Legal Review
Note: this information applies to all non-research matters. For research matters, including research agreements/contracts, please see the Melbourne Research Office website
When does Legal Services need to review a matter?
Any matter that cannot be dealt with by a University standard agreement must be reviewed by Legal Services. Please refer to the Standard Agreements section to see if a standard University agreement is appropriate for use in regards to your matter.
How do I get Legal Services to review a matter?
If you would like Legal Services to review your matter, please forward us any associated documentation, including any agreement or contract if applicable, and a completed Legal Services checklist.
Legal Services Checklist:
We use the checklist as our formal instructions and for our departmental records, and we need to receive a completed, signed checklist before we can register a new matter and allocate it to a lawyer. Please complete the checklist and forward it to Legal Services. Your matter will be registered, and then allocated to a lawyer to action, in our weekly Friday allocation meeting (or more often for urgent matters - there is a field on the checklist where you can explain why a matter is urgent). Once the matter is allocated, you will receive an email advising you of which lawyer will be helping you with your matter.
What is a non-standard agreement?
All agreements from external organisations are non-standard agreements. All agreements which are drafted for specific transactions by Legal Services are non-standard agreements.
All non-standard agreements, and any amendments made to any standard agreements must be reviewed by Legal Services.
Who can sign an agreement on behalf of the University of Melbourne?
Regulation 17.1.R6 stipulates who has authority to sign an agreement on behalf of the University.
An unamended standard University agreement worth no more than $60,000.00 can be signed by:
- Dean of the relevant faculty
- Heads of Academic Departments and Schools
- Nominated Deputy of the above
- Professor, with approval from the Head of Department
- Directors of Centres, with approval from the Dean of the Faculty with which the Centre is aligned.
What happens when Legal Services reviews a matter?
- The person wanting advice/review (the internal contact) sends us a completed and signed checklist and any relevant documentation.
- The Legal Services administrative team registers the matter on the Legal Services database.
- The matter is allocated to a lawyer during our weekly Friday allocation meeting (or more often for urgent matters - there is a field on the checklist where you can explain why a matter is urgent), and an email is sent to the internal contact to advise who that lawyer is.
- The lawyer reviews the matter and negotiates the agreement or provides the advice to the internal contact, depending on the matter. If the matter requires a document to be executed, the lawyer prepares an ‘Execution Request Form’.
- The matter is passed back to the Legal Services administrative team.
- If required, the administration team sends the legal document, with the ‘Execution Request Form’, to be signed by the University’s authorised officer in accordance with regulation 17.1.R6
- Once the legal document has been signed by the authorised officer of the University of Melbourne, it is sent for signature by the other party/ies to the agreement.
- When the document is fully executed, a copy is forwarded to the internal contact for their records, the University’s original is sent to Central Records for safekeeping, and the administrative team ensures that all other party/ies to the agreement have a fully executed original. The matter is then completed, and the file is closed.
Please note: If you / your department are in possession of an original fully signed agreement, you must forward it to Legal Services for processing and lodgement with Central Records. Copies of agreements can be obtained by contacting Central Records.