Handbook home
Negotiation and Dispute Resolution (LAWS90080)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Online
From 2023 most subjects will be taught on campus only with flexible options limited to a select number of postgraduate programs and individual subjects.
To learn more, visit COVID-19 course and subject delivery.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
March
Lecturer
Professor Michelle LeBaron (Coordinator)
Email: law-masters@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 6190
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Overview
Availability(Quotas apply) | March - Online |
---|---|
Fees | Look up fees |
This highly interactive subject will give students practice-relevant skills for negotiation and dispute resolution. Negotiating effectively involves being able to change the conversation, shifting from adversarial to collaborative approaches. The best negotiators are also skilled at structuring processes and listening beneath what is said. This program will introduce a proven framework for creating value and resolving disputes, informed by recent research and extensive practice. Using experiential approaches, case studies and simulations, participants will deepen their abilities to represent clients and negotiate across a range of practice contexts. Participants will have multiple opportunities to refine their negotiation and dispute management skills, and will leave with a series of practical tools for dealing with difficult negotiation behaviours and hard bargaining tactics in diverse settings. This subject will be useful for those working on a wide range of complex issues in a range of contexts including commercial, environmental, public policy and human rights.
Drawing on current interdisciplinary literature and case examples from practice, students will:
- Learn a proven framework for dispute analysis and negotiation to address a range of disputes
- Understand the dynamics of intractable disputes and a range of tools to address them
- Heighten their awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses as a negotiator
- Gain problem-solving techniques to enhance possible solutions in complex negotiations
- Acquire skills for choosing the right process to craft durable outcomes
- Heighten their abilities to work across diverse contexts
- Practice and refine negotiation and dispute management skills toward more successful outcomes
Successful completion of the subject will expand participants’ abilities for complex issue analysis, intervention and follow-up as negotiators, representatives and facilitators in negotiation and dispute resolution processes. Students will learn valuable skills of integrative thinking and creativity through experiential exercises and their final papers.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject will:
- Know how to apply a range of tools informed by neuroscientific research to effectively analyse disputes and accompany clients in change processes
- Be able to effectively negotiate and positively shift interpersonal dynamics in legal disputes
- Demonstrate creative problem-solving in advocacy and dispute processes to improve results
- Understand psychological aspects of negotiation as well as coalition dynamics and intra-group dispute management
- Provide meaningful input into process design and engagement for private or public clients and organizations
- Be able to Integrate creative approaches to complex legal problems into all aspects of their practice
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Students must meet one of the following prerequisite options:
Option 1
Admission into a Melbourne Law Masters program
Option 2
Admission into the MC-JURISD Juris Doctor
AND
One of
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS50027 | Dispute Resolution | Not available in 2024 |
12.5 |
LAWS90140 | Disputes and Ethics | Semester 2 (Dual-Delivery - Parkville) |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
LAWS90021 | Intercultural Dispute Resolution | Not available in 2024 |
12.5 |
LAWS90062 | Business Negotiations and Deal-Making |
July (Online)
January (Online)
|
12.5 |
LAWS70468 | Negotiation Skills | Not available in 2024 |
12.5 |
Recommended background knowledge
Some prior knowledge of dispute resolution would be useful.
Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Class participation – participation in simulations and joint negotiating assignment to be completed during class | During the teaching period | 20% |
Reflective journal - a reflective journal chronicling students' experiences of negotiations in class, and optionally in their work or personal lives, and negotiations observed involving others
| 20 April 2022 | 20% |
Research paper – Students can choose a topic on an aspect of negotiation or dispute resolution which needs to be approved by the subject coordinator
| 22 June 2022 | 60% |
Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance. Note: the attendance hurdle does not apply when the subject is delivered online, however attendance at all live online sessions is expected. | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- March - Online
Coordinator Michelle Lebaron Mode of delivery Online Contact hours 24-34 hours Total time commitment 150 hours Pre teaching start date 2 March 2022 Pre teaching requirements Please refer to the Reading Guide on the LMS subject page for confirmation of which resources need to be read and what other preparation is required before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 30 March 2022 to 5 April 2022 Last self-enrol date 7 March 2022 Census date 31 March 2022 Last date to withdraw without fail 20 May 2022 Assessment period ends 22 June 2022 March contact information
Lecturer
Professor Michelle LeBaron (Coordinator)
Email: law-masters@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: +61 3 8344 6190
Website: law.unimelb.edu.au
Additional delivery details
This subject has a quota of 30 students.
Enrolment is on a 'first in' basis. Waitlists are maintained for subjects that are fully subscribed.
Students should note priority of waitlisted places in subjects will be given as follows:
- To currently enrolled Graduate Diploma and Masters students with a satisfactory record in their degree
- To other students enrolling on a single subject basis, eg Community Access Program (CAP) students, cross-institutional study and cross-faculty study.
Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters website for further information about the management of subject quotas and waitlists.
Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for incoming international cohorts or where a subject is core to a specialisation with limited alternate options.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Specialist materials will be made available via the LMS in the pre-teaching period.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Master of Public and International Law Course Juris Doctor Course Graduate Diploma in Construction Law Course Master of Commercial Law Course Master of Laws Course Master of Construction Law Course Graduate Diploma in Dispute Resolution Course Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies - Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
If required, please contact law-masters@unimelb.edu.au for subject coordinator approval.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 31 January 2024