The last decade has seen an influx of discussion of the law relating to penalties in Australia and the United Kingdom. On 27 July 2016, the High Court handed down Paciocco v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd [2016] HCA 28, which provided significant judicial consideration of the law relating to penalties and the rule’s scope. This session aims to canvas the developments in the law relating to penalties post-Paciocco and consider how these established principles have been applied in subsequent decisions.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

Representing clients in NCAT’s Guardianship Division can be challenging for legal practitioners unfamiliar with the Division’s inquisitorial procedures. The Division is required to exercise its jurisdiction to give paramount consideration to the welfare and interests of people with disabilities in a manner that encourages informality, flexibility and dispatch. The head of the Division, NCAT Deputy President Anne Britton will outline and discuss the procedures employed by the Division designed to achieve those requirements. Ms Britton will also explore how the statutory duty imposed on legal practitioners to cooperate with the Division and the Appeal Panel works in practice.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

In this session, The Honourable Philip Hallen will cover a variety of topics relevant to Succession List matters. His Honour welcomes interaction with attendees, so please come prepared with your topics or questions.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

In this session the presenters will explore four hot topics in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales. Learn about applications to modify a development consent and the power to amend a modification application, as well as development standards and recent legal principles. The session will also cover building information certificates (BIC), when they are required, and whether you can amend a BIC application. Finally, the presenters will deep dive into environmentally sustainable development and when the impact of climate change must be considered.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

Planning; property development

This discussion will address the latest developments in the workers compensation legislation and the case law surrounding the power of reconsideration with respect to challenging a medical assessment certificate (MAC).  The discussion will address section 57(1) of the Personal Injury Commission Act 2020 (NSW), and procedural issues surrounding the appropriateness of seeking a reconsideration. The discussion will address Medical Appeals pursuant to section 327 of the 1998 Act, particularly under section 327(3)(a) (deterioration of a worker’s condition). This will include review of relevant PIC Member and Presidential decisions, together with an overview of the Court of Appeal decision of Sleiman v Gadalla Pty Ltd [2021] NSWCA 236.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

In this presentation, Louise Brown from the NSW Trustee and Guardian will provide an overview of the various types of special grant of administration that are available. The session will further examine the purpose of these types of grants, their limitations, and some practical guidance on their application. 

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

Intestate; intestacy; next of kin applications; special grant of administration

These sessions were recorded on 17 and 18 August 2023 as part of the Specialist Accreditation Conference - Business Law stream.

Hear from specialists and experts across the profession on a wide range of topics relevant to your practice.

Topics include:

• What’s new in employment law
• Insolvency law update: How solicitors can advise zombie companies in 2023
• The role of equity in commercial disputes
• Employees vs. Contractors: Reviewing the current tax and legal landscape
• Understanding the changes around unfair contract terms
• Penalties post-Paciocco: Where are we now?
• Update on New South Wales foreign surcharges
• Don’t get caught out! Complexities in the PPSA
• Complex IP issues in sale of business transactions
• Recent activity in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales
• Directors’ guarantees: The signature seminar

Click here to view the full live conference program

These sessions were recorded on 17 and 18 August 2023 as part of the Specialist Accreditation Conference - Family Law stream.

Hear from specialists and experts across the profession on a wide range of topics relevant to your practice.

Topics include:

• The development of a solutions focus in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia
• Panel: Preparing for change – again: The Family Law Amendment Bill 2023
• Financial Agreements 3 ways: Drafting, advising and litigating
• Best practice for Court based Dispute Resolution: Make the deal, don’t break the deal
  
• Dealing with risk issues, in light of Isles & Nelissen
  
• The Kennon Principle: Family violence and its nexus to property settlements in family law
• Applying specialist accreditation in Alternate Dispute Resolution
• Complex property settlements
• The treatment of inheritances in family law
• Blurred lines: The convergence of family law and child protection
• Exploring Family Law topics that affect Trans, Intersex and Non-Binary individuals

Click here to view the full live conference program

These sessions were recorded on 17 and 18 August 2023 as part of the Specialist Accreditation Conference - Personal Injury stream.

Hear from specialists and experts across the profession on a wide range of topics relevant to your practice.

Topics include:

• CTP: Developments in court and commission decisions
• Developments in medical negligence litigation
• Complexities in product liability claims
• The pendulum of institutional abuse law
• Reconsideration rights and MAC appeals in the Personal Injury Commission
• Panel: Opportunities for improving the CTP scheme
• Asbestos litigation: Update on assessment of damages in asbestos claims
• Public Liability: Liability of public and other authorities
• Sticks and stones may break my bones: What constitutes serious harm in defamation?
• The Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) and use of restrictive practices in New South Wales
• Assessing damages for funds management: When, why and how much?

Click here to view the full live conference program

These sessions were recorded on 17 and 18 August 2023 as part of the Specialist Accreditation Conference - Property Law stream.

Hear from specialists and experts across the profession on a wide range of topics relevant to your practice. 

Topics include:

• The Real Property List: Recent case review
• Update on retail and commercial leasing cases and related law reform
• Duty on surrenders and terminations of lease: The change in beneficial ownership provisions
• Drafting GST provisions for property transactions
• Strata law: Tricks, traps and opportunities missed in the 2015 legislation
• Complex conveyancing developments
• Update on New South Wales foreign surcharges
• Don’t get caught out! Complexities in the PPSA
• Complex IP issues in sale of business transactions
• Recent activity in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales
• Caveats: Functions, form and misconceptions

Click here to view the full live conference program

These sessions were recorded on 17 and 18 August 2023 as part of the Specialist Accreditation Conference - Wills and Estates stream.

Hear from specialists and experts across the profession on a wide range of topics relevant to your practice.

Topics include:

• Practice and procedure in NCAT’s Guardianship Division: Practising in a protective jurisdiction
• Managing risk in a will drafting practice
• Taxing times for non-resident beneficiaries in the estate plan: A thorn in the side?
• Complex trust issues
• The cognitive mechanics of elder abuse
• Probate and Family Provision claims: Do's and dont's
• Financial elder abuse in the context of succession law
• Informal and interim wills
• Considerations when entering into aged care contracts
• Special administration - practice and procedure
• Distinguishing concerns about client vulnerability, competence and decision making capacity

Join us for a session on strata law. Presenter Michael Allen will delve into the latest cases and legislative changes relating to strata properties that all practitioners need to know.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

We live in a globalised society where the residence of beneficiaries can change. Through the relationships of a beneficiary, an Australian family may have members who are non-Australian tax residents or foreign persons. This session will review the tax issues which arise including CGT and non-resident beneficiaries, land tax and stamp duty surcharges and trust distributions to non-resident beneficiaries.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023

Cognition is the most important protective or facilitating factor in undue influence and elder abuse. Despite this, cognition is rarely addressed in the literature addressing these important areas of elder law. This session will explore the interface between declining cognition, undue influence and elder abuse in elder law. The aspects of client cognition that are imperative to consider in order to mitigate against elder abuse are discussed, alongside means by which the integrity of those cognitive functions can be assessed.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

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 Kennon argument is essentially an argument that family violence perpetrated by one party has made the contributions of the other party (usually the wife) more 'arduous' and that family violence has had a 'significant adverse impact' on that party’s contributions. It specifically relates to contributions made under section 79(4) or section 90SM(4) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). This presentation will examine the evidentiary burden in running this argument, recent decisions and appeals, and Australian Law Reform recommendations. 

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. 

This session will examine the increasingly litigious area of institutional abuse law in Australia. Institutional abuse law is a changing landscape with several matters before the High Court in 2023. The impact and uncertainty that this landscape creates is felt by survivors and the lawyers acting for them. The 2017 $370 million Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse resulted in the abolition of the Ellis defence in NSW but has not prevented the threat of permanent stay applications. While the Courts have offered some clarity in the relationship between clergy and abusers and in setting aside previous settlements, issues continue to arise and there is significant jurisdictional variation in the assessment of damages. 

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. 

This session will consider recent cases that have appeared in the Real Property List in the Equity Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Cases discussed cover topics such as rectification, e-conveyancing and caveats, effective charging clauses, statutes of limitations and mortgages, s 66G of the Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW), trust law, and costs.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

Statutory interpretation; judge-made law; remedies

The way in which inheritances are treated in family law has been, and continues to be, a challenging one. Contention as to whether they are an asset or financial resource (or neither), contributions issues, timing, and how they affect the overall division of the assets arises in many matters. This session will explore those issues, the application of the legislation, and recent cases, with a view to providing guidance as to how inheritances are dealt with in the context of a relationship breakdown. 

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. 

Amendments to the unfair contract terms (UCT) regime are due to take effect from November 2023 and bring significant changes that practitioners need to be aware of. Most notably, the amendments will make unfair contract terms illegal, rather than simply voidable, and such terms will be subject to the significant penalty regime in the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and ASIC Act 2001 (Cth). This session provides an overview of the regime, the proposed amendments which broaden the scope of the regime, and key 'unfair' terms to watch out for.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

This session will provide an update on New South Wales foreign surcharge purchaser duty and land tax, discuss the impact of Australia’s double-tax treaties with other countries and identify who is now exempt. Other topics covered will include getting the due diligence right from the start, key traps to watch out for and what to do if your clients receive a foreign surcharge notice of investigation.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

Join Gary Newton as he examines the latest retail and commercial lease cases, covering topics such as covid rent relief, termination or possession, suitability of the fire services and structural upkeep. The session will touch on previous cases now overturned or affirmed in the past year, and consider the first right of refusals in leases, the formation of a binding lease, the exercise of option and relief against forfeiture.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

This session will cover recent legislative amendments with a particular focus on women in the workforce. The topics will include changes to sexual harassment, systemic discrimination, positive duties, new grounds for discrimination in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), equal remuneration, pay secrecy, parental leave and flexible working arrangements. In addition to the substantive changes, the session will also cover the avenues for resolving disputes, including the new Part 3.5A of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) for sexual harassment claims and the Australian Human Rights Commission’s new powers to monitor compliance with the positive duty and apply to the federal courts for an order to direct employers to comply with the positive duty.

This session was recorded during the Specialist Accreditation Conference 2023.

pay secrecy; parental leave; flexible work; workplace investigations