Graduate Diploma in Corporate, Securities and Finance Law (GradDipCorpLaw)

Sydney Law School has a strong reputation and an innovative approach in the area of corporate, securities and finance law. Postgraduate study under the Master of Laws (LLM), the Master of Business Law (MBL) and the Graduate Diploma in Corporate, Securities and Finance Law offers students a wide array of subjects in the corporate area. Courses are taught by the members of the Law School Faculty and Adjunct Faculty, which comprises eminent members of the legal community, including judges, solicitors and barristers. Course delivery is flexible, with courses run over a full semester or on an intensive basis. The program is on offer not only to legal practitioners, but also to professionals who wish to build on their experience and attain a high level of expertise in their particular area. Courses are also available on an "attendance only" basis to practitioners under the Legal Professional Development program.

The International Faculty program, which offers a number of intensive courses in international corporate, commercial and tax law each year, provides students with the opportunity to study under some of the world's finest legal scholars. Past scholars visiting under the International Faculty program included Professor Deborah DeMott (Duke University); Professor Michael Furmston (University of Bristol); Professor Geoffrey Miller (NYU; Professor Kees van Raad (Leiden University); Professor H. David Rosenbloom (NYU); Professor Richard Speidel (Northwestern University).

The Law School also conducts a Corporate Law Seminar Series, which offers a number of commercial and corporate law seminars as part of its Legal Professional Development (LPD) program. In these seminars, Australian and international legal experts present papers on contemporary developments in corporate/commercial law.

For information on past conference and seminars click here.

The Sydney Law School offers a specialist Graduate Diploma in Corporate, Securities and Finance Law intended for both law and non-law graduates, with knowledge or experience arising from legal practice and employment in the public sector or elsewhere, who wish to build on their experience and attain a high level of expertise in their particular profession. Entry into the diploma program will therefore be available to graduates in other related disciplines, or in special cases, to persons with a high level of professional or business experience.

Diploma students may upgrade to a Master's course of study with Faculty consent, subject to successfully completing the Diploma and meeting existing admission requirements.

Program Co-ordinator

Mr Saul Fridman (Semester 1)
Professor Jennifer Hill (Semester 2)

Admission requirements

Anyone with an undergraduate qualification in law is eligible for admission. Entry into the diploma program will therefore be available to graduates in other related disciplines, or in special cases, to persons with a high level of professional or business experience. Although prior study of corporate law is not required for any of the units, if you have not previously studied Australian corporate law you may find it useful to study the unit, Introductory Corporate Law.

Program structure

Graduate Diploma students must complete 24 credit points, equivalent to four units of study.

Attendance pattern

Each unit of study entails 26 contact hours. Units are offered on a semester length basis or intensive basis. Semester length units are taught once a week over 13 weeks on either a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evening between 6pm and 8pm. Intensive units of study condense the 26 hours over a period of four to five days. The units are then taught between 9am and 5pm over a block period. For example, an intensive unit may be taught two consecutive days one week and then two consecutive days in a fortnight's time. All classes are held in the Law School or another Sydney CBD location.

Duration

Mode Timeframe
Full-time 1-3 years
Part-time 2-6 years

Units of study

The list below is guide only and each unit is not necessarily offered on a continous basis.

Diploma students may also choose from specified units of study in areas such as accounting and banking, that are offered by the Faculty of Economics and Business in its Master of Commerce degree.

Units of study
Advanced Customs Law
Advanced Financing Techniques
Advanced International Trade Regulation
Australian Financial Services Regulation
Comparative Competition Law
Comparative Contracts
Comparative Corporate Taxation
Comparative International Taxation
Competition Law
Compliance: Theory & Practice in the Financial Services Industry
Controlling Liability by Contract
Corporate Fundraising
Corporate Taxation
Current Issues in Directors' Duties
Current Issues in the Law of Trade Mark & Unfair Competition
Customs Law
Debt Financing
Doing Business in China
Equity Financing
Fundamentals of Corporate Insolvency
Human Rights & the Global Economy
Insolvency Law
Intellectual Property & the Internet
Intellectual Property: Issues in Creative Rights
Intellectual Property: Issues in Marketing Rights
International & Comparative Law of Trusts
International Business Law
International Commercial Arbitration
International Securitisation Law & Practice
International Trade Regulation
Introductory Corporate Law
Issues in Electronic Commerce
Japanese Law
Japanese Law in the New Economy
Legal Regulation of Economic Activity
Modern Corporate Governance
Recent Developments in Contract Remedies
Regulation of Derivatives Products & Markets
Stamp Duties
Takeovers and Reconstructions
Taxation of Financial Transactions
The Law of Agency
Transnational Commercial Litigation
US Corporate Law
US Government Contract Law
US Media Law