THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF QUEENSLAND
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Issue 99: March 2025
About Us

The poem that follows was written in July this year when Europe opened its arms to welcome all the Aussies determined to pick up old habits like the pandemic had never happened.  It seemed everyone was, indeed, in Italy.  It ought resonate with many of our readers who have graced the delights of Italy over the years. It was penned by a member of the Brisbane bar who chooses anonymity but nonetheless hopes you enjoy their work. The editorial panel certainly did so.

It’s July

And everyone is in Italy

On cobblestones and Prosecco

Terracotta and bougainvillea

Past lovers and future ones

Old friends and all their money

All in Italy, with their Gore Vidal dreams

Fanning themselves under lemon trees

Espresso and Bruschetta for breakfast

Reading The Australian on their phones

Surrounded by ruins and desire

Plump for an affair or another Campari

Staring longingly like they are in a movie

Instead of the cheap reality of Instagram

And Italian waiters who are not Italian

Walking around Florence in slow motion

Marveling at nudes in marble

Flirting with youth and never leaving

It’s just as hot as home

Everyone is in Italy

Living La dolce vita, like Gwyneth Paltrow

In that film set in the fifties

About Mr Ripley and ambiguous sexuality

On a gondolier in Venice looking morose

And rich

Diving off a yacht near Capri

Lost in a laneway in Portofino

Eating overcooked seafood pasta in Ravello

Wondering if it was better in Noosa

Everyone is in Italy

Looking better than they may seem

Earlier this year, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal) and the Australian Bar Association Taxation Committee (the ABA Tax Committee) established a Legal Assistance Referral Scheme (Referral Scheme) to provide pro bono legal assistance to unrepresented taxpayers who have lodged applications for merits review in the Tribunal’s Small Business Taxation Division  and certain matters within the Taxation and Commercial Division.

The Tribunal has jurisdiction in taxation matters under Part IVC of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to review a ‘taxation decision’ made by the Commissioner of Taxation.  Thosetaxation decisionsinclude, amongst others:

The Tribunal has separate Practice Directions relevant for the review of Small Business Taxation Decisions and matters within the Taxation and Commercial Division.

The Referral Scheme is administered separately to other legal assistance schemes.

The circumstances in which legal assistance may be appropriate under the Referral Scheme include circumstances where:

Before making a referral for pro bono assistance, the Tribunal will take into account certain criteria for eligibility, in relation to the Applicant and the particular proceedings.  Under the Referral Scheme:

Counsel may register their interest in participating in the Referral Scheme with the ABA Tax Committee. Interested counsel should email the Secretary of the ABA Tax Committee, Ermelinda Kovacs, at kovacs@wentworthchambers.com.au with the following subject line: “Re: AAT-ABA Legal Assistance Scheme”, and provide the following information:

  1. date of admission to practice;
  2. date of signing the Bar roll / admission to the Bar; and
  3. experience in tax advisory / litigation work (limited to 50 words).

Members of the Bar Association of Queensland seeking to register their interest and participate in the Referral Scheme should be aware of and consider any applicable rules , including:

The Law Society Gazette (UK) reports that:1   

A serial litigant who has ‘repeatedly advanced baseless allegations of dishonesty and bad faith’ in a litany of claims has been banned from bringing claims in the High Court for two years. 

Sayed Sangamneheri has sued arbitrator Jonathan Bellamy, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), a High Court master and others, including their solicitors, since the 2015 collapse of an arbitration concerning a contract to exchange plots of land for gold. 

He first brought a judicial review against Bellamy, his clerk and CIArb after Bellamy resigned as the arbitrator. This was dismissed as being totally without merit. He then sued Bellamy for 583,387,844,759,442,000,000,000kg of gold – which the High Court heard is ‘more than the total amount of gold ever mined in the world’.    ….. 

Patricia Robertson QC, sitting as a High Court judge, imposed another ECRO [extended civil restraint order] after striking out Sangamneheri’s latest claim – for £33.3 quadrillion – against CIArb, its president, three current or former members of its staff and Bellamy, as being totally without merit. 

The judge expressed concern at the ‘cavalier manner in which [Sangamneheri] appears to be prepared to make serious allegations of dishonesty and bad faith, against an ever-expanding list of people’, adding that ‘there is every reason to expect that, unless an ECRO is made, he will continue. 

The rule is one which may be adopted in respect of the conduct of discussion on controversial issues.  It takes its name from the headquarters of the United Kingdom’s Royal Institute of International Affairs, based in Chatham House, London.  The rule originated in June 1927.

The following appears on the website of the Australian Broadcasting Commission concerning such rule:

The Chatham House Rule reads as follows:

When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed. The … Rule may be invoked at meetings to encourage openness and the sharing of information.

Explanation of the Rule:

The … Rule originated at Chatham House with the aim of providing anonymity to speakers and to encourage openness and the sharing of information. It is now used throughout the world as an aid to free discussion. Meetings do not have to take place at Chatham House, or be organised by Chatham House, to be held under the Rule. Meetings, events and discussions held at Chatham House are normally conducted ‘on the record’ with the Rule occasionally invoked at the speaker’s request. In cases where the Rule is not considered sufficiently strict, an event may be held ‘off the record’.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. When was the Rule devised? A. In 1927 and refined in 1992 and 2002.

Q. Should one refer to the “Chatham House Rule” or the “Chatham House Rules”? A. There is only one Rule.

Q. What are the benefits of using the Rule? A. It allows people to speak as individuals, and to express views that may not be those of their organisations, and therefore it encourages free discussion. People usually feel more relaxed if they don’t have to worry about their reputation or the implications if they are publicly quoted.

Q. How is the Rule enforced? A. Chatham House can take disciplinary action against one of its members who breaks the Rule. Not all organisations that use the Rule have sanctions. The Rule then depends for its success on being seen as morally binding.

Q. Is the Rule used for all meetings at Chatham House? A. Not often for Members Events; more frequently for smaller research meetings, for example where work in progress is discussed or when subject matter is politically sensitive. Most Chatham House conferences are under the Rule.

Q. Who uses the Rule these days? A. It is widely used by local government and commercial organisations as well as research organisations.

Q. Can participants in a meeting be named as long as what is said is not attributed? A. It is important to think about the spirit of the Rule. For example, sometimes speakers need to be named when publicising the meeting. The Rule is more about the dissemination of the information after the event – nothing should be done to identify, either explicitly or implicitly, who said what.

Q. Can you say within a report what you yourself said at a meeting under the Chatham House Rule? A. Yes, if you wish to do so.

Q. Can a list of attendees at the meeting be published? A. No – the list of attendees should not be circulated beyond those participating in the meeting.

Q. Can I ‘tweet’ while at an event under the Chatham House Rule? A. The Rule can be used effectively on social media sites such as Twitter as long as the person tweeting or messaging reports only what was said at an event and does not identify – directly or indirectly – the speaker or another participant. This consideration should always guide the way in which event information is disseminated – online as well as offline.”

The Court’s inherent (or implied) power to prevent abuse of its process has a raft of applications, often coinciding now with many of the express powers conferred by rules of court.  However, there was a time in history when its ambit was even broader, and more onerous..

 I recently came across a short biography of Lord Ellesmere in Theodore Plucknett’s A Concise History of the Common Law.  Ellesmere was Master of the Rolls between 1594 and 1603 and Lord Chancellor between 1596 and 1617.  He was particularly sensitive to the prospect of the Chancery Court’s processes being abused. 

Plucknett cites one occasion where Ellesmere was presented with a 126-page reply pleading which he considered 110 pages too long.  He subjected the drafting counsel , one Richard Mylward, to the following order:

That the Warden of the Fleet shall take the said Richard Mylward… into his custody, and shall bring him unto Westminster Hall… and there and then shall cut a hole in the midst of the same engrossed replication… and put the said Richard’s head through the same hole and so let the same replication hang about his shoulders with the written side outward; and then the same so hanging shall lead the same Richard bareheaded and barefaced round about Westminster Hall whilst the courts are sitting and shall shown him at the bar of every of the three courts within the Hall.

In other research I discovered found the case Mylward’s troubles did not end there.  After being paraded around Westminster Hall, he was taken back to Fleet Prison, remaining incarcerated until he paid costs to the defendant in addition to a fine. 

One would like to think that the inherent power of the Court  has shrunk somewhat since Lord Ellesmere’s tenure, else we may need to rethink the judicial conduct protocols. 

Theodore Plucknett’s A Concise History of the Common Law is available on Kindle for $8.49.

A recent  article in Lawyers’ Weekly electronic newsletter raised the issue of continuation of wearing of ties by lawyers appearing in court hearings (obviously inapplicable to women and barristers when robed). A poll of their readers yielded a majority (about 60 %) were in favour of retention. Given ties are eschewed by many solicitors – and increasingly barristers – outside court, this issue deserves ventilation and monitoring. The judiciary, of course,  would need to make the final call on any change to the current protocol. Click here for the link to the article in Lawyers Weekly. 

The Bar’s deep and longstanding tradition of pro bono publico work, as the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC QC said in an address to the UQ Pro Bono Centre, “a stark reflection of the public service which should characterize our professionalism”.[1]  Members of the Queensland Bar are frequently seen in the Federal Court, Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal.  But, it’s not always easy to fit pro bono briefs around other professional demands.

The Bar’s members can also be found engaged with and supporting the Universities and their students, often those latter-year students who are on the brink of filling the ranks of new practitioners.  Judging moots; providing work experience opportunities; and speaking at student events are not unfamiliar entries in a barrister’s diary.  Again, though, it can hard to find space in that diary for these contributions.

I want it to be easier for you to do both: easier for you to run a pro bono brief and to provide mentoring and experience to a law student at the same time.  UQ’s Pro Bono Centre is the way to do it.  The Centre has a group of pre-screened, suitable senior law students who are ready to provide research and assistance for your pro bono work. 

How?

First, grab a pro bono brief.  Contact LawRight and make sure you are on their mailing list.  Make sure you are on the list for pro bono criminal appeals in the Court of Appeal.  Keep an eye out for Federal Court pro bono referrals.  Contact a community legal service and see what they need help with.

Or, get involved in a pro bono law reform or research project.  If you are on one of the Association’s Committees, kick off a research or law reform submission within your area of expertise.

Then, get in touch with the UQ Pro Bono Centre.  Have a look at their website or contact the Centre’s Director directly at probono@law.uq.edu.au.  If you want a general chat first, reach out to the BAQ’s nominee on the Centre’s Advisory Board – Matt Black at matt@mblack.com.au.

Why?

The personal and broader benefits of doing pro bono work are well known, but why use the UQ Pro Bono Centre?  I’ve distilled the answer into three points.

First, the students available to you through the UQ Pro Bono Centre are able to provide real assistance in your work.  Their support enables you to leverage your time.  The students can do things as simple as compiling briefs / e-briefs or bundles of authorities.  They can draft chronologies or can index messy disclosure.  They can take notes and fetch coffee during conferences.  They can also deploy their education: find cases to support a legal proposition, trace the source of a poorly referenced legal point, find factually similar cases for comparison, prepare case-notes of the other side’s authorities to give you a head-start. 

Second, having an enthusiastic law student ready to do the type of tasks outlined above can make it more attractive for a solicitors’ firm to get or stay engaged on a pro bono basis.  Experience shows that, generally, running a pro bono brief is not feasible without an instructing solicitor; and, solicitors face the same demands on their time as we do.  It’s one thing for a solicitor to put in some extra hours to get pro bono work done, but diverting the time of paid assistants or paralegals can be more difficult.  Having a law student—or in big cases, students—available to helpreduces the paralegaldemands on the firm’s resources and enables the solicitor to be more confident in committing to a pro bono matter.

Third, this is an opportunity for you to mentor and inspire a law student.  A student who will soon be joining the profession and who will be all the more ready to do so because of their experience with you.  That’s good for the student.  It’s good for the Bar’s overall standing.  And it’s good for the profession generally.

In conclusion

In short, if you are running a pro bono brief or working on a law reform submission I don’t want you doing it alone.  I want you to have some help from a law student who has been screened by the UQ Pro Bono Centre and given training on confidentiality and conflicts.  If you’re helping—or want to help—the community, there’s help for you to do that.  Contact the UQ Pro Bono Centre via their website or probono@law.uq.edu.au.

[1]     https://archive.sclqld.org.au/judgepub/2014/dj260314.pdf

In March-April 2022, Bar Practice Course 77 was held.

We welcome to the Bar the following 22 readers: