Requesting Legal Services

Requesting Legal Services

Contracting Party

Standard Agreements

Signing Contracts

Forms

Contact Details

Requesting Legal Services

Our staff are based at Mt Helen and SMB Campuses.

You can contact any of our staff for assistance, but generally we divide up legal work as follows:-

Instructions should be addressed to the Legal Office by means of a completed and signed Request for Legal Services Form. Addressing the matters contained in this Form will help ensure that your request for legal services is dealt with properly and with a minimum turnaround time. Staff in the Legal Office are happy to answer routine email queries from time to time. A Request Form is not required for this. Where a contractual arrangement is contemplated that has financial implications for the University a Finance Checklist must also be completed and submitted to the legal office.

Our general approach is to deal with matters in order of their submission or according to our assessment of their urgency, for example, a matter may be given a higher priority if action is needed to meet directions made by a court or a time limit under State or Commonwealth legislation. Priority is given to requests from the Vice-Chancellor's Office.

Depending on the length and complexity of a contract or the legal matter, staff should normally allow approximately one to three weeks for the Legal Office's approval process or drafting process (where the University is preparing the contract). Please note, that Request Forms must be signed by the Head of School or Head of Section. In some cases approval from the appropriate Deputy Vice-Chancellor or Vice-President may be required.

For information, a legally binding document need not take the form of a standard agreement or contract, but may take many forms, including a letter or a form etc. If staff are in doubt as to whether a particular document has the potential to bind the University legally, they should check with the Legal Office prior to proceeding

Contracting Party

Please note that individual academic or administrative units of the University, such as schools, sections and centres, do not have independent legal existence. The contracting party is always 'University of Ballarat'.

Please contact the Legal Office for assistance if you are unsure whether the other contracting party is a legal entity and therefore able to legally contract with the University.

Standard Agreements

We have prepared standard agreements that will assist in certain situations, including:

• Confidentiality Agreements
• Training Agreements (where the University is delivering the Training)
• Consultancy Agreements (where the University is the Consultant)
• Consultancy Agreements (where the University requests Consultancy services)
• Exchange Agreements
  
• Practical Placement Agreements
• Accommodation Licence Agreements

Please note, that these Agreements should not be altered without prior approval of a Lawyer.

Signing Contracts

The Vice-Chancellor is the officer designated by the University Council to sign contracts on behalf of the University. The University's "Staffing, Financial, Contract and Tender Delegations" policy provides for some additional limited signing delegations for contracts (see part 5.3 of that policy). In particular, Deputy Vice-Chancellors and Vice-Presidents can sign Research, Commercial and Academic Consultancy contracts up to $100,000 total value. However, in most instances, for administrative purposes, the Legal Office will facilitate signing by the Vice-Chancellor. Under no circumstances should staff seek the signature of the Vice-Chancellor or his delegates directly; we will facilitate this as part of our approval process of contracts.

Staff should note that for audit and legal reasons, agreements in writing containing an insurance or indemnity clause should never be pre-approved by staff.

Contact Details

Phone: 5327 9506
Confidential Fax: 5327 9970

Level 1, Administration Building (Building D)
Mt Helen Campus
(Located within the Vice-Chancellor's Office)

Level 1, Administration Building
SMB Campus

University of Ballarat lawyers are members of the Society of University Lawyers - www.soul.edu.au