Liberals and monarchists combine to push Victorian silks into QC option ... SCs dash for the bauble ... Creative destruction grabs law journalism by the throat ... Fresh judgment from Justice Roughshagger ... Bottle of bubbly cracked over the bow of P.G. Hely Chambers
Gold plating the brand
VicBar has joined the Queen's Club.
While Michael Wyles was desperately polling members on the desirability of SCs converting themselves into QCs, industrial barrister Stuart Wood was lobbying his pals in the "Liberal" Party.
In May last year Woodlet, a chum of attorney general Robert Clark, got a motion passed at the party's state council that SCs should be able to convert to Queen's Counsel.
Wyles had argued that his SC was "inferior" and Wood claimed that people might confuse it with the Star of Courage.
VicBar president, Willy Alstergren, another monarchist, saw the issue as a priority and in December an acquiescent council resolved to ask the government to give them back their gold-plated QCs.
Hey presto, at the first cabinet meeting of the year it was done.
The AG announced:
"This reform will ensure that senior Victorian barristers have an option that can help them ensure they are recognised for the experience and expertise that they undoubtedly have.
The reform will further strengthen the opportunities for the Victorian legal profession to provide their services not only in other Australian jurisdictions, but throughout the Asia-Pacific region."
Naturally, the new arrangement will work as smooth as silk.
Henceforth aspiring QCs will have to be first of all appointed senior counsel by CJ Earl Warren.
Then those who want to be rebadged as Queen's Counsel will have to apply to the AG for letters patent from the state.
None of which disguises the dismal insecurity inherent in this piece of desperation.
The word is that already over 100 Melbourne SCs have stuck their hands up for the bauble.
Alstergren issued this missive yesterday (Feb. 5) to all Vic silks:
"Dear All,
The Bar Office, the Clerks and the Attorney General's Department has in the last few days received a large number of inquiries from members of the Bar seeking to apply for Letters Patent.
I have been advised by the Attorney General's Department that a form or pro forma letter is currently being settled and will be available in the next week or so.
In the meantime if you are contemplating applying for Letters Patent could you please email Denise Bennett of the Bar Office at denise.bennett@vicbar.com.au with the subject - Application for Letters Patent - so that she can start collating the information required from the Bar Roll and to ensure that the appropriate paperwork is provided to you as soon as it is available.
It has been contemplated that the Applications (when available) will be collated by the Bar Office and provided to the Attorney General by a particular date with a list from the Bar certifying the date of appointment as Senior Counsel and confirmation that the applicant holds a current practising certificate.
Regards,
E W Alstergren SC."
Essentially, the bar business is flat at the moment and any sort of marketing trick is urgently needed.
What with Abbott and the Liberals on the verge of conquering every corner of the wide brown land, the monarchy Down Under has never looked peachier.
In NSW, bar president Phillip Boulten is holding the line on senior counsel. It's a decided plus that the government is not involved in the process and doesn't have the opportunity to award political gongs, as it used to do.
However, Boulten did leave the door ajar in an announcement today (Feb. 6):
"Given that large numbers of senior counsel in Queensland and Victoria are likely to assume the title of Queen's Counsel, the NSW bar council will need to give further consideration to this issue."
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Law news upheaval
Shake-ups continue in the land of law reporting.
Alex Boxsell, legal affairs editor of the Financial Review, has taken redundancy and the paper is fishing for a replacement.
Legal and feature writer Hannah Low doesn't want the job, which means it might go to a relatively recent recruit, Marianna Papadakis.
At the end of last month ed-in-chief Michael Stutchbury emailed his galley slaves to say the position was up for grabs.
"The legal profession is an important constituency for the masthead. The legal affairs editor is of course responsible for putting out the weekly section and providing regular coverage of legal issues, ranging from what our top law firms are doing to the judgments of the High Court."
The newspaper's most recent partnership survey was a bit of a balls-up, when it was discovered by the editorial people that the account manager had taken redundancy and as a consequence there was less than the usual flood of lucrative advertising.
Meanwhile, legal affairs at The Australian has had a breath of fresh air in the absence of Chris (Mogadon) Merritt. The sprightly Nicola Berkovic has been in charge and the pages have been mercifully free of the usual leaden ideological lectures.
No doubt that will soon be rectified.
Thomson Reuters also has announced that the plug has been pulled on Australian Legal Business - the website, the magazine and the awards. A bureaucrat from Thomson said:
"The ALB business unit has been operating in challenging economic conditions for a continued period of time. Given the market dynamics related to magazine publishing, it is considered unviable to continue to invest further in non-core businesses."
ALB originally came from the Key Media stable, run by the entrepreneurial Mike Shipley.
Its editor Renu Prasad once famously said:
"Lawyers - and particularly those in top tier commercial firms - are in the highest percentile bracket of human intelligence ..."
Lo-and-behold with ALB now sunk by Thomson, Shipley is to put out a new organ called Australasian Lawyer. Already his advertising sales people have been ringing large law shops spruiking the product.
So, what of Lawyers Weekly, which is now mainly online with quarterly print editions?
It was decommissioned, along with other publications, by Reed Business Information, then transmogrified itself into Cirrus Media and was flogged to a private equity firm Catalyst (Buyout Fund #2).
Catalyst has investments in air conditioning components, women's fashion, vegetable distribution, facilities and food catering for fly-in fly-out communities, Manchester and soft furnishings.
The bean counters that run the media division have reduced the staff at Lawyers Weekly from five to two.
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Justice Refshauge: sincere regrets
Hurrah and bravo for Justice Roughshagger of the ACT Supremes.
His judgment in Reeve v Commonwealth of Australia was handed down as the court's first offering for the year: 2014 ACTSC 1.
Bob Reeve only had to hang on for four years after Roughshagger reserved his decision to discover that he was entitled to damages as a result of being misled about his entitlement to Commonwealth superannuation.
It's not over yet because the judge still has to hear submissions on damages and come up with a figure.
Roughshagger sped through his reasons in 490 paragraphs and at the end there was his familiar sign-off:
"I sincerely regret that the pressure of business of the court has delayed the delivery of judgment in this matter. Nevertheless, I have read carefully the entire transcript and the exhibits tendered at the trial as well as my contemporaneous notes.
I have also had detailed and comprehensive written submissions from the parties which I have also carefully read.
These have resulted in a good recall of the proceedings and of the witnesses giving evidence, notwithstanding the passage of time."
Judgment was reserved on February 11, 2010 and as its fourth birthday loomed into sight it miraculously burst onto the stage.
* * *
There was a low-keyed launch of P.G. Hely Chambers at level six, 39 Martin Place, the same building that is home to Wardell Chambers.
Eight barristers in all have decamped from various bolt holes to come together as a serious looking commercial, corporate, banking, equity and industrial floor.
Matthew Walton seems to be the strong man of the enterprise and the motto must be, keep it lean, keep it keen.
You can check them out here.
It's an encouraging reversal of the trend which sees more barristers walking away from their floorspace and disappearing into "virtual chambers".