1.30am: Login and Welcome

1.35pm – 2.35pm: Ethics and professional responsibility: Ethics, Cyber Standards, and Professional Duties: Raising the Bar for Legal Practice

Speaker: Simone Herbert-Lowe, Principal Law & Cyber

Upholding ethical and professional responsibilities in today’s legal practice demands more than awareness of cyber threats – it requires a proactive engagement with evolving standards.

This webinar will:

• Examine the new Victorian Minimum Cybersecurity Standards – a benchmark for practitioners nationwide - and outline key requirements and what these mean for ethical and professional obligations.
• Explore how these cybersecurity obligations fit within the broader landscape of a lawyer's professional duties, including confidentiality, competency, and fiduciary duties, and the professional and business risks for lawyers where these are not upheld.
• Discuss what lawyers in other jurisdictions can learn from Victoria's standards and how these principles might influence or inform professional expectations across Australia.

2.35pm – 2.45pm: Stretch break

2.45pm – 3.45pm: Professional Skills: Improving Negotiation Skills for Better Outcomes

Speaker: Michael Mills, Principal, Solve Resolve

Successful negotiation and persuasion are more science and technique than art. As a technique, it can be mastered. Success is not just about the content of the message (or argument or pitch),   more often it is about the other components of persuasion: how the message is communicated and the negotiation experience of the parties.

The topics of this session include:

• Instinctive negotiation approaches or modes
• What are the normal negotiation barriers and biases?
• Negotiation techniques
• Effective communication skills; and
• 5 key tips for better negotiation outcomes

3.45pm – 3.55pm: Stretch break

3.55pm – 5pm: Practice Management/Business Skills: Attracting and Maintaining Clients Using Your Personal Brand

Speaker: Trish Carroll, Principal, Galt Advisory

Your personal brand is unique to you – only you can manage and market it. A clearly defined and well managed personal brand is a big contributor to building a successful practice.

The topics of this session include:

• 4 steps to define your personal brand
• Ways to embody your personal brand in person and online
• Tips on how to use your personal brand to attract and keep clients

5.00pm: Close 

This webinar is ideal for all legal practitioners who wish to successfully complete their mandatory requirements outlined in the Legal Profession Uniform Law, substantive law excepted.

This webinar is produced in NSW and features practitioners based in NSW and WA. This webinar is available to practitioners from all Australian jurisdictions.

All times listed for this course are Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT).

If you intend to claim CPD units for this educational activity, please note that CPD activities are not accredited by the Law Society of NSW or any other equivalent local authority, with the exception of Western Australia. If you hold a practising certificate in a state or territory other than Western Australia and this educational activity extends your knowledge and skills in areas that are relevant to your practice needs or professional development, then you should claim one (1) "unit” for each hour of attendance, refreshment breaks not included. The annual requirement is ten (10) CPD units each year from 1 April to 31 March. Some practitioners, such as accredited specialists are required to complete more than ten (10) units each CPD year.

Practitioners holding WA practising certificates are eligible to earn CPD points for this course. For instructions to earn CPD points, please click here.  

Ethics and professional responsibility – 1 point

Practice management and business skills – 1 point

Professional skills – 1 point

Simone Herbert-Lowe, Principal, Law & Cyber

BA, LLB, MLM, MBA (Executive)

Simone Herbert-Lowe is at the forefront of protecting Australian legal practices from cybercrime through education, risk management, and strategic advisory services. As Principal of Law & Cyber, she has established herself as a thought leader in cyber resilience and professional responsibility, recently providing expert testimony to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Law Enforcement's Ability to Respond to Cybercrime.

With over three decades of experience in private and corporate legal practice, Simone brings deep expertise in professional liability, insurance, privacy law, and risk management to her work. Her upcoming webinar "Ethics, Cyber Standards, and Professional Duties: Raising the Bar for Legal Practice" addresses the critical intersection of cybersecurity and professional obligations, with particular focus on the 2024 Victorian Minimum Cybersecurity Standards and their broader implications for Australian legal practice.

Since launching in March 2020, Simone's CPD-eligible online education programs have equipped more than 10,000 Australian business professionals with essential cybersecurity knowledge. Her specialist online course, course Cyber Risk for Law Firms, endorsed by leading organisations including LPLC, PEXA, and the Law Society of South Australia, provide practical guidance for maintaining cyber resilience in legal practice.

"Upholding ethical and professional responsibilities in today’s legal practice demands more than awareness of cyber threats —it requires proactive engagement with evolving standards. The new Victorian Minimum Cybersecurity Standards set a benchmark for practitioners nationwide, underscoring lawyers’ duty to safeguard client trust in a digital age."

Michael Mills, Principal, Solve Resolve

Director of Australian Geographic Pty Ltd, NSW Council member of Yalari

Michael Mills is recognised as one of Australia’s leading lawyers for complex commercial litigation and dispute resolution. As a top commercial litigator, he has been the lead defence lawyer for some of Australia’s largest and most complex disputes, representing both leading Australian and international companies, here and overseas.

He is considered by industry as a “go-to” lawyer for strategically important commercial and “bet the company” disputes. This includes regulatory and mass torts/civil liability disputes, as well as front end insurance, risk advisory and dispute resolution work.

Michael has also been the lead lawyer in the recovery of over $2 billion for his clients in various commercial disputes and court actions. His creative tactical thinking in resolving disputes has seen his practice expand into providing strategic advice to clients in relation to directors and officers liability risks, corporate governance, front end insurance and risk management advice, as well as alternative means to resolve commercial problems and disputes.

Michael is also a nationally recognised and accredited mediator. He teaches courses in Australia and overseas on civil liability and dispute resolution. This includes teaching “Resolving Civil Disputes” at UNSW, being a guest lecturer at Stanford Law School on several occasions since 2011, author of Thomson Reuter’s text, Dispute Resolution (2018) and a past Chair of Resolution Institute (previously LEADR) and Advisory Board member of RAND Institute of Civil Justice.

"Successful negotiation and persuasion are more science and technique than art. As a technique, it can be mastered. Success is not just about the content of the message (or argument or pitch),   more often it is about the other components of persuasion: how the message is communicated and the negotiation experience of the parties."

Trish Carroll, Principal, Galt Advisory

Business strategist, Facilitator and Coach

Trish is a combination of business strategist, facilitator and coach. She enjoys nothing more than seeing people succeed.

Since establishing her business in 2004 Trish has advised clients ranging from small local firms to global firms and in-house teams in the public and private sector. She believes relationships are everything and supports her clients to become more effective communicators and manage client, employee and market relationships in ways that build trust and confidence. She helps firm pitch and win business, successfully adapt to, and implement, change and deal with challenging situations.

Trish often works with other consulting firms as part of a cross-functional team delivering various organisational and professional development programs. Apart from all this serious stuff, she likes to make the legal practice management sessions entertaining and to make thinking about things a little differently fun.

During her long career she has been National Director of Marketing & Business Development at Minter Ellison, Bell Gully (New Zealand) and Baker & McKenzie (Australian offices). Trish has been a member of the teaching faculty of The College of Law NSW for 20+ years which is just slightly longer than she’s been writing a regular column for the Law Council’s Australasian Law Management Journal. She was the first Australian to speak at the North American Law Firm Marketing Association Conference. She has also spoken at legal conferences hosted by the International Bar Association, the Australian Financial Review, the Association of Corporate Counsel Australia, the Corporate Lawyers Association of New Zealand and the Australasian Legal Practice Management Association.

"Your personal brand is unique to you – only you can manage and market it. A clearly defined and well managed personal brand is a big contributor to building a successful practice."

Please be aware that this course organised by the College of Law may be recorded for use on our websites, marketing materials and publications. By attending and participating in a College of Law Continuing Professional Development course, you consent to the College of Law photographing or recording and using your image and likeness and/or voice.