Session 1: Ethics: Ethics in Communication – Giving Undertakings and Keeping Promises

Legal practice involves regular communication which can include giving undertakings. As an officer of the court practitioners have an obligation to honor undertakings given. This session looks at practical ethics issues arising in giving and receiving undertakings, including:

• Ethics in communication – some guidelines for daily practice

• Playing the ball and not your opponent

• Failing to communicate – an ethics hidden minefield

• The No Contact Rule- understanding its ethical implications

• Communication with media – balancing competing duties and obligations

• Undertakings and the professional conduct rules:

  • Third party constraints

  • Concerning a client doing or not something

  • From solicitors employee

  • Record keeping of undertakings

• Is there an obligation not to solicit undertakings?

• Case study – Ethical obligation to ensure clarity of communications

Session 2:  Professional Skills: Drafting and Relying Upon Effective Termination Clauses

When a contract is breached, the non-defaulting party has a range of options available, including terminating the contract. However, the termination process can be fraught with litigation risk. It can ultimately hinge upon the reliance of a well-drafted termination clause. This session examines how to prepare effective termination clauses in your commercial agreements, as well as how to effectively exercise termination rights. It covers:

• Drafting effective termination clauses

• Circumstances of termination

• Termination versus rescission, issues that may influence

• Restrictions on termination and rescission

• Reducing risk in terminating a contract including limiting litigation risk

• Avoiding mistakes in exercising termination right

Session 3:  Practice Management & Business Skills: Creating a Strategy for Practice Development – Build It and They Will Come

Having a plan or strategy to build your practice is half the battle. The other is to implement it. Unfortunately the building strategy part is often underdone or not done at all. This session looks at the key issues in building a practice development strategy, including:

• Constructing a practice management planning strategy – an overview

• Creating bespoke firm targets and developing a long term perspective

• Building on existing firm resources and talent base – leveraging existing foundations

• Getting partnership and firm management buy in on strategy to build practice

• Aligning the strategy with implementation processes and systems

• The technology quotient – incorporating the technology factor into your strategy

• Building the flexible lower cost legal service delivery into your strategy

• The importance of firm culture – building a culture of sharing and team participation

• Case study – successful practice building strategies that have worked

Jennifer Shaw, Partner, Bartier Perry, Sydney

Jennifer is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution & Advisory team with over 20 years of experience in the legal profession. She acts and advises in relation to disputes across a broad range of industries including professional negligence, contract disputes, construction disputes, intellectual property disputes, family provision/estate disputes, debt recovery, winding up and bankruptcy.  Jennifer works closely with her clients to find the most commercially sensible, timely and cost effective solutions.

Jennifer has in depth experience in professional disciplinary matters.  She is a panel member of the Law Society’s Professional Conduct Advisory Panel and she acts for and advises solicitors who are subject to disciplinary complaints, show cause events, suspensions and related proceedings.  She has also acted for and advised peak professional bodies in relation to the prosecution of disciplinary matters before specialist Tribunals in NSW and the ACT.

Katherine Ruschen, Partner, Bartier Perry, Sydney

Katherine has 20 years’ experience practising in the areas of professional indemnity, public liability, medical negligence, management liabilities and public inquiries.  Katherine has acted in a wide range of professional negligence and public liability claims and has represented clients in Royal Commissions and Coronial Inquiries.

Katherine regularly represents professionals from various industries, including legal, health and finance, in responding to consumer and disciplinary complaints and in connection with associated disciplinary action by industry regulatory bodies. Katherine has a deep understanding of the personal and professional issues that arise for professionals facing a claim, complaint, investigation, public inquiry or disciplinary action. She is regarded for the compassion and empathy she brings when working with her clients, while still providing clear, concise and frank legal advice.

Geoff Bartels, Bartels Business Lawyers, NSW

Over more than 4 decades Geoff has been advising business from sole proprietors to multi-nationals on their corporate and structural issues.

Firstly as a principal solicitor of the NSW Corporate Affairs Commission where he was responsible for regulation of public fund raising including Stock Exchange , Futures Exchange and un-listed raisings such as managed investment schemes.  During this stage of Geoff’s career he was involved in advising on the documentation of over 200 investment schemes. He also did his fair share of white collar prosecution work and was involved with a number of high profile Special Investigations. Notable with another senior lawyer at the Commission he drafted the First Futures Markets Act.

As well as being a highly qualified and experienced lawyer Geoff brings to all his clients the experience of being not only a highly experienced company director with public company, banking and aged care experience but also an entrepreneur in his own right.

Noric Dilanchian, Special Counsel, Nexus Law Group, Sydney

Noric’s approach to practice is multidisciplinary, integrating legal, business and innovation strategy to brand, protect, document, manage, market and commercialise intellectual property, digital media, technology and knowledge assets.

Since 1983 he has continuously worked as a business lawyer. In previous position Noric led Dilanchian Lawyers from 2000 to 2018 and before that he worked as a lawyer in national and medium-sized law firms. His first position was in-house counsel with Angus & Robertson Publishers. He graduated from the University of New South Wales with degrees in Arts and Law.

This webinar is suitable for Commercial lawyers - Australia wide and it has been designed to deliver the 3 compulsory subject CPD units for the CPD year ending 31st March 2020.

Lawyers can claim 3 CPD units – compulsory subjects.  1 unit each for Ethics, Practice Management and Professional Skills.