Holman Webb is proud to be a foundation signatory of the Law Society of NSW Charter for the Advancement of Women in the Legal Profession

We are pleased to announce that Holman Webb is co-sponsoring the inaugural International Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Seminar Series. The project is an initiative of the NSW Young Lawyers’ International Law Committee in partnership with the Australian International Disputes Centre and the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration.

The aim of this project is to give Series participants a greater understanding of different areas of international dispute resolution in private law, public law and investment disputes, as well as treaty and contract negotiation. The twenty-five Series Participants were selected by application.

Last year Holman Webb Lawyers Brisbane successfully obtained orders against a company director and a company officer for contempt of court. The contempt orders were necessary to enforce injunctive orders previously obtained by HWLB on behalf of Beech Ovens Pty Ltd. These proceedings are an exemplar of the personal liability which directors and company officers have for the actions of their company in complying with Court orders.

Holman Webb Lawyers has announced a strategic alliance with global US firm Diaz Reus, strengthening the firm’s reach into the Latin American market.

With an existing reach in the Australian and European markets, the alliance will increase the capability of both firms in the Asia Pacific region.

The making of appropriate contemporaneous notes in medical records is best practice for clinical care, but also to facilitate the defence of a claim should an adverse event occur.

Casaclan v Wealthsure Pty Ltd [2015] FCA 761 is the most recent decision involving Wealthsure Pty Ltd and their former authorised representative Mr Colin Oberg following the High Court’s Selig & Another v Wealthsure Pty Ltd (2015) 320 ALR 47 judgement.

This article, recently published in the February 2015 Law Society Journal, considers the extent to which the objectives underpinning the introduction of amending federal and new state legislation have been effective, if they have not, why not, and what further steps can now be taken to engender the necessary culture of arbitration to promote a competitive and sustainable arbitration environment in Australia.

Mandatory notification has been in place for three years now, and, if we look beyond the encouraging rhetoric about improving patient safety, the scheme has kicked up some surprises, including last year's 40 per cent surge nationally in the number of reports made, which, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA) has, so far, been unable to explain.

While the increase might encourage belief in the scheme fulfilling its goals of ensuring patient safety, we should aslo bear in mind that the rise also increases the chances that health practitioners, who take the serious step of making a report, may face legal action when they do so. If we drill down into the 40 per cent increase, we find that the most significant contribution comes from Queensland where the number of reports has almost tripled, rising from 85 to 220.The increase is even more troubling because health practitioners making mandatory reports about colleagues are not absolutely protected from defamation. Put simply, doctors reporting colleagues, and members of the public reporting health practitioners, can be sued for defamation.

The ACCC had claimed that sponsored links displayed by Google between 2005 and 2008 had conveyed misleading and deceptive representations.  The case involved searches using keywords such as Harvey World Travel and Honda, which were redirected to competitors websites.