Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network

In the first six months of this year, plaintiff firms have investigated and pursued a "very broad base of claims", and even though there has been a softening in filing rates for the year-to-date, it will be prudent to maintain a cautious outlook, one BigLaw partner says. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Allens partner and class actions co-lead Alex Tolliday about how and why he ended up practising in this space, why he finds the "detective work" so rewarding, the key takeaways from his firm's recently released Class action risk: Interim update report, and what we can learn from the volume of filings seen in the last six months, and what it could mean for the back half of the year. Tolliday also reflects on there having been no shareholder proceedings filed so far this year, the volume of consumer proceedings being witnessed and a pending High Court judgment, how teams like his prepare for what might be coming in the market, whether we will see more cyber and data privacy proceedings being brought, ensuring clients are as prepared as possible for proceedings of any kind, whether ESG-slanted proceedings are being brought, what good leadership of a class action team looks like, and what excites him about working in this space moving forward.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!

In recent years, there's been a "huge" rise in the number of boutique practices in NSW alone, and such firms, more broadly, are becoming more and more specialised. These trends, together with increased demand from clients for competitive rates, have created a "perfect storm" in which small firms can flourish against the big end of town. In this episode of The Boutique Lawyer Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back Redenbach Legal principal Keith Redenbach to discuss the increase in specialisation and movement away from generalisation in smaller firms, the modernisation of law as a profession, economic jitters and how these impact upon small-firm owners.

Redenbach also discusses the "perfect storm" creating opportunities for specialised, smaller law firms that can offer competitive rates relative to the big end of town, the challenges inherent with staying ahead of the curve, the questions firm owners need to ask themselves in the new financial year, playing offence and defence, understanding why specialisation is so critical moving forward, and why he is so excited about such market disruption. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!

While not all allegations of bullying will meet the legal definition of such misconduct, Max Kimber SC reflects, the raising of those concerns will very likely be indicative of broader relationship issues within the workplace, which all employers would do well to address. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back barrister and mediator Max Kimber SC to discuss allegations of bullying in legal and non-legal workplaces, how such alleged misconduct may stem from relationship and communication failures on the part of the workplace, and why prevention and early intervention are so essential.

Kimber also responds to whether there is an increase in allegations of bullying or related misconduct in recent years since the COVID-19 pandemic, what constitutes best practice in addressing relationship and communication failures, recognising the positive duties that businesses and team leaders have moving forward, shoring up the fundamentals of workplace culture, finding new ways to speak to one's employer about necessary team cultural and environmental changes, the role of HR, and his optimism that the profession can move forward in the right ways.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!

With the new financial year underway, lawyers looking to expand their property portfolios or get on the property ladder should do the "smart yards", not rest on the laurels of increased borrowing capacity, and ensure they are getting the best deal for themselves in the current market. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back Legal Home Loans director Andrew Johnson and director of sales Cullen Haynes to discuss the state of the "moveable feast" that is the Australian property market, why banks move their rates in line with the Reserve Bank, whether the start of the new financial year brings new opportunities for lawyers to be aware of, and what bankers might not be telling legal professionals about how best to get ahead. Johnson and Haynes also delve into the good news for lawyers who have been promoted in recent times and those who run their own practices, why asking the right questions is so critical, the need to be diligent and not rest on one's laurels, practical steps that lawyers can and should take at this juncture, meaningfully making time to do a financial wellness check, having a personal board of directors for financial matters, considerations for high-net-worth lawyers, and why if you don't ask, you don't get. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!

The new financial year offers business owners a chance to regroup, recalibrate, and determine what comes next. Award-winning sole practitioner Claire Styles says firm leaders must take a more holistic approach to such a process to ensure better outcomes not just professionally but also personally. In this episode of The Boutique Lawyer Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back C Legal founder and principal Claire Styles, who last year won the Sole Practitioner category at the Women in Law Awards, about what it means to design one's life as a firm owner, why this is so important for her, taking a more existential and holistic approach to such questions, and appreciating what it means to run a small business and have a personal life at the same time.

Styles also delves into the growing number of small law firm owners taking the approach she espouses, the practical steps to take and questions to ask in redesigning a life and business approach that makes sense to an individual practitioner, and what she looks forward to in the new financial year. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!

According to one employment law partner, the tone of certain disputes between employers and employees is shifting, with issues at the executive level being fought harder and businesses looking to be more aggressive about enforcing restraints.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Hamilton Locke partner Timothy Zahara about how and why he became an employment lawyer and why he finds it so interesting, how executive disputes are becoming harder to settle, how the mainstreaming of psychological risks and a broad sense of burnout is contributing to such disputes, the perfect storm of executives feeling burnt out and no oversight of their output, and the broader implications for businesses and firms in navigating such executive-level disputes.

Zahara also delves into the evolving nature of post-employment restraints and how and why there is increased aggression in this space right now, the potential "chilling effect" of such restraints, whether businesses are watching the non-compete debate in the United States and acting accordingly, whether the newfound aggression is a result of post-pandemic environmental trends, what businesses can be doing moving forward to better protect their interests while not constraining employees, what constitutes good leadership moving forward, and what trends might be on the horizon.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!

Mel Storey has been tasked with growing the presence of global tech firm Pax8 in the Asia-Pacific region. Here, she outlines her practical and strategic vision for achieving this goal, how other law department leaders can support broader business growth (geographic or otherwise), being both more and less human at the same time, and why corporate lawyers should remember to "eat an elephant one bite at a time".

In this episode of The Corporate Counsel Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back Pax8 head of legal (APAC) Mel Storey to discuss her journey in law and why in-house life has been so stimulating for her, the mandate she has been given to grow Pax8's presence in the Asia-Pacific region, her goals for this new chapter of her corporate legal life, and her definition of a good in-house lawyer, and how she'll look to apply that definition to what she is trying to achieve in her new role.

Storey also details the practical steps she is planning to take to grow Pax8's APAC presence, the questions to be asked of herself and the law department in achieving success, balancing the BAU against the forward-looking growth, incorporating a wellness strategy into the broader approach, the challenges she foresees on the horizon and how she plans to navigate these, and why it is so critical for in-house counsel tasked with business growth to "eat an elephant one bite at a time". If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!

Until such time as the Fair Work Commission sets precedents from test cases, employers may need to err on the side of caution when it comes to the implementation of the new Right to Disconnect. This does not, however, mean leaders in law should be trepidatious – instead, the new laws are an opportunity for optimal leadership.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back Professor Gabrielle Golding from the University of Adelaide to discuss her research into the need for a workplace right to disconnect (which has now become law), what the new laws will look like in practice, the definition of reasonableness, and how employers are broadly feeling about their new obligations.

Professor Golding also delves into how leaders can approach their new duties on top of all other competing obligations, the volume of unpaid labour being undertaken in Australia's workforce, how businesses can react accordingly, the potential for exacerbation of generational differences, the various scenarios in which an employee can or should be contacted, the need to err on the side of caution, and waiting for test cases.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!

In this special episode of LawTech Talks, produced in partnership with PracticeEvolve, we unpack the need for law firms to take a step back and evaluate the value being gleaned from their tech stacks so as to better resolve business operational challenges and maximise opportunities. Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with PracticeEvolve's Head of Sales Gab Santos and Head of Marketing Adam Bullion about the PMS provider's journey in recent years, how and why Australian practitioners have been more innovative than global counterparts, why striking the right balance between innovation and stability is so critical in the current climate, and how well law firms are managing the cost of tech stacks at present. Santos and Bullion also reflect on the questions that firms need to ask of themselves when evaluating tech stacks, how firms can extrapolate better value from their providers, how the evolution of AI and machine learning can and will influence legal software solutions moving forward, and their best practice guidance for firm leaders to strike a better balance moving forward. To learn more about PracticeEvolve, click here. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!

In an age of rapid tech advancement, PhD candidate Chantal McNaught is fascinated by the navigation of conflict between law as a profession and law as a business. Zooming out and taking a more holistic approach to the purpose of law is essential, she argues. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with New Zealand-based Chantal McNaught, who is a PhD candidate at Bond University and a practice advisory manager at LEAP, to discuss her upcoming dissertation, the philosophical questions in distinguishing between the profession of law and the business of law, navigating the uncertainty of new and emerging technologies, and the need for practitioners to properly reflect on the implications of their use of new tech. McNaught also delves into environmental and external factors contributing to broader uncertainty, the need to think more holistically about one's role as a lawyer in a changing professional services marketplace, the questions lawyers need to ask of themselves and their businesses, the importance of theory in informing the practical, and why such undertakings are so exciting for lawyers to sink their teeth into. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email [email protected] for more insights!