Author: Joseph Craig

Some clients have complained about the current “standard legal education” mode, claiming that it leads to the production of less ethical graduates.

Thomas More Law School in North Sydney is one of the law schools that have reacted to the call-to-action. They released a statement through their deputy head – Dr Catherine Ranshaw.

The school has put plans underway to ensure that they take a unique approach towards offering a program that is quite different from the standard legal education program.

The Thomas More Law School recently appointed Dr Catherine Renshaw as the deputy head of the Law School. “In comparison to other law schools in the country, this school aims to take a new dimension in the legal education,” said Dr Catherine Ranshaw.

The deputy head was appointed at the Australian Catholic University. She said that ACU had the opportunity to build a law degree that was compatible with the modern society. The law program was first established in Melbourne in 2013 and Sydney in 2014.

She believes that there are certain attributes that every law student needs in order to fit in the 21^st Century. In addition, there are members of various professions that the school has employed to advise their students on the skills that they need to acquire.

It has been noted that many law graduates lack essential skills required in the legal profession. So, law schools should emphasize on improving the quality of legal education they offer their students.

Some of the areas that law graduates need to sharpen their skills include statutory interpretation skills.

Another area that law schools need to emphasize on is highlighting their students about the real market out there. They need to get out of their comfort zones and discover their true potential. For example, many law graduates enter into commercial law with the mindset that it’s all about solving a contract law problem or intellectual property problem. However, the fact is that commercial law entails a lot of things including taking flexible approaches putting in mind various law areas.

“Right now, we have identified the key areas that we need to harness in order to produce the best law graduates – who are ready to handle the current legal industry,” said Dr Renshaw.

She noted that they have put in place an effective program where their law students get involved with pro bono work for at least four weeks in the course of their undergraduate degree.

The system helps to provide students with hands-on legal experience while taking part in a range of non-governmental and governmental organisations.

“I can relate to this system and I know how effective it is because I was able to gather a wide range of skills while undergoing a mentoring program during my summer internship at Allens,” said Dr Renshaw.

Therefore, it is upon all Australian law schools to choose an effective system and one that they can customize in order to meet the modern legal needs.

The Internet is growing every day with new ventures unleashed every year. It’s a new year and as a norm, every year comes with new trends. The legal industry is getting digitised at a fast pace and very soon almost everything will rely on the internet.

Many firms have discovered the advantages of investing in internet marketing and that explains why they are ahead of their counterparts. With the new technology era, it is no longer easy to get clients through offline means. Many people are nowadays hanging out on social media platforms or blogs that help them figure out a way out of their problems.

Yes, everyone is obsessed with the internet and lawyers have been urged to tap into that gap in order to win more clients. Internet marketing for lawyers is one of the best methods to brand your firm and let the public know more about the services that you offer them.

As a lawyer, it’s upon you to discover new ways in which you can market your services even if it means taking the technology route. It is certain that lawyers will always continue to compete and thus the strongest will survive this competitive battle.

Experts have confirmed that 2017 will be all about technological advancement and new changes in the way people use the internet.

In fact, keeping up with the tight competition will get tougher for lawyers because it is no longer about writing lots of engaging and articulate content, having an active presence on social media, or having a law firm website. You need to be proactive in order to stand out among other lawyers.

New internet marketing methods are expected to expand in this New Year including user-focused content.

For example, lawyers can consider improving their reviews since they will be increasingly valuable this year. You can be assured of getting more clients if you have more positive online reviews. Always provide the best services to the best of your ability while ensuring that your clients get satisfied with your services.

Also, the visuals of your site speak a lot to your clients. It showcases how your firm looks like and clients can tell whether you are the right lawyer for them or not by simply going through your website. Ensure that you experiment with widgets, graphs, charts, and anything else that is visually appealing, useful and appropriate for your clients.

As a matter of fact, you can easily improve key metrics like actual conversions, views, bounce rate – as well as the amount of time on a page by making your pages more visually appealing.

On the other hand, you should focus on making your videos and blogs longer. However, you should be keen to ensure that the content is engaging and that it addresses the right audience. It has to meet the needs and expectations of your viewers and it should be entirely unique, valuable and original.

With the above tactics, you can be assured of taking your internet marketing to the next level and that means business will be good in the long run.

Simon Haddy and Tony Damian, who are partners at Herbert Smith Freehills M&A, have highlighted a few trends that will take place in the M&A market next year.

According to the duo, mixed activity levels will be the first trend expected to hit the market.

“As we approach 2017, you will note that the world economy gets more challenged with interesting factors, including politics and various businesses around the globe. For example, events such as the rise of minority parties around the globe, the Italian referendum and not forgetting the Trump presidency, has yet to bring some changes in the coming year,” they said.

They added that the key driver to what the New Year will look like depends on the role that the above events will have on an interconnected and globalised world economy.

“Yes, we expect mixed mergers and acquisitions activity levels in Australia, given that the world is facing political uncertainty and mixed economic activity levels around the world,” said the partners.

They also went ahead to mention that there will be good but not outstanding vintage due to some major deals throughout the year.

In comparison to the previous years, Chinese bidders will reduce their activities in the coming year due to recent changes of a reformed scrutiny on outbound acquisitions by Chinese companies.

Foreign investment will face renewed changes in almost all great nations, including Australia, which remains an awesome and friendly destination for Chinese and foreign investment.

“However, we are very certain and we expect North America to dominate Australian mergers and acquisitions market in the New Year,” said the partners.

This year, the Australian public mergers and acquisitions market received 40 per cent of deal value from North American bidders.

Also, North American bidders were involved in many significant private mergers and acquisitions processes.

Therefore, this shows that in the coming year, there will be continued focus in the Australian M&A market from Canadian and United States companies.

A common ground for the incoming Congressional Republicans and the new administration is business deregulation in the US.

Hence, the US and Canadian companies will soon gain confidence to continue executing mergers and acquisitions deals due to favourable developments on that front.

“Basically, the highest mergers and acquisitions deals in 2017 will be dominated by the mining and infrastructure sectors,” explained Mr. Haddy and Mr. Damian.

They also explained that the property industry might see some increase in mergers and acquisitions activity while the high levels of interest in the renewable energy industry will continue to prosper.

“We believe that the Australian mergers and acquisitions market will experience more consortium bids in 2017,” said the partners.

According to Mr. Haddy and Mr. Damian, some changes in bid conditions will be recorded as another trend in mergers and acquisitions transactions.

We expect various bidders to use “bear hug approaches” in exerting pressure on target boards because 2017 might see targets challenging excessively hostile bid conditions.

Yes, the pressure is real but you need to proceed with caution in order to smoothly sail through this season and achieve the most during your break from work.

Whether you are planning to fly out of the country to enjoy a serene environment or you’re simply planning a year-end break, the most important thing is to ensure that you put your work aside and enjoy your holiday peacefully.

At Aussie Lawyer Blog, we believe in the power of break and that at times we need to free our minds and get a break from work. And this is the right time to prepare accordingly for your Christmas holiday.

Here are some tips that will help you achieve the most during this festive season:

Make yourself feel at ease before closing down for the holiday

Given the pressure that comes with practicing, it’s important that you ease up before closing your last day at work. It is easy to get trapped into hitting the wall and smashing through once you stop working for a while, but you can still overcome that mad dash by staying composed and practicing mindfulness.

And in case you didn’t know, this is not the right time to skim over your work/life balance practices because it can put you in immediate conflict with your best-scheduled plans regarding friends and family.

Right now, what you need is the best stress reduction tactics and strategies – whether that’s simply sticking to your fitness program, mindfulness, pacing yourself, enjoying nice moments with family and friends, or whatever puts you in a relaxed state of mind.

Crash landing into the holiday season will cost you big time; hence it is advisable that you ease up whenever you feel full tilt.

Ask yourself what you want to accomplish during your time off

Leave your work at the workplace and put it in your mind that you are not working during the festive season. I mean, it’s a holiday and you need to recharge those personal resources in order to have a good break. Sometimes, you can find yourself under the pressure of wanting to work during the holiday.

You can turn things into your favour by letting events unfold around what your expectations are and what you intend to do during the break. You can find the best activity that the festive season brings you.

You need to ensure that things are going as planned by tracking your holiday progress and asking yourself some questions along the way.

Enjoy the current moment

Being mindful comes with a lot of benefits including being productive at home as much as you would do while still at work.

It is important that you focus on what you are currently doing, enjoying the moment and being in the moment.

Time away from work can be a great opportunity to learn the benefits that come with mindfulness.

Hope you have an awesome break from work to connect with your family and friends.

Last week, it was announced that Susan Kiefel AC (pictured) will take office as the 13^th Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, following the retirement of CJ Robert French AC in January 2017.

Early in her life, at the age of 15, the young Susan Kiefel chose to leave high school claiming that she wanted to be financially independent. At that time, women were being encouraged to pursue a career in either teaching or nursing.

Instead of pursuing a career in either of the two courses, she decided to work for a group of Queensland barristers as a secretary. Later, Susan declared that she wanted to be her own boss and that she would soon leave her job as a secretary.

That disciplined focus and self-determination that she had, was exactly what steered her to rise through the legal industry without even a single degree.

Susan decided to go back to school – she undertook her master’s degree in law at Cambridge and was the first female barrister in Queensland to take silk at the age of 33.

Susan Kiefel was then admitted to the bar where she set an outstanding reputation, in equity and commercial law.

Justice Kiefel acknowledged the importance of the court as an institution and would work to ensure its independence is upheld always. While issuing her statement, the eminent jurist said she was very delighted by the announcement of her appointment.

“Many aspects of the lives of Australians are influenced by the issues that come before the High Court. Just as it did at Federation, the High Court remains as relevant today to Australians,” said Justice Kiefel.

Thus, this report comes as history because Susan Kiefel has set a record as the first woman in Australia to hold such a high office in the legal industry.

“I believe the Chief Justice-in-waiting would be reluctant to discuss anything regarding her gender and the new office,” said the president of the Australian Law Reform Commission – Professor Rosalind Croucher AM. The ALRC president made the statement amid what has been widely described as a historic, landmark appointment.

Since 2003, Susan Kiefel worked as a part-time ALRC commissioner. Before her appointment to the High Court of Australia in 2007, Susan worked together with Professor Rosalind Croucher AM, at the ALRC.

Professor Croucher said that Susan understood herself and what she was after. She knew how to set her own goals and overcome the barriers along the way as a woman in the legal industry.

LCA President Stuart Clark AM also made his statement regarding Justice Kiefel’s appointment saying she has worked so hard to win her way into the nation’s highest judicial office.

Mr. Clark said that all the young people considering a career in law should emulate the footsteps of Justice Kiefel and that her success should serve as an inspiration to them.

James Edelman, Federal Court judge, will be appointed to the bench of the High Court the day after Justice Kiefel steps into her new office next year.