In Brief Issue #857

Here's our latest work. Over 500 barristers have had their portraits taken and the results are fantastic. 

Time is running out. Please take a few minutes of your time and be part of this historical moment in the Bar's history. 

This exhibition aims to contrast the Bar at three points in its growth cycle namely; 1939, 1989 and now. 

The last photography sessions will take place on Monday 26 March 2018 as follows:

• Aickin Chambers ground foyer: 9am - 10am
• Douglas Menzies Chambers ground foyer: 1pm - 2pm
• Castan Chambers ground foyer: 4pm - 5pm

The 'new' look of the bar will showcase the diversity at the bar, including barristers in all areas of law, age, gender and cultural backgrounds.

The theme is 'come as you are'. This may include barristers being photographed in their sporting clothes, casual clothes, business attire, suits, robes or robes and wigs.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The practising certificate (PC) renewals cycle for 2018/19 opened on Monday 19 March 2018. The deadline for renewing your PC without incurring a surcharge is 30 April 2018.

The LPLC requires payment of the professional indemnity insurance (PII) premium by 31 May 2018. Further information regarding PII will be distributed to members the week beginning 9 April 2018.

You should have received an email from the Legal Services Board (LSB) outlining details of the PC and PII renewal process. (Information is also provided on the Bar’s website).  

Links for online lodgement are available through your member home page or you may go directly to LSB Online and LPLC website. Login to LSB Online and LPLC renewal using your Practitioner Number as the username (your Practitioner Number is published in the email sent to you by the LSB  or you can contact the Bar Office for assistance). If you experience technical difficulties, please contact the LSB Online help desk by email online@lsbc.vic.gov.au in the first instance.

The LSB Online service deals with all PC administrative matters. There is no printed PC renewal form. Should you require assistance renewing your PC, the Victorian Bar Office can help you to access and use LSB Online, members who wish to attend the Bar office for assistance please do so between 9am - 3pm or contact Daphne Ioannidis on 9225 8326 to make an appointment.

The printed LPLC Applicant Declaration (PII) will be available from the LPLC’s website or from the Victorian Bar Office on Level 5 205 William Street, after 9 April 2018, however practitioners are encouraged to renew on line.

This year's Bar Dinner will be held at the Plaza Ballroom on Friday 25 May.

Be sure you keep the date free in your diary.

The Women Barristers Association (WBA) will be holding their AGM on 11 April 2018, at 1pm, in the conference room on level 15 in Owen Dixon Chambers West. 

The AGM is open for all members to attend and WBA also encourages new members to attend and join. 

Further, the WBA wishes to put out a call for new committee members. Anyone interested in joining the Committee is welcome to email or call Kylie Weston-Scheuber or Sandra Karabidian to discuss, or simply send a nomination form to Jess Swanwick by no later than 5pm on 4 April 2018. 

At the AGM, the Committee for 2018/2019 will be elected and other business (including accounts for the year) will be considered.

The Victorian Bar has endorsed the Law Council of Australia’s gender equitable briefing policy, which aims to achieve a nationally consistent approach towards bringing about cultural and attitudinal change within the legal profession with respect to gender briefing practices.

Information about the Policy, including FAQs, is available on the Victorian Bar website.

The Policy is available for adoption by individual barristers by completing the form available on the Law Council’s website.

The Bar encourages all members, at all levels of seniority, to show their commitment to equitable briefing by adopting the Policy.

The Victorian Bar is calling for Expressions of Interest from members to be appointed by Bar Council as conciliators for complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and workplace bullying. 

The Bar is expanding the opportunity for informal and co-operative resolution of complaints about this type of conduct by its members. 

Conciliators will play a role in the informal investigation and co-operative resolution of complaints about the conduct of barristers.  This process will include complaints by other barristers or by other persons who engage with barristers. 

Conciliators will have no authority to impose co-operation, nor will they be able to determine the merits of any complaint.   If a mutually acceptable outcome cannot be achieved with the assistance of a Conciliator, then the Conciliator provides information as to other available avenues of Complaint. 

Knowledge of the law surrounding discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying is helpful but not essential.  Training will be provided to those appointed as Conciliators.

The Bar seeks to appoint a diverse panel of Conciliators from both the Senior and Junior bars including men and women across all areas of practice.

For further information about the role, please contact Jacinta Forbes QC -  jmforbes@vicbar.com.au / 9225 8905

Expressions of Interest can be submitted here.

Studio 11, located at Level 11, Owen Dixon Chambers East is hosting its latest exhibition featuring some 14 works by various Indigenous artists which may be enjoyed during business hours from 29 January 2018 - 29 March 2018. The works are available for sale. Catalogue sheets are located on level 11 ODC East. All members of the Victorian Bar, family, friends and colleagues are very welcome to view and enjoy the works. The most recent exhibition featured works by Melbourne artist, Fred Colla. The next exhibition will feature works by Melbourne artist, Claire Lefebvre.  

The Victorian Golfing Lawyers Society was established in July 2017 by a group of barristers, solicitors and Judges to promote the game of golf amongst our profession. We now have 110 members and have played three events, at Commonwealth, Royal Melbourne Golf Club and Woodlands, all of which have been very well attended. Membership is a one-off payment of $50. Details of the next event are as follows:

The Sir Edmund Herring Trophy Golf Event
at the Kingswood site of
Peninsula Kingswood Country Golf Club
Centre Dandenong Road
Dingley Village
On Tuesday, 3 April 2018.

This is a longstanding event contested between

Bench and Bar vs Solicitors in a 4BBB Stableford format
Tee off commences at 1.30pm
Drinks cart (cash on consumption) on course during play.
Presentations and bar snacks available immediately after play (drinks at bar prices)

VGLS committee hosts – Norman O’Bryan AM SC and Caroline Paterson

Cost: $150 per person
payable to VGLS - BSB 063 010 Account Number 1333 0550

RSVP: by 28 March 2018 please to carolinepaterson@vicbar.com.au indicating the following: your Golflink number (if I do not already have it) and your preferred playing partner, if applicable.

Vicbar barrister (and part time comedian) John Leung is producing a stand-up open mic for the legal industry in the 2018 Melbourne International Comedy Festival called “Trial and Error”. The show will be taking place from 10-14 April 2018. John is looking for practising lawyers or others in the legal industry who would like to try their hand at stand-up comedy for the first time. “Trial and Error" will also include experienced comedian-lawyers including John himself, Jess Moir, Andrew Portelli and Cait Johnson. All profits from the show will be donated to the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation. 

If you’re interested in flexing your comedy muscles, please contact John at themelbournerenegades@gmail.com   

Members of the judiciary and magistracy in Victoria and barristers are invited to audition to take part in BottledSnail’s Law Week production of two short operettas based on Carbolic Smoke Ball Co and Donoghue v Stevenson set to the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan songs by law lecturer Stephen Todd. 

Performances will be open to the public and held in the Law Library of Victoria on the evenings of Thursday 17 and Friday 18 May and daytime performances on Saturday 19 May (dates to be finally confirmed). For further details, or to book an audition time, see the attached notice.  

The High Court is reviewing its Registry operations and case management system with a particular emphasis on current and future electronic needs.

The Court is seeking to obtain the views and assistance of external users of the system. The members of your organisation have been identified as likely users of the current system.

An online form has been designed to allow external users to participate in the review. The online form can be found here. The deadline for responses is Friday, 6 April 2018. The form is designed to organise the responses in a way that will both guide the user and help the Court. The form includes questions asking participants to identify what is critical to them when using the Court's
systems, what they like about the current system, and what they wish the Court's Registry and case management system provided. The form also enables participants to provide the Court with other comments about the Court's Registry and case management system, including their views on what changes they would recommend. The responses given to the Court will be used only for the purposes of the Court and will not be published.

Court officers will ensure that all responses are recorded, reviewed and used in the review. In addition to any responses recorded via the online form, we may contact some participants to discuss their responses
further. Not all participants will be contacted.

If members have difficulty using the form please email enquiries@hcourt.gov.au or phone the Registry on (02) 6270 6857.

We encourage members to participate in the review.

The Sentencing Advisory Council wants to hear from people in the criminal justice system and from the wider the community about offender-paid restitution and compensation in Victoria.

In particular, Council seeks your input on:

• Whether offender-paid compensation orders should become sentencing orders;
• Whether purposes of sentencing should include the financial reparation of victims; and
• How the orders should be enforced.

Your submissions will inform our advice to the Attorney-General on possible changes to restitution and compensation orders in Victoria.

Details of the existing system, and some options for reform can be found in the Restitution and Compensation Orders: Issues and Options Paper on Council’s website.

Your submissions can be detailed or brief, and can be made in person, in writing, or via an online survey. You can choose whether your submission is public, anonymous, or confidential.

The deadline for submissions is Friday 20 April 2018.

For more information visit the Council’s website, or call 1300 363 196

The latest edition of the Victoria Legal Aid Brief can be read here. 

Creating Utopia: Imagining and Making Futures – Art, Architecture and Sustainability will explore the intersection between art, culture and the natural environment as the inaugural conference of the Lorne Sculpture Biennale.

Dates: Thursday, 22 March - 4:00pm to Sunday, 25 March - 12:00pm 
Location: The View Room, Lorne Hotel, 176 Great Ocean Rd, Lorne 
Email: lindyaj@unimelb.edu.au 
Tel: +61 3 8344 7437/0425 788 581

Click here to download the event flyer. 
Click here to register.

On behalf of Melbourne Law School, we would like to invite you to the launch of Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness on Monday 26 March from 6:00pm – 7:00pm.

At this launch event, leading experts on statelessness will discuss the scale and scope of the global challenge of statelessness, the impact of statelessness, the role of the United Nations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in addressing the challenge, and the role of academic research in contributing to the eradication of statelessness.

The Melbourne Law School’s Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness has been established with the objective of undertaking research, teaching and engagement activities aimed at reducing statelessness and protecting the rights of stateless people in Australia, the Asia Pacific region, and as appropriate more broadly. The Centre on Statelessness will fill a critical gap in academic research and engagement on the issue of statelessness and is currently the only university resident and supported institute of its type.

If you would like to attend this free public event, please register here. 

If you would like to be notified of any future events, please subscribe to our newsletter here.  

Deakin Law School along with the Sustainable Market Actors for Responsible Trade (SMART) will host a public seminar on the topic of investing for sustainability.

This seminar discusses possible drivers and enforcers for sustainability-oriented business and investments, identifying how to dismantle barriers to the necessary transition and strengthen emerging trends for sustainability.

Date: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
Time: 9.30am – 1.45pm (including lunch)
Venue: Deakin Downtown, Level 12, Tower 2, 727 Collins Street, Melbourne

A copy of the seminar program is available here.

To register for this public seminar, please register here.

The Annual Lecture will be held on Tuesday 27 March at 7:00pm in the David P Derham Theatre (GM15), Melbourne Law School, the University of Melbourne, 185 Pelham St Carlton 3053.

The Annual Lecture is part of an ongoing effort by the Review to increase its engagement with the legal community. In the past, we have had The Hon Justice John Middleton speak on ‘Statutory Interpretation — Mostly Common Sense?’, The Hon Justice Stephen McLeish on ‘Challenges to the Survival of the Common Law’ and The Honourable Kenneth Hayne AC on 'Government Contracts and Public Law'.

This year we are honoured to have The Hon Justice Debbie Mortimer of the Federal Court of Australia as our guest speaker for the Annual Lecture this year. The title of the lecture is 'Some thoughts on writing judgments in, and for, contemporary Australia'. Below is a description of her Honour's lecture:

As in other walks of life the pace of work for, and productivity demands on, courts and judges have increased. While the obligation to explain an exercise of judicial power through published reasons is a critical obligation, the challenge for courts and judges in contemporary Australia is how to reconcile that obligation with the need to give parties outcomes to their litigation in a timely way, and to ensure that explanations for the exercise of judicial power are accessible and understandable. In her lecture, Justice Mortimer proposes to offer a perspective on these challenges.

No RSVPs are necessary. Drinks and canapés will be served in the foyer of the Law School after the event. 

MTECC is hosting a 3-speaker seminar on 28 March 2018 at the RACV Club from 5pm to 7pm. The speakers are Hugh Foxcroft QC on Recent Developments in SOP Act Jurisdictional Challenges, Andrew Downie on Expert Evidence in TEC Litigation and Michael Whitten QC on Recent Developments in Recourse to Bank Guarantees. Drinks and canapés will be served on arrival and following the seminar. There are limited seats. Please RSVP to whitten@chancery.com.au or info@mtecc.com.au.

On behalf of Melbourne Law School, we would like to invite you to the following events: 

2018 George Turner Lecture, “Charities, Politics and Tax” presented by Justice Susan Glazebrook DNZM onWednesday 28 March, 6:30-7:30pm. 

Randomistas Book Launch presented by Andrew Leigh on Thursday 8 March, 5:30-6:30pm. 

Please see the attached flyers for more information. The lecture and book launch will take place at Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton. 

If you would like to be notified of any future events, please subscribe to our newsletter here.  

The IATC and South African bar will be hosting a Legal Reasoning & Written Advocacy Conference on the 2nd and 3rd April 2018 at the Wallenberg in Stellenbosch (near Capetown). 
Will clear and effective legal reasoning and writing survive the relentless onslaught of social media and the tyranny of the twitterati? 

Speakers includeThe Rt. Hon. The Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Former President the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom; Justice Geraldine Andrews (UK); Justice Glenn Martin, Supreme Court (Qld); Justice Ann Ainslie-Wallace (Fam Crt App); Phillip Greenwood SC ( NSW) and speakers from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa, will be involved in presentations and panel discussions. 

Judges, advocates, attorneys, university teachers and all legal professionals involved in the teaching of advocacy skills, should find the conference very interesting. 

The conference will stimulate debate and explore solutions to the state of legal reasoning and writing in the advocates’ profession and the judiciary. 
Please visit the below link to view the speakers and to register online. 
http://www.sabar.co.za/advocacy-training/IATC-Conference2018.html 

Thursday 5 April, 1.15pm-1.40pm

The Law Library of Victoria invites you to attend our Switch On… information sessions. These twenty-five minute sessions are suited to judicial officers, court staff, legal professionals, law students, and anyone with an interest in law.

This session will highlight some of the best legal alerts freely available. We will demonstrate how to create alerts so you can stay up to date on the latest case law, legislation developments, and legal news. These include alerts provided by the Law Library of Victoria, JADE, the High Court of Australia, TimeBase, the Victorian Government, and a variety of social media.

For more information or to RSVP please email libraryevents@supcourt.vic.gov.au

Both the Victorian Law Reform Commission and the Australian Law Reform Commission are currently enquiring into the issue of regulation of litigation funding in class actions. The keynote speakers and the panel members will discuss the pros and cons of such regulation and the issues to be considered with reference to both overseas and Australian experience. 

Date: Monday 9 April, 2018 
Time: 2.00pm - 5.00pm 
Venue: Court 8A, Federal Court of  Australia, Owen Dixon Commonwealth  Law Courts Building, 305 William St,  Melbourne 
RSVP: To register, please go to litigationaprilseminar.eventbrite.com.au by Tuesday 20 March

Click here to download the event flyer.

Clinical legal education has expanded across the globe. Moving through time and across borders, clinical legal education demonstrates its capacity to adapt to the needs of differing societies and legal systems and varying clients and problems within a country, to transform students, and to evolve and change its own methods and forms.

Date Monday 16 April 2018
Time 6pm – 7.30pm
Venue Monash Law Chambers, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
RSVP Wednesday 11 April HERE or via email to law-marketing@monash.edu

Click here for further information. 

Competition Law Conference 2018

This annual one-day Conference will be held in Sydney on Saturday 5 May 2018 at the Sheraton on the Park Hotel, Sydney.

The Conference, which has been held since 1989, continues to attract about 100 registrants, including Federal Court Judges, Judges from New Zealand, regulators from Australia and New Zealand, lawyers from both Australia and New Zealand, economists and academics.

The Hon. Justice Lindsay Foster will address the conference as the Keynote Speaker on the topic: “Concerted Practices; A Contravention without a definition”

Venue: Sheraton on the Park, Sydney
Date: Saturday 5 May 2018
Time: 9.15 am to 4.30 pm (registration opens at 8.45am)
CPD Strand: Substantive Law, Practice & Procedure
CPD Points: 5 (one point per hour excluding breaks)

For further details, and to download the full programme and registration form, please follow this link or email chrishodgekiss@bigpond.com

What will 2050's court system look like? Will technological advances merely create the need for new laws or do they present a threat to the rule of law? Does the legal profession still have a future?  And if so, what is it? How do "lawyerbots" actually work? And do videolink hearings represent the future of the court system or a breakdown of the division between court and prison?

These are just a few of the questions to be raised at “Forces of Change: Defining Future Justice”, the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration’s next conference, May 24-26, at Brisbane’s Stamford Plaza Hotel.

The conference aims to conceptualise and visualise the shape of future justice and hold an in-depth conversation on the fundamental principles that underpin our concept of justice but may be challenged in a period of significant change and disruption.

The line-up of speakers contributing is an eclectic mix of judges, academics and tech-experts. It includes the Chief Justice of New Zealand, Dame Sian Elias, the High Court's Justice Michelle Gordon, Justice Helen Winkelmann from NZ’s Court of Appeal and Chief Judge Peter Kidd of the County Court. Other speakers will include  Mr Murray Bruce, formerly with IBM’s AI platform "Watson", CSIRO IP expert Mr Rajiv Cabraal, lawyerbot inventors Mr Athol Birtley and Mr Adrian Cartland, and “blockchain” expert Dr Philippa Ryan, from the University of Technology, Sydney

Beginning with a keynote talk on "the world in the year 2050", the conference will feature an opening address on the experience of the use of technology in the legal system in England and Wales, by the Right Hon Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. This will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Radio National’s The Law Report presenter Damien Carrick.

Subsequent sessions include: a hands-on introduction to lawyerbots and AI; a look at the new laws that will be required by new technologies; and a survey of the future mental health needs of judicial officers and court staff. To close, a session on "management of change" will challenge participants to identify their own views. Are you an "early adopter"? Or a "maintain the rager"? Come along and join the conversation.

See the program and register at http://www.futurejustice2018.com/

Early bird discount registration available until March 30.

Date: 6-8 June 2018, Vientiane, Laos 
Venue: Crowne Plaza Vientiane 
Website: http://www.lawasia.asn.au/familylaw2018.html  
Theme: ‘Family Law: Realities, Expectations and Hope’ 
Registration: Opening in February 

Keynote Speaker: The Honourable John Pascoe AC CVO 

The conference will focus on a range of cross border family law and children’ rights issues including: 
 

• trafficking of the vulnerable;
• surrogacy and ethical challenges;
• impact of social media on family law;
• support for families and children in distress;
• effective negotiations and understanding the client, the lawyer and the child;
• technology in family law practice;
• International family law and Conventions;
• the protection of vulnerable members of the family;
• estrangement and alienation and future world – family law in the next decade.

Please visit the conference website to register and for more information on travel, accommodation and the conference program: http://www.lawasia.asn.au/familylaw2018.html   

Date: 11-13 July 2018
Venue: Melbourne Law School

From 11 to 13 July 2018, Melbourne Law School will hold the third biennial Public Law Conference, co-organised by the University of Melbourne and the University of Cambridge. The theme of the 2018 conference is ‘The Frontiers of Public Law’. The Public Law series is the pre-eminent regular forum for the discussion of public law matters in the common law world. The first two conferences in the series were held at Cambridge in 2014 and 2016. The 2018 conference will feature approximately 80 speakers, including leading judges, practitioners and scholars from across the common law world, and bring together over 300 delegates to discuss the most important issues in public law today. Keynote speakers include Lord Mance (UKSC), Hon Mr Kenneth Hayne (formerly HCA), Justice Debbie Mortimer (FCA), Sir Jack Beatson (English Court of Appeal), Justice Grant Huscroft (Ontario Court of Appeal), Justice Matthew Palmer (NZ High Court), Prof Cheryl Saunders (Melbourne), Prof David Feldman (Cambridge), Prof Anne Davies (Oxford), Prof Carol Harlow (LSE), Prof Mark Aronson (UNSW), Prof Anne Twomey (Sydney), Prof Benedict Kingsbury (NYU), and Prof Megan Davis (UNSW).

For further information and to register please visit our website: http://law.unimelb.edu.au/public-law-conference