Family Law: Key Issues in WA
Attention WA Family Law practitioners! Join us for a tailored educational session where you'll delve into crucial issues unique to Family Law in WA. Discover the pitfalls of negotiating and drafting binding financial agreements. Master the art of handling complex children issues and receive key case updates. Lastly, gain insights from a successful lawyer who has built their practice on value-based pricing. Enhance your expertise and advance your Family Law career. Don't miss this invaluable event! 239W06
Description
Attend and earn 4 CPD points including:
1 point in Competency Area 1: Practice Management
3 points in Competency Area 4: Substantive Law
This program is based on WA legislation
Chair: Brendan Ashdown, Barrister, John Toohey Chambers
9.00am to 10.00am Binding Financial Agreements in WA
- Considering the pitfalls for practitioners when negotiating and drafting binding financial agreements
- The treatment of binding financial agreements by the Family Court
- A review of recent decisions
Presented by John Butler, Special Counsel/Director, Butlers, Lawyers & Notaries
10.00am to 11.00am Complex Children Issues: The Rights of Grandparents, Step Parents, Donors and Others
- Third parties in family law proceedings: who, why and how
- Part VIIIAA
- Recent cases
Presented by Nicola Watts, Principal, O’Sullivan Davies Family Lawyers
11.00am to 11.15am Morning Tea
11.15am to 12.15pm Recent Family Law Cases Demystified: Key Insights for Lawyers
Gain a concise summary of some significant family law cases, ensuring you stay informed and well-prepared to navigate the complexities of your practice.
Presented by Dr Colin Huntly, Barrister, Murray Chambers
Practice Management
12.15pm to 1.15pm Value Based Pricing: How Do You Run a Family Law Practice Without a Timesheet?
The traditional business model of law and time-based billing is under increasing pressure as lawyers and clients look to New Law alternatives. Hear how a family lawyer has successfully built her firm on a Value Pricing model and how you can harness Value Pricing to transform the way lawyers and clients experience family law.
- Why Value Pricing? Why should you consider it as an alternative? Compliance issues
- How to scope and price to capture the real value of your work
- How to leverage legal project management alongside Value Pricing
- How to measure and track team success and performance. What metrics and reports can rely upon to evaluate the success?
- How to project revenue and generate a live financial forecast
- How to create your firm’s roadmap to Value Pricing
Presented by Katherine Bromfield, Legal Practitioner Director, Bromfield Family Law
Presenters
Brendan Ashdown
Brendan Ashdown has been admitted to legal practice for over 25 years. After founding his own firm, and later joining a mid-sized City firm, Brendan commenced practice at the bar in 2005 at John Toohey Chambers. Brendan undertakes trial and appellate work in a wide range of areas with an emphasis on equity & trusts, insolvency, contested wills & estates, and family law property matters (appeals, trust, company & third party issues).
John Butler
John Butler has worked in the law for more than 55 years. He is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, and on the Roll of Legal Practitioners for the High Court of Australia. In addition to Western Australia, John has practised in New South Wales and the ACT. He has been a partner in a national legal firm and has twice established his own practice. John is currently the Principal of Butlers, Lawyers & Notaries, based in Nedlands. The majority of John's practice is in the areas of Family Law, Business Planning, Wills & Estate Planning, Claims on Estates, Guardianship & Administration and Elder Law. John has been involved with government and independent schools for over 40 years, including serving on the governing bodies of several independent schools over that period. John holds a Commission in the Australian Army and is on the Reserve of Officers. John is also an active member of the Rotary Club of Matilda Bay.
Nicola Watts
Nicola studied at the University of Tasmania and was admitted as a Practitioner of the Supreme Court of Tasmania and the High Court of Australia in 1993. Four years later, Nicola moved to Melbourne where she was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria and worked in family law for 16 years. She moved to Perth in 2013, joined O’Sullivan Davies in 2018 and became Principal in 2020. Widely experienced across Australia, Nicola practises in all areas of family law with a particular interest in children’s matters. Nicola was one of the first people in Australia to be trained to act as an Independent Children’s Lawyer and was appointed by the Legal Aid Commissions of Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia to represent children between 1995 and 2018 in that role. Nicola has also qualified as a mediator, collaborative lawyer and arbitrator. Nicola is Western Australia’s only Executive Member of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (FLS) having been elected in 2016 and made Treasurer in 2021. Nicola is the Chair of the Organising Committee for FLS’ 20th National Conference which will take place in Perth in October 2024. She also sits on the Legal Aid Review Committee and as FLS Representative on the Family Law Practitioners Association of Western Australia (FLPA). Nicola has previously been a member of the Board of the Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators and Mediators (AIFLAM) and the Law Society of Western Australia’s Ethics and PSS sub-committees and the Legal Aid Review Committee.
Dr Colin Huntly
Prior to joining Murray Chambers, Colin was a full-time Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT). At the AAT Colin previously sat in the Migration and Refugee Division, and currently sits in both the NDIS and General and Other Divisions. In 2023 Colin divides his time between his role as an AAT Member and his new practice at the bar. A former academic, Colin has taught at both Curtin and Edith Cowan Universities. He is also an experienced parliamentary officer, having been a senior officer of the Legislative Councils of both Western Australia and Tasmania. Between 2014 and 2016 he was a Committee Member and Vice-president of the Australia New Zealand Association of Clerks at the Table. His parliamentary experience includes advising on major parliamentary inquiries in both Western Australia and Tasmania. Colin is an experienced presenter of seminars and professional development sessions within Australia and internationally. In addition to his interest and experience in parliamentary and constitutional matters, Colin also has a particular interest in legal issues faced by educational and third-sector entities including membership associations.
Katherine Bromfield
Katherine Bromfield was a Legal Aid lawyer before making the transition to private family law practice and always struggled to reconcile the practice of law with the traditional business of law. Whereas the practice of law requires lawyers to put their clients first and hold their trust and confidence; the traditional business model of law requires lawyers to issue time-based bills based on an arbitrary hourly rate, irrespective of the value of the actual work to the client; which few clients consider reasonable or fair, and which even seasoned lawyers can struggle to justify beyond their KPIs and bonus structure. Now coming up to 15 years of legal practice, Katherine says that Value Pricing has allowed her to fall back in love with the practice of law, by re-aligning the practice and business of law so that the client remains central and the client experience is paramount. Having managed the success of the transition from time-based billing to Value Pricing as Family Law Team Leader in another practice around five years ago, Katherine now runs her own successful family law and litigation practice at Bromfield Family Law. The Bromfield Family Law team make it a point of pride that they have never filled in a time sheet, or had a costs complaint or a bad debtor, allowing them to focus on providing solutions to their clients. Katherine is passionate about the benefits of Value Pricing, and looks forward to demonstrating how you can do it successfully, no matter your size or practice area.
Venue
Cliftons Perth
Parmelia House, 191 St Georges Terrace
Perth 6000
WA
Australia
Directions
Nearby Public Transport:
Train Stations - Elizabeth Quay Train Station
Bus Interchange - St Georges Terrace, after Milligan St (1 min walk)
Parking information
Parking not included in your registration.
Here is an option - Wilson Parking - St Georges Square, 225 St Georges Terrace Perth - click here for rates.