President's Message 7 April 2025

07/04/2025

President's Message

I will be stepping down as President on 22 May 2025, consistent with the recent tradition of Presidents serving 18-month terms. The Bar Council will hold an election that day to elect the next President, and any consequential vacancies in the Executive.

I am informing the members of this now to facilitate a smooth transition within the Association, given that we will engage a new Executive Director from 1 July 2025, and so that those applying for silk this year understand the likely composition of the Silk Selection Committee.

It has been a great honour to serve as President of the Association to date. I look forward to discharging the remaining duties of that role, and to the joyous prospect of this year’s Bench & Bar Dinner.

Bar Association staff, member services and digital infrastructure

The dedicated staff of our Association have for many years been spread across multiple locations in the Wentworth-Selborne and Lockart Chambers.

From July this year, the Association will consolidate the back-office workspaces for our staff (save for the Bar librarians) at a new site on the corner of King Street and Elizabeth Street.

The Bar Association’s member facilities - including the Bar Library, the Bar Common Room, and our associated meeting rooms and event facilities - will remain in their current and historical locations in Wentworth-Selborne Chambers. This continues the long and productive relationship between Counsel’s Chambers Limited (CCL) and the Association and recognises the fact that the Wentworth-Selborne building has long been the heart of our Bar.

The only change to member services will be a relocation of in-person reception services, such as receiving mail and providing member ID cards. From June 2025, these services will be available from the Bar Library on the sub-basement level, rather than the current reception desk on the basement level of Selborne Chambers.

The Association thanks CCL for its cooperation in this change.

The staff of the Association, led by our Executive Director, engage diligently in work without which the NSW Bar could not function, which spans:

• barristers’ practising certificates,

• professional conduct,

• the bar exams,

• the Bar Practice Course,

• our CPD program,

• supporting our committees in advocating for policy and practice reforms,

• supporting members in their practices,

• the Bar Library,

• the Legal Assistance Referral Service (LARS), and

• our member services staff and corporate staff, including the IT staff who provide our digital services.

In a separate initiative, the Association has commenced work to update and modernise the digital services platforms used for members to access Bar Association services online. This process will roll out over the coming 12-24 months and will dramatically improve our digital services, such as CPD Online, online PC/membership renewals and the member portal.

President’s priorities

I will say more about my term as President in May, but can I again draw members’ attention to two significant issues of which all barristers should be aware.

First, as I outlined in previous President’s Messages, the Commonwealth Government’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) Tranche 2 reforms are expanding and extending the AML/CTF regime to lawyers, and other businesses, providing certain designated services. Businesses that provide the relevant designated services will be regulated by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) from 1 July 2026. The regulatory requirements are significant and include enrolment, registration, ML/TF risk assessments, AML/CTF policies, initial and ongoing customer due diligence, and the reporting of certain transactions and suspicious activities.

The Association’s advocacy, with others, has so far led to an exclusion from the meaning of designated service where a “service is provided by a person in the course of legal practice as a barrister on the instructions of a solicitor, if the instructions are given in connection with the provision of a designated service.”

The Association is continuing to liaise with the AUSTRAC in relation to the development of the rules that underpin the AML/CTF regime. In the period leading up to commencement and in the second half of 2025, the Association will provide guidance to barristers, including dedicated CPDs and other resources, in relation to their obligations under the AML/CTF reforms.

Second, cyberattacks are one of the most pressing risks barristers currently face, particularly as sole practitioners. In June 2024, the Bar Association published its Cybersecurity Guidelines for barristers, which identify preventative steps that barristers should take to protect ourselves from significant financial, professional or other harms. I encourage all members to ensure they implement the recommended minimum steps to protect against cybersecurity threats, including installing security updates and using secure passwords and multi-factor authentication. Additional steps may be appropriate, depending on the nature of your practice and the information and work data held.

The Bar Association has been working closely with insurance brokers to obtain bespoke cyber insurance policies for the Bar. I anticipate that more information for members about those policies will appear in Inbrief shortly.

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