COMMLAW 7012MELB - Business and Corporations Law

Course Details

Course Code	COMMLAW 7012MELB
Course	Business and Corporations Law
Coordinating Unit	Adelaide Law School
Term	Semester 1
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	Melbourne Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	N
Incompatible	COMMLAW 7012AMELB, COMMLAW 7012BMELB
Assessment	Assessment for this course includes all of the following: Online Quiz, Online Quiz, Written Assessment (Individual or Group), Final Exam

Course Staff

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Email: colette.langos@adelaide.edu.au

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Identify fundamental aspects of the Australian legal system;
2. Apply correct legal methodology: apply IRAC (Issues, Rules, Argument, Conclusion) framework to legal problems;
3. Analyse legal themes relevant to business dealings critically;
4. Conduct basic legal research;
5. Utilise modern technology effectively;
6. Communicate legal argument effectively.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.	1,2,3,4,6
Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.	2,3,4
Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.	2,3,4,5,6
Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.	1,2,3,4,5,6
Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.	3,4,6
Attribute 7: Digital capabilities Graduates are well prepared for living, learning and working in a digital society.	4,5,6
Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.	2,3,4,5,6

Required Resources

Fitzpatrick, Symes, Veljanovski & Parker, 'Business and Corporations Law', 5th edition (Lexis Nexis).

Recommended Resources

Students may find the following textbooks helpful but are not expected to purchase them:

Giancaspro & Langos, Understanding Contract Law: A Practical Guide (2016), Lexis Nexis.

Latimer, Australian Business Law 35th (or any recent) edition, CCH.

Lipton Herzberg & Welsh, Understanding Company Law 17th ed, Thomson Reuters.
.
Hanrahan Ramsey and Stapeldon, Commercial Applications of Company Law 17th (or any recent) edition, CCH.

The Corporations Act is available free at austlii.com.au/commonwealth legislation or at Commlaw.

Online Learning

Electronic copies of the lecture powerpoint slides, weekly seminar questions and assignment questions will be provided on MyUni.

Students are strongly encouraged to regularlay check myUni for updates and course communication such as Announcements.

Learning & Teaching Modes

Business and Corporations Law will be delivered via weekly online lectures available on Echo360. Further, students are highly encourage to attend a weekly seminar (tutorial) of 50 minute duration. The majority of seminars will involve problem solving exercises based on lecture content and set reading materials.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

The University expects full time students (that is those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that you are expected to commit approximately 9 hours for a three unit course of private study outside your regular classes. COMMLAW7012 is a 3 unit course.

Students are expected to attend all lectures throughout the semester plus one seminar (tutorial) class each week.

Seminar classes are an imortant componenet of your learning in this course. The communication skills developed in seminars by regularly and actively participating in discussions after a thorough preparation are considered most important to the School and are highly regarded by employers and professional bodies.

Learning Activities Summary

Learning activities including information on set readings, lecture topics, seminar problem questions are outline in the Study Guide available on MyUni.

Topic Summary Table: This Table is a Guide and may be subject to change.

Week	Topics	Seminars
1	Course Overview; Introduction to the Australian legal System	No Seminars in Week 1
2	Contract Formation	Practice Quiz on the Australian Legal System
3	Contract Performance	Legal problem on Offer and Acceptance
4	Contract Termination and Remedies	Legal problem on Express Terms
5	Australian Consumer Law	Legal Problem on Damages
6	Academic Integrity, Research and Writing	Legal Problem on Australian Consumer Law
7	Business Structures other than Companies	Legal Problem on Unconscionable Conduct
8	Company Types and the Incorporation Process	Legal Problem on Partnership
9	Pre-registration contracts	Company Types and Company Incorporation
10	Director's Duties	Legal Problem on Pre-registration Contracts
11	Financial Reporting Requirements	Director's Duties
12	Review/Exam Preparation	Legal Problem on Financial Reporting Requirements

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Weighting	Length	Redeemable	Learning Outcome
Online Quiz on Australian Legal System	Individual	Tuesday-Thursday Week 3:	5%	20 multiple choice	No	1,5,6
Mid-Semester Assignment	Individual or Group	Wednesday 26th April @ 2pm	30%	2500 max	No	1 - 6
Online Quiz on Australian Consumer Law	Individual	Tuesday - Thursday Week 8:	5%	20 multiple choice	No	1,5,6
Corporations Law Exam	Individual	Exam period	60%	120 minutes	No	1,2,3,6

Assessment Related Requirements

Assessment marks prior to the final exam will be displayed on the course website. Students are encouraged to check their marks and notify the course coordinator of any discrepancies.

Assessment Detail

The assessment components are as follows:

Online Quiz
First Online Quiz (5%) Week 3
Second Online Quiz (5%) Week 8

Release Dates:
The first Online Quiz will be available from 9am on Tuesday 12th March 2024 to 9am on Thursday 14th March 2024 (Week 3) via the relevant link on MyUni.

The second Online Quiz will be available from 9am on Tuesday 30th April 2024 to 9am Thursday 2nd May 2024 (Week 8) via the relevant link on MyUni.

Details:
Each Online Quiz will comprise of 20 multiple choice questions. Quiz questions for each individual student are drawn from a larger bank of questions and randomised.

The first Online Quiz will test student knowledge on the Australian Legal System. The second Online Quiz will test student knowledge of the Australian Consumer Law.

Business Law Assignment (30%)

The Assignment is due Wednesday 24th April at 2pm and must be submitted via MyUni.

This task assesses student comprehension of the Business Law component of the course. It comprises of 3 Parts and is based on content taught in Lectures 2-5. Parts 1 and 2 comprise of legal problem questions. Students are assessed on their ability to synthesise and apply correct law; think critically. Part 3 is a short research essay. Students are assessed on their research and writing skills and must demonstrate appropriate adherence to legal research principles within a business context.

Students may submit this assessment piece as an individual assignment or a group assignment (up to 4 people in a group) where all group members will be awarded the same mark. For students who wish to submit a group assignment, you must sign up (self select) into a group via MyUni by the end of Week 5.The word limit for this assessment is 2500 words regardless if you submit as an individual assignment or a group assignment.

Final Exam (60%)

Examinable content will be drawn from content covered in Weeks 7-11. The Exam is open-book. Further information about the Exam will be provided during the semester.

Submission

All assessments will be submitted and monitored through text or code comparative software (e.g. Turnitin) where possible.

Students will be provided with submission instructions as part of the assessment instructions for each item of assessment which will be made available on MyUni.

ASSIGNMENT EXTENSION APPLICATION
Requests for extensions must be made electronically according to law school policy. Extensions will be granted only for unexpected illness, hardship or on compassionate grounds in accordance with University Policy. Work commitments, travel, holidays or sporting engagements are not unexpected circumstances.

Late Submission Penalties: When an assessment is submitted after the due date, without an extension, 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that the assignment is late, including each day on a weekend. For example, an essay that is submitted after the due date and time but within the first 24 hour period, and that has been graded at 63%, will have 5% deducted, for a final grade of 58%. An essay that is more than 24 hours late will lose 10%, etc.

Word Length Penalties: 5% of the total mark possible for a written assessment will be deducted for every 100 words (or part thereof) by which it exceeds a stipulated word limit. For example, a 3,000 word essay graded at 63% will have 5% deducted if it is between 3,001 and 3,100 words long for a final mark of 58%. If the essay is between 3,101 and 3,200 words long, 10% will be deducted for a final mark of 53%, etc. Word limits include all words in the text, in headings, in quotations, but exclude citations in footnotes. Any separate cover page, table of contents, bibliography or list of sources is excluded from the word limit. If the word limit is misstated, this may be regarded as academic dishonesty.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through .

Finality of Assessment Grades

Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).

Moderation

In accordance with the University’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:

assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.

Approval of Results by Board of Examiners

Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the University are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester.

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

The course is constantly being updated and revised to reflect the evolution of the law, to respond to student feedback, and to engage with the latest teaching practices. Student feedback is collected each time the course is run, including through SELT reports. Previous SELT reports, and staff feedback on them, are posted on the course MyUni site for students to view and consider.

The provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the 成人大片.

The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.

Lex Salus Program

Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.

Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our , and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.

Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.

Student Life Counselling Support

The University’s service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life.

This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.

Academic Integrity

All students must be familiar with the University’s Academic Integrity Policy. Academic Misconduct is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the University. Academic Misconduct (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South Australia to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South Australia. Academic Integrity is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer.

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator

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