FAQs and Useful Information

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) is responsible for the provision of confidential legal advice and services to the University, including the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor and other senior executives and officers of the University. The OGC forms part of the Office of Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor. The OGC also participates in policy development and review as part of the University's regulatory compliance program.

Click here in OGC Client Service Charter to view or download a copy.

Our services include:

• providing legal advice about specific matters;
• drafting and negotiating agreements for commercial and other transactions;
• establishing and maintaining standard agreements and other precedents to streamline processes;
• managing litigation on behalf of the University; instructing external lawyers and monitoring their performance;
• presenting seminars and presentations about specific legal issues affecting the University.

We have a team of lawyers specialised in commercial, property, employment, technology and litigation and disputes. All our lawyers are experts in their field and members of The Law Society of New South Wales and yearly they need to obtain the Australian Practicing Certificate, which autorised them to engage in legal practice as a solicitor in New South Wales in accordance to the legal profession legislation (as defined in s. 3A of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014).

We also offer a panel of law firms to which we can outsource work if we do not have the expertise in house.

The Compliance Program Unit and Complaints Management and Resolution Unit also form part of the Office of the General Counsel.

The Office of General Counsel cannot provide legal advice or services of a personal nature to individual staff or students, both domestic or international. If staff or students have a concern or a complaint involving the University, they should contact the University's Complaints Management and Resolution Unit.

Students can go to the Getting Help page on the University's website to find out where to obtain help for any matters affecting their studies. Staff or students may also be able to seek assistance from Student Legal Services.

To request legal services from the Office of General Counsel, please complete the below online form:

• Request Legal Services Form

Please note, we will not accept instructions from anyone other than a director or Dean or above, or without their prior approval. We will advise receipt and allocate your enquiry to a lawyer within 2-3 business days. Given the volume of requests received by the Office of General Counsel, requests for legal services are expected to take approximately three weeks.

Our approach is to deal with matters in order of receipt or based on our assessment of their urgency, for instance, meeting any deadlines imposed by a court or time limits imposed by legislation.

Before we commence work, we require the following information:

• Evidence that the transaction has been authorised by the person(s) with appropriate authority (including funding arrangements);
• The name of the person instructing us (so that we can refer to them when we need to clarify or confirm something);
• All documents (including approvals) and background information relating to the transaction, including previous contracts or agreements.

Drafting legal advice and other documents can be a lengthy and complex process, so it is essential that you contact OGC as early as possible and provide us with the information and documents we require.

We reserve the right not to accept requests for assistance in some circumstances, including where we believe those requests conflict with the University's interests, or where a transaction has not first been approved by the University in accordance with proper procedures (for instance, the University's procurement process).

The General Counsel will allocate your matter to an OGC lawyer within 2-3 business days after receiving all relevant documentation and approvals. You should then receive a follow up email notifying you of the name and contact details of the OGC lawyer handling your matter. See OGC Client Service Charter to view or download a copy of the Charter for the OGC commitment to shared legal services.

Staff members in OGC cannot provide legal advice or services of a personal nature to individual staff or students (both domestic or international).  If staff or students have a concern or a complaint involving the University, they can contact the University's Complaints Resolution Unit.

Students (both domestic and international) can go to the 'Getting Help' page on the University website to find out where to obtain help for any matters affecting their studies.  Students may also be able to seek assistance from Student Legal Services.

Staff members in OGC cannot provide legal advice or services of a personal nature to individual staff or students (both domestic or international) and that includes any legal advice on immigration or visa-related issues.

Things you will need before lodging a Western Now ticket requesting legal advice:

• Dean/Director approval
• All documents relating to the dispute/transaction (including approvals and background information)
• Name of the person who will be instructing OGC (so that we can refer to them when we need instructions)

Please note, we will respond to your ticket request within 2 business days in order of receipt or based on our assessment of urgency, for instance, meeting any deadlines imposed by a court or time limits imposed by legislation.

Legal professional privilege (sometimes called client legal privilege) is a rule of law that is designed to protect the confidentiality of communications between lawyers and their clients made for the dominant purpose of obtaining or giving legal advice or in connection with existing or anticipated legal proceedings.

Legal professional privilege is a very important principle that allows clients and lawyers to communicate candidly with one another.

However, the protection is not absolute and can be taken to have been waived or lost, if necessary, precautions are not taken. It is not simply enough to mark a document "privileged" or "confidential" or "commercial in confidence". Particular care needs to be taken with email communications and text messages.

Legal professional privilege can only be claimed for communications between OGC lawyers and externally appointed lawyers by OGC communicating with University staff seeking legal advice on behalf of the University.

To minimise the risk of challenge, we recommend you always take these precautions:

• Any requests for legal advice should be in writing and marked confidential;
• Any communications should only be sent or copied to people within the University who are directly involved in the issue which is the subject of legal advice;
• These communications or advice should NEVER be sent or copied to anyone outside the University;
• Any legal advice should not be copied into, or summarised or commented on, in other documents (such as minutes of meetings, memoranda and so on). Instead, the advice should be attached separately.

Please contact OGC if you have any questions or concerns about legal professional privilege.

The ABN for the University is 53 014 069 881.

The University should be described in all legal documents (including contracts) as follows:

WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY ABN 53 014 069 881.

The University is a public university and a statutory corporation pursuant to the Western Sydney University Act 1997 (NSW). Its functions and powers are prescribed in that Act and the Western Sydney University By-Law 2017 (NSW). The governing body of the University is the Board of Trustees.

Intellectual property rights are the manifestation of a person's intellectual efforts. They can be an invention, copyright in an artistic, musical or literary work, a design, plant breeder's rights or the practical application of an idea. Intellectual property rights are very important in the University environment.

The University has implemented an Intellectual Property Policy that applies to all staff and students. For further information about intellectual property rights generally, please contact IP Australia.

The Delegations Register is an online database of all staff that hold delegations (the ability to approve actions on the University's behalf) in a substantive or acting capacity.

In the Register, you can find the Officer of the University who is authroised to approve and sign documents for your school or other divisions of the University.

The Register enables you to ascertain who holds a delegation for a particular cost centre or organisational unit, what the level of their delegation is, and when that authority was or is effective.

If these relate to a University matter (and not a personal matter), please send them without delay via email and internal mail to:

legal@westernsydney.edu.au

Office of General Counsel
Building EQ. Level 1
Parramatta South campus

The lawyers in the OGC are employed by the University to advise and act for the University and the staff in relation to matters that relate to their employment with the University. If you are unsure, please contact legal@westernsydney.edu.au

The OGC offers a program of workshops and seminars as disclosed on the OGC landing page in WesternNow and as advertised via Yammer. If a Dean or Manager requires specific team training on an area that Legal can assist with, they should contact the University General Counsel. Please contact OGC on (02) 9685 9895 or legal@westernsydney.edu.au

The OGC can assist with drafting legal documents.

To request legal services from the Office of General Counsel, please complete the WesternNow online form in the link below, which can be found on the OGC landing  page in WesternNow:

• Request Legal Services Form

Please note, OGC may not accept instructions via a WesternNow ticket from a staff member without prior approval being obtained from the staff members Manger, Director or Dean. Once lodged with the required approvals OGC will confirm receipt and allocate your request to a lawyer within 2 business days. Given the volume of requests received by the Office of General Counsel, please note that a response to your requests for legal services may take up to 14 business days, following receipt of full instructions, including the complete bundle of relevant documents required.

Our approach is to deal with matters in order of receipt or based on our assessment of their urgency, for instance, meeting any deadlines imposed by a court or time limits imposed by legislation. Only urgent requests from the office of SDVC or the VC, will be responded to within the 14 business days. Click here in OGC Client Service Charter to view or download a copy.

Before OGC can commence work, we require the following information:

• Evidence that the transaction has been authorised by the person(s) with appropriate authority
• The name of the person who is managing the contract or legal issue (so that we can refer to them when we need to clarify or confirm instructions);
• All documents (including approvals) and background information relating to the transaction or dispute, including previous contracts or agreements, correspondence, heads of agreement, statements etc.

Drafting legal advice and other documents can be a lengthy and complex process, so it is essential that you contact OGC as early as possible in the transaction lifecycle and provide us with the information and documents we require.

While OGC is a full shared service provider to the University, the General Counsel reserves the right not to accept requests for legal assistance, where we believe those request conflicts with the University's interests, or where a transaction/project has not first been approved by the University in accordance with proper procedures (for instance, the University's procurement process).

The OGC can assist with resolving a University related contract dispute or non-contractual dispute.

To request legal services from the Office of General Counsel, please complete the below online form:

• Request Legal Services Form

Please note, we will not accept instructions from anyone other than a director or Dean or above, or without their prior approval. We will advise receipt and allocate your enquiry to a lawyer within 2-3 business days. Given the volume of requests received by the Office of General Counsel, requests for legal services are expected to take approximately three weeks.

Our approach is to deal with matters in order of receipt or based on our assessment of their urgency, for instance, meeting any deadlines imposed by a court or time limits imposed by legislation.

Before we commence work, we require the following information:

• Evidence that the transaction has been authorised by the person(s) with appropriate authority (including funding arrangements);
• The name of the person instructing us (so that we can refer to them when we need to clarify or confirm something);
• All documents (including approvals) and background information relating to the transaction, including previous contracts or agreements.

Drafting legal advice and other documents can be a lengthy and complex process, so it is essential that you contact OGC as early as possible and provide us with the information and documents we require.

We reserve the right not to accept requests for assistance in some circumstances, including where we believe those requests conflict with the University's interests, or where a transaction has not first been approved by the University in accordance with proper procedures (for instance, the University's procurement process).

The OGC can assist with resolving an intellectual property matter related to research or inventions of staff or students at the University.

To request legal services from the Office of General Counsel, please complete the below online form:

• Request Legal Services Form

Please note, we will not accept instructions from anyone other than a director or Dean or above, or without their prior approval. We will advise receipt and allocate your enquiry to a lawyer within 2-3 business days. Given the volume of requests received by the Office of General Counsel, requests for legal services are expected to take approximately three weeks.

Our approach is to deal with matters in order of receipt or based on our assessment of their urgency, for instance, meeting any deadlines imposed by a court or time limits imposed by legislation.

Before we commence work, we require the following information:

• Evidence that the transaction has been authorised by the person(s) with appropriate authority (including funding arrangements);
• The name of the person instructing us (so that we can refer to them when we need to clarify or confirm something);
• All documents (including approvals) and background information relating to the transaction, including previous contracts or agreements.

Drafting legal advice and other documents can be a lengthy and complex process, so it is essential that you contact OGC as early as possible and provide us with the information and documents we require.

We reserve the right not to accept requests for assistance in some circumstances, including where we believe those requests conflict with the University's interests, or where a transaction has not first been approved by the University in accordance with proper procedures (for instance, the University's procurement process).

You can find the Western Policy Document Development System, an online database containing all University-wide rules, policies, procedures and guidelines on Western Now by clicking on Policy DDS.

Respectfully ask the person to provide their ID and comply with their reasonable requests.

Make no admissions and contact OGC to speak to the General Counsel or the Senior Disputes and Litigation lawyer on (02) 9685 9895 or legal@westernsydney.edu.au

Please contact:

Nadia Taggart

Chief Information Security Officer

Cyber Security Assurance and Operations | Division of the Senior Vice-President

PH: 0475 899 498

To report an incident of bribery or corruption, please contract a disclosure officer pursuant to the Whistleblowing (Reporting Corruption and Other Wrongdoing Policy and Procedures on the DDS or otherwise contract the OGC on (02) 9685 9895 or legal@westernsydney.edu.au

Refer to the Competition tool kit which is located in the Reference Documents and Templates in the OGC landing page.

The Office of General Counsel has an approved suite of generic agreement/contract templates that are available for staff to download. Each template has a User Guide which describes when the template may and may not be used. The User Guide must be deleted before issuance to a third party.

For access to currently available templates and standard agreements, please use Internet Explorer (as Firefox and Google Chrome will not work) and go to our Reference Documents and Templates (you will be required to enter your staff login details for access).

If you require any assistance with a template or require a different agreement, please contact OGC on (02) 9685 9895 or legal@westernsydney.edu.au

The University is constituted for a charitable purpose (education) and is able to conduct charitable appeals without the need for an authority under the Charitable Fundraising Act 1991 (NSW). However, controlled entities of the University that conduct fundraising activities must obtain an authority. For more information, please contact Shubha Devadasen, Company Secretary (Entities).

The University is also a deductible gift recipient for the purposes of Australian tax laws. Donations of AUD$2.00 or more to the University may be claimed as tax deductions in the hands of the donor. For more information about donations generally, please seek assistance from the Australian Tax Office.

The University has established 'Giving to Western Sydney University'. For more information, please go to the Giving to Western Sydney University website.

With the exception of OIC contracts, the following address should be included for all WSU agreements and contracts:

Address for Service of Documents for WSU:

Building EQ, Level 1
Office of the General Counsel and Company Secretary
Western Sydney University, Parramatta South Campus
Corner of James Ruse Drive and Victoria Road
Rydalmere NSW 2116

or

Registered address of WSU:

Western Sydney University
Locked Bag 1797
Penrith NSW 2751
Australia

• Western Sydney University Academic Staff Agreement 2017 - 2021 (opens in a new window)
• Delegations of Authority Policy (opens in a new window)
• Western Sydney University Professional Staff Agreement 2017 - 2021 (opens in a new window)
• Intellectual Property Policy (opens in a new window)
• Policy DDS (opens in a new window)

• Australasian Legal Information Institute (opens in a new window)(AustLII)
• Australian Government: Public Safety and Law (opens in a new window)
• ComLaw (opens in a new window)

• Higher Education Services Australia (opens in a new window)
• Universities Australia (opens in a new window)
• University Chancellors Council (opens in a new window)

• IP Australia (opens in a new window)
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (opens in a new window)

• Independent Commission Against Corruption (opens in a new window)(ICAC)
• Lawlink (opens in a new window)
• NSW Anti-discrimination Board (opens in a new window)
• NSW Fair Trading (opens in a new window)
• NSW Information Commissioner (opens in a new window)
• NSW Ombudsman (opens in a new window)
• NSW Parliamentary Counsel (opens in a new window)
• NSW Privacy Commissioner (opens in a new window)

• Australian Business Register (opens in a new window)
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (opens in a new window)(ACCC)
• Australian Human Rights Commission (opens in a new window)(formerly HREOC)
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (opens in a new window)(ASIC)
• Australian Taxation Office (opens in a new window)(ATO)
• Commonwealth Ombudsman's Office (opens in a new window)
• Fair Work Commission (opens in a new window)
• Overseas Student Ombudsman (opens in a new window)
• Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (opens in a new window)(TEQSA)