The National Conference

NEWS The national conference By Penny Thew Relevant. Resilient. Respected. In his increasingly electronic era. opening address to the ABA’s national The notion of resilience was aimed at conference, rise2018, the president of the need for and ability of the profession the Australian Bar Association Noel to adapt to change and disruption, includ- Hutley SC spoke of these three themes ing in response to the ‘drumbeat’ of the of the conference in the context of threat of technological change, in order to emerging national and international retain its relevance and respected position. legal issues. In this respect, the Honourable James Allsop AO, chief justice of the Federal The themes of relevance, resilience and Court of Australia, spoke about the future respect were chosen by the ABA in an of the independent bar in Australia. The attempt to focus the work of women and president said that the ABA in this context men in the legal field on addressing divi- has a duty and is committed to identifying sive and disruptive issues confronting the opportunities for, and promoting the skill proposals from Royal Commissions and profession. and competence of, Australian counsel other inquiries, the solutions available in The notion of relevance was aimed at and judiciary in international jurisdic- evoking the role of the profession not response require not only political will but tions. To that end a number of sessions only in the practise of law but also in law also legal knowledge and expertise. were dedicated to international commer- reform, with practitioners being both In this context there were conference cial arbitration. advocates for justice as well as technicians sessions, given by both members of The essential element of respect referred assisting with developing practical legal the judiciary and the bar, aimed at law to the profession maintaining the highest solutions. In an era of the profession being reform and other political and social standards of practice, with the conference awash with often contentious law reform issues, including issues impacting First presenting an opportunity to discuss best Nations people and the case for treaties, practice and developments in taxation, the Australian Law Reform Commission commercial and criminal law. The presi- inquiry into the role of the Federal Court dent spoke of the convergence of all areas of Australia in supervising class actions of law, with all areas moving closer togeth- and litigation funding, the Royal Com- er and the need for the bar to be seen as, mission into Institutional Responses to and to be, a continuum rather than be Child Sexual Abuse, criminal liability of divided into separate sections. corporations and individuals and manag- In line with these themes, the first ing civil litigation in the 21st century in an keynote speaker, chief justice of the High Court of Australia, the Honourable Susan Kiefel AC, addressed the conference on Change in the Legal Profession. The central theme of her Honour’s address was that the maintenance of respect for the profession was essential to the rule of law and that garnering this respect dictates our continued relevance. The chief justice referred to a prediction that the next two decades would see more change in the legal profession, including as Past-president of the ABA, Noel Hutley SC a result of the impact of technology, than The Journal of the NSW Bar Association [2018] (Summer) Bar News 37 the profession has seen in several hundred mania, Queensland and South Australia to the duty to the courts and a strong sense years. Her Honour drew an analogy having allowed it earlier]. The New South of public duty. Her Honour expressed the between the demise of the centuries-old Wales admissions board refused women the view that the rule of law essential to our order at the English Bar of serjeant-at- right to practise on the basis that the word society depends upon the enduring survival law (servientes ad legem), and the threats ‘person’ in the expression ‘suitable person’ to of a strong bar. currently facing the bar today. The chief practise as a lawyer did not include women. The Honourable Tom Bathurst AC, chief justice noted that the high professional Legislation was required to overcome this justice of the Supreme Court of NSW, and ethical standards imposed on the interpretation. addressed the conference on The Role of the serjeants, who appeared in the Court The chief justice foreshadowed that two Commercial Bar in the Mid-21st Century, of Common Pleas, to the exclusion of aspects of the legal profession will dictate adhering to the theme of current and future others during their peak from the time of its survival, particularly in the face of rapid change. Chief Justice Bathurst spoke Edward I, were very similar to the stand- technological change. The first of these is of the days when he commenced at the bar ards now imposed on barristers. Chief Jus- the ability of lawyers to evaluate complex in 1977; days when trolleys were only for tice Kiefel said that the lesson that can be evidence, the process of which is so in- shopping, phones were fixed to a desk and gained from examining the decline of the formed by human experience as to defy the briefs were delivered in folders (as opposed serjeants, is that not all things last forever. capacity of technology to entirely replace to by digital means). He said that his prac- Their demise came about as a result of human analysis. The second is the contin- tice had changed entirely by the time he strong competition from the ‘lower’ (and ued necessity for litigation involving legal was appointed chief justice of the Supreme ultimately successful) ranks of barristers reasoning and logic allowing for more than Court in 2011 and was of the view that of the day, the emergence of written rather one possible outcome, which again defies the bar will be unrecognisable in another than oral pleadings, and the increasingly the application of technology. 35 years, in likelihood not involving wigs, excessive number of those permitted to Chief Justice Kiefel noted that these trolleys or wood-panelled courtrooms. enter the order of Serjeant-at-Law. skills alone do not ensure the ongoing rel- Chief Justice Bathurst spoke of the market In the context of tracing the recent histo- evance of the bar. The continuing relevance now being a ‘buyers’ market’, by which he ry of the development of the legal profession of the bar will depend largely on society’s meant that corporate clients in particular and its regulation in England and Australia, perception of the bar and what it stands have a far greater say in the choice of work Chief Justice Kiefel reminded us that 2018 for. The unique characteristics of barristers carried out on particular matters, and that is the centenary of the admission of the first that must be maintained are integrity, in- being in a buyers’ market means that bar- woman in New South Wales [Victoria, Tas- dependence, intellectual rigour, obedience risters must be aware of the needs of clients to be able to provide holistic legal solutions. This in turn means that the range of ‘softer skills’, such as empathy and the capacity to listen, would become increasingly relevant, as would the characteristics of being independent and ethical, as clients increasingly expect views about what is feasibly to be achieved by litigation and other forms of dispute resolution and holistic solutions. He noted that clients increasingly dislike ’11-page detailed advices’, where five pages are dedicated to why a particular position is right, five pages are dedicated to why it is not ‘and the eleventh page blank’. The Hon Susan Kiefel AC, chief justice of the High Court. The Hon Tom Bathurst AC, chief justice of the Supreme Court of NSW 38 [2018] (Summer) Bar News conference dinner Conference Dinner The black tie dinner was held on the evening of Friday, 16 November at The Cutaway Barangaroo. More than three hundred guests heard the guest of honour, Malcolm Turnbull, engage in a frank discussion about recent events. The Journal of the NSW Bar Association [2018] (Summer) Bar News 39 conference dinner 1 2 3 1 Diramu Aboriginal Dance Troupe welcome guests to the venue at The Cutaway Barangaroo 2 Tim Game SC, president of the New South Wales Bar Association 3 Strings En Vogue entertain the guests 4 The Hon Mark Dreyfus QC MP; immediate past-president of the New South Wales Bar Association 4 5 5 Arthur Moses SC As was reported in the Australian Finan- said that ‘it can and will happen’ and that work is far more susceptible to technolog- cial Review on 16 November 2018, Chief the bar ought not allow itself to be seen as ical change than work that is bespoke and Justice Bathurst predicted that current old fashioned, anachronistic and elitist but unique, giving as an example the introduc- ‘online reputation systems’ providing should instead rely upon its ‘flexibility and tion of electronic case management which, annual lists of leading advocates could absence of bureaucratic structure’ to show- while eliminating the need (and cost) each be the precursors to other online rating case its ongoing relevance. week of hundreds of directions hearings methods. He predicted a ‘Bar Advisor’ app, In terms of the automation of basic legal about uncontroversial matters, has already similar to Trip Advisor, in which clients tasks from which the chief justice says the impacted on the work of the junior bar, would post about performance and price, bar must not think it is immune, the chief which once consisted largely of such briefs.

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