Many of us aren’t aware of the rights we have when injured on public property. This article serves to clarify these rights.

Public Liability Claim

Depending on the type of injury, the circumstances under which it happened, and the type of public property, someone injured on public property may be able to put forth a public liability claim.

Common public liability claims include:

Business Claim

If you visit a public property belonging to a business and injure yourself, you can serve them with a personal injury claim. The owners of the business have a responsibility to the public to keep the area safe.

Dog Attack

If you are outside of someone’s private property and their dog attacks you, you can lodge a public liability claim against the owner.

Shopping Centre

If you are not directly inside a shop but still inside a shopping centre when an injury occurs, you can lodge a personal injury claim. In this case, who you lodge the claim against differs, but a personal injury lawyer can assist you with that. Common injuries include trips, slips and falls.

Sporting Accident

Players who injure themselves at a club or sporting arena may receive compensation from the club owners, depending on the type of injury and how it happened.

At School

School is not often thought of as a public place, but if someone experiences an injury on school grounds, they may be able to hold the school or, depending on the injury, government liable.

Footpath or Road

A badly made or maintained footpath or road can cause an injury, and a public liability claim may be lodged against a local council or authority.

What to Do

Should you experience an injury in a public place, the first thing you should do is go to a doctor and explain to them how the injury occurred. After medical treatment, you should then seek legal help. We can help you file a personal injury report against the person you think is responsible. We can also help you work with witnesses, documents and the general progress of the report.

You have every right to receive compensation for your injury.

Need Advice or Assistance with Injury Claims?

If you’re looking for help with your injury claim, speak to our experienced lawyers in Brisbane. As members of the Queensland Law Society, our lawyers will examine your individual circumstances and offer timely advice on the best pathway forward.

At Phoenix Law, we specialise in Family Law, Personal Injury Law, Migration Law, Commercial Law, Property Law, Litigation Dispute Resolution, Estate Planning, International Trade Law, Intellectual Property Law and Workplace Relations Law. We speak your language, with a team of multilingual lawyers ensuring our clients get the best possible understanding of Australian law. Call our law firm today on 07 3180 0908 or contact us online.

Commercial law is a broad field. In this article, we explore some of the basics of commercial law, with a focus on those which relate to small businesses.

Fair Trading

In Australia, everyone deserves a fair go. The same applies in the commercial landscape. Trade and the federal governing bodies ensure that businesses operate fairly and that they treat both consumers and competitors with respect.

Fair trade laws regulate areas such as:

Pricing Regulations

Businesses must follow a variety of pricing regulation laws. These laws ensure that pricing is truthful and not damaging to other businesses in the same field.

Warranties and Refunds

Goods must be free from faults. If they are not, the consumer should be able to claim compensation.

Measurement of Goods

This area ensures that measurement and labelling requirements are kept standard.

Contracts

Commercial law covers contracts, which it views as legally enforceable no matter whether it is written or verbally agreed upon. If someone agrees to provide a service in exchange for monetary or other benefits, they are likely engaging in a commercial contract.

Privacy

In this day and age, privacy is ever-so-important, and as such there are strict commercial laws regarding how businesses collect, store and use data that they have collected from their customers.

This is especially important when it comes to marketing.

Anti-Bullying Laws

Commercial law also covers ensuring that there are anti-bullying policies within the workplace, as workplace harassment is taken very seriously. If a company does not take adequate steps to ensure bullying does not occur, they may be held liable should it happen in the workplace.

Unfair Dismissal

If your business has less than 15 employees, it is classified as a small business under the Dismissal laws and has its own procedures to follow.

For a dismissal to be fair:

• It must be given with adequate warning with a valid reason as to why they are being dismissed. The reason should preferably be given in writing, but verbal explanations are also acceptable.
• The employee should be given a warning or opportunity to improve, unless their actions cause significant risk to the company, such as theft or misconduct.
• An opportunity to improve may include additional training.

Need Advice or Assistance with Commercial Law?

If you need guidance with commercial law, speak to our experienced lawyers in Brisbane. As members of the Queensland Law Society, our lawyers will examine your individual circumstances and offer timely advice on the best pathway forward.

At Phoenix Law, we specialise in Family Law, Personal Injury Law, Migration Law, Commercial Law, Property Law, Litigation Dispute Resolution, Estate Planning, International Trade Law, Intellectual Property Law and Workplace Relations Law. We speak your language, with a team of multilingual lawyers ensuring our clients get the best possible understanding of Australian law. Call our law firm today on 07 3180 0908 or contact us online.

With so much domestic violence happening across Australia, the law has had to step up and create laws around the field that previously did not exist. In this article, we explore these laws, as well as possible compensation payments.

Domestic Violence

Although domestic violence was previously considered to be simply physical, it is now considered as occurring in many ways including emotional abuse, economic control, intimidation and even threats of violence.

Although children and women are most at risk and the highest instances of domestic violence occur in rural and regional communities, it can happen to anyone, including men.

The Government Response

Over the years, the government has released different strategies of combatting domestic violence. These have included Women’s Safety initiatives, the National Initiative to Combat Sexual Assault that has over $16.5 million in funding, and further investments into procedures of caring for victims’ post-assault.

Victim’s Compensation

Victim compensation, while a relatively new idea, has been gaining social momentum as the society recognises the importance of compensating victims in the criminal process. This is because, even though the offender should pay for the harms they have committed, the victim will also likely continue to experience hardship as a result of the offender’s actions.

Although new legislation does allow for compensation, avenues of compensation are not exclusively legalisation based. Victims can also receive compensation in three main ways.

Civil Courts

When going to the civil courts, victims typically claim that a tort has been committed and they are owed compensation.

Offender Reparation

Another common approach taken by victims is that of receiving an order that an offender should pay reparation or restitution for what they have done. This is given as part of the offender’s sentence.

Government Assistance

The last way in which victims can claim compensation is through a statutory compensation scheme, in which the government assesses their eligibility and then provides compensation.

Legislation

All Australian states and territories have legislation allowing victims to claim compensation. These schemes range from state to state, but generally aid with recovery and support, while also acknowledging that they have indeed suffered a crime.

Need Advice or Assistance with your Domestic Violence Claim?

If you’re looking for guidance during your domestic violence claim, speak to our experienced lawyers in Brisbane. As members of the Queensland Law Society, our lawyers will examine your individual circumstances and offer timely advice on the best pathway forward.

At Phoenix Law, we specialise in Family Law, Personal Injury Law, Migration Law, Commercial Law, Property Law, Litigation Dispute Resolution, Estate Planning, International Trade Law, Intellectual Property Law and Workplace Relations Law. We speak your language, with a team of multilingual lawyers ensuring our clients get the best possible understanding of Australian law. Call our law firm today on 07 3180 0908 or contact us online.

More and more people are becoming active members of owner’s corporations. This article explores the legality of it and provides analysis of what to keep in mind.

What is a Body Corporation?

When you purchase a home that is built on subdivided land, you are likely to be part of a body corporation. A body corporation manages aspects of home ownership such as upkeep of shared spaces including stairs and common driveways.

Common Property

Common property may include a variety of spaces such as gardens, stairwells, drive ways and fences. The owners corporation must maintain and repair the common property.

The Pros

Same Costs

It is important to note that if you were to purchase a stand-alone property, that is, one which is not built on subdivided land, you are likely to pay a majority of the same costs for the same things anyway. Therefore, the added cost to purchasing a property on subdivided land should not truly affect your decision, as you will end up paying most of the outgoings as well, standalone or not.

Community

Owners corporations enrich a sense of a community. They allow owners to get to know their neighbours and have an input as to where they are living.

The Cons

Loss of Control

When you purchase a standalone property, you have full control when it comes to your expenses. However, when buying a property that has an owners corporation as a necessary part of it, you will undoubtedly lose some control over where you are spending your money.

What to Look Out For

In order to avoid the cons and to ensure that you are making a smart decision, it is important to do several things.

• Before purchasing, ask the owners corporation for a record of their minutes. There, you can see whether they are active and pleasant, or if there will likely be disputes to encounter.
• Also enquire as to whether there is a sinking fund: if a big problem arises, will the owners have to take a loan, or have they gradually been saving money and keeping it for a rainy day?

Need Advice or Assistance with Buying into an Owners Corporation?

If you’re looking to buy into an owners corporation, speak to our experienced lawyers in Brisbane. As members of the Queensland Law Society, our lawyers will examine your individual circumstances and offer timely advice on the best pathway forward.

At Phoenix Law, we specialise in Family Law, Personal Injury Law, Migration Law, Commercial Law, Property Law, Litigation Dispute Resolution, Estate Planning, International Trade Law, Intellectual Property Law and Workplace Relations Law. We speak your language, with a team of multilingual lawyers ensuring our clients get the best possible understanding of Australian law. Call our law firm today on 07 3180 0908 or contact us online.

While setting up a new business, you and your business partner are focused on important, exciting tasks to get the business on the ground, from conceptualising your branding and setting up social media accounts to fitting out your store. During these times, it’s easy to forget or avoid considering the future potential for disputes. But like any relationship, it’s a possibility you should realistically prepare for.

The best way of avoiding costly, lengthy and stressful disputes is to establish a shareholder’s agreement that clearly outlines the rights and obligations of each business partner. Whenever an issue arises, parties can refer to the shareholders agreement and follow dispute resolution procedures that are set out. This reduces conflict and ensures fairness should a dispute arise.

Important Clauses to Include

It’s important that your shareholders agreement clearly outlines ground rules around key areas that may become the source of a dispute. This includes:

• Roles and obligations – A description of each individuals roles and responsibilities so everyone knows what to expect of each other.
• Dispute resolution – Provides a step by step process of how to reach an agreement or compromise in the event of a dispute that everyone agrees on.
• Termination – Details the way in which someone can remove themselves from the business or under what circumstances a partner can be removed.
• Confidentiality – Sets out information that everyone is limited to disclose to third parties (e.g. client lists, trade secrets, financial records).
• Restraint of trade – Prevents partners from poaching clients, competing with the business or exploiting confidential information in a way that benefits them.
• Intellectual property – Ensures intellectual property like branding, trademarks, designs, recipes etc. created by any partners are assigned exclusively to the company.

Coming up with a dispute resolution process is often difficult. An experienced commercial law firm can help you write a shareholders agreement that is fair and looks out for everyone’s interests.

Practical Ways to Resolve Disputes

Every partner has their own interests in the business and may have their reasons for wanting to leave the business further down the track. If everyone is honest and shares their concerns and interests at the beginning, it’s easier to achieve a fair outcome should a dispute arise.

For example, would one partner buy another out? How would this process go ahead and at what price? Are departing partners entitled to any assets or intellectual property? It’s important to come to a mutual agreement about such things early and to keep a paper trail.

Need Advice or Assistance with a Shareholders Agreement?

If you’re starting a business or need legal advice for your existing company, speak to our experienced lawyers in Brisbane. As members of the Queensland Law Society, our lawyers will examine your individual circumstances and offer timely advice on the best pathway forward.

At Phoenix Law, we specialise in Family Law, Personal Injury Law, Migration Law, Commercial Law, Property Law, Litigation Dispute Resolution, Estate Planning, International Trade Law, Intellectual Property Law and Workplace Relations Law. We speak your language, with a team of multilingual lawyers ensuring our clients get the best possible understanding of Australian law. Call our law firm today on 07 3180 0908 or contact us online.

Running a small business is exciting, especially when it starts to grow. However, it’s not always fun and easy. Operating a business is often stressful and presents a variety of financial and legal risks if not done right. The best way of avoiding potential issues is to get on top of any legalities at the very beginning. Below are some key considerations to make.

Your Business Structure

The kind of business structure you choose will have implications over the whole life of the business. The right type of structure will depend on a variety of factors such as your appetite for risk, how much flexibility you need, what type of business you are operating, tax considerations and the costs related to each type of structure.

The main options you have include:

• Sole trader – a business owner operating on their own
• Partnership – two or more people/entities operating the business
• Company – a separate legal entity from its owners/shareholders
• Trust – an entity holding assets of the business on behalf of others

An experienced commercial lawyer can help run through the benefits and downsides to each option and help you determine the best option for you.

Your Obligations

What kind of legal framework are you operating in? For example, do you need to hold particular licences or permits to carry out your business activities? Are you required to offer a certain level of diligence, skill or care? Depending on what your business is, you will be subject to particular laws and regulations that govern your business operations, so it’s essential to be well informed about them.

Protecting Your Business

Protecting your business’s assets is crucial. This includes intellectual property, which some business owners overlook until it’s too late. This includes things like your trademark, brand, domain name, copyright and products or recipes you’ve created. Don’t find yourself in a situation where you come up with a great business name only to find someone else beating you to registering it.

Other ways of protecting yourself include having carefully drafted terms and conditions for things like refunds, supplier relationships and payment terms. Privacy policies are also essential for ensuring your business complies with any privacy legislation and telling your customers you are a responsible and professional business when it comes to handling their personal information.

Employer Obligations

Ensure you meet the minimum standards that meet all employees in Australia, including minimum wage and any awards that apply in your industry. Familiarise yourself with these standards and your obligations under the Fair Work and Occupational Health and Safety Acts to ensure you are operating lawfully. A workplace law firm can help you understand your obligations and draft employment contracts that are fair and lawful.

Need Advice or Assistance with Commercial Law?

If you’re starting a business or need legal advice for your existing company, speak to our experienced lawyers in Brisbane. As members of the Queensland Law Society, our lawyers will examine your individual circumstances and offer timely advice on the best pathway forward.

At Phoenix Law, we specialise in Family Law, Personal Injury Law, Migration Law, Commercial Law, Property Law, Litigation Dispute Resolution, Estate Planning, International Trade Law, Intellectual Property Law and Workplace Relations Law. We speak your language, with a team of multilingual lawyers ensuring our clients get the best possible understanding of Australian law. Call our law firm today on 07 3180 0908 or contact us online.

Are you starting a new job or changing roles within your workplace? It’s essential to properly review your employment contract to ensure there are no surprises. It’s common for Australians to just sign what they are given when contracts are handed over, especially in the workplace.

However, it’s important to remember that like any other contract, an employment contract imposes obligations on both parties. It’s a document that governs the relationship between you and your employer, so it’s crucial to ensure it is fair and accurate.

What Should Your Workplace Contract Include?

Your employment contract should ideally include the following:

• A clear job description
• Salary or wage details
• The nature of employment (full time, part time, casual)
• Maximum weekly hours
• Public holiday entitlements
• Leave entitlements
• Dispute resolution process
• Termination process (how much notice is required?)
• Redundancy consultation
• Confidentiality requirements
• Protection of intellectual property

If some things are not included, you should bring it up with the employer, negotiate the terms and add it to the contract as necessary.

Things to Look Out For

It may come as a surprise that employment contracts can contain illegal or unenforceable elements or terms that contradict what you believe you were agreeing to. However, it’s all too common and can occur due to error, unintentional ambiguity or malicious conduct. Some areas of concern include, but are not limited to:

• Failure to include agreements or promises made during pre-contractual negotiations such as bonus, benefits, holiday, commission, health insurance and flexible working arrangements.
• Terms that contradict the Fair Work Act and/or the National Employment Standards.
• Ambiguous or otherwise unclear terms in a contract that may be open to interpretation and able to be used against you.
• Discretionary clauses that may give the employer an unfair advantage.
• Overreaching restrictions or restraints of trade which can limit your options upon termination in a way that seems unreasonable to you but is enforceable by the courts. For example, non-compete clauses can prohibit you from working for a competitor for a certain amount of time or in a certain geographical area.

Ensure you understand everything that is in the contract and that it reflects your understanding of any verbal agreements made prior to signing. If there is a contractual provision or any terms you don’t understand, an experienced workplace relations lawyer can assist you.

Need Help Reviewing Your Employment Contract?

If you need advice or assistance reviewing your employment contract, speak to our experienced lawyers in Brisbane. As members of the Queensland Law Society, our lawyers will examine your individual circumstances and offer timely advice on the best pathway forward.

At Phoenix Law, we specialise in Family Law, Personal Injury Law, Migration Law, Commercial Law, Property Law, Litigation Dispute Resolution, Estate Planning, International Trade Law, Intellectual Property Law and Workplace Relations Law. We speak your language, with a team of multilingual lawyers ensuring our clients get the best possible understanding of Australian law. Call our law firm today on 07 3180 0908 or contact us online.