Recorded Webinar: Succession Law – 3 CPD Compulsory Topic Programs

This webinar comprises 3 one-hour sessions covering each of the compulsory CPD subjects for succession lawyers for the CPD year ending 31 March 2021. This is a national webinar and is suitable for succession lawyers Australia wide.

These sessions will be chaired by: Jen McMillan, Manager – Practice Support Services, Lawcover, Sydney

Session 1: Professional Skills: Preparing Wills and EPOAs in Uncertain Times: Is Close Enough Good Enough?

In these unprecedented times, succession lawyers will be receiving many enquiries from clients wishing to make wills and enduring powers of attorney to ensure that their affairs are in order. However, how can these documents be validly prepared and executed whilst adhering to social distancing rules? This session examines how to navigate this new and unsettling landscape, including:

• How do you obtain valid instructions from your client?
• Issues to consider when a face to face meeting is not possible
• Testamentary capacity revisited - how can you satisfy the key elements?
• ‘Drive-in’ services and other novel solutions
• How to use video evidence effectively and other strategies to prevent future challenges
• When can beneficiaries witness a will?
• Witnessing and execution requirements in a COVID-19 landscape - unpacking COVID-19 Legislation Amendment (Emergency Measures) Bill 2020 and other reforms
• Case study: Preparing documents for a client living in an aged care facility

Session 2: Practice Management Business Skills: Making Your Succession Practice ‘Hum’ - Strategies to Build Your Practice

Effective practice management involves understanding the particular needs of the practice disciplines. This session updates on developments in running a successful succession law practice, including:

• Marketing you and your practice - limits and possibilities
• Spotlight on building your online brand and promoting specialist accreditation
• Client management - adding value and locking in the future client
• Building ongoing relationships - tips and tricks to ensure ‘sticky’ relationships
• Developing an effective networking capability - knowing who to connect with
• Thinking beyond the brief - tapping into all areas of succession law practice
• Case study - examples of successful growth strategies in wills and estates practice

Session 3:Legal Ethics: Who is My Client in Wills and Estate Matters

Developments in technology and the virtual office create new ethical challenges in correctly identifying the client and knowing to whom you owe professional obligations. This session looks at the key issues, including:

• Not quite the client - care required in early interactions with potential clients
• Solicitor client relationship duties - the imperatives of client identification
• When capacity is an issue - who is my client dilemmas and responsibility
• Testamentary trusts - responsibility to testator or beneficiary?
• Donee of power of attorney - acting against doors interests
• Risks when identification at issue - conflicts of interest issues and other nasties
• Husband and wife client identification issues in succession matters
• Solicitor executors - when wearing two hats creates client identification problems
• Lessons from recent cases