Navigating the risks of being a client’s second lawyer (REPEAT)
to
Law Mutual (WA) regularly deals with complicated circumstances where a client has engaged multiple legal firms on the same matter before turning around and claiming against all of them when things aren’t resolved to their satisfaction.
This session will explore a variety of challenges that face solicitors who aren’t first on the scene, including advice shopping, prior sunk costs, compromised information gathering and time pressures.
By reference to real claims experience, this session will offer some strategies and options for navigating these challenges
The negotiation mandate; It’s the client’s call (REPEAT)
to
This seminar focuses on what a lawyer ought to do to eliminate the risk of claims arising from the lawyer acting as the client’s agent in negotiations with another party both in the commercial environment and in the course of litigation. How do you secure the client’s authority to negotiate, what are the limits on the lawyer’s authority and, most importantly, what does the client need to know before instructing the lawyer to commit the client to a resolution of the relevant issue whether it be a commitment to the terms of a commercial relationship or compromising a case.
Missing deadlines – ongoing and preventable claims
to
An ongoing major cause of claims is missed deadlines. Managing deadlines is a core legal discipline, and totally within the control of the firm. This seminar will explore the types of deadlines the firm must manage, why deadlines are commonly missed and the fundamental practices the firm should adopt to manage the risk of a missed deadline.
Initial client engagement – planning for success (REPEAT)
to
This seminar looks at some practical examples of where an inadequate plan or documentation at the beginning of a matter or failure to change the plan as circumstances changes has been the root cause of claims. It will be presented with reference to the Law Society’s template client engagement agreement, which covers scoping the work, confirming assumptions and recording key details at the outset. With the use of this tool, you can literally be on the same page as your client.
Supervision & Delegation: 2025 & Beyond (REPEAT)
to
Delegation is essential in the law office, to ensure the distribution of work amongst staff so that the complexity of the task matches the skill of the lawyer. Not only does this maximize efficiency and profitability, but it enables junior lawyers to learn and improve their skills while being supervised properly. Other topics covered include:
• Remote and hybrid work
• Communication over multiple channels/devices
• Practice management software
• GenAI supervision
• Psychological safety
• Setting up methods to supervise
• How to be a better delegator/supervisor
• How to be a better delegate, given these issues
Introducing practice management guidelines – building and maintaining the foundations for firm success
to
Law Mutual’s Practice Management Guidelines have been designed to provide the organisational framework for firm success and, through this, to support practitioners to manage risk in the conduct of all legal matters. This seminar focuses on the critical aspects of practice management and the controls needed to ensure effective leadership, organisation, management of people, information and communication, processes and practices – as well as assurance that firm requirements are being met in the management of the practice and the conduct of a matter.
