THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF QUEENSLAND
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Issue 98: December 2024
About Us

The Association would like to assure members that we are working closely with the Queensland Courts to provide members with accurate and timely updates on the COVID-19 situation as it relates to the legal profession. 

We recognise the need to provide one central location for all updates and responses from the courts, but would also request that members visit the respective Court websites, if specific concerns have not been addressed.  

Queensland Courts has a COVID-19 response page, available here, that also lists information from the individual courts. 

To streamline the information presented below, we have archived updates that have been superseded. However, this information is still available on the BAQ website News page.

Wyatt Cook-Revell, 21, is hopeful that he will one day pursue a career at the Queensland Bar.

Wyatt, a final year Bachelor of Laws (Honours) student at the Queensland University of Technology, is the 2020 recipient of the Bar Association of Queensland’s Indigenous Law Student Program. The Gatton-raised Law student is part of the Program that provides Indigenous students with an introduction to life at the Bar, encompassing a three-week internship with a barrister, a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia and a Judge of the Supreme and/or District Court of Queensland.  

The Bar Association of Queensland launched its Indigenous Law Student Program to provide an innovative and solid foundation to support Indigenous students who are interested in pursuing a career at the Bar, with the principal objective of increasing the number of Indigenous barristers at the Queensland Bar.

Wyatt completed a rotation with Justice Collier of the Federal Court of Australia, Justice Philippides of the Queensland Court of Appeal and Mr Christopher Murdoch QC.

During his time with Justice Collier, Wyatt had the opportunity to observe the different aspects of the Federal Court of Australia, including the general processes of how court proceedings are initiated, managed and concluded; as well as the much detail and work that goes into every stage.

“I was able to observe the different advocacy style of experienced and well-respected Barristers from across the country. By watching and learning from them, I managed to pick up tips and various types of advocacy skills from learning to communicate with other parties, to reading and deciphering written submissions. This was enjoyable for me as it allowed me to further my knowledge and understanding of advocacy techniques I have learned at university and previous work experience activities.”

Wyatt also had the opportunity to join Justice Philippides, where he experienced hearings in the Queensland Court of Appeal, sittings of the Supreme Court of Queensland Trial Division, including applications, criminal sentences, a civil trial and a judge alone criminal trial, as well as a jury trial in the District Court of Queensland.

“Throughout my time at the QEII Courts of Law Complex, I had the opportunity to meet various Judges and staff of the Supreme and District Courts of Queensland. The Judges and their Honour’s Associates were incredibly open and happy for me to contribute as much as I wanted to. The opportunity to shadow numerous Judges provided me with more insight into the different styles of written and oral advocacy presented from the Bar table.”

While in Chambers with Mr Christopher Murdoch QC, Wyatt witnessed appellate advocacy in the practice areas of industrial and employment law, attended a client conference and undertook research tasks.

“I attended hearings in the Federal Court of Australia, the Industrial Court of Queensland and the Fair Work Commission. I was fortunate to meet other barristers in the Level 8 Inns of Court in the group, obtain a behind-the-scenes view of how matters are prepared for court, and attend hearings to observe how the matters were resolved. As someone considering a career at the Bar, the opportunity to visit barristers’ chambers and to shadow Mr Murdoch QC was an invaluable experience.”

Wyatt thanks the Bar Association of Queensland for the opportunity to be part of the 2020 Indigenous Law Student Program.

“The Program is a sign of just how determined the Bar is to change its make-up to more accurately reflect the community, complementing other efforts on the diversity front, including gender and culture.”

Wyatt highly encourages Indigenous students to apply for the BAQ Indigenous Law Student Program.

“I cannot speak highly enough of the experience — it has left a strong impression of the kind of legal professional that I want to be.”

On the 8th of July 2020, Peter Roney QC, along with 36 other participants from various branches of the profession, attended the National Round Table Meeting of the Law Council of Australia addressing sexual harassment in the legal profession. Attendees also included the Chairs of equal opportunity, inclusion and diversity representatives from legal professional associations, regulators, women lawyers’ associations, law student representatives and the Sex Discrimination Commissioner. The only other participant from Queensland was Megan Mahon, the current Legal Services Commissioner in Queensland. The outcomes of the meeting will be published at a later date.

The aim of the Roundtable was to provide a conducive forum for those with relevant expertise to refine policy positions for specific legislative reforms and to further develop approaches that can be adopted within the legal profession to address sexual harassment.

The meeting went over several hours and there were contributions from a wide range of individuals who were represented. It was observed that numerous sources of statistics relating to the prevalence of sexual harassment within the Australian legal profession have been published, including:

It was recognised that lawyers who experience sexual harassment in the workplace are reluctant to make a formal report or complaint. Changing the Rules found that 66% of women lawyers who experienced workplace sexual harassment in Victoria did not make a complaint, and 29% did not tell anyone at all. A recent survey of young lawyers in New South Wales found that, of the 51% who disclosed experiencing sexual harassment, less than 30% made a complaint. The IBA is reporting that 77% of sexual harassment cases in legal workplaces across Australia go unreported.

Reasons for low rates of reporting of sexual harassment within the legal profession were identified as including that people:

As it stands the existing regulatory framework applying to lawyers sets out a number of core standards to be observed. Lawyers are subject to professional and statutory obligations that are designed to promote the highest standards of professional conduct and ethical standards in the provision of legal services to clients. Generally, these obligations are set by legal profession legislation such as the Legal Profession Uniform Law (Uniform Law) and the Legal Profession Acts in each state.  While some variation still exists between the aforementioned Legal Profession Acts, some states participate in the Uniform Law scheme, where the Uniform Law and the Uniform Rules are applied in both those participating jurisdictions by local application Acts.

The regulation of the legal profession is overseen by the relevant designated local regulatory authorities in each state or territory.

In addition to any avenues under federal or state workplace or discrimination law, complaints regarding sexual harassment can be made to the relevant designated local regulatory authority as a breach of Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules (ASCR). The ASCR were endorsed by Law Council Directors in June 2011 and have been adopted as the professional conduct rules for solicitors in: South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria (and shortly Western Australia), and the Australian Capital Territory.

Similarly, the Australian Bar Association (ABA) has developed professional conduct rules, which have existed in various iterations since 1993. The National Conduct Rules were implemented in New South Wales and Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania. The Northern Territory has maintained earlier conduct rules. Relevantly, rule 123 of the Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules 2015 states:

123 A barrister must not in the course of practice, engage in conduct which constitutes:

A number of options were developed and discussed to attempt to address sexual harassment in the legal profession in light of recent events. At the end of last year and this year, the Law Council’s Equal Opportunity Committee, with the assistance of Peter Roney QC, engaged in internal consultations to develop practical solutions to sexual harassment in the legal profession. It involved developing a national model sexual harassment policy and guidelines.

There was a consensus that the Law Council should develop national guidelines on sexual harassment, and that these would be developed in close consultation with stake holders, including constituent bodies such as the Bar Association of Queensland.

There was also consensus on developing a centralised source of information and a suit of educational tools which highlighted relevant resources and services currently available through the various constituent bodies and national initiatives.

Facilitated Consistent Complaints Process

There was consensus that the Law Council had a role to play in ensuring information about effective complaints processes, and to facilitate ongoing development of best practice procedures on this issue.

Complaints regarding sexual harassment can be made to the relevant local Legal Services Commission in each state, including in Queensland. The Legal Services Commissioner and other equivalent Commissioners in other states and territories have stated that in effect,  there just aren’t any complaints. Individuals are not willing to come forward to make those complaints, and that was understandable having regard to the fact that there are very often negative consequences for those individuals who make those complaints. The ACT Bar currently has an anonymised complaint and report form, and the Victorian Bar has an internal confidential complaint and report grievance process. There is currently no such process in Queensland and most of the other states.

There will be therefore, some knowledge sharing between the various professional associations to work with understanding the complaints processes that are known to work, and develop options for alternative processes on this issue.

Professional Development Training

There was a broad consensus that the Law Council support constituent bodies in developing continuing professional development (CPD) materials and training and encouraging, in some cases, compulsory CPD’s on this issue.

The Law Society of Western Australia endorsed the Australian Women Lawyers ‘Seven Strategies to Addressing Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession’. The discussion was around whether the inclusion of the CPD would be compulsory or elective. The feeling is it is likely to be an elective.

There was very clear concern, however, that those who might be most likely to require a change in attitude in this area, might not receive the necessary training.

Judges’ Associates

There was also broad discussion about the role of Judges’ Associates, the role of those Associates, that despite the fact they were employed by the state or Commonwealth, that they were seen, in some cases, to be some sort of personal assistant to the judges, and the problems that causes.

Amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984

There was also in this context, agreement to support the amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) to prohibit entirely sexual harassment of another person, in any environment, not just the work environment as is presently the situation, or in the provision of services. There was some discussion about the prospect that this could full fail of difficulties. Constitutionally, however, it is thought that these could be overcome.

Interestingly, the proposed redraft of section 28A of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) effectively adopts the language which defines sexual harassment and the circumstances in which it is prohibited under the Anti-discrimination Act 1991 in Queensland, which is the only act in Australia which prohibits sexual harassment outright, in any environment, whether work, public or whatever.

The focus of the prohibition is on defining sexual harassment as making unwelcome sexual advancements or requests for sexual favours, engaging in unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature in circumstances in which a reasonable person, having regard to the circumstances, would anticipate the possibility that the person harassed would be offended, humiliated or intimidated.

The circumstances to be taken into account in relation to the latter issue include the sex age, sexual orientation, marital or relationship status of the individual as well as other matters. For the first time conduct of sexual nature would include the making of a statement, not other blatant sexual conduct.

Going forward

The Roundtable acknowledged that law reform must be accompanied by cultural change in the legal profession, which could be achieved through measures including: a national model sexual harassment policy and guidelines; a centralised source of information and suite of educational tools; the facilitation of consistent complaints processes across Australia; and the development of appropriate training.

There was also consensus that the establishment of a Federal Judicial Commission — long called for by the Law Council — has merit.

The Law Council will now developing a blueprint for addressing sexual harassment in the legal profession, based upon the above agreed measures, in consultation with our constituent bodies and relevant stakeholders. The Law Council has also been in discussions with the federal courts about the development of a Judicial Protocol addressing judicial conduct setting out a procedure whereby all lawyers may raise concerns about the conduct of a judicial officer. A draft Protocol has recently been provided to the Court for discussion and the Law Council will progress that avenue in addition to the measures discussed at the Roundtable.