremental responses, United States and Anglo-Australian approaches
• Privacy and related issues: implications for industry practice and entertainers
• Practical exercises on negotiation and drafting book and merchandising contracts (explored in a workshop environment).

The internet has given rise to new modes of communication. Services such as Netflix, Facebook and Google pose significant challenges for traditional models of communications regulation. At present, traditional media are arguably among the most heavily regulated sectors of the Australian economy, yet new media services go largely unregulated. This subject examines the conflict between traditional regulation of old and new media. Australia’s current regulatory arrangements arose in the 1990s and reflect the structure of the electronic communications industries at that time – focusing on the separate and highly prescriptive regulation of broadcasting and telecommunications. The current regulatory framework is fragmented and complex, and covers not only technical issues but also sector-specific competition, content and ownership rules. Since the 1990s, however, the communications environment in Australia has undergone a period of rapid and profound change. The emergence and ubiquitous adoption of the internet as a mass communications system has provided new opportunities for Australian publishers and audiences by dismantling traditional technological, economic and regulatory barriers to entry. From national security to sport, this revolution in communications has profound policy issues for national regulation in a global communications environment.

Principal topics include:

• What is communications law? (including different regulatory approaches)
• Regulation of communications services, including radio and television services
• Australian content rules
• Control and ownership of broadcasting and communications enterprises
• Digital broadcasting law and regulation
• Pay TV and the anti-siphoning regime
• Competition in telecommunications (including regulation of anti-competitive practices, NBNCo and the structural separation of Telstra)
• Interconnection law and policy
• Spectrum allocation (including licensing and spectrum auctions)
• Consumer protection issues
• Regulation of internet content and filtering
• Multi-channelling of free-to-air TV services
• Regulation of new services and technologies, including convergence of media and Australian content requirements.

Privacy has been valued for centuries but now there is a resurgent interest in its protection as a result of new technologies, changing social norms  and a rise of markets focused on the commodity value of information. Overlapping with the resurgent interest in privacy is a related concern about the management of data flows, especially on the part of government agencies and business organisations. The legal frameworks that deal with privacy and data protection have a long history but are coming under pressure to adapt to a more complex modern environment.

Privacy and data protection experts Professor Megan Richardson and Karin Clark explore these issues. They pay particular attention to the scope and nature of privacy protection as well as appropriate limits and exceptions, the ongoing pressures for law reform, and the practical operation of privacy and data protection laws in Australia and comparable jurisdictions.

Principal topics include:

• What is privacy?
• Conceptual and legal definitional issues
• International and comparative privacy and data protection regimes
• Protection of privacy in general law in Australia and comparable jurisdictions
• The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth): regulation of personal information held by the private and public sectors
• State/territory (especially Victorian) legislative regimes for the regulation of personal information
• Current topics in privacy law such as privacy and the media, privacy and health information, online privacy (including anti-spam laws), telecommunications and surveillance privacy
• Current reform inquiries and proposals and likely reforms.

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 Australian Consumer Law and of the common law principles and policy imperatives that underpin it. 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
  • Consumer guarantees and implied terms
  • Unfair contract terms.

Cartel conduct is regarded as anathema to competitive markets and consumer welfare. Such conduct encompasses various forms of collusion or collaboration between competitors, the most serious of which involve fixing prices, diving markets, restricting output and rigging bids. These categories of collusion have been shown to raise prices, reduce quality and choice, and stifle business responsiveness and innovation. They are also hard to detect, prosecute and deter. Tougher anti-cartel laws and sanctions have been a high priority for competition authorities for at least the last decade. While there is a high degree of consensus around the world as to the core tenets of the prohibitions applicable to serious cartel conduct, there is a vigorous discourse amongst authorities, practitioners, business and academics regarding the most effective approaches to sanctioning and enforcement.

At the same time, not all agreements between business rivals are anti-competitive or detrimental to consumer welfare. Some, such as joint ventures or distribution agreements, may be driven by efficiencies or may be welfare-enhancing in other ways. Competition laws and their enforcement therefore need to distinguish between different types of conduct involving competitors based on their economic rationale and likely effects.

This subject refreshes and expands understanding of the economic principles relevant to collusion (or horizontal restraints) that were introduced in the first subject in the course (Foundations: Competition Law & Economics). Students examine critically and in-depth the main prohibitions and exemptions or defences that apply to cartel conduct and other types of collaboration between competitors. They explore who should be held liable for such conduct (companies and/or individuals) and what approaches are or should be taken to sanctioning (administrative and/or criminal). Finally, students explore and assess the effectiveness of the policies and tools that competition authorities deploy in detecting, prosecuting and deterring cartels, as well as learn about and analyse the vigorous debates that relate to private actions for damages arising out of such conduct.

Highlights of the subject include:

• Critical examination of the approaches taken to the design and application of cartel laws and sanctions, drawing on examples from different jurisdictions around the world;
• Use of the rich body of theoretical and empirical research relating to cartel conduct as well as analysis of actual cases and competition authority policy documents and guidelines to aid this examination; and
• Insights and perspectives from leading stakeholders such as competition authority officials and practitioners to assist students in grappling with the challenges posed by the design and enforcement of anti-cartel rules.

Governments strive to constrain runaway health care costs through competitive markets. This can be lucrative for private players and competition authorities are increasingly called upon to investigate commercial practices in the health care industry. The competition analysis must still take account of significant government and philanthropic service providers. Further, health care markets are susceptible to market failure due to information asymmetries, adverse selection, moral hazard and principal-agent problems. This subject explores the application of competition law to a broad range of such health care markets in the United States, Australia and New Zealand, with insights that will be generalisable to many other jurisdictions.

The teachers in the subject are from leading international law firm Jones Day and have many years of experience specialising in the application of competition law to the health care sector, advising clients and government agencies, and training government officials.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to competition law and economic concepts in the context of the healthcare industry
• Health professionals and competition law
• Private health care facilities and competition law
• Public health care facilities and competition law
• Health insurance and competition law
• Competition issues arising from intellectual property protections and therapeutic good approval requirements
• Industry self-regulation and participation in government processes.

This subject will examine in depth the implications of the transnational features and effects of mergers, unilateral conduct, cartels and other business activities for the design and enforcement of competition law and policy . Students will examine rules governing extraterritorial jurisdiction, discovery, recognition and enforcement of judgments, and extradition in the international competition law context. They will learn about the ways in which competition authorities cooperate with each other and the roles played by regional and international organisations and networks. The subject also canvasses the relationship between competition and trade policies, and the particular challenges facing small and developing economies in a globalised world.

Highlights of the subject include:

• Critical examination of how tensions between considerations of national sovereignty and international comity arise in the competition law context
• Exploration and critique of the ways in which governments and competition authorities are seeking to meet the enforcement challenges posed by anti-competitive conduct that has multi-jurisdictional effects
• Consideration of the strategic opportunities and challenges for multinational business organisations in managing competition law risks
• Special focus on the increasing significance of competition policy, law and enforcement in international trade and regulation and the implications for small and developing economies
• Insights and perspectives from leading stakeholders such as competition authority officials and practitioners to assist students in grappling with the challenges posed by the design and application of competition policies and rules in cross-border settings

This subject will examine the policy objectives underpinning consumer protection laws, including the intersection between consumer and competition policies. Students will develop a clear understanding of the key areas of regulation, including various forms of misleading and deceptive conduct, unfair practices and contract terms regulation, consumer guarantees and warranties, and product liability and safety regulation. They will examine key enforcement tools and mechanisms for consumer redress, focusing particularly on the challenges posed by e-commerce, and explore the often complex institutional arrangements involving national and international bodies, as well as non-governmental organisations, in this field. This subject is international and comparative in its scope and draws on examples from a wide range of jurisdictions around the world, but with a particular focus on consumer policy, law and enforcement in the Asia-Pacific region.  

Highlights of the subject include:

• Critical examination of the policy objectives and priorities underpinning, and the approaches taken to the design and application of, consumer laws, including variations between developed and developing countries in this context
• Case studies that illustrate the practical challenges associated with enforcing consumer laws, with particular emphasis on the issues that arise in the context of growing international trade and e-commerce

Insights and perspectives from leading stakeholders such as consumer enforcement authority officials, intergovernmental and nongovernmental officials and practitioners to assist students in developing a sophisticated appreciation of the issues facing the development and practice of consumer law and policy, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

Competition Law is an area of law with mixed legal-economic content. The central disciplinary underpinning of competition law is economics. It is therefore essential that those practising in this field, whether as legal advisors to business, competition authority staff, or members of tribunals or courts have a solid grounding in the economic theories, concepts and techniques that underpin the policy, law and enforcement in this field.

This foundational subject introduces students to the history and spread of competition law across the world over the last century and to the range of objectives, influenced by various economic schools of thought, that have informed its development in different places and at different times. It ensures that students are well-versed in core economic vocabulary, concepts and frameworks and the ways in which they are translated into categories of legal prohibitions and enforcement approaches, common to all competition systems.

The subject sets the foundation for the course, providing crucial groundwork that will equip students to confidently tackle the economic content of the remaining subjects in greater detail. While the subject includes material with basic numerical equations, examples and diagrams, it does not require students to have advanced mathematical or statistical background knowledge or skills.

Highlights of the subject include:

• Practical application of economic concepts and techniques through problem-based learning activity; and
• Expositions and insights from leading economists and practitioners on various aspects of economics and the role of economists in competition law and practice.

This subject examines the challenges and dynamics influencing the institutions that administer and enforce competition and consumer laws. It also explores the role of international institutions in promoting or enforcing competition law and policy and their various structures and modes of influence.  Although the subject’s focus is on competition and consumer authorities, the nature and role of central prosecutorial agencies, tribunals and courts are also examined. Students will be challenged to engage with a range of institutional issues including agency models, mandate, governance structures, investigative tools and processes, enforcement, compliance and advocacy and evaluation of effectiveness. Students will undertake an in-depth case-study on a competition or consumer-related body and critically analyse an aspect or aspects of its design, operation or performance against the principles developed in this subject.

This subject will provide students with international and comparative insights into a field of growing significance to practitioners in Australia and the region. While the subject will focus on the federal antitrust law of the United States (‘US’) and the competition law of the European Union (‘EU’), we will examine also the extent to which these two regimes provide models for other regimes, with particular attention paid to the Anti-Monopoly Law of the People’s Republic of China ‘(PRC’). The subject will explore how competition laws are justified, and the extent to which different regimes converge and diverge, and the reasons for this. An understanding of the US and EU regimes will equip students to analyse the likely responses to anti-competitive actions in many other regimes, and the focus on China will be particularly useful to students within the Pacific region.

Principal topics will include:

• The policy foundations of, and history of approaches to, antitrust law in the US and competition law in the EU
• The structure of the two regimes, the role of competition authorities, and the role of public and private enforcement
• Comparative analysis of the substantive laws relating to agreements and multi-lateral anti-competitive conduct (s 1 of the Sherman Act, and article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’))
• Comparative analysis of the approach taken to cartels, with an examination in particular of differing enforcement methods (civil and criminal)
• Comparative approaches to the treatment of oligopolies, with particular reference to the concept of ‘conspiracies’ in the US, and ‘concerted practices’ in the EU
• Comparative approaches to the control of monopolisation and dominant firm abuse (s 2 of the Sherman Act and article 102 of the TFEU), with particular reference to pricing conduct (excessive, predatory and discriminatory pricing practices)
• The development, structure, and application of competition law in the PRC, including a consideration of the challenges facing new regimes
• Comparative approaches to merger control in the US, EU and PRC, with particular reference to the establishment of jurisdiction, the operation of the substantive test, and the application of remedies
• Jurisdiction, extra-territoriality, and bi-lateral and multi-lateral cooperation mechanisms in the application of competition law

This subject will provide students with an in-depth understanding of the legal rules and economic principles that underpin the review of mergers and acquisitions and the types of information and analyses used to assess the competitive effects of these transactions. Students will examine how ‘special’ cases, such as joint ventures, failing firms, strategic and minority stakes, and creeping acquisitions are dealt with, and will learn about the procedures used by competition authorities and the strategies employed by merger parties in the review context.

Highlights of the subject include:

• Critical examination of the approaches taken to the design and application of merger laws, review processes and remedies, drawing on examples from different jurisdictions around the world;
• Use of the rich body of theoretical and empirical research relating to mergers as well as analysis of actual cases and competition authority policy documents and guidelines to aid this examination; and
• Insights and perspectives from leading stakeholders such as competition authority officials and practitioners to assist students in grappling with the challenges posed by the design and enforcement of merger rules and processes.

One of the means by which firms may behave anti-competitively is by engaging in unilateral conduct that damages the competitive process and consumer welfare. Such conduct may be described in various ways in different jurisdictions, including as monopolisation, abuse of dominance or misuse of market power. However, the rules that apply to it share a common aim, namely to target conduct by firms with market power that is likely to harm competition and reduce consumer welfare.

Anti-competitive unilateral conduct generally involves conduct by a firm that has substantial or monopoly/monopsony power in a market and uses that power to implement a strategy that is likely to harm competition. Debates and divergence between jurisdictions in relation to unilateral conduct relate to the level of power that should trigger legal prohibitions, the types of strategies that are likely to have anti-competitive effects and how such effects should be established and assessed. In recent years, such debates have focussed on conduct by large firms in the information technology sector.

This subject explores the approaches used by competition authorities to address anti-competitive unilateral conduct. Differences in approach between jurisdictions are critically analysed. Building on learning in previous subjects, the subject examines what is meant by unilateral market power and the conditions that enable unilateral power to be used to implement an anti-competitive strategy. Unilateral conduct that gives rise to a competition concern may take various forms, the most common categories of which are analysed in detail in this subject. Such categories include conduct involving refusals to supply and predatory pricing. However, a difficulty in addressing anti-competitive behaviour of this type is that it is not readily distinguishable from highly aggressive competition. Given this, various tests that have been used and the evidence relevant to making this distinction are examined. Seminal decisions by competition authorities and courts as well as industry case studies are used to provide insights into the competition analysis of unilateral conduct.

Highlights of the subject include:

• Critical examination of the approaches taken to the design and application of unilateral conduct laws, drawing on examples from different jurisdictions around the world;
• In-depth case studies of unilateral conduct in a range of industry sectors with a view to ensuring students can properly analyse the rationales for such conduct and assess their likely effects on competition; and
• Insights and perspectives from leading stakeholders such as competition authority officials and practitioners to assist students in grappling with the challenges posed by the design and enforcement of unilateral conduct rules.

Big Data is a big deal in today’s digital data-driven economy. Together with Big Analytics, it is increasingly central to strategic decision-making as companies strive for a 'data advantage' over rivals. Data-driven mergers are on the rise and there are growing risks of algorithmic coordination with anti-competitive effects. Data-based business strategies have significant implications for competition policy and law. Competition authorities around the world are grappling with big questions regarding data in defining markets and assessing market power.  Close attention is being paid to questions concerning the collection and use of data in the settings of merger review and abuse of dominance and cartel investigations. At the same time, the intersection between competition, consumer protection and privacy is raising important institutional questions for the allocation and coordination of policy, regulatory and legal responses. 

This subject will explore global developments in this complex and fast-moving field. Drawing on the latest literature and major cases and inquiries, it will equip students to critically engage with and meet the challenges posed for business and its advisors and for policymakers, regulators and law enforcers in the Big Data era. 

Principal topics will include:

• Defining Big Data
• Debating the competitive significance of Big Data
• Competition law tools in the era of Big Data
• Big Data and merger review
• Big Data and abuse of dominance
• Big Data and collusion
• Regulating Big Data 

Advanced Construction Law is designed as a capstone subject, explicitly aimed at enhancing students’ ability to make a significant contribution to the ongoing development of construction law in Australia and overseas. The emphasis is on analysing and testing cutting-edge case law, commentary and other legal developments in the classroom and via research papers.

In addition to the core areas of time (including delay claims methodologies), workscope/variations, defective work and security, detailed treatment is given to extra-contractual remedies such as those under the Australian Consumer Law and those based on unjust enrichment and negligence.

Principal topics include claims in the following categories:

• Time: risk allocation, delay, liability for delay, extensions of time
• Methods for assessment of delay
• Concurrency, causation, damages and additional cost, assessment and analysis
• Prevention and liquidated damages: recent developments
• Scope of work: variations, adjustments under the contract
• Quality: measure of quality, identification and breach of required standard
• Assessment of quality and damages
• Security: for performance and for payment, access to security
• Australian Consumer Law: application in construction, tender documents
• Passing on of misleading and deceptive documents, unconscionable conduct, remedies
• Interpretation of contracts
• Equitable remedies
• Restitution: unjust enrichment, statutory exclusion, quantum meruit
• Payment: progress payments—certification and adjudication
• Negligence in construction.

This subject develops advanced skills in the drafting and analysis of construction contracts. It covers several standard forms of construction contract, including a Standards Australia contract and an International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) contract.  The subject teaches best practice in plain English drafting techniques and provides ample opportunity for students to exercise and be tested on their drafting skills. Students will be given individual comments on their work during the subject.

The subject lecturer and highly respected guest lecturers bring to the classroom extensive practising and academic experience in construction contracts.

This subject is designed to give students a sound understanding of the law concerning express and implied terms and the interpretation of contracts. It is also designed to develop and enhance students’ abilities to draft, analyse and administer construction contracts at an advanced level. Close study and comparison of standard forms of construction contract is a major feature of the subject. So too is the development of individual drafting skills.

Principal topics include:

• Techniques for contract drafting
• Express and implied contractual terms
• Contract interpretation and analysis
• The ongoing debate within the industry as to the role and utility of standard-form contracts.

To provide valuable advice to clients in the construction industry, lawyers need an integrated understanding of the legal and technical aspects of this specialised area of practice. This subject is designed to build such an understanding and to expose students to a wide range of construction law-related topics in an interdisciplinary mode. Students will learn about the key legal principles that are specific to construction law (from project inception through to dispute avoidance and resolution) and their interaction with the technical underpinnings of construction practice. In addition to classroom discussion, students have the opportunity to see principles put into practice through construction site visits and detailed case studies.

The subject lecturers bring to the classroom a combined, multi-disciplinary experience of decades in advising clients in the construction industry

A range of topics is covered in an interdisciplinary mode, integrating a detailed case study and site visit. Such topics may include:

• Setting up the project: delivery methods, standard forms, subcontracting, costing, risk mitigation (including insurance and performance security)
• Key technical principles: construction technology, engineering services and structures, geotechnical engineering (including the legal treatment of latent conditions), sustainability and building information modelling
• During the project: contract administration, time and programming, payment, variations, major plant deployment, cost control, dispute avoidance and resolution.

This subject provides a detailed overview of construction law, projects and practice in five representative Asian jurisdictions: the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore and South Korea. Through detailed explanation, analysis and case studies, students will gain an integrated and advanced understanding of the key features of each jurisdiction, both in isolation and in a comparative context. Students will develop their capacity to operate and advise in and across these jurisdictions as well as deriving lessons for application in their home jurisdiction.

Dr Arthur McInnis is the principal subject lecturer. He is the former head of the Construction Practice Group at Clifford Chance in Hong Kong. He has published extensively and lectured widely on construction topics throughout Asia

The subject provides a detailed introduction to construction law, projects and practice in five Asian jurisdictions, with reference to:

• The size and importance of opportunities and trends in their construction sectors
• Their key legal and regulatory frameworks, tender practices and project management norms
• The principal standard forms of contract in use
• Recent build-own-transfer, build-lease-transfer and design-build-finance-operate projects, and planned public-private partnerships in economic and social infrastructure
• Their resource management, financing, innovation and competitiveness on a comparative basis in the development of their construction sectors in the wider Australasian building and projects market
• Detailed case studies on construction, currently planned to include: the Beijing Metro No 4 Line and Mass Transit Railway (MTR) international projects; planning, financing, construction and appraisal of the Anhwa school project in Korea; recent NEC-procured pilot projects in Hong Kong; tendering, construction, operation and issues surrounding the Taiwan High Speed Rail project; and tendering, financing, construction and operation of the Singapore Sports Hub.

This subject will provide a detailed overview of construction law, projects and practice in four representative Middle Eastern jurisdictions: the United Arab Emirates (with a focus on Dubai and Abu Dhabi), Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Oman, with some further brief comparative analysis of Egypt, Iraq and Iran. Through detailed explanation, analysis and case studies, students will develop an advanced and integrated understanding of the key construction law-related features of each jurisdiction. The detailed treatment of both the aspects which are distinctive in each jurisdiction and those which are cross-cutting is designed to enhance the advanced knowledge and integrated understanding of students who already practice in one or more of these jurisdictions and those who are looking to expand their range of practice into them. 

The subject coordinators, William Marshall, Jeremie Witt and Debbie Barbour, bring to the subject extensive experience as construction and project finance lawyers from the Middle East. 

The subject will provide a detailed introduction to construction law, projects and practice in four Middle Eastern jurisdictions with reference to:

• The size, importance of, opportunities and trends in their construction sectors
• Their key legal and regulatory frameworks, tender practices, and project management norms
• Their principal standard forms of contract in use
• New developments surrounding modelling systems for monitoring cost, quality, and risk factors for sponsors, contractors and consultants
• Their resource management, financing, innovation and competitiveness in the development of their construction sectors, with particular focus on non-oil and gas sectors, and also considering 'contractor financing' as a means of project financing and delivery
• Detailed case studies on construction, which might include (subject to confirmation in the year of subject delivery) the Abu Dhabi International Airport project, planning and construction of the Dubai Metro project and the initial attempts to deliver under a PPP structure, the Dubai Creek canal extension and 'contractor financing', the construction of the Saudi Stock Exchange and the issues of contract risk allocation, the Doha Metro project, Qatar Airport developments and issues relevant to the Qatar 2022 World Cup, and Mussandam Gas Plant project, in Oman. 

Risk and insurance are at the heart of all construction projects, yet their role and detailed provisions are often misunderstood, leading to significant losses and disputation. The already-sophisticated contracting landscape has, in recent years, been made significantly more complicated by the introduction of proportionate liability reforms. This subject will examine these issues with particular emphasis on how risk can be managed to minimise losses.

The lecturers are expert navigators in relation to these complex issues. They have leading-edge expertise in advising on risk, security for performance and insurance in the construction context.

Principal topics include:

• Identifying risk in a construction project and how various industry participants (including principals, contractors, designers, professional advisers, insurers, security providers, and statutory and government authorities) may bear responsibility
• Philosophies and commercial drivers affecting risk allocation in construction contracts and consultancy agreements, and how these are reflected in standard forms
• Security for performance mechanisms, including cash retentions, unconditional undertakings, parent guarantees, insurance bonds, adjudication bonds and other instruments
• Insurance products available to the construction industry (including public liability, works insurance, professional indemnity workers’ compensation and domestic building insurance) and the law relating to them, including regulation by legislation, common law principles and treatment under standard-form construction contracts and consultancy agreements
• Proportionate liability regimes (including Part IVAA of the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic)) and their impact on contract risk allocation.

Cross-border construction contracting, and the avoidance and conduct of disputes, has a distinctive character and content. Lawyers and industry professionals need to be familiar with the differences between legal systems and the impact of statutory law, the key issues in the international financing and procurement of projects, the range of standard form international contracts available for various delivery methodologies, and the options for, and methods of dealing with, dispute resolution, along with the intricacies associated with those processes in an international context.

Principal topics include:

• Discussion of the key differences between common law and civil law, and how they impact on the practice of construction law in different jurisdictions
• The role of statute law applicable to the construction site, such as security of payment and mechanics’ lien legislation
• Key issues in the financing and delivery of international construction projects, including alternative financing such as PPP
• Standard-form contracts for international construction projects (including the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) suite and variants promulgated by multilateral development banks)
• The main distinctions of principle and practice between the prosecution, determination or resolution of construction disputes in different jurisdictions
• An examination of international bodies dealing with the determination or resolution of international construction disputes
• An introduction to the jurisdictional, applicable law and procedural framework for the prosecution, determination and enforcement of construction disputes through international arbitration
• Identification and consideration of contractual and extra-contractual alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and dispute avoidance procedures (DAPs) in the context of international construction.

Construction industry personnel and their lawyers are increasingly aware of the need to anticipate the legal implications of communication and ‘issue management’ throughout the project life cycle. Therefore, this subject aims to equip industry professionals and lawyers with the skills necessary to identify and proactively manage legal risk during the procurement and delivery phases. Complementing other subjects within Melbourne Law School’s construction law program that examine legal risks and their management, this subject provides practical insights into key aspects of the legal/project interface, including tendering and contract preparation procedures that efficiently ‘document the deal’ and contract administration techniques that minimise disputation.

The subject lecturers are practising lawyers who have substantial expertise and experience in advising during the various phases of a project, enabling students to develop an advanced and critical understanding of this specialised area of law.

Principal topics include:

• An exploration of the concept of legal risk and how it manifests in construction projects
• Project inception, including project feasibility and financing
• Procurement model selection and alternative contracting models and an analysis of the pillars of success in relation to each of the procurement models
• An analysis of pre-tender documentation, including consortium and joint venture agreements; an analysis of tender documentation including expressions of interest and requests for tender; and an analysis of the considerations when responding to a request for tender
• Legal risks to be managed during the pre-tender and tendering phase
• Analysis of the key project risks and their allocation and adoption between a contractor and client under a construction contract, as well as an introduction to qualitative and quantitative risk assessment
• Analysis of the key features of a construction contract and the negotiation positions available to a contractor and client in negotiating a construction contract (this will include consideration of alternative approaches and legal risks to be considered by contractors and clients in the negotiation of these obligations)
• The interface between the project management and legal disciplines, including a consideration of the ethical dilemmas that confront construction professionals
• Risk identification and mitigation strategies employed during the delivery phase and their role in avoiding unnecessary disputation
• Administering (making and assessing) claims for time and cost under construction contracts
• Managing sub-contract and interface risk (including a consideration of building information modelling (BIM))
• Managing the ‘paper war’ during the delivery phase: gaining, keeping, sharing and losing privilege in communications on and off site
• Managing defects to the works: reaching completion and post-completion issues
• A consideration of the practicalities of construction dispute resolution.

Payment has always been at the heart of construction contracting, and payment disputes have been—and remain—at the centre of construction law case law. This subject aims to provide students with a detailed understanding of the contractual procedures for payment and associated issues such as set-off. Its major focus is upon the ‘security of payment’ reforms of recent years. This state and territory-based legislation was designed to simplify the payment stream and disputation yet, in practice, has spawned hundreds of court cases, further complicating the contracting landscape for construction projects. The lecturers are based in the two states that have been at the forefront of the reforms—Queensland and New South Wales—and are therefore well-placed to guide students through this area of law.

Principal topics include:

• Payment processes under construction contracts, including treatment under standard forms and the impact of the security of payment legislation enacted in various jurisdictions
• History and policy underpinnings of the security of payment legislation, including comparison of the regimes in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand
• Processes to resolve payment disputes, including those under security of payment legislation (with detailed consideration of bases for judicial review of such processes)
• Associated issues, including set-off, securing payment to workers and subcontractors, and means of dealing with the consequences of late payment.

The concepts of urban sustainability are driving the regulation of the built form of our increasingly large, complex and smart cities. The global sustainable development goals have also led urban regulators to embrace more participatory and innovative forms of governance for our society and economy.

This subject explores how those concepts apply in the regulation of planning and construction and the framework and governance for the development of smart, resilient and sustainable cities. In particular, it will focus on the role of municipal and state laws in achieving liveable communities.

The subject will cover the Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD) Local Planning Policies and consider whether planning regulation in Victoria incorporates best practice in environmental assessment. It will explore the interesting tension between building and planning law and the respective contribution of each in driving sustainable outcomes.

Another component of this subject will follow the introduction of building information modelling (BIM) arising out of the architecture, engineering and construction management sectors. This topic offers a further but alternate perspective of shifting regulatory dynamics that pitch towards sustainability objectives, whether on built environment projects or across broad-scaled applications.

This subject has been designed for those interested in the intersection between planning and construction law and environmental law. The course includes guest lectures, visiting some of Melbourne’s iconic green buildings and assessing urban planning initiatives, such as the Queen Victoria Market Redevelopment, for their contribution to the development of Melbourne as a sustainable city.

Principal topics include:

• Sustainability in the city; exploring new ideas on what sustainable development means in an urban setting, policy priorities for sustainability, ideas of new governance for sustainability, and new economic and legal models to achieve sustainability outcomes
• Green building and climate change developments, directions and policy, including resilience and risk
• Urban planning and sustainability, including the use and role of land-use planning laws and local governance to achieve improved sustainability features in the built urban environment, focusing on Victorian laws
• The broad regulatory setting for green buildings and urban sustainability, including a sustainability analysis of the National Construction Code
• Sustainability rating tools for energy efficiency and the regulation of green buildings, through voluntary and mandatory schemes, including GreenStar and BASIX, and a comparison of green rating and standard tools in Australia (NABERS), the United States (LEED) and the United Kingdom and Europe (BREEAM)
• An introduction to building information modelling (BIM) relative to sustainability opportunities and challenges, from construction projects and local and international policy perspectives
• An applied case study analysis of how integrated sustainable urban construction law works in practice.

This subject is designed for construction law students without prior legal training (Construction Law is for students who have a law degree). It provides an overview of the broad spread of the construction law curriculum, from the statutory and common law landscape through legal aspects of project procurement and contracting to dispute avoidance and resolution options. This subject also provides detailed treatment of legal issues specific to construction law such as variations, quality, time and payment. The seminar format is supplemented by exercises to develop students’ skills in contract preparation and writing legal hypotheticals, and includes sessions on construction law research tools and techniques.

Principal topics include:

• Overview of the regulatory regime for construction contracting
• Causes of action in construction disputes
• Contracting methodologies
• Contract administration: standard forms of contract, tendering, contract preparation and minimising legal exposure
• Role and liability of superintendents
• Issues relating to sub-contracts
• Variations
• Quality of work
• Latent conditions
• Time, programming and liquidated damages
• Contractual mechanisms for payment and security of payment legislation
• Security for performance
• Insurance
• Dispute avoidance procedures and alternative dispute resolution
• Construction litigation and arbitration (domestic and international).

Private sector involvement in the financing, delivery and operation of public infrastructure is nothing new; it is, however, constantly evolving. The public appetite for social and economic infrastructure is insatiable, yet must constantly be tempered by economic constraints. Alongside the increasingly sophisticated and internationalised market for funding and technical capacity, there has been in recent years a renewed focus upon the policy bases for public private partnerships (PPPs) by governments and the broader community. Navigating all this in its legal context is one of the great ongoing challenges faced by the construction industry and its legal advisers. This subject, taught by two leaders in the field who bring a wealth of experience to the classroom, is designed to equip students to respond to this challenge.

Principal topics include:

• Historical perspectives on private involvement in the delivery of public infrastructure, how it has changed over time and lessons learnt
• Approaches to the categorising of PPP projects, including the broad distinction between ‘economic’ and ‘social’ infrastructure
• The dynamics of financing versus the fiscal responsibility of repayments and funding
• Features specific to the structuring and procurement of projects within each of these categories, including fundamental aspects such as the need to secure an income stream in relation to economic infrastructure and the relevance of the distinction, in relation to social infrastructure, between delivery of physical infrastructure and delivery of services
• Features specific to particular sectors within each of these categories (eg toll roads, power stations, water, health care, education and corrections)
• The various policy frameworks in place in Australia (and leading international agencies) for evaluation and engagement of private sector involvement in public infrastructure delivery
• Drivers that underpin the structuring, negotiation and delivery of PPP projects, including financing, probity and value for money (including public sector comparator mechanisms), competition, tax (including issues derived from Australia‘s federal structure as opposed to unitary systems in other countries) and construction risk.

Construction projects produce difficult legal issues. Practitioners need to be confident in their understanding of the remedies available under various causes of action. Construction law requires a sound knowledge of relevant case law and legislation concerning diverse matters, such as damages in contract, recovery in tort for pure economic loss, penalties (including liquidated damages), quantum meruit, remedies under the Australian Consumer Law and the grant of interlocutory injunctions.

In addition to the primary lecturer, this subject harnesses the specialist expertise of guest lecturers, including leading academic lawyers, legal practitioners and judges. Their combined experience draws not only on their rigorous understanding of black letter law, but also on extensive practising careers.

Principal topics include:

• Damages for breach of contract
• Penalties (including liquidated damages)
• Equitable remedies for breach of fiduciary duty
• Proportionate liability
• Temporary injunctions
• Recovery in tort for pure economic loss
• Remedies under the Australian Consumer Law
• Quantum meruit claims

Every year, about half of the value of construction activity in Australia relates to the building, conversion and renovation of dwellings. The law relating to this activity is complex and multi-layered, involving difficult policy questions and significant statutory and regulatory intervention impacting on millions of people throughout the community. Despite this, residential construction law has, until recently, received relatively little attention from the majority of construction law practitioners, and not just in Australia. This innovative subject, taught by Matthew Bell and Suzanne Kirton, seeks to address this deficiency and introduce students to an evolving area of construction law in a comparative context, with material from Australasia (including Victoria) and from other members of the common law family of legal systems. Practitioners will make a significant contribution as guest lecturers.

Principal topics include:

• Legislation specifically applicable to residential construction
• Legal protection for ‘consumers’ in relation to residential construction
• Legal obligations undertaken by the seller in relation to the quality of a new residential building
• Means by which an off-plan buyer of a new residential house or unit may be protected against the financial failure of a project party
• Remedies in relation to defects in the structure or common parts of multi-unit developments
• Rights of successors in title to enjoy the remedies against the developer or any other project party responsible for defects
• The impact of limitation periods upon remedies for different categories of defects
• The role of insurance in protecting home-owners against the costs of repairs or defects claims
• The impact of mandatory or voluntary registration or accreditation systems for residential developers and suppliers of construction services

While ‘Construct Only’ and ‘Design and Construct’ delivery methodologies remain the most common form of construction procurement, principals and contractors increasingly are delivering construction projects via innovative procurement methodologies. This subject—designed to complement the existing infrastructure delivery subjects already offered within our program—provides students with a detailed knowledge of tendering, specialised forms of construction procurement and other key contract forms currently in use in the Australian construction and infrastructure market. This subject also provides an overview of the key legal and commercial issues affecting these procurement methods and specialised construction contracts.

The lecturer, Richard Wilkinson, is a construction lawyer and alumnus of the Master of Construction Law. In addition to bringing to the classroom his own extensive experience in construction procurement law, Richard harnesses the specialist expertise of leading construction practitioners as guest lecturers.

Principal topics include:

• Invitations to tender
• Unsolicited proposals
• Collaborative contracting
• Managing contractor agreements
• Engineering, procurement and construction agreements and engineering, procurement and construction management agreements
• Consultancy agreements
• ‘Design and construct’ joint venture agreements
• Consortium agreements
• Contracting arrangements in the renewables sector
• Design-build-operate agreements and design-build-operate-maintain agreements.

This subject introduces the fundamentals of accounting and financial statement interpretation within the context of government and commercial environments. Commencing with an examination of the principal financial statements the subject navigates the nature and types of transactions undertaken by organisations and how these transactions are recorded and reported. In the second half of the semester the subject addresses the key techniques for deeply assessing the financial performance, funding capacity and solvency of organisations. Finally the subject concludes with an examination of the accounting policy choices organisations may use to present their financial statements in the best possible light.

Principal topics include:

• The purpose of accounting
• Accounting reports and analysis
• Financial statement ratios
• Financial statement disclosures
• Accounting policy choices and earnings management
• Accounting reports and business failures
• The limitations of accounting information.

Company takeovers are an integral part of stock markets in Australia and overseas. Their regulation seeks to deal with the often competing objectives of market efficiency and fairness to shareholders. This subject examines the laws and rules in the area, from both a theoretical and a practical point of view and deals with the key legal concepts and steps that occur in a typical takeover bid and takeover defence, illustrated by actual transactions. The lecturer is a practising takeover lawyer, textbook author and member of the Takeovers Panel—Australia’s takeover dispute resolution body—which helps ensure that the subject matter is topical and current.

Principal topics include:

• The Eggleston principles
• The 20% rule
• Shareholding disclosures
• Exempt acquisitions
• Pre-bid activity
• Scheme alternative
• Bidder’s statements
• Action during the bid
• Defensive strategies
• Target’s statements
• Compulsory acquisition
• Role of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Takeovers Panel
• Dispute resolution
• Compulsory acquisition.

A corporation that wishes to raise funds in Australia, either for a specific purpose or for general business purposes, can do so either by borrowing (creation of debt) or by offering securities (creation of equity). This subject is concerned with the regulation of offering securities. The fundamental premise of the regulation is that the offering corporation should provide all relevant information (mandatory disclosure) and investors should then decide whether to invest. The subject will examine the regulatory model, the rationale for the model and aspects of the model and other mechanisms (such as the role of securities exchanges) that may impact in a practical way on the offering. Globalisation means that offerings may be subject to requirements in a number of jurisdictions and so it will be important to consider whether the similarities and differences between jurisdictions are significant. The classes will involve a mix of lecture-style presentations and problem-solving worked on in small groups.

The subject will be of interest to those who work in a corporate advisory environment or who wish to do so

Principal topics include:

• The disclosure principle
• Debt and equity as alternatives
• Different equity-raising alternatives
• Outline of the regulatory situation
• When is a disclosure document required?
• Different types of disclosure documents
• Content of disclosure documents
• Liability for defective disclosure documents
• Due diligence defence
• Other defences
• Restrictions on advertising and securities hawking
• The role of the underwriter
• The role of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• The role of the Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX)
• Continuous disclosure.

Corporate governance is of national and international importance. This subject has a strong focus on the law relating to corporate governance, particularly the duties and responsibilities of company directors and other officers, primarily from an Australian perspective but also considering the approach taken in other jurisdictions. The director has been described in one court judgment as “an essential component of corporate governance” who is “placed at the apex of the structure of direction and management of a company”.  The lecturer is the author of leading publications dealing with corporate governance, including the major Australian book on directors’ duties, and he has also been involved in a number of corporate governance reforms enacted by Parliament.

Principal topics include:

• The concept of corporate governance
• Overview of the current framework of corporate governance and the duties of directors and other officers
• Who is subject to duties?
• To whom are duties owed?
• Duties to act with care and diligence, in the best interests of the company, and for a proper purpose
• Duty to avoid conflicts of interest
• Duty to prevent insolvent trading
• Role of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in enforcing directors’ duties
• Role of shareholders in corporate governance
• Role of industry corporate governance guidelines and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations.

Shareholders’ rights and remedies—and how they interact with the rights and obligations of directors, officers and the company itself—are a critical part of the law and corporate governance of Australian companies. Shareholder activism is on the rise and increasingly, the corporate regulator (ASIC), class action litigation firms and shareholders themselves are focused on what shareholders’ rights and remedies are and how they should be observed and pursued. And they are a major focus of Australia’s corporate governance principles for publicly listed companies, and therefore for those responsible for running those companies.

This subject—taught by partners from King & Wood Mallesons and Judicial Registrar Matthews—will provide participants with a detailed knowledge of the rights and remedies available to shareholders under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and at common law, how they interact with the roles of directors and management of Australian companies, and what happens when things go wrong.

Principal topics include:

• An overview of the division of power between the various organs of the modern corporation
• What the current framework of corporate governance has to say about treatment of shareholders
• Shareholders’ agreements
• Shareholders’ rights including voting and access to corporate information
• Shareholder activism, including requisitioning meetings, proxy voting and removal of directors
• Shareholders’ remedies, including oppression, winding-up-related relief, statutory derivative action and class actions
• The role of ASIC
• Law reform
• Overseas comparisons.

In the preparation and conduct of litigation no area of law is more important than the law of evidence. Advanced Evidence aims to provide students with an enhanced understanding of the law of evidence. This subject focuses on key provisions of the uniform evidence legislation, which now operates in all Commonwealth, Victorian, New South Wales, Tasmanian, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory courts, and primarily examines the law of evidence in the context of criminal proceedings, where it is is strictly applied. Students can expect to refresh, deepen and develop their understanding of the factual, legal and policy issues associated with the law of evidence and to learn to analyse the admissibility of evidence at an advanced level

This subject is primarily based on a detailed examination of those rules of evidence regarding admissibility that are of particular significance in trials, especially criminal trials.

Principal topics may include:

• Relevance
• Hearsay evidence
• Opinion evidence
• Admissions
• Tendency and coincidence evidence
• Credibility evidence
• Identification evidence
• Discretionary and mandatory exclusion of evidence.

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Dispute resolution and problem-solving lie at the core of modern professional life for lawyers, business people and anyone who works with more than one other person. This subject provides an overview of the range of dispute resolution techniques used internationally. This subject differentiates the most prominent dispute resolution methods, including traditional litigation, arbitration (in its many forms, including international commercial arbitration negotiation) and mediation (also in its many forms, including partnering, mini-trials and dispute resolution coordinators). It also includes skills training in negotiation and mediation, designed to increase effectiveness in both resolving disputes and enhancing problem-solving abilities.

Principal topics include:

• The nature and varieties of disputes, how they arise and how they are avoided
• The options for resolving disputes: litigation, arbitration, negotiation, mediation and conciliation
• Factors considered by people when they choose a dispute resolution method, including social, cultural and economic factors
• Relevant law reform initiatives, with an emphasis on Australia, other common law countries and selected Asian countries
• Cross-cultural issues in the dispute resolution process
• The roles of judges, lawyers and the courts in the alternative dispute resolution process
• An analysis and comparison of the dispute resolution processes in environmental and native land title disputes, with an emphasis on Australia, Canada and the United States
• Basic skills for successful negotiation and mediation, including theory and practical exercises.

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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.

Class actions have become an increasingly prominent feature of Australia’s litigation landscape. Some people think they enhance access to justice, offer an efficient way to deal with large numbers of claims and function as an effective regulatory tool, while others criticise them as improper ‘private’ regulation or as just another way for lawyers to become wealthy. Students will have the opportunity to critically evaluate these views. Law reform proposals will be considered, as will the development, present state and likely future directions of the law and practice of Australian class actions. While the focus will be on Australia, methods used in other countries to bring and manage group proceedings will be considered and compared. Students will have the opportunity to engage and debate with lecturers and guest lecturers with substantial academic, practice, judicial and international experience.

Principal topics include:

• The origins of modern class action regimes in Australia
• Comparisons of the federal and Victorian regimes with those in other Australian and overseas jurisdictions
• The main stages of class action litigation
• The roles of lawyers, judges, parties, litigation funders and regulators
• Specific issues, including choosing a forum, defining the class, the role of the lead plaintiff, entrepreneurial lawyering, identifying and notifying class members, settlement and court approval
• Comparing class actions with other procedures available for bringing and managing complex litigation
• Securities class actions and the regulatory role of the class action
• Funding and costs issues, including the role of commercial litigation funders.

This subject provides an outline of the UNCITRAL Model Law legislation and the LEADR & IAMA Rules and a detailed analysis of the procedures involved in the conduct of domestic commercial arbitration proceedings. It will provide lawyers involved in the conduct of such proceedings and practising arbitrators with an opportunity to develop a comprehensive understanding of all elements of the process. The subject includes consideration of the principles of procedural fairness, the law of evidence and their application to commercial arbitration proceedings. The subject will also include written exercises intended to develop skill in the process of decision-making and the writing of decisions and awards in arbitrations.

Principal topics include:

• An introduction to the UNCITRAL Model Law legislation
• A detailed analysis of procedural rules and their use in the course of proceedings
• Identification of issues, pleadings and issues statements
• Evidence, documents, statements of evidence and admissibility generally
• Expert evidence, identification of issues, adoption of rules and procedural control
• Procedural fairness and its application in practice
• Procedural efficiency and control of the process
• The process of analysis of evidence and reasoning
• Award writing.

Civil litigation is experiencing unprecedented levels of reform. Legislative changes, court decisions, changes to court rules and economic pressures are changing the way litigation is practised across the common law world. The proper roles of parties, lawyers, judges and courts are under scrutiny and discussion. The focus of this subject is current and significant issues in civil litigation, with an emphasis on new and emerging developments.

Andrew Higgins is an Associate Professor in Civil Procedure at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, and a Fellow in Law at Mansfield College. He is also a practising barrister specialising in mass tort litigation and General Editor of Civil Justice Quarterly.

Bernie Quinn is a Queens Counsel at the Victorian Bar who practices in a wide range of areas including commercial law, public law and product liability law. He speaks Bahasa Indonesian and was an Associate to Justice Michael Kirby. The subject will include guest lecturers drawn from the judiciary and the profession.

Principal topics include:

• Significant procedural reforms in Australia and overseas
• Law reform proposals
• The role of the judge, including case management trends
• Principles of apprehended bias
• ‘Overarching’ obligations of participants in the civil justice system
• Summary and interim relief
• Discovery
• Client legal privilege
• Expert evidence
• Procedural issues in conflict of laws
• Procedural issues in collective redress
• Costs and funding rules
• Appeal processes
• Enforcement
• Alternative dispute resolution
• Online dispute resolution and its impact on civil procedure.

With a primary focus on experiential learning and interactive discussion, this subject will provide a practical guide to the use of mediation in resolving disputes and to the legal environment in which mediation takes place. The objectives of this subject are to identify where mediation sits among available dispute resolution processes; its distinguishing characteristics and advantages; the applicable legal environment; to learn to apply mediation principles and techniques in the resolution of disputes; and to explore topical issues in mediation, including different regimes applicable to the admissibility of evidence of communications within mediation.

The lecturers are lawyers who have led and been at the cutting-edge of developing mediation and other ADR techniques. They are nationally accredited mediators and also have substantial experience in teaching and training in this field.

Principal topics include:

• Identifying the characteristics of different dispute resolution methods
• The roles of facilitative and evaluative techniques in mediation
• Practising mediation techniques in mediation scenarios
• The legislative environment in which mediation takes place
• Case law and guidelines for lawyers applicable to mediation.

Mediation has become the likely forum for the resolution of most disputes – whether convened voluntarily, by contract, statute or court order – but its inherent confidentially makes it hard for outsiders to understand fully.

This subject will cover the majority of the material required for Accreditation under the National Mediator Accreditation Scheme (NMAS), but also recognise that mediation needs to be understood by all involved, not just future mediators.  In light of this, it will examine the roles of solicitors and barristers, other advisers and experts, and the parties themselves. It will do this through teaching by Andrew Moffat, who regularly mediates commercial disputes in Melbourne and Sydney, supplemented by guest lecturers who fill these roles in mediations.

It also recognises that mediation is – and must maintain – a uniquely flexible process capable of very different approaches based on the context of the dispute. Guest lecturers who are expert practitioners in other dispute contexts will share their insights.

Students will develop a sophisticated understanding of current mediation theory and practice, and learn to put this learning into practice as mediators and mediation participants, through extensive involvement in simulations. Finally, students will learn about the mediation industry and the business and career elements of developing a mediation practice.

Successful completion of this subject, and a complete attendance record to all sessions, is expected to be credited for 60 per cent of National Mediator Accreditation Scheme training, under the auspices of the Resolution Institute, which will offer students the opportunity to study the remaining 40 per cent required for NMAS accreditation.

Principal topics include:

• Mediation within the broader context of dispute resolution
• Moving from positions to interests
• Standard NMAS mediation model
• Key concepts – voluntariness and empowerment
• Triggers for mediation – optimising timing where possible
• Mediator skills and when and how to intervene
• Changing dynamics in joint sessions
• Mandatory mediation as public policy
• Typical participants and their roles
• Alternatives and options in private sessions
• NMAS Approval and Practice Standards
• Setting the scene – the opening statement
• Mediation challenges – complexity and ethical issues
• Optimising mediation in cross-cultural disputes
• Mediation as a career.

This highly interactive subject will give students practice-relevant skills for negotiation and dispute resolution. Negotiating effectively involves being able to change the conversation, shifting from adversarial to collaborative approaches. The best negotiators are also skilled at structuring processes and listening beneath what is said. This program will introduce a proven framework for creating value and resolving disputes, informed by recent research and extensive practice. Using experiential approaches, case studies and simulations, participants will deepen their abilities to represent clients and negotiate across a range of practice contexts. Participants will have multiple opportunities to refine their negotiation and dispute management skills, and will leave with a series of practical tools for dealing with difficult negotiation behaviours and hard bargaining tactics in diverse settings. This subject will be useful for those working on a wide range of complex issues in a range of contexts including commercial, environmental, public policy and human rights.

Drawing on current interdisciplinary literature and case examples from practice, students will:

• Learn a proven framework for dispute analysis and negotiation to address a range of disputes
• Understand the dynamics of intractable disputes and a range of tools to address them
• Heighten their awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses as a negotiator
• Gain problem-solving techniques to enhance possible solutions in complex negotiations
• Acquire skills for choosing the right process to craft durable outcomes
• Heighten their abilities to work across diverse contexts
• Practice and refine negotiation and dispute management skills toward more successful outcomes

Successful completion of the subject will expand participants’ abilities for complex issue analysis, intervention and follow-up as negotiators, representatives and facilitators in negotiation and dispute resolution processes. Students will learn valuable skills of integrative thinking and creativity through experiential exercises and their final papers.

Irrespective of their speciality, lawyers must negotiate. Litigators resolve far more disputes through negotiation than by trial. Business lawyers in every domain negotiate on behalf of their clients. Public interest lawyers, in-house counsel, government lawyers, criminal lawyers, tort lawyers and commercial litigators all share the need to be effective negotiators. However few lawyers have any systematic understanding of why negotiations often fail or have suboptimal results, the dilemmas inherent in negotiations, or the characteristics of effective negotiators.

By combining theory and practice, this subject should improve students’ understanding of negotiation and effectiveness as negotiators. This subject should improve their ability to prepare for a negotiation, to engage others in joint problem-solving, and to select appropriate strategies when negotiations don’t go well. Above all, this subject will equip students to continue refining their skills as they gain more experience.

Florrie Darwin has taught negotiation skills to students, as well as a broad range of professionals, around the world.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to negotiation principles
• Basic framework for preparing, conducting and reviewing a negotiation
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Creating value in negotiations
• The challenge of distribution
• Effective listening
• Managing interpersonal differences
• Negotiating via email
• Effective responses to difficult negotiation tactics
• Dealing with structural complexity in negotiation/multi-party negotiations.

This subject investigates the legal regulation of workplace bargaining in Australia. With the requirement that bargaining be conducted in ‘good faith’ under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), this has become one of the most contested areas of federal labour regulation. The subject is informed by the historical, political and economic factors that have shaped the development of the law, as well as relevant international legal principles. While the focus of the subject is on the system regulating workplace bargaining under the Fair Work Act, other relevant areas of law are analysed, including the common law regulation of strikes and industrial action and the contract of employment. The special regulation of bargaining and industrial action in the building and construction industry is also examined.

Principal topics include:

• The historical development of the law relating to workplace bargaining
• Relevant international legal principles and Australia’s obligations in this respect
• Common law regulation of strikes and industrial action
• The system regulating workplace bargaining under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), including the conduct of bargaining and the taking of protected industrial action, and the role of trade unions
• The form, function and content of registered workplace agreements
• The relationship of workplace agreements to other means of regulating working conditions, including the contract of employment
• The ‘general protections’ under the Fair Work Act for freedom of association and the exercise of ‘workplace rights’ in relation to bargaining
• Special regulation of bargaining and industrial action in the building and construction industry.

Employment contracts have been a major source of litigation in recent years, with some cases leading to very large payouts. This subject examines the evolving law of employment contracts, and other related kinds of personal work contracts. Drawing on recent cases as well as leading articles by Australian and international scholars, the lecturers consider several key questions. These include determining and varying contract terms, employer and employee duties, non-compete clauses, termination and damages. The subject also looks at the interaction between employment contracts and major statutes, such as the Australian Consumer Law and the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). The subject seeks to combine discussions of the practical realities of contracting with a broader analysis of the underlying assumptions in current law.

Principal topics include:

• The scope of employment regulation: which work relationships are covered?
• The regulation of independent contracting, such as agency relationships
• The content of the employment contract: express terms
• The content of the employment contract: implied terms
• Non-compete clauses and restraint of trade
• Employment, the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and estoppel
• Variation and flexibility in the employment contract
• Termination and remedies at common law
• The relationship between contracts, awards and agreements.

Discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace represent an overwhelming majority of total complaints made to anti-discrimination authorities. Equality and discrimination at work remain pressing concerns for employees, managers and, more broadly, for society. Achieving equality is elusive and, indeed, the very meaning of equality is highly contested.

This subject explores the legal meanings of equality, with a focus on the frameworks through which Australian parliaments have sought to address inequality, discrimination and harassment. It examines federal and state laws that deal with discrimination, including the four federal laws, the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) and the adverse action provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). Consideration is given to discrimination based on race, sex, disability, and pregnancy and family responsibilities. The lecturers in this subject combine many years of academic scholarship in this area, engagement in law reform debates and practical client-focused legal advice

This subject provides an examination of the development and current scope of Australian equality and discrimination law, as relevant in employment and work relationships. It will focus on federal and Victorian jurisdictions.

Principal topics include:

• A study of the framework and key features of federal and state legislative provisions dealing with equality and discrimination in the employment context, including theEqual Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic), the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth), the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) and theAge Discrimination Act 2004 (Cth)
• An examination of the general protection provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), including redress for certain types of adverse action
• Debates regarding the meaning of equality, discrimination and other contested concepts such as choice, especially as choice relates to carer responsibilities
• The Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic), and its potential impact in the interpretation of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act
• Conciliation, dispute resolution and remedies
• Alternative regulatory regimes, including the National Employment Standards, equal remuneration provisions under the Fair Work Act, contract law and occupational health and safety issues such as bullying
• Current processes of legislative revision at federal and state level
• The potential for future developments in the field.

As labour and capital markets transcend domestic borders, the objectives of labour law can no longer be confined solely to actions within the nation state. The purpose of this subject is two-fold. First, to identify the diverse components of international employment and labour law, the institutions, the claims and the methods for advancing social protection to workers worldwide. This enquiry spans beyond traditional instruments that are associated with labour law, and includes trade law and corporate social responsibility. It further seeks to embed the study of legal instruments in the broader economic and sociological debates on globalisation. The second goal is to critically assess how international developments affect domestic labour law with a particular focus on the European Union, the United States, China and India.

Principal topics include:

• The importance of the concept of globalisation in understanding national systems of labour regulation
• The composition, powers and functioning of international organisations that regulate labour internationally, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Union (EU)
• The relevance of different theories of international regulation
• The usefulness of a comparative approach to labour law, including consideration of the major models of labour regulation like the Wagner Model in the United States and Canada
• The role of intergovernmental and corporate codes of conduct in securing international labour standards
• The emerging challenges posed by the use of migrant, contingent and precarious workers in the global economy
• The success of adopting a human rights approach to labour regulation in the face of changes to domestic and international labour law frameworks.

Equality and discrimination law is continuing to increase in importance, but remains controversial. This subject examines international and comparative aspects of equality and discrimination law. The subject is not confined to, but will include a focus on labour and employment issues. Equality and discrimination issues will be examined at four levels: international law, transnational, state constitutional law, and state human rights law. A review of the content and operation of the major United Nations (UN) and International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions relevant to discrimination generally and to equality at work is directly relevant to Australian domestic law as these treaties provide a constitutional basis as well as content for much Australian anti-discrimination legislation. For comparison, an overview of the European Union (EU) system for regulating discrimination law will be included. The focus then shifts to comparative national law, with an examination of protection of equality and discrimination rights at constitutional and legislative levels in Australia and other countries that take different approaches: some or all of Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.

This subject provides a critical examination of the scope and operation of equality and discrimination law at international, transnational and national levels and utilises comparative doctrinal and policy analysis. While the major focus will be on work and employment, other areas will be considered where they cast light on the development of the law.

Principal topics include:

• An introduction to the different roles played by equality and discrimination at different locations and levels of the legal system
• Consideration of debates about the meaning of equality, discrimination and other contested concepts such as choice and responsibility
• Analysis of the roles, framework and key features of international treaties and conventions relating to equality and discrimination in both general (human rights) and specific (ILO) contexts
• Analysis of some of the key EU equality directives and their adoption in some Member States
• An analysis of constitutional protection of equality rights in countries with different modes of protection, chosen from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States
• An examination of anti-discrimination and equality laws across several countries to contrast different approaches and conceptualisations of these rights, and also different social environments and barriers to achieving a more equal society
• Consideration of the role(s) of law in relation to equality and discrimination, and the uneven progress in the countries analysed
• Exploration of possible future directions for better protection of equality and discrimination rights.

This subject addresses the relevant provisions of the key federal statute governing minimum employment standards in Australia, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), which is the centrepiece of Commonwealth statutory regulation of working conditions. The subject examines the mechanisms by which minimum wages, working hours regulation and leave entitlements are set and reviewed, as well as the function and content of these standards. This subject also addresses the important topic of how compliance with labour standards can be enforced and considers issues such as the role of the Fair Work Ombudsman, and the challenge of enforcement in the context of different business models, such as franchise networks.

This subject covers federal statutory regulation of minimum employment conditions in Australia. It addresses the relevant provisions of the key federal statute, the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).

Principal topics include:

• The scope of the national system of labour regulation
• The institutions that regulate labour standards and working conditions, including the Fair Work Commission and the Fair Work Ombudsman
• The role and content of the National Employment Standards (NES) as a means of maintaining a safety net of fair working conditions
• The form, function and content of modern awards as a mechanism for setting further minimum labour standards at an industry and sectoral level
• The relationship of modern awards and the NES to other means of regulating working conditions, including the contract of employment and enterprise agreements
• The legal mechanisms and sanctions relating to enforcement of minimum labour standards and working conditions by employees, unions and the Fair Work Ombudsman
• The administrative sanctions available to the Fair Work Ombudsman
• Emerging issues and innovative approaches in regulating and enforcing labour standards and working conditions, including protection of vulnerable workers such as interns, casual and part-time workers and outworkers, extra-territorial coverage of labour standards, and regulation of work/life balance.

Paid work is central to the lives of most adults. It not only provides an income but also is constitutive of their identities. For society at large, the organisation of paid work relationships is crucial because of the need to produce goods and services and to protect those engaged in production. Regulation of these work relationships by law is, therefore, important.

This subject provides a thematic overview of the legal regulation of work relationships in Australia in an industrial, social and political context. It examines how work relationships are regulated through statutory regimes as well as through contract law. A major focus of the subject is the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), which sets minimum employment conditions, regulates modern awards and workplace agreement-making, provides redress in relation to adverse action and also provides processes to deal with issues of bullying at work. Anti-discrimination law will also be examined.

This subject is designed to be of particular assistance to students without previous (or recent) legal study in this area. Principles of Employment Law is compulsory for students who do not have a law degree from a common law jurisdiction, and it is strongly recommended that this subject be taken before any other employment and labour relations law subjects. Principles of Employment Law is also recommended for students who have not studied an equivalent subject in their law degree, or who have not done so recently. Principles of Employment Law is ideal for students undertaking a masters in another specialisation, or a Master of Laws, who wish to study one subject in the field of employment and labour relations law.

Principal topics include:

• The constitutional framework for Australian employment law
• Statutory standards under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) including unfair dismissal, minimum wage rates, hours of work, leave, adverse action and right to request regimes
• The regulation of employment rights and working conditions by modern awards and enterprise agreements under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)
• Various aspects of the common law contract of employment
• Anti-discrimination and equal opportunity law.

In 2010 all Australian governments publicly committed to implementing nationally uniform laws about workplace health and safety. This development is bringing to fruition a process that began 30 years ago. However, Victoria is one of two states that have not implemented the agreed national laws. Therefore this subject examines in detail the content of Victorian law, as well as the new national laws.

By referring to the existing state, territory and commonwealth body of law, this subject considers the operation of Victorian workplace health and safety law in its historical and industrial setting as well as the likely practical operation of the new regulatory regime. The lecturer is a barrister with extensive practical experience in running cases under workplace health and safety laws.

Principal topics include:

• The problem of work-related injury and disease
• The history of the legal regulation of health and safety at work
• Nationally uniform workplace health and safety laws
• Standard-setting under the Australian workplace health and safety statutes
• State enforcement of the workplace health and safety legislation
• Workers’ rights under the Australian workplace health and safety statutes
• The anti-bullying jurisdiction of the Fair Work Commission
• Workers’ compensation schemes in Australia
• The rehabilitation of injured workers
• The role and impact of the common law duty to provide a safe workplace.

This subject examines the legal framework governing natural resources and renewable energy in China, with particular focus on mineral deposits, living organisms, and climate resources (i.e., wind, sunlight and atmospheric moisture). The objective is to provide students with a practical understanding of this important area of economic regulation, and an appreciation of the broader normative considerations (i.e., efficiency and redistribution) that are applicable to similar issues elsewhere. This subject draws from the lecturer’s extensive academic scholarship on resources law, regulatory theory, and Chinese legal system.

Principal topics include:

• The normative theoretical framework for assessing resources law, in particular the controversies and ambiguities surrounding the conceptions of economic efficiency and redistributive fairness 
• The constitutional framework in China governing natural resources, in particular provisions on property rights, ownership/allocation of natural resources, and environment protection.
• The core legislation/regulation governing natural resources and renewable energy in China with emphasis on provisions governing allocation, extraction/exploitation, and transfer
• The social, economic and political factors shaping the respective approaches towards natural resources management
• The strengths and weakness of the regulatory regime and general implications for natural resources management

Adequate, reliable and sustainable supplies of energy are crucial to modern societies, and their assurance demands the close and continuous involvement of governments. This subject explains the challenges—affordability, security of supply, safety, control of monopoly, sustainability in an age of global warming—that the economic and technical characteristics of different energy sources present to governments in Australia, and analyses the regulatory tools that they have at their disposal for responding to such challenges. It shows how the law can function both as an essential vehicle for such regulation and as a constraint on its content. The lecturer is a leading international authority on oil and gas law and has published extensively in the field of regulation.

Principal topics include:

• The nature of regulation, its development in Australia and its relationship with law
• General explanations and justifications for regulation
• The techniques of regulation
• Regulatory issues posed by the supply of different types of energy:
  • Mineral energies: coal, petroleum and uranium
  • Network energies: electricity, gas
  • Renewable energies
• The Australian federal environment for energy regulation. Two or more case studies of Australian energy regulation:
  • Electricity and gas: from state monopolies to regulated national markets
  • Mined energies: securing effective exploitation, managing resource conflicts
  • Renewable energies: regulatory incentives
• Cross-cutting issues in energy regulation:
  • Regulatory authorities
  • Forms of regulation: prescription versus goal-based regulation; discretion versus rules; legislation versus contract
  • Regulatory review and evaluation.

This subject explores the legal and regulatory structures affecting foreign investors seeking to participate in the development of energy resources in so-called ‘emerging markets’, and in particular in the restructuring of formerly socialist economies. Russia will be used as an example of an emerging market presenting particular characteristics and problems that provide important insights into emerging markets elsewhere in the world.

The subject coordinator has conducted research on ‘emerging markets’ over many years, and has extensive practical experience as an adviser in these matters. His work is widely published in numerous books and journal articles.

Principal topics include:

• Corruption and money laundering
• Liability for human rights abuses
• Forms of foreign investment and commercial transactions
• Local accreditation
• Taxation
• The privatisation process
• Intellectual property protection
• Import-export regulations
• Currency controls
• Project and conventional financing
• Banking
• Development and regulation of capital markets
• Securities and commodities exchanges
• Financing
• Environmental protection.

There will be daily simulated negotiation exercises.

The mining industry is international in character and many mining and exploration companies operate in multiple foreign jurisdictions. This subject examines the legal, fiscal and regulatory regimes that govern mineral exploration and production internationally, with a particular emphasis on exploration and mining in developing countries. It deals with the negotiation of mining development agreements with host governments, regulatory schemes and fiscal regimes, community agreements, principles of sustainability and international norms affecting the mining sector. The lecturer has extensive practical experience in mineral ventures in a number of different jurisdictions.

Principal topics include:

• Mining development agreements
• Mineral ownership
• Legal structures
• Exploration regimes
• Fiscal regimes
• Foreign investment controls
• Marketing and financing issues
• Communities and indigenous peoples
• Land access issues
• Sustainable development principles
• International frameworks and norms applicable to mining.

This subject considers the legal issues and structure of transactions relating to the exploration, production and marketing of petroleum that, owing to its economic and strategic importance, is the most important commodity traded worldwide. This subject will give students a detailed understanding of how crude oil and gas are exploited and marketed worldwide. It will cover how countries establish sovereignty over petroleum resources and how host governments or their national (state-owned) oil companies contract with private companies to explore and develop oil and gas resources. This subject also reviews and analyses key contracts among petroleum companies, and contracts between petroleum companies and petroleum-services contractors, that facilitate exploration, development and marketing of petroleum. As petroleum is one of the most politically charged commodities, this subject will also consider extra-territorial anti-corruption law and political risk. In a broader sense, this subject will help students develop better analytical skills—especially the ability to critically evaluate contracts.

Principal topics include:

• Host government contracts
• Joint bidding, confidentiality, exploration and farmout agreements
• Joint operating and unitisation agreements
• Managing and contracting to avoid corruption problems
• Managing and allocating risk in service contracts.

The delivery of major energy and resources projects is an organic process which involves multifaceted interactions with the law. In this subject, students will gain insights into the way that advising on such projects involves navigating an often-challenging intersection of construction and regulatory systems, drawing on aspects of property law, environmental law, native title, finance, banking and commercial law.

Students will also engage with the need for reform in major project delivery, with the cost of project delivery in Australia already prohibitive and globally uncompetitive.

The subject will examine how major energy and resources projects are defined, designed, structured and developed, the pressure points for successful and cost-efficient project delivery in Australia, and the areas where conflicts and disputes emerge and how they are managed.

Principal topics include:

• Project scoping from feasibility to design, including examination of recent studies on procurement practices and a simulated workshop on feasibility models, risk analysis and front-end engineering and design (FEED)
• Overview of regulatory approval frameworks for major project delivery in the energy and resources sector, including a case study-based discussion of the interaction of such frameworks with construction document development and management
• Project delivery models and frameworks in the energy and resources sector
• Examination of leading causes of project stress and failure, including the need for proactive forensic planning
• Interactive case study where students collaboratively examine particular aspects of project design and execution
• Current approaches to dispute management in major project delivery, including exercises examining common problems encountered in drafting dispute resolution clauses in project documentation, as well as a discussion of contemporary and innovative approaches to dispute management and avoidance in major projects.

Mineral and petroleum resources have shaped Australia’s history, economy, society and environment for more than 150 years and continue to do so. The exploitation of these resources involves governments as proprietors and regulators, together with private enterprise as explorers and developers. The complex relationship between governments and private enterprise provides the central theme of the subject. Australia’s federal system of government adds to the complexity of that relationship. The subject begins by identifying fundamental legal issues that occur in most countries in the exploration for and production of mineral and petroleum resources. It then examines the ways in which these issues are resolved in Australia, using statutory title regimes and government agreements. The effectiveness of the Australian approach to these matters is examined in the international context of legal arrangements employed for management of mineral and petroleum resources elsewhere in the world.

Principal topics include:

• Terminology: the meaning of ‘mineral’ and ‘petroleum’
• Jurisdiction over mineral and petroleum resources
• Property in mineral and petroleum resources
• Statutory exploration and production titles
• Government royalties
• Petroleum production controls and unit development
• Dealings and registration
• Private royalties
• Access to land
• Environmental controls
• State agreements
• Unconventional gas
• Underground storage
• Greenhouse gas storage
• Uranium
• Case study 1: Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990 (Vic)
• Case study 2: Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (Cth).

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 lecturers are leading practitioners in this area and they 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.

The exploitation of mineral and petroleum resources involves substantial risk. The resources joint venture provides a commercial opportunity to manage this risk. It is a particular legal relationship: an association of persons (natural or corporate) to engage in a common undertaking to generate a product to be shared among the participants. Management of the undertaking is divided: the participants determine some matters by agreement at the outset of the relationship; the power to determine other matters is vested in a committee on which the participants are represented and entitled to vote; a manager (or operator) is appointed by the participants to conduct agreed activities, on their behalf, within the scope of the common undertaking (exploration, development production). This subject examines the legal issues involved in this complex relationship, together with ancillary transactions (such as farmouts). In doing so, it considers the capacity of the common law to respond to commercial imperatives. It also evaluates the effectiveness of legal documentation employed in establishing the joint venture relationship.

The lecturer, a former Dean of Melbourne Law School, has published extensively in the fields of energy and resources law and served as President of the Australian Mineral and Petroleum Law Association.

Principal topics include:

• Statutory titles, government agreements and production-sharing agreements
• Farmouts
• Joint ventures and operations
• Unit development
• The operator/manager
• Fundamentals of contract law and property law
• Assignment
• Liability
• Default
• Disclosure and confidentiality
• Sole risk
• Termination
• Codification.

Conservation biologists warn that we are in the midst of a great extinction crisis. Biodiversity Law is an emerging field, examining legal regimes designed to conserve Earth’s endangered forms of life. We will voyage to foreign intellectual lands – e.g. environmental ethics, conservation biology – and take a few real voyages to see biodiversity law in action. We will examine the nuts and bolts of Australian and foreign legal regimes with an attempt to discern most effective legal practices to conserve biodiversity, grounding our analyses in in-depth case studies.  Our investigations will be framed by two overarching questions: What is the legal framework for preserving life on Earth? What should be the components of the legal framework for preserving life on Earth?

Principal topics will include:

• A short primer on principles of environmental ethics and conservation biology and how these principles inform the practice of Biodiversity Law;
• Understanding the threats to biodiversity the law must confront;
• In-depth study of Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) to understand how this law interacts with Australian State and Territorial law to protect biodiversity;
• Consideration of Australian court cases that have interpreted the EPBC’s (and other biodiversity protective legal) provisions as applied to threatened species and ecosystems;
• Comparative studies of United States, South Africa, and other national legal approaches to, and court decisions on, biodiversity conservation;
• Attention to Australian (and foreign) biodiversity facing particular challenges (Great Barrier Reef, isolated marsupial populations, cetaceans) and how the law is (or is not) meeting those challenges;
• Analysis of the Convention on Biological Diversity,and other international treaties including how they are implemented in domestic law;
• In-depth case study on global wildlife poaching and smuggling;
• Discussion of “ownership” of biodiversity, including the rights that indigenous populations have to biodiversity;
• Discussion of market mechanisms designed to incentivize biodiversity conservation;
• Examination of non-legal means to preserve biodiversity;
• Synthesis of best practices for how to preserve and steward life on Earth.

Climate change is a pressing environmental, economic and social problem. Global warming is predicted to have wide-ranging impacts, and it presents enormous challenges for conventional models of law and socio-economic governance due to its pervasive character, long-term effects and the need for dynamic change in many of the fundamental areas of life. This subject examines the challenges for law in driving that change, from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its associated Paris Agreement, to international trade and litigation, to federal and state legislative responses, through to local effects including on Indigenous peoples. The lecturer is active in research and advice in climate change law and governance in the international and domestic law spheres.

Principal topics include:

• The scientific basis for global warming and physical impacts of climate change
• The international legal framework, including the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement and associated international instruments
• Social and cultural impacts and legal responses, such as human rights protection
• The schemes for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD).
• The role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in climate change governance, particularly with respect to renewable energy technologies and the disciplining of fossil fuel subsidies
• The interaction of climate change regimes with other international law frameworks; eg World Heritage, refugee law and security
• The federal legislative framework for climate change mitigation and adaptation, including direct action plans, market mechanisms and carbon trading
• State-based legislative and regulatory responses to climate change
• Climate change regulation and its impact on corporate entities
• Bio-sequestration and carbon capture and storage
• The nature of climate change litigation

The frequency and severity of ‘natural’ disasters, like flood, cyclone and bushfire, and longer term phenomena, such as drought and sea level rise, will increase as a result of climate change; posing major threats to settlements, infrastructure, natural resources and biodiversity. This subject covers the multi-scalar legal response to disasters involving international treaties and soft-law instruments, national and regional regulation, and private law (torts and contract), and encompassing climate change adaptation, emergency management, environmental liability, insurance and human rights. It will examine approaches to prepare for, avoid or minimise disaster impacts, and to respond effectively and equitably post-event. Relevant case studies are drawn from Australia and various comparative jurisdictions regionally and internationally.

This subject critically examines different legal approaches to avoid, mitigate and respond to natural disasters and relevant adaptation planning, emergency and natural resource management regimes.

Principal topics include:

• An overview of disasters and climate change impacts, focusing on predicted changes to the frequency, intensity and geographical occurrence of natural hazards, and impacts on human settlements
• Examination of the types of public and private planning and legal mechanisms at the local, state, national and international scale relevant to disaster management
• International agreements and soft law, with case studies of their application to recent disaster events (eg liability regimes for oil and gas disasters and mining incidents; funding mechanisms for disaster risk reduction; instruments for the protection of persons in disasters)
• Emergency management and adaptation planning in Australia, with selected case studies covering: coastal hazards: NSW coastal management and land-use planning regimes; bushfire: Victorian land-use planning, emergency management and recovery, and relevant compensation law for the 2009 bushfires and fires in open cut coal mines in the La Trobe valley in 2015; Flood: statutory planning and insurance regimes in Queensland, and the response to the 2011 floods; Drought: emergency water allocation management in urban and rural areas in south-eastern Australia
• Comparative case studies in developed and developing countries, evaluating the transferability of legal principles (eg responses to drought and water scarcity in the western United States and southern Africa; coastal adaptation planning instruments in the US and United Kingdom; and typhoon readiness in South East Asia).

With policy and law-makers under pressure to subordinate environmental concerns to short-term economic imperatives, environmental advocates are increasingly looking to human rights as a means of reinforcing the importance of environmental protection to human welfare. Domestic, regional and international human rights laws present a range of opportunities and challenges for addressing harms done to the environment.  There are also a number of conceptual concerns with framing environmental issues in terms of human rights.  Students will work as a class and in small groups to understand the relationship between human rights law and environmental protection at domestic, regional and international levels. The subject will provide insight into strategic aspects of human rights advocacy for the environment, using case studies to explore the roles of state and non-state actors in environmental protection and to consider a range of approaches in the different regions of the world.  Resources drawing from academic, policy and advocacy material will be used to interrogate practical and critical perspectives on human rights law and environmental protection.

Principal topics include:

• The relationship between human rights and the environment in theory and practice
• Human rights that protect the environment, including general rights such as the rights to privacy, health and to information as well as specific rights ‘to’ and ‘of’ the environment
• Domestic, regional and international governance of human rights in relation to the environment
• Sustainable development and its relevance to issues of human rights and the environment in the different regions of the world
• The implications of human rights law for indigenous peoples and environmental protection
• The roles and responsibilities of non-state actors in relation to ‘environmental rights’, including environmental advocates and businesses
• Channels for redress beyond formal legal mechanisms for people and for ‘nature’.

International environmental law is the field of public international law concerned with the protection of the natural environment, and those aspects of the built environment recognised as world cultural heritage. It is a vitally important branch of international law, seeking as it does to safeguard the environment on which humanity depends for its very existence. International environmental law seeks to integrate the activities of diverse actors—states, international organisations, businesses, communities and non-government organisations (NGOs) and uses a wide range of legal tools (including economic instruments and participatory mechanisms) to address pressing environmental concerns. This subject explores the critical governance and regulatory dimensions of international environmental law, as well as introducing you to cases and treaties that have been pivotal to the development of this area of international law. The lecturers in the subject are international environmental law experts, with both academic and practical experience in the field, which will be drawn into the delivery of a stimulating and relevant subject.

Principal topics include:

• The need for international environmental law and its historical development
• Fundamental principles and concepts necessary for an understanding of international environmental law, eg sustainable development, precautionary principle and 'polluter pays' principle
• The principal institutions and actors involved in the creation, implementation and enforcement of international environmental law
• The principal cases and treaties that have been influential in the development of international environmental law
• Current issues of concern in international environmental law, including atmospheric pollution and climate change, the protection of the oceans, species protection and biodiversity, and international trade.

From corporate self-regulation to multi-stakeholder certification, transnational private regulation is exploding. Multinational firms and powerful governments often succeed in exploiting the resulting overlaps and intersections amongst actors and institutions to bypass unattractive forums, shift decision-making to preferred arenas, shape outcomes in their favour and impose their desired rules on others. Marginalized equity-seeking actors such as workers, indigenous peoples, subsistence producers and industry-affected communities sometimes resist these efforts successfully. Rarely, they even exploit these overlaps and intersections to advance their own interests. Using real-world examples and cutting-edge interdisciplinary theory, the subject examines how powerful actors exploit transnational governance interactions in their favour and how these interactive dynamics can instead be harnessed to improve regulatory capacities, raise standards and empower weaker actors. The teacher heads the interdisciplinary Transnational Business Governance Interactions research network and is a leading scholar and practitioner of transnational private regulation.

Principal questions and topics to be addressed will include:

• What is transnational private regulation? Definition, actors, institutions, processes, history, trends, examples and relation to domestic and international law
• What are transnational governance interactions? Drivers, mechanisms, pathways, forms, impacts and spatio-temporal dynamics
• How do powerful actors exploit transnational governance interactions to advance their interests and sometimes to frustrate transnational regulation?
• When and how can transnational governance interactions be harnessed to enhance regulatory capacities, raise social and environmental standards, or empower weaker actors?
• What legal and other theories and methodologies might help to explain, predict and evaluate these interactive dynamics?
• What happened in selected cases of transnational governance interactions drawn from various sectors and issue areas including:
  • Agri-food
  • Biofuels
  • Climate Change
  • Derivatives Trading
  • Financial Technology
  • Fisheries
  • Food safety
  • Forestry
  • Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
  • Labour Standards
  • Oil and Gas
  • Social Responsibility Standards
  • Sports Mega-Events
  • Supply Chain Management
• What can be learned from these case studies? Implications for legal theory, practice, ethics and professionalism in a globalizing world.

Water law and natural resources management are fundamental to human society, environmental protection and many aspects of economic productivity. Legal rules around water co-evolved with the development of many societies. Water is both necessary for life but also a source of conflict. This subject considers the international laws governing water, including principles addressing trans-jurisdictional water governance for major river systems. It canvasses emerging questions, such as whether there is a human right to water, and climate change impacts on water availability. It examines the development of common law rules around water allocation and water quality that retain an important role in water management. There is a major focus on indigenous water rights.

The general development of statutory-based water law, concentrating on the Australian federal and Victorian situation, provides the main case study of water law and governance. The subject examines the water law reforms leading to adoption of the national Water Act 2007, and covers the federal legislation, such as the development of environmental water regulation and water trading. It provides an examination of the Victorian water legislation, which explores catchment and natural resources management issues. The subject has a focus on groundwater and looks at impacts on groundwater due to mining and fracking. This subject covers urban water laws, with a focus on novel uses, such as water recycling and storm water capture.

Principal topics include:

• International law and policy governing water, including examination of relevant treaties and conventions
• Water rights: including human rights and cultural rights – especially those of Indigenous peoples
• An overview of the current system of Australian statutory regimes for surface water and groundwater allocation and use
• Australian national water and resource management reforms, including the National Water Initiative
• The Water Act 2007 (Cth), including water trading and water planning
• Environmental water regulation
• Victorian water laws, including water authorities and governance models
• Water quality: addressing point source and diffuse water pollution
• Integrated catchment and natural resource management, including relevant catchment management legislation
• Urban water laws, including alternative water uses such as stormwater, and innovative recycling models such as water-sensitive urban design.

The subject explores this Australian intellectual property regime in predominantly black-letter terms. It asks students to consider the doctrinal issues implicated by the various aspects of copyright law: subsistence, ownership, infringement, exceptions to infringement and remedies. Also integrated with the curriculum are moral and performers' rights, and the treatment of internet service provider liability as an intermediary between copyright owner and infringer. The subject is structured within an international framework, explaining the importance of treaty norms and with selective use of comparative law.

Principal topics include:

• The evolution and theory of the national and international copyright system
• The material protected by copyright
• The duration of protection
• The rights granted by copyright
• Infringement of copyright, including defences and available remedies
• Ownership, licensing and assignment of copyright
• Moral rights and their infringement
• Copyright law in international perspective.

Design plays a critical role in the production and marketing of goods. Adequate protection of designs is important in order to encourage the creation of innovative products and thus enhance the Australian economy. This subject is primarily concerned with the laws in Australia that protect designs and will cover the registered regimes for protecting designs under the Designs Act 2003 (Cth) and parts of the Designs Act 1906 (Cth), as well as the protection of designs as original artistic works under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The first lecturer is a well-known intellectual property law academic and former barrister, while the second is a senior patent attorney with extensive experience in designs law and practice. This subject meets the Trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board (TTIPAB) requirements for ‘Topic Group I: Designs Law’. It will also include coverage of the  relevant aspects of the laws of New Zealand on these matters.

Principal topics include:

• Registrable designs: definition of design and registrability requirements
• Application and registration procedures and Designs Office practice
• Duration of registration and removal procedures
• Registration, examination, certification and infringement
• Defences to, and remedies for, infringement
• Validity and infringement of designs registered under the Designs Act 1906 (Cth)
• Ownership, transfer and exploitation of design rights
• Rectification and correction of the Register
• Artistic works protected by copyright and the designs/copyright overlap
• Relationship of designs protection to innovation patents under the Patents Act 1990
• The treatment of registered designs under New Zealand law and the availability of copyright protection for designs under New Zealand law
• International conventions and the protection of designs.

Fundamentals of Intellectual Property provides a good introduction to intellectual property (IP) for students wishing to pursue more specialised graduate studies in this area. It also provides a general overview of IP law for Australian and non-Australian students who are seeking this as part of an overall commercial and trade law program.

The objective of this subject is to provide an introduction to, and general overview of, the various Australian legal regimes protecting IP. IP laws, including those with respect to patents, designs and copyright, are directed at the encouragement and protection of innovations in science, technology and cultural products. They also operate, through the laws of trade marks and unfair competition, to provide protection for the later stages of development at which these innovations are disseminated and marketed. There is a potential for conflict between these laws and competition laws, and this interface will be discussed, together with an introduction to the international framework of treaties under which the owners of IP rights (IPRs) from one country can seek protection in another.

Completion of the first day of this subject (Overview of Intellectual Property one day seminar) meets the requirements of the Trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board (TTIPAB) for ‘Topic Group A2’.

Note: If you enrol in Fundamentals of Intellectual Property (LAWS90125), you do not need to enrol in Overview of Intellectual Property.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to the concept of and rationales for IPRs
• Models used for the protection of IP (the patent model, the copyright model and variations of both)
• Patents for invention, including:
  • Registration process
  • Subject matter
  • Conditions for protection
  • Exclusive rights and infringement
  • Defences
  • Innovation patents
• Protection of confidential information and trade secrets under general law
• Registered designs
• Copyright and allied rights, including:
  • Subject matter protected - works and other subject matter
  • Conditions for protection
  • Duration
  • Exclusive rights
  • Exceptions
  • Licensing and exploitation
• Trade marks and unfair competition
  • Protection for unregistered marks and other indicia through common law and equity
  • Protection for registered marks
• Sui generis regimes of protection: geographic indications, plant breeder's rights, circuit layouts and other systems of protection  
• International treaty framework for IPRs
• IPRs and competition law.

This subject teaches students the fundamental principles and basic skills of drafting patent specifications. It does so through a combination of in-class instruction sessions on a range of topics, in-class drafting exercises with review sessions, and out-of-class drafting exercises with tutorial review sessions. Students are assessed by two practical assessment tasks, undertaken individually outside the classroom. Passing the subject will satisfy the knowledge requirements specified by the Trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board (TTIPAB) for Topic Group G: Drafting patent specifications. The lecturers for this subject include a number of practising patent attorneys with substantial experience teaching drafting skills.

Principal topics include:

• History and nature of specifications and claims
• Approaches to claim drafting
• Interpreting claims
• Drafting basic claims
• Drafting product claims with reference to prior art
• Drafting process and method claims
• Preparing a description
• Consequences of drafting.

Fundamentals of the Common Law is a foundational subject in the Melbourne Law Masters (MLM), which is compulsory for graduates in disciplines other than law and for law graduates from countries with a non-common law system. It provides students with an opportunity to acquire the foundational legal skills necessary for studying and working in a common law system, such as that in Australia.

The common law forms one of the two principal systems of Western law that, through colonisation, have spread throughout the world. Common law systems have a distinctive approach to understanding the sources of law, the role of law-making institutions, and processes for resolving disputes. These characteristics of the common law system have had a profound effect on the development not only of the societies in the countries in which it applied, but also on international law and practice.

The aim of this subject is to acquire basic foundational legal skills that will assist you with other subjects in the MLM program. The subject teaches students how to read, use and interpret reported cases and legislation. The subject explains the sources of law, what influences them, and how they influence the development of the common law. These aims are given in context of some contemporary debates on common law reasoning by assessing the role of the High Court of Australia. The subject focuses on developing skills in analysis and legal writing, the tools of the common lawyer

Principal topics include:

• How to read and analyse a case
• The concept and use of precedent
• Evolution of a common law principle
• Common law issues: judicial activism, separation of powers
• The role of the High Court and an overview of the Constitution
• The relationship between the Constitution, case law and statute law
• Influences of other sources of law on the common law
• How to read and analyse statutes
• Approaches to statutory interpretation
• Legal writing skills and expectations in the MLM program.

Over the past two decades, the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) globally has become a major issue both for right holders and users, and one that has had profound implications in a number of important areas of public discourse, such as international trade, public health, education and research, national development and the promotion of biodiversity. This subject seeks to engage with all these issues, and begins with a discussion of the sources of international intellectual property (IP) law, including the principal IP treaties and the general architecture of the international IP system. It then considers a number of case studies where particular IP issues arise and where international solutions are presently being negotiated. It will also examine the growing tension between the territoriality of IPRs and the global scope of IP exploitation, considering how this clash plays out in the key area of private international law. Both lecturers have had extensive experience in international intellectual property matters, and bring to the subject both academic and practical perspectives that add greatly to its interest and relevance.

This subject consists of a survey of the economic, legal and political elements and forces that shape the international IP system.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to the international IP system, including the main producers and owners of IP, the institutional architecture and the treaty system, including those administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization (notably the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), and the emergence of bilateral and regional trade and investment protection treaties that have an impact on the protection of IP rights
• Instruments and strategies for obtaining protection internationally—the Patent Cooperation Treaty, Madrid System, Hague System and regional systems
• Human rights, IP and the development agenda
• IPRs and public health
• IPRs and food security
• Biotechnology, access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge
• Access to knowledge
• The protection of names, marks and other identifiers and content, with particular reference to the internet
• Dispute settlement and private international law issues.

Reading and interpreting patent specifications is a central part of a patent attorney's daily practice. It is also a critical feature of any patent litigation where both sides will be competing for alternative interpretations that favour their client. This subject is intended to hone these skills of analysis and interpretation, working on the basic legal principles that students seeking Trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board (TTIPAB)accreditation have already obtained through their study of patent law and patent practice. It is taught by experienced attorneys and litigators, and meets the TTIPAB requirements for Topic Group H.

This subject will be conducted with a number of case studies carried out by a team of practitioners to develop skills in the application of the rules of interpretation to patent specifications and in the application of Australian and New Zealand patent laws.

Principal topics include:

• The validity of an Australian or New Zealand patent or patent application under the provisions of Australian and New Zealand laws concerned with support, sufficiency of description and utility
• The validity of an Australian and New Zealand patent or patent application in the light of prior art information supplied, including through prior published specifications and prior user
• The scope for making amendments of patent applications
• The infringement of an Australian or New Zealand patent by a competitor's product or process.

For at least 400 years, patent law has been the primary regulatory mechanism for optimising innovation. With more than two million patent applications filed annually around the world, the patent system is both highly complex and of great economic importance. This subject provides the foundational knowledge necessary for a professional understanding of patent law and the patent system. It does so through a combination of instructional sessions and hands-on workshop sessions. These provide students with a detailed understanding of the principles of patent law, with a particular focus on the requirements for the grant of a valid patent, and for infringement of a patent, under Australian and New Zealand law. In the workshop sessions, students apply the principles of patent validity and patent infringement to actual prior art, patent claims and infringing embodiments. Successful completion of this subject satisfies the knowledge requirements specified by the Trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board (TTIPAB) for Topic Group E: Patent Law.

Principal topics include:

• Rationales for and alternatives to patents
• Trade secrets protection (breach of confidence)
• Patentable subject matter
• Requirements for patentability – novelty, inventive step and utility
• Specification requirements – clarity, support, disclosure and best method
• Fraud, false suggestion and misrepresentation
• Infringement, defences and remedies
• Inventorship, entitlement and ownership
• Duration and commercialisation of patent rights
• Future of the patent system.

This subject follows on from Patent Law (which is a prerequisite) and provides students with the basic knowledge and skills required for the filing, prosecution and maintenance of an application for protection under the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) for both local and international inventions. The lecturers are an expert team of experienced patent attorneys and the subject meets the Trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board (TTIPAB) requirements for ‘Topic Group F: Patent Practice’.

This subject will include relevant aspects of New Zealand practice.

Principal topics include:

• Patent legislation and practice in Australia
• Patents Acts of 1952 and 1990: standard patents; innovation patents
• Kinds of patent application: provisional, complete, standard, divisional, patent of addition, convention and innovation
• Patent application filing and prosecution: searching, filing, examination, opposition, grounds, practice and procedures, grant and re-examination
• Amendment of patent specifications and other documents: allowable amendments, clerical errors and obvious mistakes
• Duration of patent protection: continuation and renewal fee requirements, lapsing and cessation, restoration of rights and extensions of term for pharmaceutical patents
• The Register of Patents: recordal of assignments, licences, mortgages and changes of name and amendments to the Register
• International conventions and agreements
• Patentability overseas
• Basic considerations of United States and European patent law
• Applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, filing applications and entry of national and regional phase
• Circuit layouts legislation (Circuit Layouts Act 1989 (Cth))
• Plant breeder's rights legislation (Plant Breeder‘s Rights Act 1994 (Cth))
• New Zealand patent practice (relevant issues).

This subject builds on the material covered in the Trade Marks and Unfair Competition subject. Trade Mark Practice is primarily concerned with the procedures and practices of the Australian Trade Marks Office in obtaining and maintaining registered trademarks and relevant aspects of New Zealand trade mark procedures and practice. This subject is thus particularly valuable for students wishing to prosecute trade mark applications through those offices. The rights, privileges and responsibilities of a patent or trade mark attorney are also covered in the wider context of attorneys’ professional conduct. The lecturers in the subject have extensive experience in the obtaining of trade mark registrations and the subject meets the Trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board (TTIPAB) requirements for ‘Topic Groups’ B and D.

The emphasis of this subject is on the documentation, procedures and practice of the Australian Trade Marks Office and relevant aspects of New Zealand trade marks procedure and practice.

Principal topics include:

• The respective national offices, registers and official journals
• Determining the availability of a trade mark for use and registration, searching the Trade Marks Office database and other search options
• Applications for registration, including Madrid Protocol, Convention, divisional and series applications
• Examination and acceptance of applications
• Opposition to registration
• Initiating and opposing applications to remove a trade mark for non-use
• Amendment of applications and other documents; revocation post-registration
• Obtaining registration and renewal of registration
• Obtaining extensions of time
• New Zealand trade mark practice (relevant issues)
• Exploitation, including assignments and registration of security interests
• Parallel importations and Customs seizure
• International conventions and initiatives, and protecting trade marks in foreign countries
• The rights, privileges and professional responsibilities of a patent or trade mark attorney.

This subject is concerned with the laws in Australia that protect trade marks and relevant aspects of New Zealand law on this topic. Trade marks play a pivotal role in the marketing of goods and services, and generally are one of a trader‘s most valuable assets. The protection of trade marks is thus of critical importance to all traders but is also important to consumers, who rely on the information conveyed by trade marks. This subject concentrates on the trade mark protection regime provided by the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth), and  involves a detailed study of the provisions of this Acts and related case law, together with relevant aspects of the corresponding New Zealand laws and cases. The action for passing-off and actions for contravention of the Australian Consumer Law provisions in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), and corresponding New Zealand statutory provisions, proscribing misleading and deceptive conduct are also covered.

This subject meets the Trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board (TTIPAB) requirements for ‘Topic Group C’.

Professor Robert Burrell is an experienced intellectual property academic and a registered trade mark attorney with extensive experience of Australian trade marks law and practice.  Lindy Golding is a former partner in a leading London law firm who specialised in intellectual property matters, including copyright and trade marks.

Principal topics include:

• The function of trade marks
• Registration of trade marks under Australian and New Zealand laws
• Infringement, defences and remedies
• Licensing and assignment, and other exploitation of trade marks
• Removal and cancellation of registration
• Management and maintenance of trade marks
• The action for passing-off and actions for contravention of the Australian Consumer Law provisions in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) proscribing misleading and deceptive conduct (and the corresponding provisions under New Zealand law)
• Other protections for name and insignia, including the domain name system.

International trade is being transformed by the globalisation of the internet and the ability to move data across borders. Small businesses and firms in developing countries are using internet platforms such as eBay and Alibaba to engage in international trade. Software, music and books that used to be traded physically are now being transmitted digitally across borders; lawyers, consultants and other professional services are using the internet to reach new markets. Data analytics and cloud computing have become essential tools for firms in domestic and international markets.

This subject will examine the impact of the internet and global data flows on international trade. Students will learn about the varied and innovative ways that the internet and data enable international economic activity. Students will look at how government regulation in areas such as privacy and national security affects digital trade and will examine the balance between achieving these goals and maximising opportunities for trade, growth and jobs. Students will learn about the extent to which international trade rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and free trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement support an open internet and global data flows; will identify gaps in law and practice; and will analyse where new global norms and rules are needed. Special topics covered may include: the opportunities of digital trade for developing countries and small and medium enterprises (SMEs); challenges posed by the 'Internet of Things' and privacy regulation; and digital trade and national security.

Joshua P Meltzer is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies where he teaches international trade law. He is a leading scholar on digital trade issues, consults governments, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum and was appointed an expert witness in digital trade and privacy litigation.

Principal topics include:

• Overview of the globalisation of the internet including global trends in internet access and use
• The economics of the internet - students will learn how internet access and global data flows are improving productivity, enabling innovation and expanding opportunities for global engagement
• What is the impact of the internet and data flows on international trade? This will include the role of digital platforms and the increasing importance of digital services trade
• What are the barriers to digital trade, who is erecting them and why? Students will learn about the regulatory challenges to digital trade in areas of consumer protection, financial and privacy laws and the different approaches being taken in the European Union, the United States and Australia, and consider how to achieve domestic regulatory goals while maximising digital trade
• Applying international trade law to digital trade issues and identifying the legal gaps - students will analyse where existing international trade rules apply to digital trade issues. This will include analysis of WTO agreements and cases as well as new trade rules in free trade agreements. Gaps in trade law will be identified and students will consider whether new trade rules and norms are needed and where they can be negotiated.

This subject is a basic 'how-to' on international business transactions and is essential for those wishing to practise international trade law. The subject intentionally covers a vast array of related topics, with the focus being on the legal issues faced by practising lawyers in the field. Particular emphasis is placed on issues such as trade terms, international sales of goods, documentary credits, carriage of goods, customs and border regulations. This subject also considers several issues relating to international trade, such as intellectual property rights, licensing, franchising and governmental measures regulating investment. Such coverage ensures students are exposed to the most important and frequent issues facing the practising trade lawyer.

Principal topics may include:

• Basic trade contracts and common trade terms
• Choice of law and choice of jurisdiction in international trade contracts
• The Vienna Convention on International Sale of Goods
• Payment systems, including documentary credits and collections
• Customs law, including classification and valuation of the goods
• Import and export restraints
• Regulatory issues and red tape
• Franchising
• Intellectual property rights, including parallel importation of goods
• Foreign direct investment.

International commercial arbitration is the most important method globally for resolving cross-border commercial disputes. The focus of this subject is on the basic principles of international commercial arbitration law and is taught from the perspective of both the practitioner advising clients and the scholar interested in advanced research. There will be a particular focus on the desirability of arbitration compared with other dispute resolution methods, the relationships between the courts and arbitrators, drafting techniques and developments in Australia and other countries.

Principal topics include:

• The nature of international arbitration
• Applicable law in international arbitration
• The Australian procedural regime and an introduction to the UNCITRAL Model Law
• Enforcing international arbitration agreements
• Appointment and qualifications of arbitrators
• Misconduct of arbitrators
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Enforcement and challenge of awards.

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).

International investment law regulates the entry and operation of foreign investment and is one of the fastest-growing fields of public international law. This subject begins by tracing the historical, political and economic causes for the protection of foreign investment across custom, bilateral and regional investment treaties. It then focuses on the unique system of dispute resolution in this field, which gives private (foreign) actors the right to pursue claims for damages against states. This subject explores a series of case studies to evaluate the impact of investment law across a range of core values, including public health, environmental regulation and the protection of human rights.

Principal topics include:

• Nature, evolution and context of international investment law
• Overview of bilateral investment treaties (BITs), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Energy Charter Treaty and parts of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
• Scope of protection: definition of ‘investor’ and ‘investment‘
• Relative obligations of non-discrimination: most-favored-nation (MFN) and national treatment
• Obligation to accord foreign investors ‘fair and equitable treatment‘
• Expropriation and the quantification of compensation
• Contract claims versus treaty claims: the ‘umbrella’ clause
• Arbitration under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Convention.

International trade is of great importance to almost every country in the world. Many legal relationships are necessary for goods to be traded from one country to another, and they are all predictably flavoured by the issues that arise when different legal systems interact. This subject considers the private commercial legal issues that arise when goods are traded from one country to another, framework contracts such as agency and exclusive distribution, as well as public international law issues that arise when governments try to influence the subject of international trade. The goal of the subject is to give some sense of how the private commercial aspects of trade create issues for government-to-government relationships about trade, and vice versa.

Principal topics include:

• The contracts by which trade in goods takes place: sale, transport, payments and insurance
• Marketing and licensing structures: distributors, agency, franchising, licensing and transfer of technology
• The impact upon trade of international institutions and agreements: the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the World Trade Organization (WTO)
• Impediments to, and regulation of, international trade: anti-dumping, duties and antitrust
• Regulation of international investment
• Conflict of laws issues in international trade
• Resolution of disputes in international trade litigation, arbitration, alternative dispute resolution and the recognition of foreign judgments and awards.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is at the centre of ongoing debates concerning both fragmentation of public international law and persistent inequities between developed and developing countries. It also provides one of the most active systems in the world for resolving international disputes, with jurisdiction over some of the largest and most significant matters arising today. This subject offers a sophisticated understanding of the WTO and its dispute settlement system, including a detailed analysis of the fundamental principles and jurisprudence of WTO law. The instructors are both leading scholars in WTO law and former Legal Officers with the Appellate Body Secretariat of the WTO.

Principal topics include:

• History and objectives of the WTO
• WTO dispute settlement
• Core disciplines under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994):
  • Tariff bindings
  • Non-discrimination (most-favoured nation (MFN) and national treatment)
  • Prohibition on quantitative restrictions
• Exceptions to WTO commitments, eg environment, health, public morals, culture, free trade agreements, and special and differential treatment for developing countries
• The regulation of trade in services under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
• Current challenges facing the WTO and the Doha Development Round of negotiations.

The subject considers key legal concepts employed in commercial law and the practical role they play in solving commercial disputes. Our focus is on key structures and relationships used in commercial transactions, and the question of how such structures and relationships may affect third parties. As commercial parties often need to decide what legal structure to adopt in a relationship, we consider and compare the differing legal consequences of different types of commercial transactions, looking at their effect on both contracting parties and third parties. In doing so, we look at how key conceptual building blocks of commercial law (such as agency; trusts; sale; assignment; and security) are applied in practice. Given the international nature of much commercial law, and the important ongoing influence of shared common law concepts, we consider both Australian and English materials.

The syllabus remains flexible to ensure that our focus is on recent developments and topics of current interest. In 2019, the core topics studied will be: (i) agency: its internal and external aspects; (ii) trusts and their use in commercial transactions; (iii) sale and the effect of passing property; (iv) assignment of contractual rights and the practical effects of non-assignment clauses; (v) the operation of good faith in commercial relationships.  Broader themes to be discussed include: (i) the effects of different transactions on third parties, including the limits placed by the law on the parties’ freedom to determine such effects; (ii) the interaction of common law, equity and statute in commercial contexts.

Students taking this subject will be assumed to have a basic knowledge of the principles of contract law, property law, equity and trusts, as applied in Australia or other legal jurisdictions.

Principal topics:

• Agency: internal and external aspects
• The use of trusts in commercial relationships
• Sale and the effect of passing property
• The transfer and protection of intangible commercial rights, including assignment of choses in action
• The role of good faith in commercial transactions

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.

The law of contract interpretation is one of the most practically important areas of commercial law. In recent years, interpretation disputes have come to dominate contract litigation. Because views can differ as to basic questions — such as whether particular words have a plain meaning, and what ‘commercial sense’ dictates in a given situation — the outcome of these cases is often difficult to predict. This subject will study the core principles of contract interpretation in Australian and English law. It will also examine the closely related principles concerning implied terms, rectification and estoppel by convention. Current issues and controversies will be considered. The common law approach to contract interpretation will be compared with those adopted in important international instruments such as the United Nations (UN) Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The lecturer is a former commercial practitioner who has taught contract law for many years and has published widely on relevant topics.

This subject will examine the principles governing the interpretation of commercial contracts, and the closely related principles concerning implied terms, rectification and estoppel by convention.

Principal topics include:

• The place of interpretation in the law of contract
• The modern approach to interpretation
• The core principles of interpretation
• The availability and relevance of extrinsic evidence
• The identification of implied terms
• The equitable remedy of rectification
• Estoppel by convention
• A comparison between the common law principles of contract interpretation and those of international instruments such as the United Nations (UN) Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts and the Principles of European Contract Law.

Contract is central to the legal regulation of most commercial and economic activity, and underlies many specialist areas of legal practice. As market costs and values move, many contracts become increasingly valuable to one party and burdensome to the other. One party’s ability to terminate, or to successfully resist the termination of, a commercial contract is frequently a matter of considerable financial importance. The complex interaction between common law termination rights and rights to terminate expressly conferred by clauses in the contract in question is seldom properly understood, as illustrated by many of the cases from which this subject is taught.

This subject is taught from selected cases rather than textbooks. Principal topics include:

• Breach of conditions, including what makes a promissory term a strict condition
• Non-fulfilment of conditions precedent, and associated promissory obligations
• Breaches of intermediate terms, and what makes them sufficiently serious to justify termination
• Repudiation in its different forms
• Breach of time obligations, and the use and consequences of Notices to Perform/Complete
• Express termination clauses—the different principles concerning their operation, and ‘compare and contrast’ the principles concerning termination at common law
• Possible limits on an aggrieved party’s right to terminate through:
  • Election/affirmation
  • Estoppel
  • Breach or an absence of readiness, willingness and ability to perform on his/her own part
  • Relief against forfeiture
• Remedies accompanying effective or attempted terminations, including:
  • Principles of quantifying expectation damages at common law
  • Limited rights to damages on termination pursuant to an express clause
  • Contractual rights to remuneration accrued due prior to the termination
  • Exceptional limitations on the recoverability of contractual remuneration.

Negligence is one of the most heavily litigated causes of action in common law jurisdictions. It is of enormous practical importance in a very wide range of fact situations. It is also a dynamic area of law: the relevant principles are constantly being applied to new fact situations, and the courts are regularly forced to grapple with difficult questions about the scope of negligence liability. This subject examines key current issues and controversies in the law of negligence in the light of theoretical and comparative perspectives. The lecturers have both published widely on private law topics, including a range of issues in the law of negligence.

Principal topics include:

• An overview of the law of negligence, including theoretical and historical perspectives and the place of negligence in tort law and private law
• The duty of care requirement in general terms, including the distinction between duty in law and duty in fact, the approach to the duty question in novel situations and the role of public policy in duty decisions
• Liability for psychiatric injury
• Liability for pure economic loss
• Liability for omissions
• Liability of public authorities
• Current issues in the standard of care and its application, with particular reference to professional negligence cases
• The requirement of damage
• Factual causation, including recovery for loss of a chance
• Scope of liability (legal causation and remoteness)
• Defences (both common law and statutory).

This subject provides an introduction to the global law relating to international commercial contracts. A major focus will be on contracts of sales, as codified by the Vienna Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG). However, some issues of the general law of contract will also be covered in detail (eg formation, interpretation, third party rights, the duty of good faith and fair dealing). The treatment of some of these topics will be based on an examination of the 2016 UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC). The approach is comparative. Examples will be drawn from the decisions of national courts as well as arbitral awards.

Principal topics include:

• Global commercial contracts
• Applicability and application of the CISG and the PICC
• Interpretation and supplementation of the CISG and the PICC
• Contract formation
• Interpretation of international commercial contracts
• Third party rights
• Obligations of sellers and buyers
• Contractual remedies
• Good faith and fair dealing
• Transnational commercial dispute resolution.

This subject is a study of trusts in an international context, beginning with the rise of the modern form of discretionary trust and the problems of holding trustees to account and controlling the exercise of their discretion. It explores how trusts are used in the 'offshore world', which allows for private purpose trusts and makes use of enforcers, protectors, and letters of wishes. It looks at how trusts are used, and misused, to protect assets from creditors, and how they are used in civil law jurisdictions.

It is suitable for those with common law or civil law backgrounds, whether they have studied trusts at an undergraduate level or not. Suggestions for some extra introductory reading will be provided for those who are new to trusts or wish to brush-up on basic trust concepts.

Principal topics include:

• Control of trustees
• Purpose trusts
• Enforcers and protectors
• Letters of wishes
• Shams
• Asset protection
• Trusts in private international law
• Trusts in civil law jurisdictions.

This subject examines the remedies commonly awarded in commercial litigation. All the major common law, equitable and statutory remedies will be covered, along with personal remedies, such as damages and proprietary remedies, such as the constructive trust. The strategic selection of remedies in commercial disputes will be considered and Australian law will be compared, where relevant, with the law of other major commercial law jurisdictions.

Principal topics include:

• Damages in tort (excluding personal injuries) and for breach of contract, including issues of concurrency, where both tort and contract damages are available. Expectation and reliance damages and the protection of the ‘performance interest’ in contract. The role of liquidated damages clauses, and the penalties doctrine, will be considered, as well as the principles governing the award of exemplary and nominal damages.
• Statutory damages awards, with particular reference to damages awarded under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)
• Equitable compensation for breach of equitable obligations, including breach of fiduciary obligation. Statutory damages under the Chancery Amendment Act 1858 (Imp) and equivalent Australian legislation
• Specific performance of contracts, with particular reference to the role of specific performance in common law and civil law jurisdictions
• Injunctions, including a study of the interests protected in injunction litigation. Interlocutory orders, including Mareva orders, will be examined
• The account of profits as a remedy for equitable wrongdoing, and debates about the availability of the account of profits as a remedy for breach of contract
• Proprietary remedies, with particular reference to the distinction between institutional and remedial constructive trusts
• A comparison of the role of the constructive trust, in commercial litigation, in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Esports refers to competitive video gaming, often in the form of professional events (league competitions, tournaments, championships or battle/match) and typically between sponsored gamers or teams. In the past decade, esports’s business model has developed rapidly from one initially based on individual game publishers to the contemporary multi-stakeholder industry that is projected to have revenues of Aus$2 billion in 2022 and a fan base on over a 1 billion in the same year. Esports leagues and franchises are now aligned with leading global sports entities such as the NBA and FIFA and it is in line to be included in future Olympic Games. This rapid growth and investment from traditional sports has not always been accompanied by adequate governance structures or legal protections for investors, sponsors or players. Being the first of its kind and delivered by experts in the industry and in sports law, the subject reviews the legal challenges and opportunities ahead for esports as an innovative and important revenue stream of the sports industry domestically and abroad.

This subject provides a critical examination of the development and current scope of esports as an industry and with respect to its current and future governance and legal obligations both domestically and globally as informed by a comparative approach.

Principal topics include:

• An introduction to the esports ecosystem
• Stakeholder overview: publishers; event organisers; league operators; teams and organisations; players; talent and content creators; fans
• Governing control in esports: software IP and license agreements
• esports mega events
• Regulating the esports scene; gambling and integrity; player rights and unionisation; diversity and inclusion; pathways into pro gaming.

Sport is renowned for embodying some of the highest and most inspiring of human ideals. Few other pursuits activate the passion with which sport is played and followed. For many people, sport delivers release from the shady aspects of life. This shining image is threatened by corrupt practices around doping, match-fixing and other activities; some with links to illegal gambling and organised crime. Also, the holding of public inquiries into questionable incidents and behaviour occurring in the context of sport can have an adverse impact.

Sport bodies and governments around the world are taking legal and regulatory steps to counter these threats. This subject will explore the new frontier of sports law, from criminal laws to mandatory information sharing and monitoring arrangements, and onto the establishment and processes of inquiries. With an understanding of the international legal order around ‘integrity’ and sports investigations, students will be well-placed to contribute to this emerging field both practically and academically.

Between them, the lecturers have extensive knowledge and industry experience in sports law, anti-doping, investigations and governance.

Principal topics include at both national and international levels:

• Nature and meaning of integrity in sports competition and governance including historical and empirical perspectives
• The criminalisation of the manipulation of sporting outcomes
• The legal regulation of gambling on sport and its relationship to integrity
• Regulatory measures of sports bodies to address manipulation of sporting outcomes
• Doping and the criminal law
• The structure and role of investigative and enforcement bodies such as ethics commissions and integrity units
• The establishment and conduct of inquiries into sports activities and bodies
• Powers of investigation and information-sharing of sports bodies and relevant government authorities with particular emphasis on doping and the manipulation of sporting outcomes.

This century has witnessed much controversy concerning the governance of sport. Good governance and legal structures are seen by many astute observers as key elements in sporting success. From grassroots to the highest echelons, the governance of sport is a central practical issue and fascinating field of study. The law has struggled to meet the needs of community groups looking for effective but simple structures and governance models to propel sports participation and social connection, while successful professional sports leagues have searched for models that respond to their peculiar combination of sporting competition and economic cooperation. In the face of intensifying legal and public scrutiny, sports governing entities and regulators strive to implement good governance principles, structures and practices at the local, national and international levels of sport. This subject explores the legal aspects of these issues.

The lecturers bring an unrivalled combination of knowledge and experience in this area, encompassing leadership of major sports organisations, corporate and sports law practice, and published research on the business models of clubs, leagues and related sports law issues.

Principal topics include:

• Overview of the organisational structures of Australian and international sport, encompassing clubs, regional and national governing bodies, professional leagues and tours, government authorities, special-interest groups, international federations and Olympic and Commonwealth Games organisations
• Legal status of sports entities, including the legal personality and capacity of unincorporated clubs, incorporated associations and companies limited by guarantee, the meaning and consequences of trading activity and non-profit status and taxation
• Legal regulation and corporate governance of sports entities, including the role and obligations of directors, officers and committee members of sports entities
• The policy, regulatory and funding roles of the Australian Sports Commission
• The legal and governance structures, and underlying economic principles, of professional sports leagues and other competitions
• Sports entities and the legal process, including the sources and limits of legal authority over members, jurisdiction of domestic courts over international federations, leagues and tours, arbitration agreements and ouster of jurisdiction
• Stakeholder rights and interests, incorporating a broad legal and policy analysis of issues of accountability, transparency and due process in the relationships between sports entities at various levels, government, financial supporters, elite and non-elite participants and fans.

With attention often focused on the legal side of commercial dealings and related disputes in sport, the law‘s role regarding the basic building block of sport – the human body – can be overlooked. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, this subject will explore the legal and ethical aspects of the medical treatment of elite athletes and the important field of anti-doping. Medico-legal approaches to past and present controversies, including participation of disabled and pregnant athletes, concussion, infectious diseases and single-sex sports will be investigated in case studies sure to interest and challenge.

This subject is for medical professionals working in sport and for sports administrators and legal counsel responsible for day-to-day operational issues, especially anti-doping. The lecturers are two internationally eminent sports medicine practitioners and a legal expert in the field.

This subject considers selected topics from the medico-legal aspects of sports and anti-doping. The primary focus will be upon analysing the legal relationship between the sports medicine professional and the athlete-patient, especially in the context of team sports, where responsibilities are divided between athlete and team. It will incorporate selective study of a number of legal disciplines, including negligence, confidentiality, anti-discrimination law and anti-doping law.

Principal topics include:

• Responsibility for injury in the practice of sports medicine
• Sports participation with injury or disability
• Working with other health professionals in the ‘sports medicine team‘
• Boxing
• Concussion
• Infectious diseases in sport
• Performance-enhancing drugs with an emphasis on the medico/legal interface
• Illicit drugs
• The pregnant athlete
• Sex status of sports participants.

This core tax subject examines the law, policy and structural features of capital gains tax (CGT) in Australia and considers and applies CGT rules in a number of different private and business contexts. The subject examines the operation of CGT in detail in the context of the treatment of information and goodwill, earn-outs, the application of CGT to non-residents, in relation to real estate transactions, litigation and the use of trusts and deceased estates.

Principal topics include:

• Structure of the capital gains tax system and its interaction with other tax provisions
• Selected CGT Events and their key concepts
• The CGT treatment of information and goodwill
• The CGT treatment of earn-outs
• The application of CGT to non-residents
• CGT and business structures, restructuring, available rollovers and the small business CGT concessions
• Capital gains tax problems in conveyancing and real estate development
• Capital gains tax problems in compensation payouts
• Capital gains tax problems in trusts and estates.

Globalisation is driving corporate tax systems closer together and often into conflict. For many tax practitioners, it is now not enough to know their own corporate tax system—they must grapple with and question the operation of other corporate tax systems. This subject seeks to develop an ability to understand and analyse any corporate tax system and assess its impact on corporate decision-making. With a dedicated textbook (written by the presenter), this subject compares a number of influential and archetypal corporate tax systems (both common law and civil law) and assesses their behaviour in the context of practical problems. For tax professionals, this subject develops an ability to ask direct and informed questions about a foreign corporate tax system and discuss that system at a high level with foreign tax professionals.

This subject will compare and analyse income tax law in selected countries (Australia, Germany, the US and the UK) and consider how these laws interface with corporate law. Other jurisdictions may also be covered briefly during the course and students are permitted to cover other countries in their research paper.

Principal topics include:

• Identification of entities (including hybrids) subject to corporation tax
• Corporate groups and service companies
• Debt versus equity and dividend relief
• Cross-border corporate income and dividends
• Gains/losses on the disposal of shares, takeovers and trading in loss companies
• Corporate formation, share buy-backs and liquidation
• Bonus issues, convertible notes, mergers and demergers.

This subject will provide a detailed comparative analysis of the principal topics in international taxation. The core principles of international income tax will be examined, with the different approaches taken by nations (developed, emerging, and developing countries) outlined and critiqued. The compatibility of international tax systems in dealing with international transactions will be examined, and key areas of mismatch and overlap identified. The ongoing reform of international tax rules under the O.E.C.D. Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project will be considered. This subject will equip students to analyse international tax issues using a comparative approach and to acquire a deep understanding of the underlying structural, institutional, and policy influences that have shaped international income tax systems. This knowledge is directly applicable to analysing international tax problems in any particular country.

Principal topics include:

• Jurisdiction to tax (residence and source)
• Taxation of foreign income of residents, including elimination of double taxation
• Deductibility of expenses to earn dividends from foreign corporations
• Controlled foreign company rules
• Taxation of non-residents
• Thin capitalisation rules
• Tax treaties
• BEPS issues.

This core tax subject examines the policies, detailed rules and current practical problems involved in the taxation of companies and shareholders in Australia, particularly at shareholder level. The lecturers are leading practitioners and they will consider the tax rules that apply to shares, corporate distributions, Australia‘s imputation system, the debt-equity integrity rules and the hybrid entity rules. 

Syllabus

This subject consists of a detailed examination of the tax rules applied to companies and shareholders in a domestic setting in Australia, with a focus on issues at the shareholder level.

Principal topics include:

• The policy and problems of taxing companies and shareholders
• Tax treatment of contributions of share capital and assets to a company
• Debt-equity classification
• The corporate shareholder imputation system
• Private company deemed dividends
• Franking credit and capital streaming and associated anti-avoidance rules
• Taxation of company distributions and dealings with interests in companies, including liquidations and share buybacks
• Hybrid rules.

This advanced corporate tax subject provides an in-depth analysis of the tax rules for Australia‘s largest public and private consolidated corporate groups, and the rules for use of losses by companies and corporate groups. It includes detailed discussion of the latest reforms in these highly technical areas of corporate tax practice, in light of tax policy applicable to companies and consolidated groups operating in Australia today. This subject is co-taught by experienced lecturers who combine academic and practitioner experience to deliver this advanced and commercially essential subject.

Principal topics include:

• The rules for membership and formation of a consolidated group in Part 3-90 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth)
• Operation of a consolidated group through normal trading operations, including the single entity rule, treatment of assets and liabilities, tax payment obligations, tax-sharing agreements and the company shareholder imputation system for consolidated groups
• Tax cost setting on joining and leaving of subsidiary members of a consolidated group, including group-to-group transactions
• Tax rules for multiple entry groups owned by foreign investors in Australia
• The interaction of consolidated group tax rules with other tax rules
• Tax rules for losses in companies and consolidated groups, including loss integrity rules, in Divisions 165 and 166 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth).

In today’s global, digital era, international tax is vitally important, and the environment is changing rapidly. Tax issues on diverse topics of cross-border work, consumption, deals and investments are important for taxpayers ranging from individuals to multinational corporations. Governments are increasingly cooperating on tax collection and enforcement, but spill overs from unilateral tax changes of some countries may dramatically affect other countries. Meanwhile, tax competition continues. Tax havens are being brought into the global net and anti-abuse rules are strengthened, yet low tax jurisdictions remain significant for international tax policy. This subject is led by international tax experts and brings academia, government and the profession together to explore the latest trends in international tax and implications for Australia and the world.

The subject will address the latest developments in tax practice and theory on a range of topics such as:

• International tax principles: are residence and source still relevant?
• OECD-G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting measures
• Anti-abuse rules in a global digital era
• Multilateral and bilateral cooperation: Is multilateralism the way of the future and how important are bilateral tax treaties?
• Transnational tax administration and taxpayer rights
• Processes and players in international tax reform
• Future design of international tax rules for corporate, individual and consumption taxes in a global digital context.

This core tax subject examines the fundamentals of taxation, with a focus on Australia’s most important tax: the personal income tax. It engages with the tax law that is most relevant to legal and tax practice for individuals and businesses.

This subject equips students to interpret statutory tax rules and apply judicial approaches, and to understand the policy and implications of tax reform in this fast-changing and challenging area of law. Foundations of Tax Law is a required subject for international tax students and is recommended for all masters students who have had little previous study or experience in tax law and wish to gain a solid grounding in the area

Principal topics include:

• Overview of federal and state taxes in Australia, how tax laws are made, sources of tax law, tax policy and design principles and reform
• The structure of the income tax, concept of income and tax rates
• Income tax law, including calculation of taxable income; definition of income from services, property and business, capital gains, deductions and treatment of business and investment assets
• Overview of income tax of business and investment entities
• Tax avoidance and evasion, and the general anti-avoidance rule.

This core tax subject will examine Australia’s Goods and Services Tax (GST). The subject identifies the core legislative features in Australia’s GST contained in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999.

The subject includes:

• reference to the value-added tax systems in other jurisdictions such as the European Union, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Singapore; and
• analysis of rulings and cases that are relevant to the operation of, and compliance with, Australia’s GST in practice.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to the GST: the objectives of a tax on household consumption expenditure and the design features and legislative scheme of Australia’s GST
• GST’s ‘basic rules’ and the legislative building blocks contained in the GST law: the taxable person, consumption expenditure, tax value, registration, jurisdictional scope, supplies to and from offshore, exemptions, the destination principle (exports and imports) and input tax relief.
• A legislative overview of the Australian GST treatment of the “difficult to tax” issues: real property and financial services.

This core international tax subject is of central importance given Australia’s ever-growing role in the global economy. This subject covers the fundamental international income tax rules that apply where income or capital gains are derived in circumstances that have a connection with Australia. It considers Australia’s tax jurisdiction of residence and source, and relief from double taxation under domestic law and tax treaties. It also examines measures to prevent tax avoidance, such as controlled foreign company measures and transfer pricing.

This subject is designed to explore in detail the fundamental principles of Australia’s international taxation regime. The subject will examine both the issues of tax design and policy, and the relevant provisions in the legislation, cases and rulings.

Principal topics include:

• Principles of international taxation
• Rules for determining residence and source
• Domestic rules for the taxation of residents’ foreign income (foreign income tax offsets, accruals taxation of foreign income and exemption of foreign income)
• Domestic rules for the taxation of non-residents’ Australian source income (business income, interest, dividends and royalties)
• Introduction to tax treaties
• Introduction to thin capitalisation rules.

Not-for-Profits, the law and the state is a hot topic.  As the government retreats from the direct provision of social welfare and public goods, and as not-for-profits seek as never before to integrate commerce and advocacy with their traditional purposes, much attention is being focused on not-for-profit law.  These profound developments also suggest that not-for-profit law is becoming as important to contemporary societies as corporations law or administrative law.  In this subject, we will look in depth at the key elements of this critical body of law and on the relationship between the state and the not-for-profit sector.  We will reflect on important questions raised by not-for-profit law in its contemporary setting, questions relating to the definition of charity, the taxation of not-for-profits, and not-for-profit regulation.  We will adopt comparative, theoretical and practical perspectives in working through these questions.  The subject will be taught by two of Australia’s leading not-for-profit law experts.

• The legal definition of charity in Australia and other analogous jurisdictions
• The public benefit test and recent developments in the law of public benefit in Australia and abroad
• The extent to which not-for-profits can undertake for-profit activities and member benefit arrangements
• The treatment of religion in charity law
• The treatment of political advocacy in charity law
• The tax treatment of not-for-profits from a critical perspective
• Not-for-profits and discrimination on grounds like race, religion and sex
• A comparative examination of the regulation of the not-for-profit sector.

Effective tax administration is fundamental to achieving tax policy goals. This subject examines the practical issues that arise in the administration of the Australian tax system and tax administration generally. The sessions will explore in depth the administrative role of the Federal Commissioner of Taxation (FCT) in Australia's tax regime, the FCT's general powers and the interaction of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) with taxpayers, tax professionals and other authorities and agencies. The subject will also include international comparisons as relevant.

The subject will be taught by the Inspector-General of Taxation, Ali Noroozi.

Principal topics include:

• Tax administration under a self-assessment regime
• The FCT's general powers of administration
• The FCT's remedial powers
• The structure of the ATO, including the corporate governance regime and internal checks and balances
• The interaction of the FCT and the ATO with the tax profession and the role of the Tax Practitioners Board
• The ATO's interaction with taxpayers
• External scrutiny of the ATO by government and other agencies and authorities
• The ATO's role in tax policy advice and law design
• The ATO's interaction with other Australian government agencies
• The ATO's interaction with international agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

This subject examines both general and specific anti-avoidance provisions in Australia and in comparable jurisdictions. The subject will examine in detail the provisions of Part IVA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth), as well as its Goods and Services Tax (GST) equivalent, and consider the differences between permissible tax planning and impermissible tax avoidance.

Principal topics include:

• Concepts of tax avoidance
• General anti-avoidance provisions
• Specific anti-avoidance provisions
• Judicial responses to tax avoidance
• Obligations of taxpayers and advisers in relation to tax avoidance
• Tax avoidance and consolidation.

Today’s tax professional requires a combination of technical tax expertise and a deep understanding of the practical aspects of providing tax advice. This subject will be presented in a panel style and cover the latest developments in the essential practical skills required by employers in the tax profession.

The emphasis of this subject will be on equipping you with the practical aspects of dealing with the day to day issues you will encounter as a tax practitioner. You will learn how to draft clear, concise and effective advice and the importance of managing tax risk. The subject will also arm you with the skills required to draft ruling applications and objections and understand your legal obligations as a tax adviser.

The subject will be presented by leading silks, partners and tax practitioners. It presents a unique opportunity to benefit from their extensive experience.

Principal topics include:

• Negotiating with revenue authorities during audit, dispute and litigation
• Understanding the various forms of advice provided by the Australian Taxation Office
• The operation of legal professional privilege in the taxation environment
• The obligations of the tax advisor
• Taxpayer redress.

All countries face the challenge of ensuring their tax systems are able to support effective governments in the global era of increasingly mobile capital and labour, and to establish effective, fair, simple and sustainable tax systems for the future. Australia has undergone a number of major tax reform exercises over recent decades and there is an ongoing public debate in Australia, as in other countries, about how to keep the tax system relevant in a changing international economy.

This subject engages with the fundamental fiscal policy issues of today for all levels of government. It will analyse the major tax bases available for governments, the interactions of tax law with the transfer system, the challenge of environmentally sustainable taxes and issues of tax law design, complexity and administration for the future. The subject is taught by Paul Tilley, a former Australian Treasury official with a long history of tax reform in Australia.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to macroeconomics and fiscal policy
• Introduction to microeconomics and resource allocation policy
• Principles, objectives and main concepts in tax policy formulation
• The social, economic and historical – political contexts of tax policy formulation in Australia
• Major issues in tax reform in Australia, including in relation to fiscal policy and revenue adequacy, the major tax bases at each level of government, interactions within the tax-transfer system and issues of tax policy design cost, complexity and administration.

Globally, countries have negotiated more than 3,000 bilateral tax treaties and the number of treaties continues to grow. Tax Treaties provides an in-depth examination of international tax treaties, regarding both inbound and outbound investment. This subject uses the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Model Treaty and Commentary and examines important tax treaties of Australia and its major trading partners.

Associate Professor Michael Kobetsky has advised the United Nations (UN) and country governments on these issues. This lively, engaging and relevant subject equips students to deal with the most topical and advanced issues of international tax in the application and interpretation of tax treaties, including the meaning of permanent establishment and taxation of business profits, residence and source, the treatment of investment income, exchange of information and avoidance of double taxation.

Principal topics include:

• The role of tax treaties in preventing double taxation and tax avoidance
• Interpretation of tax treaties
• Relationship between tax treaties and domestic law
• Impact of tax treaties on investing in Australia
• Impact of tax treaties on investing overseas
• Entities and tax treaties
• The mutual agreement procedure
• Tax treaties and tax avoidance.

This core tax subject is designed to explore in detail the fundamental principles of income tax, fringe benefits tax and capital gains tax in relation to business and investment. It will provide the requisite skills and knowledge to identify and better deal with income tax problems that arise in practice and in other tax subjects. The lecturers are leading practitioners or academics with extensive experience in the field.

Principal topics include:

• The structure of the Australian income tax system
• The structure of the legislation, interaction mechanisms and derivation
• Multi-step transactions
• Deferred payments
• Expense characterisation and calculation of cost
• Valuation and conditions of employment
• Reimbursements and apportionment of deductions
• Capital gains tax: dissecting receipts and part disposals
• Deemed disposals
• Capital allowances and cost-base write-down
• Creation of liabilities
• Reimbursement and recovery of expenses.

Small and medium business enterprises including high net worth families operating through groups of private companies, trusts and partnerships must deal with some of the most complex and challenging rules in the tax system, and face a high tax compliance and planning burden. This subject is aimed at tax professionals in general or those in specialist tax practice advising SMEs and high-wealth families. It equips participants with an advanced knowledge of tax rules and latest reforms for SMEs and high net worth families, integrating the technical law that participants learn in other subjects, including corporate tax, tax of trusts, capital gains tax and taxation of business and investment income. This subject involves consideration of complex and competing principles from numerous parts of the tax and other laws including indirect taxes, asset protection and estate and succession planning. It builds on the core content of other subjects, including Taxation of Business and Investment Income, Capital Gains Tax, Corporate Tax A, Taxation of Trusts and State Taxes. As a result, this subject may be best studied towards the end of your tax course.

This advanced subject is co-taught by leading practitioners with many years of experience advising the Australian SME and high net wealth families sector. They deliver an advanced, commercially essential subject through application of the tax law to topical case studies.

Principal topics include:

• Income tax and capital gains tax rules applicable to trusts, private companies and partnerships, when establishing a new business or making investments, its operation and ultimate sale, winding up or business succession
• Tax issues for private companies and shareholders, including Div 7A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth)
• Tax issues relating to remuneration by and financing of SMEs
• Tax concessions for SMEs, in particular the capital gains tax small business concessions
• Trust streaming, trust loss and capital distribution rules affecting SMEs
• Tax integrity and anti-avoidance rules for SMEs, including trust anti-avoidance rules
• Tax planning for SME structuring, asset protection and estate and business succession, incorporating key state and federal tax, asset protection and estate issues
• Asset protection and some estate and succession planning for SME entities, their owners and high wealth families.

This core tax subject will examine in depth the Australian income tax rules applicable to trusts, including significant new and ongoing reforms and policy developments. It will apply these rules to the range of applications of trusts, including private trusts such as unit trusts, family discretionary trusts, public managed investment funds, real estate investment trusts, nominee trusts, and stapled structures used by large businesses.

Principal topics include:

• Definition and types of trust at law and for tax purposes and framework of trust tax rules
• Trust distributions, beneficiaries and trustees, present entitlement, net income and flow-through of tax attributes, such as franking credits and capital gains
• Trust losses
• Anti-avoidance and integrity rules
• Capital gains tax for trusts, including formation, distributions, termination, unit trusts and deceased estates
• Managed investment and real estate unit trusts, public trading trusts, and stapled and other trust structures
• Trust tax reform and new developments.

International transfer pricing is the price charged for the cross-border transfer of assets or services between associated enterprises in a multinational enterprise group. Transfer pricing is consistently identified in international surveys of multinational enterprises as the most important tax issue they face. Multinational enterprises have to deal with demands from the various jurisdictions in which they operate as national tax agencies implement measures to protect their revenue from cross-border trade between associated entities.

This subject studies the Australian transfer pricing rules and their application. The Australian transfer pricing rules are based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Transfer Pricing Guidelines. This subject is designed for tax advisers, in-house tax managers and government officials, as well as those practising in transfer pricing. A background in transfer pricing is not required.

Principal topics include:

• OECD guidelines on transfer pricing
• Australia’s tax legislation and tax rulings on transfer pricing
• Australia’s tax treaties and transfer pricing
• Case law
• Transfer pricing methodologies—selection and application for the following transactions in respect of tangible goods, intangible assets, services and financial transactions
• Transfer pricing documentation requirements
• Performing a comparable search (benchmarking)
• Completing the transfer pricing section of the tax return
• Risk reviews and audit approach.

From one of the earliest concerns of morality and political philosophy to the subject of the latest global treaty sponsored by the United Nations, corruption has had a fascinating role in human affairs. Corruption’s importance as a matter of law and policy has grown in recent decades, thanks to an increasing awareness of its devastating effects on development efforts, human rights, democracies, economies, and environmental protection efforts. Responding to that growing importance, this subject provides an overview of domestic, regional, and global approaches to corruption.

The domestic approaches examined in this subject include those undertaken by a sample of Latin American and Asian countries, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The regional approaches targeted include those sponsored by the Organization of American States, the Asian Development Bank, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the World Bank. Finally, at the global level, this seminar covers the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC).

Entering into force in 2005 and obtaining 183 States Parties by 2017, the UNCAC has taken strides in implementing a comprehensive and partially binding global approach to corruption. This subject explores the five pillars of that approach—international cooperation, preventative measures, criminalization and law enforcement measures, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange—and their linkages to domestic and regional initiatives. A major question at this stage will be the UNCAC’s ability (or potential) to supplement or improve upon those pre-existing initiatives.   

At each of its three levels of legal inquiry (domestic, regional, and global), this seminar examines questions of substantive law (what conduct is targeted), procedure (how are suspected violations of the law exposed and addressed), institutions (how is each legal framework administered and modified), and effectiveness (under a number of metrics). Notably, this subject addresses the advantages and criticisms of anti-corruption law in its many forms.     

Although this subject relies primarily on legal analysis, it also encompasses economics, history, and political science. That interdisciplinarity enables the consideration of the broader questions that inform anti-corruption law. Those questions include: How are definitions and patterns of corruption changing over time? What effects does corruption have on development, businesses, local economies, and global capitalism? What effects does it have on human rights, democratization, elections, and lawmaking? What lessons have been learned about the effectiveness of different legal approaches to corruption? How could domestic, regional, and international anti-corruption initiatives be improved?  

Principal topics include:

• What is corruption? How is corruption defined by different legal regimes?
• How does corruption manifest in distinct environments, including campaign and party finance, elections, lawmaking, law enforcement, government procurement, business, international development efforts, and banking and finance? What are corruption’s economic, political, and social effects?
• What are the regulatory challenges involved in preventing, exposing, and punishing corruption in its distinct environments? To what extent have domestic, regional, and international legal regimes been successful in meeting those challenges?
• How could those laws and institutions be improved? In particular, what are the main successes and shortcomings of the UN system for preventing and combatting corruption? What are its prospects for improvement? 
• What are the different roles that lawyers play in addressing corruption? What skill sets do they employ?

The proper role to be played by labour standards and human rights in the construction of the international economic order, and in the development process, is an intricate issue and a matter of controversy. This subject examines the relationship between (economic) development and labour law – exploring the place of rights within both investment and trade-led development models, and the contrasting social justice-based developmental approaches.

In investigating the role of labour law in development, this subject interrogates the rationales, content, institutions and regulatory frameworks relating to labour standards and human rights at regional and international levels. This entails not only a technical analysis of transnational instruments and supervisory structures but also detailed consideration of underlying political and economic concerns. Such regulatory frameworks for labour that have prevailed in the global ‘North’ have been the basis of transplantation and experimentation in the 'South', and might obscure the actual characteristics of labour relations in the ‘South’. The subject examines the redefinition of labour law, paying close attention to North-South relations in the regulation of labour; to the relationship between labour rights and human rights; and to the limits of rights discourse.

Attention will be given to various case studies. Illustrative topics include:

• Introduction: Re-imagining labour law for development
• Labour and the turn to human rights discourse
• The changing nature of work: informalisation, ‘precariatisation’, and the rise in low quality work
• Defining labour in the global North and the global South: Unpaid labour, family employment and care work
• Setting, supervising and enforcing international labour standards
• ‘Core’ labour rights and the International Labour Organisation
• Development, free trade and labour rights: socio-economic rights as a condition of international trade
• Competing regimes and norms on migrant labour
• The regional and sub-regional dimension: the European Union, the African Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
• Labour dimensions of codes of conduct, social labelling and investor initiatives: effectiveness and legitimacy
• ‘Post-industrial’ labour law in the global North and South: Alternative models of social protection and social justice, Universal Basic Income and employment guarantees

This subject is a collaborative effort to reflect on, critique, appreciate, and learn about international advocacy that responds to global injustice using a human rights framework.  It provides a map of the field of international human rights advocacy—its dominant forms of action, strategies, and range of methods—and introduces students to the core elements and skills involved in that work, including the collection of evidence of human rights abuses; interviewing witnesses, governments and other potential opponents; report writing; media work; advocacy strategies; quantitative and qualitative methods; litigation; and measuring effectiveness.  The subject also introduces the ethical principles and professional rules related to human rights lawyering. It addresses the obstacles to effective global justice and human rights work, and the technical, procedural, and substantive problems with the manner in which advocates investigate abuses, seek accountability, and conduct advocacy. Teaching materials are drawn from a diverse range of fields and interdisciplinary sources including law, medicine, psychology, political science, social theory, critical theory, toolkits and how-to-guides, stories, video, podcasts, human rights reports, and witness testimony.  The success of the subject depends, to a great extent, on the active, engaged, and critical participation of students. The subject will be of interest to students whose work already intersects with human rights directly or to students who wish to explore ways to further inject human rights into their work. It is designed to be of relevance to students whether they are working within Australia, other countries or at the international level.

The subject will examine human rights law and institutions; ethics for human rights lawyers; crafting strategy; fact-finding (including interviewing, documentation, open source investigations, and quantitative and qualitative research methods); and advocacy methods (including reporting, campaigning, messaging, and litigating).

This subject will introduce and explore the main concepts, laws, institutions and policies at the intersection of international climate change law and international human rights law.

Specifically, this subject will explore two aspects of the intersection between climate change and human rights. First it will explore the nature and extent to which the impacts of climate change and response measures to address climate change can affect the realization of core human rights. It will examine the substantive and procedural rights afforded through national, regional and international instruments to those affected by environmental harms, and the ways in which such rights can be extended to cover climate harms. It will in this context analyze cases in national, regional and international courts and tribunals that engage human rights in the context of climate harms. Second, this subject will examine the treatment of human rights in the international climate change regime, and the prospects for further integration of human rights concerns in the regime. 

More broadly, through a study of these two aspects, this subject will examine the potential, prospects and limits of international law in protecting the rights of those affected by climate harm.

Principal topics include:

• Articulation of environmental protection in the language of human rights, both substantive and procedural, in international, regional and national human rights systems, instruments and case law
• Autonomous ‘right to a healthy environment’ and its extension to a healthy climate
• ‘Greening’ of established rights such as the right to life, health and privacy, and their extension to protection from climate harms
• Treatment of human rights in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the 2015 Paris Agreement, and the 2018 Katowice Rules

The concept of development has been crucial to structuring international legal relations from the end of World War II to the present day. During that time, international law and institutions have taken on ‘development’ as a primary project. In both the public and economic domains, the vast majority of international institutions engage with the development project in some shape or form. This subject invites students to think about the nature and importance of development and its relation to international law. The history of development in relation to imperialism, decolonisation, the Cold War and globalisation means that this set of relations is complex and dynamic. Understanding it is crucial to understanding the place of international law, and the work development does in the contemporary world.

Principal topics include:

• Law and development as a field
• The ‘development’ concept and its precursors
• The relationship between the concepts of ‘law’ and ‘development’
• The institutionalisation of development
• Development, imperialism, decolonisation and the nation state
• Permanent sovereignty over natural resources and the new international economic order
• Debt crises and development(s) at the Bretton Wood institutions
• Trade and development
• Globalisation, governance and the rule of law
• Sustainability, democracy and human rights
• Resistance, alternatives and post-development
• The future: development and security.

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.

The law of the sea relates to the allocation of jurisdiction and peaceful uses of the seas and oceans, the equitable and efficient utilisation of marine resources, and the study, protection and preservation of the marine environment. Historically concerned with the ‘freedom of the seas’ for sovereign states, the law of the sea must also address contemporary and emerging challenges such as climate change, marine species preservation, pollution, overlapping territorial claims and national security. The overarching legal regime of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is supplemented by specific agreements as well as market techniques and supply chain oversight. This subject provides an overview and critique of the established and newly forming international regimes – and their interaction – and is informed by an institutional approach that acknowledges the influence of dispute settlement systems, non-state participation and transnational and administrative practices. The lecturers have published widely on fisheries law, trade law, the law of the sea and on the interaction between international legal regimes.

Principal topics include:

• The Law of the Sea Convention and associated instruments governing the high seas, including the Fish Stocks Agreement
• Divisions of jurisdiction within the Law of the Sea, including key notions of the territorial sea, exclusive economic zones (EEZ), areas beyond national jurisdiction (high seas) and the sea-bed area
• Voluntary instruments of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, including the Compliance Agreement, the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and the Port State Measures Agreement, as well as emerging views on the ecosystem approach and marine protected areas
• The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling
• World Trade Organization (WTO) rules relating to subsidies, labelling and restrictions on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing
• The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and other multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs)
• Marine pollution, including microplastics and greenhouse gas emissions from bunker fuels
• Relevant dispute settlement bodies, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), arbitral bodies and the WTO.

Other topics may include:

• Marine protected areas, including efforts to create a new legally binding international agreement on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)
• Freedoms of the seas in contested areas of jurisdiction (such as Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise)
• Overlapping maritime claims such as the ruling on the South China Seas issued by an arbitral tribunal based at the Permanent Court of Arbitration
• The role of indigenous rights, subsistence and artisanal practices
• Selected regional approaches to fisheries management
• The influence of legal approaches to climate change, especially with respect to low-lying island coastal states.

Science and technology are at the heart of many of the most pressing legal and social problems of our day: disease prevention, bioethics, big data, state and corporate surveillance, the regulation of military technologies, and so on. This subject invites students to consider the common challenges of law, policy and public discourse posed by problems of this sort, at both the domestic and international level. In doing so, it asks: how do scientific discoveries and their technological applications shape our legal and social worlds? And how do law and society affect scientific and technological developments in turn?

The overall aim is to equip students coming from diverse backgrounds, training and experience with the analytical and critical tools necessary to understand and respond to complex questions of science and technology in all their legal, social, (geo)political, ethical, and cultural dimensions.

The lecturer undertakes research and advocacy in this area and was recently a visiting fellow at the Harvard Program on Science, Technology and Society.

Principal topics include:

• Science and technology studies as a field
• The relationship between ‘law’, ‘science’, ‘technology’ and ‘society’ as concepts and fields of practice
• Biotechnology and bioethics
• Drug patents and disease prevention
• Big data and global surveillance
• Military technologies
• Public discourse around science and technology
• The future: advocacy, law reform and other critical encounters between law, science, technology and society.

This subject will provide students with an understanding of key concepts in the fields of strategy, leadership, marketing, human resources and IT management. It will provide students with the ability to contribute more effectively to management decision-making. The subject aims to give students a greater appreciation of the keys to business success. The mode of instruction will include case study analysis, guest speaker presentations and interactive lectures. This subject is ideal for those working in any professional services context including law and accounting firms, in-house legal teams or any other type of business advisory practice.

Principal topics include:

• Practice economics
• Strategy formulation and implementation
• Managing people
• Marketing, brand and reputation-building
• Business development and client relationship management
• Improving operational efficiency and effectiveness
• Business planning and measurement
• Why some firms fly.

2017 marked the 25th anniversary of the landmark Australian medical law decision Rogers v Whitaker. Medical litigation remains an exceptionally vibrant and challenging field, underpinned by the rapid pace of scientific and social developments that generate new issues for the law. Many of the more challenging issues are at the core of policy – birth, reproduction and death. The legal issues are fundamental, covering the existence of duties, what should be considered negligent, the challenges of legal causation and the appropriate compensation regime – all against a background of insurance affordability, the ongoing health and safety improvement mechanisms, the reporting and disclosure agenda and the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme. This subject examines the framework of medical litigation, current challenges and issues on the horizon.

The subject presenter Bill Madden is a lawyer specialising in medical litigation, the co-author of two health law texts and a regular writer and presenter on medical law topics.

Principal topics include:

• History and incidence of medical litigation
• The impact of recent legal and court-based reforms including mediation
• The medical indemnity marketplace and government intervention
• Duty, breach of duty and statutory defences/special protections
• Consent, informed consent and treatment errors—the legal differences
• Causation and loss of chance
• The importance and changing framework of expert evidence
• Privacy and confidentiality issues
• National regulation, conduct and crime
• Mandatory reporting impacts
• Coroners’ investigations and hearings.

This topical subject deals with the interface between private law and public law in common law systems from the perspectives of history, doctrine, theory and practice. It will explore the traditional absence of such a division in the common law, and the reasons for this, as a basis for understanding the relevance of the distinction in the contemporary legal system. The subject will critically assess the distinction from a theoretical perspective, testing whether the idea of a distinction between public law and private law can withstand scrutiny. A range of cutting-edge doctrinal issues will be examined and placed in wider context. These include whether public law principles should extend to the activities of non-governmental entities such as private firms and charities; whether the law should recognise a special set of rules to regulate public contracts; whether public authorities should be governed by the ordinary law of tort or a set of special administrative liability principles; procedural divisions between public law and private law; the role of the public interest in private remedies and of private remedies in public law cases; and whether public law issues should be heard by specialist administrative courts. The subject should be of interest to lawyers working in any field in a common law legal system and to those trained in the different traditions of the civil law who are interested in better understanding the structures and assumptions of the common law.

Principal topics are likely to include:

• History of the concept of public law in common law legal systems
• Concepts of public and private
• Implications of a distinction between public law and private law
• Overview of current practice
• Law applicable to non-governmental entities
• Legal framework for public contracts
• Liability of public authorities
• Remedies
• Specialist or generalist courts.

Regulation has become a permanent feature of the way in which contemporary democratic economies, including Australia, are governed. There are few spheres of economic activity that are not subject to some form of regulatory oversight and control. Daily news programs rarely pass without some mention of a significant regulatory decision, proposed regulatory reform or allegations of some regulatory failure or scandal. For lawyers, dealings with regulators and regulatory regimes have become part of the staple diet of their work. Yet the practice of regulation is far from straightforward. Regulatory policy and practice has evolved considerably from its traditional origins in the form of ‘command and control’, accompanied by the growth of specific terminology and concepts that are likely to be unfamiliar to those other than regulatory technocrats. This subject provides an opportunity for students to develop an understanding of, and critically to evaluate, the basic tools, techniques and decision-making methodologies that are employed in regulatory design and practice. It will be of interest to both private and public sector lawyers who practise in regulated sectors of the economy, enhancing their understanding of how regulators go about the business of regulatory decision-making.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction: What is ‘regulation’ and ‘governance’?; the regulatory agency: institutional features, strengths and shortcomings; the rise of the ‘regulatory state’; regulatory regimes and the role of non-state actors
• Tools, techniques and instruments of regulation: command—traditional legal prohibitions backed by sanctions; competition—market based approaches; communication—information disclosure and publicity-based approaches; consensus (including self-regulation); code architecture and the use of ‘nudge’ techniques
• ‘New governance’ approaches to regulation: choice of Instrument; ‘hybrid’ approaches to regulation; responsive regulation, ‘smart regulation’ and its variants (including meta-regulation); cost-benefit analysis and regulatory impact assessment and ‘better regulation’
• Enforcement and compliance: problems with rules; principles-based regulation; the role of the criminal and civil law; punitive civil sanctions (the Macrory Review); regulatory enforcement styles; national styles of regulation; private enforcement, third party monitoring and certification systems
• Appraising Regulation: regulatory accountability; regulatory legitimacy: between democracy and expertise.

In the first half of the 20th century most civil actions were for causes of action not much affected by statute: trespass, negligence, libel and slander, breach of contract and the various forms of equitable suit. Most criminal prosecutions were for offences created by statute but whose elements were treated as identified largely by judge-made law. There were great codifying acts; intellectual property acts, facultative acts, and regulatory statutes, but judge-made law was of central and dominating importance. The second half of the 20th century saw the statutory cause of action emerge to prominence, the enactment of laws permitting modification of privately-made agreements, the creation of new rights and obligations and novel forms of criminal offence. Statute became the central and dominating form of regulation of rights and obligations. The proper construction and application of statutes always has been, but now more than ever is, an essential legal skill. This subject seeks to develop and refine those skills.

Principal topics include:

• Construction—a text-based activity but involving more than a dictionary in one hand and the text in the other
• The importance of the constitutional framework and other basic assumptions
• The search for meaning and the metaphor of intention
• The place of Interpretation legislation, including rights Acts
• The canons of construction, their use and abuse ('canons to the right of them; canons to the left of them; on into the valley of death')
• Ambiguity and its resolution, including the use of extrinsic materials
• Inconsistencies, repeals, amendment, consolidation and retrospectivity
• The legislative misfire
• Special rules for special areas
• Rules and regulations—power to make, construction and use in construing the legislation
• Overarching theories and descriptions of the construction process.