Conveyancing Conference
When a problem arises in your conveyance that involves drafting special conditions, title insurance, trust money, tax, GST, risk management, ethics, or other conveyancing pitfalls, you need (1) information and (2) a strategy. This practical conference delivers both with a comprehensive breakdown of what you need to know right now and into the next year. In addition, gain your CPD core area points for the year. This practical program is not to be missed. 233N33
Description
Attend and earn 7 CPD units including:
3.5 units in Substantive Law
1 unit in Ethics & Professional Responsibility
1.5 units in Practice Management & Business Skills
1 unit in Professional Skills
This program is based on NSW legislation
*The conference will be directly followed by a Networking Drinks Reception for the in-person delegates
Session 1
Critical Conveyancing Updates, Strategies and Advice for Your Clients
Chair: Judy Bliss, Principal, Bliss Conveyancing, Member of the Pexa Advisory Council
9.00am to 9.05am Opening Comments by the Chair
9.05am to 9.50am Critical Recent Conveyancing Cases in NSW You Need to Know
Analyze the latest conveyancing cases, including the key facts in each, the important takeaways, and the potential impact on your clients and your practice.
Presented by Gary Newton, Partner, HWL Ebsworth Lawyers; Accredited Specialist in Property Law; author, Conveyancing Service NSW Looseleaf, Annotated Conveyancing and Real Property Legislation and the drop out books. He authored with Christopher Conolly the 'Land Acquisition' 7th Edition, LexisNexis. Many awards including Best Lawyers 2022, 2023, Real Property Law, Leasing Law; Recommended Leasing Lawyer, Doyle’s Guide 2022, 2023
9.50am to 10.35am Drafting Special Conditions in Contracts of Sale: Do’s and Don’ts
- Plain language principles
- Techniques for clear, effective property documents
- Avoiding ambiguities
- Common errors to avoid
- Practical tips and traps
Presented by Peter King, Barrister, Queens Square Chambers
10.35am to 11.20am Title Insurance 2023 Update: Risk Management for Conveyancing Professionals
- Why title insurance is relevant in a Torrens system
- Council enforcement powers with respect to illegal building work
- Risk framework in NSW for property purchasers
- Update on claims and emerging areas of risk in NSW
Presented by Paul Watkins, General Counsel, Stewart Title
11.20am to 11.35am Morning Tea
Practice Management
11.35am to 12.20pm Handling Trust Money in Conveyancing Transactions
- Understand the legislation applicable to both Conveyancers and Lawyers for trust transactions in property
- Explore the differences between money in trust, controlled and transit monies
- Receive practical guidance on electronic settlements (including PEXA) and control of trust monies
- Understand recording of trust money transactions
- Explore examples of issues that can arise
Presented by Kevin O’Brien, Director, Landmark Legal
12.20pm to 1.05pm Tax, GST and Property Guide: Your Indispensable Conveyancing Checklist
- Tax changes and updates that your property and business clients will expect you to know; including the recent changes to the stamp duty rules
- Property tax issues impacting developers and investors
- Issues with non-residents buying, selling and owning real property: CGT, stamp duty and land tax
- Current issues with land tax and stamp duty: what Revenue NSW is looking at
Presented by Dr Nicholas Gangemi, Director, William Buck; Chartered Tax Adviser and Legal Practitioner
1.05pm to 1.15pm Final Q&A and Closing Comments by the Chair
Session 2
Ethics, Professional Skills & Practice Management for Conveyancers
Chair: Judy Bliss, Principal, Bliss Conveyancing; Member of the PEXA Advisory Council
Professional Skills
2.00pm to 3.00pm Top Surveying Tips for Conveyancers
Join an experienced surveyor as they divulge tips and traps to help those involved in a conveyancing transaction guide their clients and ensure success.
Presented by Chris Hill, Registered Surveyor, C & A Surveyors
Practice Management & Business Skills
3.00pm to 4.00pm Conveyancing as a Business
- Converting your conveyancing skills to a successful ‘business’
- Tuning in with the needs of your clients
- Creating a memorable ‘experience’ for your clients
- Understanding the true cost of delivering the service
Presented by Paul Denny, Director, Paul Denny Conveyancing
4.00pm to 4.15pm Afternoon Tea
Ethics & Professional Responsibility
4.15pm to 5.15pm Client Identification and other Ethical Dilemmas in Conveyancing
- Who is the client? Who are you taking instructions from and why does it matter?
- Does the client have capacity? Ethical considerations when determining whether your client has capacity and appropriate alternatives?
- Reasonable steps to establish authority to instruct
- When should you cease acting? Ethical dilemmas involving client identity issues?
- Proof of identify when an entity is the client
Presented by Michael Klooster, Barrister, 8th Floor Garfield Barwick Chambers
Presenters
Judy Bliss
Judy Bliss has been in the industry since 1984. She started Bliss Conveyancing when she saw the need for a conveyancing service that spoke plain English, not legal jargon. Her mission is to help people buy property with peace of mind for the future. Her professional experience is extensive, beginning in 1984 as Personal Assistant to the Chief Magistrate of NSW, then clerking at the Nowra Local Court and the Milton Local Court. She has been a Coroner, Registrar and Marriage Celebrant. Over 10 years ago, she earned her conveyancing license and entered legal private practice so that she could use her extensive legal experience to help people buy property. Judy is a current NSW State Representative in the Pexa Advisory Board.
Gary Newton
Gary Newton is a partner in the Property and Development Group of HWL Ebsworth Lawyers. He has been practicing in the area of property law since 1983, providing advice on a wide range of matters to business, government and individuals. Gary holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Sydney and is an Accredited Specialist in Property Law, since 1994. Gary is a long standing member of the Property Law Committee of the Law Society of NSW. Gary is the co-author of a book published in December 2017 called "Land Acquisition" 7th edition by Gary Newton and Christopher Conolly. Gary is also the co-author of a book "Real Property Law Case Summaries" Newton’s 4th edition and the co-author and the co-editor of the LexisNexis Butterworths NSW Conveyancing Service (loose-leaf). He is also sole author and editor of the book 2020-2021 and the upcoming new edition of the ‘Annotated Conveyancing & Real Property Legislation in NSW’ expected in late 2022. Gary has been listed in the 2023 edition of Best Lawyers and Doyles Guide for Leasing Law and for Real Property Law.
Peter King
Peter, with his wife Fiona, is the founder and former head of Queens Square Chambers and is a practicing barrister, specializing in commercial, equity and public law. He also has specializations in international trade and admiralty law. Peter has had a long association with the tertiary higher education sector, he was a graduate of Sydney University and Oxford University. Peter was a Rhodes Scholar awarded in 1975. Peter is the former Club President of SUFC, the Sydney University Football Club with two of his sons currently playing with the club. Peter was Chair of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in 2000 and 2001, based in Paris and was also chair of the World Heritage Bureau. He has worked with IUCN and heritage specialists in identifying places of international significance to be enscribed on the world heritage list, including the Blue Mountains and Australia's first cultural listing being places of convict heritage. Peter is a former Mayor of Woollahra, and a former member for Wentworth in the House of Representatives. Peter has a detailed working experience of the financial and administrative requirements of government at all levels.
Paul Watkins
Paul Watkins is responsible for the management and direction of the Underwriting and Legal Departments, including commercial and residential policy development, regulatory compliance, claims and underwriting supervision and general corporate legal matters. He strives to maintain a strong, experienced and responsive underwriting team that has a deep knowledge of title insurance, as well as local markets and regulations. His claims team is committed to resolving inquiries in a timely, professional and ethical manner. Prior to joining Stewart in 2004, Paul was in private practice, in both small and medium sized law firms, where he gained considerable experience in general insurance, residential and commercial conveyancing, commercial property development, leasing and general property practice. He has been a contributor to a number of Australia legal industry publications discussing the benefits of title insurance. Paul regularly presents to lawyers, conveyancers and lenders on a variety of real estate related issues, including title insurance, title claims and real estate fraud. In 2019, he was named a finalist for "Insurance Lawyer of the Year" at the Lawyers Weekly Corporate Counsel Awards. Paul holds degrees in Law (Hons) and Social Sciences from the University of Canberra and is admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and the High Court of Australia.
Kevin O’Brien
Kevin O’Brien has 30 years of experience in the trustee and legal fields and specializes in Estate Planning, along with a strong focus on property and structuring for property dealings with investors and developers. Landmark Legal focuses on family and working with family to grow their wealth, protect their wealth and transition their wealth. The firms principal areas of work are around structuring within entities for business and property (including within SMSF), estate planning, property, commercial and family law. In 2010 Kevin was employed to start a firm to specialize in the rapidly expanding world of SMSF property investment and to manage and advise on the key aspects of property transactions within SMSF, along with establishing required trusts for those transactions. In late 2012 Kevin started his own firm which is now Landmark Legal. Kevin has presented to numerous seminars for the Newcastle Law Society and different investor and property groups in each of NSW, Victoria and Queensland on the areas of SMSFs and property.
Dr Nicholas Gangemi
Nick Gangemi is a Director at the mid-tier firm William Buck Accountants. He practises in a number of areas of revenue and taxation law and works in providing advice to a number of clients, in all areas of tax law, notably in tax litigation, property transactions and high net wealth individuals and groups. Nick has worked in tax law and advisory since 1994, in both law and accounting firms in Sydney and in London. This advice is in areas of stamp duty, general income tax, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reconstructions of privately held groups, goods and services tax, superannuation guarantee charges, and land tax. Nick Gangemi was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in May 2012. He was admitted as a legal practitioner in New South Wales in 1994 and in England & Wales in 2001. Nick is a member of the New South Wales Law Society, the New South Wales Bar Association and the Tax Institute. Nick is a Chartered Tax Adviser.
Ben Bradley
Ben Bradley has a diverse practice that includes inquests and inquiries, professional indemnity, insurance, and infrastructure disputes. Ben has appeared in most jurisdictions within Australia. He has also enjoyed both a domestic and international arbitral practice, having represented clients in China, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. Ben has a strong reputation for collaborative problem-solving. He enjoys the opportunity to work alongside dedicated solicitors, experienced experts and committed clients, each of whom brings a nuanced approach to resolving disputed issues. Ben works with a broad client base that spans government, insurance, corporate and individual clients. He finds the variety in his practice rewarding and believes that it gives him greater insight into what drives people on all sides of a dispute. Before becoming a barrister, Ben worked as a solicitor at various leading law firms. He began his career acting for the plaintiff in the oft-cited matter of Burger King Corporation v Hungry Jack’s (2001) 69 NSWLR 558, a seminal authority on the issue of implied good faith in contractual dealings. He also advised the underwriters of professional indemnity schemes on a series of large class actions involving the collapse of significant financial investment schemes.
Paul Denny
Paul has had a wealth of experience in the conveyancing world, starting his career in Adelaide in 1978. He established himself as one of the most trusted conveyancers in South Australia, quickly building up a high reputation with real estate agents and clients alike. It wasn’t until 1993 that conveyancing was recognized as a profession in NSW – until then, only solicitors were permitted to engage in property transactions. Seeing the opportunity, Paul decided to relocate his business to Sydney and became the very first licensed conveyancer in NSW. Paul opened his first office in Lane Cove, and over the last 20 years he has continued to build Paul Denny Conveyancing.
Michael Klooster
Michael Klooster was admitted as a solicitor in 2005, having completed a Bachelor of Laws with honors from the University of Technology Sydney. From 2005 to 2007 he worked as an employed solicitor for a small law firm, Russel C Byrnes, in Surry Hills and was exposed to various and diverse areas of the law. Michael obtained a Masters in Environmental Law from the University of Sydney in 2007. He then pursued a career in commercial litigation and worked at the largest law firm on the North Shore, Somerville & Co, for most of 2008. By 2009 Michael had moved into the general commercial division of a mid-tier firm in the city, Bartier Perry. He was admitted as a barrister in 2010 where he has primarily undertaken general commercial litigation. Such work has involved a mix of mediation, arbitration, CTTT, Local, District and Supreme Court advocacy.
Chris Hill
Chris Hill is a Registered Surveyor at C&A Surveyors with over 30 years of experience in the land development industry. He has a vast experience from Mine sites to Building sites, Subdivision stages to positioning theatre stages. He has been the Chair of the Sydney North Group of the Institution of Surveyors since 2008. Chris Graduated from Newcastle University in 1997 and was registered with the Board of Surveyors in 2007. He is currently 3 months away from completing an Executive MBA at Western Sydney University. Chris is happily married with two teenage children and has been living in Sydney since 2001.
Venue
Cliftons - Spring Street
Level 3, 10 Spring Street
Sydney 2000
NSW
Australia
Parking Information
Parking not included in you registration. Here are some options below.
Secure Park 20 Bond Street - click here for rates
Wilson Park 1 O'Connell Street - click here for rates
Wilson Park 31 Bond Street - click here for rates
Directions
Nearby Public Transport:
Train Stations - Wynyard 400m OR Martin Place 500m
Bus Interchange - Clarence Street 450m
Ferry - Circular Quay 1.2km