Recorded Webinar: 3 CPD Compulsory Topics for Commercial Lawyers

This webinar comprises 3 one-hour sessions covering each of the compulsory CPD subjects for commercial lawyers for the CPD year ending 31 March 2020. This is a national webinar and is suitable for property lawyers Australia wide.

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