If you are not a solicitor, you don’t need to know about the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules (ASCR), yes?  Well, actually, no.  Those who are involved in the management of legal practices also need to take into account how professional conduct obligations of lawyers affect the business of law.  Equally, workplace conduct issues (in particular,

This story is about a dentist (so we can’t show you his face on television, if anyone is thinking of buying the television rights to this article).  The dentist was alleged to have engaged in sexual harassment, and dismissed from the practice in which he was working. Subsequently, he he was sued, and ordered by the

“ATO targets legal privilege”, cries the front page of today’s Australian Financial Review,  neatly bringing together the second and the third of life’s certainties (the first certainty being one with which we try not to concern ourselves unduly here at Worth Knowing). The article quotes ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan as having said in March that “[the

When legal liability is imposed upon one person for the misdeeds of another, even though the first person is themselves blameless, this liability is described as “vicarious liability”.  In Australia, vicarious liability arises most often when an employer is held to be liable for the torts of an employee.  Australian law has developed two “central conceptions” in relation to such

Jean-Paul Sartre, as it turns out, never said, “Hell is other people” (although he did use that line in his 1944 play called Huis Clos, or No Exit).  Nor, as far as our researches have disclosed, did Sartre have much to say about work health and safety.  This is perhaps surprising, given the importance of duties which are

When we are not writing about things which we think are worth knowing here on the “Worth Knowing” section of this website, we can sometimes be found writing about things which we think are worth knowing in other publications. This month, Angus has an article in the Law Society of NSW Journal on a recent

Monday’s experts (according to the Weddings Parties Anything song of the same name) “always know what’s cooking, how the game was lost, and how it could have been won”.  What this song doesn’t tell us, however (in an unfortunate lyrical oversight) is whether Monday’s experts would be of much assistance in resolving disputes about commercial

Recent reports of deaths of fishermen off the coast of Guyana from attacks by pirates highlight the continuing existence of “Pirates of the Caribbean”. However, they are not the fun-loving, Johnny Depp type of pirates but an example of the continuing scourge of piracy in many of the world’s oceans. Although piracy off the coast

These days, it seems that everything old is new again; so if you if you are looking for a new brand, it’s a safe bet to go back to one of your old ones, yes?  Well, no, as CrownBet has just discovered in its attempt to bring back the “Sportingbet” brand back to Australian sports

“Never read the comments” is often said to be one of the cardinal rules of the Internet – indeed, if you need reminding of the importance of the rule, the Internet will helpfully supply you with T-shirts and cross-stitch patterns so that you don’t forget. However, whenever there is a rule, there will be exceptions which