The current economic climate is likely to increase the incidence of elder financial abuse situations that practitioners will have to navigate. The Law Council of Australia has recently published Best Practice Guide for Legal Practitioners in Relation to Elder Financial Abuse. The most common scenarios for elder financial abuse include family members arranging for parents ..read more

A mortgagee is required to take reasonable steps to verify the identity of a mortgagor. In the recent case of C&F Nominees Mortgage Securities Ltd V Karbotli & Ors [2020] VCC 987 the Court found relying on a solicitor’s certificatedid not constitute reasonable steps for a mortgagee to properly verify the identity of a mortgagor ..read more

Looking for some free online learning options while working from home? Here’s a couple you might like to consider. Legal research at the Law Library The Law Library of Victoria has two free online courses for Victorian legal practitioners to help brush up on your case law and legislation research skills. You can access the ..read more

Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner recently published a guide: E-Conveyancing: Regulatory Guidelines? The guide contains the regulator’s expectations of practitioners conducting electronic conveyancing. Practitioners may need to make changes to their current conveyancing practices in light of the regulator’s expectations. In this article we have highlighted three of important areas covered by the guide ..read more

Compliance with Stage 4 COVID-19 business restrictions announced by the Victorian Government on 3 August requires law firms in the Melbourne metropolitan area to close their offices from midnight on 5 August 2020 and work from home.  Victorian Government Stage 4 Restrictions – Guide for Business Stage 4 Restrictions – Law institute of Victoria FAQ’s ..read more

We all know by now that practitioners and firms are targets for email fraud. An increasing flow of cyber claims coming to us though tell us that not everyone is good at picking the difference between a legitimate email and one from a scammer. It gets harder as cyber criminals become more and more sophisticated.  ..read more

Introduction Lawyers retained in transactional matters involving the electronic movement of client funds are continuing to be targeted by cybercriminals through compromised email accounts and fraudulently sent or altered emails. There is no worse feeling for a practitioner than a phone call from a client saying they haven’t received the money they were expecting, and ..read more

Subject to finance clauses have always been a source of claims but attention needs to be paid to them more than ever in this current uncertain economic climate. There are two recurring mistakes we see in claims that are particularly relevant at the moment. The first is that clients are not adequately advised about how ..read more

In the current financial environment requests for practitioners to advise on loans and guarantees, particularly from second and third tier lenders, appear to be increasing. Providing solicitors’ certificates in these matters is risky at the best of times, but where there is uncertainty about future financial and property market stability and clients under severe financial ..read more

Working remotely still requires access to practice management tools, doing all the steps in a matter and not being distracted Stay alert to cyber risks Plan what to do if staff are unavailable Review files and record what needs to be done where someone else can action it if required Keep clients informed Take time ..read more