News & Events

The new remote reality

We speak a lot about the collegiality of the Victorian Bar – working together, in normal times closely, in chambers means that experiences can be readily shared, knowledge and advice easily sought, and work opportunities actively pursued. The COVID pandemic has put paid to physical collegiality – but most of the networks and programs at the Bar continue to operate. Indeed, since 1 April, VicBar’s education and events team have organised 47 separate CPDs and events, which 3,445 participants have attended. These have included regular substantive law CPDs, together with technology training, online advocacy workshops and our series of webinars where legal leaders join us In Conversation at the VicBar. And there is a lot more happening.  

Surviving Stage 3

As we continue to endure months and months of pandemic-related restrictions, we can all be forgiven if our democratic sensibilities are somewhat rattled by the constant directives relating to what we can and cannot do. Do wear a mask, don’t leave home unless absolutely necessary, do stay 1.5 metres apart, don’t touch your face…and on and on it goes. As frustrating, and necessary, as these restrictions are, there is hopefully some light at the end of the tunnel with trials of a COVID-19 vaccine at Oxford University showing some promise. Recent media reports indicate the best-case scenario is that this vaccine is the magic bullet we are waiting for and we could begin an immunisation program in early 2021. The worst case is that a new normal pervades our lives for the foreseeable future as we await another viable vaccine or a slowing spread of COVID-19. Either way, this lockdown definitely cramps our style, crimps our plans and checks our finances.

Sliding doors, common goals

Some of you may remember the crucial scene in the film Sliding Doors, as Gwyneth Paltrow’s character charges towards a London tube – down the stairs, across the platform, squeezing through the train door in the nick of time… or, in the alternate universe arriving a second later, and the doors slide closed in front of her. The film, billed as a romantic comedy, has a deeper narrative about how random events can fundamentally influence our lives. It also highlights that the choices we make in response to events can be as decisive for the future as the events themselves.