A conversation with Dr Leon Terrill, Business Law Program Director at UNSW Online.
Leon Terrill did not set out to teach. He spent years practising law across a range of different areas, work he found, in his own words, challenging and deeply rewarding. It was only later, moving into a lecture hall, that his interest found a more permanent home in courses like property, contract law and legal writing, the ones that sit closest to the decisions businesses actually make.
That instinct now runs through the Graduate Certificate in Business Law, which Dr Terrill leads at UNSW Online, a program that exists because of a gap most professionals never think about until they fall into it – the moment a contract needs signing; a compliance obligation needs meeting; a board needs advising and the person in the room does not have the legal grounding to know what matters and what does not.
The regulatory squeeze on modern leaders
Modern business leaders operate in one of the most complex regulatory environments in the world. Between ASIC's heightened enforcement focus on operational conduct and new mandatory statutory reporting laws like climate and data governance, the personal liability on executives and business leaders is expanding rapidly. It is no longer enough to delegate legal risk to a legal team after decisions are made. Leaders need the legal fluency to spot risks while decisions are happening.
Grounded in real business problems
"I'm proud of how applied the Business Law programs are," Dr Terrill says, "the extent to which they engage with real-world business issues rather than abstract laws." That is by design, and it is a distinction he is careful to draw. This isn't legal training repackaged for a business audience. "Our Business Law courses are designed and created by lawyers for non-legal professionals," he explains. "They are not just repackaged law courses, they are built from the ground up to be practical and accessible for people who don't have formal legal training, but deal with the law in their professional practice."
A legal mindset changes what you worry about
What that looks like day to day, Dr Terrill says, has less to do with memorising statutes than with developing skills and a certain kind of instinct. "Having a legal mindset can help clarify what you really do have to worry about, where the legal risks are and where you can afford to be more relaxed." He lists examples almost in passing: knowing which conversations matter when negotiating an agreement, understanding what corporate leaders are legally obligated to do, recognising where laws like consumer law and privacy regulation leave no room to move.
Where AI fits, and where it doesn't
The rise of AI has sharpened the importance of that instinct rather than replaced it. "AI tools are already having a real impact on the work of lawyers," Dr Terrill says. "There are some tasks that are being completely transformed." But the tools have limits and knowing where those limits sit has become a skill in its own right. "What has remained constant is the importance of judgement: knowing the limits of AI-generated work and having the skills to distinguish correct analysis from error," he says. "It has become another area where businesses need people who are attuned to risk and understand the legal consequences of outsourcing judgement and decision-making."
An AI tool can review a contract after it lands in an inbox. It isn't in the room when a decision actually gets made, in the meeting where a clause gets agreed to on the spot or the call where someone has thirty seconds to decide whether something needs a second look. Legal awareness earns its keep right there, giving you the ability to know when you need more than your own read of the situation. That’s the advantage this program builds.
Built to keep pace with a changing law
None of this stays still for long, which is partly why the courses do not either. "We review our Business Law courses each time they are taught," Dr Terrill says, "not just to check that the content is up to date, but also to see that the exercises and assessments are suitable to our changing context." The law will keep changing after students graduate too, a fact the program treats as a starting assumption rather than a risk to design around. "We aim to equip students with the skills and confidence to navigate a changing legal landscape themselves."
Learning alongside people who've been there
Online study doesn't mean studying in isolation. "We've been delighted by the calibre of students that the program has attracted," Dr Terrill says. Even though the courses are delivered online, he points to regular opportunities for interaction as one of the real strengths of the program: "one of the benefits of the program is the opportunity to meet and engage with other professionals."
That plays out in discussion forums, where students introduce themselves, talk through course topics and sometimes explain a concept back to their classmates in their own words, and in live webinars where the same cohort shows up in real time. Beyond individual courses, students can also tap into a wider UNSW Online community for program-level discussions and webinars with industry practitioners.
What you take with you
Ask Dr Terrill what changes for students by the time they finish, and he does not describe a transformation so much as a steadying. "It has helped them become more confident in their work," he says, "in understanding the law and compliance obligations and engaging in leadership and decision making."
Rosemary Livermore, who completed the Graduate Certificate in Business Law, describes the shift in similar terms. "I can now talk about legal and governance issues with clarity and ease," she says. "It has lifted the quality, depth and legal soundness of the work I do every day."
That confidence carries the weight of the institution behind it. UNSW is Australia's #1 university*, #1 for career outcomes^ and is #1 in Sydney for Law and Legal Studies^^.
That's what Dr Terrill means by a legal mindset: knowing what actually needs your attention and what doesn't. The rest can wait. This program is built to give you that instinct.
Explore the Graduate Certificate in Business Law at UNSW Online.
*QS World University Rankings, 2024–2026
^QS World University Rankings, 2026
^^QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2026
Dr Leon Terrill is the Business Law Program Director at UNSW Online. He came to the field through legal practice before moving into teaching, and now leads a program built jointly by academics, practising lawyers and business professionals to bring real-world legal expertise to non-legal professionals.
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