About Autonomy First Lawyers
Planning family futures
We start by first understanding your situation, resources and objectives. This leads us to identifying options for action and the talent needed to implement the options identified. This is normally the first phase of a resolution pathway. Our price guide for estate planning and administration services summarises the journey.
One Shot Letter Solution
Resolving legal matters with just one letter remains our track record in hundreds of legal matters. Tell us what happened and your circumstances. We’ll take over from there to prepare a letter for a fixed fee.
Workflow documents for productivity
Drafting a suite of employment contracts and related documents for a growing mortgage finance broker, including job descriptions and a policy manual.
Harvesting your intellectual property
Developing the intellectual property management system for a health sector consultancy and international training institute offering a safe and effective headache and migraine solution.
We advise individuals, families, organisations, entrepreneurs, start-ups and established businesses in many industries and sectors.
Autonomy First Pty Ltd, our law firm’s parent company, is an employer Partner of STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners). STEP has over 100 branches worldwide.
STEP’s primary focus is on professional development and standards for practitioners advising on care and support for vulnerable clients, family businesses, family offices, wills, estates, wealth administration and conservation and succession planning. We work closely with STEP’s Employer Partner members who are part of the Autonomy First multidisciplinary Community of Practice.
Latest Blog Posts
Aligning values: the starting point for support
At the Autonomy First multidisciplinary Capacity and Capability Clinic, we often work with family members after a dementia diagnosis. Unfortunately, we see a number of cases where the affected person has been treated as having no ability to contribute to their care…
Yes we do house calls! Lessons for clients and professionals alike
Three times in the last week the team at Autonomy First has been asked to help clients who are facing choices that challenge their decision-making abilities for a variety of reasons…
Is it time to activate your Power of Attorney or Guardianship?
For many, creating an Enduring Power of Attorney or a Power of Enduring Guardianship but leaving it unaccepted by some or all of their representatives seems a wise strategy. It allows people to plan for the future but not create an active substitute decision maker until necessary.
Having regard to the current uncertainties in the world, it is certainty time to revisit the logic and purpose of those appointments…
Professionalism and differentiation – 7 reasons
Our assurance to you is to provide services which are tailored, innovative, strategic and practical. We’ll support you with excellence, entrepreneurship and integrity. You’ll lead in your document design, plain language communication and technology utilisation.
1. ADVICE, TRAINING AND TOOLS
We’ll understand your personal needs and business before we treat it in legal terms. In addition to advice and drafting documents, we provide training and support for your entrepreneurship, and extensive business decision support tools – checklists, guides, questionnaires, spreadsheets, slide decks and visualisations.
2. Private Client Services
Wealth Conservation, Administration and Succession. All Australians have the right to make decisions and be involved in the management of their affairs to the greatest extent possible having regard to their actual abilities.
We are here to help Australians age well. Ageing is the constant in our lives that inevitably brings change.
3. INNOVATION LEADERS
Your results will benefit from our market-leading expertise in integrating law with know-how from IT, human resources management, marketing, publishing and management consultancy. Ongoing and substantial investment in research keeps our advice, methodologies and documents up-to-date in form, content and methods for delivery.
4. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
To serve clients our team applies over 70 years experience in business law and strategic thinking for technology, business modelling, intellectual property and commercialisation. Our team have successfully completed thousands of transactions and reviewed, prepared or advised on no less than 5,000 contracts for organisations of all sizes.
5. STRATEGIC THINKING
Integrating your legal, business and innovation strategy is our forte. We’ll provide guidance to make your offerings and intellectual assets distinctive, novel or original. These are pre-requisites for you to successfully contract, manage and commercialise your intellectual property, technology and knowledge assets.
6. MARKET KNOWLEDGE
What market are you in, and what is its price structure, business models, technologies, risks, trends and customer expectations? What can be learned from competitors? We’ll share our market knowledge to answer these types of questions, to advise you and determine the format, layout, terms and conditions to achieve targeted outcomes.
7. LEGALTECH PIONEERS
Our people are pioneers in Australia in using information technology to reduce legal costs and turnaround time and in online legal publishing. This has guided many clients to apply cloud computing, ecommerce and online workflows into their businesses.
Upcoming Events
24
February
NDIS Law Conference – 30% discount
This one-day Zoom conference will include a presentation by Autonomy First Lawyers Founder, Michael Perkins, on Empowered Decision Making. His presentation will connect Supported Decision Making and the National Decision Making Principles and will cover linking administrative and legal representation into a care plan. It will also cover estate administration, the emerging multi-disciplinary practice field.
25
February
Client Communications: Taking Instructions in a Digital World
The importance of getting clear and concise instructions from a client cannot be underestimated and doing so remotely is an added complexity that comes with some risk. This session explores measures to put in place and how to spot any warning flags, ensuring clients and practitioners are protected from interference or abuse. This webinar’s organiser is Television Education Network Pty Ltd. It is part of its professional skills development program for lawyers.
15
October
Decision Making Ability
POSTPONED | What do you do when your client’s decision making ability is in doubt? How professionals can de-risk their client interactions. In this one day online seminar, Dr Jane Lonie of Autonomy First Pty Ltd and Ros Ronning of Wilson Learning Worldwide will equip you with a structured approach to the practical evaluation of client decision making capacity.
“Working with Michael was enlightening. I am impressed by the way Michael analyses a client’s estate planning needs and then explains the complicated concepts involved in addressing those needs so that the client can understand them. He handles difficult succession issues with sensitivity and just the right amount of humour. He has an unusual ability to make unlikely but very fruitful connections.”
“Working with Michael was enlightening. I am impressed by the way Michael analyses a client’s estate planning needs and then explains the complicated concepts involved in addressing those needs so that the client can understand them. He handles difficult succession issues with sensitivity and just the right amount of humour. He has an unusual ability to make unlikely but very fruitful connections.”
Empowering families to age well | Helping safeguard your will and preferences
Our Collaborators
