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The Comprehensive Guide to Commercial Law: Understanding Its Practice Areas

Commercial law is the cornerstone of a flourishing business economy. It provides a stable foundation, ensuring that business interactions are fair, just, and predictable. Most commercial law firms encompass several practice areas, each with a critical role to play in maintaining the integrity and functionality of the corporate landscape. Here, we delve into the key practice areas of commercial law: property law, corporate law, dispute resolution, litigation, debt recovery, insolvency, and building and construction legal services.

Property Law: An Asset to Commerce

Commercial property law plays a pivotal role in business operations, serving as the basis for real estate transactions and business premises. It governs buying, selling, and leasing commercial properties, ensuring a fair exchange and safeguarding property rights. A proficient commercial property lawyer provides legal counsel for complex transactions, guides business owners through zoning regulations, and mitigates potential legal disputes over property rights or leasing contracts.

Corporate Law: The Backbone of Business

Corporate law forms the very backbone of business and commerce. It deals with the formation, governance, and dissolution of corporations. This practice area encompasses numerous legal aspects such as corporate contracts, hiring practices, and the manufacture and sale of consumer goods. Corporate lawyers offer advice on legal rights and obligations of corporations, helping companies mitigate risks and function smoothly within the confines of the law.

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By Choy Legal Advice, ago
Essential Terms And Conditions That Your Bali Villas Website Must Have To Remain Legal

Essential Terms And Conditions That Your Bali Villas Website Must Have To Remain Legal

If you run a Bali villas rental business doubtless you will have come up against numerous legal hurdles, which, whilst surmountable, may have caused you some sleepless nights. Running a business in another country can be awesome, but dealing with different property and business laws and regulations than you are used to at home does present some problems.

One aspect of your business that is not likely subject to Indonesian property law, is your online activities, although if your business is registered in Indonesia it may be subject to business laws in that country. Nevertheless, some legalities are universal, and those include the terms and conditions which pertain to the use of your website.

Although there may be some minor tweaks, for the most part, the legalities of website use and the terms and conditions which apply to those visiting them are similar across the world. Even so, you should be aware of them, and in practice, you should ensure that your Bali villa rentals website has the necessary terms and conditions published therein.

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By Choy Legal Advice, ago
What Is The Role Of An Independent Children’s Lawyer?

What Is The Role Of An Independent Children’s Lawyer?

In scenarios that involve the Family Court which involve a child, in addition to any family lawyer, who may be representing the parents or other individuals, the court may rule that an independent children’s lawyer should be appointed.

An independent children’s lawyer (or ICL for short) has the main responsibilities to act on behalf of the child, and as with any situation that reaches the Family Court, to ensure that the best interests of the child are being upheld and represented. In many cases, they act completely independently of the child’s parents and their own family lawyers.

This can often occur when the court is considering issues such as domestic violence, or when the child’s parents are in complete disagreement as to the welfare of the child, which can often happen after a divorce.

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By Choy Legal Advice, ago
How-To-Appoint-A-Legal-Guardian-In-Your-Will-For-Your-Children

How To Appoint A Legal Guardian In Your Will For Your Children

If you are a parent with a child you are most likely at an age where the thought of writing a will that would be implemented in the event that you should die may not exactly be at forefront of your mind. However, many family lawyers including Robinson Family Lawyers are asked to help young parents make a will, and one important element of that will be the guardianship of their child.

It might not at first seem something that is relevant to your situation and given the relatively young age and the good health that you and your child’s other parent are in, the likelihood that there would be a reason that your child would need a guardian is slim. That is the case for most parents, and indeed thankfully the need for a guardian never arises.

However, none of us can ever be certain of the future, and whilst it might not be a pleasant thought, there can be events such as an accident where perfectly healthy parents are tragically killed, leaving their child or children as orphans. Obviously, this is not a scenario that you might want to dwell on, but it is worth some thought to at least give you some peace of mind that if the worst happens your child will be looked after.

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By Choy Legal Advice, ago
Possible Sentences For Criminal Offences

Possible Sentences For Criminal Offences

One of the many aspects of the role of criminal lawyers is to consider what submissions and mitigations they are going to make to the court, in relation to sentencing should a client be convicted of a crime.

This requires a thorough knowledge of sentencing rules as they apply in that jurisdiction, what the maximum and minimum sentences might be for any particular crime, and the circumstances that exist with regards to it.

To some extent, punishments for committing a crime are set in order to act as a deterrent, but obviously, if someone has already committed and been convicted of that crime, that deterrent has failed in their instance. However, that does not mean that the knowledge of punishments such as prison sentences, do not act as a deterrent to others.

When it comes to sentencing and the punishments for crimes, there are basically three distinct entities that have a bearing on them. The first is the parliaments that determine what constitutes a crime, pass laws to enact them, and within those laws, there will be sentencing criteria also.

The next entity is the courts, and that will obviously include judges who hand down the punishments. They have leeway with regards to what the punishment may be, although these will always have to be within the boundaries of the law as it applies to any particular crime.

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By Choy Legal Advice, ago
Why Will The Court Not Grant Me Sole Custody Of My Child?

Why Will The Court Not Grant Me Sole Custody Of My Child?

Something which shocks many parents, especially mothers, when they discuss with their family lawyers what is going to happen with regards to their children after a divorce, is that the chances of obtaining sole custody are often slim.

In fact, the concept of custody, meaning one parent makes all the decisions for their children to the exclusion of the other parent, doesn’t really exist in Australian family law. This is due to the family Law Act of 1975 enshrining the principle of shared parental responsibility.

This principle means that unless there are sound and valid reasons not to, the court will take the view that it is in the interests of children that their lives have input from both parents.

In practical terms this means a mother cannot change the school the children attend or agree to the child having a major medical procedure without discussing it, and normally agreeing on it with the child’s father.

Shared parental responsibility may not always seem fair, especially to mothers who may have had to put up with a husband who had affairs, or who did not contribute to the home, as they should have. A perfectly reasonable argument can be made that it is, indeed, extremely unfair to that mother.

However, the Family Law Act’s shared parental responsibility is not there to necessarily be fair to either or both parents. Instead, that part of the legislation is there to ensure that the best interests of the child is best served.

Like it or not, the overriding principle of Australian family law is that having both parents play role in a child’s life is better than just one parent doing so.

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By Choy Legal Advice, ago
Workplace Surveillance: Is it Legal?

Workplace Surveillance: Is it Legal?

We often get asked about workplace surveillance and its legalities. And, unfortunately, it’s quite a complicated topic. Most Australia states have their own workplace surveillance laws, which can cover everything from the use of CCTV to the monitoring and recording of phone calls.

Before we go any further, we’d encourage you to speak to both your employer/manager and employment lawyers if you feel like you’re being monitored illegally.

Now, with that out of the way, let’s jump into it and figure out exactly what constitutes illegal workplace surveillance. Since different states have slightly different rules, we’ve focused on Western Australia for the rest of this article.

Optical Surveillance

In general, optical surveillance with CCTV or other cameras is legal within the workplace. All office spaces and other common areas can be, and often are monitored. And as unsettling as it can be to have your every move scrutinized, WA law says that this is acceptable – as long as your employer gives you adequate warning and advertises the fact that certain areas are under visual surveillance.

On the other hand, video surveillance is illegal if you’re undertaking a “private activity” and you haven’t given permission to be monitored. In short, a “private activity” generally refers to anything you do that you wouldn’t generally want to be observed doing.

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By Choy Legal Advice, ago
Protecting Your New Business From Copyright Infringements

Protecting Your New Business From Copyright Infringements

If you’re an entrepreneur or anyone else starting a new small business, then you need to be wary of copyright infringements. This is especially true if content – either written or visual – plays a big part in your business, because copyright infringements can dramatically reduce your profitability.

There are numerous ways to protect your business from copyright infringement, including by engaging the services of a commercial lawyer, such as Commercial Lawyers Perth, who has experience with copyright law. With this in mind, I’ve outlined a few of the simplest things that you can do.

Note that this isn’t a complete list, and that it’s not designed to take the place of professional advice.

Use A Copyright Lawyer

The most important thing to do when it comes to protecting your business from copyright infringement – which, by the way, occurs when someone else uses your intellectual property without permission – is to hire a commercial lawyer with copyright experience.

There are a number of ways a copyright lawyer can help you remain protected, including:

  • They will advise you on the best course of action to ensure long term protection of your intellectual assets.
  • They can follow up potential copyright infringements, catching them before they escalate.
  • They will advise you on the best course of action if you want to prosecute someone for copyright infringement.

Ultimately, I’d never try and start a new business without speaking to a lawyer with copyright experience, even if the business wasn’t heavily dependant on intellectual material.

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By Choy Legal Advice, ago
When Are Threats To Kill An Offense?

When Are Threats To Kill An Offense?

Criminal law is a complicated topic that takes an expert to understand. Even things like threats can carry significant penalties if you are prosecuted, and it’s very important to make sure that you speak with criminal lawyers to explore your options if you’re ever charged with a crime.

However, it can be hard to know when threats are actually an offence, and when they can be seen as a joke. I mean, we’ve all had thoughts along the lines of “I’d love to kill that person,” right?

Unfortunately, the law in Australia is quite clear, which means that you need to be careful about what you say and do. If you ask the professionals at Lawyers Perth, ultimately, threats to kill can result in significant penalties, even if they aren’t meant seriously.

How Is A Threat To Kill Defined As An Offence?

Now, it’s important to note that the laws surrounding intimidating threats vary from state to state within Australia, but most are quite similar. The NSW law is quite simple and easy to understand, so I’m going to use it here as an example.

In New South Wales, the Crimes Act 1900 contains laws which govern offences including threats to kill. It basically outlines two situations which can lead to prosecution:

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By Choy Legal Advice, ago