In Brief Issue #923

Members are invited to comment on a proposed amendment to the CPD rules. 

On 4 June this year the ABA wrote to the Legal Services Commissioner to seek an amendment to the CPD rules.

The ABA has received from the LSC a copy of a draft rule produced by the NSW Parliamentary Counsel.

The next step is to engage in public consultation in relation to the draft rule. To this end, the Executive Director of the NSW Bar Association has written to each of the Victorian, NSW and Western Australian Bars pursuant to section 427(5)(b) of the Uniform Law to invite submissions about the draft amendment. Click here for the draft rule.

The draft Rule, if made, will amend the CPD Rules by:

• Inserting a new rule 6A for the purpose of making it easier for barristers to know what types of activities they can perform in order for such activities to constitute a ‘CPD activity’ (i.e. attending a seminar; preparation or editing of an article published in a legal publication; or membership of a committee or working group of a professional association provided that the barrister regularly attends its meetings);
• Deleting current rule 6(c) and inserting a new rule 6(c) that clarifies that a CPD activity must be relevant to a “barrister’s professional development needs in relation to the barrister’s practice of the law”. This is different from the existing rule, which requires that a CPD activity be relevant to a barrister’s “immediate or long term” needs in relation to their professional development as a barrister and their practice of law; and
• Simplifying the definition of ‘CPD activity’.

Please send any comments on the draft rule to policy@vicbar.com.au by Friday 16 August 2019 

The Victorian Bar's Equality and Diversity Committee together with the International Bar Association are pleased to invite you to a CPD seminar on "Us Too? Bullying and Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession – How are the Bars Responding?"

In May, the International Bar Association published a landmark report which highlighted the alarming prevalence of bullying and sexual harassment in the legal profession. The report found that these forms of misconduct are particularly rife at the Bar. This CPD session will discuss the research and outline what steps the Bars have taken and will take to ensure the Bar is a positive, inclusive and harassment-free workplace.

CHAIR
Jenny Firkin QC, Chair, Equality & Diversity Committee

SPEAKERS
Jennifer Batrouney QC, President, Australian Bar Association

Fiona McLeod SC, Co-Chair, IBA Diversity and Inclusion Council

Kieran Pender, Senior Legal Advisor, International Bar Association

DATE
Wednesday 14 August 2019

TIME
5.15pm - 6.15pm

Followed by drinks in the Library

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

The Equality and Diversity Committee has a role in facilitating actions and programs to promote, educate and support members of the Victorian Bar. The Committee has formed a number of working groups focussing on specific diversity issues affecting members of the Victorian Bar and the legal profession generally.

The Committee is now forming a discrete working group to address gender issues, and calling for further members to join its Disability and Access Working Group and its Race, Ethnicity & Cultural Diversity Working Group.

If you are interested in joining any of these Working Groups, please contact by phone or email:

Gender Equality Working Group

• Jenny Firkin QC: jenny_firkin@vicbar.com.au / 9225 7529 

Disability and Access Working Group

• Carl Moller: cmoller@vicbar.com.au / 9225 8748   

Race, Ethnicity & Cultural Diversity Working Group

• Haroon Hassan: haroon.hassan@vicbar.com.au / 9225 6513
• Angela Lee: angela.lee@vicbar.com.au / 9225 8457

Join fellow barristers and members of the VicBar community for an hour of relaxation and fun. Experience and obvious talent not required. All welcome.

Click here to view the flyer

Click here for the registration form

The International Bar Association, together with MinterEllison, the Law Council of Australia, the Law Institute of Victoria and the Victorian Bar will host a panel event to discuss findings from the IBA’s report Us Too? Bullying and Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession. The landmark report analyses data collected from the largest-ever global survey on the prevalence, nature and impact of bullying and sexual harassment in the legal profession. The report also provides 10 recommendations to aid the profession's efforts to achieve meaningful change. This event is free and open to the public – IBA membership is not required – but registration is essential.

Date
13 August 2019

Time
7.30am – 9.30am

Breakfast from 7.30am for an 8am start, with remarks concluding at 9.15am

Location

MinterEllison
Rialto Towers
525 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Join some of Australia’s finest young operatic artists from Melba Opera Trust as they beckon you into the world of passion, drama and exquisite singing that is opera.

With much loved favourites from The Magic Flute, Rusalka, The Tales of Hoffmann and The Barber of Seville, as well as great characters from Shakespearean operas like Romeo and Juliet and Falstaff, you will experience the full gamut of emotion and beauty that the human voice can convey. You also will enjoy the lusciousness of French mélodie alongside the good-natured romance of Italian popular song. Truly a night to savour.

Book now at www.trybooking.com/BDSES

See the event flyer attached for details.

Don't miss out on these exclusive member deals for July with some great offers and gift ideas.

Click here to view the July travel deals.

Image - Graeme Myrteza, ‘Standing Tall’ oil on canvas, 1400 x 1000

Studio 11 Art Exhibition - Outside In - Features the works, disciplines and passions of  three studios comprising Australian landscape paintings by Graeme Myrteza, sculpture by Lucy McEachern and Furniture/Products by PodMarket.  You are welcome to stay warm and visit the exhibition, featuring some 50 works, which have come from the studio to you.

You may wish to actually meet the artists on Thursday 8 August from 4.30-6.30pm at Level 11 ODCE. RSVP to lauracolla@vicbar.com.au by 6/8/19. Numbers are limited. The exhibition runs from 15 July to 20 September 2019. All works are for sale, directly from the artists, with no commission payable. Work sheets, including biographies and prices are located on level 11 East.

The Supreme Court of Victoria will be opening the Trial Division building at 210 William Street to the public on Sunday 28 July, from 10am to 4pm, as part of the Open House Melbourne 2019 festival. Visitors to the Court will have an opportunity to get inside courtrooms and take in the view from spaces usually occupied by jurors, barristers, the media and judges. Court staff will also be on hand to talk about how 21st century justice is delivered in a 135-year old building. For more information please refer to the Court’s website.

The Legal Services Council has opened the 30-day public consultation period on proposed new rules regarding practice administration.

You can find the information on this here.

By mid-2021, all 31 courtrooms and three mediation rooms will be renewed into eCourt enabled spaces to support the increasingly digital nature of matters heard at the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Practitioners are invited to see the first courtrooms that are now eCourt enabled. All are welcome to bring their devices to plug and play and experiment with connectivity and evidence presentation both wired and wirelessly. 

The first open session will be in July. To book, visit https://ecourtsplugandplaysessions.eventbrite.com.au

For more information on the eCourts Renewal Project, visit https://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/news/ecourts-renewal-project

The Charities and Not for Profits Committee of the Legal Practice Section will host the inaugural John Emerson AM Oration on 7 August 2019.

The oration will be delivered by Robert Fitzgerald AM in relation to ‘Lawyers and their influence under the public spotlight’  - Will  Royal Commissions  and community expectations change legal practice?

You are invited to register by using the this link. 

For any inquiries please do not hesitate to contact Travis Kotzur.

Don’t miss the Innovation in Legal Practice Summit in Melbourne on 9 August at the College of Law Victoria. 40 presenters, 7 sessions and 10 “ask the expert” pop ups. 25% discount for all VIC Bar members ($322.50 inc GST). Please contact us at CLI@collaw.edu.au for a discount voucher.

Please visit the Centre for Legal Innovation’s website for your full Summit program.

Dates: Friday 9 August to Sunday 11 August 2019

Venue: RACV Club, 501 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Tickets: https://www.trybooking.com/BCGTY

Click here for the full program. 

Further information can be found via our website at: https://www.samuelgriffith.org/2019

Australia's defamation laws are a monstrous mess. At this event, leading defamation lawyer, Dr Matt Collins AM QC, will explain the problems and prescribe some thought-provoking solutions.

Defamation laws are supposed to balance two fundamental rights when they come into conflict: the right to reputation, and the right to freedom of expression.

In this seminar, defamation silk Dr Matt Collins AM QC will argue that Australia’s defamation laws have come to resemble Frankenstein’s monster, and are failing both plaintiffs and publishers. He will explain why, for plaintiffs whose reputations have been ruined, our laws are incapable of providing effective remedies, while for publishers, our laws too often stymie serious investigative journalism exposing malfeasance in the public interest.

Drawing on his experience on both sides of the Bar table, and examples from cases including Rebel Wilson’s battle against Bauer Media and Geoffrey Rush’s case against the Daily Telegraph, Dr Collins will explain the problems as he sees them, and prescribe some thought-provoking solutions.

Includes light refreshments and an opportunity to network with students and legal practitioners.

The 2019 CIArb Australia Accelerated Route Towards Membership (ARF) course will be held from 24 – 25 August 2019 in Melbourne.

Providing a fast-track route towards Membership through the CIArb International  Arbitration Pathway, the course has been designed for busy, legally qualified professionals who have some unassessed knowledge of international arbitration. The aim of the program is to assess whether the candidate has the knowledge required to understand the process of international arbitration. The course is a pathway to CIArb accreditation which carries a global qualification in the growing practice of international arbitration.

Faculty:

Paul Hayes QC (Course Director), Dever’s List, Melbourne and 39 Essex Chambers, London, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur and Dr Vicky Priskich, Barrister and Arbitrator, Victorian Bar.

Course Venue:

Victorian Bar Council Chambers
Level 1, Owen Dixon Chambers East
205 William Street, Melbourne, Australia

Course Fee:

$2,500 (incl GST) which covers cost of tutorials, course materials, exam fees, lunch and morning/afternoon tea

Places are strictly limited and registrations close by COB on Monday, 29 July  2019

Please note this is the only ARM course to be conducted in 2019.

For full details and registration, please visit https://www.ciarb.net.au/training/accelerated-route-towards-membership-course/

The Australian Academy of Law event  - 'Democracy, Human Rights and the Judiciary: the common law and the wider world' will be held on Wednesday, 4 September in Court One at the Federal Court, Melbourne.

Sir Nicholas Blake will be the guest speaker and the event will be chaired by Chief Justice Allsop.

Click here for further details including registration information.

DATE:  5 – 8 November 2019, Hong Kong SAR

VENUE:  JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong & Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

WEBSITE:  https://lawasia2019.com/

THEME: ‘Harmonisation through Synergy’

REGISTER NOW AT EARLY BIRD RATE!

The Annual Conference is LAWASIA’s flagship event and the highlight of its professional events program. Held in Hong Kong, a city boasting one of the best city skylines and the perfect balance of east and west coming together, the 32nd LAWASIA Conference will examine a range of topics, including:

• Risk management in mediation and arbitration for international and cross-border disputes
• The challenges of cross-border cartel enforcement
• The extra-territorial impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on businesses in the Asia Pacific region
• Sports contracts management and sports dispute resolution
• Fintech, cryptocurrency and initial coin offering
• Legal responsibility of enterprises for climate change and its consequences
• Employee’s protection: sexual harassment, equality and diversity
• Human rights issues in the 21st century tackled at its source
• Legal professional privilege in in-house environment – local and international challenges
• Law on child protection in a cross-border context
• Anti-corruption and anti-money laundering in the Asia Pacific region
• Enforcement of IP rights, with a focus on counterfeiting activity in the Asian region
• Age of millennials and gen-z lawyers; and more.

Please visit the conference website to register and for more information on travel, accommodation and the conference program.

Do you want more from your career? Like the chance to do important and interesting work, excellent working conditions and a competitive salary and benefits package? Then we’d like to hear from you! Legal Aid Queensland is an independent statutory authority funded by the state and federal governments. We are one of Queensland’s largest law firms, providing legal services to more than 200,000 Queenslanders each year.

Legal Aid Queensland’s Counsel division is made up of our in-house barristers providing efficient, effective and high-quality specialist legal advocacy services. Our Counsel division:

• carries out complex trials and sentences in the Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts
• appears in Mental Health Court sittings
• appears in the Supreme Court’s civil jurisdiction for respondents in applications brought under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act
• provides advice and representation in family and civil law matters.

Our Townsville and Brisbane-based barristers also appear in regional courts, including circuit courts in remote areas such as Mount Isa and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Senior barristers provide advice on the merit of appeals, helping the appeals section assess legal aid applications. They also appear in appeals against sentences and/or convictions before the Queensland Court of Appeal, including matters where the Attorney-General has appealed against the sentence. The volume, complexity and diversity of Counsel's work provide opportunities for in-house counsel to develop their skills and experience, ensuring clients applying for legal aid have access to high quality representation and advice.

How to apply:    All applications should be made online. For more details and an application package, visit https://smartjobs.qld.gov.au/jobs/QLD-LAQ32-19

The Australian Academy of Law is pleased to announce the offering of its Annual Essay Prize for 2019.

The Prize is open to anyone, wherever resident, who is studying or has studied legal subjects at a tertiary level, or who is working or has worked in a law based occupation. There is no limit by reference to the age or seniority or experience of, or position held by, a person who may submit an entry. Accordingly, judicial officers, legal practitioners, legal academics and law students are all eligible to submit an essay.

The amount of the Prize is $10,000.

The essay topic for the Prize in 2019 is as follows:

How do private law and public law interact in Australia?  What are, and what should be, the available remedies (public or private or both) where they interact?

The deadline for the submission of an essay is 31 August 2019. This time limit is strictly observed, as the Rules Governing the Annual Essay Prize make clear.

Those Rules can be accessed on the Academy’s website: www.academyoflaw.org.au

Refer to the Academy’s website also for further information about the actual submission of an entry as well as information on previous winners.