Goodbye to Paper Certificates of Title
Paper Certificates of Title are now a thing of the past in Queensland. Previously, in order to sell, transfer or mortgage a property in Queensland you had to produce the Certificate of Title. No title meant no deal unless or until you made application for a replacement Certificate of Title or you were granted dispensation from having to produce the Title Deed by the Registrar of Titles. Many landowners lost track of where their Title Deed was held or it ...
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Building and Pest Inspection – Do it Right
A crucial component of the purchasing process is the building and pest inspection. Most contracts will provide the Purchaser with an opportunity to undertake a building and pest inspection to determine the structural soundness of the home they are buying. Because this is such a crucial component in the buying process I always advise my clients to do the following: Choose your building inspector carefully. Be present when the inspection is being undertaken. Ask questions and give direction to your ...
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When Is Transfer Duty Payable On Your House?
The government charges Transfer Duty (what used to be called Stamp Duty) on every real estate transaction. Depending on whether you are a first home buyer, intending to use the property as your principal place of residence or as an investor and how much you are paying for your property will determine the rate and amount of Transfer Duty that you will pay. The Office of State Revenue is the department which oversees the payment and collection of Transfer Duty. ...
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Optimising Your Commercial Lease
Optimising Your Commercial Lease Tips on avoiding common mistakes made by ‘others’ Hopefully you’ve first read our article, Commercial Leases 101’ so you have a good grasp on the basics of entering into a commercial lease. Now it’s time to focus on some of the details and importantly the areas where others (not you of course) make costly errors when relocating a business and signing up to a commercial lease. By avoiding these pitfalls you can actually optimise your lease ...
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Retirement Villages: Blissful Living or Lifelong Burden?
Tips for ensuring you choose the right retirement housing Retirement should be a blissful time of your life – travelling, quality time with family and friends, finally enjoying your favourite hobbies and past times and, if you believe the TV commercials, relaxing walks on the beach, visiting fabulous locations and generally living a carefree existence. However, if you plan to spend your sunset time in a retirement village, your story could be a different tale! Retirement villages have received significant ...
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Need to Knows When Buying Property
Need to knows when buying property: MCL Conveyancing - Property Conveyancing Experts The questions you might not think to ask! The property market has got to be one of, if not, THE hottest trending topic in conversations across bars, dinner tables, kitchen benches and workplaces. A property purchase is not a seasonal decision to be updated next year. Buying property, whether for residential or investment purchases, is a medium to a long-term decision and one which requires plenty of knowledge, ...
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Don’t Just Read the Fine Print – Understand It
A Warning for Home Buyers For those of you who are our clients, perhaps read a few of our articles or just found our website for the first time – you’ll quickly appreciate that we, unapologetically, constantly recommend that people seek professional legal advice on a range of matters. There is, of course, the obvious reason – we’re a law firm! But beyond that, we are truly concerned that our clients are fully briefed and fully understand every aspect of ...
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Steamline the Downsize
Streamline the Downsize Downsizing doesn’t have to mean scaling back. Downsizing has become the contemporary buzz word for those ‘of a certain age’ to move from the large family home to a smaller property. The reasons for the move are many and varied – children moved out, finally; retiring and want to travel; partnership split or death of a partner, or in many cases, wanting to actually ‘spend the inheritance’. Finally take the opportunity to realise the wealth you’ve built ...
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Selling to First Home Buyers
If you are planning on selling your residential home or investment property, it might be worthwhile finding out who might be interested in buying. In this article, we will provide you with information which can be useful for advertising campaigns, as well as making decisions regarding decorating the property. Your property can be furnished and styled in a way which appeals to your target market, that is, people who are likely to buy what you are selling. The purpose of ...
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Why Are You Moving?
Why Are You Moving: The Reasons Behind Housing Mobility If you’ve ever moved house, and most people have moved at least once in their life, you’ll fully appreciate what a mammoth task it can be and one that most people definitely don’t look forward to doing too often. But many Australians do move regularly with a 2007-2008 survey of housing mobility conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, revealing that a massive 43% of Australians had moved in the previous ...
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Lauren Babare, Testimonial
Dear Mr McLaughlin,
I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity of work experience inn your firm. I honestly believe that without this introduction to the practical side of law I would not have been successful in gaining future employment.
Before coming to your firm, I had never worked in a legal practice and had no practical legal skills. I found that just being part of the environment was very valuable experience and seeing first hand the day-to-day running of a firm helped to put my law degree into perspective.
The work experience you provided allowed me to experience the inner workings of a law firm ‘from the ground up’ and gave me an appreciation of all work aspects in a law firm. I feel that this has helped me form relationships at my current firm with both Professional and Administration staff.
Although I was not running my own files or dealing with clients one-on-one I did find that general conversation with other practitioners at your firm provided an insight to the types of situations I could hope to experience as well as the advice that they gave me.
The work experience allowed me to actually confirm that I was following the right career path and that at least initially, working in practice practice is where I wanted to be.
Thank you again for allowing me this opportunity.
Kind Regards,
Lauren Babare
Testimonials
Testimonials
Intern to Associate. Life After Law Boot Camp.
What outcomes you can expect at McLaughlin & Associates
At McLaughlin & Associates, we’ve been operating a very successful internship program for many years and we’re especially proud of the outcomes we have achieved, especially for our interns.
Much of this success we attribute to the formal, standardised format of our program which we have developed with the fundamental underlying theme – to get interns to start thinking and acting like a valuable contributing member of a team.
We want to get them ready for their working life and to give them a competitive edge over other graduates when vying for a job in what is a very tough market. We like to think of it as a boot camp for law students.
Life as an Intern
The first premise of our program is the fact that most law students have never set foot inside a legal office and have no idea how an office functions and how they are supposed to act and operate within it.
So the first things we teach them are, the:
- responsibilities and obligations of being part of a team
- need for punctuality
- need for courtesy and respect to others
- need for honesty and ensuring every task assigned to them is done correctly and to the best of their ability.
They are made well aware that others in the team will rely on them to play their part and to do their job to the best of their ability and by failing to do this, they are letting down the other members of the team.
They are taught to be responsible for their actions and how to interact with others. They learn the shattering truth that getting a Law Degree is only a very, very small part of actually being a lawyer.
Armed with the skills acquired during their internship program, interns leave us and go forth to grab with both hands the opportunities which await them.
One of the great things about our internship program at McLaughlin & Associates Lawyers is that interns tend to stay in touch and remain friends of the firm forever and we are always very interested in their progress and achievements.
By John McLaughlin
Principal, McLaughlin & Associates Lawyers
Proud Member
