2017 Lawyer of the Year Awards
Friday, 19 May 2017 The Law Society of Western Australia congratulates Simon Creek, Nicholas van Hattem and Krista McMeeken, winners of the 2017 Lawyer of the Year Awards. Simon Creek and Nicholas van Hattem were recognised in the more than five years’ experience category, while Krista McMeeken won the less than five years’ experience Award. “The Law Society’s…
Law Society congratulates winners of the Attorney General’s Community Service Law Awards
The Law Society of Western Australia congratulates Sam Vandongen SC and HHG Legal Group, winners of the Attorney General’s Community Service Law Awards for an individual and organisation respectively. The Attorney General, the Hon John Quigley MLA, presented the awards at the Law Society’s Law Week Breakfast this morning. The event launched Law Week 2017,…
Budget shows Government is listening to legal profession, but more work needed to end justice funding crisis
Vital new funding for the federal courts, along with the reversal of cuts to community legal centres (CLCs) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS), shows that the Government is heeding the concerns of the legal profession about Australia’s justice funding. Law Council of Australia President, Fiona McLeod SC, said “For years the…
Law Week 2017
The Law Society of Western Australia is pleased to present its annual Law Week which will, in 2017, run from 15 to 19 May. This celebration of law and justice includes a diverse range of events both for the community and legal profession offered by the Law Society, law firms, community legal centres and other…
Law Council says stronger whistleblower protections are needed
The Law Council of Australia has today told a Senate hearing that whistleblowers protections are inconsistent and should be strengthened. The Law Council submission recommends that any new whistleblowing laws should: be uniform in structure and operation, applying across all contexts and sectors across all States and Territories; apply to any whistleblower, without regard to…
Law Society supports action of the State Attorney General to address legal assistance funding to community legal centres
The Law Society of Western Australia welcomes today’s announcement by the State Attorney General, John Quigley to provide community legal centres with almost $1.2 million to compensate for the loss of funding from the Legal Contribution Trust. Today’s announcement followed an announcement earlier this week by the Federal Attorney General that the Federal Government would…
Law Society welcomes cancellation of proposed cuts to legal assistance funding
The Law Society of Western Australia welcomes today’s announcement by the Federal Government that it will restore funding to community legal centres in the upcoming Budget and not proceed with previously proposed cuts of approximately $35 million. “I am delighted that the Federal Government will not be proceeding with previously proposed cuts to the legal…
Law Society congratulates Amanda Forrester SC on appointment as Director of Public Prosecutions
The Law Society of Western Australia warmly congratulates Amanda Forrester SC on her appointment as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for Western Australia. Law Society President Alain Musikanth said, “Amanda Forrester SC is an experienced and highly respected member of the Western Australian legal profession and an outstanding choice as DPP. The fact that Ms…
Senate’s powerful message on justice funding crisis should be heeded ahead of Budget
On the second last sitting day prior to the Federal Budget, the Senate has passed a historic motion calling for immediate action on the funding crisis affecting Australia’s legal assistance sector and the Federal Courts. The motion was co-sponsored by: Senator Kakoschke-Moore (NXT), Senator Lambie, Senator Hinch, Senator Hanson, and Senator McKim (Greens) – and…
Law Society Celebrates 180th Anniversary of the Old Court House
On Friday, 24 March 2017, the Law Society of Western Australia celebrates a significant milestone for the City of Perth’s oldest public building; it is 180 years to the day since the first church service and unofficial opening of the Old Court House was held on Good Friday 1837. “Situated in Stirling Gardens, next to…
Australia’s legal assistance sector facing Federal Budget disaster, and pro bono cannot plug the gap
The average Australian lawyer is contributing a full week of work every year for free, but even this is insufficient to fix Australia’s legal assistance funding crisis, which is set to dramatically deepen after the upcoming Federal Budget. Law Council of Australia President, Fiona McLeod SC, has told the sixth National Access to Justice and…
Bendigo’s Tayla Anderson awarded John Koowarta Indigenous Scholarship
Bendigo law student Tayla Anderson has been awarded the Law Council of Australia’s 2017 John Koowarta Reconciliation Law Scholarship. The John Koowarta Scholarship is the only national scholarship dedicated to helping Indigenous students realise their ambitions of becoming lawyers. It was created 23 years ago and honours Aboriginal land rights pioneer John Koowarta, a Winychanam…
