ByLawyers News and Updates

Criminal (Local Court) NSW

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Criminal (Local Court)

OCTOBER
  • Costs Agreements – Disputes section improved, fields for client and firm details added, trust account details added, solicitor’s lien added, execution clauses for individuals and corporations added and general formatting and grammatical improvements.
SEPTEMBER
  • Apprehended Violence Order
    • New commentary on applying for an AVO through the Local Court.
    • Example wording for application for APVO – new precedent providing example wording to support an application for an APVO.
JUNE
  • ALERT – The Bail Amendment Act 2015 will amend the Bail Act 2013 to make further provision for bail decisions. It has received assent however commencement is yet to be proclaimed.
  • ALERT – Apprehended Violence Order Commentary- The Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Amendment (National Domestic Violence Orders Recognition) Act 2016 has received assent however commencement is yet to be proclaimed. It will give effect to the NSW component of a national recognition scheme for domestic violence orders.
MAY
  • Providing a character reference information sheet – name change and re-write to ensure clear information.
  • New precedent – Declaration for foreign resident capital gains withholding payment purposes.
APRIL
  • File Cover Sheets for all publications have been completely re-formatted for a better look.
FEBRUARY 
  • Making life a little easier for practitioners – look out for Blank Deed, Agreement and Execution Clauses folder in the matter plan at the end of each Getting the Matter Underway.

Criminal Magistrates’ Court VIC

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Criminal Magistrates Court

OCTOBER 
  • Costs Agreements
    • Included reference to time limit for bringing costs assessment, total estimate of legal costs section with provision for variables, and authority to receive money into trust.
    • Disputes section improved, fields for client and firm details added, trust account details added, solicitor’s lien added, execution clauses for individuals and corporations added and general formatting and grammatical improvements.
SEPTEMBER 
  • Intervention Orders
    • Further information added on applying for intervention orders
    • New further information link to SmartSafe’s Legal Guide to Family Violence Intervention Orders
APRIL 
  • File Cover Sheets for all publications have been completely re-formatted for a better look.
  • Commentary added under Bail regarding The Bail Amendment Act 2016 which will commence on the 2nd May 2016.
FEBRUARY
  • Making life a little easier for practitioners – look out for Blank Deed, Agreement and Execution Clauses folder in the matter plan at the end of each Getting the Matter Underway.

Estates SA

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Estates

OCTOBER
  • Commentaries updated regarding deceased estates and foreign resident capital gains withholding payments.
  • Costs Agreements – Disputes section improved, fields for client and firm details added, trust account details added, solicitor’s lien added, execution clauses for individuals and corporations added and general formatting and grammatical improvements.
SEPTEMBER
  • Addition to commentaries regarding whether cause of death might give rise to any compensation or damages.
  • Update links to Cultural Gifts Program and Supreme Court Civil Rules 2006.
MAY
  • New Precedent – Initial letter to creditor confirming account.
  • Letters of Administration commentary – Update content re Right to a copy of the will and the inventory of assets. In line with change to Probate
  • Letters of Administration commentary – Update to Administrator commission content re Professional administrators.
APRIL
  • File Cover Sheets for all publications have been completely re-formatted for a better look.
  • Letters of Administration – New precedent added – Initial letter to beneficiaries in will annexed
  • Probate – New precedent added – Search request form for copy of will or grant
MARCH
  • Precedents updated to reflect changed probate legal fees:
  1. Retainer instructions – Estates
  2. Costs agreement – Probate
  3. Costs agreement – Letters of administration
  • From 28 February 2016 fixed fee replaced with sliding fee.
FEBRUARY
  • Making life a little easier for practitioners – look out for Blank Deed, Agreement and Execution Clauses folder in the matter plan at the end of each Getting the Matter Underway.

Estates NSW

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Estates

OCTOBER
  • Commentaries updated regarding deceased estates and foreign resident capital gains withholding payments.
  • Costs Agreements
    • Included reference to time limit for bringing costs assessment included total estimate of legal costs section with provision for variables and included authority to receive money into trust.
    • Disputes section improved, fields for client and firm details added, trust account details added, solicitor’s lien added, execution clauses for individuals and corporations added and general formatting and grammatical improvements.
SEPTEMBER
  • Addition to commentaries regarding whether cause of death might give rise to any compensation or damages.
MAY
  • New Precedent – Initial letter to creditor confirming account.
  • Letters of Administration Commentary – Update to Administrator commission content re Professional administrators.
APRIL
  • File Cover Sheets for all publications have been completely re-formatted for a better look.
MARCH
  • Review and enrich commentary including discussion on the keeping and passing of accounts, stamp duty liabilities, and interim distribution.
FEBRUARY
  • Making life a little easier for practitioners – look out for Blank Deed, Agreement and Execution Clauses folder in the matter plan at the end of each Getting the Matter Underway.

Estates QLD

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Estates

OCTOBER
  • Commentaries updated regarding deceased estates and foreign resident capital gains withholding payments.
  • Costs Agreements – Disputes section improved, fields for client and firm details added, trust account details added, solicitor’s lien added, execution clauses for individuals and corporations added and general formatting and grammatical improvements.
SEPTEMBER
  • Addition to commentaries regarding whether cause of death might give rise to any compensation or damages.
  • To do list – two new precedents summarising activities to be undertaken in a Probate or Administration matter.

MAY

  • New Precedent – Initial letter to administrator with duties when small estate and we are not acting
  • New Precedent – Initial letter to creditor confirming account
  • Letters of Administration Commentary – Update to Administrator commission content re Professional administrators.

APRIL

  • File Cover Sheets for all publications have been completely re-formatted for a better look.

FEBRUARY

  • Making life a little easier for practitioners – look out for Blank Deed, Agreement and Execution Clauses folder in the matter plan at the end of each Getting the Matter Underway.

Estates WA

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OCTOBER
  • Commentaries updated regarding deceased estates and foreign resident capital gains withholding payments.
  • Costs Agreements
    • added clause on scale of fees.
    • Disputes section improved, fields for client and firm details added, trust account details added, solicitor’s lien added, execution clauses for individuals and corporations added and general formatting and grammatical improvements.
SEPTEMBER
  • Addition to commentaries regarding whether cause of death might give rise to any compensation or damages.
  • Author update regarding caveats on grants for Letters of Administration.
  • New precedent – Example advertisement calling for claims on estate.
AUGUST
  • New Estates publication for Western Australia now available on By Lawyers!

Searching and browsing legal guides in LEAP

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Search for precedents & commentaries

The search is based on the name of precedents and commentaries. It won’t search the contents of precedents or commentaries.

  1. Open a matter.
  2. Make sure you’re on the Details & Correspondence tab.
  3. Click Guides & Precedents on the toolbar, then the Legal Guides tab, if it isn’t your default tab.
  4. Click Search on the toolbar to the right of the By Lawyers logo.
A search field displays below the toolbar.
  1. Select whether you’d like to search All By Lawyers information or just Precedents or Commentaries.
  2. Enter your search criteria in the Search field.
  3. Press Enter or click the search icon.

In the displayed search results use the navigational options to go to the next or previous result.

Browse for other guides

  1. Open a matter.
  2. Make sure you’re on the Details & Correspondence tab.
  3. Click Guides & Precedents on the toolbar, then the Legal Guides tab, if it isn’t your default tab.
  4. Click the down arrow next to the legal guides of the matter type for the open matter and select Browse more guides.
Browse precedents
  1. You’ll then be able to make more selections to search for other types of guides you’re interested in.
Browse options
  1. Select the appropriate state from the drop down.
  2. Enter your search criteria or expand the displayed list by clicking + in front of a matter type and the clicking on an option.
Your results are displayed.
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The philosophy shaping the By Lawyers approach

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By Lawyers have been providing content to the legal industry since 2004 and is now Australia’s leading library of legal guides and precedents, offering practical and professional guidance for all major areas of law.

The philosophy behind the legal guides is simple but revolutionary – to deliver information and guidance in a format that allows legal practitioners and support staff to run matters logically, from taking instructions through to finalising the matter.

Information is organised into specific areas of law such as wills, conveyancing, and family law. Each area of law is then broken down into detailed guides. So for family law there are five guides:

  • Children
  • Property settlement
  • Divorce
  • Financial agreements
  • 101 Family Law Answers

Each guide contains links to commentary and precedents, all laid out in a clear concise step-by-step approach for the conduct of each matter, from beginning to end. There are also ‘If required’ folders and ‘libraries of less common forms and precedents’ for those occasions where your matter does not follow the usual steps.

This structure, which is a very useful risk management tool, not only allows support staff to confidently conduct matters in areas they are perhaps unfamiliar with, but also allows for precise answers to be found quickly. Users have the freedom to access as much, or as little, guidance as is needed, with the ability to easily navigate to the commentary and/or precedents required.

This clear structure, combined with plain language practical content, kept up to date with legislative changes and the evolution of the common law, creates a one-stop resource essential to daily practice.

Creating a PDF of the By Lawyers contract for sale

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HOW TO

The days of printing, compiling and posting, or delivering, numerous contracts to agents are gone. Email is the preferred method and rather than sending it in several emails or a group of documents all in different file formats, its best to create a single secure PDF of the listing contract.

Once a buyer is found and the contract updated, a secure PDF of the contract of sale can be created and emailed to the purchaser’s solicitor.

Creating the single secure PDF is made simple by the LEAP function create combined PDF.

  1. Open the matter.
  2. Select the Contract pages, searches and any other documents required. To select multiple documents at once, click the first document then hold Ctrl to select the other documents.
  3. Right-click the highlighted documents and select Create Combined PDF.
  4. In the Create PDF window, rename the contract eg. Contract for Smith to Brown.
  5. Reorder the contract by using the up and down arrows to position it in the list. The order of the documents in this list is the order that they will appear in the compiled contract.
  6. Tick the Combine, Secure and/or Bookmark check boxes as appropriate for the compiled contract.
  7. Click Create PDF and the PDF contract will appear in your Correspondence List.

Emailing the document

To email the contract from the matter select it in the correspondence list, and any other documents required – click the first document then hold Ctrl to select any others.

Right-click the highlighted documents and select Email.

If you have already created a new email from the matter and then wish to attach the contract on the Message tab of the email, select Attach File on the LEAP Email toolbar. You’ll be able to attach documents in either the original format or convert them to PDF. As the contract is already a single PDF it can be attached in original format.

Ready to exchange? The By Lawyers contract anticipates exchange by email and sets out the agreed procedure in detail. Exchange is instantaneous. Each party has a complete PDF of the contract.

Using Retainer Instructions

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Good instructions = Good defence

Bad instructions = Bad defence

No instructions = No defence

A busy legal office sees many clients and takes many instructions throughout the working week. By Friday afternoon it is not easy to remember clearly the instructions taken at 9am Monday morning. That’s why it is so important to take clear concise instructions that can be used to run the matter or be passed on to a paralegal.

‘I have my trusty note pad’ many say, well not only is there the potential for notes to be piecemeal and perhaps mislaid, there is also no framework for the instructions, no reminders or tips about important information to collect or things to discuss.

Retainer Instructions are drafted and reviewed by practising lawyers and conveyancers to ensure they are collecting the necessary instructions, up to date and user friendly. Every matter plan has a retainer instruction precedent that is unique to that matter type, covering the basics, such as the client’s details through to the important facts of the matter and including helpful tips such as tax implications, duties concessions and grants.

Print them early

The retainer instructions are designed to be printed ahead of the initial meeting and are used to record the notes and instructions taken during the meeting. They follow a logical progression and provide prompts ensuring nothing is missed.

Your notes

Retainer instructions are designed to cover everything! But if you know the client, ‘still at the same address?’  there’s no need to fill in all the contact details – just record their names. Cross out anything which is irrelevant.  The important thing is that unlike a notepad a retainer instruction sheet clearly demonstrates the depth of the interview taken, and what was relevant and what wasn’t.

Keeping up to date

The retainer instructions have all the latest information at your fingertips. Scale fees for estate matters. Order of succession on intestacy. Stamp duty amounts for first home buyers. And so much more.

Support staff

In addition to ensuring that good instructions are taken, retainer instructions assist support staff to open the file. All the information they need is there, set out clearly. After opening the matter, they can easily follow any additional instructions noted in the to do list at the back of the retainer instructions.

I know all the questions already

Some practitioners might only use Retainer Instructions for unfamiliar or less commonly practised matter types. While they are very good for this purpose they are equally important in your most commonly practiced areas of law.

Many people know conveyancing backwards, but being familiar can lead to becoming complacent with instruction taking, which can lead to follow up calls to check things with the client. Not terribly professional.

Informal wills

The Will Retainer Instructions may be signed as an informal will if necessary for unwell clients or where there may be a significant time lapse between taking instructions and execution of the will.

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