lawyers weekly september 2, 2011

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Friday 2 September 2011

PRACTICE PROFILE

DODGING POLITICSAn immigration lawyer’s life

MAIN FEATURE

NOT SO BLACK & WHITECan lawyers handle the press?

DEFYING GRAVITYFind your niche and rise above the rest

IN-DEPTH

WHERE THERE’S A WILLLawyers go bush

THIS WEEK

YIN & YANGClutz makes money

but loses partners

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DOL182 ALW#549 FP InHouseALW FP 235x 297mmAugust 25, 2011 5:40 PM

Client approval: ______________

Studio approval: ______________

For a full list of active roles that Dolman is working onthroughout the worldwide visit www.dolman.com.au

Brisbane | Banking & FinanceSenior AssociateThis highly regarded banking team specialises in complex banking and fi nance transactions in the consumer, compliance and ecommerce areas of retail fi nance. The ideal candidate will be currently working at a senior level within either a top tier or a highly regarded mid-tier fi rm. It’s important to be commercially focused, possess excellent interpersonal skills for client relationship management and capable of mentoring junior solicitors. Ref: BRI/4446/RL

Brisbane | Commercial Litigation4 – 6 years This top-tier law fi rm are in search of a motivated commercial litigator to join its highly regarded team. You will be advising on a diverse range of contentious and often high profi le matters for some of Australian’s prominent corporations and high net worth individuals. Solid academics, fi rst rate drafting skills and an outstanding commitment to client service is essential. Ref: BRI/4447/OH

Perth | Corporate/Commercial3 years +An opportunity for a commercially savvy corporation/commercial lawyer to move across into a leading law fi rm is now available. Advise domestic and international blue chip clients on major projects, acquisitions and joint ventures. You will be offered mentorship by industry leaders and actively involved in the continued growth of this practice group. Genuine career progression on offer with a competitive salary package. Ref: PER/4448/OH

Sydney | Employment3 – 4 yearsBuild a successful career as a workplace relations lawyer providing expert advice to a broad client base of both private and public sector employers. Sound knowledge of the OH&S laws and experience drafting pleadings, briefi ng counsel, preparation of other court related documents and experience with executive benefi ts and corporate arrangements would be a defi nite advantage. Apply now to be considered for this challenging and interesting role. Ref: SYD/3960/GG

Sydney | Corporate/Commercial4 – 7 yearsThis well respected mid-tier Australian fi rm seeks an experienced lawyer to join their collegiate and supportive team. You will possess excellent drafting skills and have previous experience working on shareholders’ documents, sales and purchases, joint ventures and commercial contracts. You must have full knowledge of the Corporations Act and have the ability to assist with the business development of the practice and mentor junior lawyers. Ref: SYD/4426/GG

Sydney | Banking & Finance 2 years +Premier mid-tier fi rm has an exciting new opening for an energetic and enthusiastic junior lawyer to join this expanding, collegiate and friendly team. Receive top-class mentoring from a leader in this practice area and gain experience working on high calibre matters including a range of general corporate fi nance, acquisition and leveraged fi nance, project fi nance and private equity. Great career opportunity and competitive salary on offer. Ref: SYD/4439/GG

Sydney | Insolvency & Restructuring2 – 4 yearsOur client is tier one fi rm with unparalleled expertise in Restructuring and Insolvency. The team has worked on most of the major insolvencies and corporate collapses in Australia over the past decade. The role will involve contentious and non-contentious insolvency matters including distressed investing, debt trading fi nancial restructuring, distressed M&A, creditor’s schemes of arrangements and large scale administrations and winding up actions including cross boarder matters. Ref: SYD/4366/AM

Sydney | Corporate Financial ServicesSenior Associate Excellent opportunity to work with highly regarded partners in the areas of corporate, funds and fi nancial services. You will be involved in corporate transactions, product structuring, ASX listings, fund raisings, the investment and divestment process and establishing offshore products. You will be acting for blue chip clients including major household names in the fi nancial services industry. Excellent career prospects and competitive remuneration package on offer. Ref: SYD/4213/AM

Sydney | Corporate M&A 2 – 3 yearsThis expanding top-tier fi rm has a new opportunity for a 2-3 year level lawyer to join their highly regarded Corporate M&A group. You will gain fi rst class experience working on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, capital raisings, corporate fi nance transactions, private equity, ECM and corporate restructurings for both private and public corporations. Competitive salary and bonus structure together with secondment opportunities available both in-house and overseas. Ref: SYD/4325/AM

Private Practice

Financial Services/Marketing4 – 7 yearsExciting and rare opportunity for a dynamic fi nancial services lawyer to undertake a varied role within this major fi nancial institution. This key role involves working across several business units/products with a focus on strategic advice to the marketing division. Strong FS experience from a major fi rm (preferably superannuation and/or funds) required along with a dynamic personality, strong communication skills and strategic approach. Ref: SYD/4402/DS

Construction Lawyer6 years +This leading global infrastructure company is seeking a senior construction lawyer for a 12 month contract role. The role could be based in either Melbourne or Sydney and will involve managing a team of lawyers, engineers and programmes on a high profi le dispute. A minimum of 6 years construction litigation experience in a management position is essential. Great role with a world renowned fi rm. Ref: SYD/4427/OH

Construction & Projects10 years +This is a key role for a senior lawyer to take a lead role on this major, globally recognised project. High level construction/projects experience required to incorporate front and back-end construction & projects work as well as broader commercial matters, preferably working with or in the resources industry. Major fi rm background and the ability to work autonomously are required along with a strong commercial appreciation. Ref: PER/4425/DS

InternationalLondon | Construction5 – 7 yearsLondon fi rm is searching for a strong front end construction lawyer with experience gained from a top tier or highly regarded mid tier law fi rm. The London practice includes advising clients on major projects within the infrastructure, energy, oil and gas and real estate development sectors. The partners are looking for someone with the aptitude and ability to move into international work. Ref: LON/4434/RL

Tokyo | Commercial Property 2 – 4 yearsThis role with an international fi rm will advise international corporates, developers, lenders and investors on real estate fi nancings involving property acquisitions and restructurings. Strong drafting and analytical skills are important. The ability to speak business level Japanese is helpful but is not a requirement. However, Japanese speakers will have the opportunity to participate in client meetings and negotiations. Ref: TOK/4435/RL

Singapore | Banking & FinanceMid LevelWork with leading global and Asian lenders and corporates across the full range of banking and project work advising on highly structured tax and trade fi nancings, acquisition, leveraged and project fi nancings. Advise on the development of Greenfi eld projects in the energy and infrastructure sectors including public-private fi nance initiatives. Ideal candidate has strong banking background with experience of project work either from a fi nance or developer perspective. Ref: SIN/4445/RL

In-houseSydney | Transport Infrastructure5 – 8 years +This leading corporation owns and operates key transport infrastructure in NSW. Due to expansion they are seeking an additional commercial lawyer, preferably with some experience in either construction or transport law. Working closely with a diverse range of internal stakeholders you will deliver a broad range of legal services to the business. Collegiate team and dynamic, open organisational culture with a strong environmental and community focus. Ref: SYD/4430/DS

Sydney | Corporate/Commercial4 – 8 yearsThis highly recognised global corporate has a new role for a commercial lawyer to join on a long-term contract basis (minimum 12 months). There is a broad range of work on offer including corporate advice, company secretarial, commercial contracts, TPA etc. You will be working as part of a cohesive team with plenty of support and close business alignment. Ref: SYD/4444/DS

Sydney | Life Insurance6 years +Key senior appointment within the highly regarded legal team of this renowned fi nancial services and life insurance giant. A dynamic life insurance specialist is required with the ability to provide high-level legal advice on new products & legislation (including Life Insurance Act, Corps Act Ch 7 etc) as well as to contribute to the strategic direction of the division. Top-tier law fi rm and/or in-house experience in the industry required. Ref: SYD/4405/DS

Sydney In-house Melbourne In-house Perth In-house

For further information please contact one of our consultants for a confi dential discussion: Ralph Laughton, Daniel Stirling, Alex McIntyre, Olivia Harvey and Gail Greener.Sydney (02) 9231 3022 Melbourne (03) 8637 7317 or email [email protected]

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“Once I started my own practice, everything completely changed, because I could redefine what law meant for me, how I wanted to run the practice and the areas that I wanted to go into” Marcel Vaarzon-Morel, Vaarzon-Morel Solicitors, Newcastle – see page 18

Blake Dawson has one of Australia’s leading Restructuring and Insolvency practices. In addition to having worked on most of the major insolvency and corporate collapses in Australia over the past 10 years, the practice received multiple tier one rankings from independent surveys in 2010-2011.

An exciting opportunity exists for a lawyer with 4-7 years post-admission experience to join the Sydney team, which consists of 5 Partners and 18 lawyers.

The role will be to provide banking, restructuring and insolvency advice across a number of expertise areas. The work will include security reviews, restructurings (bank and debtor side), bank enforcement and formal insolvency work as well as exposure to the distressed investing and debt trading market.

To discuss this role in complete confidence, please contact Matt Harris at Taylor Root on 02 9236 9000 or email him at [email protected]

Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyer

6 THIS WEEK: A round-up of the latest legal news

10 IN-DEPTH: Thexxxxx

12 IN-DEPTH: Haxxxx

24 MY NEXT MOVE: Wxxxx?

26 FOLKLAW: The lighter side of the law

Features

16 Sub-FEATurE: In thxxxx

18 COVEr STOrY: In thxxxx

18COVEr STOrY: When it comes to a career in law, it doesn’t have to be about big firms, billable hours and boredom. Claire Chaffey discovers four innovative legal professionals getting paid to do what they love

Contents 6 THIS WEEK: A round-up of the latest legal news

10 IN-DEPTH: The Arts Law Centre of Australia has been assisting Indigenous artists with the drafting of wills, ensuring a portion of future earnings can remain within families and local communities. Justin Whealing talks to the Centre’s senior solicitor, Delwyn Everard

12 IN-DEPTH: With the structure of markets rapidly changing and the speed of trade accelerating, the Australian Stock Exchange could learn a lesson from global law firms. Stephanie Quine reports

14 PrACTICE PrOFILE: The issue of immigration in Australia is a highly controversial topic which dominates Australia’s political landscape. Stephanie Quine asks immigration lawyers how they navigate the evolving maze of law and policy

16 MEDIA FEATurE: Building and protecting brand and reputation is repeatedly earmarked as the key to business development and success. As briana Everett finds out, positive engagement with the media is a pivotal component

24 CArEErS: Employees feel the need to work overtime on a regular basis to get ahead in their careers, according to a new career progression survey

26 FOLKLAW: The lighter side of the law

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4 L AW Y E R S W E E K LY 2 S E P T E M B E R 2 011 www.lawyersweekly.com.au

Editor’sNoteIF ONE of the keys to happiness is working out how to get paid to do what you love, then the lawyers featured in our cover story this week (see page 18) are living the good life.

In an illuminating piece on boutique law fi rms practising in what can only be considered extremely unique areas of the legal profession, deputy editor Claire Chaffey spoke to four lawyers practising in the fi elds of social media law, marine law, millinery law, agribusiness law, wine law, space law and aviation law.

Even though these lawyers practice in a diverse range of areas, what unites them all is that they love what they do.

Newcastle lawyer Marcel Vaarzon-Morel, who specialises in marine, maritime, millinery and wine law, said it was his desire to get away from the homogenous and often suffocating culture of big law fi rms that led him to branch out into different areas of the law.

“I saw what it was like to be in a large fi rm,” he said. “I was there for a year and I found out that I had been one of the people who had actually lasted a reasonably long period of time … It was purely debt recovery work and was incredibly boring. It was very diffi cult to remain engaged with the work.”

Vaarzon-Morel’s words describe the situation facing many lawyers in large private practice fi rms today.

While it is not true or fair to categorise all “large law” work as being mundane, it is certainly the case for many lawyers that they see their job as being one that involves long hours, little variety and not much fun.

In May, a Robert Walters survey of 150 private practice and in-house lawyers throughout Australia found that the leading three reasons that made people happy at work were the type of work they do (27 per cent), working for an organisation with a good culture (24 per cent) and the people they work with (17 per cent).

All of these responses trumped money.In the ongoing battle confronting the legal profession to

devise appropriate workplace policies to combat mental illness, providing its members, particularly young lawyers, with the opportunity to act on meaningful work in an environment conducive to creativity and collaboration should be at its forefront.

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Have your say Do you have something you’d like to share? Send an email to [email protected] or phone (02) 9422 2875. Alternatively, go to www.lawyersweekly.com.au and make a comment online.

TOP 10 STORIES ONLINE THIS WEEK

1 You are what you tweet 2 Skype gives clerks top-tier insight 3 Norton Rose poaches Clayton Utz trio 4 Lawyer shortage prompts visa changes 5 Facebook a new source for lawyers 6 Clayton Utz posts revenue turnaround 7 Allens descends on land of Ghengis Khan 8 Lawyer asks witness’s son to take a fall 9 Singapore: The next Asian hub for Australian law fi rms10 Four fi rms advise on MYOB sale

NEXT WEEKAs the latest Australian Graduate Survey reveals the added value of postgraduate study and the dividends it pays in an uncertain market, Lawyers Weekly uncovers postgraduate trends and how lawyers can advance their careers.

E D I T O R I A L B O A R D Lawyers Weekly is delighted to have the following

industry leaders on its editorial board

A B O U T U S Editor: Justin Whealing

Deputy Editor: Claire ChaffeySenior Journalist: Briana Everett

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Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the express written permission of the publisher. Contributions are invited, but copies of all work should be kept, as Lawyers Weekly can accept no responsibility for loss. Lawyers Weekly and LexisNexis are divisions of Reed International Books Australia Pty Limited, ACN 001 002 357 Level 1 Tower 2, 475 Victoria Ave, Chatswood NSW 2067 tel (02) 9422 2203 fax (02) 9422 2946 ISSN 1833-5209 Important Privacy Notice: You have both a right of access to the personal information we hold about you and to ask us to correct if it is inaccurate or out of date. Please direct any queries to: The Privacy Offi cer, LexisNexis Australia or email [email protected]. © 2010 Reed International Books Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 70 001 002 357) trading as LexisNexis. LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., and used under licence.

Nick Abrahams Partner,

Norton Rose

Helen McKenzie Deputy

managing partner,

Blake Dawson

Sharon Cook Managing

partner, Henry Davis York

David CowlingPartner,

Clayton Utz

Ewen Crouch Chairman of

partners, Allens Arthur Robinson

Sue GilchristPartner and

practice leader (intellectual

property group), Freehills

Andrew GrechManaging director, Slater & Gordon

Will IrvingGroup general counsel, Telstra Corporation

Joe CatanzaritiPartner, Clayton Utz

Robert MillinerChief executive partner, Mallesons Stephen Jaques

Megan PittDirector, Australian Government Solicitor

Lucinda SmithPartner, Thomsons Lawyers

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

Editor, Justin Whealing

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MAKE A POWERFULCAREER MOVESPEAK TO THE EXPERTS

hays.com.au

Senior Associate - Commercial Property. Sydney.

This boutique practice in Sydney provide services to both high net worth individuals and local government entities across the full spectrum of property, planning, development and environmental matters. They require an experienced property lawyer with over 7 years PAE to support a Partner whose portfolio is of a quality that is rarely found in a practice of this size.

You’ll need to be comfortable working autonomously but embrace working under the guidance of a Partner who has worked tirelessly to build up their impressive client base. In return for your hard work, you’ll have the opportunity to work with a highly experienced team, enjoy a good quality caseload and a healthy work / life balance. Contact Craig Poole at [email protected] or 02 8226 9753.

Legal Counsel - Telecommunications. Sydney.

This leading international telecommunications infrastructure company is actively involved in some of the most interesting projects this sector has seen in recent years. A junior to mid level lawyer with over 2 years PAE is required to undertake a mix of general commercial and property related work under the close supervision of the General Counsel in a 12 month contract.

Working for an international company, you’ll have exposure to work that will enhance both your legal experience and business acumen. This could be an ideal first move in-house and part time working arrangements could potentially be available. Contact Craig Poole at [email protected] or 02 8226 9753.

Legal Officer - Mortgage Services.Sydney.

One of Australia’s most accomplished investment and trustee groups have an enviable heritage and background that instils confidence and loyalty from their impressive list of clients.

As a legal officer with over 4 years experience, you’ll prepare loan and security documentation and settle commercial transactions on behalf of key corporate clients interstate.

This is an exciting opportunity to work in-house for a market leader that will reward you with a competitive salary and ongoing career progression. Contact Mhairi Morrison at [email protected] or 02 8226 9664. Banking and Finance Lawyer. Melbourne.

This firm services blue chip organisations and large financial institutions in the banking sector. They’re looking for two lawyers to join their rapidly expanding practice and deal with work relating to recent changes in legislation and banking practices.

Success will be achieved with your 2 or more years PAE in banking and finance law and your desire to further your career.

Contact Renee Turner at [email protected] or 03 9604 9669.

Intermediate Construction Lawyer. Brisbane.

A leading national practice with an enviable list of clients across the construction/ infrastructure sector is expanding to further reinforce their market position. They need a lawyer with over 4 years PAE to join the construction and infrastructure team who are known as one of the most prestigious multi-partner groups in town.

You’ll be provided with the highest quality of work for a premium selection of household name clients and as such, you may have front or back end experience or a combination of the two from a recognised practice or organisation. An excellent salary package, training and resources are on offer. Contact Shane Badman at [email protected] or 07 3243 3033.

Senior Legal Counsel - Banking & Finance. Perth.

This national brand leader holds a substantial and expanding share in the Australian financial services sector. A senior banking and finance lawyer is required to support this cohesive and forward thinking in-house legal team.

You’ll take an active lead on major financing transactions from the very early stages and will draft and review all lending documentation as required.

Key to your success in this role will be your ability to build key relationships with senior management and bankers throughout the business as you advise on a range of legal issues. A minimum of 5-7 years PAE exposure to corporate, resources and project finance transactions, gained with a top-tier banking and finance team or in a similar in-house role is required. Contact Stacey Back at [email protected] or 08 9254 4598.

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thisweek

No progress since TampaDespite 10 years passing since the Australian Government

refused to allow the Tampa and its asylum seekers to land in Australia, there has been little progress in terms of achieving access to justice for asylum seekers. The manager of the Victorian Bar Pro Bono Scheme, Melanie Dye, noted the lack of change that has occurred since the incident in 2001. “We seem to be in a very similar situation that we were in 10 years ago,” said Dye. “We’re continuing to focus on the actual asylum seekers rather than the actual policies and also our international obligations under various conventions and protocols.”

Small states delay national reformsConcerns over the necessity of the new national

reforms as well as increased costs for Australia’s smaller states and territories have stalled the finalisation of the national legal profession reforms. Law Society of Tasmania president Bill Griffiths said the smaller states and territories have for some time had doubts about whether the reforms would have any real benefit for them. “The view of the smaller states and of many other people is that there is not much to do to finalise any outstanding requirements, in addition to that legislation, in order to have a national profession,” he said.

New course for community lawyersLawyers at community legal centres (CLCs)

will now be able to take part in a practice management course designed especially for them. The College of Law has announced a three-day practice management course to be run for CLC lawyers in September this year. It is the only course of its type offered by a higher legal education provider. The course was developed in response to feedback from CLC lawyers that existing legal practice management courses lacked community-based content relevant to CLCs.

Clayton Utz has increased its revenue after suffering an almost 10 per cent drop in earnings previously.

the firm earned $445 million in revenue for the 2010-11 financial year, topping the $442 million pulled in during the 2009-10 financial year, an increase of 0.68 per cent.

Despite the small growth margin, the 2010-11 revenue figure represents a change in fortune for the firm, given that the 2009-10 revenue earnings represented a drop of 9.7 per cent on the previous year.

“We were extremely pleased,” said chief executive partner Darryl McDonough when talking to Lawyers Weekly. “they are very tough market conditions and I think we did very, very well.”

McDonough said the best performing practice groups were construction and major projects and environment and planning, which achieved double-digit growth.

He also said the firm’s commercial litigation and government practices performed well.

Clayton Utz’s Sydney practice recently relocated to new six-star premises but McDonough is adamant that this had no impact on the firm’s bottom line.

“We plan for those sorts of investments, and that was an investment by us from a sustainability point of view,” he said.

the firm also revealed its total number of equity partners had increased by 17 to 170, while the number of female partners remained the same at 37 from a pool of 203.

The Web

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RE W IND

Clutz posts revenue turnaround

ACCC chairman Rod Sims has promised the watchdog is going to get tougher and take on more cases following its loss against Metcash in the Federal Court last week [see page 8]. Speaking at a workshop run by the Law Council of Australia last weekend, Sims warned the audience the ACCC will be strategic and hold offenders to account.

Australia’s largest rail freight haulage business, QR National, posted a full-year net profit of $350 million, compared to a loss of $222 million in the same period last year. The company said it expects growth from resources and bulk commodities in 2012 and expects to spend $1.6 billion on capital expenditure projects in the next year.

Traces of the carcinogenic chemicals benzene, toluene and xylene have been detected in five of 14 bores at Arrow Energy’s Topton West and Daandine gas fields, approximately 25 kilometres from Dalby.

New data has revealed a poor outlook for the already struggling Australian manufacturing sector. According to data released by Dun & Bradstreet, the sector has seen a substantial rise in business failures and a significant fall in start-up companies.

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thisweek


Freehills and Mallesons Stephen Jaques are advising on a $750 million hybrid offer which has its origins in the global financial crisis.

ANZ has lodged a prospectus with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and the ASX for an offer of convertible preference shares (CPS3) ahead of the implementation of new global bank rules.

Investors claim the bank is testing the market for different securities and its appetite for hybrids, as well as trying to tap investors ahead of its competitors.

The offer is expected to open on 31 August and forms part of ANZ’s capital management strategy to ensure flexibility in times of financial hardship.

The first public offer of Tier 1 Securities by an Australian bank since the announcement of Basel III capital reforms, ANZ’s offer (lodged 23 August) aims to strengthen its capital position and provide defensive investment options for investors.

Mallesons partners Ian Paterson and Jonathan Hamer advised ANZ in the transaction, which is the first to contain features needed to meet the latest regulatory requirements that apply to banks under Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) policy.

Freehills is advising the lead managers of the offer - ANZ Securities, CBA, Goldman Sachs, Macquarie Capital, RBS and UBS.

Freehills partner jumps ship to a&OTony Sparks has left Freehills to join Allen &

Overy’s corporate practice in Sydney, bringing the A&O Australian partnership to 22. Sparks has been a partner at Freehills since 2006, prior to which he worked at Linklaters in Lon-don and Tokyo. Sparks said it was the globalisation of legal services which drove him to make the move.

Hynes poaches from mallesons Hynes lawyers has recruited senior IT/IP lawyer Carly

Richardson as a senior associate. Formerly a senior associate at Mallesons Stephen Jaques, Richardson has commercial IT and IP experience, including in IP litigation and trade mark enforcement.

advent boosts executive teamAdvent Lawyers has appointed former Taylor Root associate

director Neil Williams to the firm’s regional executive team. Advent CEO John Knox said Williams’ 14 years experience in legal recruit-ment, business development and client relationship roles gives him a unique understanding of what clients want.

Norton rose poaches Clutz trioNorton Rose has raided the partner ranks of

Clayton Utz, taking three partners, including a practice group head. Clutz financial services group head and investment funds group co-head John Moutsopoulos is departing, along with senior tax partner Paul Humphreys and financial services partner Zein El Hassan. Tessa Hoser [pictured], the general counsel at Export Finance and Insurance Corporation and a former partner with Freehills, will also join Norton Rose in Sydney.

ANZ launches convertible preference share (CPS3) offer ahead of new global bank rules Key players: Freehills, Mallesons Stephen Jaques

Movers &

Shakers

DE A L OF THE W EEK

DE A L M A K ERS

Freehills and mallesons advise on big bank offer

“It was great to be involved in the transaction, which is the first bank hybrid issue in the changing regulatory landscape,” said partner Philippa Stone, who led the Freehills team which included Amy Goble, Carl Hornigold and Rob Finlay.

A number of offers are open to Australian residents, holders of ANZ ordinary shares or CPS1 and CPS2 shares, clients of syndicate brokers and investors invited by ANZ Securities.

CPS3 shares issued by ANZ will convert into ANZ ordinary shares on 1 September 2019 unless they are exchanged earlier.

Lynda Tully Tom Story Simon Rear

Firm Freehills (Bandanna Energy), Mallesons (UBS)

Allens Arthur Robinson (Archer Capital-led consortium), Ropes & Gray, Clayton Utz and Corrs Chambers Westgarth (Bain Capital)

Allion Legal (Adamus Resources), Allens Arthur Robinson (Endeavour Mining Corporation)

Deal name Capital raising to assist key coal projects

MYOB sold to Bain Capital Merger to create new West African gold producer

Area Corporate Private equity M&A

Value $133 million Undisclosed $600 million

Key players Freehills’ Lynda Tully Allens’ Tom Story Allion’s Simon Rear

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thisweek

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Parramatta-based federal magistrate Joe Harman, believed to be mentally ill, has been suspended following criticism of his decisions in two family property disputes.

the magistrate’s suspension comes after New south Wales magistrates brian maloney and Jennifer betts, who also suffer from mental illness, were forced to plead to Parliament in June this year to retain their status as magistrates, following complaints of their conduct in court.

as reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, Harman supposedly convicted and sentenced a man - who was being questioned about the whereabouts of a large sum of cash - for contempt of court after being dissatisfied with his answers. the man allegedly had dementia and spoke via an interpreter.

Harman reportedly said to the interpreter: “I want [him] to tell me where the $200,050 is and, if he either refuses to tell me or genuinely no longer has the money, he starts a jail sentence today”.

On appeal of that decision, Chief Justice of the Family Court diana bryant found that Harman had failed to follow proper procedure to convict or imprison the man.

In another decision, Harman was reportedly criticised for dismissing an application to disqualify him from hearing a case in which

lawyer shortage prompts visa changes

metcash win a victory for Freehills

Mentally ill magistrate suspended

Freehills has successfully advised Metcash in a Federal Court judgment that gives the company the green light to proceed with its $215 million bid for Franklins.

On 25 August Federal Court Justice Arthur Emmett rejected the ACCC argument that this deal would lessen competition. Justice Emmett found that rather than reducing competition, such a deal would in fact enhance competition as it would give independent retailers greater ability to compete with major supermarket chains such as Woolworths and Coles.

Metcash is Australia’s largest grocery wholesaler, with its clients including IGA supermarkets.

In arguing that Metcash’s proposal to take over the 80 Franklins stores in New South Wales would lessen competition, the ACCC failed to include Woolworths or Coles as competitors. The regulator mounted an argument that concentrated on the wholesale, rather than retail, supply of packaged groceries.

Justice Emmett also refuted the suggestion by the ACCC that a credible and reputable alternative buyer to Metcash would come forward to purchase Franklins.

Freehills commercial litigation partner Grant Marjoribanks (pictured) and competition partner Michael Gray led the firm’s team. Barristers Justin Gleeson SC, Peter Brereton SC and Declan Roche were also engaged by Metcash.

The ACCC used barristers Norman O’Bryan SC and John Halley SC, and were instructed by Matthew Blunn, national group leader, dispute resolution, with the Australian Government Solicitor.

Pick N Pay, the South African company that owns Franklins, engaged Blake Dawson partner and competition and consumer protection team head Peter Armitage. Barristers John Griffiths SC and Cameron Moore also advised Pick N Pay.

Despite its loss before a single judge of the Federal Court, Mallesons Stephen Jaques competition law and regulatory partner Sharon Henrick defended the right of the ACCC to bring such action.“People should be slow to criticise the ACCC for bringing cases that it loses,” she said. “I think a very important part of the Commission’s remit is to test what the boundaries are, and that means it will occasionally lose cases.”The ACCC said it was “disappointed” by the decision.

a lawyer, whose relationship with Harman had reportedly suffered an “extremely hostile” breakdown, appeared.

although Harman transferred the case to another magistrate, the Family Court found that proceedings had been “most irregular” and that procedural fairness rules had been “clearly breached”.

the Federal magistrates Court confirmed with SMH in a statement that Harman had agreed to be restricted to “non-sitting duties” for one month and would undertake “judicial education and counselling”.

Visa restrictions for international law graduates are set to be relaxed following the intervention of Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

During the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting last month, Bligh secured support for three-year working visas for international graduates in areas of skills shortages. She led the states and territories in asking the Commonwealth to evaluate this idea

to stop the slide in international student numbers.“Australia is on the cusp of a resources boom

and we are facing a looming skills crisis,” said Bligh.

“We shouldn’t be discouraging young, enthusiastic workers who are keen to fill these roles ... but the 2009 changes to arrangements for student visas have been really hurting this market. It was imperative that we act, and act decisively.”

Bligh said the resources sector alone would generate 38,000 jobs over the next few years and as such there would be unprecedented opportunities for graduates in key disciplines such as law, engineering, environmental science, metallurgy, hospitality, accounting and management.

The Commonwealth has committed to releasing the Knight Review of the student visa program and to work with the states and territories to develop a response by October.

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thisweek


Parramatta-based federal magistrate Joe Harman, believed to be mentally ill, has been suspended following criticism of his decisions in two family property disputes.

the magistrate’s suspension comes after New south Wales magistrates brian maloney and Jennifer betts, who also suffer from mental illness, were forced to plead to Parliament in June this year to retain their status as magistrates, following complaints of their conduct in court.

as reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, Harman supposedly convicted and sentenced a man - who was being questioned about the whereabouts of a large sum of cash - for contempt of court after being dissatisfied with his answers. the man allegedly had dementia and spoke via an interpreter.

Harman reportedly said to the interpreter: “I want [him] to tell me where the $200,050 is and, if he either refuses to tell me or genuinely no longer has the money, he starts a jail sentence today”.

On appeal of that decision, Chief Justice of the Family Court diana bryant found that Harman had failed to follow proper procedure to convict or imprison the man.

In another decision, Harman was reportedly criticised for dismissing an application to disqualify him from hearing a case in which

lawyer shortage prompts visa changes

metcash win a victory for Freehills

Mentally ill magistrate suspended

Freehills has successfully advised Metcash in a Federal Court judgment that gives the company the green light to proceed with its $215 million bid for Franklins.

On 25 August Federal Court Justice Arthur Emmett rejected the ACCC argument that this deal would lessen competition. Justice Emmett found that rather than reducing competition, such a deal would in fact enhance competition as it would give independent retailers greater ability to compete with major supermarket chains such as Woolworths and Coles.

Metcash is Australia’s largest grocery wholesaler, with its clients including IGA supermarkets.

In arguing that Metcash’s proposal to take over the 80 Franklins stores in New South Wales would lessen competition, the ACCC failed to include Woolworths or Coles as competitors. The regulator mounted an argument that concentrated on the wholesale, rather than retail, supply of packaged groceries.

Justice Emmett also refuted the suggestion by the ACCC that a credible and reputable alternative buyer to Metcash would come forward to purchase Franklins.

Freehills commercial litigation partner Grant Marjoribanks (pictured) and competition partner Michael Gray led the firm’s team. Barristers Justin Gleeson SC, Peter Brereton SC and Declan Roche were also engaged by Metcash.

The ACCC used barristers Norman O’Bryan SC and John Halley SC, and were instructed by Matthew Blunn, national group leader, dispute resolution, with the Australian Government Solicitor.

Pick N Pay, the South African company that owns Franklins, engaged Blake Dawson partner and competition and consumer protection team head Peter Armitage. Barristers John Griffiths SC and Cameron Moore also advised Pick N Pay.

Despite its loss before a single judge of the Federal Court, Mallesons Stephen Jaques competition law and regulatory partner Sharon Henrick defended the right of the ACCC to bring such action.“People should be slow to criticise the ACCC for bringing cases that it loses,” she said. “I think a very important part of the Commission’s remit is to test what the boundaries are, and that means it will occasionally lose cases.”The ACCC said it was “disappointed” by the decision.

a lawyer, whose relationship with Harman had reportedly suffered an “extremely hostile” breakdown, appeared.

although Harman transferred the case to another magistrate, the Family Court found that proceedings had been “most irregular” and that procedural fairness rules had been “clearly breached”.

the Federal magistrates Court confirmed with SMH in a statement that Harman had agreed to be restricted to “non-sitting duties” for one month and would undertake “judicial education and counselling”.

Visa restrictions for international law graduates are set to be relaxed following the intervention of Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.

During the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting last month, Bligh secured support for three-year working visas for international graduates in areas of skills shortages. She led the states and territories in asking the Commonwealth to evaluate this idea

to stop the slide in international student numbers.“Australia is on the cusp of a resources boom

and we are facing a looming skills crisis,” said Bligh.

“We shouldn’t be discouraging young, enthusiastic workers who are keen to fill these roles ... but the 2009 changes to arrangements for student visas have been really hurting this market. It was imperative that we act, and act decisively.”

Bligh said the resources sector alone would generate 38,000 jobs over the next few years and as such there would be unprecedented opportunities for graduates in key disciplines such as law, engineering, environmental science, metallurgy, hospitality, accounting and management.

The Commonwealth has committed to releasing the Knight Review of the student visa program and to work with the states and territories to develop a response by October.

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thisweek


bakers overtakes skadden Baker & McKenzie has usurped Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom as the world’s largest firm by

turnover, reports The Lawyer. With an 8 per cent rise in global revenue for the 2010-11 financial year, Bakers took a total income record of $2.27 billion. The firm’s chairman, Eduardo Leite, said Bakers was focusing on the most important metric: client recognition. Bakers’ revenue increased across all its geographic regions, particularly in Asia Pacific and Latin America.

linklaters farewells Hr director Linklaters’ HR director Jill King is set to leave the firm in October this year, reports The Grapevine Magazine. King, who has

been with the firm for six years, is the second senior member of the firm’s HR team to depart this year, after London HR head Caroline Rawes left for Taylor Wessing in January. King was previously HR director at Hogan Lovells and has headed HR teams at KPMG, Tesco and Birds Eye.

bakers and Freshfields win animal mergeBaker & McKenzie and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are advising on Cargill’s planned €1.5 billion ($2.06 billion)

acquisition of global animal nutrition company Provimi from private equity firm Permira, reports The AM Law Daily. The proposed acquisition of Provimi, which operates in 26 countries and has more than 7,000 employees, is expected to create a global leader in animal nutrition. London corporate partner Tim Gee led the Bakers team advising Cargill along with competi-tion partner Luis Gomez.

Hogan lovells mourns lossThe head of Middle East disputes in Hogan Lovells’ Dubai office, Stephen York, passed away last

week, reports The Lawyer. Partners at Hogan Lovells are mourning the death of the man, who worked at a number of different firms during his career, including Slaughter and May, Pinsent Masons legacy firm Masons, Hammonds and Reed Smith. York specialised in construction and engineering disputes and during his 30-year career spent time in Asia and the Middle East as an arbitrator as well as a litigator.

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Following the success of a pilot program in Brisbane, Blake Dawson’s Skype initiative – introduced as part of the firm’s clerkship recruitment process – has been rolled out nationally.

Blake Dawson is utilising Skype in its national clerkship recruitment process to enable candidates to learn more about the firm, to build their professional network and to have some one-on-one time with a lawyer from the particular practice group they’re interested in.

“this is part of our general approach in trying to make ourselves more accessible to our candidates across the board; to lift the curtain and see what it’s really like to be here,” explained Blake Dawson social media strategist Kelly o’Shaughnessy.

Providing optional Skype sessions between the first and second-round interviews, candidates will not be formally assessed for participation, but rather will be afforded a

skype gives clerks top-tier insight

deeper insight into life at the firm through an informal, ‘face-to-face’ conversation.

“we decided we wanted to give our candidates different options on how they can communicate with us. we know that using technologies like Skype just makes that a bit easier for people who can’t come into our face-to-face functions that we hold,” said o’Shaughnessy.

“we do it for a short period of time so it’s a very informal scenario. it’s about people asking our partners and lawyers general questions about what it’s like to be at the firm. it’s more about the experience of being employed here, rather than interview questions or anything too serious.”

According to o’Shaughnessy, the Skype initiative has received positive feedback both from the candidates and the lawyers involved.

“Candidates [said] how easy it was and how they felt comfortable to ask those questions because they’re in their own environment,” said o’Shaughnessy.

“it obviously doesn’t take as much time out of our lawyers’ days to jump on a quick Skype chat. it’s nice and speedy but also engaging. it’s better than a phone call because you’re able to engage more.”

Law firms are adapting to social media and the savvy firms are using it to its advantage. Briana Everett reports that Blake Dawson is now using skype as part of its national recruitment program

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Delwyn Everard doesn’t quite know how this all came about, but she is glad it did.

The senior solicitor at the Arts Law Centre of Australia is used to assisting artists with intellectual property and royalties issues, but not matters concerning life and death.

“Some time ago we were being asked for assistance to deal with the rights of Indigenous artists that had passed away,” she said. “Often these artists, particularly in the top end, might have sold all of their work while living within

indepth

their community, so they might not own any real estate, but find out they have a quite durable assets in that the National Gallery might display their works or they might be featured in catalogues or coffee table books.

“Often these works will keep being sold after they pass away and there is potential for that 10 per cent resale royalty when it changes hands in the future to come back to the family.”

In order to help Indigenous artists have more control over the proceeds from their intellectual property, it was discovered that the vast majority

lawyers assist Indigenous artists with lasting legacy

The Arts Law Centre of Australia has been assisting Indigenous artists with the drafting of wills, ensuring a portion of future earnings can remain within families and local communities. Justin Whealing talks to the Centre’s senior solicitor, Delwyn Everard, about why it is important that lawyers get out of the city to visit Indigenous communities.

of Indigenous artists the Centre came into contact with did not have a formal will drawn up.

So they decided to do something about it.“Very few Indigenous people have wills,”

Everard said. “Lots of Indigenous families that live in remote communities don’t have birth certificates. They have a clear understanding of their families, but don’t have those records. Even though wills and estates isn’t something we would normally be doing, that is how we got into this.”

Going bushEverard and the Centre started to organise tours of remote Aboriginal communities and Indigenous arts centres to meet local people face to face.

“We are dealing with artists in remote and regional areas,” said Everard. “English might not be their first language and they don’t have access to the internet, so it is no good sitting in our ivory tower in Sydney. We need to go out there.”

Arts Law Indigenous liaison officer Kyas

Sheriff and Indigenous artist Graeme

Badari at Oenpeli, September 2008

PHOTO: D. Everard

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“It is no good sitting in our ivory tower in Sydney. We need to go out there”DELWYN EVERARD, PICTURED (RIGHT), SENIOR SOLICITOR, ARTS LAW CENTRE OF AUSTRALIA, WITH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ROBYN AYRES

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indepth

Like lawyers of all stripes, this personal contact with the clients of the Centre meant they were able to tailor the wills to take into account the lifestyle of local Aboriginal people and the fact that many of the Indigenous communities they visited were not familiar with the formal laws and level of bureaucracy that is required in creating a legally binding will.

“We developed a very simple will that is designed to deal with the sorts of assets more commonly held by visual artists working in Indigenous Arts Centres,” said Everard. “We started visiting communities and explaining to them the benefi ts [of having a will].

“It makes things so much simpler and creates a streamlined process to fl ow back through to their families.”

From 11 to 18 September, Everard will visit Alice Springs and the remote community of Kintore, 530 kilometres west of Alice Springs. She will be accompanied by Gadens senior associate Jodie Wauchope, an Aboriginal information offi cer from the Arts Law Centre and a lawyer from the Copyright Agency Limited.

Gadens pro bono coordinator Bran Black said his fi rm’s interest in the arts and existing links with the Arts Law Centre was the catalyst for it to participate in the program. The fi rm has committed to providing lawyers for an additional two trips, with lawyers at Gadens invited to apply for each separate tour. An internal selection committee including Black and the fi rm’s Sydney CEO, Ian Dardis, then chooses a candidate to go on the trip.

“Jodie was chosen because she has extensive experience in remote Indigenous communities,” said Black.

Earlier this year, senior partner Campbell Hudson visited Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. Black said this was to ascertain how the fi rm could make a more practical contribution with its pro bono work in Indigenous communities, and the participation of Wauchope and the fi rm in trips with the Arts Law Centre is a key part of that initiative.

While the fi rm is not a signatory to the National Pro Bono Resource Centre Aspirational Target of 35 hours of pro bono work per lawyer per year, Black said Gadens is looking to increase its links with existing pro bono partners such as the Arts Law Centre and the Inner City Legal Centre in Kings Cross.

“The aim of our current pro bono program is that every lawyer who wants the opportunity to do pro bono work can do so,” he said. “We would certainly look to be a signatory of the Aspirational Target down the track.”

Following the trip to the Northern Territory next month, the Arts Law Centre plans to visit remote communities in the Kimberley region in Western Australia in November.

Everard said lawyers from Minter Ellison and DLA Phillips Fox (now DLA Piper) have previously assisted on similar trips, with hundreds of Indigenous artists being able to formulate a will.

“It is a wonderful thing to do and an amazing experience,” she said. “Hopefully, at some point, there will be enough knowledge and wisdom in the communities we visit, so it doesn’t always happen [the drafting of wills] when the Arts Law Centre is in the community.”LW

Wills workshop at Papulunkutja Arts, West Gibson Desert, October 2010. PHOTO: Sean King

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ASX should follow law firm leadWith the structure of markets rapidly changing and the speed of trading accelerating, the Australian Stock Exchange could learn a lesson from global law firms. Stephanie Quine reports

12 l Aw y e r S w e e k ly 2 S e p t e m b e r 2 011 www.lawyersweekly.com.au

indepth

behind the rejection of the ASX/SGX merger, Cameron tendered to the audience “exhibit A”, which showed the minutes of Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) discussions on the decision, painting it as a “largely blank” document.

With the speed and scale of market transactions only set to accelerate, Cameron said Australia would benefit from becoming a larger player of more regional relevance, with

an expanded range of products and services and access to cheaper capital from a deeper pool of liquidity.

With the move to fully electronic markets and increasingly IT savvy facilities in market trading, ASIC commissioner Shane Tregilis told the Conference that the challenge for ASIC was to keep up with how new developments in technology might facilitate new forms of market misconduct.

“We’re facing all sorts of new issues that we, as regulators, haven’t had to think about. Issues such as latency (the time delay between when a message is sent from one computer to another) and clock synchronisation take on new importance,” said Tregilis.

With the ASX trading engine now capable of processing one trade every 300 microseconds, the world of market trading is a long way from the noisy trading floors of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, where tickets were physically stamped.

While ASIC accepts the current laws are still applicable, Tregilis said the regulator was focused on ensuring market participants had proper controls in place to ensure compliance with law and regulation, as well as ‘real time surveillance’ and follow up investigation on detected market misconduct. LW

In a speech to the Corporate Law Conference held on 23 August in the NSW Supreme Court, the chair of ASX Compliance, Alan Cameron, said he found

it “irresistible” not to focus on the lessons of the failed merger between the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX).

At the conference to discuss “New Trends in Sharemarket Regulation”, Cameron likened the ASX merger debate to regulatory issues that seemed to make it “too difficult” 30 years ago to run interstate alliances of law firms, but which are now a non-issue.

“It was only 30 years ago ... that the idea that a Sydney firm and Melbourne firm would align was regarded as very radical, and now we are contemplating international law firms operating all over the world,” said Cameron.

“There is a risk that the attitudes that have been taken toward exchange mergers are a bit in the past and don’t reflect what is happening.”

A takeover of the ASX, Cameron said, remained “extremely difficult” given that it requires ministerial approvals.

“A whole lot of other countries have managed to give up sovereignty over their allegedly national and iconic exchanges, [but] apparently we’re not yet ready to do that,” said Cameron, citing a current list of groups of international exchanges including the NYSE Euronext, Deutsche Börse, London and Tokyo exchanges and Baltic, Nordic and US NASTEC.

Cameron refuted Treasurer Wayne Swan’s reasoning in his rejection, on 8 April 2011, of the merger on the basis of “national interest” and said the Treasurer had pandered to an “extraordinary range of hysterical and xenophobic reactions from a wide range of commentators and politicians”.

Cameron affirmed ASX head David Gonski’s support for the choice of Singapore as a merger partner, and said the SGX system is “complimentary to ours” and that “their regulatory, legal and technological arrangements [are] at a high standard aligned with our own”.

Continuing his attack on the reasoning

Fast facts • The ASX’s latest trading engine is capable

of processing one trade every 300 microseconds

• In 2010, the ASX could process one trade every 10 milliseconds

• One millisecond = one-thousandth of a second. One microsecond = one-millionth of a second

• Some overseas markets are capable of trading at 250 microseconds and the latest discussion predicts nanoseconds will soon follow

• One nanosecond = one billionth of a second – what one second is to 31 years

• In principle, 40,000 trades can be executed in the blink of an eye

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practiceprofile


The issue of immigration in Australia is a highly controversial topic which dominates Australia’s political landscape. Stephanie Quine asks immigration lawyers how they navigate the evolving maze of law and policy.

Navigating the migration maze

Australian immigration law is an incredibly complex area spanning thousands of pages of decisions, judgments, statutes and regulations.

Navigating through the ever-changing web of skills tests, migration and citizenship regulations, and visa application and appeal processes is a daunting task - especially for someone without much knowledge or experience in the area.

Despite this, however, there are myriad migration agents acting in Australia, many with little more than a few weeks of basic training under their belt, advising on many aspects of immigration law.

In contrast, there are only 28 immigration law specialists currently practising in New South Wales. That equates to one lawyer in around 800 lawyers in the state.

One of them is Ray Turner, the principal solicitor of Turner Coulson Immigration Lawyers in Sydney, who is both an accredited specialist and a registered migration agent. Turner says he has sometimes had to clean up the carnage created by ill-equipped migration agents giving poor advice to clients.

“The quality of migration agents varies greatly,” he says. “Some are out-and-out crooks, some cater to specific areas or ethnic regions, and some are very good.”

And while the issue of rogue migration agents continues to be a problem, it is just one in the web of government regulation that Turner and other immigration lawyers work to untangle every day.

Dividing the inflowTurner’s practice can be divided into two distinct areas: one dealing with routine visa applications and cancellations for skilled migrants, students, parents and “ good old fashioned” spouse applications - both heterosexual and homosexual; and the other centres on court work, which involves matters in the Migrant Review Tribunal (MRT), Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT), Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), Federal Magistrates Court, Federal Court and, if all else fails, the High Court.

“It’s a political hot potato and views are so polarised … but all the detainees I met are just normal people with lives and jobs and wives and brothers and sisters”ShAne Roche, executIve dIRectoR, ShIne LAwyeRS

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practiceprofile


“When an application has been rejected, often that work comes to us, referred by other lawyers or migration agents because it’s gotten beyond their level of expertise,” says Turner.

Michael Jones is also an accredited specialist and has been a sole practitioner for over 10 years. He runs the small firm Migrantlaw from Sydney and tackles similar work to Turner.

“I’ve been doing quite a lot of student visa cancellation cases, but I don’t recall when I ever did a student visa application – it’s usually migration or education agents who do that,” says Jones.

When students on visas in Australia get into trouble – either because of a failure to meet the attendance requirements or due to poor results – both Turner and Jones could be described as the “rescuers”.

Jones and Turner also sit on a panel of lawyers – run by the NSW Bar Association and funded by the Department of Immigration – which advises those who appeal a decision of the RRT in the Federal Magistrates Court and do not have representation.

NSW Legal Aid’s recent announcement that it would be dedicating more funding to refugee appeals through its civil law panel, on which Jones also sits, should generate more work for Migrantlaw.

But even if it doesn’t, Jones will have his work cut out wading through the latest changes to immigration regulation.

Unending regulationAccording to Jones, keeping up with such changes is “constant” and something which requires the heavy use of technology.

“You’ve got to make sure you have a subscription to the Attorney-General’s Department that sends all the amendments,” says Jones, adding that all those changes are also what keep him in business.

On 1 July this year, over 14 amendments to existing immigration legislation came into effect, including a new points test. From 1 July 2012, another points test, “Skill Select”, will require the lodgement of an expression of interest (EOI) for skilled migration visas before an application can be submitted.

“It is easier to get into a maximum security jail than it is to get into Villawood,” says Turner, explaining that red tape makes it more difficult to make an appointment.

“It’s run by a private company and staff don’t have the breadth of experience that prison officers – who are used to facilitating a person’s right to legal advice – have. I feel more comfortable in a jail than I do in Villawood, because you’re made more welcome. Yet the people in Villawood have an absolute right to be represented.”

Another lawyer confronting the issues surrounding immigration detention is national plaintiff litigation firm Shine Lawyers’ executive director, Shane Roche, who, while on Christmas Island, encountered a similarly unwelcoming atmosphere.

Roche is acting pro bono for asylum seekers who are currently in court awaiting the outcome of the coronial inquest into the Christmas Island boat tragedy that will determine the cause of death of their relatives and friends. While visiting the island, he was asked to advise some other detainees on matters unrelated to the inquest, but was refused entry to the detention centre due to ‘operational requirements’.

Three letters and an application to the Federal Court later, Roche was granted access but he says he still doesn’t know why he was originally rejected.

“It’s a political hot potato and views are so polarised … but all the detainees I met are just normal people with lives and jobs and wives and brothers and sisters,” says Roche, adding that compassion is appropriate in situations where people are suffering with such unique pieces of psychological baggage.

But despite the difficulties encountered, Turner says political developments always lead to “a bit of an upturn” in work for immigration lawyers, because historically there has been “a push to remove lawyers from the system”.

“Whenever they’ve tried to limit the access to the courts, they’ve in fact increased it because the appeals go up.” LW

“I think it’s going to be a bit of a disaster next year,” says Jones.

“It’s going to mean people will have to spend a large amount of money doing extra skills assessments, extra English language tests, and possibly translation tests to get points for their language.

“The best people are the people with the most options. If they look at Australia and see they’ve got to do all this, spend thousands of dollars and have no idea whether they’ll be accepted or not, they will not try, and we’ll miss out on the best.”

Brett Slater, the head of Brett Slater Solicitors in Sydney, is another accredited immigration lawyer who feels frustrated with immigration law, having wrestled with statutory construction and transitional provisions for over 20 years.

“In 1989, when they brought in the Migration Legislation Amendment Act, there were just unbelievably complex changes to the law – so voluminous, so complex – that at one stage it went before a federal court judge and it was described as ‘a dog’s breakfast’, ” says Slater.

Communication void To complicate matters further for immigration lawyers, their clients comprise a vast array of nationalities. Even for Jones, who speaks French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, language interpreters are often required.

“Unfortunately, the [romantic languages] are not as useful today as they once were. Now what you need is Punjabi or Vietnamese,” says Jones, adding that he doesn’t like to allow relatives of clients to do the interpreting, for clarity, confidentiality and professional reasons.

Another issue is the tyranny of distance, with much of an immigration lawyers’ work being conducted via email and phone. Jones, who runs his phone service through Skype and has a live answering service, says he sometimes never even meets his clients and that his small city office space is becoming increasingly redundant.

real-time compassion Seeing a client is, however, sometimes necessary, and Turner has done so for both asylum seekers in detention and during his work in criminal deportation.

“In 1989, when they brought in the Migration Legislation Amendment Act, there were just unbelievably complex changes to the law – so voluminous, so complex – that at one stage it went before a federal court judge and it was described as ‘a dog’s breakfast’, ”

Brett SLAter, prIncIpAL, Brett SLAter SoLIcItorS

“It is easier to get into a maximum security jail than it is to get into Villawood”

rAy turner, prIncIpAL, turner couLSon IMMIgrAtIon LAWyerS

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media feature


Building and protecting brand and reputation is repeatedly earmarked as the key to business development and success. As Briana Everett finds out, positive engagement with the media is a pivotal component

managing the media

Not surprisingly, the top-tier and global law firms in Australia are particularly savvy when it comes to handling the media. That is thanks to

their bigger budgets, vast resources and know-how.

However, for a number of smaller firms and sole practitioners across the country, successfully engaging with the media remains a challenge – and for some, a complete mystery.

Despite the fact that competition is high due to the onslaught of global firms, many within the legal profession are still reticent when it comes to learning how to handle the media and enhance their profile within the industry.

“The majority [of firms] we come across are incredibly frightened of the media and very unaware about how to positively engage,” says the managing partner of Julian Midwinter & Associates, Linda Julian.

“A few seem to do it very well and the best of them have improved hugely, but there’s a whole group who perhaps never had a clue and still haven’t a clue.”

According to Julian, who offers strategic practice development advice to lawyers, very few firms regard their profile in the media as important enough to warrant putting in any time or effort to improve the way they handle media attention.

Although Adelaide firm Kelly & Co doesn’t have the same budget as larger, national firms, it has recognised the significant value of effectively engaging with the media, particularly after the global financial crisis.

“It is the natural state to develop opinions when the macro or micro landscape is changing. During the GFC there were few major changes occurring, aside from the obvious economic pressures,” says Kelly & Co chief executive officer Stuart Price. “Things have changed more recently with the increase in mergers and acquisitions of Australian firms … This type of

energy and success feeds into a greater willingness by firms to actively engage with the media.”

According to Price, giving practitioners the opportunity to discuss their specific areas of expertise and topical issues with the media not only demonstrates their capability but also increases the firm’s credibility and reputation.

“That is ultimately achieved by a presence within the media,” says Price, whose firm employs an external public relations firm and recently boosted its internal marketing and business development team to cater to its media strategy.

“[A media presence] also feeds into the other

part – the brand. It will feed into and improve brand value, visibility and presence, and ultimately awareness and recognition,” he adds.

While emphasising the value to be gained from building a strong profile in the media, Price notes the importance of not flooding the market and only providing comment where relevant – a challenge the firm is facing more and more as it receives increasing media attention.

“[The media attention] is feeding off the volume of content that’s being sought from us. I think that’s a really good thing, as long as we can maintain the quality and the value to the media. We don’t want to saturate the market

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media feature


Top tips for handling the media

Be prepared for positive attention from the media• Establish, in advance, which

lawyers in the firm are authorised to speak to journalists

• Respect the journalist’s deadline • Always ring journalists back

promptly – even if you have no comment

• If you have bad news, deal with it quickly and clearly and don’t try to cover it up. Help journalists write an accurate story by talking to them

• Don’t ask to see the article before it is published. You cannot control how the article is written – only that you are quoted correctly

• If you receive an interview request, always get back to the journalist as soon as possible, even if you’re unable to participate

• If you don’t wish to be quoted on a particular issue, clearly indicate to the journalist that you are speaking “off the record”. Unless you specify that it is off the record, you will be quoted

• Be aware of what you say on social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook

Source: Linda Julian, Julian Midwinter & Associates

“[A media presence] also feeds into the other part – the brand. It will feed into and improve brand value, visibility and presence, and ultimately awareness and recognition,” StuArt PrIce, chIef executIve offIcer, Kelly & co

“the majority [of firms] we come across are incredibly frightened of the media and very unaware about how to positively engage”

lIndA JulIAn, mAnAgIng PArtner, JulIAn mIdwInter & ASSocIAteS

and the saturation will only happen if we take up opportunities that are perhaps not relevant,” he says.

While the media strategies from firm to firm will not differ drastically, the extent to which a firm engages with the media depends on its size, budget and the market it covers. Additionally, the media strategies of commercial firms like Kelly & Co will differ to that of firms that operate in different areas of the profession.

“Maurice Blackburn is a plaintiff firm so we have very different issues to a commercial firm,” says Maurice Blackburn’s national media manager, Amanda Tattam.

“Many of our clients have suffered personal

According to Julian, more lawyers need to reach out to the media and get their opinion out there.

“We spend our lives helping our clients to engage positively. Our position is that an informed reporter is a much less dangerous thing than an ill-informed, half-informed, kept-in-the-dark reporter,” says Julian.

“A mistake lawyers make is that there are many occasions when they could very responsibly use media contacts to help get issues of importance out there and get attention to them, but very few put the effort into it. Instead, they run scared and don’t get issues in the interests of their clients and the public out there and on the agenda.”

Aside from engaging positively with the media, Julian says lawyers also need to appreciate that their “news” is not necessarily newsworthy and exciting to others outside the firm or the industry.

“Another big mistake is they completely misunderstand the news value or public interest value in the story they want to tell. They misjudge that,” she says. “We spend a lot of time helping our clients understand that what they think is interesting and what they think is newsworthy is very unlikely to capture the attention of a critical and genuinely independent press.”

Another issue, according to Julian, is the unrealistic expectations of some lawyers when it comes to how a story is told.

“A lot [of lawyers] have very unreasonable expectations about the extent to which they can control the media or take control. Lawyers love having control,” she says. “They cannot expect to control the press … If they really want to get the story told exactly their way, they [should] buy the space in the publications – that’s called advertising. You cannot control journalists.” lw

injury and loss, including financial loss … and there is a public interest dimension to the cases we take on. Our clients are ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary events so there is often intense media interest in the cases … It’s our job to manage media in the best interests of our clients.”

positively engaging Successfully handling the media is all about positive engagement, according to Julian.

While it’s important to understand how to respond appropriately to a journalist’s phone call, handling the media is not all about damage control and avoiding bad coverage.

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Consuming passionsWhen it comes to a career in law, it doesn’t have to be about big firms, billable hours and boredom. Claire Chaffey discovers how four innovative legal professionals get paid to do what they love.

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Consuming passionsW hen Michael Davis tells people he’s a

space lawyer, the general response is momentary confusion.

‘Do you mean outer space?’ they ask, to which Davis offers a brief explanation that yes, he is indeed a lawyer who deals in the business of outer space, rockets, astronauts and satellites.

He even has a Masters degree in space studies from the International Space University (ISU) in Strasbourg, France, and is the only Australian lawyer to do so.

It’s a job he loves, and when he’s not advising on the impact of international law on launching and operating satellites, liaising with the Australian Government and assisting clients to apply for the necessary licenses, or lobbying and developing policy on behalf of the space industry, he is able to refl ect on what has become – quite by accident – a remarkable and enjoyable career.

“It was a pure stroke of luck that led me in this direction,” he says, referring to the invitation he received many years ago to chair the Advisory Board Institute of Telecommunications Research at the University of South Australia.

“The projects are always fascinating. Space projects are, almost by defi nition, complicated, high risk and take a lot of time to design, develop and execute. I have met a number of astronauts and I know some of them quite well. It’s the intelligence and imagination and enthusiasm, of not just the astronauts but the young people [in the industry], that keeps me inspired.”

For Davis, the road to becoming Australia’s only dedicated space lawyer (through his fi rm Adelta Legal) has been a long and varied one, but ultimately one which allows him to indulge his long-standing interest in the space sector and enjoy the independence and uniqueness that comes with working in a highly-specialised boutique fi rm.

But space law isn’t the only new area of law to have popped up in recent times, with innovative lawyers

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Consuming passionsConsuming passionshen Michael Davis tells people he’s a space lawyer, the general response is

‘Do you mean outer space?’ they ask,

“The projects are always fascinating. Space projects are, almost by defi nition, complicated, high risk and take a lot of time to design, develop and execute”MICHAEL DAVIS, ADELTA LEGAL, ADELAIDE

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Social media law

and practice managers determined to do what they love both outside and inside the workplace.

This has led to the establishment of practice areas such as marine, millinery, agribusiness and social media law, often combined with more established niche practice areas such as aviation, maritime and wine law.

These lawyers, looking for new avenues to use their unique knowledge and experience, have created a sub-sector of legal professionals able to provide clients with increasingly tailored service. In a more competitive legal market, this is probably a smart move.

Above all, however, these unique practice areas provide a vehicle for the indulgence of genuine interests and passions, while also contributing to the running of a successful business.

And, as Davis well knows, the sky’s not necessarily the limit.

Of sailboats, hats and fine wine One lawyer who knows all too well the joys that come with turning passion into profession is Marcel Vaarzon-Morel.

A former shipwright and cooper who dabbled in millinery, Vaarzon-Morel was forced to rethink his career as a tradesman when years of making yachts and wine barrels saw him develop dust-induced and ultimately career-ending asthma.

“Things weren’t going too well from a health perspective,” he says. “Unfortunately, it got quite bad and I had to stop working, so I found myself in a situation where I had to retrain.”

This retraining equated to a politics degree followed by a law degree, then several years as a lawyer in both corporate and private practice.

But it was a stint in a Newcastle-based mid-tier

firm that convinced Vaarzon-Morel that he should perhaps consider going out on his own and pursuing something in which he was genuinely interested.

“I saw what it was like to be in a large firm,” he says. “I was there for a year and I found out that I had been one of the people who had actually lasted a reasonably long period of time … It was purely debt recovery work and was incredibly boring. It was very difficult to remain engaged with the work.”

Sensing his misery and an impending decision to drop out of the law altogether, a friend eventually suggested that Vaarzon-Morel set up his own firm – and things changed dramatically.

“Once I started my own practice, everything completely changed, because I could redefine what law meant for me, how I wanted to run the practice and the areas that I wanted to go into,” he says. “I focused on what my strengths were. I couldn’t re-invent the wheel … so I sat down and thought very carefully about how I was going to go about my practice.

“When I started looking at my experience and knowledge, I found that it actually gave me an edge over other solicitors.”

Vaarzon-Morel says he even did a Google search for a shipwright-cum-solicitor and found only one person who fitted the mould – and he had lived in England in the 1800s.

“I figured I wouldn’t have much competition,” he says.

And thus Vaarzon-Morel Solicitors was born, specialising in some rather unusual areas of law: marine and maritime, millinery and wine law.

“Marine law is an area of law that is basically non-existent,” he says. “It is something that I’ve created myself as specific to an industry area.”

?what is it?Risk management, training and education around social media policies in the workplace

is there room for more lawyers?Absolutely! This is a fast-growing area of law and clients are increasingly looking for advice in what is a murky area

in a nutshell“It is trying to apply existing and in many cases long-standing law to very new, fast-moving technologies” (Vivienne Storey, Blands Law, Sydney)

Space law what is it?Corporate and commercial law for high-technology clients such as ICT and telecommunications companies. It also involves aspects of international and government law

is there room for more lawyers?Yes! The Government has recently committed significant funding to the area, which has created a lot of activity for space research, universities and companies with space projects

in a nutshell“As the size of the Australian space industry grows, there will be opportunity for a number of lawyers, specialising in commercial law in particular, to provide the normal legal services required by any company that gets involved in a space project”(Michael Davis, Adelta Legal, Adelaide)

“I was actually looking for an excuse, a way to integrate social media into business so that I could have my tweet deck up the whole time”VIVIenne StOrey, BLAnDS LAw, SyDney

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Despite this, Vaarzon-Morel’s name within the industry means that marine and maritime law cases dominate his time.

Cash flow requirements, however, mean he also sits on various legal aid panels, and his burgeoning wine law business helps pay the bills while he waits for his first millinery client to come through the door.

“I get enquiries from people within the millinery industry, but I haven’t yet had any matters as such,” he says. “Because I have a genuine interest in it, people call up and I am quite happy to point them in the right direction. It’s about assisting people and, at some point in time, if they need to take things further they might come back to me. It’s about building those relationships.”

In the meantime, Vaarzon-Morel enjoys the many perks that come with practising in such unique – and, let’s face it, fun – areas of law, such as spending tax-deductible time in the Hunter Valley and at boat shows around the country.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to have something else that makes you keep going,” he says. “It can’t just be about the money.”

Tweets and bleatsAnother legal industry professional managing to indulge her hobby whilst at work is Vivienne Storey, the general manager of Sydney-based Blands Law and self-confessed social media addict.

Having stumbled across various forms of social media in her role at the firm, she soon became hooked on tweeting, blogging and generally spending her time engaging with other people in cyber space.

So when it came to getting around the

?

Marine law

what is it?Primarily contractual and commercial matters combined with elements of maritime law

is there room for more lawyers?Probably, though it is unlikely that you could make this area of law your sole focus

in a nutshell“I find that people who try to make out that they can do [this area of law] really come- a-cropper when it comes to understanding it. It’s like me trying to do a medical case. I just don’t even want to go there”

(Marcel Vaarzon-Morel, Vaarzon-Morel Solicitors, Newcastle)

Wine law what is it?Contractual and commercial, intellectual property, liquor license issues, agency and distribution agreements, geographical indicators and insolvency

is there room for more lawyers?Yes. This area of law is already fairly well established, so you’ll have some competition

in a nutshell“When it comes to wine, I make sure I claim all my wines [on tax]. But it’s like anything in that you have to be reasonable about what you claim and what you don’t. But there are definitely some perks”

(Marcel Vaarzon-Morel, Vaarzon-Morel Solicitors, Newcastle)

“Once I started my own practice, everything completely changed, because I could redefine what law meant for me, how I wanted to run the practice and the areas that I wanted to go into”Marcel VaarzON-MOrel, VaarzON-MOrel SOlIcITOrS, NewcaSTle

challenge of building up the boutique employment firm’s business in the absence of a substantial marketing or advertising budget, she soon saw an avenue by which she could feed her addiction and benefit the firm.

“I tell this as a funny story, but I was actually looking for an excuse, a way to integrate social media into business so that I could have my tweet deck up the whole time,” she laughs.

And it worked. Not only is Storey legitimately allowed to tweet to her heart’s content while at work, the firm now budgets for lawyers to spend time using social media, has doubled its business in just 12 months, and has even established a social media practice area, which Storey says is taking off.

“Because we are early adopters [of social media] and because we are very well across it, I think it will become part of our core business, and we are certainly planning for it to become part of our core business,” she says. “It is a huge opportunity. In the last six months, I have seen quite a few firms [taking it up], which is good. At one stage, we were the only firm talking social media, and that’s not good. It validates what we are doing.”

Blands Law is also using social media to generate business for another unique arm of the firm: agribusiness law. With one of the firm’s solicitors, Danica Leys, having a background in agriculture, it was only natural that this would also become an additional offering of the firm. And combined with the firm’s activity in the social media space, this too is a burgeoning area.

“One of our solicitors started a twitter conversation with the hash-tag AgChatOZ. It is based on the American model which she was following, and she noticed there was no

richard Burn

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Australian version of that,” says Storey. “Now, every Tuesday night, they have a specific topic which is discussed on twitter. It is a great medium for bringing together dispersed communities, and we have all the major industry players on board, all the agricultural journalists and many of the regional politicians.”

While the practice area is still in a somewhat fledgling state, Storey says clients are starting to appreciate what Leys and the firm can offer.

“She understands the clients’ issues. It doesn’t need to be explained to her what the branding on a heifer is,” says Storey. “It’s really just the ability to have a conversation with an agribusiness client … the ability to have a familiar conversation and know the terms. The clients love that. They are not talking to some city slicker who has no idea what a boundary is.”

Flying highThe ability to understand exactly what a client is talking about is also one of the reasons that Richard Burn, of Richard Burn & Associates, is internationally regarded as one of Australia’s best aviation lawyers. Having harboured dreams of becoming a pilot with the Australian Navy as a young man (which were dashed because of less-than-perfect eyesight), Burn found himself with a law degree instead and, after moving to the UK in 1974, began working for the British Aircraft Corporation.

After several blissful years travelling Europe in pursuit of aircraft contracts, Burn returned to Australia to do stints as a lawyer in both in-house and private practice, and as an international consultant in aviation law.

Finally, in 2001, Burn established his own firm focusing specifically on aviation law – and the timing could not have been better.

“I got a real start when I acted, for about three years, for the administrators of Ansett,” he says. “I was in charge of returning the aircraft. That resuscitated the bank balance. It was an amazing time in the sense that it was 14 hours a day, seven days a week for a couple of years.”

Since then, Burn says he “seems to have gotten onto the best lawyer lists” – something which has proved to be an extremely valuable credential.

“I get work simply by my reputation,” he says. There is, however, a looming threat to this

practice area, which already suffers from a dearth of work to go around.

“A lot of firms are spreading their wings in Australia,” he says. “I used to get work from Norton Rose, but I won’t be getting that anymore because they have set up here. The referral work, now that the firms are spreading internationally, is probably not as good as it was. But I keep in touch with those that have not gone international, and I get bits and pieces.”

But for the meantime, Burn has this practice area in Australia all sewn up, and his depth of experience in the area is not only unique, but highly valued by clients.

“It’s an area I know a lot about,” he says. “There are a lot of acronyms in aviation, and once you know your way around the business and the legislation that’s around, it is relatively easy. It’s not very difficult. It’s just that not very many people do it.”

And the only thing Burn regrets about his chosen career path – which he says people tend to find “sort of sexy” – is that it took him so long to get there.

“I enjoy the independence of boutique practice,” he says. “It’s absent of all the political rubbish of large law firms. I don’t tend to have regrets, but the only regret I have is that I didn’t do it earlier.” LW

Aviation law

what is it?Corporate and commercial work within the aviation sector, including risk and liability, regulatory, tourism and travel

is there room for more lawyers?Yes, but this area of law is already very well established and the big firms tend to like it too, so you’ll have some stiff competition

in a nutshell“It’s sort of sexy. Lot’s of people think it’s sexy. And it is a high-pro-file industry in the sense that if the aircraft have accidents or mechani-cal failures, the press is all over it and everybody is very interested”

(Richard Burn, Richard Burn & Associates, Melbourne)

Agribusiness law

what is it?It is a growing field cutting across many facets of the legal industry, including contractual, workplace or property law

is there room for more lawyers?Definitely. Agribusiness is fast becoming more complex, compli-cated and regulated and there is a growing need for specialists in the area

in a nutshell“It’s really just the ability to have a conversation with an agribusiness client. They are not talking to some city slicker who has no idea what a boundary is”

(Vivienne Storey, Blands Law, Sydney)

“I enjoy the independence of boutique practice. It’s absent of all the political rubbish of large law firms. I don’t tend to have regrets, but the only regret I have is that I didn’t do it earlier”

RIchARd BuRn, RIchARd BuRn & ASSocIAteS, MeLBouRne

?

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24 l aw y e r s w e e k ly 2 s e P T e M B e r 2 011 www.lawyersweekly.com.au

61 %

Source: CareerBuilder survey, 18 August 2011

71 %

my next move:

Of employers are more likely to promote workers

with high emotional intelligence

over candidates with high IQ

Of employers say they value

emotional intelligence

over IQ

Paul Cowling, state manager, Randstad Legal, Sydneyemotional

intelligence I am a junior lawyer who was recently made redundant by my employer. I have been offered a contract position in a similar

area of law but am concerned about the impact on my CV. Should I accept it?

One significant impact of the global financial [GFC] crisis and the reality of the post-GFC

landscape on the legal profession has been the trend of employers increasingly considering the option of employing lawyers on a contract basis. As a result, we now see more lawyers with recent or current contract experience than we have in the past.

Consequently, the “stigma” of having contract positions on your CV has considerably reduced or even, in large part, disappeared. In fact, we regularly speak to employers who view contract positions as evidence of a candidate’s ability to adapt to changing environments, develop new skill-sets and gain exposure to different commercial organisations.

respondents admit they need to get more experience (13 per cent) or that they do not have the right training or qualifications to advance in their careers (6 per cent).

When it comes to career progression, almost half of employees (44 per cent) believe they need to work overtime on a regular basis; 37 per cent believe they should take on additional responsibility for no extra money; and 45 per cent believe studying in their spare time for a professional qualification will help them get ahead.

“I believe the best guarantee of employability is to keep learning and studying to gain new qualifications and skills, which will indicate to

Q

A

You should also consider the conse-quence of the alternative – not accepting the position and waiting for that dream permanent position to come along. There is no doubt that an ever-growing gap on the CV is likely to be viewed more negatively than having undertaken some form of relevant contract experience. Given the current climate, there are also absolutely no guarantees of securing that permanent role.

The other issue to consider is the prospect of a contract role developing into a permanent opportunity.

When an employer is impressed with the work undertaken by a contractor and is faced with the difficulty and cost of sourcing strong permanent candidates when a need arises, they will often do everything possible to retain that person even if it may not be in the exact same role.

Our advice would therefore be to accept the position – it will broaden your skill set, make you more marketable when the right permanent role arises and ensure that you are out in the market developing your knowl-edge, experience and contacts.

Employees feel the need to work overtime on a regular basis to get ahead in their careers, according to a new career progression survey.

long hours to get ahead

future potential employers a desire to think and work in new ways and that is very attractive from an employer’s point of view,” the chief executive of Simplyhealth, Des Benjamin, told CMI in response to the survey.

CMI board member Philippa Williamson, who believes qualifications demonstrate personal commitment, added: “Skills have to remain current. How a leader dealt with something five years ago may no longer be applicable in today’s working environment and people who are responsible for the development of others must bear this in mind, first taking responsibility for themselves”.

A Survey of 2000 employees conducted this month by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has revealed that almost half (42 per cent) of employees feel they are further behind in their careers than they would like to be at this stage in their lives.

And while some individuals blame their slow progress on those around them, others accept that they have the power to bring about change.

According to the survey, some employees (22 per cent) believe they’ve been overlooked for a promotion or pay rise in the last 12 months because their employer doesn’t have the funds, while others claim their boss is not fighting for them enough (9 per cent). In contrast, many

careercounsel

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Commercial Lawyer

Woolworths Limited, a great Australian company with a growing portfolio of brands and operations throughout Australia and overseas, is seeking an experienced and motivated IT focused Commercial Lawyer to join the Woolworths Legal team. The company operates a number of well-known retail chains, including Woolworths Supermarkets, BIG W Department Stores, Dan Murphy’s, BWS, Dick Smith, Home Timber and Hardware and the soon to be launched Masters Home Improvement.

Role Overview:Tap into your commercial acumen by providing efficient and risk balanced legal advice across a range of commercial matters, including IT, telco, privacy and consulting services matters. You will apply your expertise and knowledge in commercial contracts across the broad range of business and activities, at a variety of levels.

Ideally possessing approximately 5-7 years post graduate commercial legal experience, your solutions based thinking and your ability to apply your legal expertise to partner with our businesses, will assist you to grasp commercial opportunities and tackle a variety of tasks. Your outstanding executive style, coupled with your strong negotiation and influencing skills and aptitude to develop productive relationships will be key to your success.

To be considered for this position you will meet the following:• At least 5 years post graduate commercial legal experience in a

well regarded law firm or in-house team• Possess expertise and knowledge across Legal services, but with

particular emphasis on IT and telecommunications areas. • Skilled communicator in both written and oral forms • Sound negotiation and influencing skills • High degree of integrity and trust • An ability to effectively prioritise competing demands and

business expectations • Ability to successfully manage a large volume of diverse files,

including ensuring the cost effective provision of externally provided legal services.

Become part of our growing legal team, based at Norwest Business Park, and work on high value innovative deals in one of Australia’s top 10 ASX-listed companies.

To express an interest in this role please your send your resume to [email protected] by Wednesday 14 September.

At Woolworths, safety is a core value with our mission being zero harm to our people, environment and community.


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folklaw

26 L AW Y E R S W E E K LY 2 S E P T E M B E R 2 011 www.lawyersweekly.com.au

R E A D T H E L AT E S T F O L K L A W O N L I N E www.lawyersweekly.com.au/folklaw

Is there no end to the talent of the good folks at Allens Arthur Robinson?

Folklaw was forced to ask itself this when a press release touting the fi rm’s recent acceptance into the fold of yet another prestigious body landed in its inbox.

This time, the Business Council of Mongolia has formally welcomed the fi rm as a member, recently holding a ceremony to celebrate this fact in the country’s capital city (which, for those of you who don’t know, is cosmopolitan Ulaanbaatar, which literally means “red hero” and, despite being a parliamentary republic, still has a statue of Lenin standing in one

Allens descends on land of Ghengis Khan

Lawyer asks witness’s son to take a fallA lawyer has come up with a novel way of asking a witness to disappear – by requesting his son fall off a bike.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Mexican lawyer Hernandez Marin approached an accountant who was an expert witness in a legal dispute against his client, the American drug manufacturer Baxter International.

According to recordings of the conversation between the two men in Mexico City, Marin tells the accountant that he will pay for a fl ight to New York for him to ensure he misses the date on which he is meant to testify.

“You go to New York with your wife,” said Marin allegedly. “You say that your son fell. He broke his leg on a bicycle in Manhattan and you had to go. And that’s why you didn’t accept the assignment.”

It was not explained if the accountant’s son was already in New York, or if his skills in the saddle were comparable to our Cadel, to make such a scenario unlikely.

Later in the recording, Marin suggests to the accountant that it is okay if he would rather go to Las Vegas.

Baxter, a company which manufactures drugs used to treat people with conditions including hemophilia and kidney disease, claims that Marin was not authorised by them to make such an offer and has ceased its association with him.

Under Mexican law, Marin has committed no crime as charges for bribery can only be laid if the offer was made to a public offi cial. Marin also escapes possible charges in relation to tampering with an expert witness, as it is illegal to persuade them to provide false testimony or to fail to disclose the truth in legal proceedings, but not, apparently, to pay for a trip overseas on a date that coincides with an appearance in court.

Folklaw considers that Marin is a lucky lad, in that he can take his bike and ride back to the offi ce, albeit with a lighter client load.

You are what you tweetA law fi rm that can’t be bothered reading applications for summer clerkships has decided to make hopefuls apply for positions in 140 characters or less.

In what is believed to be a world fi rst, Sydney-based boutique fi rm Marque Lawyers will be running a competition via Twitter, with the best tweeters being shortlisted to send in an application for the clerkship program.

“Each morning between 29 August and 2 September, we’ll post a question on ... our Twitter feed ... You’ll need to be following us, and then it’s on for the day, tweet all you like. Each day we’ll select the six top tweets of the day,” reads the fi rm’s website.

“Tweets must be text only, no attachments or links, apart from photos of South Park characters or the Lego Darth Vader.”

Managing partner Michael Bradley told Lawyers Weekly the selection method follows last year’s campaign which required applications to be completed in a creative art form.

“This year we decided to experiment with an entirely interactive approach, and where better to do that than on Twitter,” he said.

“We think the 140 character limit per tweet will actually be a big challenge, given that law students are taught to use really big words and lots of them. It’s going to be a fascinating social experiment. And it’ll cut down on our reading.”

The idea is that the fi rm will have selected the top 30 tweeters who will then be invited to send in a clerkship application form, which must comply with “our usual rules so that we can verify that they’re actually studying law and weren’t involved in the UK riots”.

The fi eld will then be narrowed down until there is one lucky summer clerk standing.

So why is the fi rm really doing it this way? According to its website, it’s really quite simple: “Three reasons: nobody else would dare; it’s a cynical ploy to pick up more Twitter followers; and we’ll be reading job applications of 140 characters or fewer.

“It’s like they say, you are what you tweet”.

“We welcome this opportunity to meet with colleagues and build relationships here on the ground in Ulaanbaatar.”

Not bad work, if you can get it: jetting off to remote parts of the world to attend a council meeting and a rather unique ceremony (though Folklaw will note that Mongolia even held an opening ceremony for the country’s fi rst-ever “effi cient” stove, with the prime minister attending to light the match).

Folklaw is waiting for the other top-tier fi rms to begin clambering for the next prized Business Council of Mongolia vacancy.

of its main squares).Surprisingly, Allens is the fi rst

Australian top-tier fi rm to be made a member of the Council.

In order to celebrate the honour, partners Erin Feros and David Wenger, as well as senior associate John Koshy and lawyer Emma Wanchap, were compelled to fl y to the Central Asian hub to attend a council meeting and formally accept Allens’ membership.

Feros said formal membership in the Business Council of Mongolia was a “natural progression” for the fi rm.

“We see the fi rm’s membership of the Mongolian Business Council as an essential component of our Mongolia group’s activities,” she said.

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A selection of our current vacancies: Expand your horizons with Norton Rose GroupA top ten international legal practice

nortonrose.com/careers

BrisbaneSenior Associate, Energy and resources Senior Associate, Employment Associate, Corporate

CanberraSenior Associate, Corporate Senior Associate, Dispute resolution

Hong Kong OfficeAssociate - Financial services regulatory Trainee solicitors 2013 (LLB degree or equivalent, Chinese language skills equired)

MelbourneAssociate, Corporate - Pharmaceutical, Life Sciences Business Development Co-ordinator (Marketing)

PerthSenior Associate, Corporate (M&A) Senior Associate, Occupational health, safety and security Associate, Corporate Associate, Banking and finance

Shanghai OfficeAssociate, Banking and finance Associate, Corporate

SingaporeAssociate, Project Finance/Banking and Finance Singapore qualified lawyer up to 2 years PQE, Asset Banking (Shipping) team

SydneySenior Associate, Financial and investment services Senior Associate, Corporate (Public M&A)Senior Associate, Occupational health safety and security Associate, Commercial

TokyoAssociate, Power, minerals and infrastructure projects

To make an initial confidential enquiry please contact:

Louise Ferris Human resources managerTel +61(0)7 3414 [email protected]

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ⋅ ENERGY ⋅ INFRASTRUCTURE, MINING AND COMMODITIES ⋅ TRANSPORT ⋅ TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION ⋅ PHARMACEUTICALS AND LIFE SCIENCES

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Expect professional advice from real professionalsAt Taylor Root, most of our consultants have trained and practiced as lawyers. That’s why they’re well qualified to advise you on your next career move. And it’s one of the reasons we’ve been the market leader in legal recruitment for more than 23 years. For the widest range of opportunities, both in-house and private practice, contact our Sydney office on +61 (0)2 9236 9000 or our Melbourne office on +61 (0)3 8610 8400 or visit taylorroot.com.au

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lawyers weekly september 2, 2011

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