Wednesday, 4 March 2026
Chair
Michael Osborne, Principal Lawyer, Osbornes Lawyers
Professional Skills
Working Effectively with Expert Witnesses in Easement Disputes
In easement disputes, valuation evidence is often centre stage. This includes when the application is for an order for the imposition of an easement under s88K Conveyancing Act, where one of the matters that the applicant must demonstrate is that the prospective servient owner can be compensated.
- Address the general principles by which compensation falls to be assessed; the statement of Justice Young (as HH then was) in Hanny v Lewis where the conversation about those general principles ought begin and then look at certain specific recurring scenarios of practice (eg right of carriageway/ stormwater/ crane swing / scaffold ) to see what amounts have been awarded. Some negotiations falter when the (hopeful) dominant owner offers the servient owner peppercorn compensation and gets their nose out of joint; and
- Consider the stage at which it is prudent to involve a valuer
- Understand the perils for valuation of leaving it till late in the peace to move the Court for 88K relief and thus needing to seek expedition
- Examine the extent to which lawyers ought to get involved in the drafting process of experts’ reports so as to minimise “man in shed” syndrome, a malady associated with email ping pong
Presented by Sydney Jacobs, Barrister, 13 Wentworth Chambers
Description
Attend and earn 1 CPD unit in Professional Skills
This program is based on NSW legislation
* This interactive online recording includes questions and quizzes requiring critical thinking about the topics, so you have no annual limits to the number of points/hours you can claim with this format of learning. Please verify with your CPD rules
Presenters
Sydney Jacobs, Barrister, 13 Wentworth Chambers
Sydney Jacobs is a barrister, accredited mediator and a Bar ADR Expert Determiner, with a longstanding specialist practice in easement, covenant and real property disputes. He is widely briefed in matters involving the creation (e.g. by long user), interpretation and validity of easements, their enforcement and imposition by applications under s 88K of the Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW). Such disputes might concern rights of carriageway, stormwater, other utilities, crane swing and rock anchors. These matters involve both Torrens and Old System land. An LL.M graduate of the University of Cambridge, Sydney practices broadly in commercial equity and property law, with experience across partnership and corporate disputes, building and construction matters, strata disputes, leasing, and contracts for the sale of land, including off-the-plan sales, rescission and termination, specific performance, relief against forfeiture, recovery of deposits, and notices to perform or complete. He is also briefed in disputes involving options, rights of first refusal, and restraint of trade. For 20 years, Sydney was the sole author of Commercial Damages and Injunctions: Law and Practice, and a contributor to Commercial & International Arbitration (Thomson Reuters). His practice is characterised by doctrinal depth and practical, outcome-focused advice, informed by extensive experience in complex property and easement disputes.
Michael Osborne, Principal Lawyer, Osbornes Lawyers
Michael Osborne is the principal of Osbornes Lawyers and has been in private practice for nearly 30 years. Osbornes Lawyers is a speciality legal practice focusing on commercial and business law, with particular expertise in real property. Michael is an accredited property specialist, chair of the Advisory Committee for the Law Society of New South Wales for the specialist accreditation scheme in property, a member of the Property Committee of the Law Society. Michael has extensive practical experience in most aspects of property law, including options, sales, acquisitions, strata and community title, and commercial and retail leasing. He particularly specialises in property development - structuring and documenting the acquisition and sale of the site and the associated work: joint venture or shareholder agreements, building contracts, development management agreements, financing and security, leasing, advice on stamp duty and GST, and off the plan sales. In the period 2011 to 2013, Michael served as a member and alternate chair of the Minister for Fair Trading's Experts' Committee on retirement village contracts to draft the standard retirement village contract. That document is now comprised in schedule 2 of the Retirement Villages Regulation 2009.
