During these past few months, we have all bunkered down in constrained personal and professional existences that have provided us more limited visibility than usual on what is happening in the legal marketplace. It was very gratifying, therefore, to have the opportunity to be part of the judging panel for the 2020 Association of Corporate Counsel Australia Corporate Lawyer Awards – to be able to look over the parapet and observe some of the trends in "client land".
Patience and persistence are crucial to the Bar’s success
One of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in Australia occurred in 1982, when Lindy Chamberlain was wrongly convicted of the murder of her baby, Azaria, and her husband, Michael, was wrongly convicted of being an accessory after the fact. The Chamberlains’ personal and legal ordeal was epic – through the original trial, appeals to the Federal and High Courts, four coronial inquests and the Morling Royal Commission, which finally exonerated the Chamberlains. Their convictions were quashed in 1988. The final inquest, in 2012, found that Azaria had died as the result of being attacked and taken by a dingo.
Some phenomena are spoken of as “great equalisers” because their impact transcends wealth, age, race, gender and occupation. Early in the pandemic, some touted the coronavirus as a great equaliser, due to its indiscriminately infectious nature. But we know the health impact of the pandemic has not been “shared” equally. It has also yielded some very different economic outcomes across society.
The Victorian Bar viewed with concern the footage of the arrest of Ballarat woman, Zoe Buhler, on incitement charges, after she posted details of a protest against government health directives on h
Last week, we welcomed 35 Readers to the Victorian Bar’s Readers’ Course. Our education team and the Bar Readers’ Course Committee worked hard to produce a course that is the first in Australia to be delivered entirely online and offered during COVID. We’re particularly pleased to have been able to extend our Course to two Readers who will eventually sign the South Australian Bar Roll.
There are many examples, too many to list in this message, of members and former members of the Bar stepping up to leadership positions in our community – in the judiciary, in not-for-profit and charitable organisations, in politics, in business, in the media. The Bar is rightfully proud of the contribution that they have made, and are continuing to make, to maintaining the robust institutions that underpin our society and democracy.
One point five meters. Lockdowns. Restrictions. Social distancing. Curfews. These five concepts have dominated our lives since March this year, turning our working and private lives upside down. These dramatic changes to our way of life, while uncomfortable, have increased our awareness of the people who have both physically and virtually enabled us to be kept fed and working. I, for one, have even greater respect for teachers and childcare workers, and as I listen to my daughter’s zoom classes, I’m amazed at the incredible skill they employ each day when they teach. We also have a new respect for ‘front line’ workers – the shelf stackers, cleaners, delivery drivers, supermarket workers, hospital workers – and the court personnel and IT advisors who are arranging and helping us access the virtual meetings on which we now depend.
