Retail lease disclosure statements in each Australian state and territory: how far ahead, and what happens if you are late
A landlord must give a prospective retail tenant a disclosure statement before the lease is entered into: 14 days ahead in Victoria and the ACT, seven in NSW, Queensland, WA, Tasmania and the NT, and before signing in South Australia. The lead time, the remedy and the waivers, jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
Nick Hallam
4 November 2026
GST on an Australian property sale: when it applies, the margin scheme, going concern and farmland
Most residential conveyances carry no GST, but new residential premises, vacant land and commercial property sold by a registered entity are taxable. A practical guide to the four treatments, the going concern and farmland exemptions, the margin scheme agreement that must exist before settlement, and what the file has to record.
Liam Killingback
2 November 2026
Conditional contracts in Australian conveyancing: finance, building and pest, and who gives notice by when
Finance and building and pest conditions turn on a date and a notice, not on the condition itself. What each Australian state and territory requires, how the days are counted, and what a conveyancing file has to carry.
Nick Hallam
28 October 2026
Priority notices and caveats between exchange and settlement: what each Australian state offers and when to lodge
Five Australian jurisdictions offer priority notices and three do not. The periods, the one extension each allows, what a priority notice cannot stop, and when a caveat is the right instrument instead.
Liam Killingback
26 October 2026
Strata certificates in an Australian conveyancing matter: what each state requires, and when to order one
A section 184 certificate in NSW, an owners corporation certificate in Victoria, a Form 33 in Queensland: the document, the obligation and the statutory turnaround all change with the state. What to order in each jurisdiction, who has to obtain it, and the dates to put on the matter.
Nick Hallam
21 October 2026
Off the plan conveyancing: deposits, disclosure changes and sunset dates in NSW, VIC, QLD and WA
An off the plan file turns on four dates: the deposit's release, the vendor's disclosure, each notice of change and the sunset or long stop date. The rules in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, with the provisions that set each clock.
Liam Killingback
19 October 2026
When settlement does not happen: default notices and penalty interest in each Australian state
A late settlement starts two clocks: interest under the contract, and the steps required to end it. What the NSW, Victorian, Queensland and Western Australian standard forms actually say, and what the matter file has to carry.
Nick Hallam
14 October 2026
Foreign buyers and surcharge duty in an Australian conveyancing matter: what the file has to establish in each state
A foreign buyer triggers federal approval and a state duty surcharge of 7 to 9 per cent. The current rates and trigger dates in all eight jurisdictions, who counts as a foreign person after the October 2025 High Court decision, and what the matter file has to record.
Liam Killingback
12 October 2026
Withholding at settlement: FRCGW clearance certificates and GST withholding in an Australian conveyancing matter
Two withholding regimes bite at an Australian property settlement: foreign resident capital gains withholding, now 15 per cent with no value threshold, and GST at settlement on new residential premises. What each requires, the order the steps happen in, and the dates a conveyancing file should carry.
Nick Hallam
7 October 2026
Who holds the deposit in an Australian conveyancing matter, and when can it be released?
A conveyancing deposit is held money, not the vendor's money. Who may hold it, the banking deadlines in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and WA, what changes in Victoria on 1 June 2027, and the five facts the matter file has to prove.
Liam Killingback
5 October 2026
When transfer duty falls due in each Australian state: the dates a conveyancing file has to carry
Transfer duty runs on three different clocks across Australia: from the contract, from settlement, or from an assessment notice. A state by state table of when duty must be paid, why the liability date is not always the contract date, and what a conveyancing file should record.
Nick Hallam
30 September 2026
Settlement adjustments in an Australian conveyancing matter: what gets apportioned, and what cannot be passed on
How settlement adjustments work on an Australian property file: the items apportioned at the adjustment date, the state by state rules on land tax, the two ATO withholdings that are not adjustments, and what the matter file has to hold afterwards.
Liam Killingback
28 September 2026
Cooling-off periods in Australian conveyancing: the rules in each state and territory
Five business days in NSW, Queensland and the ACT, three clear business days in Victoria, two in South Australia, four in the NT, and none in WA or Tasmania. What triggers the clock in each jurisdiction, what a waiver has to look like, and what the matter file should record.
Nick Hallam
23 September 2026
Vendor disclosure before contracts are signed: what each Australian state requires of a conveyancing file
Pre-contract vendor disclosure differs in every Australian jurisdiction: a section 32 statement in Victoria, a Form 2 in Queensland since 1 August 2025, a Form 1 in South Australia, prescribed documents attached to the contract in New South Wales, and nothing at all in Western Australia. What each state requires, and what the file has to prove afterwards.
Liam Killingback
21 September 2026
Verification of identity in Australian conveyancing: what the matter file has to prove seven years later
ARNECC Model Participation Rule 6.5 requires reasonable steps to verify identity, and rule 6.6 requires the evidence to be kept for at least seven years from lodgment. What the Schedule 8 safe harbour asks for, why AML/CTF customer due diligence does not discharge the obligation, and how to set a conveyancing matter file up so a compliance examination is a search rather than an excavation.
Nick Hallam
16 September 2026
Workflow automation in a small Australian law firm: what to automate first and what to leave to a person
A practical test for deciding which steps in a matter are safe to automate, a worked conveyancing automation map, and how MatterFirst, Clio, Actionstep, LEAP and Smokeball describe workflow automation on their own material.
Liam Killingback
14 September 2026
AML/CTF for Australian law firms: what a matter file has to record now that tranche 2 has started
Tranche 2 obligations commenced for Australian lawyers on 1 July 2026. Which files are designated services, what customer due diligence, reporting and seven-year record keeping ask of a matter file, and how to structure the file so the evidence creates itself.
Nick Hallam
9 September 2026
Client communication in a conveyancing matter: what to tell the client, when, and what to automate
A residential purchase has eight moments where the client's understanding changes. The cooling-off rules that differ by state, which updates are safe to automate and which are not, and how MatterFirst, LEAP, Smokeball, Actionstep and Clio compare on client-facing communication.
Liam Killingback
7 September 2026
Billing a fixed-fee conveyancing matter: disbursements, trust withdrawals and which files make money
A fixed fee covers your professional fee, not the disbursements or the client's settlement funds. How Australian property firms record outlays, withdraw costs from trust under rule 42 and section 58, and work out which matter types are actually profitable.
Nick Hallam
2 September 2026
Client intake for an Australian law firm: costs disclosure, conflicts and the first hour of a matter
Costs disputes start at intake, not at billing. The costs disclosure thresholds that apply in each Australian jurisdiction, what the Legal Services Council is proposing to change, and how to structure intake so the conflict check, the disclosure and the key dates create their own evidence.
Liam Killingback
31 August 2026
What actually migrates when you change legal practice management software
Contacts and matters are the easy part. Trust ledgers, precedents and workflows decide your timeline. A practical guide for Australian firms changing practice management systems, including what is confirmed about FilePro and LawMaster and what is only reported.
Nick Hallam
26 August 2026
How to Choose Legal Practice Management Software for a Small Australian Firm
Feature checklists do not separate practice management products. Jurisdiction fit, hosting, pricing unit and the exit path do. Here is how to run an evaluation across LEAP, Clio, Smokeball, Actionstep and MatterFirst, with every vendor claim checked against their own public pages.
Liam Killingback
24 August 2026
What to ask before connecting an AI assistant to your firm's matter files
Connecting Claude or ChatGPT to your practice management system exposes every matter the connecting user can see. Eight questions to resolve first, mapped to NSW Practice Note SC Gen 23, with how the major Australian platforms answer them today.
Nick Hallam
19 August 2026
Limitation Dates and Diarising: What Your Practice Management System Should Calculate for You
General limitation periods run six years in every Australian jurisdiction except the Northern Territory, where they run three. Here is which dates a practice management system should calculate from matter facts, which should stay a solicitor judgement call, and how to test a vendor on the difference.
Liam Killingback
17 August 2026
Legal software data residency in Australia: where your firm's matter data actually lives
Data residency for Australian law firms is not one question but six: database, documents, backups, AI processing, subprocessors and support access can each sit in a different country. What to ask, how to verify it, and what LEAP, Clio, Smokeball, Actionstep and MatterFirst publish today.
Nick Hallam
12 August 2026
Document automation for law firms: what should be a merge field, and what genuinely needs a model
Anything already recorded on the matter belongs in a merge field. A model earns its place only where a section needs synthesis. A per-section test for Australian firms automating their precedents, with a vendor comparison and the questions to ask.
Liam Killingback
10 August 2026
Electronic signatures in a legal workflow: what Australian law requires, and how e-signing works in MatterFirst
Electronic signing is valid in Australia when the method identifies the signer, shows their intention and is as reliable as the transaction warrants. The harder part is evidence. What the Electronic Transactions Acts and the Corporations Act actually require, what still needs its own process, the trail a dispute asks for, and how MatterFirst, LEAP, Clio, Smokeball and Actionstep each provide signing.
Nick Hallam
10 August 2026
AI document extraction in a legal workflow: how a contract becomes matter data
Extraction reads what is in a document. Generation writes what is not. A five step walkthrough of what happens between an upload and a filled matter field, what to test in a trial, where the inference actually runs, and how MatterFirst, LEAP, Clio, Smokeball and Actionstep describe their own document AI.
Liam Killingback
8 August 2026
Trust accounting compliance by state: what Australian law firms lodge, and when
NSW, Victoria and Western Australia run a 31 March trust year with an external examiner's report due 31 May. Queensland counts 60 days. South Australia runs a 30 June year. A jurisdiction by jurisdiction guide to the deadlines, the forms and the reports your practice management system has to produce, with the regulator source for every date.
Nick Hallam
8 August 2026
The conveyancing workflow from instruction to settlement: what your practice management system should handle
An Australian conveyancing matter runs through eight stages, and PEXA covers only one of them. A stage-by-stage guide to what a practice management system should carry, what the participation rules ask of your file, and how MatterFirst, LEAP, Smokeball, Actionstep and Clio compare on the points a property firm actually buys on.
Liam Killingback
8 August 2026
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