This Melbourne MicroCert is for professionals – legal and otherwise – looking to gain the practical skills and knowledge to draft commercial contracts that add strategic value to commercial negotiations. To take this course, it is recommended you have at least one year of relevant legal or contract administration experience.

This Melbourne MicroCert has been designed in close consultation with industry and is based on extensive experience in the design and delivery of industry training.

You'll gain insights from a diverse range of industry professionals to underline the diverse perspectives of stakeholders such as clients, lawyers and in-house counsel.

This course has been designed to apply Plain English rules and clear drafting principles as recognised in various contexts, including legislative drafting, disclosure requirements, and effective contract drafting guides produced by professional bodies.

Learning on this Melbourne MicroCert is equivalent to AQF Level 8 of the Australian Qualifications Framework.

By the end of this course, you'll better understand how to draft contracts that add strategic value to commercial negotiations and how strategic drafting operates as part of the negotiation process in business deals.

You'll be able to:

• Examine how contract drafters add value through the drafting process
• Identify and apply good practices in terms of taking instructions and achieving a client's commercial needs
• Assess the strategic value of drafting during contract negotiations.

This course runs over four weeks.

Your total time commitment is approximately 42 hours, which includes:

• 7 hours guided learning
• 10 hours assessment tasks
• 25 hours independent study and reading

Assessment:

• Issue-spotting exercise: Identify opportunities for value-added and strategic drafting across a broad range of contractual provisions (30%)
• Simulated drafting exercise: Plan and draft a negotiation strategy and a complex contractual provision that reflects a client's commercial objectives (70%).

Once you've successfully completed this course, you will be awarded your Strategic Contract Drafting and Negotiation Melbourne MicroCert. This digital certificate will warrant the achievement of knowledge, skills and capabilities outlined in the learning outcomes. It may also include artefacts (such as videos and written material) related to both experiential and work-integrated learning, including translatable assessment that is practical to your professional life. You can also share your Melbourne MicroCert digitally and via social media by adding it to your personal platforms, such as LinkedIn. See example certificate.

Strategic Contract Drafting and Negotiation can be taken as a stand-alone Melbourne MicroCert, or complemented with Contract Drafting Skills to deepen your knowledge and skills.

Strategic Contract Drafting and Negotiation is usually undertaken as the second Melbourne MicroCert in this suite, but this is not a requirement.

Explore more from the Contract Drafting suite:

• Contract Drafting Skills

You'll learn alongside other professionals throughout this course within our innovative online learning environment. You'll undertake guided learning activities such as peer learning and interaction on discussion boards, as well as synchronous discussions or interactive seminars via video conferencing.

You'll begin to put your skills into practice and receive vital feedback from your instructor, a seasoned legal expert. To underline the diverse perspectives of stakeholders, such as clients, solicitors, and in-house counsel, you'll also hear from a range of industry professionals.

There is no set expiry date.