Membership Evening – May 2007 Leveraging LAW9000

The membership evening held on was a great success with app 50 acceptances from members and guests present to hear the presentation from Linda Julian of Julian Midwinter Consulting Pty Ltd on Leveraging LAW9000

Linda spoke about how to best derive a competitive advantage from having the “5 ticks” that comes with the awarding of certification. This could result from being able to reassure clients of service quality as well as the benefits to staff that resulted from recorded policies and procedures that were consistently followed.

After the formal presentation there was a lengthy discussion during which particular aspects of the standard were talked about by members and representatives from certified firms

It was obvious from the comments made by the participants that there has been an increase in interest in the impact of quality systems certification on practice management especially in the area of reduction of risk, increase of profitability and efficient and effective staff training.

There was considerable discussion after the presentation of the paper and discussion with people form firms that had LAW9000 and what benefits it had achieved for them

A copy of Linda’s presentation paper can be found here.

QL Incorporated thanks Linda for giving her time for our members and guests of QL.

Membership Evening – July 30th. 2007 – The Future Firm

Law firms increasingly have to deal with the challenge of being both successful practices and businesses. Parallel with this, practices are now able to take advantage of major change in business structure - the ability to incorporate and to plan for the practice’s future.

All members of QL are invited to come along and hear Paul Matthews from Matthews Folbigg and Steve Mark – Legal Services Commissioner doing a joint presentation about aspects of The Future Firm

Paul and Steve will be talking about these challenges and how you can meet them in your business and professional practice.

The evening will be a joint presentation covering the future law firm – what it might look like and how the requirements on incorporated practices can be addressed by the “on line” portal of the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner.

Paul will be discussing the issues based on recent research in the “Urbis Key Young Study (2003) that he spoke about at the recent AFR Legal Summit

Steve will be discussing the requirements for Incorporated Practices, how they relate to the principles of good management that are in the LAW9000 Standard and the roll out of the self assessment process shortly to be available of the website of the OLSC.

Topic – The Future Firm

Presenters Paul Matthews – Managing Director, Mathews Folbigg and Steve Mark, NSW Legal Services Commissioner

When and Where – Monday 30th July Melbourne Meeting Room, Baker and McKenzie, Level 27, 50 Bridge Street, Sydney

Agenda -
6.00 pm - Registration and Drinks
6.30 pm - Presentation and discussion
8.00 pm - Close at 8.00 pm

About the Presenters -

Paul Matthews - Paul is the Managing Director of Matthews Folbigg – a incorporated commercial legal practice located in the city of Parramatta

He is an Accredited Specialist in Business Law and currently chairs the Law Society's examination and accreditation committee for the appointment of business law specialists.

Steve Mark - Steve was appointed as the first Legal Services Commissioner and he continues in this role today.

He was the President of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board from 1988 to 1994. He has practised law in Australia and the United Kingdom, specialising in criminal, immigration and human rights law.

CLE Points - 1.5 MCLE points

Cost - This event is FREE to QL members and $66 for Non-members

However for the appropriate fee (e.g. $100 plus GST for 1-5 partner firms) you can attend and also join QL for the balance of 2007. Attendance at these events is included as part of the membership fee of QL. Click here for registration form.

QL acknowledges the support and assistance of LOCUS in sponsoring the 2007 Membership Events Program