LexisNexis
LexisNexis KeyNews Bar Q4 2021

Argument Intelligence

Your new AI-powered assistant for analysing a case.

In early 2022, LexisNexis will be launching a new AI-powered tool designed for Australian barristers.

Conscious of the intellectual labour required to construct and parse legal arguments, our objective was to provide a new set of productivity tools allowing barristers to spend more time on substantive tasks. Building on the power of Lexis Advance and key resources like CaseBase® Case Citator, Argument Intelligence will speed up review of written submissions by providing a centralised tool:

As a browser-based product, accessed on your existing Lexis Advance credentials, Argument Intelligence will be a no-fuss addition building on the power of your existing subscriptions. The interface is intuitive, drawing on familiar elements of CaseBase, for seamless integration into your existing research ecosystem.

Powerful new interactive data visualisations illustrate associations between legal issues found in Australian case law. Going beyond semantic connections to reveal relationships between topics that often appear together in Australian judgments, this feature will provide new insight into the local legal landscape.

Using the data extracted from your passage (cited cases, legislation references and legal issues) the AI algorithms triangulate a list of relevant judgments to further your research. The suggested judgments overlap with the identified themes and references, illuminating potentially unexplored angles for reviewing or constructing arguments.

Through automation, centralisation and cutting-edge technology, Argument Intelligence combines significantly improved efficiency for classic research tasks with powerful innovations designed to expose fault lines.

Please contact your Relationship Manager if you are interested in trialling Argument Intelligence.

Books

Get 25% off the RRP of books for barristers from the LexisNexis eStore until December 31! Enter this code at the checkout: BAR25OFF. (Some exclusions apply.)

The last quarter of 2021 will see a number of key titles released. These include Workplace Bullying 2nd ed by Joseph Catanzariti and Keryl Egan. The second edition of Workplace Bullying explores the psychological aspect of workplace bullying and its damaging effects. It provides an overview of new legal developments in this evolving area of law and offers advice on how a toxic workplace environment can be avoided. It likewise serves as a practical guide to victims of workplace bullying on how they can recover and build resilience.

Managing COVID-19 Risks in the Workplace: A Practical Guide by Michael Tooma and Mary-Louise McLaws is now available. This book provides a practical guide to managing the health and safety risks of COVID-19 in the workplace. Written from both a legal and an epidemiological perspective, the book will help businesses navigate the legal obligations and provide practical guidance on protecting the health of their workers, customers and the public.

Other titles anticipated to publish by the end of 2021 are:

  1. Personal Injury Claims: Investigation and Preparation from Inception to Trial by Craig Hobbs
  2. Information Privacy Governance and Regulation: An E-Commerce Perspective by Thillagavathy Rajaretnam
  3. Australian Dispute Resolution 2nd edition by Rachael Field
  4. Control of Government Action 6th edition by Robin Creyke, Matthew Groves, John McMillan and Mark Smyth
  5. Contract Administration for Construction Professionals by Jeremy Coggins
  6. Criminal Processes and Investigative Procedures: Victoria and Commonwealth 5th edition by Ken Arenson & Mirko Bagaric
  7. Cross on Evidence 13th edition by JD Heydon
  8. Annotated Criminal Legislation, New South Wales 2021-2022 by RN Howie & PA Johnson
  9. Quick Reference Card: Defamation Law 2nd edition by Patrick George
  10. Australian Corporations Legislation 2022 by R Austin & A Black
  11. Luntz, Assessment of Damages for Personal Injury and Death 5th edition
  12. Austin & Black, Australian Corporations Legislation 2022

For more information about our upcoming titles, please contact your Relationship Manager or contact us here.

Author Q&As from our recently released titles

Workplace Bullying 2nd edition examines the issue from a legal and psychological standpoint while offering guidance on identifying and managing incidents and investigations in the work environment. We recently asked the authors Joe Catanzariti and Keryl Egan a few questions about the new release.

Why this new title?

Joe Catanzariti: Since 2015 there has been a surge in general awareness of bullying, harassment and discrimination in the workplace as well as research, particularly in organisational psychology. It therefore seemed important to widen our perspective to include the work of researchers and practitioners in the organisational and change management fields. This is a unique publication that covers both the legal aspects and psychological aspects of workplace bullying and provides insights for practitioners in HR, law, management and academia.

What do you think are the most common forms of workplace bullying and when do you think an individual should consult a lawyer?

Keryl Egan: I find in my practice that indirect bullying (as described in the book) is most common. This includes undermining and interfering with the person's capacity to do their work as well as the misuse of policies, procedures to force the person to leave the organisation or performance manage them out of their position.

The reasons for engaging a lawyer can be to challenge the declination of a work cover claim or that the injury has impacted so severely on the person's physical and mental health that they are unable to work again at the same level.

How do you think workplace bullying can be prevented?

Keryl Egan: Prevention must be planned and organised from the top and should include analysis of structural, systemic and cultural factors that contribute to tolerance of bullying behaviours. Change would then be an integrated approach that includes education, behavioural analysis as well as broader changes in the organisational system.



Annotated Franchising Code of Conduct 2nd edition provides some interpretative guidance based on the limited but growing number of decided cases, international jurisprudence where applicable, and Stephen’s Giles practical experience over 40 years of legal practice. We recently asked him a few questions about his recent release.

What prompted you to write the Annotated Franchising Code of Conduct?

I had written quite a few legal and industry texts on franchising, including the loose-leaf LexisNexis® service Franchising Law & Practice. However, in my own practice on a day-to-day basis I tended to use a copy of the legislation with numerous notes and highlights, which I kept in a folder with summarises of important cases. It was getting unwieldy to transport the folder between offices or to meetings, and the pages were getting a bit dog-eared. Plus, the Franchising Code was getting increasingly complex. So, I pitched the idea of having an Annotated Franchising Code, which I also thought would be useful for non-lawyers.

How big is franchising these days?

The franchise sector itself is quite large – around 1,200 different franchise systems, and over 70,000 franchised businesses across almost every industry. However, what many people don’t realise is that the definition of a “franchise agreement” is very broad, and captures arrangements that some might describe as licenses, distributorships, agencies and joint ventures. The automotive sector has been a major growth area, and indeed the Code now includes specific automotive provisions that supplement the provisions that apply to all franchise agreements.

What benefits does the Annotated Franchising Code provide?

The Franchising Code was only introduced in 1998, yet it has been already amended on multiple occasions. So there is a need to track the regulatory journey, particularly as many amendments only apply to franchise agreements executed after a particular date. Franchising is not an industry itself, but a method of conducting business that applies in industries as varied as lawn-mowing, real estate, fashion, automotive retailing, convenience, food and financial services. There are many different types of franchise arrangements, from highly systemised arrangements prevalent in fast food and casual dining to mobile franchises to cooperatives and buying groups. It is very challenging to try and regulate such a wide variety of business arrangements. As a consequence, the Code is open to interpretation in many areas, including even in relation to the core definition of a “franchise agreement”. The Annotated Franchising Code provides interpretative guidance and includes case notes relevant to important issues such as disclosure, transfer, termination and dispute resolution.

What are the secrets to successful franchising?

The key to the competitive advantage franchising can provide is the thoughtful separation of responsibilities between franchisor and franchisee, and the creation of a collaborative and synergistic business partnership between franchisor and franchisee. Franchising enables small businesses to compete very effectively even against large corporations. Indeed, in many sectors it is the franchise networks that are the market leaders – for example the market leading bakeries are franchise networks, and they compete against supermarkets. The same is true in real estate, mortgage broking, travel, convenience stores, bedding, coffee and fast food, where the market leaders are franchise systems.

Generalising, in successful franchise systems the franchisor will often focus on matters such as branding, systems, technology, procurement, advertising and marketing, and the franchisee will focus on customer service and managing the day-to-day local business issues. A good analogy is a high-performing sporting team, where the franchisees are the players, the franchisor is the coach and all parties work collaboratively to the team plan.

What is the most important thing to know about franchising law?

Probably the most important thing to understand is that franchising is highly regulated, and there are very serious consequences if you fail to comply with the law. Indeed, Australia is now probably the most regulated market in the world. This is quite surprising given New Zealand; the United Kingdom and Singapore have no franchise legislation at all. Initially, Australia followed the US model for franchise regulation based around pre-contractual disclosure, but now has moved well beyond the US to also regulate the content of franchise agreements and the conduct of franchisors and franchisees in a wide range of areas. Even more change is proposed for 2022, with the introduction of a public Franchise Disclosure Registry on which all franchisors must register.

What are the key parts of the Franchising Code?

Pre-contractual disclosure is the centrepiece of the Franchising Code. The disclosure document must strictly comply in form and content with detailed requirements, and the franchise agreement must not contain prohibited provisions. Disclosure must occur in accordance with a quite prescriptive process that features additional documents, prescribed time periods, legal and business advice and a 14-day cooling off period. This can be challenging to navigate.

Franchisors are required to update their disclosure document annually within 4 months of the end of their financial year, and there is a continuous disclosure obligation in relation to key information. Franchisors must provide a copy of their current disclosure document to an existing franchisee within 14 days of written request.

The Code also regulates key areas such as the content of franchise agreements, the operation of marketing funds, transfer of franchise agreements, end-of-term arrangements, termination of franchise agreements, post-termination restraints and dispute resolution.

For more information about our recently released books, download our latest book list here or contact your Relationship Manager here.


Capital Monitor™

New search & alert features delivered as promised

For more than 30 years and from humble beginnings, Capital Monitor, has alerted subscribers from all walks of life to parliamentary, political, legislative, regulatory, and judicial news and information as it happens.

Content gradually expanded turning the Capital Monitor archive into a vital research tool, now used by academia, market researchers, and the government itself to look for long lost information not available electronically elsewhere. A highly customised suite of news and information solutions, in the form of newsletters and live content pages, now tracking content from all Australian jurisdictions, underpins the service, and helps with monitoring policy developments across a topic or jurisdiction right from the start.

Seeking to balance a growing volume of news, the 24-hour political announcements cycle, and the need for fast and topical, but accurate parliamentary and government information that caters to a vastly diverse customer group, Capital Monitor has focussed on delivering small but highly targeted enhancements throughout the years. Brand new functionality, featuring on customers’ wish-lists, is progressively rolled out, with the most recent highlights including: a) the ability to further refine Search Results by searching within the results already displayed by the original Search, and b) the ability to create and save Alerts, directly from within the Search Results Page.

Search within Search Results: Search across the results you have displayed already, live since July 2021

The Search Results display page now offers the ability to change some search parameters, such as introduce new keywords, or connectors, and / or further refine date selections. Subscribers can select multiple dates (months and / or days combined) from within the same overarching date category – such as multiple months from within the same year, or multiple days from within the same month – to display Results exclusive to the new filters applied.

Alerts from Search Results – Create alerts following a live search, live since Sep 2021

A Personal (Customised) Alert can now be created and saved following a live search, and without having to navigate to the Alerts Manager. This is enabled via a new tab Create Personal Alert displayed on the Search Results Page that would save the search parameters already applied for an Alert to appear in subscribers’ Alerts Manager topics and alerts for future reference.

For more information about Capital Monitor, download our lookbook or contact us here.


Clause Intelligence

LexTalk
LexTalk

LexisNexis is currently developing Clause Intelligence, a new AI-powered drafting tool for lawyers. The Clause Intelligence app surfaces clauses from within LexisNexis content that are relevant to clauses in the user’s own document.

Instead of doing time-consuming research to uncover relevant alternative wording or drafting guidance, drafters can simply upload their document to the browser-based app and browse the clauses recommended by the AI along with any associated drafting notes.

Each relevant clause links back to the whole precedent from which it was taken, allowing users to see the clause in context.

The recommendation algorithm has been trained on real contracts to surface the most relevant clauses. Users benefit from seeing multiple options and alternatives, allowing them to tailor the clauses in their own document to better reflect their clients’ instructions and meet their legal and commercial needs. Alternatively, users can use the tool to review the wording proposed by other parties.

Initially, the product will recommend clauses only from Intellectual Property and Boilerplate content sets, with plans to expand into other practice areas shortly. Clause Intelligence is due for commercial release in Australia in 2022.

Please contact your Relationship Manager if you would be interested in testing Clause Intelligence or contact us here for more information.


Lexis Advance®

Faster case research with better insight into authority: Paragraph Citation data now available in full text Unreported Judgments

In August 2021, the third tranche of features in the Paragraph Citations suite of enhancements was released on Lexis Advance. Researchers with access to both CaseBase® Case Citator and Unreported Judgments can now see blue citation flags down the left-hand side of Australian judgments showing the number of cases which have cited each paragraph. Clicking on a blue citation flag will open a pop-up displaying the citing passages, with CaseBase links and parallel citations to help extend your research (see image 1 below).

Being able to see the evidence of courts’ subsequent consideration in the context of your review of the text speeds up analysis. The value is akin to being able to study using a pre-loved textbook which still contains the highlights and crib notes from last semester’s lectures.

Image 1: Clicking on a blue citation flag to the left of the text of [26] in the unreported judgment will reveal a pop-up with the text of the 2 citing cases, with associated footnotes.

We have also added the Most Cited Paragraphs Pod in the right-hand pane (see image 2 below). The pod displays the 10 paragraphs with the most citations in the judgment, in descending order of citations. Clicking on one of the bars in the pod will take the user to the relevant passage in the text. This helps researchers identify the most discussed portions so they can decide quickly whether it’s worth investing time in reading the whole case.

Image 2: The Most Cited Paragraph Pod appears in the right-hand pane, under the ‘About This Document’ pod. It shows the top 10 most cited paragraphs in the judgment and takes the user to the relevant passage when clicked.

Background

The recent enhancements are intended to complement prior popular enhancements to CaseBase:

The developments in this suite of features share the same scope: post-1998 Australian judgments from superior courts. For more information, click on the ‘Scope’ link above the Paragraph filter in CaseBase. Lower courts and tribunals will be added over time. Pre-1998 judgments do not contain paragraphs and therefore are not currently being datamined; page-based citations may be added in future.

Upcoming development work

The Lexis Advance Primary Law roadmap is full of items designed to make it easier for lawyers to find and interpret the law. If you would like to hear more about what’s coming next, contribute your thoughts on priorities, or provide feedback on wireframes, please contact your Relationship Manager to arrange a chat with a product manager or contact us here.


Forms and Precedents

Recent enhancements

Links to related content

Using precedents promotes efficiency by removing the need to duplicate work, reduces risk, and frees up lawyers’ time to focus on meeting their clients’ unique legal and commercial needs. LexisNexis offers precedents authored by experienced practitioners across a wide variety of practice areas.

Precedents on Lexis Advance are being progressively enhanced to include active links to related content (including cases, legislation and similar precedents) in both the introductory note and the body of the precedent, making it much easier for users to navigate between the document and other useful content.

New and enhanced IP precedents

Precedents relating to Intellectual Property have undergone significant enhancement to include additional optional clauses, alternative clauses and drafting notes. This content enhancement will allow practitioners to more easily tailor their document to the circumstances of the matter at hand, as well as to manage risk by referring to drafting guidance and related material.

Nine new patent-related precedents have been included in the Science and Technology Commercialisation guidecard in Intellectual Property Precedents (IPPR), including two Materials Transfer Agreements for use in different contexts, two Prototype Development Agreements, and a Patent and Trade Secret Licence for use in joint ventures.

Enhanced discoverability

All IPPR precedents are now searchable, meaning that users will be more likely to find the IP precedent content that meets their research needs. Previously, close to a third of all IPPR precedents were non-searchable graphics.

For more information about these updates, please contact your Relationship Manager or contact us here.


Practitioner Books Online

De-mystifying Practitioner Books Online – also known as ‘PBOs’

LexisNexis Practitioner Books Online take the comprehensive and expert commentary contained within a hard copy text designed for practitioner use and integrate it with Lexis Advance.

Practitioner Books Online enable readers to start research via expert explanation and then click through to legislation, caselaw and secondary materials referenced in the text.

For both novice researchers and those more experienced in a subject matter, Practitioner Books Online offers a highly effective launching point for comprehensive research of a matter or issue.

Accessing Practitioner Books Online on Lexis Advance

Practitioner Books Online can be accessed on Lexis Advance via the ‘browse’ feature or the search bar.

Users could also access Practitioner Books Online by navigating to the “View Publications” pod and selecting the appropriate filters i.e., secondary materials → Textbooks

How can Practitioner Books Online help legal professionals?

Like all other formats (hard copy, eBooks and Red books), Practitioner Books Online provide low-cost access to authoritative content and complement the broader content sets on Lexis Advance.

In 2021, LexisNexis published more than 30 practitioner texts as Practitioner Books Online, including such titles as Luntz Assessment of Damages for Personal Injury and Death (5th edition), Law of Succession (3rd Ed) by Gino Dal Pont and Assaf's Winding up in Insolvency (3rd Edition).

For more details regarding the Practitioner Books Online publishing schedule and subscriptions, please contact your Relationship Manager or contact us here.


Lexis®Create

Confidently Navigate and Respond to Regulatory Risk

Legal drafting made simple

Creating legal documents is a time-consuming task every lawyer must tackle – even when using precedents. Lexis Create is the one tool you need to effectively save time, deliver consistency and minimise errors while seamlessly linking with LexisNexis legal intelligence products, all within the Microsoft Environment.

Seamless integration is the Lexis Create difference.

Instant access to cases and legislation or practical guidance, end-to-end — no matter what you are working on, Lexis Create will help you build, check and complete your documents.

Save time. Reduce risk.

Lexis Create is embedded within the Microsoft environment you use every day, to help you create, share and review legal documents. Linking seamlessly into your other LexisNexis legal intelligence products, Lexis Create ensures accurate and efficient drafting so you can focus on putting your legal knowledge into practice.

For more information on Lexis Create, please contact your Relationship Manager or contact us here.


Lexis Red®

Digital Library enhancements

Thanks to the extensive feedback provided by customers, we have many new and exciting enhancements planned for the Lexis Red Digital Library lending and borrowing experience. We would love to show you the new designs that the Lexis Red team have been working on, so that we can gather your feedback and continue to refine the solutions. Please get in touch with your Relationship Manager to see the designs and volunteer your feedback.

Books on Lexis Red

Over 100 LexisNexis Practitioner Books were released on Lexis Red in 2020, and approximately 30 more will be available for sale by the end of 2021. Contact your Relationship Manager for more information.

UK content

Lexis Red is being readied for the UK market. This means that in the next six to 12 months more UK content will be available on Lexis Red in the Pacific, including some titles that have previously only been available in print.


LexisNexis Practical Guidance

New Toolkit: ACCC merger case tracker in PG Competition

Competition lawyers can now search every public informal merger review completed by the ACCC from 2021 to 2012 (with more years to come) in our newly launched ACCC mergers case tracker. This tool has been described as “...super useful with a simple interface - the first port of call in merger analysis, setting out key concepts and key decisions”. It summarises concisely each merger by (1) parties, (2) industry/sector, (3) competition issues /market definition, and (4) ACCC decision and is supported by a demonstration video, available on the Knowledge Network.

New webinar – ACCC proposed merger reforms and big tech

On 16 September, our Senior Legal Writer for PG Competition hosted a webinar with competition law experts from Allens, discussing the ACCC’s proposed merger reforms, big tech and recent trends.

New Podcast – Australia's competition laws in 2021

Our Senior Legal Writer for Practical Guidance Competition discusses what’s been happening in the competition law space in 2021, including the latest in the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry, recent competition law cases and the ACCC’s proposed reforms to merger laws and app marketplaces.

New Virtual meetings and related issues guidance in Practice Guidance Corporations

New guidance covers recent temporary reforms allowing use of virtual meeting technology by companies and schemes and related issues (signing and communication of meeting documents and minutes of meetings) effective until 31 March 2022.

New Limitation Period Calculator Tool (Breach of Contract) in Practical Guidance Business

A new detailed step-by-step tool to help lawyers and their clients identify and apply relevant limitation periods for actions for breach of contract, including deeds. This tool covers the limitation periods that apply in each state and territory with references and links to relevant legislation and case law for ease of reference.

New and updated franchising precedents and checklists - Practical Guidance Business New and updated precedents and checklists reflecting recent changes to the Franchising Code, allowing lawyers to draft Code-compliant franchising documents and advise franchise clients including new precedent franchising disclosure document and franchisee advise statement, new checklist of information required to draft a franchising disclosure document, and updated precedent franchise agreement and checklist of information to draft a franchise agreement.

Comprehensive updates to Practical Guidance Family to reflect new court system

Practical Guidance Family has been comprehensively updated to incorporate the widespread changes to family law effected by the merger of the Federal Circuit Court and Family Court of Australia, which commenced on 1 September 2021. The new Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia is a single-entry court for all matters arising under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), the Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) (for matters which may be instituted in the court under those Acts), the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 (Cth) and the Child Support (Registration and Collection) Act 1988 (Cth). Almost 200 Guidance Notes in Practical Guidance Family have been updated on account of the changes to the court system. New materials on case management processes and events in the new court have also been added.

Coming soon – new precedents in Practical Guidance Banking & Finance

Supplement your firm’s precedent bank with the following new precedents to be launched in 2021: Consent and waiver requests (and related checklist) and financial assistance precedents including a new notice of meeting precedent containing virtual meetings provisions.

Coming soon – new precedents and checklists in Practical Guidance Dispute Resolution

Enhance your firm’s efficiency in conducting litigation and ADR in the Federal Court and all major courts in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland with over 40 new precedents and checklists to be launched before the end of 2021, covering a range of topics, interlocutory steps and procedures including:

Coming soon in Practical Guidance Employment

A new workflow managing transfer of business issues, and new precedents and updates to workplace bullying subtopic for new stop sexual harassment orders.

Coming soon – new checklist of key practical considerations when using virtual meeting technology for members’ meetings, in Practical Guidance Corporations

Complementing new and updated guidance on meetings, this checklist helps lawyers navigate recent temporary reforms allowing use of virtual meeting technology by companies and schemes and related issues (signing and communication of meeting documents and minutes of meetings) effective until 31 March 2022.

Coming soon – new Guidance for Landlords in Practical Guidance Insolvency & Restructuring

The Insolvency & Restructuring module will be adding a new guide for landlords to the external administration of a corporate tenant. This will cover the major issues for landlords arising from the insolvency of a corporate tenant including impacts on rent, termination and guarantees.

Coming soon – Signing Tool in Practical Guidance Property

We will soon be launching a signing tool customised for property law practitioners. This is an easy-to-use tool that will help property lawyers produce the correct signing blocks for their agreements or deeds and includes practical “tool tips” on signing formalities.

Coming soon – new topics in Practical Guidance Competition

New topics covering the access services regime, competition law litigation and competition law compliance are planned for Q4 2021, adding greater depth to topic coverage.

Practice area highlights

For more information about these updates, please contact your Relationship Manager or contact us here.


Practice Area Updates

Australian Immigration Law

The Business Innovation and Investment program (also known as the Business Skills program) was revamped on 1 July 2021, removing the underperforming subclasses and streams, and increasing the threshold of financial asset requirements to attract applicants with greater financial capital to invest in Australia. This is relevant to those wishing to enter Australia and applying for business or investor visas.

AUSTRALIA

Australian Immigration Law author Lena Hung has comprehensively written about streamlined changes to the BIIP to reflect the new requirements for prospective visa holders and their advisors. It is anticipated that the changes will play an important role in assisting Australia's economic recovery from the pandemic. It is vital to understand what has changed in relation to the BIIP from July 2021.


Local Government Planning and Environment NSW

Several regulations within the Local Government and Environmental Law areas were repealed under the Subordinate Legislation Act 1989 and remade. included the new Protection of the Environment Operations (Clean Air) Regulation 2021; Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 2021; Local Government (General) Regulation 2021 and Local Government (Manufactures Home Estates, Caravan Parks, Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulation 2021.

NSW

Local Government Planning and Environment NSW Vol A - The new Local Government (General) Regulation 2021 and Local Government (Manufactures Home Estates, Caravan Parks, Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulation 2021 have been updated to ensure that customers have the most recent and up to date regulations to hand.
Local Government Planning and Environment NSW Vol B - The new Protection of the Environment Operations (Clean Air) Regulation 2021 and Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 2021 have been updated.
Local Government Planning and Environment NSW Vol C - Author Lauren Sims has commenced updating commentary that related to the older regulations, whether it be by refining the commentary, or updating the commentary so that it refers to the 2021 regulations. This ensures that customers are directed to the updated regulations and that the commentary remains current and relevant.


The Designs Amendment (Advisory Council on Intellectual Property Response) Act 2021 was assented to in September 2021. Some amendments to the Designs Act commenced immediately eg changes to the standard of the “informed user” and registration of a design can now only be revoked on lack of entitlement grounds if court thinks it is just and equitable to do so. Some changes come into effect 11 March 2022, eg the introduction of a 12-month “grace period”and a “prior user” defence to infringement and extention of "innocent infringer" defence until the design is registered and published. Also an exclusive licensee now has standing to bring infringement proceedings.

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Warwick Rothnie has updated all the Designs commentary in Copyright & Designs to cover both the immediate changes to the Designs Act and those effective March 2022 so subscribers have the benefit of expert guidance on these significant legislative amendments and can find out what is the law now and also prepare for the upcoming changes.


Criminal Practice and Procedure NSW

No less than 45 cases handed down in 2021 were discussed in the September update of Criminal Practice and Procedure NSW, including a number of important cases, such as Huynh v R [2021] NSWCCA 148; BC202105980

NSW

Over 150 annotations / commentary paragraphs updated in Criminal Practice and Procedure NSW by Justice Johnson in September 2021 - discussing at least 45 cases handed down in 2021. As an example, one important Court of Criminal Appeal case that was handed down is Huynh v R [2021] NSWCCA 148, which provides clarity on the District Court’s appellate powers where an offender is charged with Cth offences and convicted in the Local Court. This case was discussed at [4-s 11.30] (commentary to s 11 of the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001, which deals with the right of appeal from the Local Court to the District Court). A casenote of Huynh was also published in issue 7 (August edition) of the newsletter that comes free with Criminal Practice and Procedure NSW (Criminal Law News).


Wills, Probate and Administration WA

On July 1 2021, voluntary assisted dying (VAD) became legal under the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2019 (WA) making it the only jurisdiction besides Victoria to have an operational VAD scheme. However, Tasmania, South Australia and Queensland have passed VAD laws with all set to commence by 1 January 2023.

WA

Commmentary on estate planning — in particular on advance health directives, enduring power of guardianship, enduring powers of attorney — and how the new VAD laws will affect estate planning and the validity of these instruments and wills is to be updated and added in Wills, Probate and Administration WA, aiming to become a leading publication serving as a benchmark for other jurisdictions as their VAD laws commence throughout 2022 and 2023.


Australian Family Law

On 1 September 2021 the Federal Circuit Court and the Family Court of Australia merged into one court known as the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, representing the biggest change to the Australian Family Law system since the commencement of the Family Court in 1976.

FEDERAL

Australian Family Law: Customers could access the following content online on the commencement day of the new court:

Australian Family Court Legislation: Customers could access the following content online on the commencement day:


Australian Property Law Bulletin

In August 2021, the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme Act 2021 (Vic) and Regulations were enacted to reinstate the Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme in Victoria. The Scheme provides for rent relief for tenants, prohibitions on termination of leases and other modifications to the operation of certain leases as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

VICTORIA

The Australian Property Law Bulletin Issue 36.7 contains an article which summarises the important provisions of the Act and provides tips for both landlords and tenants who are now navigating the Scheme.
The Australian Property Law Bulletin Issue 36.7&8 (a double issue), which is to be published in October 2021 contains an article that discusses the practical provisions of the Regulations and how the Scheme they set out differs substantially from its previous iteration.


Australian Banking & Finance Law Bulletin

ASIC'S Regulatory Guide 78 - Breach Reporting by AFS licensees and credit licensees was recently issued on 7 September 2021. Intended to guide both financial services and credit licensees, it provides guidance on obligations to report to ASIC certain breaches of the law under Div 3 of Pt 7.6 of the Corporations Act 2001 and Div 5 of Pt 2-2 of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009.

FEDERAL

The Australian Banking & Finance Law Bulletin Issue 37.8 features an article from editorial board member Benjamin Shaw, Tucker & Cowen Solicitors, titled 'Navigating the new breach reporting regime'. Customers will benefit from the author's broad overview, but more substantially, his focus on those aspects of RG 78 that differ from the exposure draft.


Australian Encyclopaedia of Forms & Precedents

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Design and Distribution Obligations and Product Intervention Powers) Act 2019 (Cth) introduced the design and distribution obligations to Chapter 7 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Issuers and distributors of financial products must comply with the obligations from 5 October 2021.

FEDERAL

The Australian Encyclopaedia of Forms & Precedents will be updated to feature a new consumer credit practice management guide (among several other guides) to provide information regarding the design and distribution obligations regime. It is an introduction to the DDO regime which includes key concepts and provides guidance as to where a practitioner should look when conducting their own detailed analysis regarding whether and how the obligations apply in particular circumstances.



Introducing Customer Success team

Manjeet obtained both a degree and postgraduate in law and practiced for a short time before joining LexisNexis UK where he worked for 11 years prior to relocating to Perth in 2010. Manjeet works closely with his team to drive learning outcomes which are closely aligned to the strategic goals of our customers.

We took the time to ask Manjeet a few questions:

LexisNexis training support have recently changed the name of the team can you tell us why?

LexisNexis believe that the new name Customer Success better reflects how the team is an integral component in ensuring that our customers achieve their desired outcomes while using our solutions. Customer Success (CS) consultants are relationship-focused and align theirs and client goals for mutually beneficial outcomes.

The last 2 years have driven real change in the way training is delivered from mostly F2F to a more virtual environment. Can you talk through what Customer Success has done to make a successful transition and what it has meant for our customers?

The Customer Success team at LexisNexis like all L&D teams over the last 2 years have had to adapt to continue to drive results for our business and customers. Key to this was that we firstly took time to understand the changing needs and the desired goals of our customers in this new world. From this review we quickly understood that in order not only continue but surpass our previous offering we needed to evolve through innovation. This change has included moving platforms we use for delivering training, adapting our session content to continue to drive facilitated interactive sessions and how we gauge the success.

Can you talk through what through what that innovation looks like and how is it assisting customers?

Absolutely. We tried to drive innovative strategies at every stage of the learning journey including, the discovery phase, the delivery and gauging the level of retention during training. In the first of element the discovery phase, we worked with customers to use features such as the registration forms to carry out a mini training needs analysis so that we really understand the requirements and gaps in knowledge of their end users so that we could target our training to them. We also used a feature in the platform which allows you to create multiple location links to the same session which a client can embed throughout their intranet. We were able to track which locations received the highest visits and registrations which the client would then use as their primary location going forward to advertise both our training and their own internal offering.

Secondly, we wanted to continue our transition to a more facilitated way of training. This proved challenging with attendees logging on from a variety of locations with varying distractions which could break the flow of a session. It is for this reason that we moved to 100% chat based facilitated sessions where the facilitator asks questions of the audience and sought responses via chat. This way of learning provided attendees with the opportunity for peer and instructor led learning. This was something that our customers initially thought would not work so well and where surprised at the level of interaction. Those customers who first took up this offering are now looking at ways that they can incorporate this interactive approach into their sessions as they have seen how useful it has been for their end users.

Finally, we also wanted to ensure that that the content we covered was being understood and that attendees were walking away from sessions understanding how they embed the learning. To achieve this we used polling questions, we carried out on the spot assessments to see if they firstly understood the value of the feature, functionality or content covered and then whether they knew when they should use when researching.

We have seen some excitement around what Customer Success has been doing academic segment can you please tell us more?

This topic is one that is very close to my heart as have I have tread the path of a law student myself I know how challenging legal research can be at university. Students are not only having to understand the different types of content they have access to but also the value they will derive which will assist them in gaining that extra mark.

I’d like to go back to the start of March 2020 though, when it became clear that we would be going into a lockdown which would have been at or near the start of semester 1 for many universities. University libraries were having to scramble to make the transition to online only learning with little notice just as the customer success team were at that time. It is during this time we met with the WA universities to talk through this challenge and explored how we could assist them in achieving the learning goals they had set out for the semester.

Through this consultation we offered to run a virtual state based tiered series for all years where any student from any university was able to attend. The session content was tailored for each year ensuring we covered what they needed in order to effectively research for their assessments. This type of collaborative offering was the first of its kind that I am aware of and enabled all 5 universities to quickly adapt their strategy to the circumstances they found themselves in. The series led to the change in approach for other segments and is where we first incorporated many of the innovations outlined in the previous answer. We have just delivered the third series for WA and have also this semester rolled out to NSW and QLD for the first time. Feedback from students has been really pleasing as they have seen real value in not only the content but also the way it has been delivered. One student commenting that the training provided insights into “The areas of Lexis Advance that students would not utilitise effectively unless they did training or accessed the videos. I honestly feel these research skills will support me in developing exceptionally researched answers.”

One thing that they would not be thinking about though at this stage in their studies, which we have, is the expectations of future employers of them as graduates to be proficient at legal research when they join the workplace. The transition from academic to practical research is something we have spent years refining and continue to do so going forward. We incorporated for all the state series our new Strategic Research skills which builds on our mind mapping session and enables students to understand how they can ensure breadth and depth when researching. This is something that you will definitely be hearing more about!

If you would like to know more, please contact us here.


Web Services API

Integrating legal research content into your DMS or intranet with the LexisNexis Web Services API

An API (Application Programming Interface) is an interface (a set of commands) that lets you pull content directly from a server, in order to make use of it in some other application or context. We all make use of APIs every day, in applications that pull geographic information from Google Maps, weather information from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, stock ticker information from Yahoo Finance, and many more.

The idea of an API is as powerful a game-changer as when someone first conceived of home delivery for restaurant food. "I love the food from my favourite restaurant, but I don't feel like going out tonight. I wish they provided a service that would let me request items from their menu remotely, and then enjoy that food in my own living room!"

The LexisNexis Web Services API provides an interface that allows you to make direct requests to the LexisNexis data services, bypassing the Lexis Advance web application entirely.

You can use the API to…

… all from within your own workflow, intranet, DMS (Document Management System), or library management systems.

The API returns resources (results lists, documents, tables of contents, etc) in JSON and XML formats. All the required structural and semantic information is present unburdened of any verbose and representation-specific markup. This means smaller files for faster performance, and the freedom to style, present, transform, and integrate the content into your internal workflow and DMS to suit your lawyers’ needs. The API uses widely accepted technical standards* to maximise interoperability with a wide range of internal systems used by our customers.

We are exploring the potential for the LexisNexis Webs Services API to make research easier, and bring answers directly to lawyers where they are working in their email or DMS. Please answer this quick poll to help us understand how our roadmap for the Web Services API can support firms and departments across the Pacific.

If you would like to know more, or explore how we can integrate content from Lexis Advance into your organisation’s working environment, please contact your Relationship Manager or contact us here.

* The API uses the OAuth 2.0 framework for authentication, and exposes resources using REST-based data services based on the OData 4.0 protocol.


Poll


Which of the following uses for the LexisNexis Web Services API would be most valuable to your organisation? (select all that apply)

one search to return documents from multiple sources including various publishers, your lawyers’ own documents, and the open web
from within MS Office applications
within your intranet or document management system (DMS)
shown as a ticker in your intranet or DMS
drawn from LexisNexis sources and your firms’ files, and shown to lawyers as they are drafting

If you would like to discuss how the Web Services API can facilitate the above features or explore different ways to integrate content from Lexis Advance into your working environment, please contact your Relationship Manager.


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