Recorded Webinar: 3 CPD Compulsory Topics for Lawyers – a national webinar for lawyers

This webinar comprises 3 one-hour sessions covering each of the compulsory CPD subjects for lawyers for the CPD year ending 31 March 2023.

Session 1: Practice Management Business Skills

Bullying, Discrimination Harassment and Legal Practice

All members of the legal profession deserve to be treated fairly and respectfully. Despite this, inappropriate behaviours continue to exist in the profession. This practical session examines best practice guidance on combatting bullying, sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace, including:

• Identifying workplace bullying, discrimination and harassment – some common and not so common examples in legal practice
• Understanding obligations under anti-discrimination laws and other workplace laws
• Effective preventative strategies to consider
• Options available to practitioners experiencing or witnessing inappropriate behaviours – complaints processes and other avenues
• Case studies

Session 2: Professional Skills

You, Me and the Indemnity

The use of indemnities in commercial agreements to allocate risk brings with it significant consequences to the indemnifying party. This session will examine the key components of an indemnity clause and provide options together with drafting suggestions to assist practitioners with drafting, negotiating and amendment, including:

• Why include an indemnity clause?
• Understanding the impact of an indemnity on risks and relationships
• What are the key features of an indemnity clause?
• Drafting considerations including nature of the indemnity, mitigation obligations and quantification of loss
• Tips for negotiating indemnities and drafting amendments
• Cases and examples.

Session 3: Ethics

When Tone in Correspondence Becomes an Ethical Issue

It is inevitable that we cross paths with a practitioner who may not like us or decides to take a particularly aggressive stance on behalf of their client. This may spill over into correspondence. At what point have we crossed an ethical line and what is the standard that should be maintained instead? This looks at the main issues, including:

• Understanding professional obligation of practitioners in written communication – an overview
• Key ethical guidelines for practitioners in writing correspondence to the other side
• How to gauge whether communications have appropriate tone?
• Is there a correct tone for different scenarios or a neutral tone irrespective of circumstance?
• Does a negative message require adjustments on tone?
• Using appropriate emphasis and subordination is place of misdirected tone
• Using non-discriminatory language to minimize misunderstanding on tone
• Case study – is the adage ‘don’t write anything unless prepared to have it in affidavit’ still current?
• Next steps – what happens if someone crosses the line?