New Earth lawyer

I talk about how the biggest challenge facing us is to seek Unity Consciousness through an increasingly polarised world.

I've been reminded of this on a daily basis in the past week, with opportunities to promote conflict in my life and in my clients' lives appearing constantly. We are being tested to rise above divisiveness and bridge differences.

Show notes

[0:44] I have been reminded in various ways recently how there are constant opportunities to create conflict in our lives and see others as separate from us. 

[2:23] Last week, I had an incident occur that disappointed me when people disagreed with my views and I could have used it as an opportunity to promote more disagreement. Instead, I decided to seek common ground with the people I disagree with.   

[4:15] The same tests are happening to my clients. People who have a common goal can end up disagreeing and losing sight of the humanity in others.

[5:09] A new client asked me to choose a Unity Consciousness method for her case, and by doing so she reminded me again how it doesn't always have to be about pushing and fighting.

[6:25] Every potential for conflict is also an opportunity to learn lessons, grow, rise above, test our strength and commitment to love and compassion. It reminds us to be humble.

[7:41] Most of all, it's an opportunity to bridge differences and build oneness in the now, to see all of us and all others as one humanity.

For more information, please visit the episode page on the New Earth lawyer website.

Rhiannon Thomas is an attorney, notary, conveyancer and administrator of deceased estates in practice in Cape Town. She is also a values consultant and accredited Conscious Contracts® provider and trainer.

Rhiannon founded Milkwood in 2012 with a mission to bring a more expansive, personal and meaningful approach to Antenuptial Contracts, Cohabitation Agreements and Wills through inter-disciplinary collaboration.

Rhiannon came to this work knowing from an early point in her career that she was different from other lawyers. Her willingness to do things differently led her to develop a compassionate and holistic approach  that serves clients meaningfully. 

Show notes

[2:25] Rhiannon relates how her decision to do things differently came from a childhood growing up in South Africa and realising that the system of apartheid was essentially a lie accepted by society.

[6:01] After struggling to fit in as a young law student and articled clerk, she shifted to academia and found it was yet another conformist system.

[8:46] From attending an empathy course for health science students, Rhiannon saw that skills of compassion and empathy could be taught, and learned. 

[11:23] When two friends with terminal illnesses separately approached Rhiannon to help draft their wills, Rhiannon realised that she wasn't equipped to have difficult conversations around dying and contacted a psychologist.

[15:50] Out of this was borne her new approach and her consultancy, Milkwood. Rhiannon works with mental health professionals and has developed an approach to really get to know her wills clients.

[18:18] Rhiannon has also developed a unique way of working with couples on antenuptial contracts, which involves working with a counsellor to delve into attitudes towards money and relationships.

[24:30] Rhiannon answers my question about what she would have thought as a demoralised law student if she could see the work she is doing now.

[27:06] Rhiannon talks about her introduction to the integrative law movement, where she immediately felt she had found her tribe.

[31:10] Rhiannon says she learns, grows and develops all the time, which is part of being an integrative lawyer.

[32:40] Rhiannon's vision is twofold - to continue to offer services to people that are based on integrative law principles and to inspire other lawyers to start changing their practice to benefit themselves and others.


For more information, please visit the episode page on the New Earth lawyer website;

I explain why the political and media portrayal of Melbourne worker protests as driven by thugs and extremists is contradicted by footage from those who were there.  These protests are occurring because people see no other outlet to stand up against infringements of their liberties.

Free and informed consent to medical treatment means no coercion. The introduction of employment mandates is coercion, pure and simple.

I express my support for peaceful protests against infringements of basic human rights.  A person who says they support individual liberties and human rights should not be selective about which protests and which human rights they choose to support.

Show notes

[0:28] I explain the lead-up to the workers' protests that occurred in Melbourne, Australia in September 2021.

[3:31] I show footage from the Real Rukshan of the protests in the city and the West Gate Bridge. 

[4:46] These are not thugs or extremists, they are ordinary people expressing their objection to the infringement of a basic human right - the right to consent to medical treatment.  Free and informed consent, meaning no coercion and full information about the risks.

[6:54] Only one politician in the State of Victoria understands what this is about i.e. basic human rights and free and informed consent. His name is David Limbrick MLC.

[8:12] We cannot be selective about which human rights and which human rights protests we support. The right to protest is in itself a fundamental human right that we should support, regardless of whether we agree with the position of those protesting.

For more. please visit the episode page of the New Earth lawyer website.

Bernie Hung is a lawyer and the founder and CEO of Blue Box Rocket. 

She has a unique approach to serving clients, combining her experience as an IP and technology lawyer, her business acumen from being Asia-Pacific in-house counsel to a top multinational luxury group and her executive coaching skills, backed up by well-regarded courses and certifications. 

We talk about how through her work she brings out the best in entrepreneurs and CEOs who are driven to make the world a better place.   

Show notes

[1:56] Bernie relates her journey from a lawyer in BigLaw to in-house counsel for Gucci in Asia, a hectic job which saw her managing all legal matters for the design house in multiple jurisdictions.

[6:20] Bernie found herself learning all she could about the business to become a more effective and efficient lawyer.

[8:59] Bernie now practises as an IP lawyer with a Hong Kong law firm but from her London base runs Blue Box Rocket which provides clients with an assimilated legal, business consulting and executive coaching service.

[12:08] Based on her experience as an in-house lawyer, Bernie provides her clients with a more holistic legal service and aims to understand them and their business comprehensively. 

[13:57] She began to find that she was dealing with clients, they were opening up to her about their mindset and their businesses.

[17:37] Bernie deals mainly with entrepreneurs and CEOs who are looking to take an idea from a seed to reality or to scale up or expand significantly.

[19:51] Bernie found no-one was combining the services of lawyer, business consultant and executive coach as she was.

[24:36] Bernie considers that a Rebel Lawyer is a lawyer who provides services in an unconventional way. who seeks to understand the client first as a person.

[29:54] Bernie tested her approach with those seeking to serve others, such as those in caring professions or those with innovative products.

[32:28] Bernie's idea is to create a Rebel Lawyer school that will teach her combined approach to other lawyers.

For more, please visit the episode page of the New Earth lawyer website.

I answer a recent question asked of me - what do I do if I am required to get vaccinated? 

I explain the legal considerations around vaccine mandates in Australia: government mandates; employment mandates and conditions for service imposed by businesses. 

Show notes:

[1:30] There are no general mandates issued in Australia requiring people to get vaccinated, without conditions. 

[1:57] Public health is an issue for State parliaments in our Federal system. At State and Territory level, public health legislation grants broad powers to senior health officials. 

[3:08] The Federal Parliament has passed a Biosecurity Act which gives the Federal Health Minister powers to act in a public health emergency. 

[4:33] Factors to consider as to the legality of a general mandate requiring vaccines include reasonableness,  acting within powers, and constitutionality. 

[5:53] When it comes to employment mandates, the main considerations are whether it's an inherent requirement of the job to be vaccinated, or whether it's a lawful and reasonable direction to be vaccinated, and whether the employee has a valid reason to refuse to be vaccinated. 

[9:06] There aren't any cases yet to go on that deal with COVID vaccinations although there are a handful of flu vaccination cases that offer guidance as to when dismissal of an employee who refuses to be vaccinated is going to be lawful. 

[9:50] Generally speaking, businesses may impose certain terms of service on their customers that may include vaccination. A person might be able to challenge that on the grounds of discrimination and this will depend on the reasonableness of the circumstances of refusal of service. 

[11:06] The real choice for us here is how we conduct ourselves in exercising choices and making decisions. Are we acting out of anger and fear, or with courage, trust and love? This particular issue can divide us if we let it when we should be choosing unity.

For more information, please visit the New Earth lawyer website.

Amar Dhall is a true polymath.  Over the last 15-years Amar’s career has evolved from being an award-winning university lecturer and obtaining a Ph.D. to exploring the intersection between law and quantum mechanics.

We talk about his research into the deeper, quantum implications of law and his more recent work in supporting lawyers to understand their trauma responses, to make them better lawyers.  

Show notes

[1:42] Amar explains his pre-law career in property development and management and what motivated him to study law.

[6:11] While studying law, Amar had a spiritual epiphany and ended up exploring the relationship between the law and quantum mechanics as part of his doctoral thesis in law.

[7:54] Amar theorises that applying quantum principles to law - getting to the essence of the observer and the thing observed - results in better legal reasoning.

[10:20] Keeping in mind the 'meta' issues around law will also lead to lawyers contributing more to society, allowing us to apply the law as the organising principle in society that it was intended to be.   

[15:49] Amar faced criticism and bullying in his work. However, his love for law kept him committed to exploring his perspectives and finishing his thesis.

[20:56] Amar and I discuss the personal relationship of a lawyer to the law.  Amar brings up the idea of aligning our laws with the laws of nature.  Amar's idea is that neo-natural law will develop as we begin to look beyond the materialist paradigm as a species. 

[25:16] Amar embarked on a career in therapy to assist lawyers to find more meaning in the way their relate to the law.

[26:54] Lawyers tend to be above average in IQ and below average in EQ, with a trauma response of using achievement to their channel anxiety.

[29:38] Part of Amar's motivation is to help younger cohorts of lawyers to manage their responses to engender an overall healthier legal profession.

[31:50] Amar and I talk about the law as a living sacred thing and how that brings concepts of love into it.

[34:44] Finally, Amar shares with us his work with groups of men in the Mankind Project and the idea of enantiodroma, that moving too far into a polarised concept results in adopting the opposite!

To learn more, please visit the episode page of the New Earth lawyer website.

In this episode, I explain what the Nuremberg Code is, its status as an important foundational code of ethics (it is not a law), its application to medical research and experimentation on human beings; and its current relevance.

I also explain the status of the fundamental human right to consent to receive medical treatment, as it applies in Australia.

Show Notes

[1:28] I explain that the Doctors' Trial was one of the Nuremberg Trials that occurred after World War II and was heard before  United States Military Tribunal.

[3:42] The Doctors' Trial resulted in the creation of the Nuremberg Code, which is a set of 10 ethical principles that concern human experimentation, so that nobody else would suffer what prisoners of war and civilians did at the hands of Nazi doctors.

[5:40] The Nuremberg Code is a vital human rights document but it is not a law and has not be adopted as a law in any country, in its entirety.

[6:27] The Nuremberg Code sets out ethics for medical experimentation on human beings, and not medical treatment in general.

[7:25] The Nuremberg Code is a historical document. Most ethics committees, doctors and scientists today refer to the Helsinki Declaration, which is updated and reviewed regularly, or in the US, the Common Rule.

[8:34] The principle of voluntary and informed consent which is a key contribution of the Nuremberg Code is a fundamental human right that applies to any form of medical treatment.

[9:20] Full and informed consent  is recognised as a human right in Australian human rights legislation in Queensland, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. These provisions are based on Art. 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

[11:01] The High Court of Australia has recognised the principle of informed consent to medical treatment in the case of Rogers v Whittaker which imposed a duty on doctors to procure such consent from patients.

For more information, please visit the episode page on the New Earth lawyer website.

This special episode introduces the integrative law movement.

The New Earth lawyer podcast features lawyers who are changing the practice of law to change the world.

Throughout my podcast, I have interviewed many lawyers who are part of what is known as the integrative law movement.

What is the integrative law movement? It's a global movement of lawyers who are motivated to change the world for the better.

In this video, I'll explain integrative law in more detail, how it came about, and where you can find integrative lawyers.

Show notes:

​[0:46] Kim Wright relates how the integrative law movement came about.

[2:28] Integrative lawyers are reflective. Chamundai Curran tells us about how she began reflecting on how her clients were unhappy even when they won their court cases.

[4:09] Integrative lawyers are values and purpose-based. Geraldine Johns-Putra explains how she found her purpose, by identifying her passion.

[5:39] Integrative lawyers are systems and design thinkers. Patrick Andrews began searching for the way to design a better system, as he pondered on why good people become collectively irresponsible and uncaring within the larger system.   

[6:34] Integrative lawyers are harbingers of evolutionary consciousness. Idara Bassey enlightens us on her doctorate in metaphysics when she studied the collective energy that manifests in corporations.

[8:40] Integrative lawyers can be found in family law - an example is Marguerite Picard who reflects on how lawyers need to understand their own conflict style and how they might contribute to conflict in interpersonal disputes.   

[10:16] Criminal law is another place where integrative lawyers can contribute. Kelly McGrath demonstrates the transformative power of restorative justice works through the story of a murder case with an unexpected outcome.

[12:56] In business law, corporations are undergoing change and integrative lawyers are at the forefront of new structures, as Patrick Andrews exemplifies.

[14:55] Integrative lawyers bring a different approach to legal disputes, often being able to help find resolutions, not just settlements for clients in conflict. Peter Lustig shows us how.

[16:28] Finally, Kim Wright explains how Conscious Contracts® work, by stepping us through the components of this relational values-based method to more effective contracting.

For more, please visit the episode page on the New Earth lawyer website.

I discuss Universal laws and how lawyers can align our Earth laws or human-made laws with Universal laws. Many of the lawyers I interview on my podcast are doing just that.  

As lawyers, we are learning to practise law so that we align with the Law of Oneness, Law of Correspondence, Law of Vibration, Law of Attraction,  Law of Intention, Law of Purpose and many more Universal Laws.

Show notes:

[0:29] Universal laws are principles or laws that apply universally. We are multi-dimensional beings awakening to our true selves. We are part of a vast and populated Universe. As we awaken to this, we will need to align our Earth laws to Universal laws.

[4:14] The main Universal law we need to understand is the Law of Oneness. This means our legal system will not need to be punitive, as we will understand that what we do to others, we do unto ourselves.

[7:07] The Universal Law of Correspondence states that as above, so below and as within, so without.  We will need to harmonise our laws with Universal laws so that we are in harmony with other timelines and dimensions.

[8:08] We live on a three-dimensional plane where our thoughts and actions have consequences. Therefore, although we should recognise the Law of Non-interference, we need to deal with transgressions of Earth laws.

[10:25] The Law of Attraction, which is related to the Law of Vibration, states that we attract into our lives those things that we vibrate on the same frequency as.  The Law of Intention is also related to this, because people can apply their intentions to move into a certain frequency and attract things of that frequency to them.

[12:52] To empower people to move in and out of situations so they can express themselves using the Laws of Attraction and Intention, our laws should deal compassionately with conflicts, whether they be personal or professional. We can have laws that are less rigid around contracts, employment, property and marriage.

[15:29] Laws that give people flexibility will also empower people to pursue their purpose and thus live in accordance with the Law of Purpose or Dharma.

[15:55] Finally, the Law of Perpetual Change which holds that things are constantly changing at a microscopic level requires that our laws are able to change and our law makers serve the collective so that they can be prepared to make changes for the greater good as concepts become obsolete.

For more please visit the episode page on the New Earth lawyer website.

Nicolle Kopping-Pavars is a family lawyer and fertility law expert based in Toronto, Canada.​ She is also a trained meditation and mindfulness teacher.

We talk about her professional and spiritual journey as she reinvented herself after moving from South Africa to Canada, how she developed her family and fertility law practice and how she is now a guide for her clients as they undergo transformations in their lives and their families.

We touch on the meaning of family, why it's so important to all of us, and how valuing and nurturing family is crucial so we can start to recognise and embrace the entire human race as one family.

Show notes

[1:57] Nicolle relates how she became interested in mindfulness, after finding she and many of her colleagues were unable to achieve 'work-life' balance and were suffering.

[6:18] Nicolle became aware of The Secret and the Law of Attraction, and began her personal self-development journey. However, she needed a more spiritual solution, so began training in Buddhist meditation.

[8:59] According to Nicolle, mindfulness stills the mind and gives us power over our responses so we can create more responsibly.

[11:12] In 2020, Nicolle rebranded her law practice to focus on transformation. She brings her whole self, her interest in crystals, oracle cards and spirituality in general, into her dealings with clients.   

[16:17] Being herself allows her to move past imposter syndrome and be authentic and unashamed of herself.

[17:46] Nicolle is clear about choosing the clients whom she acts for. Having requalified as a lawyer in Canada after moving from South Africa, she promised herself she would be true to herself. 

[21:37] Nicolle had always been interested in surrogacy and relates her personal experience being asked to act as a surrogate. From there, she was motivated to help as many families as possible to deal with fertility issues and start families of their own.

[27:59] We talk about the importance of family and why protecting the family as a unit is important for humans. It preserves community and helps children feel safe and at home wherever they are.

[32:32] As Nicolle says, divorce doesn't have to mean the end of family and children can feel like they have multiple homes.

[35:55] Nicolle discusses her plans for continuing to advocate for mental wellness for lawyers.

For more, please visit the episode page of the New Earth lawyer website.