Russell Kennedy Disability, Social and Community Services, Health Webinar - Doing away with the fine print: better consumer contracts

Who should attend: CEOs, Executive/General Managers, Contract Managers from NDIS providers, health organisations and others who provide care to the vulnerable in our community.

Simple contracts help to engage consumers as they choose providers, spend funds and participate in community programs. They help to balance legal, commercial and operational risks.

The intention of drafting plain-English consumer contracts is to remove legal jargon. Despite this, we regularly encounter organisations (including in the disability, social and community sectors and health sectors) that use lengthy consumer contracts. We also regularly encounter organisations that don’t bother with consumer contracts.

So, why do we do it? Vulnerable consumers benefit most from simple contracts so they genuinely understand the deal. Providers have ethical and moral obligations to get genuine agreement. However, longer and more comprehensive contracts are often used because organisations want to minimise risk. The rationale goes that the longer and more detailed a contract is, the more an organisation is protected if an issue arises. These competing objectives need to be balanced.

This webinar will dive into the benefits that organisations and their consumers can gain from simplified contracts. We will discuss the process from idea to rollout. We will show you how to improve and present contracts.

What are the topics that will be covered in the webinar?

Your obligations under the Australian Consumer Law – are you complying?
How plain-English contracts will benefit your organisation
Framework for developing simple contracts
Examples of how you can minimise contractual disputes
Simplifying consumers service experience to minimise confusion, particularly for consumers from non-English speaking backgrounds

The webinar will help you understand the practical and strategical reasons to adopt a plain-language approach to consumer contracting. Our presenters will discuss how this can be done with skill and care to ensure organisations remain fully protected when simplifying their consumer-facing documents.

Joining us will be Jonathan Teh, Principal and Rebecca Olle, Associate from Russell Kennedy's Corporate & Commercial team.

Opportunity to submit your questions - Q&A

You have the opportunity to submit questions before the webinar. Please submit any questions to events@rk.com.au.

Webinar Details

We are utilising Zoom to run this webinar. Zoom is free to download and can be viewed from your PC/mobile device.

DATE: Thursday 11 November 2021
TIME: 11.00am – 12.00pm AEDT
COST: Free and online via Zoom using your PC or mobile

To register for this online webinar, click the button below:

Presenters:

Jonathan Teh

Principal

Jonathan assists clients with commercial contracts for business operations through to technology services. He regularly provides advice on corporate governance, Corporations Act and procurement issues. Jonathan also advises clients in the government, health and not-for-profit sectors. He has experience in relation to business structures, including the creation and restructure of companies, trusts and not-for-profit organisations. He regularly assists clients with their corporate establishment, delegations, privacy and legal policies.

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Rebecca Olle

Associate

Rebecca has broad commercial and contracts experience advising clients in the health, government, community and care and not-for-profit sectors. In particular, she has advised health professional bodies regarding their contracts and governance, and the development of health courses. Rebecca has advised on contracts with a variety of disability service providers. Rebecca has assisted with the creation of companies and not-for-profit entities and is an active member of Russell Kennedy’s Pro Bono Committee.