Samuel J Woff

Commercial Construction Lawyer I Construction Litigation Specialist

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

"Laws are useless if they are too expensive to enforce. Making lawyers affordable is, therefore, as important as crafting the law in the first place."

The question of cost in the legal system should be of interest to anyone who cares about the rule of la…https://t.co/DQN9hYgYA2

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

I have a tricky name.

It’s “Woff”. “Woff”, like “cough”, “toff”, or “off, with a ‘w’”. It’s a perennially tricky one for all members of our family. For reasons which appear to resemble an optical illusion, several distortions are common. First, an additi…https://t.co/GlZeH05h7Z

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

In Australia, we are fortunate. While in other places in the world there are millions of people without access to the basic necessities of life (shelter, safety and clean drinking water), by and large, while not perfect, we have things outstandingly good…https://t.co/obJ5XIRjgo

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

Hello to my network! Today I published another article on Medium, which I have extracted in part below:

***

I have seen a few posts recently which express the following sentiment: ‘I am proud to have represented X client in securing a victory in court’.…https://t.co/sNZRo7bgDR

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

More talk of a “construction crisis” in the news.

I have made this point before, but I would like to reiterate it – we need to treat such media tags (like "crisis") with a degree of caution. Using figures from my memory, and I would have to check, but…https://t.co/kNpUpm6fBf

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

Fantastic to chair Legalwise Seminars Litigation Series Webinar on Alternative Dispute Resolution this morning with two rising stars of the sector: Luke Carbon and Simon Croft.

Among a wide breath of topics, Luke made the excellent observation that in 20…https://t.co/6LR6TgYW2G

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

Hello to my network! I am experimenting with a few “back-end” aspects of my LinkedIn profile, so apologies in advance if you see any oddities come through on your feed. Please disregard, and view it as part of my process of slightly inept tinkering!
#auslaw #technology

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

Update: This week the Victorian Building Authority has issued an important reminder to building practitioners about domestic building insurance (DBI).
#auslaw #constructionlaw #domesticbuilding #insurance https://t.co/P3fMn9gYoM

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

The rise in AI will see an increase in litigation. Not because increasing capable machines have rendered us more fractious, but because AI, by replacing many of the tasks which otherwise would be performed by a human lawyer, will significantly reduce the…https://t.co/ylVJe5UX15

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

“I, for one, welcome our AI overlords”.

Another big update on the AI roadmap, ChatGTPT’s founders discuss the latest updates to their ever-evolving, and paradigm shifting, technology, including (excitingly) automatic data analysis.

This has once again g…https://t.co/7bAy1NDwis

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

Is there a trade-off between getting better for tomorrow and getting paid today? Under the billable hour model I think there is. This is not a billable-hour bashing polemic, just a description of a problem I have observed.

In order to improve and develo…https://t.co/U9GXVEwTmE

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

This is something I have mulled on for some time, but now have found a framework: the Industry v Capabilities 2x2 Matrix (or as I think of it, you do “what” for “whom”).

The frameworks says, as individual lawyers, we can focus on (1) an industry (2) a te…https://t.co/RXOkwvPPDb

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

Who is “Peter Paranoid”?
Meet him, how he became like that and why lawyers are, as much as we try, a little like him. Article linked below:
#auslaw #lawyer #effectiveness https://t.co/IWMTtLuLJG

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

Come November 2023, “small businesses” with fewer than 100 employees will be protected from unfair contract terms in standard form contracts.

Not many people realise that this will cover at least 97% of Australian businesses. Less than 3% of Australian…https://t.co/qOVnckx6TB

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

How much will construction litigation cost me?

Common asked, rarely answered with precision! But while exact estimates are difficult to provide, there is, I submit a formula which provides a sufficiently helpful proximate guide:

Cost = Bespoke / Record…https://t.co/WaWX4sIZQQ

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

I recently celebrated ten years as a solicitor in private practice, working predominantly as a commercial construction lawyer and a construction litigation specialist.

I loved my time working as a lawyer. Which is why, for the ne…https://t.co/R6mxpwnqTT https://t.co/HkzTlLfUB7

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

Data from the Victorian Building Authority shows the average claim made under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act (from 2005 to 2020) has been trending downwards.

This, I think, is good news. It suggests the legislation is beco…https://t.co/wxjkXJ6Yyq

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

Last week as part of “March (CLE) Madness” I presented with Kerry Ioulianou, @AAMonichino and Legalwise Seminars about the recent Court of Appeal decision in Krongold.

As part of the discussion I included the following diagram. Basically, it shows:

(1)…https://t.co/pZYNIgDM06

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

A litigation lawyer has two potential jobs: advice and advocacy. They are often mentioned in the same breath, but they are far from the same thing.

For example:

(1) advocacy focuses on winning, while advice focuses on being corr…https://t.co/L37Rwotfc8 https://t.co/aVlWIIPRQG

[Samuel J Woff @SamuelJWoff]

The news continues to be filled with stories about construction insolvencies, and the dire impact these have on the contractual community after the “death” of a central player. Owners, subcontractors, suppliers and consultants are all impacted when a head…https://t.co/g7XI18oxSs