ByLawyers News and Updates

Practice Management — Enhanced reference material — 101 Policy and Procedures

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Our reference guide — 101 Policy and Procedures has been enhanced.

This guide forms part of our Practice Management publication and provides a ready reference for all team members in a law firm about all aspects of the practice. A few excerpts:

Client service and communication standards

The firm strives to deliver the highest level of service and value to its clients. This means that team members are expected to be well mannered, engaged and responsive to phone calls, emails and other correspondence….

Cost disclosure and billing practices

In all matters, use the Retainer Instructions provided in the matter plan under Getting the Matter Underway and disclose costs in writing. Costs disclosure must be by way of a formal Costs Agreement where costs are likely to exceed $3000, or otherwise disclosed in the initial correspondence, as done for example in the precedent letters in the matter plan for conveyancing matters….

Supervision of practice and staff

The system adopted by the practice, if followed, will ensure that the practice is run efficiently and safely to the satisfaction of all participants. This simply involves adherence to all policies and procedures. …

Other topics covered include Asset register, Closing files, Email policy, Petty cash, Sexual harassment and Trust accounting.

Practice Management — New reference material — 101 Trusted and useful sites by area of law

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Here at By Lawyers we spend a lot of time researching and fact-checking, in all of the areas of law that our publications cover. Over time we have compiled a list of credible and helpful websites which we regularly use – and that list is now available to you, with the publication of our new reference tool — 101 Trusted and useful sites by area of law.

This handy resource brings together in one place hyperlinks to some of the most trusted and useful websites you might need, organised according to areas of law.

The new reference tool is located as a separate guide in the By Lawyers Practice Management publication.

By way of example, these are the Federal websites we have included for the Business & Franchise area of law:

FEDERAL

Business & Franchise
GST and Taxes – Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
Franchises

There are also sites under that subject heading for each state. There are subject headings for all of the areas of law covered by our publications.

As with all of our publications this resource will be regularly updated.

This ready reference tool is a convenient starting place for everyone in the firm seeking trusted information to assist clients in any area of on any practice.

EMPLOYMENT – Reference manual – 101 Employment Answers – Additions

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The By Lawyers Reference Manual – 101 Employment Answers has been updated.

New entries:

Notice and employment ended by abandonment

The question of when an employee can be said to have “abandoned” their employment can be a complex one. The recent Full Bench decision of the Fair Work Commission in Abandonment of Employment [2018] FWCFB 139 [21]–[22], provides excellent guidance.

Unfair dismissal – high income threshold

The high income threshold limits an employee’s eligibility for protection from unfair dismissal … currently $142,000. If an employee is not covered by a modern award, or an enterprise agreement does not apply to them, in order to be able to access the unfair dismissal jurisdiction, the employee must have an annual rate of earnings of less than the high income threshold.

Termination of an employee on a 186 visa

There is no condition on a 186 visa requiring either the employee or employer to maintain employment for the 2 year post visa approval employment period.

Employment Law – 101 Employment Answers – New reference manual

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We are excited to announce that we have significantly enhanced our Employment Law publication by the addition of a new reference manual – 101 Employment Answers.

Sourced from our Mentor service 101 Employment Answers is an extremely useful collection of questions and answers on all aspects of employment law, from various states, on various topics, dealing with the status, rights and obligations of employers, employees and contractors.

101 Employment Answers can be accessed directly from the Employment Law guide within LEAP or from the Employment Law page on the By Lawyers website.

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