Arlo Doak

I am thrilled to introduce the Western Sydney Law Students' Association 2024 Clerkship Guide! This guide is not just a handbook; it's your go-to resource, packed with invaluable tips and strategies on acing interviews, creating standout CVs, and mastering the art of networking. It is designed to empower every Western Sydney University law student to successfully navigate the clerkship application process! For many students, the clerkship process can feel like a daunting and overwhelming process, filled with many questions and uncertainties. Navigating through application requirements, preparing for interviews, and understanding what different firms are looking for can be overwhelming. This guide is here to demystify the clerkship process, providing clear, comprehensive answers to your questions and shedding light on each step. With detailed timelines, practical tips, and advice from successful clerks, it aims to eliminate uncertainties, helping you approach your clerkship applications with confidence and clarity. Special thanks to our sponsors for their generous contributions, which made this guide possible. To all our fellow penultimate students, we hope you find this guide incredibly useful and enjoyable to read! Access the guide here:

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Whether you need to start or update your will or discuss your assets and how best to manage them for future generations, we are here to support you and your family.   You don’t have to worked with us before, switching lawyers couldn’t be easier. If you’re looking for a family lawyer from a family-led law firm, get in touch today.

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Associates Looking to Transition Out of Big Law If you’re an associate in big law feeling burnt out or like your career is not progressing as you had hoped, perhaps a transition to a mid sized firm could be the reset you need. A switch from big law to a mid sized firm can propel you towards your career goals and allow you to rediscover your passion for law. Here are just some of the advantages for associates looking to transition to a mid-sized firm: •Better work-life balance in comparison to the long stressful hours as an associate in big law. •More opportunities to engage in sophisticated, substantive legal work while working on a broader range of cases and practice areas. •Better career growth and advancement opportunities because there are less hierarchical structures. In addition, there is a chance to develop skills and grow professionally at a quicker pace than big law due to the varied responsibilities and hands-on experience. •Firm Culture - mid-sized firms often offer a more collaborative and supportive work environment where the firm values may align more closely with your own. •More direct client Interaction, allowing associates to build stronger relationships and improve client management skills. •Better job security and stability as mid-sized firms can be better equipped to handle economic downturns because of their lower overhead costs and diverse client bases. •More personalized mentorship and guidance from partners and senior attorneys. •Greater influence on firm policies, decision making and more opportunities to get involved in business development. Here at J. Sheppard Associates, we help associates make a successful transition out of big law and find the perfect place them in excellent mid sized firms. If you’re looking to make a change, please reach out to us and let’s start the conversation and find the next home for you! #lawfirm #attorney #legal #lawyer

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Dear future lawyer excited about starting up a practice, Avoid these 4 critical mistakes at the start: // 1 // Choosing to work smart instead of hard. I thought I was saving time by absorbing information from others and skipping the groundwork myself. “I’m being efficient,” I told myself. Wrong. You can’t cut corners, especially with how quickly the legal world evolves. This includes embracing the digital era and advancements like AI. At first, I ignored these trends—until I had to face them head-on. Consider spending the first couple of years working hard at a big law firm. You’ll gain valuable experience that can set you up for success when you go solo. (I didn’t do this, but in hindsight, it’s worth evaluating.) // 2 // Not being diligent with the Law Society. The first 5 years are crucial. Law Society audits are common for new lawyers, and you need to stay sharp on regulations. Don’t walk around thinking, “It won’t happen to me.” Trust me, it will catch up if you’re not careful. // 3 // Cutting corners on startup costs. My overhead in the first month was hefty to say the least. I invested in top-tier tools from the start because I wanted to deliver top-tier service to my clients. You have to be ready to take that hit. Are you? Betting on yourself means believing in your future success. If you skimp on resources, you’ll end up doing twice the work to fix your mistakes later on. // 4 // Going solo without a network. I’ve seen colleagues open practices, only to hear crickets by year two. Why? They didn’t build a network to grow their business. You’re not just a lawyer anymore—you’re a business owner. Understanding the business side of law is key to building a thriving practice. Learn every aspect, or you’ll be limiting your growth.

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The High Court of Australia has ruled that proportionate liability applies in arbitrations. Last week, the High Court handed down a significant judgment and overruled the South Australian Court of Appeal in Tesseract International v Pascale Construction [2024] HCA 24.   The decision is a major win for respondents to arbitrations, which clears the way for respondents to limit liability by identifying non-party concurrent wrongdoers, despite the inability to join concurrent wrongdoers to an arbitration. This decision may cause delays for claimants, who will now need to pursue concurrent wrongdoers in subsequent proceedings to recover their total losses, which may result in insufficient compensation for a claimant if concurrent wrongdoers are insolvent or unable to pay their share.   Michael Harty, Partner, and Monique Kotevski, Lawyer, discuss the judgment and practical implications in more detail.   Read more https://lnkd.in/gEHbnNeC #Auslaw   If you found this insight article useful and you would like to subscribe to Gadens' updates, click here: https://lnkd.in/gwqNGne  

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Seasonal Clerkship Candidates of 2024, Good luck today to all those law students in Sydney who are waiting to hear back on whether or not they have received a clerkship offer. If you’re a penultimate year or final year law student who didn’t apply for clerkships, who didn’t get the opportunity to progress to the final interview stage or who gets rejection call(s) today (like I did many years ago), you’re going to be OK. As I wrote in a Lawyers Weekly article titled “Tips for surviving clerkship rejection (from those who have survived)” last year, “There are many lawyers and non-legal professionals who didn’t do any clerkships and have forged fulfilling and successful careers in and outside of the law. In fact, some of you may decide to go down a different path outside of the law and make clerkship rejections the best thing to ever happen to you.” Please feel free to share and spread the message with any unsuccessful clerk candidates. #auslaw #lawstudent #lawstudents #clerkships

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Join the Legally Yours Community: Support for Sole Practitioners and Small Law Firms Do you run a business that supports sole practitioners or small law firms? Are you interested in joining a private, progressive community of legal professionals? Join our Legally Yours Community here: https://lnkd.in/gsW-hDuW If you wish to offer your services to our community, learn more about our business partnerships here: https://lnkd.in/eDKX3ik #supportingSolePractitioners #smallLawFirms #legalprofessionals #legalcommunity #legallyyours #lawfirms

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📢 New Guidelines // Responsible Use of AI in Litigation 📢 Marking a significant step towards integrating technology in the legal field, The Supreme Court of Victoria (SCV) has released comprehensive guidelines on the responsible use of AI in litigation. 📋 Aimed at assisting both professional litigators and self -represented litigants, a summary of those guidelines follows: 1. Encouraging Technology Use: The SCV promotes the use of technology to enhance productivity and efficiency, emphasising that technological proficiency is now firmly part of the core skill set for lawyers. 2. GenAI is Not a Legal Research Tool: While AI can assist in various litigation tasks, it is not a substitute for traditional legal research. Parties filing documents created with GenAI remain responsible for the accuracy of those documents. 3. Accuracy in Legal Documents: Special care is needed when drafting affidavits, witness statements, and similar documents using AI to ensure they reflect the witness’s own knowledge and words. 4. Disclosure Requirements: If AI is used to complete legal tasks or prepare documents, lawyers should disclose its use to other parties and the Court to maintain transparency. 5. Judicial Use of AI: AI is not currently used by judges for decision-making or reasoning – though this may change in the future. ❗️These guidelines highlight the growing importance of technology in the legal profession while ensuring their ethical and responsible use. Read the full guidelines here: https://lnkd.in/gPCqV9FD #LegalTech #AIinLaw #Litigation #LegalInnovation #Lawyers #TechnologyInLaw Sarah Cooney Natalie Markovski Hayley Warren Jacqueline Wilcock

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Under the Rules of Court 2021, a defendant to a civil claim who contends that the Court has no jurisdiction to hear the claim or should not exercise its jurisdiction to do so is permitted to file a Defence or affidavit (as the case may be) stating only grounds of jurisdictional objection. Our Associate Director Tay Jing En details: (i) when and how such a Defence or affidavit should be filed, (ii) follow-up steps that defendants should take and (iii) things that defendants should take care to avoid doing. Read the full article here: https://buff.ly/3Vw6wjM #SingaporeLaw #Jurisdiction #Litigation #ROC2021 #RulesofCourt

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Following public consultation, IP Australia has changed some of its fees for patents, trade marks, designs and plant variety rights fees (as well as fees for registration as a Trans Tasman IP attorney) with effect from 1 October 2024.   So?    From my point of view, there are interesting changes in the filing fees for trade mark oppositions including for requests for amendment of the Statement of Grounds and Particulars in trade mark oppositions. This is aimed at improving IP Australia’s costs recovery for considering four or more grounds of opposition and/or considering 11 or more trade marks cited on a s44 opposition, and for considering late evidence filed out of time, before a hearing. The new fees may make practitioners think about running unnecessary or minor grounds of opposition, citing too many trade marks on oppositions under s44 Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) and filing evidence out of time.    IP Australia explains the basis for the changes in the Costs Recovery Implementation Statement 2024-2025 in the page linked to below. CRIS 2024-2025 also contains the interesting fact that IP Australia recovers 98% of its costs of running the IP Registers, education about IP and innovation in Australia and administration of the Trans-Tasman IP Attorneys Board from its users. #IPAustralia #IPAustraliafeechanges #trademarksproceedingsAustralia #TrademarksfilingfeesAustralia    

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If you didn't get a clerkship or graduate program, you'll fall behind in your career. ☝️ The great lie of the legal world. Don't let the large law firms trick you into thinking it's the only way. Don't let universities force feed this clerkship obsession down your throat. Don't even let people tell you it's an "advantage". You can get plenty of tremendous experience AND advantages elsewhere. Government departments. Community legal centres. Smaller law firms. Trade unions. Somewhere outside the law altogether. If you're feeling gutted, Or rejected, Or lost - Reach out and let's chat. Happy to help you work through it.

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ClerkshipReady - Sydney Clerkship Master List 2024 👨‍💻 Are you READY for this season's clerkship applications? Our long awaited #ClerkshipReady Master List is here! We've compiled this season's application questions covering over 25+ Sydney law firms - which includes clerkship deadlines, cover letter/resume requirements and all the written application questions from each firm! Get ahead of your Clerkship application TODAY - To get access to our Master List: 1️⃣ Follow ClerkshipReady on LinkedIn 2️⃣ Like and Comment on this post 3️⃣ Tag 1 clerkship buddy below, so more people know about our resource! For more articles and insights on how to prepare for clerkships this season, keep an eye on this page or check out our website! #Sydney #Clerkship #Law #Student

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#MonashLaw students - have you got a handle on bankruptcy laws in Australia? What about Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US for Australian companies? On Wednesday, 8 May, Genevieve Sexton (Partner), Luke Jedynak (Senior Associate), and Keira Unmack (lawyer and Monash Law alum) from ABL will explain how an Australian company can get caught up in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US. You'll hear about the key differences between the US's debtor-in-possession approach to insolvency and Australia's creditor-in-possession approach to insolvency. GenesisCare is one of Australia's largest providers of cancer care. In 2020 it acquired a US business for approximately A$1.7 billion and then shortly after, certain GenesisCare entities, including its Australian holding company, filed for relief in the United States under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. As part of GenesisCare's US$2.1 billion restructure, Arnold Bloch Leibler acted as Australian counsel for a group of ad hoc lenders who, as a result of a debt-for-equity swap, are the new major equity owners of GenesisCare. In this special presentation, the ABL team will discuss the risks and rewards of mergers and acquisitions from a perspective and a pathway that you might not have considered before. 📅 Wednesday 8 May 🏛 Moot Court (Clayton campus) Register now 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ggWtx3Kv

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Whether you are a law student or a first-generation lawyer - if you are wondering how to excel in your legal career, remember that academic excellence alone isn't enough—it’s all about skills. It does not matter whether you are a National Law University graduate or not; but if you lack the right skills, you will never be able to make it big in your legal career. Law schools in India often use outdated teaching methods, creating a significant gap between what is taught and what is actually practised in the industry. So, how can you, as a law student, bridge this gap? That's where we can help you. We have curated a series of sessions that will help you advance your legal career. We'll also work closely with you to create a road map, pinpointing the right strategies and approaches that will help you in your internships and may eventually provide you with an edge to turn it into a PPO. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞: This upskilling bundle includes four modules and ten expert sessions designed to enhance your proficiency in essential business communication, contract drafting, corporate law, and technology law. Remember, the journey to becoming a successful lawyer is not easy, but with dedication, perseverance, and a commitment to continuous learning, you can overcome the challenges and achieve your goals. Embrace the opportunities that come your way, and never underestimate the power of practical skills and experience. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. Comment "Interested", and we will slide the details into your DMs. #legal #law #upskilling #business

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Taking #ownership of your legal career doesn't mean having to go it alone. If you're a #lawyer looking to make a change in you career, reach out for a confidential chat to learn how Support Legal can help and provide you with the tools, resources and network you need to succeed. 🚀 #legalconsulatncy #worklifebalance #extremeownership #makeithappen

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