Welcome to Stephens Lawyers & Consultants

Stephens Lawyers & Consultants is a specialist boutique commercial law and business consultancy practice, emphasising expertise in intellectual property, competition and consumer law, franchising, media & entertainment and defamation law, e-commerce and technology law, biotechnology and pharmaceutical law, privacy and data protection, and international trade law and dispute resolution and litigation.

Stephens Lawyers is committed to understanding the client’s needs from a practical, commercial as well as legal perspective and delivering strategic and cost effective legal advice. Every client has direct access to a principal of the firm, who understand the complexities of operating a business in today’s commercial environment.

Recent News & Updates

What does a “one star” defamatory review cost?

With consumers increasingly relying on on-line reviews about products or services in making purchase decisions, “one star”, “negative” or “fake” reviews can result in serious harm, reputational damage and loss of business. A recent court decision shows how posting a “one star” Google review can be a very costly exercise for reviewers, particularly where the review is defamatory and false or fake. Businesses and individuals subjected to “one star” reviews, can take legal action.

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Strategies for Protecting and Maximizing Value of Intellectual Property

Maintaining and protecting a business’s trade marks, brand names, designs, patents and copyright material are critical for maximizing the value of the intellectual property and resulting revenue. This update provides an overview of some of the strategies that businesses can consider implementing for the maintenance and protection of their intellectual property rights in the on-line digital market environment and generally.

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TGA targets businesses for unlawful advertising of prescription-only drugs

Advertising prescription-only medicines to the public can result in criminal and civil penalties for both corporations and individuals amounting to many millions of dollars. The Therapeutic Goods Administration has been stepping up its enforcement actions to stop unlawful advertising to the public of therapeutic goods including prescription-only medicines. This article includes some strategies that businesses can implement to minimize the risk of non-compliance.

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Are your environmental marketing claims compliant? – Legal Update

Recent cases show that failure by businesses to ensure that environmental sustainability marketing claims are accurate can result in legal action being taken by regulators for false representations and misleading and deceptive conduct exposing the company and its directors to significant penalties and compensation claims.

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Compensation for Privacy Breaches (Oct 2022 to July 2024) – Privacy Law Update

In this update, Stephens Lawyers & Consultants provides an overview of the compensation awarded in privacy breach determinations made during October 2022 – July 2024 by the OAIC and some of the factors it took into account in awarding compensation and costs.
With long awaited changes to the Privacy Act now imminent, businesses cannot afford to be complacent about privacy compliance.

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Australian Consumer Guarantees and Warranties: Is Your Business Compliant? – Update January 2024

The consumer guarantees provided under the Australian Consumer Law cannot be excluded, modified or restricted and are in addition to any manufacturer’s or supplier’s warranty – with high penalties applying for breach. Fitbit was recently ordered to pay penalties of $11million for making misleading statements about consumer guarantee rights.
Businesses can take steps to minimise the risk of contravention of the Australian Consumer Law relating to consumer guarantees.

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Our Advantages

Stephens Lawyers is committed to understanding the client’s needs from a practical, commercial as well as legal perspective and delivering strategic and cost effective legal advice.

Every client has direct access to a principal of the firm, who understand the complexities of operating a business in today’s commercial environment.