Jamie McDiarmid is a practical lawyer. He built Clearman Lawyers to be part of a strong community of happy, satisfied clients, staff, referrers and business people. The great majority of our clients come from word of mouth referrals. They hear about us from family, friends or their business contacts and they stay with us because we look after people in serious matters with care and humanity. We have caring, careful people, good resources, tight systems and reasonable fees.
You are likely an interesting businessperson who’s experienced some success because you’re a great person and and good steward of your time and money. Our ideal clients are building or have significant assets and they want help to negotiate their challengesa stimulating task or problem. Our ideal clients want expert help managing the traps and risks which are always part of growing wealth.
We want to do things ‘properly’the right way for the situation and without taking ‘shortcuts’ and we’re lucky that we can be selective about the clients we choose to work with. We provide good work and we’re cost-effective. Of course it’s your job to ask us about legal fees and to ‘sharpen our pencil’ but folks who are highly ‘urgent’want us to drop everything else to focus on their work, whether time critical or not or only care about price, not quality, are unlikely to be a good fit for us.
If you’re interested in a quick snapshot of some of the good work often do together with our clients, please see a brief overview of some of our favourite property, commercial and wills and estates experience:
• Conveyancing
• Property Developers
• Commercial and Business
• Leases
• Wills and Estates
• Estate Administration
• Self-Managed Superannuation Fund
Conveyancing
Buying or selling residential or commercial property including land, houses, units, warehouses whether existing property or land or off-the-plan.
We’re happy to help our clients with all aspects of their conveyancing whether buying a first property or a petrol station, selling to move into a retirement village, buying a warehouse or selling a strip of retail shops or a building.
Legal advice Certificates of Independent Legal Advice. Although this is very high risk, low paid work, we’re happy to offer this service as a way to meet interesting clients.
Property Developers
Jamie works well with property developers to solve hard property problems and get good outcomes in good timeframes:
Settlements Settle large numbers of sales quickly and cost-effectively
Entities Optimise stamp duty and tax position and manage risk by effective selection of entities for different parcels and parties
Joint Venture Prepare Joint Venture agreements with active and passive parties
Reconfiguration Subdivide and amalgamate multiple lots in complex configurations
Contracts Draft safe, strong contracts, assistance with due diligence, development approvals and titling. Prepare all contract and body corporate documentation for multi-stage apartment complexes
Financier Managing all financier requirements promptly and smoothly
Stakeholders Work with banks, architects, real estate agents, town planners, surveyors and body corporate managers
Local Authorities Work with councils, water authorities, energy providers and NBN to satisfy requirements
Titles Office Draft and review Titles Office documentation requirements including easements, covenants and mortgages
Body Corporate Prepare survey plans, Disclosure Statements, CMSs, meeting minutes, management rights, caretaking and letting agreements
Leases
Prepare leases, Heads of Agreement, expressions of interest, offers to lease, special conditions, Retail Shop Lease documents including disclosure, licences and covenants for landlords and tenants
Review lease terms and confirm whether terms including rent free periods, options, rent reviews, outgoings, repair expenses and make good, are appropriate, complete, balanced and fair
Negotiate with tenants, assignees and landlords to obtain strong outcomes
Disputes Assist clients to understand their true position and the avenues open to challenge the other party including disputes in regard to lockout, permitted use, fit-out, make good and bonds
Commercial and Business
District Court Acted for property developers in engineering and financing disputes
Mortgagee sales Acted for liquidators and receiver managers in complex apartment sales where second mortgagee had taken over project
Business sales and purchases Business part sales, restaurant purchases, security business assets and commercial warehouses. Acting for veterinarians to purchase a veterinary hospital and commercial land whilst selling portions of existing business to business partners.
Leases Assisted clients with letters of offer to lease, commercial leases and franchise agreements
Debt recovery Assisted clients to recover money from debtors, negotiation and recovery of debts
Financing Advise clients in regard to due diligence, documentation for finance applications, drafting mortgages and commercial loans
Disputes Acted for clients in property and construction disputes including litigation, caveats and recovery
Terms & Conditions Review and draft terms and conditions
PPSR Assistance with review and registration of Personal Property and Security Register charges.
Wills and Enduring Powers of Attorney
Estate Planning Act for medical professionals in complex estate planning including trusts, investments and superannuation in the context of children from previous relationships
Estate Planning Assist clients to develop considered and effective estate planning strategies including property, superannuation, insurance, shares and business assets including testamentary trusts and advice in regard to family maintenance provisions to protect their assets and ensure they are distributed according to their wishes
Testamentary Discretionary Trust Wills Draft TDT for clients with complex affairs or troubled beneficiaries
Bloodline Trust Wills Act for clients to prepare Bloodline Trust Wills to protect against troubled relationships
Enduring Power of Attorney Helped clients create effective Enduring Powers of Attorney to make sure that their intentions are clear and carried out by trusted advisers if capacity is lost. Prepared Enduring Powers of Attorney for clients with specialised superannuation needs
Advance Health Directive Act for clients to prepare AHD
SMSF Advise clients in regard to Self-Managed Superannuation Fund deeds to ensure they line up effectively with their Wills and Enduring Powers of Attorney
Estate Administration
Executors Acted for Executors of deceased estate to gather in assets, manage liabilities and pay beneficiaries. Helped clients to work through estate liabilities, including tax and other debts and gather in assets of estates including shares, Refundable Accomodation Deposits, insurance monies and property including Transmission Applications and Transfers
Supreme Court Acted for client in contentious Estate Administration issue including fraudulent concealment of valuations and transfers of property including multiple mediations leading to settlement
Valid Will Assist to determine if Will is valid and whether Will maker had capacity
EPOA capacity Acting for replacement Attorneys when Principal of Enduring Power of Attorney has lost capacity and current Attorneys decline to act.
Self-Managed Superannuation Fund
Self-Managed Superannuation Funds Advise clients in all aspects of Self-Managed Superannuation Funds from drafting and varying documents, liaising with lenders including sales, purchases, limited recourse borrowing arrangements and commercial leases.
Drafting limited recourse Self-Managed Superannuation Fund loan documents
We usually use Cleardocs documents which are a great basis for customisation and very cost-effective.
Disclaimer
This page is not intended to provide legal advice and does not create a client-lawyer relationship. This post is provided for general information purposes and should not be relied upon as a substitute for legal advice. If you need help with legal advice for your particular situation, please contact our office (details below or on ‘Contact’ page) and we’ll be happy to assist you.