In Brief Issue #1156

Bar Roll No: 2888

It is with deep regret that the Bar informs members of the death of the Honourable Frank Turner.

Frank signed the Bar Roll on 16 October 1975 and read with R Patrick Dalton OAM KC. He was a member of the Victorian Bar for 44 years.

A funeral will be held at St George’s Anglican Church, 296 Glenferrie Road, Malvern, on:

Monday, 22 July 2024 at 11:00am.

A full obituary will be published in the coming days.

We extend our deepest sympathies to Frank’s family and friends.

Bar Roll No: 1092

It is with deep regret that the Bar informs members of the death of Peter F McDermott.

Peter signed the Bar Roll on 28 March 1974 and read with William B Frizzell. He was a member of the Victorian Bar for 37 years.

We extend our deepest sympathy to Peter's family and friends.

A full obituary will be published in the coming days.

Thank you to those members who have paid their subscriptions by the due date. If you have not paid your subscriptions for the 2024-2025 Financial Year, we ask members to make payment of your subscription now. Please click here. If you have any questions relating to your subscription, please contact membership or call on 9225 8326.

Members of the Bar are invited to a “town hall” meeting where they can ask questions of BCL and the Bar Council regarding the acquisition of 200 Queen Street, Melbourne.

This is a momentous decision and one that we consider will ensure the sustainability of the BCL model, now and into the future.

Members are encouraged to submit questions here prior to the town hall. This will enable the panel to cover as many issues as possible on the evening.

PANEL:

The Honourable John Digby KC, Georgina Schoff KC, Elizabeth Bennett SC, Colin Mandy SC, Sarah Keating, Sam Hay KC and Paul Clark.

DATE AND TIME

4:30 – 5:30pm, Tuesday, 30 July 2024

VENUE

Neil McPhee Room, Level 1, Owen Dixon Chambers East, 205 William Street, Melbourne

The Indigenous Justice Committee of the Victorian Bar invites Indigenous-identifying law students and law graduates to apply for its 2024 Mentoring Program.

The Mentoring Program matches successful applicants with two mentors (a barrister member of the Bar and a judicial officer). The Mentoring Program has been running for some years now, and the feedback has been positive. It is not meant to be onerous or intimidating, rather an opportunity for members of our Indigenous communities to link in with members of the Bar and the Judiciary in a way that suits the mentees. The aim is to assist mentees on their journey as legal professionals and provide professional introductions and contacts that can prove beneficial as they progress with their chosen pathways. The application form can be found here.

The IJC is also seeking expressions of interest from members of the Bar or judicial officers who wish to add their names to the pool of prospective mentors. Please email the Mentoring Program Coordinator: gabriel.chipkin@vicbar.com.au

Do you identify as neurodiverse? Is someone near or dear to you neurodiverse?

The Health and Wellbeing Committee is seeking feedback from bar members about the challenges faced and advantages enjoyed by people who identify as neurodivergent.

The information we gather will help the committee identify as yet unrecognised needs for services, support, or information for those who identify as neurodivergent as well as those who care for, live with or are otherwise involved with a person who identifies as neurodiverse.

Click here to submit your response. 

The Victorian Bar has partnered with the Papua New Guinea Centre for Judicial Excellence, the Pacific Justice Sector Programme, and the Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to deliver a Train the Trainer Program. The program is designed to build capacity within the legal profession of Pacific Nations in advocacy training for court appearances.

We are seeking members to volunteer their time to help deliver the program. The program runs for two weeks, from 29 July to 9 August. Volunteers will be involved in teaching the intensive advocacy training and mentoring delegates through the program. Expressions of interest are due by Friday, 4 July.

Click here to submit your EOI. For more information, contact Michelle James, Education Manager at the Bar Office.

This Masterclass, presented by Alison Shamir, is designed to educate, empower, and motivate individuals to breakfree of the Imposter Syndrome. Including fears and doubt that may be holding them back in their career so they can present and perform as their most confident selves. 

The session will cover:

• Imposter Definitions

What is Imposter Syndrome, and how does it show itself and a little myth-busting

• Imposter Behaviours

What triggers that negative voice in our head, and how do we self-sabotage

• The 'Cost' of Imposter Syndrome 

Mental, physical, emotional, and financial impacts for individuals

• How to battle Imposter Syndrome & WIN!

Understand & dismantle your Imposter story with 3 powerful science based steps 

Alison Shamir is an Imposter Syndrome Expert, International Speaker, Certified Coach, and Media Contributor. Through her work, Alison empowers global organisations, teams & individuals with the knowledge, tools and methods grounded in neuroscience they need to overcome Imposter Syndrome and present and perform as their most confident selves. Alison is also a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, passionate about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and is a former Technology Leader turned Entrepreneur. She combines both lived experience and professional expertise to help her clients make transformative change.

Open to members of the WBA.

Tickets are $50 for members 5 years call and above, discounted rate of $30 available to members under 5 years call.

Click here to register.

• Are you traveling overseas soon? With the school holidays upon us and many of the Bar traveling overseas, it is important to ensure you’ve set up international access for your @vicbar email and other online services. Click here to read more.
• Open to expressions of interest: Levels 11, 13, or 15 Castan Chambers: With regular interest from Registered or new Groups seeking full floors, a rare opportunity has now presented itself at Castan Chambers. We are seeking expressions of interest from all members of the Bar for potential occupancy of levels 11, 13 or 15 at 460 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. To view all floor information and register your interest, click here.
• Why Take Chambers with BCL? As a wholly owned subsidiary of the Victorian Bar, BCL provides a flexible and unique solution of chamber and technology support only available to members of the Bar. Click here to read more about the benefits of having chambers with BCL and click here to view our current vacancies.

All members of the Victorian Bar community, including staff of Bar and Clerks are welcome to join the choir. No obvious singing talent is required! You’ll find that choir is friendly and singing is fun and relaxing, a highlight of the week.

Term 3 dates: 16 July to 17 September 2024. 

Time: 1:00pm-2:00pm, Tuesdays.

Location: Level 11 East

Cost: $275 a term. 2024 Readers free.

Click here for the flyer. Pro rata subscriptions are available if you join mid term. For more information, contact the Bar office on 9225 7111 or reception@vicbar.com.au.

Dear Members,

We are open daily from 7:30am – till late.

Breakfast - for dine-in or takeaway

Lunch – Daily Café Menu dine-in or takeaway

Lunch Dine-In - A La Carte from midday

Bar – EVERY EVENING  - $5 Beer & Wine from 4:30pm – 5:30pm

Essoign Coffee Cart - Daily from 7:30am

Ground Floor Owen Dixon West

Catering & Events - Special lunches, working lunches, private dinners, or something special you may have in mind. Email us at essoign@vicbar.com.au

See our Catering and Events Package here.

The Supreme Court of Victoria have provided an update on the technical issues impacting the Court.

The Victorian Government recently announced significant reform to the youth justice system through the Youth Justice Bill 2024.

A link to the Bill and Explanatory Memorandum can be found here: Youth Justice Bill 2024 (legislation.vic.gov.au)

The Bill provides strong and clear governing legislation for Victoria’s youth justice system that will improve community safety, reduce offending, and provide genuine opportunities for young people to turn their lives around.

The Bill will:  

1. establish a new Youth Justice Act separate from the Children, Youth, and Families Act 2005 as a standalone legislative framework for responding to alleged offending by children and young people,  
2. raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 without exceptions, and 
3. introduce an electronic monitoring trial for young people on bail alongside an Enhanced Bail Supervision and Support Service.  

This is a landmark piece of legislation and a high level summary of the Bill is available for your information here.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal have sent the Victorian Bar a letter about the fee increases from 1 July 2024 for certain applications for review filed with the Tribunal.

The IBA is pleased to share The IBA report on the social and economic impact of the legal profession (the 'Report'), which has just been published.

For the first time, we see evidence of the legal profession’s social impact (through compelling stories), indirect economic impact through the contribution to the Rule of Law (under threat in many places), and direct economic impact (with the latter measured at US$1.6tn, or 1.7 percent of the world’s GDP).

The facts are clear: lawyers have a significant positive impact on society, and the work of the more than 12 million lawyers across the globe impacts, directly or indirectly, the lives, health, and well-being of citizens all over the world. Our contribution to the Rule of Law helps to generate wealth, promote innovation and education, limits the overreach of governments, tackles inequality and accelerates environmental sustainability. 

We now have the big data to address – and we must do so – the gap between the scale of the positive impact the profession has and the sometimes-negative public perception about the role that lawyers play in society.

The report also identifies the areas that deserve more attention and action if we are to enhance the impact of the profession even further: increased access to legal representation; advocacy on issues of the utmost relevance to peace and progress; education and communication on the Rule of Law; and the role of lawyers; and ethical stewardship. As you will no doubt be aware, the IBA already dedicates significant efforts to these areas, but we will need to do more

This has been the most ambitious and challenging project among the IBA priorities for the term of my presidency. The Report is the result of more than a year of sustained collective effort at the IBA, and all parts of the Association have been involved in a variety of ways. I extend my gratitude to each and every person who has contributed to the Report

At our Annual Conference in Mexico, on Tuesday 17 September 2024, we will have a special session dedicated to a discussion of the Report’s findings, as well as what needs to be done moving forward. 

Click here for more information and to download the report.

The Sentencing Advisory Council has released its latest report, The Criminal Justice Diversion Program in Victoria: Second Statistical Profile. The report examines the use of the criminal justice diversion program in the Magistrates' Court of Victoria for the 10 years to 30 June 2021. 

Some of the key findings include: 

• There were over 50,000 diversion plans in that 10-year period, increasing over time to 6.6% of all Magistrates' Court outcomes
• The vast majority of people receiving diversion plans successfully complete them (93%)
• People receiving diversion plans are half as likely to reoffend in the next five years (21%) as people receiving other court outcomes (40%)
• The people most likely to receive diversion plans are younger offenders (aged 18 to 19), people committing property offences, and female family violence offenders

View the report here.

View the media release here.