Customer Satisfaction at Erina Legal

Customer satisfaction is one of the core values of Erina Legal. We know we are here to serve our clients. As a result of this, we work hard to understand your needs and to listen to you, the client.

Our team are highly competent in their field, but these days we recognise that is not enough. You want someone who understands you and who cares about you and your legal matter.

You also want someone who clearly communicates what is going on, what the next steps in your legal matter are and what we are doing about them. So we talk to you as well as listen.

If you have any problems with our service we want to know about them so that we can address them. Any problems you may have can be discussed with Wayne Brown and if he is not able to assist, you can speak to Denise King, our principal lawyer.

Problems are often based on unfounded misunderstandings or assumptions. Usually the best results are achieved from a discussion about the issue.

We always do our best to address your issues to ensure that we can continue to work together. So far we have a good track record with our clients and we welcome you to become part of that success.

Trademark your brands and business name

If you value your business and product names you should take steps to guard them through trademarking them.

Just ask Ian McDonald formerly of McDonald's hamburgers at Rosebud Victoria. Mr McDonald has had to cease trading under his own name and change the name of his hamburger shop to avoid an expensive legal battle with the global hamburger giant McDonald's.

It's not that Mr McDonald couldn't have won his case, it's just that it was going to be expensive to fight.

"I decided not to go to court because the prospect of massive legal fees was too daunting," Mr Macdonald said.

On the other hand Malcolm McBratney decided to fight McDonalds on principle. He was using the label McBrat's on his local rugby teams' shorts as part of a sponsorship arrangement.

McDonald's had registerred the trademark McKids a few years ago in preparation for a McDonald's kids clothing line, and according to them the McBrat's logo was too similar and could cause confusion in the market.

The Federal Court ruled this week that McBratney could register and have his nickname appear as a registered trademark on his team’s shorts.

I have provided these two topical examples as an illustration of the complexity of the issues. Basically if you are in business you need to take active steps to manage your business, brand and product names. You can help manage the risks to your business name and brands by registering the appropriate trademarks.

In the current environment of competition for brands and intellectual property you shouldn’t hesitate to take this step. The costs of re-branding can be very expensive, not to mention customers losing you with the change of name.

You can read more about registering trademarks yourself at IP Australia or if you want to get professional assistance you can contact us at Erina Legal to discuss your needs on 02 4365 6556.

How to find the right lawyer for you

When choosing a lawyer you need to consider what is most important to you. Most people don't buy services from lawyers every week and so are a little unsure about what is most important. This guide describes the three most important attributes you should look for.


Expertise - Choose a lawyer who has expertise in the area you need.
Working together - Choose a lawyer you can best work with.
Quality of Service - Find a lawyer who can deliver a good service.

Expertise
There are many areas of law and there are continuing changes in legislation, case law and procedures in each area of law. No one lawyer can keep up with all of the changes to all areas of law. It is important that you choose a lawyer who has relevant updated qualifications and experience in the area of law that you need.

Lawyers advertise what their specialities are in the yellow pages and other advertisements. You can also call the firm before your first meeting and ask about relevant experience for your particular need if you are unsure from their advertisements.

Sometimes the lawyer may not be an expert in the particular area of law you need, but may have enough experience together with briefing a barrister with expertise in that area to provide the service you need. Ask about this.

All Australian lawyers have at least a university degree of three to six years and a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice as well as a certificate of admission to the relevant Courts before they are allowed to practice as a lawyer. They are then required to have two years of supervised work experience before being given an unrestricted practice certificate and must complete at least ten hours of continuing legal education each year to maintain their practice certificate.

Many lawyers do further post graduate studies such as Specialist Accreditation with the Law Society, Post Graduate Diplomas, Master of Laws and Doctorate of Laws at university and some also in other disciplines related to their law specialisation. When phoning to arrange an interview feel free to ask what areas they have training and experience in.

Working together
Your lawyer will be working with you intimately, and possibly over a sustained period of time. Like relationships with people in general, there are some people you can get on well with and others that you can't. When you meet your lawyer for the first time the first interview is for both of you to decide if you can work together.

Can you sit comfortably with this person and tell them about your aspirations and how you see your future? Do you trust them to work for your best interests, and to work hard? Will the work be between just the two of you or will there be others involved? If other lawyers will be supporting the work you might like to also meet them.

You should discuss how you will communicate. Will this be mostly by email, phone or face to face meetings. Do you understand each other when you speak or do you constantly need to clarify meanings?

You and your lawyer will be working together as a team and as a team you need to be able to effectively communicate and work together. You need to be comfortable working as part of that team. Your lawyer has the expertise and experience to help you achieve your goals. You have the relevant information about your particular circumstances that will assist your lawyer to do so.

Quality of service
As the customer you also have an expectation of a certain level of service. How quickly will your calls be returned, how long will you have to wait for an appointment, will you be kept appraised of updates in your case? Again, this is a topic for your first meeting.

Of course the team at Erina Legal are confident we can deliver high quality and reliable results in all the areas of law we provide. You are welcome to call us (02 4365 6556) and book your first appointment today. An initial consultation only costs $180 for up to one hour. After that if you want us to commence working for you, we will provide you with a Costs Agreement and some estimates of costs and what may need to happen.

Our main areas of expertise include;

• Family Law
• Financial Agreements
• Conveyancing and Property Law
• Wills, Power of Attorney, Enduring Guardianship, Probate
• Small Business Law
• Mediation
• Employment Law
• Civil Litigation

For more information about our service phone 02 4365 6556 to discuss your needs.

Child Support Scheme has changed from 1 January 2007

The Australian Government is changing the Child Support Scheme to ensure it meets the best interests of the children, better balances the interests of parents and reflects today’s community. The new Scheme also aims to better reflect the costs of children.

The reforms adopt recommendations made in The Ministerial Taskforce on Child Support report, In the Best Interests of Children – Reforming the Child Support Scheme. They are being introduced in three stages over two years.

• Learn about the reforms introduced on 1 January 2007
• Learn more about the Child Support Scheme reform program

Child Support Agency investigates delinquent payers

PARENTS who minimise their income to cheat their way out of paying child support will come under increased scrutiny.

The Child Support Agency has employed an extra 120 financial investigators so it can investigate 2400 separated parents across Australia each year, four times the previous amount.

General manager Matt Miller said the agency was focusing on parents who lived in "affluent suburbs" but have reported low incomes to pay the minimum child support, which is about $6 a week.

"These parents are not only cheating the child support system, they're cheating their children," Mr Miller said.

The move comes after increased concerns that parents were hiding their income illegally, working for cash-in-hand payments or minimising their income through salary sacrificing for tax purposes.

But parents paying child support are not the only ones under investigation. Those on the receiving end will also be scrutinised.

Mr Miller said the agency had already uncovered cheats through data matches from a variety of sources, including bank statements and tax records.

An extra $3.6 million had been uncovered by the agency this financial year and the additional funding from the Federal Government was expected to deliver $460 million more for children.

Source: www.news.com.au

Beware of the pitfalls of Reverse Mortgages

A report from SEQUAL, a lending association targeting seniors, has highlighted the dangers of Reverse Mortgages. Reverse mortgages have become popular in recent years as retirees seek to maximise their income. It's a product that is gaining more popularity with financial planners. They have been particularly popular with people who have benefited from the property boom of a few years ago.

Be aware that financial planners are often paid commissions when the sell loans and other third party financial services to you. Just because reverse mortgages are popular with the lending industry does not mean they are right for you. For a start reverse mortgages will reduce your total equity in your home meaning there is less money there for your kids inheritance and in case of unexpected expenses later in life.

You can learn more about reverse mortgages at ASIC's website here.

SEQUAL is an industry association that has drafted a code of conduct designed to ensure high quality financial advise for seniors. They warn all consumers of financial advise that they should get legal advice on any financial agreements that they are party to.

"It's very important that they have a lawyer look over the contract, explain the obligations to them, and make sure they're doing it for the right reasons."

You can call Erina Legal anytime to have financial agreements reviewed on 02 4365 6556.

Erina Legal - a family business serving families

Denise King is the solicitor/director at Erina Legal. She is also the mother of Craig and Wayne Brown from her previous marriage to Walter Brown.

Denise was born and grew up in Sydney, and moved to the Central Coast when her parents retired at the time of her divorce in 1977. She raised Craig and Wayne while studying a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Psychology and Education followed by post gradute studies in psychology, counselling and conflict resolution then a Bachlor of Laws and Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and working in various positions in education, health, teaching and law then counselling and mediation in her own business and finally in her own legal practice. She is presently completing a Master of Laws by research on Family Law and aims to one day retire and write books and articles on her experiences in law.

Some past memberships were in the Central Coast Talented Children's Association while working for the Education Department, the Gosford Philharmonia Choir and Christ Church choir, secretary of the Central Coast branch of the Australian Federation of University Women and an inaugural member of the Erina Club of Rotary. She has been a member of the Liberal Party for nineteen years, currently a member of the Terrigal branch.

Craig (left) and Wayne (right) Brown in the back office at Erina Legal. Craig and Wayne grew up and went to school, college and university on the Central Coast.

Craig completed a Bachelor of Business at Central Coast Campus of Newcastle University and has since completed a Graduate Diploma in Project Management and is presently studying a Masters degree in Project Management. He has had a number of years experience in project management. He was initially a director of Erina Legal but resigned because of living in Melbourne and pursuing other interests. He is presently the manager of Erina Consulting. Craig is expecting his first baby in September, 2007.

Wayne completed a Diploma in Business Management and a real estate license at Gosford College of TAFE. After a number of years experience in business management, real estate sales and manager of Erina Legal since 2004, he is presently studying an Associate Law degree in conveyancing while continuing his role as manager and conveyancer at Erina Legal

Wayne married Kelly O'Connell in September 2003 in idylic Vanuatu and they are expecting their first baby in August, 2007.

Kelly grew up on the Central Coast and completed her qualifications as an architect at Newcastle University where she was awarded the University Medal and a number of other prizes having graduated with first class honours.

Buddy the loved family half blue cattle and half border collie dog.

Divorce has significant impacts on Home Ownership

A paper from the Australian Institute of Family Studies highlights that divorce can have long term impacts on your economic wellbeing.

This report is one of the first to look at the long term financial effects of divorce on the family. It involved a study of people aged 55-74 and compared divorced to never divorced people’s economic circumstances. The findings were from a limited sample size, and are only averages, so you may well be an exception to the rule.

The key findings were; if you divorced you are likely to be worse off financially than people who don’t divorce, however, if you remarry most of this negative impact will be reduced. The short term financial impacts are clear to many, however the long term effects of shouldering all financial burdens should not be ignored.

Home ownership was one of the most significant indicators in the study of economic wellbeing. Married (and never divorced) people’s outright home ownership rates are almost doubles that of divorced people.

The best way to deal with this when going through separation is to get sound financial advice, and in our opinion that advice should include buying property as soon as you can. When you come to the end of a property settlement you should look for a financial planner and arrange a meeting to discuss your options. Careful planning will avoid many long term financial problems.

Erina Legal does not provide financial advice but we can assist you in reviewing contracts and terms for loans and investments.

Erina Legal can assist you in purchasing and selling property. Call us now to discuss how on 02 4365 6556.

Wills, Power of Attorney and Enduring Guadianships

Here are our prices for wills, powers of attorney and enduring guardianships. If you would like to know more about our services you can call us on 02 4365 6556.

Wills

Pensioner Standard: Single - $120.00 Couple: $180.00
Non-Pensioner half hour: Single - $150.00 Couple: $225.00
Non-Standard (over half hour): $220.00 p.h.

Power of Attorney

(Fee half price if obtained with a Will or Enduring Guardianship)
Pensioner: Single - $80.00 Couple: $120.00
Non-Pensioner: Single - $120.00 Couple: $180.00
Registration fee: $71.00

Enduring Guardianship

(Fee half price if obtained with a Will or Power of Attorney)
Pensioner: Single - $120.00 Couple: $180.00
Non-Pensioner: Single - $150.00 Couple: $225.00

Divorce: The impact on the Kids

The Melbourne Age published an article today on the fact that there is a huge spike in divorce and separation matters at this time of year. Hypotheses about why abound; It’s because Christmas crystallizes people’s opinions, because it’s a New Year and time to get things done, or because people just plain ran out of time in the previous year.

The bottom line is that people are going to be seeing their lawyers to discuss their options this month.

Erina Legal manages family law matters for client and has a range of options available to help including mediation, negotiation and litigation where differences can’t be resolved outside the courts.

The source of the article is a UK information website about divorce called Inside Divorce. The rules around divorce are different in the UK to Australia but there is some interesting information on the site including this article on the impact of divorce on children.

Naturally, as a parent your main concern when separating is the effect on the kids’ happiness. The good news is that Children are mostly okay with their parents’ divorce. Kids also say they want their parents to not argue about them. This suggests that parents, where possible should negotiate an amicable arrangement.

Mediation is generally regarded as the best medium to achieve amicable settlements in stressful disputes. So, where possible, ask your lawyer about the opportunity for mediating your arrangements regarding the kids.

You can read more about this here.