In Brief Issue #975

In the current circumstances, many of the usual ways in which barristers interact with each other have been greatly restricted or even made impossible.  One of the effects of this is that work opportunities have not been able to flow to new barristers in the same way as previously.  

To that end, the New Barristers’ Committee (NBC) is instituting a system for the advertising of work opportunities by barristers to new barristers.  These advertisements will be placed on the New Barristers’ Slack channel - a virtual bulletin board accessible to new barristers.  The referring barrister will be contacted directly by the new barrister(s) responding to the advertisement.

If you would like to advertise a work opportunity to new barristers, please contact Tim Glass of the NBC at tim.glass@vicbar.com.au and provide the following information:

• A summary of the work to be done
• The area of law the work relates to
• The expected scope and time requirements of the work to be done
• The expected fee structure for the work, and
• Your contact details.  

The NBC will not make any recommendations to the referring barrister as to appropriate counsel for the work opportunity, nor will the NBC make any recommendation to new barristers as to appropriate work opportunities, aside from advertising the work opportunity on the NBC Slack Channel.

Association of Corporate Counsel and VicBar Trivia Night

First, break the boredom of isolation and join Melbourne and Canberra ACC in-house counsel in a virtual battle of your trivia minds on Wednesday 19 August 2020 at 5 – 6.00pm, sponsored by CommBar and the Victorian Bar and hosted by barrister Kat Brazenor. ACC members and barristers will placed in small teams, so this is a great opportunity to connect or reconnect with your ACC network and colleagues, meet some new people, and test your general knowledge from the comfort of your own home. Places are limited, so register today and BYO your drink of choice and cheese on the night! This is a free event - register your interest by emailing communications@vicbar.com.au

The following are highlights of upcoming CPD events for Victorian Bar members. You must be a member of the Victorian Bar and logged into the VicBar website to view these events.

• Advocacy from Mars – tips and hints in running hearings remotely in the COVID era is on Thursday 13 August 2020, 5:00 – 6.00pm and is a practical discussion on appearing and advocating remotely. The panel will discuss their experience in this brave new world – what has worked, what has not worked and what can be improved upon. Click here to register.
   
• A guide to recent significant changes in Commonwealth sentencing is on Thursday 27 August 2020, 4:00 – 5:00pm. The webinar will cover some significant recent changes to Commonwealth sentencing, in particular, changes to parole, the general factors to be considered in sentencing, the vulnerable witness provisions and sentencing options for intellectually disabled offenders. Click here to register.

For more upcoming CPD events, please visit our listings here.

The following documents outline the Australian Bar Association's protocols for barristers to raise any concern about the conduct of judges and members of Commonwealth courts and the AAT:

• Administrative Appeals Tribunal protocols are here, and
• Federal Court and Family Court protocols are here.

We understand that members are worried about the risks of COVID-19. Please see the new section on our member website designed to answer some questions you may have, point you to government information websites, and let you know what VicBar and BCL are doing to assist members.

The following are two key points relating to Stage 4 Restrictions sent to members in the past week:

• Barristers must work from home and are only able to attend on-site to the extent necessary to support the functioning of court, tribunal or dispute services in urgent or priority work as determined by the relevant head of jurisdiction, including for bail, family violence, remand, child protection, warrants and urgent guardianships, human rights or residential tenancy issues. For lawyers engaged in these urgent or priority matters as determined by heads of jurisdiction, permitted on-site work of that kind includes attendance in chambers, but as you will see from the Permitted Work Premises list, on-site attendance even in those circumstances is only permitted if it is not “reasonably practicable … to work from home”.
• WorkSafe Victoria has introduced temporary Occupational Health and Safety (COVID-19 Incident Notification) Regulations that stipulate that WorkSafe must be informed if:
  • an employer becomes aware that an employee or independent contractor engaged by the employer, and any employees of the independent contractor, has received a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, and has attended the workplace within the infectious period (being 14 days prior to receiving the confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and until clearance from isolation has been received); or
  • a self-employed person has received a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and has attended the workplace within the infectious period (being 14 days prior to receiving the confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 and until clearance from isolation has been received).

A penalty will apply for failing to notify WorkSafe under section 38 of the OHS Act – up to $39,652 (240 penalty units) for an individual or $198,264 (1200 penalty units) for a body corporate. There is more information on the new regulations on WorkSafe’s website here.

To access the updates relating to COVID-19 that VicBar has sent members, please click here.

Sally Flynn QC, Chair of the Health & Wellbeing Committee, has had many encouraging responses about floors and practice groups that have organised get-togethers over Zoom and in private Facebook groups, as part of the initiative to remain socially connected and check on the emotional well-being of our colleagues when we are not working from chambers. 

The Committee is seeking expressions of interest from barristers interested in setting up a WhatsApp group to connect those barristers who are carers. The group is for barristers who care for elderly or disabled parents or relatives and will allow members to offer each other support by sharing information or resources for various issues, including finding alternative living arrangements or home assistance. Please contact Sally Flynn by email if you’re interested.

Other groups you may wish to join:

• Probate Law Group (contact Eleanor Coates ecoates@vicbar.com.au)
• Bar Mums WhatsApp group (contact Emily Porter eporter@vicbar.com.au)
• Pets of the Victorian Bar (contact Ashleigh Morris a.morris@vicbar.com.au)
• Health & Wellbeing Committee’s private LinkedIn group for barristers - click here or search “VicBar Community” in LinkedIn to join.
• LGBTQ+ People at the Bar (contact John Heard john.heard@vicbar.com.au or Beth Warnock beth.warnock@vicbar.com.au)
• Victorian Bar Nationally Accredited Mediators private LinkedIn group for barristers who are nationally accredited mediators – click here to join.

We want to make sure no barrister is left behind, so please contact Sally at sallyflynn@vicbar.com.au to let her know what your group is doing, or if you need a hand starting a new group or finding one to join.

If you want an easy, secure way to receive and work on your briefs electronically, then you should watch the recent Victorian Bar CPD session co-hosted with Martin Bartfeld QC, explaining the benefits of the eBrief Ready product. You can view this here.

Over 700 members from the Victorian Bar and 3500 solicitors are now using TA Law’s eBrief Ready platform to both receive and work on their briefs. 

Stephen Foley MD of TA Law said that there is no charge for using the platform during these difficult times.The Victorian Bar is also introducing a new member benefit to ensure affordable access for all its members in the future. 

If you would like to know more about eBrief Ready, you can book a consultation with the Managing Director, Stephen Foley here.

The International Bar Association (IBA) has embarked on a global project aimed at addressing the mental wellbeing of legal professionals as COVID-19 exacerbates tensions in professional and personal lives. The key initial phase of the project consists of two global surveys – one for individual lawyers, the other for law firms and other legal institutions, including bar associations, law societies and in-house legal departments. Available in both English and Spanish, the surveys are anonymous and take approximately ten minutes to complete. For more information, please visit the project website here.

The IBA Individual Lawyer Wellbeing Survey can be accessed here.

The IBA Institutional Wellbeing Survey is available here.

The data gathered from the completed surveys will provide insight into:

• the pressing mental health concerns of legal professionals 
• the support they can expect to receive from their workplaces
• how the wellbeing of lawyers and other stakeholders in the legal profession are affected by their work and working environments
• identifying problems that each might have faced in getting the help they needed, and 
• what law firms, bars and law societies should be doing to support those in distress. 

Data gathered from the surveys will be discussed in detail by the IBA’s Wellbeing Taskforce in a showcase session at the IBA 2020 – Virtually Together Conference in November. The session will feature representatives from across the IBA, alongside mental health experts.

In 2019, the Australian Law Reform Commission undertook research and broad public consultation to address the future of law reform.

Join expert panels including judges, legal scholars and industry leaders in a series of online conversations to unpack some of the key areas identified by the ALRC, including defamation, automated decision making, legal structures for social enterprises and press freedom. The Future of Law Reform: A Suggested Program of Work 2020-25 report is available here.

These interactive webinars present an opportunity to elicit new perspectives and ideas, enabling individuals with diverse views to contribute to potential law reform. You can view the leaflet here.

You can register to attend these webinars here.

Upcoming webinars:

• Automated Decision Making and Administrative Law on Monday 10 August 2020, 1:00-2:00pm. Join an expert panel comprising thought leaders on automated decision making and administrative law addressing questions such as: Should administrative law reform be a priority in light of increasing automation in decision making by government agencies? What are the particular problems that any future law reform inquiry should seek to solve? What benefits might be expected from reform? Register here.
• Legal Structure for Social Enterprises on Monday 17 August 2020, 1:00-2:00pm. Social enterprises are businesses that seek to make a profit while also pursuing social and/or environmental goals. Join an expert panel comprising thought leaders on social enterprise addressing questions such as: Should an inquiry into legal structures for social enterprises be a priority? What are the particular problems that any future law reform inquiry should seek to solve? What benefits might be expected from any future reform? Register here.
• Press Freedom on Monday 24 August 2020, 1:00-2:30pm. Join an expert panel comprising thought leaders on press freedom and national security addressing questions such as: Should an inquiry into press freedom be a priority? What are the particular problems that any future law reform inquiry should seek to solve? What benefits might be expected from any future reform? Register here.

The Law Library of Victoria will present Legal Research eLearning Focus On...UK judgments and Australian treatment on Tuesday 11 August 2020, 1:15-1:45pm. This 30-minute online Zoom webinar will familiarise users with the digital research support available through the Law Library of Victoria website. This includes curated collections, research guides, exclusive content, and Legal Research eLearning. The session includes a research focus on UK case law. Based on one of the Legal Research eLearning modules, this short refresher demonstrates how to locate reported and unreported UK judgments, and their treatment in Australian courts. Click here to register.

Monash University is offering the following upcoming free webinars:

• 2020 Lucinda Lecture: Whither the Implied Freedom of Political Communication?

Monash Law is honoured to present the 2020 Lucinda Lecture, to be delivered by The Hon Justice Geoffrey Nettle AC, High Court of Australia. The topic will be Whither the Implied Freedom of Political Communication? The free webinar is scheduled for Thursday 27 August 2020, 6:00 – 7:00 PM. The flyer for this webinar is here. You can register to attend this webinar here.

• The Role & Effectiveness of ASIC v the SEC

This free Zoom webinar hosted by the Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies on Monday 31 August 2020, 4:30 – 5:45pm, The session will compare ASIC with the world’s biggest capital market regulator, the SEC. Does ASIC Stack up? By comparing ASIC with the world’s biggest capital market regulator, the SEC, this session analyses the viability of further reform of ASIC, and argues that ASIC is woefully under-resourced to engage in increased enforcement action. You can register to attend this webinar here.