Strategic Contract Drafting and Negotiation micro-credential

What you will learn

Gain contemporary skills and knowledge for your job now.

The ability to draft contracts that achieve key commercial objectives is indispensable for lawyers and other professionals working in a globalised market.

This micro-credential is ideal for a range of professionals - legal and otherwise - seeking the practical skills to draft commercial contracts that add strategic value to contract negotiations.

Understand how contract drafters add value to negotiation processes

Review the features of good contract drafting and learn to identify opportunities for value-added strategic drafting in commercial agreements. You'll build on your existing knowledge of contract language to gain a practical understanding of how to structure contract provisions that can be leveraged during contract negotiations.

Explore best-practice approaches to the drafting of strategic contracts

Analyse real-world examples of contract clauses and identify potential drafting issues related to language, structure, and legal interpretations. You'll explore the relationship between contract drafting and interest-based negotiations, and consider how they combine to deliver outcomes that reflect the commercial interests of the parties to a contract.

Apply what you've learned to a drafting and negotiation strategy

With your new knowledge of strategic contract writing, you'll be guided to develop a drafting and negotiation strategy that delivers appropriate solutions for clients and transactions, including in a cross-border context. You'll structure a complex contract provision that reflects the commercial interests of the party for which you are drafting, and receive valuable feedback on your work.

This course runs over four weeks.

Your total time commitment is approximately 42 hours, which includes:

• 7 hours guided learning
• 10 hours assessment tasks
• 25 hours independent study and reading

Assessment:

• Issue-spotting exercise: Identify opportunities for value-added and strategic drafting across a broad range of contractual provisions (30%)
• Simulated drafting exercise: Plan and draft a negotiation strategy and a complex contractual provision that reflects a client's commercial objectives (70%).