36th Australian Legal Convention

Perth, 17-19 September 2009

Plenaries

Opening Plenary

• Law and Government
  The Hon Robert McClelland, Commonwealth Attorney-General
• State of the Judicature
  The Hon Chief Justice Robert French, Chief Justice of Australia
• State of the Profession
  John Corcoran, President, Law Council of Australia

Saturday Plenary

• Global Financial Crisis - Impact on the Legal Profession
  Professor George Beaton, Executive Chairman, Beaton Consulting (VIC)
  

Stream 1: Business Law

Business Session 1.1: Carbon Trading in Australia - The Legal Problems and their Legal Solutions

• How rapidly can we cut carbon emissions if civilisation is at stake? Emissions trading, taxation and other instruments designed to deal with the climate change problem
  David Hodgkinson, Special Counsel, Clayton Utz; Visiting Fellow, Centre for Mining, Energy and Resources Law, University of WA (WA)
  
• Commentary of Legal Issues Associated with Carbon Trading in Australia
  Lee McIntosh, Legal Consultant, Mallesons Stephen Jaques (WA)

Business Session 1.2: Securities Law Class Actions - Recent Development in Australia and the United States

• Securities Law Class Actions: Recent developments in Australia and the United States
  Peter Ostroff, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP, Los Angeles, USA

Business Session 1.3: What are the client's expectations of Australian Lawyers - the end of the billable hour?

• Clients’ Expectations – The Death of the Billable Hour?
  Ian Nosworthy, Partner, Nosworthy Partners (SA)
  

• Give Them Any Colour They Like - So Long as it is Black
  John Chisholm, Director, John Chisholm Consulting (VIC)
• Sure, No One Likes Time Billing - But What are the Alternatives?
  Brett Davies, Partner, Brett Davies Lawyers (WA)
• What are the client’s expectations of Australian lawyers - the end of the billable hour
  David Nolan, Senior Legal Counsel, Bankswest (WA)
  

Business Session 1.4: Taxation (incl GST) - Current and hot topics

• Hot topics in tax - what the courts are up to
  Frank O'Loughlin, Barrister, Victorian Bar; Executive Member, Business Law Section, Law Council of Australia (VIC) 

Business Stream 1.5: A new Australian consumer law

• Trade Practices – a new Australian Consumer Law
  Peter Kell, Deputy Chairman, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (NSW)

Stream 2: Legal Practice

Business Session 2.1: Legal Professional Business Structures - Issues for 21st Century Australian Lawyers

• Work-in-Progress: National Legal Profession for Australia and the Slater & Gordon Experience
  Andrew Grech, Managing Director, Slater & Gordon (VIC)

Business Session 2.2: Legal professional privilege and the single client practice

• Legal Practice - Legal Professional Privilege and the single client practice
  Suzanne Hillier, Director of Legal and Legislative Services, Department of Health (WA)

Business Session 2.3: Recruitment and Retention of Productive Lawyers - New Initiatives

• Report Into the Rural, Regional and Remote Area Lawyers Survey - Implications for Australian Lawyers
  Danny Barlow, Partner, Riordan Legal Lawyers (VIC)
• Recruitment and Retention of Productive Lawyers ‐New Initiatives
  Kriss Will, Managing Director, Kriss Will Consulting (VIC)

Business Session 2.4: Australian Academy of Law - An Ongoing Debate: Professionalism and Commercialism in Legal Practice

• Corporatism and Competition in Legal Practice
  Professor Margaret Thornton, School of Law, Australian National University (NSW)
• Professionalism and commercialism – conflict or harmony in modern legal practice?
  The Hon Justice James Allsop, President, New South Wales Court of Appeal (NSW)

Business Session 2.5: National Judicial College of Australia - Clear Rulings by Courts of Appeal

• Multiple Opinions in Appellate Courts: What Do The Consumers Think?
  Professor Michael Coper, Dean and Robert Garran Professor of Law, College of Law, Australian National University (ACT)
• Appellate Judgments - The Need For Clarity
  The Hon Justice James Allsop, President, New South Wales Court of Appeal (NSW)
  

Stream 3: International

Business Session 3.1: Immigration practice in Australia and our region

• The Collision of Law and Policy: Department of Immigration and Citizenship Administrative Decision-Making Powers and the Law
  Maria Jockel, Principal, Russell Kennedy; Chair, Immigration Lawyers Association of Australasia (VIC)
• The Immigration Undercurrent: Australian Immigration Law - the unseen dangers for other jurisdictions
  David Prince, Partner, Kah Lawyers; Accredited Specialist in Australian Immigration Law (NSW)

Business Session 3.2: Challenges to the Rule of Law in our Region and the World

• The role of the Malaysian Bar in the face of challenges to the rule of law
  Ragunath Kesavan, President, The Malaysian Bar
• Challenges to the Rule of Law in our Region and the World
  Mikiko Otani, Solicitor, Otani Law Offices, Japan
• Some Challenges to the Rule of Law in Fiji
  Graham Leung, Managing Partner, Howards Lawyers, Suva, Fiji
• Self-Governance as a necessary condition of constitutionally mandated lawyer independence in British Columbia
  Gordon Turriff QC, President, Law Society of British Columbia
  

Business Session 3.3: International ADR and the Opportunities for Australian Lawyers

• International ADR and the Opportunities for Australian Lawyers, or How Australian Lawyers are Solving the World's (Commercial) Disputes
  Damian  Sturzaker, Partner, Marque Lawyers (NSW)
• International ADR and the Opportunities for Australian Lawyers
  Kanaga Dharmananda, Barrister (WA)

Business Session 3.5: Access to foreign markets by Australian lawyers

• Access to foreign markets by Australian lawyers
  Ian Govey - Deputy Secretary, Civil Justice and Legal Services, Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department (ACT)
  

Stream 4: Legal Updates

Business Session 4.1: Property Law - Spatial Information in the "Google" Age

• Spatial Information in the 'Google' Age
  Jack De Lang, Spatial Industries Business Association (Qld)
• Taking a Spatial View - Due Diligence for Property Lawyers
  Mike Bradford, Executive Director, Landgate (WA)

Business Session 4.2: Family Law - Most Topical Finance-Related Issues

• Bankruptcy and Family Law
  Denis Farrer, Partner, Farrer Gesini & Dunn; Treasurer Family Law Section, Law Council of Australia (ACT)
• Changes in Family Law practice since 2006
  Phillip Theobald, Barrister, Derwent & Tamar Chambers; Chair, Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators and Mediators (Tas)

Business Session 4.3: Criminal Law - The Hot Topics Around the Nation

• The Arrest and Detention of Dr. Haneef: an injustice waiting to happen and other thoughts on Australia’s anti-terrorism laws
  Stephen Keim SC, Barrister (QLD)
• Reviewing Australia's Anti-Terrorism Laws
  Richard Maidment SC, Barrister (VIC)
• Bad Press: Does the Jury Deserve it?
  Associate Professor Judith Fordham, University of Western Australia  (WA)
• Bad Press: Does the Jury deserve it? Communicating with Jurors
  The Hon Michael Murray, Justice, Supreme Court of Western Australia (WA)
• Bad Press: Does the Jury Deserve it?
  Malcolm McCusker AO QC, Barrister (WA)

Business Session 4.4: Elder Law - Catering to the Fastest Growing Individual Client Group - Can we Cope?

• Elder Law - Something Old, Something New
  Brian Herd, Partner, Carne Reidy Herd (QLD)
• Elder Law – Catering to the fastest growing individual client group – can we cope?
  Pamela Suttor, Principal, L Rundle & Co (NSW)

Business Session 4.5: Litigation - Case Management - Fast Tracks, Rocket Docket and Expedition

• Life in the Fast Track
  The Hon John Mansfield, Justice, Federal Court of Australia (SA)
• Expedition and Case Management - a Consumer's Perspective
  Bronwyn Lincoln, Partner, Freehills (VIC)
• The Future of Case Management
  The Hon Wayne Martin, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Western Australia (WA)
  

Stream 5: Young Lawyers

Business Session 5.1: Fundamentals of Alternative Dispute Resolution

• Fundamentals of Alternative Dispute Resolution
  The Hon Justice Christopher Stevenson, District Court of Western Australia (WA)

Business Session 5.2: Ethics in litigation and court proceedings

• Ethics in litigation and court proceedings
  Steve Mark, New South Wales Legal Services Commissioner (NSW)

Business Session 5.3: Insolvency - Current trends and new opportunities

• Insolvency - Current Trends and Future Opportunities
  Alison Robertson, Partner, Lavan Legal; Deputy Chair, Insolvency & Reconstruction Law Committee, Business Law Section, Law Council of Australia (WA)