Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network

In this special episode of LawTech Talks, produced in partnership with Thomson Reuters, host Jerome Doraisamy and National Australia Bank general counsel Sharon Cook flesh out the pace and impact of technological change upon corporate legal teams and how best those teams can ready themselves for the turn of the decade. The pair discuss why such a conversation about the future is so essential, the extent to which technology continues to evolve, how law departments can be at the forefront of such change so as to better support their businesses, effectively managing risk, bringing whole teams along for the journey of evolution, and the duty of leaders to better understand and appreciate current and looming change. Ms Cook also delves into some of the changes her own law department has implemented, what has been learnt from such initiatives, and how best other in-house legal teams can look to take practical steps to ensure they remain trusted advisers to their businesses in an ever-changing professional services marketplace. To learn more about Thomson Reuters, 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 this special episode of LawTech Talks, produced in partnership with Clio, we reflect on the next set of challenges for practitioners when it comes to self-education on the powers and capabilities of emerging technologies and the need to meaningfully triage and prioritise for the health of your practice. Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Clio founder and chief executive Jack Newton, who is based in the United States, about where the provider sees Australia as sitting in the global market at this juncture and why, what is so exciting about the Australian marketplace at present, the headline trends and challenges to look out for as the new year approaches, and how practitioners can best identify necessary practical steps moving forward. Mr Newton also delves into Clio's AI strategy and its push in the Australian market, ensuring the right resources are being deployed for one's tech stack, avoiding a "set and forget" attitude with existing practice management platforms, realising the "hierarchy of data needs", appreciating whether your practice is at on the adoption spectrum, and why cloud solutions remain so critical. To learn more about Clio, 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!

While progress has been made in recent years to ensure that business development is easier for male and female professionals alike, Sue-Ella Prodonovich muses, there remain environmental hurdles that make BD more difficult for some. In this episode of The Boutique Lawyer Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back Prodonovich Advisory principal Sue-Ella Prodonovich (who also regularly serves as a judge for Lawyers Weekly awards programs) to discuss how business development can and does prove more difficult for women leaders in law, the suggested reasons for this, how the post-pandemic landscape impacts such difficulty (if at all), and what professionals on the ground tell her about such hurdles. Ms Prodonovich also reflects on the extent to which male counterparts in the profession are cognisant of such perceived imbalances, how the market is looking to better level the playing field, whether the looming new year is throwing up any new challenges to grapple with in successful BD for women professionals, practical ways to ensure that BD is easier for all, and how to keep BD at the top of the priority list, even amid so many competing priorities. 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!

For Steve Lancken, mediation has always offered ways and means of resolving disputes that produce more satisfying and productive outcomes for parties. Here, he details the lessons he's learnt over more than two decades as a mediator and how best to serve clients in an ever-changing landscape. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Negocio Resolutions managing director Steve Lancken (who won the Mediator-Arbitrator of the Year category at the 2023 Australian Law Awards) to discuss how and why he became a mediator, how few client matters he saw proceed to litigation in the earlier iteration of his legal career, what he finds so rewarding about mediation, and his views on the current climate for mediators in Australia's marketplace. Mr Lancken also reflects on the rise of mediation in recent years, the most common mistakes made in mediations, the need to actively use certain language to manage clients' states of mind, pitfalls to avoid, how to glean the necessary lessons to succeed, the do's and don'ts for successful mediators, shifting one's mindset, and his excitement about the next generation of practitioners coming through the ranks, who better understand and appreciate avenues like mediation. 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!

Following the Women in Finance Summit and Awards 2023, we're catching up with some of the leading women in the financial services space.

In this episode, we chat to Suzanne Wood, state general manager residential broker Victoria/Tasmania at Westpac Group (and state chair of the Women of Westpac employee advocacy group), about how she climbed the career ladder in banking and the power of having strong female role models.

Tune in to find out:

• How she learnt the art of having difficult conversations.
• The perils of unconscious bias and how to tackle them.
• How Westpac is supporting women through the Women of Westpac employee advocacy group.

And much more!

Anthony Kearns is increasingly concerned about what he sees as objectively unsustainable work practices and higher levels of distress among a highly resilient demographic. Here, we unpack how and why such issues are impacting in-house teams and what some of the practical steps might be to meaningfully move forward. In this episode of The Corporate Counsel Show, host Jerome Doraisamy is joined by Lander & Rogers chief client experience officer and consulting practice group leader Anthony Kearns to discuss why safety and sustainability require urgent consideration by law departments, the extent to which current issues and psychosocial hazards are a product of our times or longstanding concerns, and how and why such matters are so front of mind for law department leaders. Mr Kearns also reflects on the "roadmaker's dilemma" facing in-house teams, the extent to which such teams can or should be comfortable with the idea of letting others down, ensuring clarity of purpose and other practical steps that law departments can take at this critical juncture, and why he remains optimistic about the potential for in-house teams to problem-solve. 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 recent vote on a proposed Voice to Parliament for Indigenous Australians was the latest in a long line of failed referenda in our nation's history. But why is it so onerous to amend our Constitution? In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy is joined by Professor Emerita Anne Twomey from the University of Sydney, who was a member of the constitutional expert group advising on the proposed Voice, to discuss her long-time passion for constitutional law, why national constitutions require updating from time to time, how compulsory voting in Australia influences the success or otherwise of referenda, and whether we are now at a point where it is proving too hard to change our Constitution. Professor Twomey also reflects on what may be required to make needed constitutional change possible and what has been considered thus far, the role that lawyers have to play in pushing for change where necessary, the need for better and broader community education and awareness on civics, and why it can be a problem for a nation's founding document to appear, at times, immovable. 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!

Criminal law, Andrew Tiedt says, is an incredibly challenging but also rewarding practice area – and, increasingly, he sees opportunities for practitioners to be advocates in jury trials and utilise their extensive skill sets. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy welcomes back J Sutton Associates director Andrew Tiedt, an accredited specialist in criminal law, to discuss why the practice of criminal law is so stimulating, the extent to which being advocate is the remit of barristers only (and whether any lawyer can be an advocate for their clients), why he describes himself as a "solicitor advocate", and if other criminal lawyers are self-identifying as such. Mr Tiedt also reflects on how and why he became a practitioner who runs many of his own jury trials rather than briefing out, whether trial advocacy is something that more practitioners can aspire to, whether moving to the bar is for him, how practitioners can develop the requisite skills to be better advocates, how colleagues respond to him calling himself a "solicitor advocate", movement away from adversarial practices, and the need or otherwise for more open-mindedness when it comes to our understandings of advocacy. 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 Federal Court of Australia recently rejected the ABC's attempted use of the public interest defence in defamation proceedings brought by former special forces soldier Heston Russell. Here, we unpack the technicalities of the new defence and how it played out for the national broadcaster. Host Naomi Neilson is joined by Elit Lawyers by McGirr & Snell founder Robert McGirr to discuss what the new public interest defence to defamation is, what transpired in the recent Russell v ABC case, reflect on various submissions made by the parties during those proceedings, lessons learnt from this test case, and how this high-profile matter might impact upon defamation proceedings in Australia moving forward, if at all. 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!

Most in-house lawyers that Michael Milnes speaks with are inundated with email, and often spend a significant part of their day working in, and interrupted by their inbox. Here's how he is looking to overcome it. In this episode of The Corporate Counsel Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with TPG Telecom senior corporate counsel Michael Milnes about the scourge of being flooded by emails and why it's such a big problem for in-house legal teams, how a clogged inbox gets in the way of addressing the urgent priorities, how having a full inbox can be seen as part and parcel of one's role and why this is problematic. Mr Milnes also discusses what he has learnt about managing his inbox, imbibing a top-down culture around clearing one's email inbox, whether external providers have a role to play in supporting their clients, the need for a mindset shift in getting the little things right, the increasing need to address this issue in the post-pandemic climate, and his broader words of wisdom for in-house lawyers in better managing such administrative tasks. 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!