Darwin firm Ward Keller goes global 

One of Darwin’s oldest law firms has joined up to a global lawyers network to deal with increasing global legal issues from local clients. Ward Keller Lawyers, which has a staff of 40 and practices commercial law, has joined Lawyers Associated Worldwide (LAW), a network of law firms in more than 130 jurisdictions around the world. “We had clients with legal issues in other countries and we didn’t have the resources to deal with them,” said partner Leon Loganathan in Northern Territory News. The network enables the firm to pick up practice management ideas from member firms, he said. While memberships costs $2500 a year, “in our first year we made $5000 to $6000 from Adelaide alone”.

Judges ‘deeply divided’ over court restructure: Brandis

The Federal Government’s plan to restructure the federal courts hit a hurdle yesterday when Opposition legal affairs spokesperson George Brandis said it would cause “serious damage to the efficient resolution of family law disputes”. Brandis said the judiciary was “deeply divided” over the proposed changes. Attorney-General Robert McClelland announced last week that the Federal Magistrates Court would be abolished later this year, and that its work would be divided between the Federal Court and the Family Court. Last week The New Lawyer reported that the vice president of the Australian Bar Association, Peter Riordan SC, said “the devil, and God, will be in the detail” of the changes. But, he said, “I’m a bit of  an optimist about it”.