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2020

08 DECEMBER 2020

In Conversation with Felicity Gerry QC

Professor Felicity Gerry, QC has dedicated much of her life to advocating for vulnerable individuals in both Australian and international courts amidst sensitive topics such as genocide, terrorism and modern slavery.

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27 NOVEMBER 2020

Victoria’s new workplace manslaughter laws: it’s all in the messaging

On 1 July 2020, Victoria became the fourth Australian jurisdiction to introduce workplace manslaughter laws. The laws are a fulfilment of an Andrews Labor Government election commitment and follow a sustained union campaign.

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24 NOVEMBER 2020

Freedom of expression vs the employer's right to regulate employee behaviour: why the Folau case wasn't about religion

In the age of social media, we all have access to multiple platforms to express our views and be involved in an array of forums and debates at any time of day. With these platforms comes responsibility, and a greater ability to cause harm, both to those around us, and to the reputation of our employers.

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19 NOVEMBER 2020

WorkPac v Rossato – the death of the ‘long-term casual’

Recently, the issue of what constitutes casual employment has become increasingly litigated. The decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court in WorkPac Pty Ltd v Skene (Skene) in 2018 sparked significant media attention because it challenged the then prevailing view as to what constitutes casual employment.

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19 NOVEMBER 2020

Not enough to say no: what the changes in modern awards mean for discussing and refusing flexible work requests.

In November 2018, the Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission handed down a decision that expands on an employer’s obligations when considering an employee’s request for “family friendly” working arrangements. The decision inserted a model term into all modern awards (Flexible Work Decision).

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18 NOVEMBER 2020

Calculating time — distinguishing between “at least x days before” and “x days before” an event

Clauses imposing time limits on the performance of contractual obligations are fertile ground for disputes and non-compliance is often raised by parties seeking to terminate contracts. Common phrases such as “at least x days after” or “x days before” are used to describe time periods. Often the differences in meaning are subtle and depend in each case on a construction of the whole of the contract terms in the context of “rules of thumb” that have been applied over time.

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18 NOVEMBER 2020

Australian Property Law Bulletin highlights

The NSW government introduced new disclosure requirements for developers entering into off the plan contracts for residential developments from 1 December 2019. A Disclosure Statement is now required to be attached to a contract for sale that includes information such as sunset dates, whether development approval has been obtained and details of any strata scheme, community precinct or neighbourhood scheme the lot may form part of. The developer is also required to attach a number of prescribed documents, including a draft plan prepared by a registered surveyor, any proposed schedule of finishes and draft strata by-laws.

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16 NOVEMBER 2020

Remedying Wage Theft: The Evolution of the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Enforcement Approach

The last few years have seen extended public outcry over what appears to be systemic wage theft in Australia. In response to the ongoing underpayment of wages, the Fair Work Ombudsman has beefed up its enforcement priorities, with - among other things - Company Directors now significantly liable and a range of civil and criminal remedies at its disposal.

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11 NOVEMBER 2020

Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System

This report itself is 300 pages, and with its seven appendices, extends to over 400. Without making a single recommendation, it makes a substantial contribution to the family law literature.

The Joint Select Committee on Australia's Family Law System, chaired by Hon Kevin Andrews MP, was appointed in September 2019.

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09 NOVEMBER 2020

Wage theft: what risks lie ahead for businesses?

Underpayment has continued to be a very serious legal and reputational issue for business during this crisis year of changing rules and employment schemes. The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has stated its intention to continue to focus on underpayments, so businesses should be auditing regularly to avoid litigation and to ensure that they have appropriate governance and systems in place.

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04 NOVEMBER 2020

Advising directors of companies in financial distress

With a flood of company insolvencies expected in 2021, lawyers will increasingly be asked to provide advice to directors of companies facing difficult decisions about the future of their businesses. We provide a checklist to assist with advising directors of companies in financial distress.

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04 NOVEMBER 2020

Insolvency law reform - how the new debt restructuring process will work and its pros and cons

The most significant reforms to Australia’s insolvency laws in 30 years are due to commence on 1 January 2021 subject to the passing of legislation.

It is important for practitioners to get across key components of the draft legislation released by Treasury to help clients prepare for the changes that are fast approaching, particularly given demand for legal services in insolvency and restructuring is set to rise in 2021.

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28 SEPTEMBER 2020

Social services plea for pandemic relief in October budget measures

As JobKeeper payment rates fall from 28 September, and mutual obligations return for JobSeeker recipients, social services organisations will be looking to the 6 October Budget for signs that the Government might avoid harsh austerity measures to cut its way clear of the COVID crisis.

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28 SEPTEMBER 2020

Australian family property law: ‘Just and equitable’ outcomes?

As the COVID-19 healthcare crisis continues to impact family relationships already brimming with high levels of financial stress, the number of couples applying for divorce in Australia is tipped to rise over the next 12 months.

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25 SEPTEMBER 2020

Thorne v Kennedy: High Court of Australia confirms the laws of contract and equity underpin pre-nuptial and post-nuptial financial agreements.

In a recent Australian Bar Review article, Lance Rundle of Central Queensland University explores the context in which equitable intervention, namely duress, undue influence and unconscionable conduct, were considered and applied by the High Court of Australia in the decision of Thorne v Kennedy. Furthermore, he analyses the impact of the decision for legal practitioners and parties when negotiating, drafting and signing a family law financial agreement.

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21 SEPTEMBER 2020

The Law of Bankruptcy Notices and Creditors’ Petitions

Gaining an understanding of the law of bankruptcy has become a necessity during 2020. COVID 19 has dealt many sectors and individuals unexpected risk and concerns related to bankruptcy, insolvency and creditors petitions. Decoding and anticipating the consequences of COVID related legislation and policy is a critical skill. We took the opportunity to ask Nicholas Simpson of 13th Floor St James Hall, author of the new text The Law of Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Petitions some key questions.

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21 SEPTEMBER 2020

Skilful Lawyering – Success in the profession

The process of developing critical thinking is one highly regarded skill of every law student. Another less discussed but equally important skill is the ability to interpret statutes. This skill is at the core of being a lawyer as it provides a foundation in problem solving and text interpretation as it relates to the significant body of legal writing, that is, legislation.  This skill is critical when a case may involve a statute. In such a scenario the application of one’s understanding of the legislation helps a lawyer to win or lose a case.

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17 SEPTEMBER 2020

A Revolution in Dispute Resolution: The impact of COVID-19 on civil litigation in Australia

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the administration of justice in Australian courts and tribunals, necessitating a comprehensive overhaul of the protocols, procedures and norms of etiquette on which the courts and the legal profession have relied for decades. These changes have been sudden and challenging, but the profession and the judiciary have adapted quickly and have seized on opportunities to enhance access to justice and improve efficiency. It is relatively clear that the conduct of litigation in Australia may never be the same.

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17 SEPTEMBER 2020

A post-COVID economy vision: how will the budget measure up?

With less than a month until Treasurer Josh Frydenberg hands down the Federal Budget, industry bodies have released a flurry of economic reform proposals hoping to help the Government steer Australia towards a quicker post-pandemic recovery. Business advocates such as the Business Council of Australia (BCA), the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) have led the pack, recommending greater business investment, extensions to the coronavirus supplement packages, and earlier personal income tax cuts.

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17 AUGUST 2020

Forensic Evidence Miscarriage of Justice Infographic

40 years ago baby Azaria Chamberlain died in tragic circumstances, sparking a controversial miscarriage of justice for Lindy Chamberlain and her husband Michael. Unfortunately, there are many Australian cases where forensic science has played a substantial role in convicting the innocent.
Six cases of significance are highlighted in this infographic.

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07 AUGUST 2020

Dealing with the impact of widespread disease on the workplace

Various issues arise for businesses when there are risks of widespread disease affecting the workplace, such as in a pandemic. The overarching requirement for a business is to meet its work health and safety duties, which requires it to ensure the health and safety of workers and other persons in the workplace.

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06 AUGUST 2020

COVID-19 challenges and responses
A university librarians’ perspective

The pandemic sweeping across the world is a global crisis that has shut down cities, closed borders and has created once-in-a-lifetime challenges and changes for many.

Here we talk to Kay Tucker, Law Library Manager at Monash University about the unique challenges faced by Australian University libraries.

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27 JULY 2020

Alerting subscribers from all walks of life

For 30 years, Capital Monitor™ has alerted subscribers from all walks of life to parliamentary, political, legislative, regulatory and judicial news and information as it happens. When the concept for this service was born in the late 1980’s, and launched as a business in January 1990, photocopiers and faxes were considered new technology.

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27 JULY 2020

Impact of COVID-19 Superannuation savings under threat from early access plans

Australia’s superannuation system is one of the best in the world, designed to address aging demographics and reduce overall reliance on the age pension. Yet under successive Coalition Governments, it has suffered several shocks, each one weakening it, or delaying its growth. The COVID-19 pandemic has further increased its vulnerability, with current government policies seriously threatening to chip away at superannuation balances and retirement incomes.

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24 JULY 2020

New-found workplace flexibility, or economic disaster

After years of relative stability, Coalition Government moves against trade unions, and a recent High Court of Australia decision related to casual workers, have brought conflict and uncertainty to the industrial relations landscape. An economic crunch and spiralling unemployment on the back of COVID-19 have heightened concerns among employers and employees alike.

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22 JULY 2020

National Cabinet plays with a newfound unity, but will it last

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly emerged from the latest National Cabinet meeting on Friday the 10th of July 2020 to announce the latest in what the nation’s leaders had agreed to. It was the first time National Cabinet convened since the new spike of Covid-19 cases in Victoria, and while the Prime Minister described the outbreak as “concerning”, he also said that Victoria had been given all the support it needed from the Commonwealth and other states and territories to fight this crisis. Part of this support would be in the form of extra clinical staff, national coordination, and 265 Australian Defence Force personnel.

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16 JULY 2020

Black Lives Matter: the legalities and politics of Australia’s racial vilification and defamation laws

This blog covers the three of the four main points of The influence of defamation law on the interpretation of Australia’s racial vilification laws (2020, 26 TLJ 34, LexisNexis), by Bill Swannie of Victoria University.

How do you balance public interest in fair comment over ridicule and satire and how does this help us in interpreting our racial vilification laws?  What is actionable as defamation and what are the relevant laws in a society that considers free speech a sacred principle?

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02 JUNE 2020

Why do we need innovation in law?

There are some degrees of cynicism when another law firm issues another press release regarding the next step on their innovation pathway. The latest foray into “Blockchain”, “Artificial Intelligence”, “Design Thinking” and “Smart Contracts” are touted as game changers placing their firm at the forefront of the re-invention of the profession.

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01 JUNE 2020

Thinking outside the box: Protecting registered software trade marks in Australia

Practitioners working in brand protection and trade mark law are very familiar with applications to remove trade mark registrations on the basis of a lack of intention to use or lack of use.

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08 APRIL 2020

Beyond COVID-19: The unresolved epidemic of wage theft and underpayments

Employers are currently focused on crisis-management workplace issues, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once this crisis has abated, attention will again be focused on the yet unresolved wage theft epidemic. The article sets out key issues that employers need to consider regarding underpayments.

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23 MARCH 2020

Much Obliged: When could a lawyer mediator be liable for breaching their obligations?

Mediation is an increasingly popular form of dispute resolution in Australia especially in last few decades. While mediators may possess a variety of skills and may come from a range backgrounds, lawyers and barristers are frequently engaged in mediations either in their capacity as legal representatives of the parties, or as mediators.

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28 JANUARY 2020

Lessons from the IOOF Case

A recent decision of the Federal Court in Australian Prudential Regulation Authority v Kelaher [2019] FCA 1521 provides some guidance to regulators, trustees of superannuation funds and their advisers on issues related to administering superannuation funds and conducting litigation, explains Noel Davis, Barrister and author of The Law of Superannuation in Australia.

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2019

28 NOVEMBER 2019

Cyber attacks: risks and remedies for the modern firm

When many people think of cybersecurity, they think of two-step authentication, multiple passwords and firewalls - but it’s much broader than that. While these systemic defences are absolutely necessary for any business, data breaches are inevitable.

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21 NOVEMBER 2019

Protecting Your Data [Infographic]

With so much at stake, it's imperative you know the value of your data and how to protect it.

CHECK INFOGRAPHIC


23 OCTOBER 2019

5 Ways To Combat Cybersecurity Fatigue

Cybersecurity is a growing concern for businesses of all sizes. Hacks and data breaches are becoming more common and more complex. While no business is expected to be invincible against cyber attack, they are expected to be fully prepared and to take all practicable steps to prevent breaches from happening.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner reported a total of 245 data breaches affecting personal information between July and September 2018. It also reported that human error was a contributor in 37% of these cases⁠—making people one of the most significant risk factors to any business’s digital security.

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23 OCTOBER 2019

Keeping the Knowledge: Understanding the Value of your Data and how to Protect it.

Data is now the most valuable commodity in the world. Still, few businesses outside the tech sphere have fully come to terms with the value of the data they hold - and the legal industry is no different.

Knowledge Managers undertake a number of data-intensive activities - managing large numbers of documents, precedents and firms’ proprietary data, intranets and other sources of digital information crucial to smooth business function. Different data types have different obligations attached to them, and this means it is important for Knowledge Managers to understand the value of their data and how best to protect it.

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23 OCTOBER 2019

Work-life balance in a hyperconnected world

Feeling torn between work and all of the other things in life is a common conundrum. For the last two decades, the topic of work-life balance has been a popular one.

A good work-life balance “means you have harmony between different aspects of your life, where benefits gained from each area can support and strengthen the others.”

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23 OCTOBER 2019

The flexible workplace: what you need to know about new ways of working

Rapid advancements in tech and broader societal changes are driving a workplace revolution. Gone are the days of a job for life and the 9 to 5 grind. Instead, we’re craving flexibility and reinvention and we’re working in ways we could have only imagined 10 or 20 years ago.

Here, we take a closer look at this new era and what it means for both employers and employees.

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02 OCTOBER 2019

High Court shuts down ‘Chorley exception’ cost claims for barristers

In a major decision delivered on 4 September 2019, Bell Lawyers Pty Ltd v Pentelow [2019] HCA 29, the High Court has ended the right of lawyers to claim costs when they are self-represented litigants, saying the special rule was "an anomaly and an affront to the fundamental value of equality of all persons before the law".

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16 SEPTEMBER 2019

Criminal Law and Forensic Evidence

Forensic Science in Criminal Trials: Is It a Double-Edged Sword?

Forensic evidence has long been used as a weapon in criminal trials. From fingerprints to handwriting and DNA, scientific analysis is a powerful force, used to exonerate the innocent and convict the guilty. It is also now used to hunt down killers, whose crimes were committed in the decades before science developed DNA profiling, and crack cold cases.

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21 August 2019

Caveats and PEXA: a cautionary tale

A caveat may be useful when your client has an interest in land that can’t be protected by the registration of another type of dealing. However, it’s important to lodge a caveat only in respect of a caveatable interest, since lodging a caveat that doesn’t protect a caveatable interest may give rise to a claim for compensation by a person who suffers loss as a result.

The recent NSW Supreme Court case of Guirgis v JEA Developments Pty Ltd reminds us it’s a good time to review what we know about caveats, caveatable interests and lodging caveats – and what we should know.

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25 june 2019

Lawyers and ‘Likes’: why it’s time to err on the side of caution

We all have opinions, but just how free are we to express these online? Digitisation and the rise of social media means anyone’s opinions, statements, actions, and comments can now disseminate widely, quickly and uncontrollably.

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27 MAY 2019

Co-mediation of thorny multiparty disputes: the advantages and practicalities

Mediation as a process is widely praised by judges and lawmakers for being able to resolve even the thorniest of disputes, often to the surprise of the parties involved.

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06 MAY 2019

ALRC Family Law Report: A quick guide for practitioners

With 60 recommendations made over 574 pages, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) report, Family Law for the Future: An Inquiry into the Family Law System is a long read. The much-anticipated report was tabled in Parliament on 10 April 2019.

To help you find the parts of the report that will matter most to you as a family lawyer or barrister, we spoke to Professor Richard Chisholm AM, former Judge of the Family Court of Australia and author of the LexisNexis loose-leaf service Australian Family Law.

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27 MARCH 2019

The Hidden Cost of Free Legal Research

Artificial Intelligence is proving revolutionary for the legal industry. The ability for algorithms to quickly and automatically analyse large data sets is changing processes and opening new opportunities for innovation.

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26 NOVEMBER 2018

The Ethics of AI in the Legal Industry

Artificial Intelligence is proving revolutionary for the legal industry. The ability for algorithms to quickly and automatically analyse large data sets is changing processes and opening new opportunities for innovation.

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13 NOVEMBER 2018

Don’t cry over spilt … liquid, unless it’s a casual act of negligence

The term “casual act of negligence” is often used to describe the alleged liability that flows after a slip and fall even after a cleaner inspects an area. Recent Court of Appeal decisions have provided some guidance on how the court examines such allegations, providing occupiers and cleaners of commercial premises with some certainty when dealing with similar cases.

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07 NOVEMBER 2018

Draft Home Affairs Bill vastly overreaches its stated purposes and is susceptible to abuse

The amendments proposed to the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth) by the exposure draft of the Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 (Cth) (Draft Bill) are extremely vague. There can be no objection to its stated justifications, but the Draft Bill clearly vastly overreaches these objectives with the powers it grants and its ability, if enacted, to be abused by federal and state agencies.

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30 OCTOBER 2018

Cryptocurrency and blockchain: thoughts for the future

What does the future hold for cryptocurrencies and blockchain? A world with possibilities.

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10 OCTOBER 2018

The burning issue of regulatory action in Victoria and New South Wales for aluminium composite cladding

The involvement of aluminium composite panel cladding in fires in multistorey residential buildings in Australia and internationally has rippled a shockwave of concern amongst property owners, building industry participants, insurers and regulators.  This article will look at some of the recent legislative reforms proposed surrounding the use of ACP.

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02 OCTOBER 2018

Mobilising your identity: digital driver licensing and the national identity hub

NSW is implementing a digital driver licence and identity card regime, with licence holders being able to download a digital version of the de facto national identity card onto their mobile phone for use in interactions with state and private sector bodies. This article outlines the new regime, highlights privacy aspects and forecasts emulation across other Australian jurisdictions.

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25 SEPTEMBER 2018

But what if Google guesses wrong? Action for allegedly defamatory auto-complete results allowed to proceed

Search engines have, without question, made access to information much easier. It is now possible to find an answer to almost any question instantly. What happens though, if those functions return results that are claimed to be untrue and potentially defamatory?

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20 July 2018

GDPR and Australia: How is it affecting owners and employees?

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been the major talking point across European Union (EU) businesses for the past year. But having come into effect on 25 May 2018, its reach extends far beyond the EU’s boundaries. In fact, the regulation has the ability to impact any business throughout the world that even has a tentative association with the EU.

What is the GDPR’s relevance to Australian businesses, and how can it affect not only owners, but their employees as well?

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20 July 2018

5 technologies driving disruption in legal

Not since the days of King Hammurabi has the legal industry faced the magnitude of change it is facing today. Hammurabi was the first to actually codify and inscribe Babylonian law into stone, around 1760 BC. So the start of the legal industry – and a solicitor’s favourite term: “Written in stone” – can be traced back millennia.

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19 April 2018

Lawyer vs AI: A legal revolution

If futurists and experts are to be believed, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on humankind will be as significant as the Industrial Revolution.

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16 March 2018

2018 Tech Compliance "Hot List"

Dudley Kneller, Partner at Madgwicks Lawyers, is a technology lawyer with a speciality in cyber risk and strategic sourcing. Read his 2018 Tech Compliance “Hot List” for a view on what Australian businesses need to address and should look to maximise.

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16 March 2018

Mandatory Data Breach Notification - Tips and Traps

Do you expect to advise corporate clients in the face of changing legislation this year? Are you already advising on other cyber risk matters?

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17 JANUARY 2018

Changes to NSW Compulsory Third Party scheme

We’ve updated our looseleaf publication following changes to the scheme

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14 december 2017

Planning for the future—law firms and new technology

Some key industry figures took us through the uptake of new service technologies for law firms, the opportunities and challenges it presents and predict exciting times ahead.

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14 december 2017

AI in law firms—a game changer in legal practice?

While the most forward thinking law firms are ready to embrace artificial intelligence (AI), robots are not taking over the legal world any time soon. That said, its utilisation is undoubtedly proving valuable for law firms who are investing in it.

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14 december 2017

The mindset of the legal profession

How is the legal profession embracing modern technology and the automation of services? We spoke to key industry figures about being early adopters and pioneers of new technologies in the legal world.

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14 december 2017

The legal profession for millennials

Technology is changing the legal profession, and the next generation of lawyers will practise law in very different ways. We find out how young lawyers can best position themselves.

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14 december 2017

What happens when the robots get it wrong?

As new technologies and automation start playing an ever more important role in the legal world, what are the risks in relation to negligence? We delve into the issues of liability.

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14 december 2017

Regulating the new world

Regulation of new technology is always a question of chickens and of eggs and the legal profession is no exception to the rule – so what does the industry need?

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14 december 2017

Developing Technology In-house

There’s no doubt that adoption of tech is intrinsic to success in the industry of the future. But what are the benefits and risks of investing into building your own technology?

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14 december 2017

What impact could technology have on the law firm-client relationship?

The advantages of tech for legal professionals are numerous – but are there factors to consider from the client’s perspective? We look at how technology impacts the relationship between lawyers and clients.

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04 october 2017

The 2017 Legal Data Jam

A day where too much legal problem solving was barely enough.

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29 September 2017

Briefing: The 2017 Annual Corporate Law Teacher Association Conference

In February 2017, the 26th Annual Corporate Law Teachers Association (CLTA) Conference was co-hosted by the Accounting Finance & Economics Department within the Business School and the Law School at Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus.

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29 September 2017

Nothing implied: Construction as a means of curbing excessive use of power in employment contracts

Lawyers regularly review their precedents to ensure that they preserve the power employers have over their employees. They do so knowing that Australian law imposes a heavy burden on those who seek to constrain the excessive use of such power through the implication of terms into the contract, either at law or in fact.

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19 September 2017

Reaching a consensus on the need to reform the Corporations Act

As with many pieces of legislation, the Corporations Act is built upon a 19th Century regulatory model and was conceived in a pre-digital economy to cater to now-obsolete corporate structures. Over its lifespan, the legislation has been sporadically amended to keep up with change and to update its framework to fulfil the requirements of modern corporations.

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13 September 2017

How do governance professionals view the current Corporations Act? [Infographic]

Australian corporate legislation was developed in a pre-technological era. As such, there is an emerging view that the current Corporations Act is a carry-over from the nineteenth century, which struggles to facilitate agile corporations or to allow new corporate structures to emerge.

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8 September 2017

The Rise Of AI, Are There Consequences For Graduates?

The Talks of AI and automation are reaching fever pitch, and frankly it is an exciting time to be in Legal services. We are in an age of automated cars, 3-D printers, self-moving lawn mowers (who will miss mowing the lawn?) and now AI negotiating contracts, researching and completing office based tasks, where discovery is being reduced from months to weeks and AI has been trialed determining historical judgements with a 96% success rate.

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1 august 2017

Future focus in legal: perspectives from industry leaders (part 2)

In the lead up to our Human v Cloud: Computing the People factor of legal services event series, we asked some of our panellists a few warm-up questions to provide a taste of the discussion at the events.

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1 august 2017

Future focus in legal: perspectives from industry leaders (part 1)

In the lead up to our Human v Cloud: Computing the People factor of legal services event series, we asked some of our panellists a few warm-up questions to provide a taste of the discussion at the events.

READ FULL ARTICLE


25 July 2017

Competition risks in high technology industries

From autonomous cars and wearable medical devices to online retail platforms and metasearch engines, technology and "big data" continue to reshape how all companies do business.

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17 July 2017

Insight and opinion: Nomos' take on Australia's skilled migration programme reforms

Much has been written and said about the major reforms to Australia's skilled migration programme that were suddenly announced by the Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull MP and the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton MP on 18 April 2017.

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10 July 2017

How to successfully navigate the information-rich digital world

We live in an age of information, powered by technology. Where once a collection of Encyclopedia Britannica was required to find the answer to an obscure question raised in a lively pub discussion, now all that is needed is a 4G signal on one of the many devices inevitably resting on the table.

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8 MAY 2017

Navigating the 457 changes – what you need to know

On the 18 April 2018, Prime Minister Turnbull and Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton announced a series of reforms to the Temporary Work (subclass 457) and the permanent employer sponsored visa programs.

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20 April 2017

Why a commitment to social justice and human rights is good for business

Since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) there has been considerable debate about the role of corporations in society.

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29 March 2017

Centenary of Ilmar Tammelo

February 2017 marks the centenary of the birth in 1917 of one of the best loved teachers at the Sydney Law School in the 1960s and 70s, Doctor Ilmar Tammelo.

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17 March 2017

Age is of no importance unless you are a cheese

Former federal treasurer Peter Costello famously asked Australians to have one child for mum, one for dad and one for the country, and while his remarks were made during a surge in the birth rate a decade ago, it appears the optimism of that era hasn't translated into a population boom.

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16 February 2017

Disciplining employees' out-of-hours behaviour: a blurred line

This article is an extract from a longer article that appeared in Internet Law Bulletin.

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30 JANUARy 2017

The Use of Social Media by Australian Courts

Abstract. This article explores how Australian courts are using social media to disclose information about decisions as well as to advise about court appointments, media reports and administrative matters. It examines how the social media channels are being used and any issues or risks associated with that use.

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25 JANUARy 2017

Businesses' responsibilities to respect human rights

Human rights are something often thought to be the responsibility of national governments. Over the past few years, however, there is a growing awareness of the impact on and participation in human rights abuses by businesses.

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24 novemBER 2016

Governance: Can you have too much of a good thing?

In July 2016, Governance Institute of Australia partnered with LexisNexis to conduct a survey of Institute members to capture their views on how governance is perceived in their organisations.

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01 novemBER 2016

How soon do you need to communicate after a crisis?

I was working with an executive team on a crisis scenario, when one of the leaders asked a question about crisis communication: "How soon do we need to communicate? Five minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day?" He was looking for a precise number to evaluate a few past incidents that were top-of-mind for everyone in the room.

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24 OCTOBER 2016

Spoiler Alert: Copyright Law and Online Spoiler Culture

The dramatic cliff-hanger that capped off the sixth season of AMC's The Walking Dead has viewers of the highest rating show on US television clamouring to find out what happens next.1 After a user of the popular web forum The Spoiling Dead Fans promised that they knew the answer, AMC issued a cease and desist letter threatening an action for copyright infringement.

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04 AUGUST 2016

How jam can reinvent the future of law

The Legal Service Design Jam generated inspiration and innovation in Sydney on 27 July 2016 as part of the Janders Dean legal transformation conference.

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04 AUGUST 2016

Report 1 Process blog article

In the legal industry, there is a critical gap between the client's idea of great service and the lawyer's idea of great service. Deep customer understanding takes many years of engagement to achieve and even then, happens only rarely.

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04 AUGUST 2016

Report 2 People blog article

The group came together to discuss the key issues in relation to 'people' in the legal industry and put oars in the hands of industry leaders. The Legal Service Jam participants were a diverse collection of lawyers, non-legal roles and management from large, mid and in-house organisations.

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04 AUGUST 2016

Report 3 Technology blog article

In July 2016, the first Legal Service Design Jam in Australia was held in conjunction with the Janders Dean Legal Horizons Conference at Pier One on the remarkable Sydney Harbour.

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17 JUNE 2016

How I learned to stop building faster horse carriages and love disruption {Whitepaper}

Innovation is no longer on the list solely for start-ups but has become a strategic goal for senior leadership of small, medium and large sized organisations. However, professional service organisations, and in particular those in the legal industry, are struggling to match other industries in their stride.

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25 MAY 2016

Proposed changes to Australia's Intellectual Property arrangements

If Australia's so called 'ideas boom' is to truly take off, we will need intellectual property laws that foster innovation and creativity. Whether strengthening or weakening intellectual property rights is the way to achieve this is a contentious issue that has been brought to the forefront over the past month.

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20 MAY 2016

Looking at the Future of Legal Services

Recently, a prominent thought leader on the direction and future of legal services visited Australia. This sparked a wave of social media comments on whether a 'lawyer' of the future may be something other than human, and whether some key legal tasks in the domain of the legal profession may be done by artificial intelligence or the like.

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14 MAY 2016

Establishing a corporate governance framework (infographic)

Seek to ensure that your company adopts the spirit of the corporate governance framework.

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05 MAY 2016

Does the Annual General Meeting (AGM) need to become an eAGM?

The annual general meeting (AGM) has long been the forum where shareholders and directors have the opportunity to interact. It is a two-way communication forum which facilitates the exchange of information, the examination of profit and performance-related issues and enables shareholders to ask questions of the board about company performance and stewardship.

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01 MAY 2016

The Independent Directors' Dilemma

There was a time in the not too distant past when it was generally accepted that directors of corporate boards constituted a closed network. As a consequence, the role of directors and their accountabilities seemed shrouded in mystery – a mystery that few people outside of the directors' circle were interested in solving.

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14 APRIL 2016

Privacy and Social Media

Organisations in Australia and overseas are recognising the benefits of using social media platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter to promote their goods and services, and to effectively engage more with their customers and strategic partners.

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23 NOVEMber 2015

Law Graduates Churned Out At Risk of Extortion while Indifferent Profession Yawns

According to a mainstream newspaper, an entrepreneurial South Australian law firm has developed what they believe to be a market worthy business model under which law graduates would be charged $22,000 for the privilege of working for the firm as articled clerks. The inventiveness of the law firm does not end there.

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28 october 2015

Download Innovation Inertia: 2015 LexisNexis Roadshow Report

We explore how the Australian legal landscape is responding to disruptive trends in client expectations, emerging technology and organisational culture through strategic innovation.

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29 september 2015

Revenge porn makes new law

Australian courts and Australian parliaments appear equally reluctant to create a generalized tort of invasion of privacy in Australia. This is despite the increasing use of social media, including Facebook, which has created new ways for an individual's privacy to be invaded.

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27 september 2015

Exploit domain names at your own risk: interlocutory relief may be available

Protection of domain names is of utmost importance to companies that rely heavily on their online presence to develop their brand and obtain revenue. One such company is Thomas International Limited (TIL), a global provider of psychological and competency testing operating substantially online, with a centralised hub in the UK accessible to TIL's distributors and customers.

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05 september 2015

The latest superannuation insurance changes

There have been a number of changes to the way in which insurance can be held within a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF). Broadly, these changes limit the types of policy that can be held by SMSF trustees, but there is also a broadening of the rules relating to terminal medical conditions.

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30 AUGUST 2015

Film directors' copyright -- fair remuneration for all

In a world where most of us rightfully expect that creators are rewarded with intellectual property rights in their unique creations, whether they be books, music, film or games, it is hard to believe that some in the chain of creativity get the short end of the stick. Yet this is exactly the situation for Australian directors; in contrast to their European counterparts they have no genuine claim to copyright in the films that they create.

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30 AUGUST 2015

Online testimonials, product reviews, endorsements -- managing the risk of false and misleading claims

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to sell a product or service. Many consumers rely on reviews for information about goods and services to assist in purchasing. A glowing testimonial or endorsement can have a strong influence on a consumer's decision to purchase a product or service.

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28 AUGUST 2015

Apps for children -- advertising space in sheep's clothing?

In corollary to the growth in children's access to the internet and touchscreen tablet computers and smartphones, demand for the development of child-friendly application software, commonly known as "Apps", has surged. According to leading market research company Nielsen in their 2014 Australian Online Landscape Review, three out of five Australian households with primary school age children own a tablet computer and have an internet connected television in the home.

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25 AUGUST 2015

Net neutrality and Netflix

Very shortly after the US Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) decision early this year to pass new net neutrality regulation in the US, it emerged that one of the most prominent supporters of net neutrality, Netflix, was signing up to agreements in Australia that arguably violate the principle of net neutrality.

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17 AUGUST 2015

Big data, metadata and personal data -- how does the Privacy Act regulate metadata?

Following amendments to the Privacy Act 1998 (Cth) in 2014 to strengthen privacy protection and give the Privacy Commissioner power to impose significant penalties for interferences with privacy, the federal government introduced and passed the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Act 2015 (Cth).

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02 August 2015

Will streaming services end piracy?

In April, an article on news.com.au noted that Australians were pirating HBO's Game of Thrones more than any other country in the world on a per capita basis. However, this is not a moniker of which Australians should be proud. Digital piracy is tantamount to stealing and does real damage to Australia's content creation industries

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23 JULY 2015

Gifting as an estate planning technique

The fast growing trend of "gifting" as an estate planning strategy can be a win-win for clients and beneficiaries, but it's fraught with pitfalls for the unwary and is something not to be taken lightly.

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20 JULY 2015

Damages for breach of confidence in a social media context

Mr Ferguson posted explicit videos and images of his former partner Ms Wilson on his Facebook page. During their relationship, the couple had shared explicit images with each other via text message. Mr Ferguson also used Ms Wilson's phone, without her consent, and emailed himself a number of explicit videos. Upon realising this, Ms Wilson requested and Mr Ferguson agreed not to share the explicit videos or photos.

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15 july 2015

So tell me, what exactly is the ATO's role in SMSFs?

In 1999 the regulation of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) was moved from the Superannuation and Insurance Commission (subsequently Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)) to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and at that time, it was suggested that the ATO got that job because SMSFs were seen to be just tax play vehicles, not serious retirement funding vehicles.

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05 JULY 2015

Critical prerequisites of legal search technology for banking and finance lawyers

Drafting of documents plays a large role in the daily business of lawyers. They spend as much as 60 percent of their time creating, checking, and collaborating with other lawyers to generate documents. Drafting takes up approximately two hours a day which 6 out of 10 lawyers acknowledge.

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02 july 2015

Dispute resolution clauses: approach with care

It is common for contracts to contain dispute resolution clauses. It is just as common for these clauses to be given little consideration during the drafting phase -- with potentially costly consequences.

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29 JUNE 2015

Airbnb and Uber: the need for social sharing sites to gain trust through privacy compliance

The privacy of our personal information has, in many respects, become a commodity to be traded for goods and services: if you receive goods or services for free, it is likely that it is you (or your personal information) that is the product. But, as social sharing companies like Airbnb and Uber have discovered, as individuals become more privacy-aware, they are increasingly reluctant to hand-over personal information, unless they trust that their personal information will be protected and properly handled

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27 june 2015

Product liability insurance implications of 3D printing

The emergence of 3D printing has been described as paving the way for a third industrial revolution. The technology enables small businesses and even individual consumers to make products that previously could only be built by large manufacturers. We consider some of the implications of this new technology for insurers, particularly in the realm of product liability.

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30 MAY 2015

Assessing cyber security risks and the role of cyber insurance

Most people associate "cyber breaches" with criminal hacking, political "hacktivism" or sovereign state espionage. These types of cyber breach events are newsworthy, seem to happen overseas more often than not and attract broad media attention. They seem quite removed from the world of the average client's business in Australia.

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29 MAY 2015

What Foot-and-mouth can teach us about cybersecurity

The threat of a digital computer virus is a world apart from the ravages of Foot-and-mouth disease. Or is it? In a 1966 negligence case, the Foot-and-mouth virus escaped from a UK research institute and infected neighbouring cattle. The institute was found to owe a duty of care to the affected farmers.

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25 MAY 2015

Managing copyright in the online world

UN Global Compact Launches Business for the Rule of Law, Guide for General Counsel on Corporate Sustainability

The United Nations Global Compact, with support from Baker & McKenzie, LexisNexis Legal & Professional and Linklaters, today launched two new efforts to engage the business community and legal profession in advancing the rule of law, good governance and corporate sustainability.

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29 APRIL 2015

Managing the use of social media in the workplace

The rise of social media platforms creates serious challenges for employers. Inappropriate social media use by employees may cause detriment to the employer's reputation or business interests. This article discusses recent Fair Work Commission (FWC) decisions concerning employees' use of social media, focusing on examples of unacceptable social media conduct.

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20 APRIL 2015

Tell me your location! Geo-tagging on the rise

In 2014, global beer brand Heineken launched its Twitter-based service which helps consumers explore new experiences in their cities. The service aggregates real-time, location-based social activity and uses it to show where proximate hot locations are for "urbanites" to visit.

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30 MARCH 2015

When can government agencies disclose personal information without consultation or consent?

This article deals with the limits of the obligations surrounding consultation and consent when a government agency intends to disclose personal information. The issue commonly arises in the context of FOI applications, where the requested material includes personal information concerning a third party.

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19 February 2015

Three tips for banking lawyers to avoid the stormy cloud

In 1999 the regulation of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) was moved from the Superannuation and Insurance Commission (subsequently Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)) to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and at that time, it was suggested that the ATO got that job because SMSFs were seen to be just tax play vehicles, not serious retirement funding vehicles.

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