Although a subset of legal drafting, commercial drafting is extremely broad, with areas like contract law, corporate law, banking and finance and intellectual property constituting well established specialisations in legal practice.
Principal topics in this course include:
- Drafting techniques;
- Structure of commercial contracts;
- Sources of ambiguity and drafting solutions; and
- Specific contract drafting issues (e.g. dispute resolution clauses and confidentiality clauses).
A professional background in commercial law is not a per-requisite to the course. Legal drafting covers the whole range of legal practice – an almost impossibly broad range as attempts such as Butterworths Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents demonstrates. A comprehensive coverage of commercial legal content areas is not possible in this course. Rather, the course covers drafting techniques and a range of particular drafting issues to prepare students for the two major assessment tasks of Document Analysis and Original Drafting.
In addition, it is important for students to note that, although contractual interpretation/construction is relevant to much of commercial drafting, due to the practical focus of this course, we will not be providing in depth coverage on this aspect of contract law. The course will provide students with practice and feedback in solving common drafting problems, particularly in a commercial context.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Research and synthesise the latest cases and commentary on particular legal issues in order to critically evaluate and debate drafting techniques.
- Research, critically evaluate and debate particular drafting issues affecting contracts.
- Critically analyse issues in a contract in accordance with the drafting techniques and drafting issues learnt in the course.
- Critically examine and evaluate, then independently plan and redraft a contract in accordance with a client's instructions to avoid common contract issues, and, where required, provide advice to clients.
Other Information
This course is run online on WATTLE. When available students will be able to gain access to course materials.
Indicative Assessment
- Identification and analysis of drafting techniques (short researched discussion board posting) (15) [LO 1,2,3]
- Evaluation and discussion of particular drafting issues (short researched discussion board posting) (15) [LO 1,2,3]
- Document analysis and critique of draft contract (30) [LO 1,2,3]
- Original drafting of a contract in accordance with client instructions (40) [LO 1,2,4]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
- Classes offered in non-standard sessions will be taught on an intensive base with compulsory contact hours (approximately 26 hours of face to face teaching). The course will also require advanced preparation through assigned readings. In total, it is anticipated that the hours required for completion of this course (class preparation, teaching and completion of assessment) will not exceed 120 hours.
- Classes offered during semester periods are expected to have three contact hours per week.
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Inherent Requirements
Not applicable
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
Students must rely on the approved Class Summary which will be posted to the Programs and Courses site approximately two weeks prior to the commencement of the course. Alternatively, this information will be published in the Program course list when known.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 34
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2022 | $4740 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2022 | $6000 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
