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7 September 2010 - Small Firm Whipping up a Storm
As Slater & Gordon’s efforts are winding down in its representation of Commonwealth Bank Storm Financial victims, small firm Levitt Robinson’s fight is just beginning.
Slater & Gordon today announced that it had finalised 900 claims against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) under a negotiated resolution scheme. By the end of December 2010, all Slater & Gordon CBA claims are expected to be finalised. Damian Scattini of Slater & Gordon said today more than 1,500 individual investors had now received compensation from the Bank as part of the process.
Levitt Robinson’s Class Action against CBA is on behalf of approximately 300 Storm Financial victims and is scheduled to continue in court next month. Levitt Robinson today reconfirmed to its clients that the Class Action “is designed to extract the highest price” from the Bank.
Which firm will achieve the best result for victims? It seems unlikely that CBA will want to hand over a compensation package that favours Levitt Robinson clients over Slater & Gordon clients. The most likely course of action will be a protracted battle through the courts.
The Class Action will be closely observed by still struggling Storm Financial victims who suffered losses via other financial institutions. It will also be closely observed by Slater & Gordon, whose reputation could take a hit if Levitt Robinson scores a big win by litigating.
7 September 2010 – Big Jump in the Number of Legal Sector Job Advertisements in August
The current uptrend in legal sector job advertisements that has been evident since May 2010 has accelerated dramatically. The number of job advertisements in August increased by 9.5% from July. There are now 22.6% more jobs advertised than in August 2009.
The number of job advertisements in the legal sector was 11.7% higher in July 2010 compared to July 2009.
However, recent months' job advertisements are still well below the top of the peak which occurred in early 2008.
(Source: Advantage Job Index statistics with analysis by Legal Practice Intelligence)
6 September 2010 - Stealing from a Law Firm Trust Account
You never know when someone might want a few hundred dollars or a few thousand or even a million dollars for a very special occasion. Here is how someone working for a law firm might help themselves to the trust account of a law firm. Read More
1 September 2010 - New Adelaide Law Firm
A new law firm is set to open its doors in Adelaide on Monday 6 September 2010.
Adelaide lawyers who have previously practised as DLA Phillips Fox and as Rankine Tucker lawyers will create the new firm, Fox Tucker Lawyers.
The new firm will bring together unique expertise in insurance, corporate/commercial and taxation.
It will be headed by current DLA Phillips Fox Managing Partner Joseph DeRuvo.
“Bringing this combined knowledge under one roof at 100 King William Street will certainly make us a formidable force in the Adelaide market,” Mr DeRuvo says.
“While the newly-formed firm will have a staff of more than 70 people our culture will ensure that our clients have full access to partners as well as our impressive depth of resources and wide range of services.”
Mr DeRuvo says the formal cessation of the affiliate arrangement with DLA Phillips Fox is very amicable. Fox Tucker and DLA Phillips Fox will continue to work together and maintain a strong relationship.
“It will allow us to now pursue our own agenda for growth.”
30 August 2010 - Internet Marketing: Advice from the Company Responsible for 900 Law Firm Websites
Link to report from the 'Internet Marketing for Small Law Firms' seminar
27 August 2010 - Market Potential for Lawyers Assisting Clients to Sell their Property Direct
A single legal office in an east Melbourne suburb has now assisted more than 200 clients to sell their properties direct. It is the cumulative result over the few years that the law firm has been providing this service.
The sales milestone, achieved by Lawyers Real Estate in Croydon, provides evidence of the demand for such a service. It means that it could be feasible for hundreds of law firms across Australia to also provide the service.
The combined efforts of law firms across the country promoting the benefits of the service should give it even greater impetus.
Peter Mericka, the founder of Lawyers Real Estate, is in the process of franchising the service so that it can be quickly implemented by other law firms.
At present he is working towards achieving regulatory certainty. At a recent seminar he spoke about the long history of lawyers’ involvement in real estate negotiations. He reminded attendees that laws introduced to regulate the real estate industry were originally introduced, not to exclude lawyers, but to regulate non-lawyers who were starting to provide real estate services.
Link to Lawyers Real Estate
23 August 2010 - Slater & Gordon Makes First Acquisition of a Family Law Practice
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Slater & Gordon has acquired the specialist family law firm Rod Powe Lawyers in Maitland, NSW.
Slater & Gordon has acquired practices in the past that had a component of family law work but it has now made its first acquisition of a practice that focuses primarily on family law.
Ken Fowlie, Executive Director of Slater & Gordon, confirms that the acquisition is aligned with the firm’s strategy of expanding its market share in family law. It will also aid in consolidating its overall presence in the Hunter Valley region. Slater & Gordon has existing offices in Newcastle and Cessnock.
Ken Fowlie believes that a likely natural development of the Maitland office is for it to become a service centre for potential personal injury clients.
Link to Press Release
23 August 2010 - Qudoc Determined to Provide Searchable Case Law
On 12th August 2010 Kieran Morgan and James Gorman launched the beta version of their legal research search engine Qudoc. Kieran and James teamed up to embark on this technological adventure, having been friends since attending the same high school.
It took 12 months for them to reach this incredible milestone. They succeeded in creating a lightning-fast, Google-type search engine that delivers results from websites about Australian law.
Shortly after reaching this milestone they faced a serious hurdle to realising their goal. The hurdle had nothing to do with overcoming technical challenges. Read more
21 August 2010 - Revenue Prediction for Australian Legal Services Industry
IBISWorld has estimated that industry revenue in 2009/10 was $21.8 billion.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated $18 billion for the year 2007/08.
SmartCompany reports that IBISWorld is predicting that revenue in the legal services industry will be $26.3 billion by 2014/15.
This represents an average increase of 3.8% per annum or an additional $900m of revenue in each of the 5 years between 2009/10 and 2014/15.
On a macroeconomic level, this looks like a very healthy prognosis for the industry.
Link to report at SmartCompany
16 August 2010 - New Legal Research Search Engine for Australia
Qudoc Pty Limited has launched the beta version of its experimental legal search engine designed for lawyers and anyone interested in finding legal information.
It uses purpose-built algorithms to search the internet and automatically retrieve only web pages that are talking about Australian law. Qudoc has the ability to look at a website and determine which pages are talking about law and which ones are not.
The company believes that conventional search engines such as Google are not suitable for legal research as they bring in too wide a pool of results.
Qudoc automatically filters legal information into categories such as subject, jurisdiction and so on, saving research time. It uses another set of purpose-built algorithms to show citations between documents. For example, with one click you can find the latest secondary articles that cite any given section of any given Australian act or regulation.
Once Qudoc has identified an Australian law web page, it automatically filters it according to various categories such as subject, jurisdiction and so on. It uses another set of purpose-built algorithms to show citations between documents.
Link to Qudoc
11 August 2010 – Number of Legal Sector Job Advertisements Continue to Show Increasing Year on Year Gains
May 2010 was the first month since the start of 2009 that the year on year change in the number of legal sector job advertisements was a positive number. In May 2010 the number of job advertisements in the Australian legal sector was 3.2% higher than in May 2009.
Two months later, the year on year increase has advanced further. The number of job advertisements in the legal sector was 11.7% higher in July 2010 compared to July 2009.
However, recent months' job advertisements are still well below the top of the peak which occurred in early 2008. July 2009 was a month near the bottom of the downturn.
(Source: Advantage Job Index statistics with analysis by Legal Practice Intelligence)
7 August 2010 - Alternative Billing Arrangements - An Ideology or a Marketing Tactic?
Almost every lawyer in the known legal universe must have had one or more clients wanting a reduction on a bill. Similarly, almost every lawyer would have discounted a bill to keep a client happy or stop them from going elsewhere. Isn’t it the case that just about every law firm offers fixed fees in place of time costing for at least some of its services? If this is true then what is all the fuss about alternative billing arrangements?
An increasing number of firms are promoting alternative billing arrangements as a cornerstone of their value proposition to clients. It is usually considered to be an alternative to its ‘evil cousin’ time costing.
Read more in Trend Watch
7 August 2010 - Innovative Use of Video on Law Firm Websites
In an earlier news item we reported on the innovative talking website of Law Partners. Equally impressive is the website of Lavan Legal. Visit here
4 August 2010 - The Stock Exchange is Helping Australia’s Two Listed Law Firms Score Goals
Slater & Gordon has raised the necessary funds to complete its $57 million acquisition of Trilby Misso. It needed to raise $40 million. A significant proportion of the funds came from as far away as Canada. Calgary, Alberta fund manager Mawer Investments contributed approximately $13.5 million, resulting in it becoming a substantial Slater & Gordon shareholder. The completion of the Trilby Misso acquisition is on schedule for next week.
Australia’s other publicly listed law firm Integrated Legal Holdings has reported cash flow receipts from customers for the 12 months to 30 June 2010 at just over $24 million. For the same period in the previous year it reported $15 million. It is not possible to make a direct comparison between the two years because it made acquisitions part way through the 2009 financial year. Argyle Lawyers and MDA Lawyers, at the time of being acquired in the 2009 financial year, were reported to have annual fee revenue of $6.5 million and $2.5 million respectively.
1 August 2010 - Important Indicator Pointing to Lower Conveyancing Volumes
Original research conducted by Legal Practice Intelligence has shown a correlation between the rate of change in property prices and the level of conveyancing activity.
In January 2009 we reported that “Australia-wide (on average) property prices rose faster in 2007 than in any year since 2004. This coincided in 2007 with an upswing in conveyancing activity. The same appears to have occurred in the earlier part of the decade, most notably 2002 and 2003, which also had similar healthy upswings in conveyancing, coinciding also with rapidly rising property prices.”
“The correlation between sales and prices was confirmed in 2008 when both property prices and the volume of sales fell together.”
In most parts of Australia, the experience in calendar 2009 was of rising property prices. Sales volumes were up on 2008. However, recently released data on property prices indicates that the market is turning.
The RP Data–Rismark Home Value Index shows that “Over the June quarter, Australian dwelling values remained flat with effectively no growth (+0.1% in seasonally-adjusted terms). This represents a striking deceleration in the quarterly rate of increase in home values. Since the start of 2009, the average quarterly capital growth realised by dwellings located in Australia’s capital cities has been 3.0% (seasonally-adjusted).”
Flat property prices should signal caution about expecting any year-on-year growth in conveyancing activity in the near term.
29 July 2010 - Slater & Gordon Now Speaks Seven Languages
Slater & Gordon has launched the ‘We Speak Your Language’ program. It features a free hotline where non-English speakers can access legal information in any language. Slater & Gordon’s service also provides lawyer and client cultural matching, and a translation and interpreter service.
Slater & Gordon managing director Andrew Grech, the son of Maltese immigrants, said the firm recognised that people from non-English speaking backgrounds often struggled to access legal help.
“We’re aware that our migrant population may miss out on justice or legal help, and that’s because it’s often difficult for non-English speakers to contact a lawyer when they need assistance,” he said.
“People from non-English speaking backgrounds can call our hotline, for free and without obligation, and get help straight away in Greek, Italian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic or Vietnamese. If we don’t have anyone who can speak in a certain language immediately, we’ll find someone who does, and give them a call back."
The language service is provided by the firm's own internal staff.
The cultural matching service is a unique approach of selecting lawyers to match their clients. Lawyers are matched up with clients based on their similarity of language, background and ethnicity. Slater & Gordon has also demonstrated its commitment to cultural awareness by rolling out online cross-communication multicultural training to all of its staff.
www.slatergordon.com.au
26 July 2010 - An Innovative Way to Build a Franchise Law Practice
Melbourne law firm Franchise Legal is a specialist in Franchising and practises exclusively in this field. The firm advises franchisors, franchisees and suppliers to the franchise industry.
The principal of the firm Ilya Furman is offering an innovative arrangement to other law firms who wish to build their own franchise law practice as an extension of their current commercial practice. Franchise Legal has structured the opportunity as a franchise agreement. Law firms can become franchisees of Franchise Legal in order to benefit from collaboration and client referrals.
The firm has a strong reputation in the sector and engages in a national marketing program to seek out clients. The opportunity is limited to only one firm in each State or Territory.
The first franchisee, Adams and Partners Lawyers based in Sydney, was appointed earlier this month. This means that there are only opportunities for firms in each of the states outside of NSW and Victoria.
Ilya Furman can be contacted at Franchise Legal on 1300 798 501 or through www.franchiselegal.com.au
22 July 2010: E-Conveyancing – A New Team Gets Down to Business
Three States (NSW, Vic and Qld) have funded the establishment of the company that is expected to deliver a national electronic conveyancing system. The company is National E-Conveyancing Development Limited (NECDL).
NECDL Chairman Alan Cameron and chief executive officer Marcus Price presented an outline business plan for the company via a webcast on 20 July 2010.
Mr Cameron said “We’re now focused on delivery whereas a lot of the previous activity was focused on analysis.” The previous activity had a life of about 5 years.
The key message was that NECDL will become a self-funding business that will provide E-Conveyancing products and services to its customers for a fee. “We are bringing an immediate strong commercial focus to this phase” said Mr Cameron.
Mr Price said that NECDL will be “an enterprise in its own right as opposed to an extension of some other service provider.”
There will be many challenges ahead for NECDL. There will be technology challenges. There will be capital raising challenges, as the subsidisation phase is expected to be carried by taxpayers.
However, the greatest challenge could be trying to assess what value each stakeholder will be deriving from the company’s products and services and then setting the right fees for them. It will be Mr Price’s job to get the prices right.
Link to the 30 minute webcast replay
Related Earlier Story: Lawyers and Conveyancers in Display of Unity Over Concerns About NECS: The views of industry stakeholders were openly aired at a National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS) consultation forum held in the Sydney CBD on 18 March 2010. Link to full report and photos (open access)
20 July 2010 - Finding a Specialist Lawyer has Now Been Simplified with a New Internet Directory
When young Perth Lawyer Auguste Hocking needed to find specialist lawyers on behalf of clients, he was surprised at how difficult it was. His experience was that the current directories were either too cumbersome or they were designed primarily for consumers. Internet searching did not deliver the results either. His solution: build a better directory, which he did and which is now open for business at www.lawgate.com.au.
The standout feature of the directory is its simplicity. The layout is designed for a fast browse-type search with everything in sight on the start page. There is a search box as well if you prefer keyword searching to browsing. The cost to list a firm starts at $69.00 for a “basic” 12 months listing. Consumers and businesses can also use the directory to find specialist firms.
Even though practitioners might already have a referral network, perhaps built up over many years in practice, it still makes sense to promote your firm to the younger generations of lawyers who might discover your firm for the first time at www.lawgate.com.au.
17 July 2010 - A Small Law Firm Redefines What is Possible in Practice Management
There have always been two ways to run a legal practice, the old-fashioned way and the contemporary way but now, thanks to a small law firm in Sydney, there is the Bransgrove way.
You will find more innovation at Bransgroves Lawyers than you will find in almost any other law firm. However, the Bransgrove way is not about innovation for innovation's sake. It is about mastery. The question then becomes mastering what and for what purpose?
Read More
10 July 2010 - The Innovative Talking Website of Law Partners
If you have never seen this feature on a law firm website, you might be initially startled. However, looking beyond the novelty element reveals the perfectly sensible reasons for implementing it.
A website is all about communication. For example, when you land on the Law Partners home page, the video presenter tells you the message that Law Partners wants to convey to you. The same message in text relies on the visitor noticing the words and then reading them. It is impossible not to notice a video message.
Moving from one page to another, the video presenter tells you where you are on the website and what you can do in that section.
In addition, the Law Partners website has numerous short video guides that answer questions related to Unfair Dismissal and Constructive Dismissal. This is a video version of a FAQ section.
Sydney headquartered Law Partners took a risk with this form of website innovation but it looks like a risk that was well worth taking, with the results speaking for themselves.
Link to Law Partners website
4 July 2010: 30+ Lawyer Tasmanian Firm Joins M+K Group
Hobart based Dobson Mitchell & Allport is one of Tasmania’s largest commercial and litigation law practices. Servicing all areas of Tasmania, the firm has more than 30 lawyers, 4 paralegals plus support staff.
The firm has announced:
“... from 1 July 2010, the DM&A practice will be conducted as an incorporated practice by Dobson Mitchell & Allport Pty Ltd. This company has joined the M+K Lawyers group. This group is based around Macpherson + Kelley Lawyers, a long established Victorian commercial firm that, like DM&A, specialises in advising businesses, business people and their professional advisers.”
“M+K Lawyers group has offices in Melbourne, Dandenong, and Sydney and is planning a national presence with offices in each capital city. It is also a member of Multilaw, an international association of over 60 law practices.”
“DM&A as a legal practice will continue under the same name, with the same Principals, utilising the same premises in Hobart, and with the same excellent employees. All our contact details remain the same including email addresses. We will continue to service our clients with our same core values, but with expanded services.”
Link to Dobson Mitchell & Allport
Link to Macpherson + Kelley Lawyers
3 July 2010: A Big Firm's Reputation is at Risk as Small Firm Launches Class Action
Legal Practice Intelligence has previously reported on the dispute resolution scheme that Slater & Gordon negotiated for Storm Financial victims who had loans with the Commonwealth Bank.
The dispute resolution scheme came to the attention of Stewart Levitt, principal of small firm Levitt Robinson, who formed the view that Storm Financial victims could do a lot better than what was provided for in the scheme.
After many months of lead-up, Levitt Robinson has now launched the threatened class action by filing a Statement of Claim in the Federal Court.
The class action, while critically important to the parties involved, will also be significant for the reputations of the law firms representing them.
The commencement of the class action has again put the spotlight on the question of whether Slater & Gordon negotiated a good deal for Storm Financial victims.
Successful litigation by Levitt Robinson could turn out to be a disaster for Slater & Gordon. The firm could suffer a serious blow to its reputation which may affect its ability to generate new work of this kind. Stewart Levitt is also putting his reputation on the line.
It is hard to see how this case can play out without major gains and losses to the reputations of the lawyers and law firms involved.
Link to earlier article
3 July 2010 – Major Firm Adds Family Law to its NSW Practice
Macpherson + Kelley Lawyers (M+K) has entered the market for family law services in NSW as a result of its merger with Musgrave Lister Family Lawyers.
M+K employs over 170 people, made up of over 75 Lawyers including 29 Principals. The firm operates from three offices located in Melbourne, Dandenong and Sydney. Gross fee revenue is believed to be in the vicinity of $42m. It has been reported recently that M+K is likely to engage in further merger activity in the short term.
The firm has had a presence in family law in Victoria for some time. The move in NSW, combined with further expansion plans, could position it to become a significant player in family law services across two or more states.
On 1 July 2010 Joanne Lister, from merger partner Musgrave Lister Family Lawyers, became a principal of M+K and will lead the firm’s Sydney family law team.
Link to M + K website
3 July 2010 - Lawyers Real Estate Appears on Today Tonight
Peter Mericka achieved a huge and positive response from the television program's viewers following a recent segment on the real estate industry. The segment contrasted the differences between using a real estate agent to sell a property versus using Lawyers Real Estate. Peter Mericka is the founder of Lawyers Real Estate, a legal practice that provides a flat fee sale and conveyancing service to property vendors, cutting out the need to use a real estate agent.
Link to view television segment
Read viewers' response to the television segment
   
Peter Mericka (pictured right top and bottom) appearing on Channel 7's Today Tonight
28 June 2010 - Slater & Gordon to Acquire Trilby Misso for $57m
Text of Slater & Gordon Media Release:
"High profile Queensland law firm Trilby Misso is to merge with one of the biggest names in the legal industry.
Slater & Gordon, believed to be the first law firm in the world to list on a stock exchange, today announced to the ASX that it plans to acquire Trilby Misso for $57 million.
The acquisition, which is expected to be completed by mid August, is subject to due diligence. It will bring together two of the best known names in personal injury litigation in Queensland.
Trilby Misso will continue to run as a standalone business under its own name.
Trilby Misso CEO Graeme McFadyen has welcomed the opportunity to be part of a larger team.
“For clients and staff there will be no apparent difference after the merger is complete,” he said. “But the benefit of being able to draw on the resources and expertise of Slater & Gordon is a very exciting prospect. We look forward to building our business under this arrangement.”
Slater & Gordon managing director Andrew Grech says Trilby Misso is the perfect partner for Slater & Gordon’s plans to develop its business in one of Australia’s fastest growing regions. “The acquisition of Trilby Misso will take us to a size that would have taken years to achieve through solely organic growth,” he said.
Trilby Misso has developed a well deserved reputation for its outstanding client service, values and culture. which has been recognised by their winning the Telstra Queensland Medium Business Award in 2009 and, Hewitt’s accreditation for one of the six best employers in Australia and New Zealand and BRW’s Best Places to Work in 2010.
Trilby Misso employs 150 people across its five offices in south east Queensland. The firm specialises in motor vehicle accident and workers compensation claims. Slater & Gordon has 36 offices nationally, including four in Queensland (Brisbane, Southport, Ipswich and, from July, Townsville). Slater & Gordon also specialises in personal injury work and is well known to Queenslanders for its work on behalf of former clients of Storm Financial."
Link to ASX Announcement
24 June 2010 - Continuing Legal Education Tour of the UK for Property Lawyers
Peter Butt, Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Sydney, is leading a 10 day tour of the UK which will visit the sites of a number of leading property law cases.
Organised by Legalwise Seminars, the tour includes visits to the famous Inns of Court; the site of the most famous easement case in the history of the common law and a castle that featured in a leading case involving life estates. This is just a sampling of the many destinations.
According to Legalwise Seminars, each day begins with a breakfast “seminar”, outlining the legal sites to be visited during the day, refreshing your knowledge of basic principles of property law. These seminars will show how the cases involving those sites have continuing relevance for the modern day practice of Australian property law.
This has to be one of the most innovative and non-boring ways to meet your CLE obligations and possibly also a very tax-effective way of doing a tour of the UK. The “UK Property Case Law Tour” is scheduled for September 2011 with only 35 places available.
Link to Legalwise Seminars
22 June 2010: 1,637 Licensed Conveyancing Businesses in Australia
Independent research conducted by Legal Practice Intelligence has revealed that there are an estimated 1,637 licensed conveyancing businesses in Australia.
Licensed conveyancing businesses do not exist in Queensland or the Australian Capital Territory because they are not permitted to operate in those jurisdictions. In Western Australia, the more commonly used name for a licensed conveyancing business is ‘settlement agent’.
The numbers below are not intended to be exact and where appropriate, they have also been rounded.
Victoria has the largest number with an estimate of 500. Approximately one third of this number hold a provisional licence which requires them to perform certain functions in conjunction with a lawyer. The Victorian provisional licence came into being when new legislation regulating conveyancers was introduced. Provisional licence holders have a time limit in which to meet the full licence requirements.
Number of Licensed Conveyancing Businesses
500 Victoria
400 South Australia
390 Western Australia
320 New South Wales
20 Northern Territory
7 Tasmania
11 June 2010 Legal Job Market - Good News Bad News - Take Your Pick
For the first time since the start of 2009, the year on year change in the number of job advertisements has been a positive number. In May 2010 the number of job advertisements in the Australian legal sector was 3.2% higher than in May 2009.
The not so good news is that May 2010 job advertisements were still 46% lower than in May 2008.
However, it is becoming clearer that the surge in employment demand that occured during 2007 and held up for most of 2008 was a bubble. The bubble burst towards the end of 2008. Perhaps the most interesting question now is: how long will it take for employment demand to reach these earlier heights?
(source: Advantage and Legal Practice Intelligence Analysis)
3 June 2010 - Melbourne's Lovegrove and Lord Lawyers De-Merge to Become Lord Commercial Lawyers and Lovegrove Solicitors
Link to Lovegrove and Lord Lawyers de-merger page Article-The Australian
3 June 2010 - Western Australian Firm Blakiston & Crabb Enter Strategic Alliance with Sydney's Gilbert + Tobin
Link to Blakiston & Crabb Media Release
2 June 2010 - Class Actions: Can Small Law Firms Get A Piece of the Action?
Lawyer Stewart Levitt, principal of Sydney firm Levitt Robinson, is poised to take a big chunk out of Slater & Gordon’s business representing victims in the Commonwealth Bank / Storm Financial dispute.
Slater & Gordon has put forward a dispute resolution scheme that it negotiated with the Commonwealth Bank for Storm Financial victims who had loans with the bank.
The dispute resolution scheme came to the attention of Stewart Levitt who strongly believes that Storm Financial victims can do a lot better than what is provided for in the scheme.
Levitt Robinson is at the ready to launch class action litigation against the Commonwealth Bank. Storm Financial victims who have not yet committed to the Slater & Gordon scheme may choose instead to seek advice from and be represented by Levitt Robinson.
How does a sole principal firm, made up of a small team of lawyers, win clients at the expense of a firm like Slater & Gordon which has over 750 staff across 36 locations and a reputation as the leader in the field?
Here's how Stewart Levitt and his team are doing it:
Mr Levitt believes that the Slater & Gordon resolution scheme is misconceived. In a speech to Storm Victims in March 2010, he said that the scheme “basically allows the culprit to determine the circumstances of his own trial".
"You don’t allow the defendant in a case to choose their own jury, to choose their own prosecutor, to choose their own judges, to set down the rules of evidence .... and to predetermine the maximum sentence that can be imposed on them” said Mr Levitt.
The speech was filmed and can be viewed via this link.
The link goes directly to part 2 of the speech, from which the above excerpts were taken. The videos are also able to be viewed at the Levitt Robinson website www.levittrobinson.com
29 May 2010 - Legal Profession Reform: Chief Justices Show First Sign of Retreat Coinciding with Federal A-G Conciliatory Gestures
In a speech on 28 May 2010, the Chief Justice of Queensland Paul de Jersey said “It is fanciful at the moment to think this reform drive will not proceed in some form or other.”
This statement could be interpreted as showing a lack of will to pursue a "fight to the death" with the reformers.
The Federal Liberal Party opposition has aired and amplified the Chief Justices’ concerns but that is as far as they have gone.
These developments coincide with conciliatory statements from the Federal Attorney General who was reported in The Australian as saying that there is “room to move” on the make-up of and selection process for the national board. He further indicated that he would be willing to withdraw from the board selection process altogether.
The Australian quotes him as saying that he would press ahead with the reforms even if Western Australia did not come on board. "I hope it doesn't come to that, but it could," Mr McClelland said.
Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls has written a public article arguing in favour of the reforms and rebutting the Chief Justices’ concerns about issues of independence.
A show of weakness by the Chief Justices might be just what it takes to keep the reform process moving on its planned course.
Reporting in The Australian: Queensland Chief Justice Speech; Federal Attorney-General to give ground; Victorian Attorney-General's Article
27 May 2010 – Liberal Politicians Take Up The Cause of Critics of Legal Profession Reforms
“The reforms clearly endanger the smaller states and the small law firms, especially in rural and urban areas,” Senator Barnett said.
Senator Barnett (Liberal from Tasmania) tabled letters in the Senate from Tasmanian Chief Justice Ewan Crawford and Tasmanian Law Society President, Graeme Jones.
Chief Justice Ewan Crawford labelled the proposals an ‘insult to the profession,’ calling on the Government to include greater representation from the legal profession.
Law Society of Tasmania President Graeme Jones said in his letter to Senator Barnett that he supports reform but is concerned about handing power to Attorneys-General.
“These changes threaten to compromise the independence of the legal profession and the judiciary.
“I am particularly concerned for smaller law firms, especially in regional and urban areas.
“Smaller law firms and those in regional and urban areas could effectively have no representation on the National Board.
“These changes come at a time when the presence of global law firms in our big cities is increasing. Their dominance is not in the national interest.
“The independence of the Judiciary is a pillar of our democracy, established in the constitution. These changes threaten to undermine this vital institution within our society.
“Just like the mining tax and just like the ETS, the Rudd Government has again demonstrated its arrogance and unwillingness to genuinely consult and listen to the interests of the smaller states, and rural and regional Australians,” said Senator Barnett.
Criticism of the draft legislation has also come from Western Australia:
The Liberal Western Australian State Attorney-General stated that he is “not presently inclined to support it in its current form”.
The Chief Justice of Western Australia Wayne Martin said “While the creation of a national system for the regulation of the legal profession is a worthy objective, the surrender of the independence of the profession to control by executive government is too high a price to pay for the achievement of that objective.”
The Law Society of Western Australia President Hylton Quail said “We will not give up independence and control of the profession to government, we will not agree to be disciplined from Canberra and we will not agree to Western Australian consumers paying more for legal services because the costs of practice increase”.
27 May 2010 - Leading Criminal and Family Law Firm Expands into ACT
NSW headquartered Armstrong Legal has opened an office in the Canberra CBD.
In addition to family law and traditional criminal law work, the firm has a team of lawyers who specialise in corporate crime defence work. The two partner firm has grown to almost twenty lawyers.
Armstrong Legal is the founding member of the Australian Defence Lawyers Association (ADLA) which is a national alliance and referral network of criminal law firms.
In late 2009 Armstrong Legal made industry news by becoming Australia's first carbon neutral law firm.
www.armstronglegal.com.au www.adla.com.au
20 May 2010 Langes+ Financial Services Law Firm Expands into Victoria
Langes+ announcement:
"We are excited to announce that Langes+ will be opening an office in Melbourne on 1 June 2010 with a new member of our team, Ronen Atzmon.
"Ronen will be in charge of our Melbourne office. He is the former General Counsel of Cuscal, and will join Langes+ in the position of Executive Counsel. He has extensive experience in corporate and finance law and the mutuals sector.
"Langes+ was formed with the vision of becoming a national law firm for the financial services sector. The Melbourne office is an important step in our growth strategy and will complement our existing representation in Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane."
www.langes.com.au
20 May 2010 - Government Proposes to Extend Use of Family Dispute Resolution Services to Family Law Property Disputes
Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland said:
"In family law, a great deal of work has already been done to ensure disputes are resolved at the most appropriate level through the use of family dispute resolution services.
The Government now proposes to extend that requirement to property and spousal maintenance matters, with much the same exceptions.
The Government will also introduce amendments giving parties more options for resolving their issues outside of the courts.
Parties will be able to choose mediation, conciliation or arbitration or some combination of these rather than being limited to mediation or the family courts.
This means families can choose the process which meets their needs and gives them the best possible opportunity to make arrangements in low-cost, informal and non-adversarial environments."
Link to full text of speech
19 May 2010 - National Legal Profession Reform
Consultation meeting highlights:
- A true national regime
- Prescriptive rules out, guidelines in
- Ombudsman decides who does what and where
- New costs dispute arrangements
- Possible lifting of Personal Injury advertising bans
- Reduced need for Trust inspections
Link to report from consultation meeting
19 May 2010 - ASK Funding Signs Up Two Major Law Firms
Publicly listed ASK Funding has announced that Slater & Gordon and Trilby Misso have each taken up a disbursement funding facility with the company.
Mr Russell Templeton, Managing Director of ASK said that the disbursement funding product “is now being used by approximately 30 of Australia’s specialist personal injury practices - more than double the number two years ago.”
Mr Templeton also said “Australia’s total personal injury disbursement funding market was conservatively estimated at $300 million at any point in time and formed a core stream of ASK’s business growth strategy.”
Slater & Gordon employs a staff of over 700 in 36 offices around the country.
Queensland based Trilby Misso employs a staff of over 150.
16 May 2010 - Federal Government's New Find a Lawyer Website
From the official media release:
Attorney General, Robert McClelland, today launched an innovative new website as part of a comprehensive package of measures to improve access to justice in the community.
“Increasingly, the experience of ordinary Australians dealing with the justice system is marked by confusion and complexity. People often don’t understand legal events, what to do or where to seek assistance, while many are excluded because information is complicated or simply difficult to find,” Mr McClelland said.
The new website, located at www.accesstojustice.gov.au, will provide all Australians with seamless access to information about legal assistance and related services in their local area.
“All people need to do is punch in their postcode or suburb and they will get comprehensive information and contact details of local legal services such as Legal Aid, Community Legal Centres, Family Relationship Centres, and Dispute Resolution Services.”
“The website will also provide a link to lawyers who operate in each State and Territory as well as relevant laws to enable people to understand their options early, in order to prevent or resolve their disputes before they escalate or become entrenched.”
12 May 2010 20% Increase in House Prices – Analysis Discredited
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released its house price data last week causing newspaper headlines such as “House Prices Rocket 20%”. The ABS March Quarter House Price Index showed that the capital city average house price had increased by 20%.
Compass Capital Property Group has provided the following table which shows the growth in house prices over the past four quarters estimated by four separate sources.
(APM is Australian Property Monitors)
The smh.com.au article, with the headline referred to above, quotes a Macquarie Bank strategist who says that ''The Reserve Bank places more weight on the RP Data index.” BT economist Chris Caton is also quoted saying that “the ABS measure is not the [Reserve] bank's favourite”.
Unfortunately, the ABS measure is the Sydney Morning Herald headline writer’s favourite.
Compass Capital Property Group believes that the main problem with the ABS measure is that it relies too much on the median price which was affected in the period by first home owner incentives. “In our view, in a period in which there have been unusual levels of activity by first home owners, the median approaches are likely to have a bias, and the approaches of RP Data Rismark (hedonic index) or Residex (repeat sales) are likely to be more accurate.”
Link to Compass Capital Property Group
12 May 2010 Federal Budget - Legal Aid, ITSA, Relationship Services & Cut in Judges (Budget Papers excerpts)
Family Court of Australia — increased efficiencies: The Government will not proceed with filling four vacancies for judicial officers within the Family Court and the Federal Magistrates Court. This reflects an expected reduction in the workload and improved administrative systems. This will deliver savings of $10.5 million over four years.
Family Relationship Services program — increased efficiencies: The Government will improve the efficiency of the delivery of counselling services provided under the Family Relationship Services program, as part of arrangements to streamline Family Support programs. The program will combine the delivery of counselling services with other types of post‑separation services, realising administrative efficiencies and improving service delivery. This will provide savings of $4.5 million over three years from 2011‑12.
Easing debt pressures on those in financial stress: The Government will provide funding of $12.6 million over four years (including capital of $4.8 million in 2010‑11), to improve services and accessibility to assist people facing insolvency. This measure will assist those considering bankruptcy to investigate their options, and where possible, reorganise their affairs to avoid bankruptcy.
To offset the cost of this proposal, the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia will pursue cost recovery arrangements from 2010‑11 with the introduction of an up‑front fee (for those with capacity to pay).
Improving Access to Justice The Government will provide $154.0 million over four years to increase the resources available to legal assistance service providers. The funding will help implement the Government's Strategic Framework for Access to Justice through increasing resourcing for legal aid commissions, community legal centres and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services.
The funds will be provided under a National Partnership Agreement with the States and Territories on legal assistance services. The agreement will facilitate reform in the legal assistance sector and improve access to justice for disadvantaged Australians.
The additional funding for legal assistance providers will be offset by reductions in funding of $84.0 million over four years in programs administered by the Attorney‑General's Department, and by increasing efficiency in the Family Court of Australia, Federal Court of Australia and the National Native Title Tribunal.
In addition, revenue of $66.2 million over four years will be raised by increasing hearing and filing fees for Commonwealth courts and tribunals and changing fee waivers and exemptions.
This measure will make more strategic use of the resources that are available across the sector as a whole and encourage early resolution of disputes without resort to the courts.
4 May 2010 - NECS Office Lobbying For Licensed Conveyancers To Operate in Queensland and ACT
It has been a long, winding and dead end road travelled by the nation’s non-lawyer conveyancing bodies to have legislation enacted in ACT and Queensland to allow licensed conveyancers to operate in those jurisdictions. A new push is being made now, not by a conveyancing body, but by those with an interest in maximising the effectiveness of the planned National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS).
The National Electronic Conveyancing Office has made formal submissions to the COAG initiated taskforces that are reviewing the national reform of the legal profession and national reform of occupational licensing.
In its Submissions, the NECS Office states:
“Licensing of conveyancers, or at least recognition of conveyancers licensed elsewhere, in the ACT and Queensland would remove an unnecessary source of uncertainty for transacting parties in those jurisdictions. Mutual recognition of licensed conveyancers in all jurisdictions would further reduce uncertainty and increase cost efficiency in using NECS.”
Elsewhere in its submissions:
“With the advent of a national system for conveyancing, practitioners will have much greater flexibility in where they offer their services and consumers of conveyancing services will have greater flexibility in where they engage practitioners to act on their behalf. It is important therefore that there be a nationally consistent approach to the regulation of practitioners.”
29 April 2010 - Two Law Firms Make BRW’s Fast Starters List
Integrated Legal Holding’s fee revenue in 2008/09 of almost $17m has earned it the number 5 spot on Australia’s BRW list of the 100 fastest growing start-up companies. “Fast starters are ranked by turnover, as opposed to year-on-year growth” states BRW.
Integrated Legal Holdings (ILH) is one of Australia’s two publicly listed law firm groups. BRW reports ILH staff numbers at 110 and 2008/09 growth at 58.56%. The 2008/09 results for ILH included contributions from firms acquired during that year, namely Argyle Lawyers and mda lawyers. Operating Revenue for ILH in the 6 months to December 2009 was close to $11.6m.
In number 71 spot was Sydney based immigration law firm Katie Malyon & Associates. BRW lists the firm as having turnover in 2008/09 of close to $1.7m, representing a growth rate of 6.7% for the year. The principal, Katie Malyon established the firm in July 2005 after a 19 year career at top and mid tier firms.
To be included in the list, businesses must have been in operation for between 2 and 4 years and have annual turnover of more than $500,000.
14 April 2010 - Could This Be The Best Value Publicity Tool For Lawyers?
If you’re not blogging, tweeting or article writing and you don't have a marketing department to do these things for you, what can you do to generate publicity for your practice?
What if you didn’t want to spend a fortune on online or print advertising and you didn’t even have a budget for advertising anyway?
One option is to write a press release and have it distributed for you by a media distribution service. Australian based business NewsMaker provides such a service. According to NewsMaker, its online software automation helps to keep the cost down and its current pricing is between $22 and $55 for its typical services.
Leila Henderson is the founder and CEO of NewsMaker, which she started in 2004. She explained to Legal Practice Intelligence that “The first mistake most novices make is to try to tell every story in one press release. Write each release with one stakeholder or target market in mind, then move to the next.”
The NewsMaker website provides helpful information about writing press releases as well as tips on how to get the most out of NewsMaker's investment in online search and alert optimisation.
Link to NewsMaker website and Link to pricing information
11 April 2010 - Conveyancing Activity Tracker Updated
The Conveyancing Tracker for NSW and Victoria has now been updated. Is your conveyancing volume up or down compared to 12 months ago? Compare and benchmark your conveyancing practice's performance against your State's conveyancing activity. View the data from other States and Territories. Set your budgets for the next 6 to 12 months based on real facts and figures. View the Tracker here (members). Other States and Territories to be added soon.
6 April 2010: Salvos Legal - How Much Profit Can it Generate?
The ABC's 7.30 Report recently publicised The Salvation Army's plan to "open a commercial law firm in the Sydney CBD later this year which will charge market rates to do property and conveyancing law for corporate and government clients. Profits from the new firm, which will pay its lawyers proper salaries, will be funnelled back into the Salvation Army's humanitarian work, including free legal advice for the poor and needy."
Comment and analysis from Legal Practice Intelligence:
Anyone who has ever run a legal practice knows that there are significant challenges to overcome before a law firm can generate any profit at all. The financial structure of law firms is that profit as a percentage of turnover is small. Furthermore, compared to other types of businesses, the gross revenue of law firms is also quite modest.
How hard and efficiently will the Salvos employed lawyers work? Will a few percentage points of profit generated from their toil keep them going in the face of demanding and perhaps bargain-hunting clients? Salvos lawyers will have to pedal very hard to generate any serious funds for the poor and needy. If the lawyers slow down, the slim profit margin will quickly disappear.
It is commendable that The Salvation Army is exploring new sources of funding so that it can expand its services to the poor and needy but surely there are more profitable ventures than providing legal services in a complex and competitive professional services market.
2 April 2010 - Merger to Create Largest Regional Law Firm in Tasmania
The merger of Launceston's Rae & Partners Lawyers and Devonport's Levis Stace & Cooper will create a 77 person firm, believed to be the largest regional law firm in Tasmania. The current partners of Levis Stace & Cooper, Leon Wootton and Cath Church, will remain as consultants to the new firm.
Cath Church said that the merger "... will also improve our ability to recruit and retain lawyers in regional areas". Leon Wootton explained that Tasmania's North has rich natural beauty and a relaxed lifestyle. Younger practitioners will not only be able to take advantage of that but also a broader range of work specialties and mentorship following the merger.
The merger will enable Rae & Partners to extend its reach to the thriving rural-based economy of Devonport. Rae & Partners CEO, Anthony Wright stated that while both firms will benefit from shared resources and infrastructure, their respective clients will also gain from the merger. "The combined depth of experience within these two well-established businesses will enable a complete legal service across the north and north-west of the State", Mr. Wright said. The merger will take place from 1 May 2010. Link to Rae & Partners Lawyers
30 March 2010 - Another Melbourne Legal Practice to Offer Real Estate Sales Bundled With Conveyancing Services
Hutchinson Legal in the Melbourne suburb of Ringwood will shortly begin providing a real estate sales service. Clients of the firm will no longer need to use the services of a real estate agent if they appoint the law firm to handle the sale of their property. The service to be provided is a dual real estate sale and conveyancing service for a fixed price that is well below standard real estate agency commissions.
Lawyer Peter Mericka has been providing this service in the nearby Melbourne suburb of Croydon. He has developed the concept into a franchise system which will be available to law firms as a ‘bolt-on’ to their existing practices. The launch of the Franchise was announced on 4 March 2010. Hutchinson Legal is the first law firm to trial the Lawyers Real Estate franchise system, after which it can choose to formalise its franchise agreement.
It is significant that the two law firms offering this service are located in the same municipality. Hutchinson Legal is a firm of 15 people with deep roots in the local area. The combined efforts of the two firms should increase their chances of gaining acceptance for the service amongst local property vendors. Link to Hutchinson Legal Link to Lawyers Real Estate
27 March 2010 - Slater & Gordon Strikes Again with Another Acquisition: This time it is in Wangaratta, Victoria involving prominent local firm Stewart & Noble Lawyers. Other regional acquisitions in the past 12 months have included practices in Gunnedah, Albury and Dubbo in New South Wales and Ballarat in Victoria. During this period Slater & Gordon also opened a new office in Ipswitch, Queensland. Earlier this month Queensland personal injury firm Shine Lawyers made a strategic acquisition in Sydney. Favouring advertising over acquisition, NSW headquartered personal injury firm Keddies is utilising prominent billboards in the Sydney suburbs and radio advertising, featuring Fatty Vautin. 30/3/10: Slater & Gordon have a new TV advertisement
24 March 2010 - Aussie Legal Entrepreneur Markets Legal Services to the Masses: The firm is also open to cross referral opportunities with other legal practices. A detailed report on the service is available by clicking here.
20 March 2010 - Queensland’s Largest Plaintiff Litigation Firm Makes Strategic Move in NSW: Shine Lawyers has merged with NSW firm Somerville & Co. Solicitors. This is Shine’s first foray into NSW. Prior to the merger, Shine had 16 offices in Queensland, 4 in Victoria and 1 in Western Australia – with a total contingent of 280 staff. Somerville & Co believes that it is now North Sydney's largest firm with a team of 45. According to Shine Lawyers “The merger resulted in the Somerville & Co. practice being divided up. All employees working within the plaintiff litigation area have joined [Sydney] partner Patrick Heath in the new merged body, which will retain the Somerville & Co. name for the time being. The commercial and family law practices have now commenced trading separately under the name Somerville Commercial and Family Lawyers.” Link to Shine Lawyers
19 March 2010 - Lawyers and Conveyancers in Display of Unity Over Concerns About NECS: The views of industry stakeholders were openly aired at a National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS) consultation forum held in the Sydney CBD on 18 March 2010. Link to full report and photos (open access)
14 March 2010 - LEAP Legal Software Pty Ltd Acquires The BING! Family Law Software Business: LEAP has acquired the family law precedents business of BING! Software. Approximately 400 firms use the BING! Family Law Suite. Late last year GlobalX acquired BING!'s conveyancing software business. Legal Practice Intelligence has learned that this development brings to an end the BING! company's 10 plus years of involvement in the legal software market. Prior to the acquisition, LEAP had 2,600 firms using its products. It is likely that the majority of BING! clients were not using LEAP software and this could help LEAP quickly reach a new milestone of 3,000 firms using its software. Websites: www.bing.net.au/cms and www.leap.com.au
12 March 2010 - Legal Sector Online Job Ads at 2006 levels: Early 2008 could be described as the peak of the legal sector job advertisements bubble. For this reason, job advertisements continue to be down for year on year comparisons. The dramatic falls in the number of job advertisements had to come to an end at some point and this has clearly happened. February 2010 online job advertisements in the legal sector are approximately 50% below February 2008. From a longer term perspective, the number of job advertisements in the legal sector is now close to 2006 levels. Note: Based on Advantage Index and Legal Practice Intelligence analysis.
4 March 2010: Simon Lewis of Sinch Software Delivers Groundbreaking Conference on Online Legal Services: Sydney Australia was the venue for a conference of international significance on the latest trends in online legal services. The line up of speakers included international thought leaders such as Richard Granat, Adrian Dayton, Darryl Mountain and Peter C Hart. The conference also heard presentations from lawyers who are currently providing online legal services. Influential technologists Derek Giles and Julian Fenwick also presented. There were many more presenters, all of whom made a valuable contribution. Based in Australia, Simon Lewis is our own home grown thought leader in the field of technology and law firms. Presenters and attendees were very fortunate to have participated in the conference. Read about the major themes, insights and stories from the conference. Conference Photos
4 March 2010: Financial Planners Are Skilling-Up On The Legal Aspects of Estate Planning: Speaking at the Sinch Online Legal Services Conference, Michael Perkins informed the audience about his view that the "professions are flattening". The course that he helped to develop on estate planning law, within the faculty of law at the University of Technology Sydney, has been embraced by the financial planners professional association. Financial planners and other advisors are skilling-up on legal literacy. According to Mr Perkins "Estate Planning is an area of practice that crosses professional boundaries, not a discrete area of law. This is why it is migrating out of the sole area of responsibility of lawyers. This development triggers the need to redefine the boundary of responsibilities between the professions working within Private Wealth Management." Mr Perkins emphasised the opportunity for financial planners to become lead generators for lawyers. Link to web site of Estplan which is a business associated with Michael Perkins
4 March 2010: Lawyers Real Estate Announces Franchise Expansion Plans: Lawyers Real Estate provides a professional legal service which includes negotiating the sale of property - eliminating the need to use a real estate agent. It is a dual real estate sale and conveyancing service for a fixed price which is well below standard real estate agent commissions. The founder and principal of Lawyers Real Estate is Peter Mericka. He announced today at the Sinch Online Legal Services Conference that other law firms can now provide this service as a "bolt-on" to their existing practices by signing up as a franchisee to his system. Link to Lawyers Real Estate
1 March 2010: In Search of KPIs for a NECS: At the beginning of this year some State governments kicked in $5m to keep the momentum going for the setting up of the National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS). The conveyancing industry has been heavily sold on the idea of a government NECS but how will we know whether a shiny new NECS is a success or failure? Legal Practice Intelligence considers some possible key performance indicators (KPIs) for a successful NECS ... The original article that was available at this link is being revised and updated
17 February 2010: Slater & Gordon Announces Gains in Family Law Revenue and Business & Private Client Revenue: The publicly listed law firm recently announced its half yearly results. Revenue for the 6 months to December 2009 was close to $59m. Over the past 3 years, revenue from Family Law work has doubled and Business & Private Client revenue has increased by more than 350%. However, the company notes that these increases come from a low base. The company also identifies that there is a significant opportunity for it to become a nationally recognised provider of family law services. www.slatergordon.com.au
27 January 2010 Emerging Immigration Debate a Risk Factor for Migration Practices and Conveyancing Practices: Immigration to Australia (both temporary and permanent) over the past 18 months provided a significant economic stimulus, helping to keep the country out of a technical recession.(1)
However, on a per capita basis the country has been going backwards. "GDP per capita has not risen since the June quarter of 2008, the total fall in output per person since then reaching 2.1 per cent."(1) Why? The statistical explanation is meagre GDP growth combined with strong immigration-fuelled population growth.
A debate on Immigration could also include the argument that population growth has been a factor in recent home price rises and hence interest rate pressures. A political shift that leads to reduced immigration numbers will affect migration practices and conveyancing volumes.
Notes & links to recent debate in the media:
(1) Migrant spending a great stimulus to economy during crisis David Uren, Economics correspondent From: The Australian January 25, 2010
(2) Expert urges new city to cope with population boom YUKO NARUSHIMA January 26, 2010 smh.com.au
(3) Tony Abbott MHR Leader of the Opposition, Speech 22 January 2010
Update: 8/2/10 Government announces changes to skilled migration program: This includes cancelling 20,000 visa applications. Link to announcement
Practice Intelligence Australia - 2009 Archive (member access)
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