Bar Council business for July - August

08/09/2009

Matters reported elsewhere in In Brief are omitted from this summary of Bar Council business. Bar Council regularly considers requests by the attorney general, the courts and other agencies for advice on proposed legislation. Because that advice is sought on a confidential basis, it is not noted in this summary. Any member interested in a particular matter should contact the executive director for further information.

President’s report

The president advised in the past few weeks she has represented the Bar Association at the following functions.

• 17 July: The president and the executive director had attended the Tutors and Readers Dinner, at which The Hon Murray Gleeson AC QC had been the guest of honour.

• 20 July: The president attended the swearing-in ceremony for Michael Bozic SC as a judge of the District Court.� The president spoke on behalf of the bar.

• 20 July: The president and the policy lawyer met with the federal attorney- general.� Matters discussed included the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation for which the attorney-general is to give 2009 address, ‘The importance of early intervention and the role the profession and service providers can play in encouraging lawyers to seek early treatment’, on 24 September 2009.

• 22 July: Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation. The president advised that she and the president of the Law Society are directors of the foundation. The president outlined the work of the foundation.

• 23 July: The president and the director, law reform and public affairs had met with the Sydney Morning Herald’s new legal affairs reporter, Joel Gibson.

• 24 July: The ‘15 Bobber’ for Justice Pepper of the Land and Environment Court and his Honour Judge Andrew Colefax SC of the District Court.

• 29 July: The president attended the swearing-in ceremony at the District Court for his Honour John North at which the treasurer had addressed the court on behalf of the bar.

• 30 July: the president had been a guest of the Law Society of New South Wales� at the Law Society’s 125th Anniversary Dinner.

• 31 July: The president and the director, care and assistance had been guests at a function arranged by Martin Place Chambers.

• 7 August: The president attended the Medico-Legal Society’s 2009 Annual Dinner.

• 10 August: The president had attended a boardroom discussion at Baker & McKenzie met with Dr Ines Alberdi, executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). UNIFEM Australia had used the opportunity of Dr Alberdi’s visit to Australia to discuss ideas for engaging corporate women in UNIFEM and the role UNIFEM can play in helping to drive gender equality in corporate Australia.

• 10 August: The president and director, law reform and public affairs, had met with the Family Law Committee to discuss the attorney-general’s recent letter concerning cancellation fees charged by family law practitioners.� The committee is preparing a report to the Bar Council on this matter.

• 11 August: The president had attended a meeting of the ADR Committee to discuss the president of the Court of Appeal’s recent address where he had queried whether the cab rank and sole practice rules were limiting the bars involvement with international arbitration. The committee had referred to the extensive international arbitration practice of the English Bar. The committee had discussed problems with the Australian Bar, and in particular the NSW Bar, developing a significant international arbitration practice.

• 13 August: The president and the executive director had met with Alan Cameron AM and Lynn Ralph of Cameron Ralph Pty Ltd to discuss ways in which the governance of the Law Council of Australia might be improved (the LCA has engaged Cameron Ralph to prepare a report on this issue).

Executive director’s report

Renewal of practising certificates

The executive director advised that 2107 renewal notices had been posted to barristers who held a 2008-2009 practising certificate. A total of 2065 barristers had renewed their PC. Eight former barristers had not responded to a number of follow-up e-mails/letters/telephone calls. �

A total of 506 Class B members (non practising certificate holders) had so far renewed their membership.

As at 30 June, $150,978 had been donated to the Benevolent Fund ($129, 511 for year to 30 June 2008).� A further $73, 536 was donated to the Indigenous Barristers Trust during the past financial year ($60,407 for the previous year).

APEC Legal Services Initiative

The executive director advised that he had been a member of the Law Council of Australia’s delegation to the APEC Legal Services Initiative Workshop held in Singapore on 30 to 31 July 2009.

The key objective of the workshop was to bring together legal profession regulators, peak legal representative bodies, trans-national legal service providers and users to discuss different approaches to the regulation of foreign lawyers and related issues.� The aim was to discern the needs of APEC economies in identifying impediments to the provision of legal services and discuss a framework for information sharing and the development of best practice principles experiences and related issues on the regulation of foreign lawyers.

**8 September 2009 **

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