Toolkit for In House Counsel

12/12/2018

Practice development

The Practice Development Committee has developed a range of precedents to assist In House Counsel in briefing the bar direct. The “In House Toolkit” can be found here. The PDC acknowledges Victoria O’Halloran’s work in bringing this project to fruition. The Toolkit Templates were launched at the Association of Corporate Counsel National Conference in November 2018 and have been very well received.

At the Conference the Association ran the popular NSW Bar Barista station staffed by our indefatigable clerk representatives (Michele Kearns, Paul Walker and Angela Noakes) who were on hand to demonstrate the Toolkit and the Find a Barrister function. A full report on the bar’s involvement at this year’s ACC National Conference will appear in Bar News in early April 2019.

The Toolkit templates comprise:

• Observations to counsel
• Index to brief to counsel
• Chronology of events - factual
• Chronology of events - court or tribunal proceedings
• Checklist for preparing a brief to counsel

The Toolkit templates have been designed with the interests of in house counsel in mind, but are equally applicable to solicitors who are seeking to brief counsel. Members are encouraged to bring the Toolkit templates to the attention of clients, solicitors and in house counsel. Any suggestions for improvement to the Toolkit templates are welcome - please contact the Association’s Deputy Executive Director Alastair McConnachie here.