Membership Evening - Excellence in business development -leveraging “Law 9000”

Over the last year we have conducted a number of very successful membership evenings and this may have been your first contact with QL.

We are pleased to let you know that QL will be running our first members evening on Thursday 17th May and you are invited to attend as a guest for a nominal fee or as a member of QL.for free

The speaker will be Ms Linda Julian from Julian Midwinter & Associates www.julianmidwinter.com.au

Linda will be speaking about ”Excellence in business development - leveraging Law 9000”.

A well-known consultant and adviser to law firms, Linda is also author of a recently published book “The Passionate Professional : creating value, success and prosperity” - a collection of important business development concepts melded with practical advice which makes a positive difference to marketing and client relationship outcomes.

The venue for the evening will be at in the Melbourne Meeting Room on Level 27 of Baker and McKenzie – 50 Bridge Street, Sydney.

This event is free to QL members.

Costs for the evening for non members will be $60 plus GST. However for the appropriate fee e.g. $100 plus GST for 1-5 partner firms you can also join QL for the balance of 2007. Attendance at these events is included as part of the membership fee of QL. A Registration form is attached

MEMBERSHIP EVENING, OUTLINE LAW9000 POLICY AND PROCEDURE MANUAL, MEMBER DETAILS UPDATE form available HERE

Outline Policy and Procedure Manual – LAW9000

We are also pleased to advise that QL will be preparing an outline policy and procedure manual to assist firms with gaining LAW9000 certification.

The outline Policy and Procedure Manual materials produced would comply with the LAW9000 standard and can be used by firms as the basis for their own individual manuals.

The manual would be A4 in size and be hard copy also available on CD Rom.

This will be ready for launch in the middle of the year and is being generously supported by the College of Law, NSW Law Society, Law Cover, and The Office of the Legal Services Commissioner.

Arrangements for additional commercial sponsorship are close to completion and this will be advised to members in the next newsletter.

If you are interested in purchasing this please indicate on the attached form and faxback to QL as indicated.

Thank you for continuing to support the important work of QL.

Membership Evening - QL Survey Results

The QL Board resolved to survey members and QL certified firms as part of its role in managing the relationship with SAI Global as well as the continuing development of legal quality standards for the Law 9000 and Excellence in Law programs.

The objective of the survey was to better understand the concerns that firms might have and to identify opportunities for improved service that QL can bring to the attention of SAI as part of our regular meetings and discussions with them.

A subcommittee of the Board comprising Bruce MacDermott, Ray Ward, Simon Dooley, Marisa Pacchiarotta and Stephen Burke (Administrator) was established to create the survey and then interview certified firms.

The results were reviewed and presented by Marisa and Simon at the November membership evening. Click here to see the presentation.

The Board would like to express its appreciation for the work that the subcommittee put into this process and especially to Marisa and Simon for presenting and leading the discussion at the membership evening.

Membership Evening - Incorporated Legal Practices

The membership Evening held on Wednesday 14th June was a great success with app 45 members and guests present to hear the presentation from Steve Mark (NSW Legal Services Commissioner) and Geoffrey Cuffe (from Wearne and Co Accountants, http://www.wearne.com.au/, who spoke about the regulatory and financial aspects of Incorporation.

Steve'presentation included reference to material available on the website of the Legal Service Commissioner - http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/olsc. In addition he distributed a short guide title "Ten Areas to be Addressed to Demonstrate Compliance with the requirement for "Appropriate Management Systems" in an incorporated legal practice. Click here for a copy of this guide.

Geoffrey Cuffe outlined some of the major issues around the incorporation decision including the structure of the shareholder agreement and the various taxation liability aspects. Click here for a copy of his paper as presented. Geoffrey as asked that you be aware that in the time since the paper was originally prepared there have been changes in the regulatory environment and advice should always be sought when contemplating such a decision.

It was obvious from the comments made by the participants that there has been an increase in interest in the impact of incorporation on practice management especially in the area of quality systems as well as the requirements imposed on solicitor directors.

QL Incorporated thanks both Steve and Geoffrey for giving their time for our members and guests of QL.