Property Law Property law covers a range of practice groups, often including Construction and Infrastructure, Environment, and Property. Within a Construction team, you may face work such as negotiating, drafting, and advising clients on contracts for large-scale infrastructure work and building construction or providing advice in relation to the financing of infrastructure developments. The Property group is a very extensive and important area of legal practice. Property lawyers deal with a range of legislation and have skills that are high in demand. They deal with everything from large-scale matters to minor transactional negotiations. Typical property work includes things such as advising on commercial, industrial and retail property matters, reviewing property contracts, advising on the due diligence process during the sale and purchase of real estate and businesses, completing complicated tenuring and titling arrangements or undertaking negotiations for variations of leases. This area often has a high level of contact with clients as each property deal is unique and requires a thorough understanding of the wishes of clients. Taxation Law Firstly, it is important to note that the tax lawyers are rarely involved in detailed analysis of financial accounts. It is not strictly necessary to have a background in accounting or finance to become a tax lawyer, but some firms do encourage you to undertake further accounting based study if you settle in the group. However the focus is on the legal analysis of tax based issues and the practical application of the law. In tax, perhaps more than in other areas of practice, a need exists to constantly maintain and update your knowledge of the law. Tax work requires constant reference to both statute and case law, and tax is the subject of a continuous stream of legislation and much litigation. Tax lawyers must also maintain their knowledge of other areas of commercial litigation such as property, contract, trust and company law as tax issues are usually linked to other commercial issues. Banking and Finance The Banking and Finance group deals mainly with the debt component of corporate transactions. Teams are generally broken down into more specialised sub-teams, such as finance (focusing on financing developments or exploiting assets), debt capital markets, consumer financial services (drafting contracts and arrangements for financial service providers and large corporations), securitisation, or property finance (assisting in managing the finance of commercial, residential and retail properties). Work in this group may include preparing and coordinating conditions precedent, drafting and reviewing various types of securities, drafting various other documents, including board minutes, powers of attorney, short form loan agreements, legal opinions, deeds of release and documentation in relation to financial assistance. Preparing for and coordinating signings and completions, researching and preparing advice on various legal issues, and corresponding with clients and team members. Competition and Consumer Protection This is a specialised group within the firm that essentially deals with breaches of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). This Act is divided into two main parts – sections dealing with regulating the level of competition between businesses and companies, and sections regulating levels of consumer protection. Competition work will likely involve advising companies prior to proposed mergers whether the ACCC will accept such a change in their industry, advising clients how to restructure mergers to ensure a healthy level of competition remains within the market, advising with respect to the development of facility infrastructure and access agreements, and liaising with the ACCC on behalf of clients. Energy and Natural Resources Energy and Natural Resources is a relatively new, fast-paced and ever growing group within the industrial sector. More and more top tier firms are expanding their energy and resources area of practice, both on a national and international scale. It is recognised as an extremely important area of law, which is underpinned by both economic and environmental concerns, and captures a wide range of transactions from oil and gas mining to renewable energy and power supply. Intellectual Property This group revolves around intellectual property (IP) services, including the registration, commercialisation and enforcement of intellectual property rights. The team develops legal strategies to protect the commercial potential of brands, as well as engaging in litigious work if there is a breach of IP rights. Work in this group may involve drafting advice on the identification, protection and management of patents and trade marks, drafting agreements relating to licensing, franchising, and transferring rights, advising on copyright, confidential information and unfair competition issues, enforcing all IP rights using dispute resolution or litigious methods, advising on marketing agreements and many other aspects of IP law. Clerkship Guide 2013 33