News, views, Practice Directions, events, forthcoming national and international conferences, CPD seminars and more …
Court Recording and Transcript Production — New Service Provision Arrangements
On Friday 22 February 2013, Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie announced the appointment of Auscript to provide recording and transcription services to Queensland’s Courts, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal and the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.
Auscript will assume responsibility for providing these services on a location by location basis commencing on 22 April 2013, with implementation due for completion on 1 July 2013.
The full implementation schedule and details of transitional transcript/audio ordering arrangements are available on the Queensland Courts internet site.
http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/about/news#a176047
The following specific arrangements will be continued under the new service delivery model:
- Fee waivers on the grounds of financial hardship will be available to a party to a proceeding. A fee waiver application is to be provided to Auscript with the transcript order.
- Parties who currently receive free transcripts in accordance with a legislative requirement will continue to do so.
From the transition date forward, all transcript/audio sales for court proceedings from that date will be managed by Auscript. The transition date will vary by location.
http://www.auscript.com/
Any questions with respect to the new arrangements can be directed as follows: DirectorRFCE@justice.qld.gov.au
QPILCH Walk for Justice
Put your best foot forward during Law Week 2013 and join colleagues from across the legal profession including leaders from government, the courts and judiciary, law faculties, national and local law firms, the profession’s peak bodies and law students, in the 2013 Walk for Justice.
The Walk for Justice is held in different locations nationally at the same time, and signals the opening of the annual Law Week — and the legal profession’s commitment to access to justice through the work of organisations like QPILCH in support of pro bono and public interest matters.
Please join us and show your support of this important social issue.
When: Tuesday 14 May from 7.00 am — 8.30 am.
Where: Meet in the forecourt of the Queen Elizabeth 11 Courts of Law Building – 415 George Street, Brisbane.
Early bird registration:$20 (students $ 10) Light breakfast kindly provided by sponsors including the Queensland Law Society and the Bar Association of Queensland.
For more information or to register go to: www.qpilch.org.au/walk
Legal Research Skills CPD Session
The Bar Association of Queensland and the Supreme Court Library presented a legal research skills workshop on 23 April 2013. Presentations were given by experienced librarians and representatives from legal publishers including Lexis Nexis, CCH and Thomson Reuters. The following photos were taken at the event.
QUTÂ Health Law Research Centre Public Lecture Series
Guest Speaker: Professor Robert D Truog MD, Professor of Medical Ethics, Anaesthesiology & Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School
Topic: What does it mean to be dead, and why should it matter ?
In this talk Professor Truog will review the history and conceptual foundations of our definitions of death, and discuss their relationship to current approaches to organ donation. Professor Truog will present evidence that challenges the current paradigm, and outline some possible alternatives for framing the ethics of organ donation
Response by Dr Andrew McGee, QUT Health Law Research Centre
Date: Monday 13 May 2013
Time: 6.00pm start of lecture
Venue: Gibson Room, Level 10, Z Block
To register click here.
Evaluation of Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011
Following the previous invitation to participate in the evaluation of the Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011 (below), the Attorney-General has issued a ministerial statement and media release about the evaluation.  This can be found on the Attorney-General’s Department website.
For members wishing to complete the survey or provide feedback about the Act please see the below invitation:
Invitation to Participate in Evaluation of Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011
 The Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011 commenced on 1 August 2011. The Act requires parties commencing certain proceedings in the Federal Court or Federal Circuit Court to file a genuine steps statement saying what genuine steps they have taken to try and resolve their dispute, or if they have not, the reasons why.
The Attorney-General’s Department of the Australian Government is evaluating the operation of the Act. The Department has engaged Australian Survey Research to conduct a survey on our behalf of key stakeholder interactions with the Act. The survey provides an opportunity for you to provide feedback on the operation of the Act. For more details about the Act and the evaluation, please click here.
The survey will take at most 10 minutes to complete and your answers will remain completely confidential. If you wish to participate in the survey, please register your details at www.cdract.com.au/register.
We are also asking clients and litigants to give feedback about the Act. Please encourage your clients to go to www.cdract.com.au to participate in the survey.
If you have any questions about the conduct and content of the survey, please contact Amrita Das on (02) 6141 3016 or amrita.das@ag.gov.au, or Allison Wood on (02) 6141 3106 or allison.wood@ag.gov.au.
Definition of Barrister
In the last edition of Hearsay we featured a piece on branding of the Bar. The article by Nikki Lloyd aimed to impress upon readers the complexity of the concept of a brand for a profession. It is not just about stylisation of letterheads or crests.
The link below will take readers to the definition of “barrister” in Wikipedia. It is an interesting read. It contains not only the author’s summary in a comparative sense of the role of a barrister in the administration of justice, but also comparisons with other jurisdictions within and outside the common law world.
It is quite evident however that Wikipedia needs assistance in ensuring the accuracy of the information contained therein, ensuring that the information is up to date and is properly referenced. We here at Hearsay wonder whether one of our readers may be interested in volunteering her or his services.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrister
R v DuncanÂ
The link below is to a recent Canadian decision. The judge’s musings are an entertaining and insightful read.
http://canlii.ca/en/on/oncj/doc/2013/2013oncj160/2013oncj160.pdf
Jackson Reforms (UK)
Civil Litigation in England and Wales has undergone reform as a result of changes in legislation which came into effect on 1 April 2013 (Part 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012). The reforms are intended to make costs more proportionate, while discouraging unnecessary and unmeritorious cases. The reforms will have particular impact on personal injury cases, especially where no win no fee conditional fee agreements are used.
The Ministry of Justice has provided a summary of the key changes on its website: http://www.justice.gov.uk/civil-justice-reforms .
Links to various articles and blogs concerning the implementation of the Jackson reforms appear below.
Philosophy Bites
The website below features “podcasts of top philosophers interviewed on bite-sized topics…” and may be of interest to our readers.
http://www.philosophybites.com/
