In Brief Issue #1024

The LGBTIQ Working Group of the Equality & Diversity Committee is celebrating Wear It Purple Day at 5:30pm on Friday, 27 August 2021.

We are hosting an event and a CLE Seminar.

Wear It Purple Day is a much-loved annual event celebrated across Australia in workplaces large and small (including many law firms, government departments, and NGOs) to show rainbow young people and kids that we love and support them.

To celebrate, the LGBTIQ Working Group is proud to present a CLE seminar Legal challenges faced by the trans and gender diverse communities, which will give an insight into the key legal issues commonly facing the Trans and Gender Diverse communities and why it is important lawyers have a practical understanding of these unique issues.

Everyone is welcome!

Details

Register now for the Bar’s online event and wear a touch of purple (or a lot, hey, it’s your party), get some purple cupcakes delivered/fix a purple-tini and/or update your zoom video border to get in on the celebrations here.

We will attempt to take a screenshot of everyone’s fab purpleness on the night (tech permitting). Please feel free to opt out and leave your camera off if you prefer.

Register here.

We are also very excited to have our own Liz Bennett and Gemma Cafarella on the panel – this is not to be missed!

The Victorian Bar wishes to invite you to attend the 2021 Re-engagement Lunch from 1-3:00pm on Friday, 27 August 2021.

The session will bring together members of the Bar currently on, recently returned from, or planning to take, parental leave for an informal discussion on issues such as returning to practice after an extended leave and maintaining connection while away. The discussion will be guided by insights from a barrister who has recently become a parent, with her experience acting as a springboard for discussing your own particular challenges and successes.

This event is now online only.

RSVP here by Friday, 20 August 2021.

Please refer to Staying COVIDSafe at BCL for all information, communications, helpful links to COVID safe plans and restrictions as they happen and what we all need to do.

Thank you to those members who have already paid their subscriptions. Subscriptions for the 2021-2022 Financial Year are due for members, and to make payment of your subscription, please click here. If you have any questions about your subscription or are experiencing financial hardship, please contact membership or call 03 9225 8326.

The Victorian Bar is delighted to announce the refreshed Member Benefits online portal, where you can access a wide variety of discounts, special offers, and member-only deals as part of your Bar membership.

The exclusive benefits are available Australia-wide and are not generally open to the public.

To activate your account and access the benefits, please click here. You must log in using your vicbar.com.au login details.

The Victorian Government has announced an extension plus additional restrictions for metropolitan Melbourne until 11:59pm, Thursday 2 September 2021. 

The Supreme Court of Victoria has published a cross-jurisdictional message from the Chief Justice in response to COVID-19 restrictions being strengthened and extended in metropolitan Melbourne, which outlines the arrangements and contains a message for the profession. Read the statement here.

For up-to-date information about the Courts’ responses, please visit their websites:

• Federal Court of Australia – see here.
• Family Court of Australia – see here.
• Federal Circuit Court of Australia – see here.
• Supreme Court of Victoria – see here.
• County Court of Victoria – see here.
• Magistrates’ Court of Victoria – see here.

County Court of Victoria

The following will apply from Wednesday, 18 August 2021, until further notice:

Melbourne - criminal jury trials

While the latest Health Directions no longer provide the Court with an exemption from density quotients for courtrooms and areas of the court building used for jury trials in Melbourne, all of the criminal trials currently running in Melbourne are in paired courtroom arrangements and comply with density quotients.

As such, those criminal jury trials underway may continue at Melbourne, subject to the views of the judge and parties. Self-evidently, there is a strong public interest in those trials proceeding to verdict, where possible. 

At this stage, criminal jury trials, which were due to be empanelled between Thursday, 19 August and Thursday, 2 September 2021 inclusive, will not proceed. Every effort will be made to relist these trials over the coming weeks. The Court will be in contact with the parties soon in relation to these re-listings. 

We will aim to resume new jury trials in Melbourne from Friday, 3 September 2021.

Melbourne - criminal judge alone trials

One trial by judge alone, which is midstream, will continue. Given its equivalence with jury trials, the interests of justice demand that it proceeds to a conclusion as efficiently as possible. By their nature, the Court considers the completion of such trials essential to the administration of justice.  Where onsite attendance is needed to complete a trial by judge alone efficiently, the Court would authorise it.

Other judge alone trials may commence where the Chief Judge has determined that the matter is urgent or of priority.

Melbourne - attendance by practitioners and other court users

The current restrictions require that only matters of urgency or priority be conducted by the Court onsite and only where there is no reasonable alternative. The restrictions explicitly limit the attendance of court users (practitioners, parties and others) to the extent necessary to support the functioning of the court.

More generally, as the head of jurisdiction, the Chief Judge is required to ensure that any onsite work of the Court is conducted responsibly within the COVID environment and having regard to the safety of judges, court staff, and all court users.

To that end, the Court will significantly strengthen the default position it has had since the beginning of the recent lockdown in relation to the remote attendance of practitioners and other court users.  

Onsite attendance at the Court by any practitioner or court user will be very much by exception and will be managed through the Chief Judge’s approval and considered on a case by case basis.

As a general guide:

• Attendance of a practitioner or court user must be necessary as opposed to convenient or preferable.
• There is an immediate need to conduct the matter.
• There is a need for the matter to be conducted onsite at the Court with attendance by others, and there must be no reasonable alternative to conducting the matter with other court users onsite.
• Only the attendance of those persons required to facilitate the remote hearing will be permitted. The approval for any onsite attendance will be confined to the minimum attendance necessary.

Onsite attendance at Court by the presiding judge (and court staff) may be required to utilise in-court technology, access IT support, or in circumstances where the Court environment is required to appropriately reflect the gravity or solemnity of a particular matter.  

Parties with matters listed during the lockdown period should contact the presiding judge's chambers in the event of any uncertainty.   

Circuit - criminal jury trials

The latest Health Directions provide the Court with an exemption from density quotients for courtrooms and areas of the court building used for jury trials in regional Victoria.

As such, the Court will continue with criminal jury trials on circuit under the existing physical arrangements and empanelment process.

The latest Health Directions carry across the same workplace permissions when a person travels between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. To that end, the Chief Judge must approve the onsite attendance at circuit courts of parties and court users (who cannot otherwise attend remotely).

The Chief Judge has determined that criminal jury trials listed on circuit are urgent and of priority given the COVID-related backlog.

Circuit - non-jury matters

Permission of the Chief Judge for the attendance of practitioners or other court users for all other non-jury matters will be managed through the presiding judge’s chambers in accordance with the approach outlined for Melbourne above.

As a general guide only, the following types of matters may be given permission for the onsite attendance of practitioners and other court users (who cannot otherwise attend remotely).

• Pleas (including Koori Court, subject to the views of the Elders and Respected Persons)
• Sentences
• Conviction appeals involving contested evidence, and
• Any matter involving liberty.

Parties with matters listed during the lockdown period should contact the presiding judge's chambers in the event of any uncertainty.   

Melbourne and circuit - mask-wearing

Mask wearing is at Setting 2 for cases conducted onsite, namely those in a speaking role, including counsel, are not required to wear a mask, but all other participants and other court users (including jurors) must wear a mask.  Mask setting 2 extends to all circuit matters.

Melbourne and Circuit - Letters of authority

The profession should obtain any letter of authority or work permit to attend onsite at court from their respective organisations, should this be required. This includes those practitioners who may need to travel from Melbourne to a regional court location for a circuit matter.

An accused’s bail papers will suffice to attend onsite at Court.

In the lead up to the commencement of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA) on  Wednesday, 1 September 2021, the Family Court of Australia (FCoA) and Federal Circuit Court of Australia (FCC) have previously released two updates for the legal profession and the public to advise them of changes to court operations.

This third update provides information on:

• the objects and purpose of the FCFCOA Act;
• in the family law jurisdiction:
  • the overarching purpose of family law practice and procedure;
  • pre-action procedures;
  • dispute resolution in the new case management pathway;
  • property matters;
  • the Lighthouse project;
• the Court’s migration and general federal law (GFL) jurisdictions;
• and the Commonwealth Courts Portal. 

Click here for more information.

To address a long-standing issue of non-compliance with court orders made in family law proceedings in the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, the Courts have created a dedicated national electronic court list that will deal with consistently and responsively with contravention applications. Applications will be given a first return court date within 14 days of filing.

Click here for more information.

Join this webinar on the treatment of Afghan interpreters and Australia's legal obligation to protect those who have helped Australia. The Australian government’s treatment of Afghan interpreters and other Afghan nationals who have assisted Australia has been a topic of controversy in past months. This panel will examine Australia’s moral and legal obligation to protect workers who have helped Australian troops.

In this online seminar on Tuesday, 31 August 2021, speakers will discuss historical examples of Australia’s past troop withdrawals (e.g. from Vietnam and Iraq) and how other countries have dealt with the issue (particularly the United States and the United Kingdom). It will also place the debate within the broader context of granting humanitarian visas and Australia’s approach to refugee applications from Afghanistan. In particular, what does the grant of special visas to interpreters and other workers mean for how we treat other refugees fleeing Afghanistan?

Speakers include:

• Emeritus Professor William Maley, Australian National University
• Sitarah Mohammadi, Deputy Chair of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network.

Register here.

Melbourne Law School invites you to attend the following upcoming free public events:

• 2021 Allen Hope Southey Memorial Lecture: Climate-conscious lawyering presented by The Hon. Justice Brian J Preston FRSN SC, Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales, on Wednesday, 25 August 2021, 6–7:00pm, online via Zoom. Visit the event's webpage for more information. Register here to receive the Zoom link to watch online.
• Reimagining the relationship and reshaping our institutions presented by Tim Goodwin, Barrister, Victorian Bar, on Wednesday, 8 September 2021, 6–7:00pm, in-person at the G08 theatre, Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham St, Carlton, or online via Zoom. Visit the event's webpage for more information. Register here to attend in person. Register here to receive the Zoom link to watch online.
• Gridlock: reforming Australia’s institutions to unblock policy reform presented by Professor John Daley, Professorial Fellow at Melbourne Law School, Wednesday, 15 September 2021, 6–7:00pm, in-person at G08 theatre, Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham St, Carlton. Visit the event's webpage for more information. Register here to attend in person.

Are our environmental laws fit for purpose?

The National Environmental Law Association is holding its annual conference online this year over four afternoons in September.

Session 1 - National environmental law accountability and the need for a national Environmental Protection Authority (EPA)

Friday 3 September 2021 from 4:00-5:30pm AEST (via zoom)

Speakers:

• The Hon Justice Nicola Pain (NSWLEC) will speak to ‘Conceptualising a Commonwealth EPA.’  
• A/Prof Robert Niven (UNSW, Canberra) will speak to ‘Environmental Contaminants in Australia” the Need for a Commonwealth EPA.’
• Mr Peter Cochrane, IUCN Regional Councillor (Oceania), will provide an IUCN Update to coincide with the IUCN’s global Congress opening in Marseille, France.

Tickets:

• Individual sessions - $50 non-members, $30 members. 
• All four sessions - $190 non-members, $110 members.

We encourage you to join or renew your membership - $80 per annum for individuals.

More information, including registration, is available here

Become a NELA member here

Join the Law Council of Australia and the Law Society of Singapore for a special webinar discussion on the mental health challenges facing legal practitioners on Tuesday, 7 September 2021 at 3:00pm.

While solicitors and barristers carry out vitally important work daily, the pressures and stresses associated with that work can negatively affect a person’s mental health and wellbeing.

Opened by Presidents Dr Jacoba Brasch QC and Gregory Vijayendran SC, the webinar will consider the structural issues contributing to mental health challenges in the legal profession and options to ameliorate these.

This is a free event for Australian lawyers; however, registration is essential.

Register here.