LAWS6872 - Contract Negotiation

Objectives

• Examine the legal principles that provide the overarching framework within which contract negotiations take place.
• Concentrate on requirements of certainty and good faith and the issues that can arise in re-negotiating terms in long-term contractual relationships.
• Participate in a simulated contractual negotiation, in which the class will be split into teams of 3 to 5 (depending upon class size) for a “team against team” negotiation.

Content

Standard form contracts and negotiated contracts; “agreements to agree” and the requirements of certainty; “long-term” contractual relationships and the use of hardship and intervener clauses; “good faith” negotiations and negotiation techniques.

Session

Semester 1 Intensive
22-26 March 2010

The timetable is subject to frequent changes. Please refer to the latest version of the Postgraduate Timetable.

Assessment

• Simulated Negotiation in Teams (in class) (30%)
• 1 x Two Hour Exam (70%)

Assumed Knowledge

Completed Contract Law in an undergraduate law degree. Waiting list available for Cross-institutional and Non-degree candidates. Priority will be given to candidates enrolled in award courses in the Faculty of Law.

Textbook

J W Carter, E Peden & G J Tolhurst: Contract Law in Australia, Lexis Nexis, 5th ed. 2007; G H Treitel, The Law of Contract, 11th ed., Sweet & Maxwell/Thompson, 2003; Leigh Thompson: The Mind & Heart of the Negotiator, Prentice Hall, 1998; R Fisher & W Ury & B Patton: Getting to Yes, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin Books, 1994.

Courses this unit is available in

Master of Laws | Graduate Diploma in Law | Master of Global Law | Master of Business Law | Graduate Diploma in Commercial Law