Non-Award
Originally designed to meet a legislative requirement in Victoria, the Professional Course in Notarial Practice has become one of the outstanding courses of its kind in the common law world.
The course caters to practising lawyers with an Australian law degree who have at least five years' experience in legal practice. It comprises three days of classes, with additional self-paced modules to be completed over 15 weeks.
On completion, you'll have gained knowledge and practical skills in the following topics:
The course is presented by the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre - which aims to 'enhance community understanding of the law and deepen the legal profession's understanding of community issues'.
It is approved by the Victorian Legal Admissions Board (VLAB) and satisfies the requirements of the Public Notaries Act 2001 (Vic) in relation to the education of prospective notaries in Victoria.
The Professional Course in Notarial Practice commences with a three day compulsory face-to-face workshop, followed by self-paced study. Assessment will include practical problem solving exercises and the submission of a number of assignments.
The Course comprises one unit, Notarial Practice in Theory and Practice, with three modules. The flexible teaching approach has been designed to enable practitioners to readily undertake the Course.
The three modules are:
Module 1 - Applied Notarial Practice
Module 2 - Principles of Notarial PracticeModule 3 - Introduction to Comparative Law and Private International Law
Module 1 - Applied Notarial Practice
This module aims to provide students with an in depth, practical knowledge of the work of Australian notaries including a detailed understanding of notarial acts in public and private forms and instruction in a notary's rights, obligations and duties. On completion of the module, students will demonstrate ability to draft acts in public and private form and identify practical problems faced in daily practice. The module comprises face-to-face workshops over three days. During the workshops, there will be several practical exercises. Following the workshops, an assessment task will be released to be completed by a specified due date. The tasks relates to a number of key aspects of notarial practice that will be covered during the workshop.
Module 2 - Principles of Notarial Practice
This module is aimed at providing students with a theoretical background and understanding of the subjects and issues covered during the Applied Notarial Practice workshop. On completion of the module, students should be able to demonstrate their understanding of the theoretical bases of notarial practice in Australia, the major civil law jurisdictions and in the USA. This module is based on self-paced research. It is expected that, including preparation of an assessment task, the module will be completed in eight weeks.
Module 3 - Introduction to Comparative Law and Private International LawThis module is aimed at providing students with an introduction to the civil law and common law legal traditions and to the resolution of conflicts of laws between those traditions. This module is commenced during the workshop and is concluded by self-paced research.
On completion of the module, students should be able to demonstrate their understanding of the laws of a number of the major foreign jurisdictions and their ability to negotiate those laws in practice. It is expected that including the preparation of an assessment task, the module will be completed in eight weeks from the time the assessment tasks are sent to students.