In an interview with Steven Booth, the LARC’s technical advisor, he reveiled that the choice as to which computers would be included in the upgrade came down to a tough decision between the Pavilion serices, and the new models being produced by ACER. In the end, HP won the battle based on their ability to provide a large quantity of the desired models at a reduced price. According to Booth, this was the major turning point in the battle to supply LARC with this lucrative contract, as the LARC would stand to save a whopping 32% after their decision to sign with HP.

On a side note, a number of laptops are also up for grabs in a LARC only competition. Robert Jacobs says the comp is an attempt to increase work effenciency through incentives. I don’t know about you, but my workload is going to go through the roof, those laptops look like fantastic machines. Here’s a picture of one of the models you could win:

So I guess the best place to start is by explaining just how this machine is designed to help lawyers and legal staff in particular. Well, one of the most impressive functions made available with this printer is the ‘scan to court’ feature which allows court documents to be printed at exactly the right size for submittal. If you’ve been in the industry awhile this will no doubt have been a point of frustration for you. No more time will be spent wasted trying to size your documents appropriately, the scan to court feature takes care of this with the press of a button.

Aside from this primary feature, the MFP also includes options to scan to network, allowing you to scan documents to your desktop, or to a shared network drive. Another cool feature is the ability to place your firm’s logo onto the e-task display, thus customising the machine in accordance with your organisation.

Our biggest complaint? Maybe it’s just us, but we’ve had an incredibly difficult time finding Australian companies who actually stock the lexmark ink cartridges needed to keep this printer in operation. If you’re having similar troubles, visit Cartridges Direct by following the link above. Fortunately, they’ve got a whole shipment of these elusive printer cartridges in stock.

Aside from these few features (although they are pretty neat) there’s really not that much to separate this device from any other modern printer. In saying that however, the scan to court feature is definitely something that any law firm or legal organisation will love, so overall we can recommend purchasing this model if you’re in need of a new printer, but don’t go out of your way if your existing printer is in good nick.

Here’s a link to the overview of the Legal Partner MFP from Lexmark themselves. Have a read and see what they’ve got to say.

Aitkens partners have a lot of experience as lawyers in the compulsory acquisition process who have supplied many landowners during an acquisition have recently attended a community meeting in Victoria Street Footscray last Sunday to help discuss land owners concerns.

Andrew Blogg  a lead partner in its compulsory acquisitions team attended the meeting and discussed with residents that they could trust Aitken Partners to represent their best interests on all occasions.

“In an acquisition, the government is obliged to offer you the market value for your property as if the proposed development was not taking place,” he said.

“But just was when you go to see real estate agents there is always a range they quote, and surprise, surprise, the government always goes for the lowest value. You do not have to accept their offer, and we work with property valuers to make sure you get fair compensation, including in many cases compensation that is not covered just in the property value

It’s important to seek legal advice to get a full understanding and to know your rights if you ever receive a notice of acquisition similar to the Footscray residents dilemma.

See Reports in Herald Sun and read the original article here.

There are literally hundreds on legal recruitment agencies in operation throughout Australia, and some are definitely more qualified than others. Choosing the right recruitment consultants is one of the most important decisions you can make, as their advice is ultimately going to be the difference between your getting the job, or being passed over. So let’s discuss some of the important things to look for when choosing a legal recruitment agency.

1. Age is obviously an important factor. Like any service, experience in the sector is invaluable, and the longer the agency has been in operation, the more experience they’ll have.
2. Qualifications. Although most legal recruitment agencies will be run by former members of the bar, there are some out there that are merely trying to pass as the real deal. Remember, former lawyers will have real experience and can offer you real advice. Don’t be afraid to ask to see their qualifications.

 Above all else remember this, next to family, your career should be the most important priority in your life, and the decisions that you make with regards to your career will impact your future dramatically, for good or bad. So ensure that the fist decision you make once you’ve graduated is the right one, see a qualified, established legal recruitment agency and get the right advice right off the bat.

Links:

Kaleidoscope Legal Recruitment - Boutique legal recruitment agency specialising in legal admin and support staff

Description

The Refugee Law Clinic in Brno started its activity in 2002. It was established by the Society of Citizens Assisting Migrants (SOZE), a non-governmental, non-profit organization, with strong support of the UNHCR and in cooperation with the Law Faculty of Masaryk University. Besides the UNHCR, the clinic has cooperated with the Public Interest Law Initiative, the Czech Bar Association, the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection, the Czech Ombudsman Office and the Organization for Aid to Refugees (OPU) RLC.

Objectives of SOZE Refugee Law Clinic:

• Improve students’ legal knowledge through practical education;
• Encourage law students to work with marginalized groups of people;
• Enhance knowledge of human rights and involvement among students;
• Provide free legal counseling to asylum seekers and refugees, by the RLC students;
• Promote NGO activity and volunteering;
• Increase the quality of juridical culture in the field of asylum and refugee law.

Since 2002, SOZE Refugee Law Clinic has accepted 22 law students for training. They are mainly responsible for interviewing asylum-seekers, providing counseling, carrying out country of origin research as well as legal research, drafting submissions, maintaining files and accompanying clients to official interviews with representatives of national authorities.

Clinic Activities

Once a week students visit several of the six refugee camps spread across Moravia. They each work on their own asylum cases, but also provide general legal assistance.

The students are trained and supervised by a professor, two teaching assistants and three legal practitioners. In addition to pro bono counseling, the clinic has also educated recognized refugees and persons granted subsidiary protection status on issues such as personal status, welfare and family reunification, employment, naturalization and domestic violence. As for asylum-seekers not qualifying for international protection, SOZE Refugee Law Clinic has provided voluntary repatriation counseling. Since the academic year 2004/2005, RLC has been included into the Masaryk University Law Faculty curriculum as a regular subject.

Academic year 2002/2003:

• 218 asylum seekers (including minors) interviewed;
• 175 asylum seekers (including minors) counseled;
• 5 asylum seekers represented at first instance;
• 1 asylum seeker represented in appeal stages;
• 2 asylum seekers recognized as refugees.

Contact information

Mostecká 16, 614 00,
Brno, Czech Republic
Tel.: +420-545213643;
Fax: +420-545213746

The Legal Assistance through Refugee Clinics (LARC) project, housed in the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, aims to provide support and guidance to refugee legal clinics in the Central Europe and Baltic States region.

Through skills development events, professional consultation, and the facilitation of a regional network of clinicians, LARC’s role is to empower refugee legal clinics to provide the most effective assistance to asylum seekers and refugees.

This site contains a collection of resources that are primarily intended for refugee law clinics (RLC) in Central and Eastern Europe but may also be useful to a wider audience. The various sections of the site contain information on establishing and running a refugee law clinic, tools aimed at helping clinicians with their every-day work and additional resources. The site also contains an online forum for clinicians where they can discuss asylum-related issues.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee’s Legal Assistance through Refugee Clinics (LARC) project website went on-line today, providing an on-line resource for refugee legal clinics, professors, managers, and students as they conduct their work. The site, which will be continuously updated, is also a good resource for individuals interested in what refugee legal clinics do. Future web projects/developments include a web-based international asylum law reader complete with recommended curricula for courses of different duration and the relevant international binding and non-binding instruments of international asylum law.

Refugee Law Clinics

This section looks at starting, developing, and running a refugee law clinic. It is hoped that these practical resources will help existing clinics improve their services and facilitate the development of new clinics.

Setting up a Clinic: This section contains an overview of the concepts of clinics and contains information about setting one up.

Managing a Clinic: This section contains information about managing the operations of an existing clinic.

Funding: This section looks at the all important issue of how to fund a clinic.

Clinics of the Network: Here you can find links to web pages for all of the individual clinics in the network. Each page provides an overview of the structure and activities of the clinics.

Skills Development

These sections contain a selection of tools intended to help clinicians improve their existing skills. The tools collected here should not be considered authoritative. Other tools probably exist that would be very helpful for clinicians to have access to. As such, we would appreciate it if you would send to us anything you think we should add.

Working with Asylum Seekers: This section contains information relating to working with asylum seekers (ie. interviewing skills, working with interpreters, as well as age, gender and diversity issues). For the relevant case law please see the Refugee Law Reader website.

Integration and counselling: This section provides information related to counseling recognized refugees (ie. integration issues).

COI: This section contains tools and opportunities for clinicians to improve their understanding of country of origin information and research skills.

Policy Advocacy: This section focuses on policy advocacy and lobbying with resources and links.

Educational Opportunities: This section contains a list of various formal educational opportunities for those interested in refugee law and related disciplines.

Internships and volunteering: This section contains a listing of internships and other volunteer opportunities related to refugee law.