Catch Holman Webb Chief Marketing and Client Relations Officer Adriana Giometti in the latest episode of the Club of United Business 'Catching up with CUB' Podcast as she chats to CUB CEO Daniel Hakim to discuss:

• The importance of understanding your clients
• How neuromarketing is revolutionising market research
• The future of technology in the law

Do you have a family trust in New South Wales? 

It is important to note that you may need to make urgent (by 31 December 2020) changes to your trust deed, to ensure that you don't pay extra stamp duty or land tax.

During a weekend in San Francisco in 2008, when all of the hotels were sold out for a design conference, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia decided to rent out an air-mattress in their apartment on Rausch Street.  It is unlikely that the person hosted by Brian and Joe that weekend had any idea that they were the first guest of what would become the  global business known as Airbnb.

Holman Webb's Brisbane Partners have much pleasure in announcing three promotions.

In Episode 10 of Legal Lockdown, Adriana Giometti speaks with Chris Hadley, Partner within Holman Webb's Commercial Recovery and Insolvency Group, to discuss a range of COVID-19-related changes brought about in the debt recovery space.

Topics include:

• Has there been a surge in insolvencies and bankruptcies?
• What can we expect to see moving forward?
• Government relief measures
• Changes to statutory demands
• Director's liability in light of the changes

There have been a number of recent developments within the workplace relations arena, specifically:

• National Minimum Wage Decision
• Increase to Civil Penalties under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth)
• Amendments to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) increasing penalties and prohibiting indemnification of such penalties
• Changes to powers of WHSQ Inspectors under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (QLD)
   

The latest development in the ever-changing world of 'Loss of use' claims has seen the NSW Court of Appeal hand down their respective decisions in Lee v Strelnicks; Souaid v Nahas; Cassim v Nguyen; Rixon v Arsalan [2020] NSWCA 115. 

Key takeaways:

• Recent changes to the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) and the Designs Act 2003 (Cth) give Commonwealth, state and territory governments the power to exploit patent and design rights in an emergency.
• These Acts also permit the Commonwealth, state and territory governments to exploit rights outside an emergency, though the process is more onerous.
• The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) permits Commonwealth and state governments to use private works with immunity, in an emergency or otherwise.
• While "the Crown" is referenced within each Act, the power is generally available to the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and anyone they authorise.
• All three Acts provide for some form of compensation, though in some circumstances it may be impossible to reach a firm conclusion on what is fair and reasonable.

Is your company ready to pivot in the event of a crisis?

In the latest episode of Legal Lockdown, Adriana Giometti speaks with Karina Rodríguez Díaz, Crisis Management Underwriting Manager, Australasia at HDI Global Specialty SE, to discuss how organisations within a wide range of industries have managed to pivot their businesses in order to adapt to changes brought about by the COVID-19 crisis.

The Franchising Code of Conduct ('the code') contains a number of important protections for franchisees. 

One particularly important, yet often overlooked protection is the requirement that franchisees receive advanced notice of the franchisor's intentions when the franchise agreement is coming to an end.  Will the Franchisor consider an extension, or renewal - or do they intend for the relationship to end?