Since we rebranded to Whitehead Legal, part of the firm’s evolution was to invest in technology to essentially allow our partners to take their laptops and work anywhere with connectable WiFi – and to go ‘paperless’. Whilst we have our physical office setups in Kew and Canterbury, our partners have also worked remotely for years now - we are an agile firm.

Another aspect of our firm’s evolution was to increase its national footprint. Our firm proudly practices nationally and has done so for decades. We have clients in every state and territory and a particularly significant caseload in New South Wales. As of 2019, our firm expanded its NSW footprint to include its Neutral Bay satellite.

Whilst our remote working has not changed (apart from the Friday afternoon catch ups with clients/industry colleagues) we appreciate that our health practitioner clients are all affected in different ways by the pandemic, particularly in Melbourne and regional Victoria.

We are maintaining our client commitments in the usual way and protecting any disruption to our legal services.

We also want to reassure all our health practitioner clients, our professional referral partners and industry colleagues that we are closely monitoring the specific health practitioner guidelines set by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and the respective AHPRA associations and health authorities and will ensure that we continue to deliver the highest level of service to our clients over the course of the pandemic.

Firm Tech Options for Clients
We are contactable via normal means. We are already well-versed in utilising our firm tech and are actively encouraging its further use including:

remote office tech – we collaborate remotely, consistently, with partners, clients, industry colleagues and referrers
Zoom is our preferred video conferencing tech for meetings
email/telephone communications – to ensure we promptly respond to any client queries or concerns, please note the usual following key contact details for Whitehead Legal – even if it’s just to say hi:

Whitehead Legal 03 9804 0262

Clair Whitehead 0421 33 88 01 clair@whiteheadlegal.com.au

Julian Whitehead 0411 406 151 julian@whiteheadlegal.com.au

We have reported to you throughout the pandemic in detail on landlord and tenant rent relief negotiations. Something different and positive now – let’s get optimistic. We are hearing from our clients that their patientele is returning, albeit cautiously. We are seeing positivity ourselves in a growing increase in contacts from existing and new clients for advice on all sorts of commercial matters, be it practice acquisitions, sales, internal agreement work, employment work, leasing … Our clients’ returning patients and our work in progress evidences to us a recovery in general consumer confidence in the health landscape and the legal health landscape in which we work.

Our recent sales/acquisitions matters have been great to work on – they are a reminder of how much we enjoy helping our clients with their commercial work and guiding them through their commercial lives. The return of commerciality has indeed been refreshing.

Some quick notes:

For Victorian clients:

Our previous articles on landlord and tenant negotiations for rent relief were based on the ‘Code’. Since thence, Victoria has passed the Omnibus (Emergency Measures) (Commercial Leases and Licences) Regulations 2020 (“Regulations”). The Regulations are similar to the Code principles, although there are some key differences that need to be factored into your negotiations. We appreciate that you likely have pandemic law fatigue - we know, we do - with the tsunami of information and changes in legislation which we have all had to keep up with. The Regulations provide a more holistic analysis on any individual applying for rent relief in addition to providing a better platform for landlords to offer rent relief. The Code’s percentage based relief correlating with a tenant’s revenue loss is still a guidance tool that we use, but is not the overarching principle. If you need further assistance, best give us a call.

Make sure your advisors are Regulations qualified:

This recommendation pre-dates the pandemic, nevertheless it is a prudent reminder. If you are taking advice on the Regulations from agents, friends, business coaches etc.. query the location in the Regulations of their blanket statements. We have had the great pleasure of perusing the 200+ pages of the Regulations, and recommend that you take summary statements from unqualified advisors with caution. Always have experienced professionals in your corner as you go through any legal process and engage them early.