Feelings of fun and happiness play a significant role in offsetting the stressors and rigours of working life. In this episode, brought to you by Lawyers Weekly's sister brand, HR Leader, an Auckland-based academic dives into the need for businesses to get creative in ensuring staff engagement and the critical role that HR must play in doing so.

Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with University of Auckland Business School Associate Professor Barbara Plester about her research into humour and fun in the workplace and why it's of such interest to her, the extent to which the pandemic shifted workers' levels of happiness, workers' level of connection post-COVID-19, and how critical creativity has become in keeping workers engaged.

Plester also delves into how the pandemic has correlated with an uptick in worker happiness, whether it had led to greater productivity, movement away from standardised approaches to wellbeing, the place for worker autonomy, employer limitations on flexibility, practical steps that employers should be taking to ensure optimal levels of employee happiness and striking the right balance with business objectives, and the role of team leaders in doing so.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, X and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au

Hilton Misso once sold a law firm for $57 million. Here, he reflects on what it means to succeed as a lawyer and how best practitioners can achieve success – in whatever form that takes.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with lawyer, entrepreneur, philanthropist and author Hilton Misso about drawing inspiration from his father to be a good legal practitioner, how technology aids guiding principles, what he believes constitutes success for lawyers, and whether what success looks like can evolve or if a North Star is needed.

Misso also delves into the steps that must be taken in order to build an ethical, profitable practice, checking in on one's progress, overcoming challenges on the road to success, making time in the day in order to achieve, the lessons he learnt from selling his law firm for $57 million, how he learnt to be a leader, the power of discipline, and knowing when to walk away from what one has built.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, X and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au

In this special episode of LawTech Talks, produced in partnership with InfoTrack, we explore how successful women lawyers in practice areas like family law can and must put technology at the forefront of their businesses in order to thrive in an evolving market.

Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with InfoTrack family lawyer Bree Staines about her background in family law, adopting a more flexible working life, the unsustainable demands practice areas like family law have on practitioners, and the ways that women in the profession can set themselves apart when it comes to the use and implementation of new technologies.

Bree also delves into the necessary steps to take in order to drive one's practice forward, the challenges facing women and how to overcome them, tech's role in alleviating burnout, retaining the human touch with your clients, and the potential outcomes on offer from being able to successfully integrate one's business with tech.

To learn more about InfoTrack, click here.

At a time when practitioners across the board are increasingly expected to not only onboard new technologies but also elevate the client experience, family lawyers should be seeing such a shift as an opportunity to become truly hybrid operators.

In this episode of The Boutique Lawyer Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Siobhan Mullins, author and founder of Separate Together and Paper Advocate, about her career in family law, how practitioners in this space are moving towards more collaborative ways of working in a changing landscape, and why a hybrid model makes sense for family lawyers.

Mullins also delves into what family lawyers must ask of themselves in transitioning to a more hybrid model, the key outcomes to strive for, overcoming hurdles standing in the way, why such change is exciting, and what she's looking forward to as a practitioner.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, X and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au

Amid a time of voluminous market and professional change, corporate counsel will require a particular set of skills and traits, including, but not limited to, adaptability, curiosity, and vulnerability.

In this episode of The Corporate Counsel Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with fractional general counsel, board member, and keynote speaker Ivana Kovacevic and RMIT general counsel Alison Huitfeldt about what they love about in-house legal life, the biggest takeaways for corporate lawyers in the last 12 months, and the difficulties inherent with having so much on the shoulders of the law department.

Kovacevic and Huitfeldt also delve into the biggest challenges and trends facing in-house lawyers as we come into the new year, leaning into people skills, the need for curiosity, adaptability, and vulnerability moving forward, best practice guidance for corporate lawyers in the new year, and what excites them both about the experience of in-house counsel moving forward.

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, X and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au

In this special episode of LawTech Talks, produced in partnership with LexisNexis, we unpack the importance of a more holistic approach and mindset to daily operational and practice matters in 2026 and beyond, in the face of voluminous technological change.

Host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with LexisNexis APAC Managing Director Katy Fixter about the most common threads of change she sees across the region for how legal businesses operate and why, Australian practitioners' capacity for innovation and agility, her optimism about the pace of willingness to change among Australian in-house and firm teams, and evolving levels of trust from the client side.

Fixter also delves into how best to ensure retention of accurate, reliable information and optimal client service delivery, lawyers' perceptions of their changing underlying duties, the extent to which lawyers are undergoing trial and error with new ways of working, taking more innovative approaches moving forward, creating more space for yourself, how the business of law is shifting, whether non-traditional approaches are becoming more mainstream, and how lawyers' learning and professional development may also be changing.

To learn more about LexisNexis, click here.

Interest and investment in renewables is one of the fastest-growing areas of M&A in the current climate. For lawyers practising in this space, this brings various challenges in wading through a shifting landscape, but also myriad opportunities to best serve clients.

In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Holding Redlich partners Jeanne Vallade and Dhanushka Jayawardena about their respective work at the BigLaw firm, why renewables is such a fast-growing space for M&A, the tax implications, the headline challenges being experienced, political influences, making such developments work for foreign investors, and ensuring best practice in a fast-moving landscape.

The trio also delves into early and integrated due diligence, following the life cycle of a project, the popularity of battery energy storage systems, regulatory hurdles to grapple with, how best to advise clients in the current climate, what excites them about their work in this space moving forward, and "bringing a little piece of [a] complex puzzle to the bigger, bigger picture".

If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, X and LinkedIn.

If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au

Amid unprecedented technological change in the legal profession, many young lawyers and students feel uncertain about their future. But David Fischl argues this worry is misplaced – in fact, he says there has never been a better time to enter the profession.

In a recent episode of The Protégé Podcast, host Grace Robbie speaks with David Fischl, legal digital transformation lead partner and corporate and commercial team lead partner at Hicksons | Hunt & Hunt, about his firsthand experience witnessing AI reshape the legal profession, why these shifts are creating unprecedented opportunities for junior practitioners to learn and grow faster, and how he expects AI to continue redefining the profession in the years ahead.

Fischl also delves into how AI is accelerating the career trajectory of junior lawyers by giving them access to more complex responsibilities earlier than ever before, acknowledges the uncertainty many young lawyers feel about the profession's future but notes that this mindset is shifting as they see the opportunities AI creates, stresses that firms aren't hiring for AI expertise but for curiosity and adaptability, and offers advice to young lawyers who feel intimidated by the rapid pace of technological change.