Welcome to Legal Consolidated Barristers & Solicitors
Who owns the Legal Consolidated login details?
Accountants, financial planners, and lawyers open free accounts with us, allowing each practice to build thousands of documents for their clients over many years. When it comes time to transfer, sell, or list their practice publicly, the new owners will require access to the Legal Consolidated login details. The login details hold value.
The ownership of the account is determined by who controls the domain name associated with the practice’s email address. Therefore, if an employee or co-owner departs your practice, the individual or practice that retains control over the domain name continues to control the Legal Consolidated account.
Our duty is to the court first
As an Australian law firm, we are officers of the court. Our first and foremost duty is to the court. It outweighs any obligation that we have to our clients. While we have an ethical responsibility to act in the best interests of our clients, acting in the best interests of our clients does not mean ever putting our ethical duty to the court second.
Legal Consolidated’s first duty is to the court if there is a conflict of interest
Our most important duty is to the court and the administration of justice. This means that if acting in your best interests conflicts with our duty to the court, we must and will always put the court before you. Further, we are respectful to other people involved in any court case, the lawyer or the ‘other side’, including court staff.
We can not act for you if there is a conflict of interest. We only have one master.
Lawyers have a duty of care to look after their clients’ interests. The Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Conduct) Rules 2020 include rules about how conflicts of this duty must be managed. We cannot act for you or the other person if there is a conflict of interest. We can only serve one interest. If those interests are not aligned we no longer act for you. An example of a conflict of interest is when you tell us a secret and you tell us not to tell the other person who we act for.
Legal Consolidated may form the view that we have a potential rather than an actual conflict of interest. In that event, we will stop acting for you. You may believe that we do not have a conflict. But this is a decision that Legal Consolidated will make. We are a conservative law firm and we take our higher duties to the court very seriously.
When do we stop acting for a client?
We will not act for you if you fail to give us instructions or your actions may break the law. Our duty is to the courts and judicial system first.
Can I buy a template over the Internet and change it in MS Word?
It is illegal for an accountant or financial planner to update or change a legal document in MS Word.
See Legal Practice Board v Computer Accounting and Tax Pty Ltd [2007] WASC 184.
In this case, the accountant purchased a trust deed template. The trust deed came from a law firm. However, the accountant, in MS Word, populated the template. This is with the client’s name and address.
The court held that the accounting firm was breaching the relevant legislation. It is not a law firm and is not allowed to prepare legal documents.
Further, neither the accountant nor the client had legal professional indemnity insurance. This is for any issues that arise out of the legal document.
This is why all Legal Consolidated documents are delivered to you as a locked PDF. If they need updating we give you a voucher to update the document on our website. We control the questions, hints, logic flow and the finished legal document. We provide a letter addressed to your client to confirm that Legal Consolidated prepared the document. Legal Consolidated is responsible for the document.
Even when the non-lawyer states that they are not lawyers that is not good enough: Legal Services Commissioner v Raghoobar [2023] QSC 41. Only a law firm can provide legal advice and prepare deeds.
I ‘found’ a Division 7A Loan Agreement in MS Word. Can I put in the client’s details and email it to them?
Division 7A is the third highest area of negligence claims against accountants.
I am gobsmacked as to why an accounting house takes the risk of providing legal documents to clients.
If an accountant populates a Word document then the accountant is liable for the legal document. That is breaking the law. And the accounting house has no insurance to cover problems with that legal document. See Legal Practice Board v Computer Accounting and Tax Pty Ltd [2007] WASC 184.
Instead, build a Division 7A Loan Deed on our website. Legal Consolidated is then responsible for the deed. All our documents are provided:
- As a locked PDF
- With a cover letter addressed to your client. It confirms that Legal Consolidated prepared the legal document.
Lawyers building legal documents on Legal Consolidated’s website
Q: I think you are the only law firm in Australia that provides all 16 POAs. This is right across Australia.
- Can I change the POAs to suit my client’s requirements?
- I am a lawyer. I am concerned as to your comment that “your client becomes our client and there is a direct relationship” etc. What does this mean? I would not want you to contact my client.
A: The three biggest builders of legal documents on our law firm’s website are lawyers, accountants and financial planners.
We are honoured that fellow lawyers build legal documents on our website. Thank you.
As I write this answer to your question, a lawyer in Port Macquarie telephoned me. This is about updating a Family Trust deed for his client. This is on our law firm’s website. He is a commercial/family lawyer. Just as Legal Consolidated has no skill or knowledge of those areas of practice, so too, that lawyer does not want to engage in trust law. It is hardly worth his effort. He only needs a Family Trust deed and updates a couple of times a month.
Now, as a lawyer, I know, because we are anal retentive, and we have to be, that lawyers like to continually change their documents. Let me say two things:
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- The online building process has two purposes:
- Firstly, to educate. There are many hints and training videos for each question.
- Secondly, to craft a document suitable for the client’s needs. This is based on how the questions are answered. Legal Consolidated remains responsible for that document.
You press the Lock and Build button and pay for the document with your credit card. The document then comes out as a locked PDF. We do not want you to change the document. If the document is not suitable just email us for a voucher to update it. This is using the same question-and-answer routine.
Thank you for your kind comments about Legal Consolidated being the only law firm in Australia to provide POAs, online, in all 8 Australian jurisdictions. Now remember, each POA is peculiar. In Tasmania both the enduring and medical have to be registered to be effective. That is not the case in NSW. In Western Australia, an enduring POA cannot be lodged at the title’s office, unless it is printed back to back (duplex). You are paying Legal Consolidated because of its expertise and knowledge. It is best not to change anything, other than the changes in the question-and-answer building process.
Try the free building process. It is educational. If the document is still not what you want, we provide a full refund. This is back to the credit card you used.
- As to our promise to be responsible for the document, that can only be achieved if we are acting directly for your client. As you can read above when a document is provided by a law firm to a marketing company that provides legal documents on a website the lawyer providing the template is no longer responsible for the document.
An Australian law firm is not responsible for templates that are resold by these ‘marketing companies’. Even though these ‘marketing companies’ give the impression they are law firms themselves.
I cannot understand why lawyers, accountants and financial planners would build legal documents on ‘marketing’ (non-law firm) websites. They and their clients are not protected.
- The online building process has two purposes:
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Anyway, on the last page of the building process, you can tick a box to remove the “Legal Consolidated” logos etc… Only do this if you are a lawyer. We have no contact with your client.
While you can build over 380 different documents with us, the most commonly built documents by advisers and accountants are:
3-Generation Testamentary Trust Wills
SMSF special purpose companies
Our law firm’s retainer
Click this link to view our Retainer
Our law firm’s Privacy Policy
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Use of Legal Consolidated’s online legal document service Law firm providing legal documents online
- All legal documents you build on our law firm’s website are subject to the Terms of Service.
- Legal Consolidated Barristers & Solicitors is an Australian law firm.
- We do not give advice as to which document is best for you. The building process of our documents is educational and empowering but for help deciding which document you need speak with your lawyer, accountant and financial planner. Otherwise, you may incorrectly interpret or misunderstand a question and therefore end up with a document that is wrong or will not work. We do not give legal advice.
- The legal, commercial and taxation effects of a document vary based on your personal situation. Speak to your lawyer, accountant and financial planner. As we do not know your personal circumstances.
- Only you know the purpose for which you intend to use a document you build: Our law firm is not responsible for your choice of the document.
- Legal Consolidated operates only in Australia. We do not give advice on matters that do not relate to Australia and are outside the Australian jurisdiction. We do not know matters outside of Australia.
Do not alter or amend the legal documents that you build on our law firm’s website
You agree not to distribute any of our information or documents.
You agree not to alter any part of the documents. If you do then we are no longer responsible for the document and the document is likely to no longer work correctly.
If you need to change the document then telephone us.
Legal Consolidated 100% Full Refund Policy
You get a full refund, upon request, for any documents you do not wish to use.
You hold us harmless and indemnify us
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Legal Consolidated, its parent corporation, subsidiaries, affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents, and licensors, from and against any claims, actions, proceedings, investigations, demands, suits, costs, expenses, damages, and liabilities, including legal fees and expenses, arising out of or related to your use of and access to the services, any violation of this agreement by you, or any other actions connected with your use of the services. This indemnity shall include, but not be limited to, any claims alleging facts that if true would constitute a breach of your representations, warranties, or obligations hereunder.
Please telephone for help building our on line legal documents
