This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

DISTRESSING CONTENT 

Viewers are advised that this course may contain details that some may find distressing. Please review the course description and use your discretion before proceeding. 

If you are in distress, the Solicitor Outreach Service (1800 592 296) and Lifeline (13 11 14) offer 24/7 counselling support. If you are concerned for your safety or that of someone else, please contact the Police or call 000 for emergency assistance. 

A session to assist criminal defence lawyers in identifying torts committed by police – with a focus on First Nations populations in RRR communities.

This session was recorded on Friday, 11 October 2024 as part of the Rural and Private Practice stream at the Annual Conference 2024.

This presentation will undertake an analysis of key changes to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) by the Family Law Amendment Act 2023 (Cth), which came into force on 6 May 2023.  The session will cover the concept of joint or sole parental decision making, the changes to the legislative pathway, the meaning and application of the term ‘safety’, and the test of ‘unacceptable risk’. It will touch upon the possible impact on the changes referrable to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, and on the role of Independent Children’s Lawyers. Analysis of these changes will focus on the ability to rely on past authorities, and on what can be gleaned from early decisions after 6 May 2023 and from overseas jurisdictions.

This session was recorded as part of the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2024.

Spec Acc Conf 2024 - Family 

In this session Jenica Lim-Young will discuss key cases and recent developments in the area of medical negligence. The presentation will cover topics such as updates and issues relating to expert evidence, section 50 of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), damages and limitation periods.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

The increasing prevalence of digital assets and AI calls for greater consideration of the way digital matters fit into the law and process of inheritance. Surveys suggest the general public rarely thinks of the digital, including digital access to non-digital property, when giving instructions for wills, and lawyers’ attention to this is only slightly more frequent. Testators may know very little about their digital assets and be very surprised to learn they do not own the material on their streaming services. This session suggests ways to manage. Where overseas jurisdictions have passed legislation, this may not always be useful. Data protection, post-mortem privacy and the right to be forgotten or to be memorialised are all aspects of this developing area of law.

This session was recorded as part of the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2024.

Spec Acc Conf 2024 - Wills and Estates

The principles of Kennon v Kennon (1997) FLC 92–757 (‘Kennon’) are well established. However, Kennon claims regularly fail, for a variety of reasons. Some fail because of a lack of thorough investigation of the allegations, or a failure to adduce clear evidence of the allegations. Some fail because of a failure to adduce corroborating evidence, or where the evidence of the complainant is inconsistent with other contemporaneous evidence. This session will analyse the practical steps that ought to be taken when preparing and running a Kennon claim from both perspectives: acting for the complainant and for the alleged perpetrator.

This session was recorded as part of the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2024.

Spec Acc Conf 2024 - Family

Landlords, trade creditors and others often manage their risk by procuring directors to sign the contract in what they believe is their dual capacities, namely not only on behalf of the company but also as guarantor. More times than one might realise, it is not so clear in what capacity a director is actually appending their signature. Questions that arise include whether one signature binds both the company and the director personally, and, assuming the director loses the argument on capacity, what last refuge might be available. Join presenter Sydney Jacobs as he turns the lenses in the kaleidoscope on different factual scenarios and varying judicial approaches to this oft-recurring issue in practice.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

This videocast was originally captured during the Specialist Accreditation conference 2021 - Employment & Industrial Law stream. 

Around 2.1 million people with disability in Australia are of working age.  This session looks at the following topics around disability and employment:

• What do the numbers tell us?
• Segregated employment
• Disability discrimination issues – areas of unlawful conduct; reasonable adjustments; inherent requirements
• Intersection of WHS laws and disability discrimination

In this session presenter Michael Perkins examines a number of issues relating to client competence and capacity that cross the spectrum of professional practice. Topics covered include evaluating client competence and compliance with Rule 8 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2015 (NSW), indicators of cognitive intactness, an advocacy approach to evaluating vulnerability and the related risks of coercion and abuse. The presentation also considers guidelines for cognitive responsive practice, and how practitioners can build decision making resilience in their client.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

Capacity; coercion; professional conduct; compliance

Any practitioner that regularly deals with security interests knows that the regime prescribed by the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) is highly complex. As lawyers we are responsible for ensuring registrations are valid and effective. The session will cover critical concepts necessary for giving stakeholders certainty about their security interests, examine how the Courts have recently dealt with particularly complex issues, and identify what lessons lawyers should learn from those matters.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

PPSR; Personal Property Securities Register; discharge of interests

Where do all those special conditions come from? Why are they needed and what do they mean? The interaction of GST with property transactions continues to be a source of tension. Questions abound regarding the operation of the margin scheme, what activities constitute the carrying on of an enterprise and the vexed issues arising from the need to distinguish between commercial residential premises and residential premises.  This practical session will look at drafting issues in the light of the GST provisions as well as recent decisions in this evolving area of the law.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

In this session, Catherine Hallgath will be looking at the recent amendments made to the Duties Act 1997 (NSW), more specifically the charging of duty on a change in beneficial ownership of dutiable property in respect of leases and lease transactions. The session will consider what kinds of leasing transactions fall within the duties net, particularly what types of arrangements could trigger the requirement to pay duty in respect of surrenders and terminations of leases.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

Join Monica Ross-Maranik for a session examining elder abuse claims. This presentation will cover topics including considerations for interlocutory relief, possible sources of evidence, the necessity to plead alternate relief, possible defences, and recent cases. 

This session was recorded as part of the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2024.

Spec Acc Conf 2024 - Wills and Estates

Employee Share Schemes (ESS) can be important business tools for retaining and attracting talent, particularly where a business has cash constraints (such as a start-up). However, the tax implications relating to ESS can be complex. A myriad of ESS arrangements is possible.  An appropriate ESS arrangement can depend on the commercial objectives and stage of life of the business.  In this session, we will consider ESS from a tax perspective, including: what is an ESS, common ESS arrangements, common tax considerations and practical examples. 

This session was recorded as part of the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2024. 

Whether an individual is an employee or contractor is a key commercial matter, as it can give rise to tax and legal implications for a business. Failure by a business to correctly characterise a worker can result in underpayment of worker entitlements (such as PAYG and superannuation), not meeting payroll tax obligations and create risk of an employment claim. This session will provide: (i) an overview of the current tax and legal landscape following the recent High Court and Federal Court decisions in Jamsek v ZG Operations [2022] HCA 2 and the Fair Work Commission’s decision in Deliveroo Australia Pty Ltd v Diego Franco [2022] FWCFB 156; (ii) review activity of the ATO and Revenue NSW in light of these decisions; (iii) income tax, superannuation and payroll tax obligations for businesses that engage contractors; (iv) nuances in the employee and contractor tests for income tax, superannuation and payroll tax; and (v) importance of a written contract and whether this provides a complete solution.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

Recorded on 17 August 2023

King Tan, Consulting Principal, Keypoint Law
Elizabeth Burnheim, Consulting Principal, Keypoint Law

This session will examine some of the recent developments in employment law including:

• Changes to casual employment
• The introduction of the right to disconnect
• The pay secrecy prohibition
• Limitations on fixed term contracts
• Criminalising wage theft
• Expansion of domestic and family violence protections in employment

This session was recorded on Friday, 11 October 2024 as part of the Rural and Private Practice stream at the Annual Conference 2024.

Michael Byrnes, Partner, Employment, Workplace Relations and WHS – Swaab Member of the Law Society of NSW Employment Law Committee
Carly Stebbing, Partner and Head of Employment Law - Longton Legal Member of the Law Society of NSW Employment Law Committee
Kymberlei Goodacre, President, Clarence River & Coffs Harbour Regional Law Society (Moderator)