Finance Law

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

Estimated total time commitment of 60 hours per semester

This subject is only available to those students who would satisfy the entry criteria for the Master of Applied Finance or who have already completed 100 points in the Master of Financial Management or completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Finance in full.

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For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements for this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The subject deals with a range of general law issues relating to finance including contract, property and security, as well as the sections of the trade practices legislation concerning misleading and deceptive conduct. Particular topics include fundraising, derivatives and insolvency. The subject gives a general overview of legal systems. It seeks to address legal issues specifically in a way which will be relevant to problems arising in other countries whose basic legal system derives from England: for example, the United States of America, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and India as well as Australia and England itself.

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

• Compare and contrast legal systems and capital market regulation as commonly applied in international finance markets;
• Explain the legal concepts of debt, equity and hybrid financial instruments;
• Discuss the concepts of misrepresentation and misleading and deceptive conduct as applied to financial transactions;
• Describe legal aspects of security and negative pledge lending;
• Critically evaluate the fund raising provisions of the Corporations Law in Australia;
• Discuss legal aspects of dispute resolution, insolvency and remedies for default in a financial market and financial institutional context;
• Identify legal problems which commonly arise in financial transactions in the areas of contract, tort and fiduciary duty.

• 2-hour end-of-semester examination (70%)
• Assignments totalling not more than 1500 words (30%)

You will be advised of prescribed texts by your lecturer.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On successful completion of this subject, students should have improved the following generic skills:

• Oral communication
• Written communication
• Collaborative learning
• Problem solving
• Team work
• Statistical reasoning
• Application of theory to practice
• Interpretation & analysis
• Critical thinking
• Synthesis of data and other information
• Evaluation of data and other information
• Using computer software
• Accessing data and other information from a range of sources