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Restraints and Real Estate – what is enforceable

What do post-employ­ment restraints in real estate real­ly mean for agents and employ­ers? In the prop­er­ty indus­try, employ­ment agree­ments often include three key restraints: non-solic­i­ta­tion, non-accep­tance, and non-com­pe­ti­tion. These claus­es aim to pro­tect client rela­tion­ships, con­fi­den­tial infor­ma­tion, and busi­ness good­will, but their enforce­abil­i­ty depends on how they’re draft­ed and applied…

Prov­ing Major Build­ing Defects Under the Home Build­ing Act

What qual­i­fies as a major defect in res­i­den­tial build­ings under NSW law? Defects can range from minor issues to seri­ous struc­tur­al prob­lems, but under­stand­ing the legal def­i­n­i­tion of a ​‘major defect’ under sec­tion 18E(4) of the Home Build­ing Act 1989 (NSW) is crit­i­cal before mak­ing a claim. This arti­cle explains the key…

How does statu­to­ry inter­pre­ta­tion impact build­ing dis­putes in NSW?

How does statu­to­ry inter­pre­ta­tion impact build­ing dis­putes in NSW? Writ­ten laws like the Home Build­ing Act, build­ing codes, and indus­try stan­dards often leave room for mul­ti­ple inter­pre­ta­tions. This arti­cle explains how courts apply statu­to­ry inter­pre­ta­tion rules, such as the extrin­sic mate­ri­als rule under sec­tion 34 of the NSW Inter­pre­ta­tion Act…

Stra­ta Law Changes — Effec­tive 27 Octo­ber 2025

What do the lat­est NSW stra­ta law changes mean for own­ers and com­mit­tees? On 27 Octo­ber 2025, the next stage of reforms under the Stra­ta Schemes Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment Act 2025 came into effect, intro­duc­ing stronger com­pli­ance pow­ers for NSW Fair Trad­ing, fair­er finan­cial hard­ship arrange­ments for levy pay­ments, and new…

Con­grat­u­la­tions Michael Byrnes for being recog­nised as a Mon­daq Thought Lead­ing Author for Employ­ment and HR, Aus­tralia in the Autumn 2025 awards.

Mondaq’s Thought Lead­er­ship Awards, released twice a year in Autumn and Spring, cel­e­brate authors whose insights have attract­ed the high­est read­er­ship over the past six months. The awards high­light stand­out con­trib­u­tors across mul­ti­ple juris­dic­tions and top­ic areas, show­cas­ing those who con­sis­tent­ly deliv­er valu­able, prac­ti­cal guid­ance to read­ers worldwide.To Read the Mon­daq Autumn…

Baby Priya’s Bill: Land­mark Fair Work Amend­ment Pro­tect­ing Paid Parental Leave After Child Loss

Baby Priya’s Bill amends the Fair Work Act to pro­tect employ­er-fund­ed paid parental leave for par­ents after child loss, still­birth, or adoption.Baby Priya’s Bill (​‘Bill’) passed par­lia­ment on 3 Novem­ber 2025 after par­ents of 42-day old Priya endured a loss no par­ent should have to suffer. Fol­low­ing the trag­ic pass­ing of her daugh­ter, the moth­er…

Michael Byrnes on Ris­ing Unfair Dis­missal Claims | Lawyers Weekly

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“Why are unfair dis­missal claims on the rise?”, pub­lished in Lawyers Week­ly on 7 Novem­ber 2025:To read the full arti­cle click here…

Con­struc­tion & Stra­ta Law Newslet­ter | Novem­ber 2025

This edi­tion of C(l)ause & (D)efect includes: Part­ner Per­spec­tive | Helen Kow­al, The risk of builder insol­ven­cy mid way through a con­struc­tion project is real | Mark Glynn, 10 Tips Stra­ta Reme­di­al Con­struc­tion Con­tracts | Lynn Hawes & Helen Kow­al, Stra­ta Law Changes Effec­tive 27 Oct 25 | Daniela Ter­ru­so & Ben McGuire…

Swaab Con­nect | Jan­u­ary 2025

Press Release | Sarah Heuv­el New Part­ner Appoint­ment , The Employ­ment Real­i­ty of TV Fame (2025 Edi­tion), Aus­tralia Day Sub­sti­tu­tion: The Legal Issues (2025 Edi­tion) & Hap­py 2025 Lunar New Year…

Swaab Con­nect | Feb­ru­ary 2025

Dis­missal and Dam­ages for Psy­chi­atric Injury: A Con­trac­tu­al Trap, When is a loan real­ly an Option Fee? And when is an Option a Con­tract?, Valen­tine’s Day in the Work­place (2025 Edi­tion) & Michael Byrnes appeared on Break­fast with Ron Wil­son to dis­cuss the NSW rail dis­pute and the cur­rent appli­ca­tion before the FWC…

Swaab Con­nect | April 2025

When is a loan real­ly an Option Fee? And when is an Option a Con­tract? Fair Work Com­mis­sion Sets Bar High for Pol­i­cy Changes, Con­struc­tion con­tracts are more than just a doc­u­ment — remove con­trac­tu­al claus­es at your per­il & Fed­er­al Bud­get 2025: Lim­i­ta­tion on Non-Com­pete Clauses…

Swaab Con­nect | March 2025

Fail­ing to Reg­is­ter a PPSR Secu­ri­ty Inter­est on Time – Legal Risks & Options, Res­i­den­tial Ten­an­cies Act 2010 (NSW) reforms and oblig­a­tions of land­lords, effec­tive from 19 May 2025, Gen­er­al Pro­tec­tions Dis­missal Dis­putes: Choose Your Own Respon­dent, Amend­ments to NCC 2022 com­menc­ing on 1 May 2025 & We wel­comed: Mark Glynn & Hugo Mahony…

Swaab Con­nect | May 2025

No will, no direc­tion: The estate of Liam Payne and under­stand­ing law of intes­ta­cy, Does a receiv­er of a dis­tressed devel­op­ment project owe a duty of care to future lot own­ers upon com­ple­tion? Beware Retail Lease Dis­close State­ments, Meta’s AI law­suit in the USA & what it could mean for AI & copy­right, Devel­op­ers beware…

Swaab Con­nect | June 2025

Own­ers Cor­po­ra­tions / Asso­ci­a­tions now sub­ject to Unfair Con­tract Terms, Impor­tant Work­place Rela­tions Changes Effec­tive 1 July 2025, Unfair con­tract terms in out­dat­ed stan­dard form con­tracts could cost you a fine of $50 mil­lion (Com­pa­nies) or $2.5 mil­lion (Indi­vid­u­als), Cur­rent state of the con­struc­tion and infra­struc­ture mar­ket & Michael Byrnes was quot­ed twice…

Swaab Con­nect | July 2025

Own­ers Cor­po­ra­tions / Asso­ci­a­tions now sub­ject to Unfair Con­tract Terms, Impor­tant Work­place Rela­tions Changes Effec­tive 1 July 2025, 10 Tips For Stra­ta Reme­di­al Con­struc­tion Con­tracts, Con­struc­tion con­tract time­frames and their inter­ac­tion with the NSW Secu­ri­ty of Pay­ment leg­is­la­tion, Dis­missal for Dis­sent? & Michael Byrnes was quot­ed twice in HR Leader…