News & Resources

The Sections of the IBA's Legal Practice Division are offering a scholarship to a young lawyer who wishes to participate in the IBA Annual Conference, but is unable to do so owing to financial constraints. Each application must be accompanied by a 2,500 word paper. Applicants are only permitted to apply for one Section scholarship. The deadline for submissions is Monday 16th April 2007. For more information about each section, go to this website.

The Legal Services Board Renewal of Practising Certificate form is to be lodged at the Bar Office -Level 5, Owen Dixon Chambers East, by 5.00PM, MONDAY 30 APRIL 2007.
Applications lodged after that date will incur the following surcharges:

• 25% surcharge if the application is lodged between Tuesday 1 May 2007 and 31 May 2007
• 50% surcharge if the application is lodged after 31 May 2007  

Please see section 2.4.10 and section 2.4.11 of the Legal Profession Act 2004.

The Bar office will be closed over the Easter long weekend, Friday 6 April - Monday 9 April inclusive. Office hours will resume as usual on Tuesday 10 April.

The Construction and Infrastructure Law Group (Victoria) of the Law Council of Australia is sponsoring the above Award named in the memory of the late Tom Yuncken.

Tom Yuncken was an outstanding construction lawyer and a partner of the law firm, Allens Arthur Robinson.  Tom was tragically killed following a bicycle accident on 19 October 2006 whilst competing in the Round the Bay in a Day cycling event.  He was a former Deputy-Chairperson of the Law Council of Australia’s Construction and Infrastructure Group (Victoria) and made a significant contribution to mentoring young lawyers. 

The Award recognises excellence in the field of construction law and practice and is modelled on the successful Law Council of Australia Young Property Lawyer of the Year (Victoria) Award.  Nominations will close on 19 October 2007.  The winner of the Award will be announced on 1 November 2007.

Any lawyer aged 36 years or younger at the time of nomination may nominate.  He or she must practise predominantly in the field of construction law and be a local legal practitioner within the meaning of the Legal Profession Act 2004 (Vic).

The Award Criteria are:
• Demonstrated excellence in the provision of construction law services to clients
• Academic and practical abilities in construction law
• Contribution to the field of construction law and practice
• Maturity, self-reliance and leadership

All young lawyers involved in construction law are encouraged to seek nomination for this prestigious Award.  Download further information and the nomination form below.

Further information or nomination forms may also be obtained from Hugh Foxcroft S.C. by telephoning his secretary on 9225 8125 or by emailing davfoxdav@vicbar.com.au.

The Supreme Court has produced an access map to assist visitors in navigating current disruptions to the William St side of the building.  The directions in the map will apply until works in Banco (Court 1) are finished in early May.  Access to the library will only be possible via the courtyard from Monday 26 March.  Download the access map below.

A reminder that the Commissioner of Taxation, Michael D'Ascenzo, will be at the Bar as the guest of the Tax Bar Association this Thursday 29 March at 6pm in the Neil McPhee Room, Level 1, Owen Dixon Chambers East. He will be speaking on ethics and tax practice.

Due to an Optus fault, some external calls are not connecting and others are providing one-way speech only.  Optus are presently working to correct the fault. Although this is an external issue, Barristers' Chambers Limited will endeavour to keep members up-to-date on the situation.

Each barrister must have completed 10 (ten) CLE points by 31 March 2007.  Members are encouraged to attend the CLE lectures advertised below.

For your own convenience, it is highly recommended that all members who have been issued with log-in details for restricted access sections of the website, set a password recovery question and answer, with which you can recover your password if required.  To do this, simply go to the 'Privacy and Personal Information' section (under 'Members'), then go to 'User Authentication' > 'Recover Password'.

Self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) are required to lodge their member contributions statements (MCS) by 31 March 2007. Speech by Raelene Vivian. See ATO elink and how to complete the lodgment form.

To mark International Women's Day (Thursday 8 March 2007), the Women Barristers Association's "Raising the Bar" section of the oral history is now live.  Click on the oral history link to see more.

SEK Hulme QC's section of the oral history is also now available for viewing.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) has advised BCL that it will not renew BCL’s lease of Latham Chambers^®.  The lease expires in March 2008.
The NAB has advised that it requires the four floors of Latham Chambers^® to accommodate additional staff at its Group Headquarters.  BCL has pressed the NAB to review the decision.  In December last year, the Chairman of BCL wrote directly to Mr John Stewart, Managing Director and Group Executive of the NAB, seeking to persuade the NAB to change its decision.  There have been several meetings between BCL and NAB executives in this regard but, unfortunately, the NAB insists upon taking over the four floors at the end of the sub-lease.
To enable BCL to continue to provide enough chambers to accommodate members of the Bar, BCL entered into an agreement to lease the top six floors and two mid floors at 200 Queen Street, Melbourne where BCL leases Level 27 known as Aickin Chambers^®.   The new area is approximately the same size as Latham Chambers^®; it is a quality building with panoramic views and is close to both the court precinct and city facilities.  Tenants of Latham Chambers^® will have priority for a period and on a basis (yet to be finalised) to take up accommodation in this space and other vacant BCL rooms.  It is expected that occupancy will become available progressively from September 2007. The possibility for group applications is being investigated.
This development provides tenants with the opportunity to avail themselves of new chambers within a quality building close to Courts and amenities or to move to other chambers within the BCL system such as Owen Dixon Chambers East or West or Douglas Menzies Chambers.

The Federal Magistrates Court of Australia now has arrangements to hear cases in its General Federal law jurisdictions (that is non-family law cases) at Dandenong.

In addition, as part of a trial commenced on 1 March 2007 to provide general federal law clients with easier access to the court system, Dandenong is one of five Family Law Courts registries to receive general federal law court documents on behalf of the Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Court.

For more information go to the Federal Magistrates Court web site.