BAQ Annual Conference
The Bar Association of Queensland will hold its Annual Conference from 4-6 March 2011 at the Sheraton Mirage, Gold Coast. The theme of the 2011 Conference is “Life & The Law – Challenges, Critique and Camaraderie!”
Information about registration and other CPD events can be accessed here.
Justice Bell’s Farewell
Brisbane family lawyers gathered at the State Library on Thursday, 25 November to honour Justice Graham Bell’s long service with the Family Court of Australia.
Justice Graham Rodney Bell was appointed to the Family Court bench on 27 February 1976 and is currently Australia’s longest serving judge.
An old Churchie boy, Justice Bell has witnessed many changes within the family law system and is held in high respect by his peers and the legal community generally.
Mr Michael Kent S.C. outlined some of the highlights of Justice Bell’s long service.
A great evening was enjoyed by all present who congratulated Justice Bell on his achievements.
Get Equipped: Vincents’ 49th Annual Symposium
Friday, Saturday 25-26 March – Brisbane Convention Centre
The Vincents’ 49th Annual Symposium program has almost 80 sessions covering the full spectrum of legal practice. The program will allow you to tailor your attendance to best suit your area of practice and equip yourself with the tools to build your skills, knowledge and resilience in practice.
Featured speakers include:
- Phil Eldridge OAM, former F/A-18 Fighter Pilot
- The Hon Chief Justice Paul de Jersey AC, Supreme Court of Queensland
- David Adsett, Deputy Director, Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions
- Alan Ducret, General Manager Queensland, Australian Competition & Consumer Commission
- Federal Magistrates Coates, Howard, Cassidy and Baumann of the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia
- The Hon Brian Jordan, mediator and retired Judge of the Family Court of Australia
- Magistrate Ronald Kilner, Regional Coordinating Magistrate, Magistrates Court
- The Hon Justice Lyons, Supreme Court of Queensland
- Peter Chiang, Senior Counsel – Asia, Black and Veatch
- Darren Fooks, Partner, Clayton Utz
- ABC radio presenter Damien Carrick
BAQ Accreditation:
1 CPD point per hour of attendance at approved session
3 CPD points per hour of presentation
Strand allocation:
- Commercial litigation advocacy workshop — Advocacy strand
- Foundation skills in trial advocacy — Advocacy strand
- Law: a lost profession? — Ethics strand
- Ethical issues for lawyers using social media — Ethics strand
- Developing a resilient profession — Practice management strand
- How magistrates are reacting to the cross examination of witnesses — Advocacy strand
- The ethics hour of issues particular to family law — Ethics strand
- Ethical dilemmas and decisions for criminal lawyers — Ethics strand
To register or download the full program visit http://www.qls.com.au/pd/events
TC Beirne School of Law – Research Seminar Series
Friday 25 February 2011 – 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Venue: Sir Samuel Griffith Room, 1-W341, Forgan Smith Building
Presenter: Dr Thalia Anthony – University of Technology Sydney
Topic: Crime Issues Since the Northern Territory Intervention: the drive to convict.
Since the Northern Territory Intervention in 2007, there has been a spike in criminalisation, especially in remote Indigenous communities. The result has been a rise in Northern Territory incarceration to over four times the national average. This paper argues that an unanticipated significant feature of the rise in Northern Territory Indigenous criminalisation is the increased conviction of driving offences, particularly ‘drive unregistered / unlicensed / uninsured’. This ‘driving trifecta’ captures the Indigenous offender in one police process. This paper is based on a research project with Harry Blagg, which is funded by the Criminology Research Council. It suggests that the legality of Indigenous drivers and road safety would be better addressed through more effective means of regulating drivers and vehicles than law enforcement. It draws on Jonathan Simon’s framework of Governing Through Crime to argue that the Intervention used Indigenous crime to justify much broader governance, while failing to address the violent and sexual crime epidemics that were the bases for the Intervention.
Friday 4 March 2011 – 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Venue: Sir Samuel Griffith Room, 1-W341, Forgan Smith Building
Presenter: Associate Professor Sarah Biddulph – University of Melbourne
Topic: Law Enforcement and its Impact on Social Stability in China
The issue of social and political stability in China has been brought into sharp focus in the wake of the jasmine revolution and recent popular dissatisfaction with authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. Deng Xiaoping once famously declared that ‘stability overrides everything’, a policy imperative which remains unchanged today. What role does law play in the maintenance of order and stability? This presentation explores the at times contradictory roles played by law and law enforcement practices in the preservation of social order and stability. On one hand, the party/state has invested significant resources and political capital in establishing a system of governance according to law to define and protect citizens’ rights, as well as to regulate and legitimate the exercise of power. On the other, serious and systemic failure to enforce the law, abuse of power and the lack of effective legal redress for these failures and abuses are factors that themselves contribute to social instability. A core tension within the law exists between a promise to protect rights and a threat to punish severely those adjudged to disrupt social order, even if it is in the pursuit of rights. I illustrate this tension with a discussion of disputes over compulsory housing eviction and relocation and disputes over unpaid and underpaid wages.
Contact: Beth Williams – ph: 334 69350, email: marketing@law.uq.edu.au
The Australian Bar Association Conference – Berlin – 3 to 6 July 2011
Expressions of interest are now being taken for the Australia Bar Association Conference to be held in Berlin between 3 July and 6 July 2011.
The Conference will commence in Berlin on the evening of Sunday, 3 July 2011 and conclude with a Gala Dinner on Wednesday, 6 July 2011. The Business sessions will be held at the Adlon Hotel.
The names of those interested will be placed on a Priority List to receive a registration brochure prior to any general mailout. Please send your full contact details to Dan O’Connor at the email address below or by facsimile.
Questions about registration?
Contact Dan O’Connor, ABA Conference Secretariat, Tel: (07) 3238 5100, Fax: (07) 3236 1180, Email mail@austbar.asn.au
Questions about travel?
Contact Ruth Carlton, World Travel Professionals, Tel: (07) 3220 2008, Fax: (07) 3220 2288, Email ruth.carlton@worldtravel.com.au
