Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Celebrating 90 Years of The Law Society of Western Australia

Dr Catherine May

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia ISBN: 978-0-646-98174-1 Š 2017 Law Society of Western Australia. All rights reserved.

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

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FOREWORD

N

ineteen twenty-seven was a significant year in the development of the legal profession in Western Australia. The arrival of Foundation Professor of Law, Frank Beasley, marked the commencement of the State's first law school. On 15 June 1927 about 30 practitioners met in the library in the Supreme Court building and resolved to form a professional association. In the latter half of the year that resolution was carried into effect, and on 3 October 1927, again in the Supreme Court library, the first general meeting of the Law Society of Western Australia was held.

I am very pleased to have been invited to write the foreword for this book, which traces the development of the Law Society during its first 90 years. I am equally pleased to have been a member of the Law Society for 40 of those years, and was greatly honoured by the award of life membership of the Society.

A focus on community It is clear from this book that the dominant characteristic of the Law Society's activities during my association with it has been an enduring characteristic of the Society since its creation in 1927. I refer to the Law Society's outward focus upon the needs and interests of the community, and in particular those in need of legal services. The Law Society has consistently devoted significant time and energy to the needs of our community.

Legal aid Very early in the life of the Law Society, it embarked upon an ambitious programme to provide what today would be described as pro bono assistance, and what was then described as assistance in forma pauperis to those who lacked the means to secure legal assistance, importantly including those who faced the death penalty. By 1935, the scheme had provided assistance in more than 500 cases.

In 1960, the scheme was reborn and revitalised as the Legal Assistance Scheme, providing valuable assistance to those in need of legal services until the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia was formed in 1977. Recognising that the provision of government-funded legal aid had not met the ever increasing gap between the cost of legal services and the capacity of many members of the community to afford those services, in 1991 the Law Society created the Litigation Assistance Fund and in 1993 the Law Access Programme, both of which endure.

The interests of members This is not to say that the interests of the Law Society's members have been ignored, or even that there is a clear demarcation between the interests of members and the interests of the community. An early example of the alignment of those interests is the representations made by the Law Society in its very

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

early days in relation to the precise demarcation of the boundaries of legal work – that is, work which could only be carried out by legal practitioners, as distinct from work which could be carried out by others. The community and the members of the profession have a common interest in ensuring that work requiring legal training and expertise is only carried out by qualified legal practitioners.

Another enduring theme of the Law Society's work has been the provision of continuing professional development to its members. In 1960, the inaugural Law Summer School was held – becoming an annual event of great significance in the calendar of continuing legal education which continues to this day (albeit with an interregnum between 1993 and 2004). Over the last few decades the Law Society has developed an extraordinarily broad and energetic programme of continuing professional development, spanning almost every conceivable topic of interest to legal practitioners.

In 1974, Brief magazine became the journal of record of the legal profession in Western Australia and the source of topical and practical information of assistance to practitioners in their daily work. Brief continues to perform that important function today.

Law Reform The Law Society's involvement in law reform has been another enduring characteristic of its activities.

In addition to its regular representations to government with respect to law reform initiatives, in 1955, the Law Society created a Law Reform Committee, which morphed into the WA Law Reform Commission 20 years later. Continuing representations to government with respect to law reform remains a key focus of the Law Society's activities.

The Hon Wayne Martin AC Chief Justice of Western Australia

A fascinating read This book records these developments and many more. It provides a fascinating read for anybody interested in the development of the legal profession of Western Australia over the last 90 years. Those of us with that interest owe a debt of gratitude to the author, Dr Catherine May. The text reveals Dr May's extensive research, including detailed analysis of the archives of the Law Society, its annual reports, Council minutes, and old copies of Brief. Dr May's research included detailed research at the JS Battye Library, the oral histories taken from many senior members of the legal profession, and her interviews with major figures from the Law Society past and present, including former Presidents, Councillors, committee members, Life Members and the current and former chief executive officers and executive directors.

I am very pleased to commend this book to anybody with an interest in the legal profession of Western Australia.

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

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PREFACE

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n 15 June 1927, a group of around 30 practitioners gathered in the old Supreme Court library.

This represented a not insignificant proportion of the legal profession in Western Australia at the time, the Law Almanac of 1927 suggesting that the profession then stood at a mere 155i. By 2017, the size of the profession had increased to over 6,500ii. In 1927, the Law Society had recorded 96 foundation members. By 2017, the Law Society had achieved a record membership of 3,870. These raw figures provide just some indication as to how both the profession and the Law Society have grown over nine decades.

Despite the profession’s considerable increase in number, and the ubiquitous shifting of societal attitudes, the Law Society has never lost sight of its commitment the core objects it adopted within a few months of its inception. Those objects, still reflected in the Law Society’s Constitution today, remain: advancing the interests of the legal profession; promoting good practice and curbing malpractice; advancing legal education; promoting the administration of justice and the development and improvement of the law; and encouraging collegiality.

The significant contribution made by members of the profession in pursuit of these objects has remained one of the Law Society’s enduring features over the past 90 years. Those who have served on its Council have included two future Governorsiii, and a former Premieriv, of Western Australia; more than 70 future Judges including a future Chief Justicev, and three Justicesvi, of the High Court of Australia; five future Chief Justices of Western Australiavii; a future Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australiaviii and two future Chief Judges of the Family Court of Western Australiaix; four future Chairmen or Chief Judges of the District Court of Western Australiax; serving and future Masters of the Supreme Court of Western Australia; future Commonwealth and State Attorneys General, and Solicitors General, to name but a few.

This publication is the product of many months of extensive research by Dr Catherine May. The Law Society is deeply indebted to the author; both for all her time in undertaking that research and also for crafting a most engaging and readable narrative of its historyxi.

I also express my sincere thanks to the many contributors who have assisted Dr May with interviews, information and material; to Brett Syme, for the attractive design and layout; and to Andrew MacNiven for the considerable time he has devoted to assisting with research and the narrative, for assembling a modest trove of photos and other illustrations for inclusion (from rather slim pickings), and, in particular, for compiling the comprehensive lists of office-bearers, councillors and officers which appear at the end of the book.

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

As will be observed, this work is divided into chapters, each focusing on a discrete time period in the life of the Law Society and providing a flavour of the historical context. The book examines some of the major themes and trends that have emerged over the course of the Law Society’s 90 year history, recording important milestones and notable points of interest along the way.

I hope you will enjoy reading it.

Notes: i

152 barristers and solicitors of the Supreme Court of Western Australia are listed in the 1927 Almanac along with 3 practitioners within the department of the Attorney-General; namely the Solicitor-General (and Parliamentary Draftsman), Solicitor (and Assistant Parliamentary Draftsman) and Crown Prosecutor.

ii

According to the Legal Practice Board, there were during the 2016/17 year a total of 6,549 legal practitioners in Western Australia of whom 6,040 held practising certificates as at 30 June 2017 (most working in the private sector). 504 were State Government employees taken to be certificated pursuant to section 36 of the Legal Profession Act 2008.

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The Hon Sir Francis Burt AC KCMG QC and the Hon Malcolm McCusker AC CVO QC.

iv

Sir Walter James KCMG KC.

v

The Hon Robert French AC.

vi

The Hon Sir Ronald Wilson AC KBE CMG QC, the Hon John Toohey AC QC and the Hon Justice James Edelman.

vii

The Hon Sir John Dwyer KCMG, the Hon Sir Lawrence Jackson KCMG, the Hon Sir Francis Burt AC KCMG QC, the Hon David Malcolm AC QC and the Hon Chief Justice Wayne Martin AC.

Alain Musikanth President The Law Society of Western Australia

viii The Hon Diana Bryant AO QC. ix

The Hon Alan Barblett AO and the Hon Michael Holden AO.

x

His Hon Sydney Good MBE, the Hon Desmond Heenan, his Hon Kevin Hammond AO and the Hon Justice Peter Martino.

xi

Due to the depth of information available the author found it impracticable to encapsulate every facet of the Law Society’s work over the past 90 years. During that period, scores of legal practitioners have also made significant and worthy contributions, through the work of the Law Society, both to the profession and the wider community. Unfortunately, the constraints of time and space have precluded many of those contributions from being recorded. It follows that this text is intended as an overview rather than as an exhaustive history.

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

c1900: The Commissariat Store, which served as a court house before being demolished to make way for the new Supreme Court building

CONTENTS

Chapter One: 1890 – 1939

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Chapter Two: 1940 – 1949

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Chapter Three: 1950 – 1959

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Chapter Four: 1960 – 1969

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Chapter Five: 1970 – 1979

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Chapter Six: 1980 – 1989

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Chapter Seven: 1990 – 1999

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Chapter Eight: 2000 – 2017

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Timeline: 1927 – 2017

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Appendix: Law Society office-holders

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

1901: Members of the Western Australian legal profession at Government House during a royal visit Source: May it Please Your Honour: a History of the Supreme Court of Western Australia from 1861-2005

Chapter One

1890–1939

90 Years of the Law Society (1927-2017)

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1890 – 1926: The profession comes of age Signs of civic and institutional maturity were everywhere in Perth during the mid-1920s.

Schools, instrumentalities, local government bodies and whole suburbs had completed their early growth and were fully fledged. The same was reflected in professions, trades and businesses. It was not only a more modern world, but also a suddenly maturing generation that lifted many aspects of life in Perth to a new level. The legal profession was part of this general coming of age. On 26 November 1926, Truth newspaper reported: “Never has there been such an infusion of young blood into Perth’s qualified legal fraternity than at present.” Ralph Stoddart, who had just been admitted to the Bar, was cited as an example of the trend.

The situation in the 1920s was a direct result of events in the 1890s. For most of the nineteenth century, other colonies advanced more rapidly than Western Australia, predominantly due to earlier gold finds and the isolation of Perth.

By 1900, all had acquired a substantial legal profession and an association representing it.

The exception was Queensland, which gained a Law Association in 1915. Western Australia, by contrast, did not have the economic activity to support a large population or mature institutions. A judicial structure existed of course, but the legal profession was small in number.

Victoria in particular enjoyed boom times for nearly four decades following the gold discoveries at Ballarat in the early 1850s. Then, in 1891, asset prices collapsed and ‘Marvellous Melbourne’ slid into a brutal, decade-long

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

depression. On the other side of the continent, in September 1892, there was a major gold find at what became Coolgardie.

Overnight there was a flood 1903: Justices of the High Court of Australia visit Perth and ‘picnic’ in Kings Park of economic refugees from This influx of population was followed by a Victoria and also baby boom. Those who came to WA were from South Australia, which had its own version generally young adults and those who stayed of financial adversity. There were further produced large families – especially just after discoveries, which gave rise to Kalgoorlie, the turn of the century. Many of these children and Western Australia became a goldmining were at school during the Great War, in training economy. In terms of the future development of just afterwards and entering the professions by Western Australia, the timing of crash and rush the mid-1920s. was impeccable.

As the decade wore on, the eastern colonies were afflicted with the ‘Federation Drought’ which sent many farmers and pastoralists to the wall. Western Australia remained an island of prosperity and the population climbed steeply. Economic and government processes proliferated and expanded in scope, attracting professionals, including lawyers. Some individuals who figured in the early history of the Law Society arrived in WA as young men at this time. By 1897, the legal profession had multiplied many times, a significant proportion practising on the Eastern Goldfields. The grand Supreme Court building in Stirling Gardens, completed in 1903, symbolised the growth in all processes connected with the law.

With the establishment of legal practices early in the 20th century, the required five years of articles training was more widely available. But with a view to the future, the legal profession had cooperated with the University of Western Australia during the middle of the 1920s to establish a Faculty of Law. A levy on practitioners by the Barristers’ Board to finance a Chair of Law sealed the venture and the formalities were in progress during 1927.

The profession had needed to coordinate its efforts in this process and would be required to assume responsibilities on the faculty. But there was a more general call for a body to speak and act on behalf of the legal profession in ways which would become apparent. A place for the Law Society was waiting.

1927: The profession gains a voice

In 1927, the Supreme Court building housed not only the courts and judiciary, but also the Crown Law Department and the Attorney General’s Department. The library occupied the central part of the river frontage, at ground floor level, and opened onto an arcaded colonnade.

It was here, on 15 June, that some 30 members of the legal profession met with the objective of forming a law association. The day had started clear and chilly in Perth, but by the close of business storms were building up. We can imagine practitioners exiting legal offices on the Terrace and in Howard Street, in blustery conditions, perhaps stopping by at the Weld Club before the short walk to the Supreme Court.

No specific correspondence or record of discussions has come to light, which might identify how the decision to form a legal association was made, and by whom. Sir Walter James KC was the senior member of the profession at the time and would almost certainly have taken a leading role. Thomas Davy, a brilliant young lawyer and Member of Parliament, was clearly interested in lifting the profession to a higher level. His speech to Parliament in favour of a ' makes this clear.

Michael Lavan KC, a future President of the Law Society from 1930 to 1935, took part in all recorded stages of bringing the Law Society into being. He had completed a Law Degree at Trinity College, Dublin, and had been admitted to the Bar in Western Australia in 1898 at the age of 23.

The meeting of 15 June was presided over

by Thomas Frederick Davies, Master of the

Supreme Court. It was recorded that Sir Walter James ‘convened’ the meeting, but he was absent with a “severe cold.” Thomas Davy moved “that an Association of Legal Practitioners of Western Australia be formed.”

This was seconded by Michael Lavan. “After a short discussion which Messrs Kott, Nicholson and others joined, the motion was put and carried unanimously.”

A committee was then appointed to draft a constitution and report back to members.

Fred Barlee, Supreme Court Librarian, was appointed as temporary secretary, and the meeting was then adjourned.

The drafting committee acquired and examined the constitutions of the various legal associations in other States. On 12 August, the committee was ready to present a draft constitution to a general meeting, again at the Supreme Court library. Twenty-four practitioners attended. The document was read paragraph by paragraph and this occasioned “considerable discussion.” In this process, the proposed name of the organisation was changed from the Law Association of Western Australia to the Law Society of Western Australia. The committee was asked to carry on to the October meeting. Both the June and August meetings were attended by those who would take the new Law Society’s work forward.

On 19 August 1927, Fred Barlee gave written notice confirming that the Law Society had been ‘inaugurated’ on 15 June 1927, and that its first annual general meeting would be held on 3 October 1927 at 8.00pm, again in the

Supreme Court library. The notice indicated that there were 46 practitioners who were deemed to have been elected ‘foundation members’ and that under the rules of the Law Society, any further practitioners who also wished to become members could do so by sending him a signed proposal by 30 September.

Membership fees were set at £1 per annum for town members and 10/-6d for country members.

The ‘objects’ of the newly formed Law Society were as follows: a. To represent generally the views of the profession; to preserve and maintain its integrity and status; to suppress dishonourable conduct or practice; to provide for the amiable settlement or adjustment of professional disputes; and to consider and deal with all matters affecting the professional interests of members of the Society. b. To encourage and promote the study of law; and to provide means for securing efficiency and responsibility on the part of those seeking admission to the profession. c. To consider, originate and promote reform and improvements in the law; to consider proposed alterations, and oppose or support the same; to remedy defects in the administration of justice; to effect improvements in administration or practice. And for the said purposes to

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1913: Western Australian legal practitioners

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

1922: Law students under the five year articles scheme. Sir Walter James is seated at the centre of the second row.

Source: May it Please Your Honour: a History of the Supreme Court of Western Australia from 1861-2005

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petition Parliament, and to take such other proceedings as may be deemed expedient. d. To form and maintain a Law Library and reading room. e. To acquire any rights or privileges which the Society might regard as necessary or convenient for the purpose thereof, and for promoting social intercourse between the members of the profession. f.

To provide for the relief of distressed and deserving members of the profession and their families and to make disbursements therefor out of the general funds of the Society.

g. To do all other such things as are incidental and conducive to the attainment of the above objectives.

The first annual general meeting was attended by 34 practitioners. It was recorded that the Society had 96 members and this was “met with the approval of the meeting.” The following were elected as office bearers: President: Sir Walter James KC; Vice Presidents: T F Davies and M G Lavan; Council: R Mc Donald, J P Dwyer, F Wallace Solomon Leake, P Lyon (Northam), T A L Davy, Wallace Solomon, W M Nairn, G B D’Arcy; Trustees: R H Goodman and J P Durack; and Auditor: L D Seaton.

The question of incorporation of the Law Society was also discussed, but that was left to the consideration of the Council.

At this stage there were 75 town and 21 country members. The country was deemed to start at a 30 mile radius from Perth – about 50 kilometres. Western Australia was a great deal less urbanised and communications difficult, but in terms of population, country towns, especially in the Wheatbelt, were in their prime. Rural practitioners were an important group with distinctive interests and challenges.

15 June 1927: Handwritten minutes from the Law Society's first meeting

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Early work – the future signalled

The first meeting of the Law Society’s Council took place on 3 October. It was decided that Fred Barlee would continue as Secretary and that his starting salary, effective 1 July 1927, would be £25 per annum (“necessarily small in view of the, at present, small revenue of the Society.”)

However, Council also resolved to pay him a bonus of £10/10/- “in recognition of his initial activities.”

In November, the Law Society held its first formal function, with a dinner at the Savoy Hotel to welcome Foundation Law Professor Frank Beasley, appointed in September. The Savoy, on a prime site in Hay Street, was something of a second home to the professions in the 1920s.

Professor Beasley was to establish a working relationship with the Law Society lasting 35 years. Generations of members were his students. The gathering also established the strong bond between the Law School and the Law Society and the prominent place of legal education as a permanent concern.

The Law Faculty constituted on 1 February 1928 was to include, among others, two members nominated by both the Barristers’ Board and the Law Society.

On 30 November 1928, the Law Society celebrated its first anniversary by holding a dinner (again at the Savoy) in conjunction with the Law Students’ Association.

The earliest work of the Law Society signalled much that would run through its history. Almost immediately, practitioners began writing in with queries, complaints and suggestions. Council attended to everything at this stage and letters were dealt with in meetings. Complaints about other practitioners – those with any merit – tended to be referred to the Barristers’ Board, or sometimes retained to investigate a solution.

A particular subset of complaints concerned ‘unqualified persons’ doing the work of solicitors – generally drafting documents such as contracts and mortgages. Most were not charlatans but rather belonged to other occupations and entities: banks, law stationers, executor companies and the like. Such demarcation issues have continued to surface in different guises as the boundaries of ‘legal work’ have shifted1.

Those communications which sought guidance on ethical dilemmas or practice matters were sometimes of wider significance, and the views of members would be canvassed.

1927: The West Australian, Saturday 26 November 1927, page 18

A Circular of 11 November 1928 covered two matters: a. It requested members to report promptly instances of attempted encroachment upon the rights and privileges of the profession. b. It requested the views of members as to the equitable basis in agency accounts between country principal and town agent.

It can be seen that the experience and ideas of members were channelled through the decisions and representations of the Law Society, and so the profession gained a voice. From these small beginnings, a body of professional conduct rules evolved over decades.

Members of the Law Society’s Council, of course, had their own experience of anomalies, delays and potential injustices in the legal system. Some were taken up with the judiciary or, if legislation was relevant, the Minister for Justice or Attorney General. Thus the Law Society began as a body which was fundamentally interlocked with political decision making, as many changes it sought needed a legislative solution. This was the beginning of the Law Society’s ongoing role in law reform.

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

The first Annual Report, 1927/28, noted: At the meeting it was reported that a deputation had been made to the Chief Justice requesting a rule be brought bringing all bank holidays within the category of court holidays, even if Whitmonday is abolished as a Court Holiday. The Chief Justice did not appear in favour, but will be approached again.

Meeting also discussed the appointment and adequate remuneration of Senior Magistrates – a deputation had waited on the Honourable Minister for Justice.

The deputation was well received and the Minister promised to take the matter into earnest consideration.

The Society provided an ‘opinion’ that: “In normal cases a solicitor taking over an uncompleted matter where another solicitor has been employed should, as far as possible, endeavour to protect the prior solicitor as far as legal challenges are concerned.”

The matter of a country practitioner carrying on a Perth office without supervision by a qualified practitioner was also investigated. The practitioner rectified

the situation by installing a duly qualified partner.

A scheme to place on a better footing the defence of indigent persons charged with capital offences, to facilitate proceedings ‘in forma pauperis’ and to deal with vexatious litigation, is still under consideration.

At a special meeting, Michael Lavan and Thomas Davy were appointed additional members of the Faculty of Law at the University of WA. At the request of the Chamber of Commerce for delegates to confer with that body on subject of amendment of the Companies Act, the Council appointed W M Nairn T S Louch and F R Thomas.

Matter is pending.

The question of extending provisions of Sec 3 of No 13 of 1921 (permitting affidavits in certain circumstances to be sworn before a Justice of the Peace) to all Supreme Court matters was considered and an amendment of the Rules to that effect was drafted and submitted to the Chief Justice, who is considering the matter.

The Poor Persons Legal Assistance Scheme: ‘The principal matter dealt with...’

In 1928, capital offences still carried the death penalty. The Law Society moved quickly to ensure that the profession provided assistance in proceedings ‘in forma pauperis.’ Members were circularised on 30 May 1928, inviting them to signal their availability for this work.

A more comprehensive arrangement to assist the indigent in legal matters was underway in late 1928, with the passage of the Poor Persons Legal Assistance Bill, introduced by the Collier Labor Government. The West Australian reported the second reading speech: Mr Davy resumed the debate on the Poor Persons Legal Assistance Bill. All, he said, would agree with the principle of the Bill. He hoped that the Minister would give an assurance that he was prepared to cooperate with the legal profession if they offered a suggestion. The profession was prepared to carry out the functions of this practitioner (a public solicitor) and thus save the appointment of a permanent official. The idea was to appoint a committee to consider the applications for legal assistance and then to appoint one of the profession to deal with the matter.

It was the Law Society, of course, which would be charged with carrying out the Act, and the Annual Report of 1928/29 recorded: The principal matter dealt with during the year was the acceptance of the suggestion that the Society should assist in the execution of the Poor Persons Legal Assistance Act 1928. A circular

1928: Supreme Court of Western Australia

to members met with a favourable reply from 21 practitioners, who signified their willingness to cooperate. Regulations and a scale of fees were drawn and settled with the Crown Law Department, and these and the names of the present Council have been approved and gazetted. Already one of the volunteers has undertaken the conduct of a Poor Person’s case.’

The Act provided for a means test administered by the Crown Law Department. If an applicant passed this stage, the matter went to the Council of the Law Society which considered the merits of the case and assigned a solicitor.

Each Council meeting ended with consideration

Source: State Library of Western Australia, 217702PD

of a number of applications for assistance.

The Annual Report of 1929/30 stated, “The principal activity of the Society has been that of the Committee appointed to deal with matters under the Poor Persons Legal Assistance Act, some 130 odd having been more or less completed.” By the end of 1935, this had climbed to 496. It was a major undertaking.

The Act provided not only for defences to criminal charges, but also for pursuing civil actions. In the hierarchical society of the time, it could occasionally redress glaring inequalities, in particular due to the quality of legal representation. The case of The Crown v Webb serves as an example.

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Justice restored: The Crown v Webb

The first defended action under the provisions of the Act was widely reported in early April 1930, and was something of a sensation.2 Rose Webb was a mother of five children, whose husband was in the Claremont Asylum for the Insane. She was charged with two counts of criminal defamation against one Robert Wear, an attendant at the Asylum and a prominent member of the Claremont Ancient Order of Druids. Mrs Webb’s husband (apparently also a Druid) was entitled to sick pay and Wear took it upon himself to deliver it in person, together with unwanted sexual advances, over a long period. Financial desperation put Mrs

Webb completely in Wear’s power. Eventually Mrs Webb became the mother of six children, despite Wear urging her to have “an operation.”

Mrs Webb confided in a friend and, as a result, the Lodge was alerted to Wear’s activities. It suspended him, with the proviso that he would be re-admitted if he cleared his name – hence his complaint of defamation.

The Law Society accepted the case and assigned the defence of Mrs Webb to John Virtue. It was a jury trial. The judge summed up by pointing out that, given Wear’s role, his conduct towards Mrs Webb was a matter of public interest, and truth on a matter of

public interest would provide Mrs Webb with a defence. He continued: “As to the apparent lack of motive [to lie] on the part of the woman, well there is no accounting for the things that women sometimes did.” The Jury found the defendant not guilty and Truth had pleasure in recording Wear’s change of demeanour: “The smile gradually slipped from Wear’s face.

His wife sat beside him, expressionless.” His reputation was in tatters, his life as a Druid over.

Mrs Webb, who had been looking nervous and bewildered, eventually realised that she had been acquitted and rushed to the baby fathered

by Wear.

The Great Depression

At the annual general meeting of 1930, Sir Walter James resigned as President and was succeeded by Michael Lavan. In fact, Lavan had routinely chaired meetings in the absence of Sir Walter, who was elder statesman of many worthy causes and activities. In 1930, he became Chancellor of the University.

The Annual Report of 1929/30 stated: “The question of a Solicitors’ Guarantee Fund was raised but this is being dealt with by the Barristers’ Board – Messrs McDonald and 13

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Solomon were appointed to confer with that body.” The issue of protecting the public from the defaults of the few was integral to the work of both the Law Society and the Barristers’ Board. But during the 1930s, it intermeshed painfully with a relentless and hostile campaign in Parliament by Joseph Sleeman, Labor Member for Fremantle. He was reported as stating, among other things: ...if he has not had first-hand experience of the disabilities that beset the individual

who has recourse to the law he has at least some intimate acquaintances who have plumbed the depths.3 His twin objectives were a select committee of enquiry into the legal profession, and an overhaul of the Legal Practitioners Act – in ways which the Law Society did not welcome.

Three members of the Law Society’s Council were appointed to confer with other public bodies on the subject of work for the

unemployed. In 1928, the Perth Chamber of Commerce had sounded a warning that financial indicators such as prices, supply and demand signalled a coming crisis. By 1929, unemployment was taking hold. The Chamber of Commerce called a conference with the object of amending the Federal Bankruptcy Act, which the Law Society attended. Economic freefall followed and by 1930 the Great Depression was upon society. In April of that year, the Labor Government was defeated at the polls and the coalition Nationalist-Country Party Government of Sir James Mitchell came into power with a narrow majority. Thomas Davy became Attorney General – a poisoned chalice.

Davy carried the onerous responsibility of formulating emergency financial legislation – ever more of an emergency as the crisis deepened. Wheat farmers in particular were devastated not only by two seasons of falling prices, but also by the Premier’s misplaced encouragement to plant a record crop on the assumption that prices would rise. The result was the Farmers Debts Adjustment Act, which enabled destitute farmers to enter into repayment schemes. In 1931, the Law Society examined the Bill for any potential problems in its application and formed a deputation to the Attorney General to alert him to certain anomalies.

To some degree, these were the palmy days of the Law Society’s relations with the Government, specifically the Attorney General.

The Annual Report of 1930/31 included the following items: A deputation waited on the Hon Attorney General regarding the delay in hearing Local Court Cases. As a result of the

representations made, the congestion in the Local Court has been greatly relieved.

Council suggested to the Attorney General that consideration be given to: •

•

•

the provision of the Newspaper Libel Act that security for costs may be ordered, and the plaintiff shall give evidence; “habitual drunkenness” being a ground for granting a protection under the Married Women’s Protection Act; and allowance of costs to the successful party on appeals in police prosecutions.

A reply was received that the Attorney General was having Bills drafted in these matters.

Good relations between Law Society and the Attorney General faltered in August 1931, however, when the Law Society became aware of a likely and very unwelcome move to reduce solicitors’ bills of costs. In 1920, the total of bills of costs had been increased by 25 percent and the proposal now was to remove that increase as a depression measure. All government salaries, wages and other payments were slashed, including judicial salaries.

The Law Society wrote to the Attorney General pointing out: Legal practitioners are, with only nominal remuneration, doing all of the work involved in the Poor Persons Legal Assistance Act 1928, thus saving the Government the cost of appointed a qualified legal practitioner.

Practitioners have voluntarily taxed themselves with an Annual Practising Fee in order to establish and support a Chair of Law at UWA Members of the profession have not escaped the results of the general depression …

It would therefore be unfair to recommend any change from the existing condition.

Hardship of members may have accounted for the need to strike off the Register of Membership 21 members who refused, after due notice, to pay their membership subscriptions for 1928/29.

The Minister responded “deprecating the Council’s attitude.”4 Nonetheless, there was a partial reprieve. Circular 9 of December 1931 advised: “Total of bills of costs as increased by the Rule shall be reduced by 15 percent as from 4 December 1931 until 1 January 1933, on which date the previous increase of 25 percent would again become operative.”

The early 1930s saw the first graduations from the Law School, along with a continuing wave of those who had completed five years articles.

A number of young men who entered the profession at this time went on to become the office bearers of the Law Society in the 1950s and 1960s. On 18 March 1931, the Daily News reported that Enid Russell had been admitted as a practitioner of the Supreme Court, making her the first Western Australian woman admitted to legal practice in the State. She was entertained at the Karrakatta Club by a group of supporters, including Edith Cowan, whom she thanked for making her admission to the Bar possible.

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Edith Cowan had introduced the Women’s Legal Status Act 1923, as a Private Member’s Bill. The Act specified: ...a person shall not be disqualified by sex from the exercise of any public function, or from being appointed to or holding any civil or judicial office or post, or from being admitted and entitled to practise as a practitioner within the meaning of that term in the Legal Practitioners Act 1893 or from entering or assuming or carrying on any other profession, any law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding.

Other women would soon follow – Molly Kingston, Joan Heenan, Kath Hartrey and, in particular, Sheila McClemans, whose work for the Law Society was to become legendary. It was not a sign that the masculine profession was broadening its base, however. Two more generations had still to pass before any major change.

In February 1933, Frederick Barlee resigned as Secretary, having seen out the difficult pioneering years. He was replaced by John Virtue. The venue for meetings changed to 10 Commercial Union Chambers, St Georges Terrace. The Secretary remained the Law Society’s only staff member.

1932: Daily News, Wednesday 28 December 1932, page 7

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Celebrating 90 Years of The Law Society of Western Australia

In 1933, an attempt was made to establish a Law Society journal to familiarise members with the work of the Society.

The Annual Report of 1932/33 stated that five issues of the journal were published and were “well received, especially by country members.” The Secretary was also responsible for producing the journal and it can be inferred that it was not possible to persevere.

The financial crisis was retreating in 1933, but had left political carnage in its wake. A State election was due early in 1933, and Thomas Davy was scheduled to open the Government’s campaign with an address at the East Perth Hall on 18 February.

At that stage he was Attorney General, Minister for Education, Deputy Premier and obvious successor to Sir James Mitchell.

Bolton has noted that Davy “stood head and shoulders above his cabinet colleagues intellectually.”5 He had taken more than his fair share of responsibility during the catastrophic depression years and was also at variance with most of his own Nationalist Party in opposing the rising secession movement.

In this context, it is perhaps not surprising that, on 17 February 1933, Davy died of a heart attack while playing cards with his wife and two others at the Savoy Hotel.

He did not live to see the Government annihilated at the polls, the Premier lose his seat of Northam and Western Australia vote overwhelmingly in favour of seceding from the Commonwealth. Nor would he be there in the next decade when the work of the Law Society would have benefitted greatly from a legal intellect in Parliament to further its own law reform initiatives. His was a history-changing death.

Ross McDonald, also a foundation member of the Law Society, was elected to Davy’s seat of West Perth. The President, Michael Lavan, had nominated for the seat of Leederville for the Nationalist Party, but withdrew his candidature. He may already have been experiencing the first signs of a medical condition which would prove fatal.

A national perspective

Clearly, Western Australia was not permitted to secede from the Commonwealth, although the sentiment was clear. So far as can be gathered, the legal profession did not share it. In 1933, the idea of establishing a Law Council of Australia proceeded, having first been mooted in 1927.

Membership consisted of the legal associations in the States. The Law Society approved the Constitution of the proposed body and became

a constituent member, although there was dissatisfaction with the stated intention of holding meetings in Melbourne or Sydney.

At the Law Council’s first annual general meeting in Sydney in 1934, WA was represented by Walter Nairn, a former member of the Law Society’s Council who had become a Member of the House of Representatives. In a

photograph showing a large conference group, he was the only Western Australian present.6 In some respects, national processes emphasised the isolation of Western Australia. But the state legal professions shared many interests and all were affected by the same Federal legislation.

The importance of national issues could only grow.

1933: The first meeting of the Law Council of Australia. The Law Society's representative, Walter Nairn, is seated at far right.

Source: The Law Council of Australia

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The Matrimonial Causes Act – a vexed issue

The divorce law of the time was an uneasy issue for the Law Society. The Matrimonial Causes Act laid down a limited number of circumstances – in effect, insupportable situations – which provided legal grounds to seek a divorce. Adultery was the most common and this involved sordid investigations and public embarrassment.

Assistance Act. An article in The West Australian of 11 July 1930 specifically announced that the Act could be utilised for the purpose of seeking a divorce. And it was. Several years later, the Crown Solicitor ruled that it could only be used for divorce matters in “exceptional circumstances.”

The Matrimonial Causes Act intermeshed with the Married Women’s Protection Act, which enumerated grounds for a legal separation. In their everyday work, lawyers encountered the practical implications of marital conflict, and the actions of the Law Society indicated that it favoured an expansion of the provisions protecting women and easing the legal barriers to divorce. The Annual Report of 1930/31 recorded that the following was brought to the Attorney General’s notice: “Married Women’s Protection Act: That habitual drunkenness should be a ground for separation.”

Numbers seeking assistance under the Act fell very noticeably, but this was not necessarily welcome. In 1937, the President and Secretary formed a deputation to the Minister for Justice to request that “divorce cases should again be undertaken by the profession.”

The reason given was that people who appeared in person were given informal help by Mr Sayer KC who had a room at the Crown Law Department. Many were getting through the system that could have paid. Members of the Law Society protested against this as there was “no proper enquiry as to the Petitioner’s means.”

The law raised many procedural and human problems within the greater problem that the sanctity of marriage was at odds with reality. This in itself was not considered an issue which could or should be addressed until decades later. Much at the time was accepted as axiomatic and this, of course, is apparent in the Law Society’s acceptance of social assumptions which have long since been brought into the light of day and rejected.

The fraught relationship between legal assistance and the divorce law endured until the legislation itself was changed fundamentally in the 1970s.

The divorce law sat uncomfortably with the provisions of the Poor Persons Legal 17

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

1929: Molly Kingston, one of the first women to study law at the University of Western Australia and subsequently practise law in Western Australia

The mid-1930s: an expanding portfolio

On 24 August 1934, an auspicious event occurred at the Esplanade Hotel when the Law Society entertained the High Court during its annual sitting in Perth. Justices Starke, Dixon, Evatt and McTiernan were present along with over 50 members. This became an annual event.

Also on the social calendar were cricket matches and golf, the latter sometimes played against the medical profession. It was a chance for discussion between the two professions about issues of common concern. Hugh Guthrie, a young practitioner of the time, recalls his impression of the Law Society: The Law Society pre-war was a delightful sort of a social gathering. We had an annual cocktail party or something; we didn’t do anything, other than sort of further the interests of lawyers as such, but generally run a social program and I joined the Law Society quite early in the piece, it would’ve been 1934 perhaps.

Phillip Adams, another who remembered those times observed: Yes, it was largely a social group, remote from the Barristers’ Board but it helped the Barristers’ Board in perhaps explaining some cases that came up before them, where the practitioner had been a bit unfortunate. But that’s about all it did.

Of course, much of the real work took place behind closed doors and at a high level. But it was certainly a more leisurely age.

Another attempt to initiate a journal was made in 1934 but, as the Annual Report stated: Council regrets it has been compelled to discontinue the issue of the Journal.

This was necessary owing to calls upon the time of the Secretary upon whom practically the whole work of writing and publishing the journal fell.

A possible assistant editor failed to materialise.

Another 40 years would pass before the advent of Brief.

It became apparent in 1935 that Wallace Solomon was routinely in the Chair with an apology from Mr Lavan. In February 1935, Solomon and Virtue attended a conference at the Perth Chamber of Commerce, the object of which was to bring the antiquated WA Companies Act into line with other states. This was especially urgent, as renewed activity on the Eastern Goldfields was still subject to an unchanged Companies Act of 1893.

Also present at the conference were representatives of the Perth Stock Exchange, plus State and Federal professional bodies connected with accounting and commerce.

The South Australian legislation was taken as a model and Council minutes recorded expenditure of 5/- for a copy of the South Australian Companies Act. At that stage there were so few expenses that each item was passed at a Council meeting.

A committee of the Chamber of Commerce, with members of the various interested bodies was formed and, in October, a set of recommended amendments to the Act was

presented to the Minister for Justice by a deputation which included the Law Society. The issue was complex and there was no immediate action. But the process shows how the Law Society shared concerns and provided legal expertise in the wider professional world.

The Annual Report of 1935 recorded that John Virtue had retired as Secretary and been succeeded by Brian Simpson.

An issue unknown in modern times took up much of the Law Society’s energy in the middle of the 1930s and, indeed, for the next two decades. It concerned the ordeal involved in finding or having access to sources of the law.

The following is a selection of these timeconsuming matters: Statute law had not been consolidated and when new legislation was passed, it was printed in a leisurely manner.

Representations were made to the Crown Law Department with a view to having Sessional Volumes made available to the profession earlier in the year than at present.

The Law Society wrote to the Undersecretary for Law advocating that the Administration Act be re-printed and that the volume of statutes be bound.

The Editors of the WA Law Reports were to be approached to improve the reporting of Counsels’ arguments and have the reports expedited and their cost reduced.

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At the Council Meeting of 14 Sept 1937, Mr Lappin reported on his meeting with the Magistrate of the Local Court. The Magistrate was not prepared to make available his notes of evidence before notice of appeal and also imposed conditions on making files available for search. This was an unsatisfactory solution and it was decided that if another approach was unsuccessful, the Society should write to Undersecretary for Law. The unavailability of any proper record of court proceedings was also a continuing problem.

In essence, much about the legal and judicial system had developed without consolidation or review since the burst of activity in the 1890s.

The outdated Supreme Court Act 1893 was undergoing revision during the early 1930s. The Law Society conferred with the Parliamentary Draftsman, Albert Asher Wolff on this process.

It was the beginning of a working partnership which continued through Wolff’s future judicial career and into the 1960s when he became Chief Justice.

1933: Molly Kingston and Sheila McClemans pictured upon their admittance as legal practitioners. Together they would establish the first all-female law firm in Western Australia in 1934.

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

1937: Ten years have passed

In May 1937, it became tragically apparent why Michael Lavan had been absent from the Chair for two years. “He suffered illness over a long period,” The Kalgoorlie Miner reported, “To seek recovery, he made health trips to the eastern States and New Zealand and also made a world tour, from which he returned in October.”7 He died on 17 May, aged 61.

Of course, the name of Lavan endured in the legal profession. In February, his son John Lavan had been admitted to partnership in the firm of Lavan, Walsh and Seaton. It was commented that, as the son of Michael Lavan, much would be expected of him, but that he had inherited his father’s “forensic style and good courtroom appearance.”8 He also followed in his father’s footsteps in becoming the inaugural second generation President of the Law Society in 1964.

The annual general meeting of 1937 was held on Wednesday, 10 November at the Adelphi Hotel. This handsome building on the eastern corner of Mill Street and St Georges Terrace was one of the new generation of Art Deco structures which appeared in Perth during the building boom of the late 1930s. It instantly became the smart gathering place for the professions ‘on the Terrace.’

It appears that Wallace Solomon did not accept a nomination for President but continued on Council. Sydney Howard Bath became President— he was an English practitioner who had arrived in Western Australia in 1913 and practised largely in Bunbury.

1938: Sir Walter James (far right) first President of the Law Society, speaks at a celebration to mark 50 years since his admission to the Bar. Source: National Library of Australia.

A resolution was passed congratulating Sydney Good on his appointment as Crown Prosecutor.

Though the Law Society was geared to the needs of private practice, it worked closely with the Crown Law Department and Good, an officer of the Crown, had been a committee member for two years.

Among the issues of 1937 was the possibility of uniform Commonwealth divorce legislation, a matter initiated by the Law Society of South Australia. The Law Society of Western Australia supported the move.

Locally, the professional bodies of Perth formed a ‘vigilance committee’ to protect common interests: the maintenance of standards, the integrity of professional boundaries and opposition to injurious legislation. Neither move gained traction in the long term. Indeed, a number of live issues and planned projects from 1937 onwards failed to proceed. In 1936, the situation in Europe was already passing the point of no return and the Commonwealth Government was preparing for the outbreak of war, which was only a matter of time.

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1938: The Sleeman Select Committee

The success of Joseph Sleeman’s longrunning campaign in the Legislative Assembly was the final major event in peacetime. The ramifications of the Depression had lent an additional bitterness to the attack on the legal profession and Sleeman was joined by Howard Raphael, MLA for Victoria Park and Ignatius Boyle, Country Party member for Avon. The Wheatgrowers Union had become involved in a ruinous court case which was constantly cited by Mr Boyle as an example of legal skulduggery. The West Australian of 1 September 1938 reported of proceedings in Parliament: Mr Sleeman moved – A select committee be appointed to inquire into the operations and general ramifications of the Legal Practitioners Act 1893, and its amendments, particularly the protection of the public from unscrupulous and dishonest members of the profession.

The Committee gained bipartisan support on condition that Mr Sleeman deleted the words “unscrupulous and dishonest members of the profession.” It was to be a closed committee, consisting of three Labor and two Country Party members. The country had

particular grievances against lawyers at that stage because wheat growers had suffered enormously in the depression and then allegedly been taken to the cleaners by lawyers.

The outcome of proceedings was critical to the Law Society. A subcommittee consisting of the President, Messrs Blanckensee and Stow and the Secretary was appointed with full authority to act. OJ Negus, a future President of the Law Society, was given leave by the committee to be present and to put the views of the Law Society on matters raised.

advocate in Parliament, Ross McDonald, gave his support. Mr Boyle, however, protested at the failure of the committee to overhaul the Legal Practitioners Act. He moved a motion that the entire Western Australian Act be repealed and replaced with the South Australian equivalent. Ironically, he was quelled by Mr Sleeman and the motion was lost. After 14 years of acrimony in Parliament, a proper understanding of the issues had produced a bipartisan outcome.

The Select Committee sat between 6 September and 25 October 1938 and it would seem that both sides gained in perspective.

The deliberations had revealed the course of events which led to costs not being taxed in the notorious ‘Wheatgrowers Case’. The aggrieved party had made choices which tied the hands of the Barristers’ Board, including refusal to pay a small fee which might have rectified the matter.

In fact, the recommendations of the Committee were mild, the most crucial being “the taking out by the Barristers’ Board of a comprehensive insurance policy to cover losses by the public from defaulting lawyers.”9 The Law Society’s

Joseph Sleeman Source: Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia, Volume One 1870–1930

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Unfinished business

Council minutes of 9 December 1938 recorded that a committee was formed to investigate abuses of the Legal Practitioners Act and a subcommittee to “draft a new Legal Practitioners Act, in the form of a Bill incorporating suggestions made in the Society’s case represented to the Select Committee.” Other matters were in train as a result. One was the future of admissions to the profession, the Law Society’s preference being that the University become the sole examining authority, subject to the Barristers’ Board conducting a practice and procedure examination during the two year period of articles. To safeguard professional standards, members were circularised urging them to report breaches of the Legal Practitioners Act.

The Law Society considered appointing an informer for the purpose.

Also under discussion was a solicitors’ guarantee fund, which would have been a breakthrough for all parties interested in a properly functioning system. It was not to be. A meeting of 19 September 1939 referred to the guarantee fund: “Discussed, but in view of war, matter deferred.” Right across society there were matters progressing and projects planned that failed to proceed that year – and possibly were never revived.

War had been declared on 3 September 1939.

The annual general meeting of 1939 was cancelled as the Secretary, Brian Simpson, had gone into military camp. The Second Australian Army Corps was in the process of mobilisation.

The First Australian Army Corps had fought in the Great War. On 9 September 1939, with bipartisan support, the Commonwealth Government passed the National Security Act. Its purpose was to enable the Commonwealth to invoke emergency powers (under the existing Defence Act) for the prosecution of the war. The resources of Australia were at the Commonwealth’s disposal and were organised accordingly.

Perth had been on the brink of hosting the annual convention of the Law Council of Australia — that idea evaporated. Not only the decade and the state of peace, but also the state of society ended with the outbreak of the Second World War. When it was over, a different world emerged.

Chapter Notes: 1.

2.

Indeed, the performance of legal work by nonlawyers has remained an intermittent source of concern to the Society over the ensuring 9 decades, with the Society having as recently as August 2017 published a detailed paper entitled “People Unlawfully Engaging in Legal Work: Protecting the Community”.

Truth, 6 April 1930.

3.

Sunday Times, 5 September 1937.

4.

The Law Society of Western Australia, ‘Outline of History from the Inception of the Society in 1927’, (Typescript 1960) Chronology at 13 August 1931.

5.

GC Bolton, A Fine Country to Starve In, (UWA Press, 1971), p114.

6.

The Law Council of Australia, The People, the Profession and the Institutions, (Canberra 2013) 31 & 33.

7.

The Kalgoorlie Miner, 18 May 1937.

8.

Mirror, 13 February 1937.

9.

The West Australian, 3 November 1938.

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23 Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia c1904: Supreme Court of Western Australia library, location of the first Law Society meeting on 15 June 1927 Source: State Library of Western Australia

Presidents: 1927–1939

1927 – 1930

1930 – 1935

Sir Walter Hartwell James (1863 – 1943)

Michael Gibson Lavan (1875 – 1937)

About: Admitted WA 1888; founding partner Stone James and Co; Premier; Attorney General; Knight; KCMG; King's Counsel.

About: Admitted WA 1898; Partner Lavan and Walsh; King's Counsel.

1935 – 1937

1937 – 1940

Wallace Elias Bickley Solomon (1878 – 1950)

Sydney Howard-Bath (1877 – 1950)

About: Admitted WA 1900; solicitor.

About: Admitted WA 1914; Partner Howard-Bath and Sargant.

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

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1941: St south90 from Wellington St,Society Perth, 1941.

A traffic Celebrating Years of the Law of Western Australia 25Barrack policeman stands in the intersection as tram no.42 boards riders.

Source: State Library of Western Australia, 217707PD

Chapter Two

1940–1949

90 Years of the Law Society (1927-2017) | Page 26

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A war footing

Mobilisation had an immediate effect on all traditionally male occupations. Gresley Clarkson, who replaced Brian Simpson as Secretary, joined up in late 1940. Membership fell slightly from 117 to 113 over 1940 and then went into a steeper decline. All civilian activities were in similar retreat as the whole of society and its resources were harnessed to the war effort. Law students and new graduates were also affected. Francis Burt, a young graduate, was about to embark on a Master’s degree when war was declared. He delivered his papers to St George’s College for safe keeping and undertook to collect them when the war was over. He then joined the Royal Australian Navy and also served in the Royal Australian Air Force. Fortunately, the young Burt returned.

After the surge of enlistments, practitioners in Kalgoorlie were at a premium. Joan Heenan was one of very few, if not the only, solicitor available in June 1940. She recalls: I very well remember the time that Italy came into the war because there was a big Italian population in Kalgoorlie and overnight they were all rounded up and they were down in Hannan Street in a building... I went down and there were what seemed hundreds of Italians milling around and not knowing what was going to happen. Anyway, I came in and the police called out for this man and I was

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immediately stampeded, because they all wanted to see me, you know, when they knew I was there. So what happened was the police gave me a table and a chair and some paper, I had some paper, and they had them lined up and I was taking instructions for wills and powers of attorney, you know, all the morning.10 The legal profession Australia-wide undertook to provide free legal assistance to soldiers and their dependants. According to the Annual Report of 1940: The Society decided that any application by a member of the AIF for free legal assistance could be made to the Society, which would deal with the application on its merits and if necessary assign a practitioner.

A motion was carried at the annual general meeting that free advice concerning matters affecting status should be given to members of the forces enlisted for overseas service and their dependants and that Wills and Powers of Attorney for members of the forces enlisted overseas should be prepared free of charge.

In fact it was the dependants who presented the most desperate situations, and a ‘Soldiers’ Dependants Fund’ was established. In organising legal assistance, the Law Society

was part of a wider voluntary effort amongst the trades and professions. For instance, the Institute of Architects and the Master Builders’ Association were also involved, making necessary repairs to houses occupied by soldiers’ dependants. The availability of legal assistance was publicised in country as well as city newspapers.

The Commonwealth’s National Security Act certainly created a new area of work for lawyers. L D Seaton, the Society’s first auditor and a Council member through to 1945, was recalled as being “best known for his work during the war on Commonwealth regulations.”11 There was also some consternation concerning the encroachment of the Commonwealth, at least if the response of the press is indicative. The Law Council (though not necessarily in the same state of alarm) assumed the role of reviewing the provisions as they were promulgated; the Law Society, as a member body, shared this responsibility. The minutes recorded that the Law Society was “in constant contact” with the Law Council. The Annual Report of 1940 stated: National Security Act: Regulations under the Act: A considerable amount of the Council’s time has been devoted to commenting on these Regulations.

The Capital Issues Regulations were considered by all the Australian Law

Societies before gazettal and the recent repeal and replacement of the Courts Emergency Powers Regulations is undoubtedly due, to some extent, to the efforts of the Law Societies in drawing attention to the anomalies and hardships caused.

In November of 1940 an important future work was signalled, when members Seaton and Fabricius successfully moved that a law reform committee be formed. It was to consist of five members, including the President, with power to co-opt.

During 1941, the Law Reform Committee was “perusing a large part of the mass of the Federal Legislation and Rules”, as well as dealing with other matters. Two members of the committee gave evidence before the Select Committee dealing with the Companies Bill. Also addressed were the Actio Personalis rule; amendment of the Administration Act; amendment of the rule in Russell v Russell; Married Women’s Torts; and Contribution between Joint Tort-Feasors.

The Annual Report of 1941 observed: “Work of the Committee has been greatly appreciated

by Council, which feels that a very useful new branch of the Society’s activities has been opened up.”

The High Court did not travel interstate in 1940, but the Law Society’s annual dinner that year was not lacking in the stature of the guests, nor the gravity of their presence. It was held at the Palace Hotel and attended by the Prime Minister Robert Menzies, other ministers and also Dr Herbert Evatt, who would become Attorney General in the Government of John Curtin in 1941. Some 90 people were present, including members of the judiciary and the senior ranks of the Perth legal profession. The subject of the Prime Minister’s address was ‘The Rule of Law – Worth Fighting For.’ The annual general meeting of 1941 resolved that “a series of short lectures should take place at Council’s monthly meetings” and three lectures were planned. Then, quite suddenly, even short-term plans were overwhelmed by events.

1945: Major Gresley Drummond Clarkson Sketch by Lieutenant Geoffrey Mainwaring Source: Australian War Memorial, Creative Commons

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1942/43: Crisis and Blackout

The entry of Japan into the war changed the situation in WA fundamentally. On 15 February 1942, Singapore fell to the Japanese. There was a real threat of invasion and Western Australia was the likely battlefront.

In March 1942, American forces in the Philippines were defeated. General MacArthur escaped to Australia, where he became Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area. A war-weary American Navy arrived in Fremantle, which became an American submarine base. Perth was blacked out, evacuation plans made, air-raid shelters dug. Searchlights swept the night sky for enemy planes and massive guns were fully manned. A hastily assembled army (the Third Australian Army Corps) arrived from the eastern States to defend Western Australia.

It became impossible to continue the ordinary processes of civilian life. Not only was it difficult to get to meetings with petrol rationing and a blackout, but an air-raid was a real possibility.

The West Australian of 11 April 1942 reported a subdued university graduation ceremony, at which the location of the air-raid shelters was pointed out to participants.

Like many organisations, the Law Society ceased formal meetings from March 1942 to June 1943. The Law School closed down in March 1942. Many students had joined the services and the faculty was not essential to the war effort. Consequently, there was a gap of some seven years during which the flow of new recruits to the profession was negligible.

In July 1942, The West Australian reported that SR Davis, winner of the Hackett Studentship 29

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

to Harvard, had been admitted to the Bar in military uniform. There were practically no admissions during these years.

The Law Society did not cease its essential functions, however. At the Council meeting of 8 June 1943, it was reported that, during the 15 months just passed: “Important correspondence was submitted to members of Council for action and numerous Poor Persons files were assigned to solicitors.” The Annual Report of 1943 recognised Nathaniel Lappin, who was retiring as President, for his “tremendous amount of work to keep the Society going.” John Durack KC was elected President for 1944.

During the final two years of wartime conditions, a large part of the challenge for the Law Society was dealing with central and military authorities. By 1943, the number of soldiers seeking legal assistance placed an untenable strain on the Law Society. The President arranged with the military for an officer to be allocated to this task at Crown Law and thus one situation was relieved.

American servicemen had become an obvious and exotic part of life. The US Navy had its own disciplinary boards to deal with complaints against its personnel, but this was not satisfactory from the local perspective. The minutes of the 22 June meeting recorded: Complaints were made by members of the Society that sufficient regard to the rights of the individual was not being given by the Boards appointed by the United States to deal with claims against the US army and navy.

It was resolved to write to the Law Council in Sydney advising of the Law Society’s views and requesting representations to the US authorities for some person independent of the US Army or Navy to be appointed to the Board. There was apparently no solution. At the annual general meeting of 12 October 1943, it was resolved that US authorities should be approached with the following objectives: Claims should be dealt with in Australia according to local law; The American Court should investigate claims with an Australian solicitor acting with the Court in an advisory capacity; There should be no limit to the amount of compensation payable as there is no limit in our local law.

For reasons not clear, the issue faded in 1944.

The militarisation of the population for wartime purposes included legal practitioners and the Law Society was not satisfied that the Western Australian profession was being utilised to its full potential as a resource, or given its due. The minutes of 22 June 1943 recorded: Meeting discussed at length the question as to whether the best use of the legal profession was being made when they entered the army and also the question as to whether proper advancement was being given to WA solicitors. Members of the meeting pointed out that numerous Eastern

States personnel had been brought to this State and were given executive positions to the prejudice of WA solicitors.

Mr Durack reported on an interview with manpower authorities and the meeting decided to send an immediate telegram to Mr Curtin requesting the suspension of existing and further call-ups of the profession.

Re-establishing legal studies had become urgent. At the annual general meeting of 1943 it was arranged for the President to meet with Professor Beasley, who had been in uniform,

“with a view to re-stabilising the Faculty of Law and obtaining exemption from military duties for some students to study law.” This was apparently successful: by the time of the meeting of 3 November, representations had been made to the University Commission and advice had been received that the Faculty of Law was being re-opened and that six students at least would be manpowered for the purpose of taking a law degree.

The situation began to ease, but in late 1944 it was still thought necessary to form a deputation to the Prime Minister while he was in the State, to press for an adequate number of students

to attend Law School. Also raised at the annual general meeting of 12 October was the following ‘Judges’ Longhand Reporting’: Lively discussion on the great waste of time involved. Resolved that the Society approach judges and Minister for Justice to press for introduction of shorthand reporting in the Courts.

This was given short shrift by the forbidding Chief Justice Northmore, who retired in December 1945, aged 80, to be succeeded by the unbending Chief Justice Dwyer. An ongoing problem was signalled.

The post war world Post-war planning by the Commonwealth was already well advanced when the war ended in 1945 with victory in Europe, then victory in the Pacific. The peacetime challenge was to demobilise an entire army and reabsorb it into civilian life. A Commonwealth training scheme assisted ex-servicemen to obtain university degrees and the Law School received a significant impetus. The West Australian of 18 March 1946 reported: This year the Law School at the University of Western Australia will be substantially larger than ever before, with 51 students already enrolled, and as students will be accepted until well into the first term that figure is likely to be increased.

It went on to say that the Law School had the highest percentage of ex-servicemen of any faculty at the University, over 50 percent having come from the services. Professor Beasley had noted that the majority of those who were enrolled when they enlisted had come back to complete their studies, only one Law student having been killed in action. The momentum was maintained throughout the late 1940s. In 1947 the Law Society played a cricket match against the Law students. There was certainly no difficulty making up a team.

Some Law Society members who enlisted, of course, did not return. In their memory, the Society decided to donate an annual prize to the value of £10 to the Law School,

to be known as the Law Society War Commemoration Prize.12 Wallace Unmack, who became President in 1945, was a returned serviceman, as was Gresley Clarkson who resumed as Secretary.

Hugh Guthrie, who left to join the army during Sydney Howard Bath’s time as President, described how, on his return, he found the much younger Unmack in office.

Without any disrespect to pre-war, old Howard Bath for years had been President and Howard Bath’s idea was of an English gentleman’s sort of style, but Wally Unmack, when I came back, his idea was the Law Society was up and doing for the legal profession and he’d

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gathered together on his executive a pretty formidable team of younger lawyers. He had Lawrie Jackson, Phil Adams, John Dunphy and I was on it, we were all about the same era and we were involved in a lot of things.13 In 1946, all entities in society were dusting themselves off, taking stock and reconstituting themselves on a peacetime footing – preferably a firmer footing. A document of 1948 stated, “In 1945, the Society came to life again...”14After an irregular meeting schedule during the war, it was decided that general meetings would be held monthly. Guest speakers with various relevant perspectives were invited – overseas academics passing through Perth, the judiciary, members of related professions. Among them was Charles Court, then an accountant.

The Law Society was almost two decades old and in November 1945 it was decided that the time had arrived for incorporation under the provisions of the Associations Incorporation Act. This involved drafting a new constitution.

The process of incorporation progressed over two years.

In the five years during which the war effort had advanced, the civilian world stood still. The Supreme Court, like any non-military structure in Perth, was feeling the strain of neglect.15 The Council minutes of 26 March 1946 contained

the item: “Sanitary accommodation in Robing Room: Society drew attention of Minister of Justice to this, and also lack of Conference Room for use of barristers and their clients.”

It was not only the building which had become a time capsule of 1904. Between 1944 and 1947, there had been further unsuccessful attempts to convince the Supreme Court bench that court proceedings should be recorded in shorthand or on silent typewriters. At that stage, judges took their own longhand notes of summing up and this constituted the record for appeal purposes. Robert Ainslie recalled the frustration – and a possible injustice – that resulted from this situation: “We appealed and when we got the judge’s notes, they were so poor... he just hadn’t bothered to take a note of the evidence that was given, and the appeal had to be abandoned.”16 There were no tape recorders in common use but ‘stenographers’ were a class of people with the expertise to transcribe proceedings of various bodies in shorthand. The minutes of the general meeting of 20 June 1947 recorded “all three judges totally opposed to provision of court stenographers.” A Supreme Court building frozen in time was one thing; a Supreme Court bench frozen in time was quite another.

Crown Solicitor and Parliamentary Draftsman, he had worked with the Law Society on legislation in the 1930s and was known for his industriousness. It can be gathered that Wolff had embarked on his own campaign to improve the functioning of the Supreme Court and in 1946 he asked the Law Society to form a committee to assist with compiling a complete code of civil procedure. A committee was duly formed.

There was a breath of fresh air, however, in the person of Justice Wolff, by far the youngest member of the Supreme Court. Formerly Albert Asher Wolff, Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, 1938-59 Source: May it Please Your Honour: a History of the Supreme Court of Western Australia from 1861-2005

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1947: 20 years have passed

The annual general meeting of 1947 was held on 20 October at the Adelphi Hotel and Wallace Unmack was once more elected President. A landmark was achieved with the Law Society’s imminent incorporation, and the Annual Report recorded: “The Society’s Constitution has been practically remodelled – intended to incorporate under the provisions of the Associations Incorporation Act – I understand this will be done by the end of this month.” The intention to become incorporated had been advertised in the Sunday Times the previous day.

Appointment of Magistrates: the Society considers such appointments should take place from the ranks of the profession and Magistrates should be Stipendiary Magistrates.

Appointment of a fourth Judge which the Society considers necessary in view of the demand for Royal Commissions and the impossibility of obtaining a third judge on an appeal.

Much else was beyond the Law Society’s control and reflected the frustration of trying to move the Supreme Court bench or Parliament on any issue in the post-war years. The urgent matter of increasing costs – Supreme Court, Local Court and conveyancing – had “been in the appropriate hands” (Chief Justice Dwyer’s) for 12 months.

Complaints as to the delays which take place in the listing of cases in the Police Court, particularly with regard to Married Women’s Protection cases.

The delay in passing amendments to the Legal Practitioners Act was the subject of another deputation. This concern was shared by the Barristers’ Board, as the purpose of the amendments was to increase the Board’s disciplinary powers and to stop inroads on the profession by land agents and others. The matter of disciplinary powers was still outstanding from the Sleeman Select Committee of 1938. This may have accounted for further attacks in Parliament on the legal profession and the formation of a vigilance committee by the Law Society.

A third deputation raised various matters dealt with by the Law Reform Committee. The Annual Report noted that these were not political but were anomalies and irregularities arising from Acts of Parliament. It seems that the Attorney General responded with courtesy and interest to all three deputations and nothing further happened. Inaction on law reform was the most galling.

There had been three deputations to the Attorney General. One deputation raised issues to do with the court system:

The Adelphi Hotel, location of numerous Law Society meetings Source: State Library of Western Australia

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A law reform manifesto

The Law Reform Committee was the powerhouse of the Law Society’s work in the post war years. During 1947, the Committee made 12 submissions to the Government on matters in need of reform for the proper functioning of the legal system. Much was in need of an overhaul and the Government appeared to have been lagging.

In 1948, the President reported: “Whilst I have been President (3 years) many requests have been made for reforms which have met with many promises but, in fact, nothing of much importance has eventuated.” His observations on the inaction of the Government continued in a forthright and bitter vein for a foolscap page and a half. This frustration was reflected in a paper prepared by members of the Law Reform Committee, J Hale and JE Virtue, and published in The University of Western Australia Law Review 1948. It was clearly intended, in part, for the enlightenment (and perhaps embarrassment) of Parliamentarians. It stated: Two broad principles govern the questions addressed by the Law Reform Committee a. the subject must be of general importance and not merely of local or sectional interest; b. the subject must not be one that is likely to divide Parliament on party lines.

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It continued: The necessity for such a Committee arises from the fact that difficulties, anomalies and injustices in the general laws of the State which govern the personal and business interests of individuals as individuals, normally become apparent only in the course of disputes between individuals.

It was necessarily the lawyers and judges who observed such problems in the course of their everyday work. But it was the duty of judges “to administer the law, not to reform it.” The responsibility of initiating law reform therefore fell to the profession, as the authors argued: If the practising lawyers do not take an active interest in the matter, the law tends to lag behind the interests of the community – and if this is allowed to continue, not only is injustice done, but the law itself begins to fall into disrepute.

As to membership of the Committee, Hale and Virtue stated: “The committee consists of five people, members chosen annually by the Society at a General Meeting and selected to form a broad cross section of the profession.”

There was reference to “the valuable work done as a member of the Committee by Professor FR Beasley, Dean of the Faculty of Law in the

University of Western Australia.” He became chairman of the Committee the following year.

The paper then pointed out that matters were dealt with as they arose and that there was always a list on hand. Among the three examples of overdue reforms quoted was the parlous presentation and accessibility of WA Statutes. Specifically: The Statute Law of Western Australia is now contained in three large volumes covering the years 1832 to 1895 and fiftytwo annual volumes since published. Most of these are out of print, and many are, for all practical purposes, unobtainable.

A crucial – and all too obvious – statement followed: “Yet it is generally accepted, that if the law is to be efficiently administered, it must be easily accessible.” Scattered Statute law, judges’ handwritten notes, delays in printing, poor quality and random reporting of decisions – these seemingly mundane matters were all symptoms of a fundamental inadequacy in the administration of justice. Efforts to address it were central to the Law Society’s constitution and to its early work.

Finally, the authors tried to get the attention of Parliament, pointing out that the Committee’s recommendations could only be implemented through legislation:

Some of the recommendations also require for their understanding a considerable technical knowledge of the existing law.

But in spite of the efforts of the Committee it has hitherto been impossible to persuade Parliament to take any great interest in this work.

They recommended the formation of a small committee of the Legislative Assembly, including representatives from all parties, to examine law reform proposals and report on them to the House.

There is no doubt that the attention of the Government was elsewhere. There was a massive housing crisis, for instance, along with other pressing matters in the physical realm. The material which came from the Law Society was detailed, required much thought and the legal system was already muddling

along without tinkering. It is not hard to see why nothing happened. Though this phase of the Committee’s work was disheartening, the foundations were in place for law reform to become a highly significant and successful function of the Law Society in the next two decades.

Sometimes there was a fresh reminder of what the world had just been through. The Law Society received “A letter from the UK High Commissioner indicating that he would like to present the official record of the Trial of the Major War Criminals to the library.” It was referred to the Barristers’ Board, which had a library. A grim new area of jurisprudence had emerged – war crimes.

At its meeting of 7 December 1949, the Council foreshadowed another stage in the evolution of the Law Society’s work in defining standards

of professional conduct. The Council formally accepted the responsibility for answering queries from practitioners in future cases.

A sub-committee of three was convened to prepare replies. Copies of these and summaries of opinions would be circulated to members.

Professional conduct, of course, was integral to the work of the Law Society and would continue to develop and adapt to a changing world.

The decade ended with the elevation to the bench of Lawrence Jackson, Vice President of 1948. He remained until 1977. Neither the legal profession, nor any other sector of society, would see another decade like the 1940s, when an international event had defined life in Australia and left a different world behind it.

Chapter Notes: 10. Joan Heenan, Transcript of Oral History Interview, 2015.

11. Annual Report 1941.

12. Minutes, 26 April 1946.

13. Hugh Guthrie, Transcript of Oral History Interview, 1915.

15. G Bolton and G Byrne, May it Please Your Honour:A History of the Supreme Court of Western Australia 1861–2005, Perth, 2005, 186.

16. Robert Ainslie, Verbatim Transcript of Undated Oral History Interview.

14. J Hale and JE Virtue, ‘Law Reform in Western Australia’, in University of Western Australia Law Review, 1948, 112-18).

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35 Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia 1941: Barrack Street and Perth Town Hall Source: State Library of Western Australia, 217702PD

Presidents: 1940–1949

1940 – 1943

1943 – 1945

Nathaniel Peaden Lappin (1898 – 1962)

John Peter (Jack) Durack (1886 – 1978)

About: Admitted WA 1922; solicitor.

About: Admitted WA; founding partner Dwyer Durack; King’s Counsel.

1945 – 1948

1948 – 1950

Wallace Turnbull Unmack (1896 – 1963)

John Hale (1905 – 1979)

About: Admitted WA 1920; founding partner Unmack and Unmack.

About: Admitted WA 1929; Queen's Counsel, Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1960 – 1973).

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1955: Perth skyline Source: E. W. Digby, Creative Commons

Chapter Three

1950–1959

90 Years of the Law Society (1927-2017) | Page 38

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The Law Society’s Legal Assistance Scheme: a temporary setback

The 1950s began with a proposal by the Law Society which, had it been accepted by the Government, would have placed its stamp on the work of the decade. The Law Society had taken the initiative in producing a blueprint for a pro bono scheme independent of the Poor Persons’ Legal Assistance Scheme, which would be run entirely by the Law Society with the assistance of a government grant.

A great many documents pertaining to this proposal are collected on a file of the Crown Law Department, and include the responses and file notes from within Government.17 Together these provide a window on the massive work of formulating the scheme and also its fate in the corridors of power. In 1959, the scheme was resurrected successfully and became operational the next year, thus placing its stamp on the work of the 1960s. For these reasons, the original conception of the scheme, the principles underlying it and its erratic progress are worth recounting.

By the late 1940s, the Poor Persons’ Legal Assistance Scheme was of little practical use.

Inflation had made the means test so severe that very few qualified to lodge an application, let alone receive assistance. Divorce matters had been excluded from the operation of the Act by Ministerial decree. Being keenly aware of these inherent problems and the social cost, the Law Society embarked on a major project to investigate better alternatives and devise its own comprehensive scheme. The Law Reform Committee of 1948/49 was responsible for this project. Among its members were Professor Beasley, John Virtue and Francis Burt.

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The Committee studied a scheme in South Australia, and one planned for the UK. It favoured the South Australian model which had been introduced in 1936. The ream of documents which emerged from its deliberations included an explanation of the deficiencies of the Poor Persons’ Legal Assistance Act, and a comparative analysis of the alternatives. The centrepiece was an outline of a comprehensive scheme for Western Australia. The proposed scheme was not an extension of the Poor Persons’ Legal Assistance Act, but rather functioned without enabling legislation, the only requirement being a Government subsidy for administration. The Law Society would assume total responsibility for running the scheme including channelling the necessary pro bono work.

The proposal was submitted to the Attorney General on 20 June 1950. Also included was an explanatory list of financial arrangements and other practical measures which would flow from this, including staffing and office accommodation. The Attorney General referred the documents to the Solicitor General, Sydney Good, for his advice. Sydney Good had already worked with the Law Society in his various capacities in the Crown Law Department and had been on Council in 1947. A discussion had taken place between the Law Society and Solicitor General before the scheme was submitted, and it is clear from material on the Crown law file that Good favoured the flexibility of the Law Society’s proposed scheme.

The Crown Law Department was in the uncomfortable position of dealing with people

who were poor and desperate but still failed the statutory means test to lodge an application for assistance. In response to the Attorney General, the Solicitor General wrote a detailed report on both the legal and financial implications of the proposed scheme and concluded: “I recommend your favourable consideration of this scheme.”

The file was returned to the Attorney General and on 28 September he submitted the documents to Ralph Doig, Undersecretary of the Premier’s Department. At this point, political dynamics entered, as the documentation was passed between members of the Premier’s inner circle of advisors. KN Birks, Undersecretary to the Treasury, commented on the Solicitor General’s analysis. He noted: “The estimate of cost upon which the request for a Government grant is based is made on a rather doubtful basis.” In the second last paragraph he observed, “the scheme is rather tantamount to giving the Law Society an open cheque for £3,000 per year. No provision is made for Government supervision or the reporting of how the funds are expended.” The tone suggested that the scheme was something of an indulgence of the Law Society.

The Premier, Sir Duncan Ross McLarty, had no interest in legal matters. But, as The Australian Dictionary of Biography records, his trusted advisers were Sir Alexander Reid, Ralph Doig and above all the recently knighted Sir Ross McDonald, former Attorney General. Alexander Reid, the Under Treasurer, then instructed the Crown Solicitor to send the documentation to Sir Ross. There were times when Ross

McDonald had been helpful in furthering the Law Society’s agenda-- this was not one of them.

Sir Ross’s letter in response was clearly the death knell of the scheme.18 He begins: “As I am not in active practice now, I feel that I am not well qualified by contact with the public to judge the merits of the Law Society’s new scheme for the assistance of poor litigants.” He then proceeded to do so: In view of the high level of employment, wages and living standards now obtaining, there is probably less hardship to prospective litigants through lack of means than at any previous time.

Nevertheless, Parliament has adopted the principle that Justice should not be denied to anyone through lack of means and has set up the scheme (Poor Persons Legal Assistance Scheme) now operating. At least that scheme should be maintained in accordance with the original intention.

To do this the Act should be amended to allow for the depreciated value of money.

An amendment might even go a little

further and liberalise the qualifications for assistance.

It is essential that no person should fail to have adequate defence to a serious criminal charge through lack of resources.

The scheme of the Law Society reflects credit on the public spirit of the Society and, if finance is no difficulty, would, I think, be an improvement on the present system.

I am not sure, however, that so elaborate and comparatively expensive a scheme is justified at present.

Sir Ross was blandly out of touch with the situations of applicants, especially married women, for whom prosperity and full employment meant nothing. However, he went on to suggest that the situation be monitored and that if, once the present system was liberalised, demand showed the system was failing, the Law Society’s scheme should be revisited. His suggestions for liberalisation of the existing legislation resulted in proposed amendments, but these were not introduced in the session of 1951 and the file note referring to this was stamped ‘FILE AWAY.’

The documents convey a distinct impression that members of the Premier’s inner circle simply declined to properly put their minds to the subject. Seen in this context, Sir Ross’s opinion was a convenient way out. Perhaps the fate of this project typifies the way in which other submissions of the Law Reform Committee were dealt with. Were they all too esoteric to be properly considered, with large and tangible imperatives to be dealt with? It may explain the Law Society’s pessimistic assessment of the State Government’s attitude, aired in 1948.

The scheme did not rest in peace. With the change of government in 1953, the Solicitor General again raised the issue with E Nulsen, Minister for Justice.19 He described in detail why the Law Society’s scheme was preferable to any expanded version of the Poor Persons Legal Assistance Act and concluded: “If you so desire, I shall be glad to take the matter up again with the Law Society, with a view to submitting up-to-date proposals.” This was also stamped ‘FILE AWAY.’

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A decade of tradition

Post-war shortages and central planning were drawing to a close at the beginning of the 1950s. Two demographic phenomena were in progress: the baby boom and postwar migration. In 1953, under ‘Naturalisation of Articled Clerks’, it was resolved “that the Society recommends to the Government an amendment to the Legal Practitioners Act to remove the qualification ‘natural born or naturalised British subject’ from Section 9 of the Act.” A need was recognised but there was no discernible influx of practitioners from overseas at that stage.

Population, economic activity, building and public works all burgeoned as the 1950s progressed. All these flowed through to a general increase in legal work, but not in ways which presented radically new areas of practice or disturbed the status quo. Indeed, the decade of the 1950s was the high age of the traditional Western Australian profession and the Law Society reflected this.

By 1950, the profession was largely WA born and local traditions had accumulated. The generation of the gold rush baby boom were the senior practitioners of the 1950s. Son often followed father into a family practice. Firms tended to be either Catholic or Protestant and might have a connection with a particular school: Guildford Grammar, Hale School, Scotch College or Christian Brothers College.

Of the boys’ private schools, these schools had the largest student populations early in the 20th century. The girls’ schools, of course, were

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not considered relevant. The church, the lodge, the sporting interest and the gentlemen’s club remained important and the profession was a social fraternity in which it would be safe to say ‘everyone knew everyone else.’ Certainly, everyone knew the practitioners who had built up a reputation for their skill in court work over a long period. A ‘legend’ of the bar was Leo Wood, described as ‘a lion among advocates.’

The running of a legal office had not changed greatly for decades and the labyrinths of bookshelves and venerable office furniture symbolised this continuity. A solicitor might choose to perform a particular kind of work – wills or mortgages, for instance – but a general practice consisted of 'whatever walked through the door.' Some of the most lucrative business was from farmers.

Western Australia was still an agricultural economy and the 1950s saw high prices for wool and wheat.

Country practice was important and its challenges still daunting.

1951: Commission appointing John Virtue to the Supreme Court of Western Australia

In terms of office bearers, it was a very stable decade for the Law Society and this was typical of organisations throughout Western Australia at the time. It was customary for one of the two Vice Presidents to become President and to hold office for two years.

There was a Council of seven until 1958 when it was increased to nine and then 11 in 1959.

John Virtue, elected President for 1950, resigned in 1951 when he was elevated to the Bench. He was replaced on Council by Howard Reilly, known as ‘Dumb’ Reilly, for no reason

that has come to light, and certainly not as a reflection on his intellect. Between 1951 and 1957 John Hale, John Virtue, Hubert Stables, John Dunphy, Howard Reilly, George Wright and Oscar Negus accounted for all Presidents and Vice Presidents. In 1958, Francis Burt and Phillip Adams were elected Vice Presidents.

Membership of the Law Society increased from 79 in 1945 to 161 in 1950. Those practitioners returning from the war re-entered the profession. The students of the late 1940s were completing their courses and gaining admission, having been incubated in the same law school and articles training as the previous generation. Payment of articled clerks had not changed, except in real terms, as it was undermined by inflation. The Law Society supported a proper scale of rates but the Barristers’ Board ruled in December 1949 that it was to be left to the discretion of practitioners.

Low payment of articled clerks remained an issue through the 1950s.

The Law School at the time was still small relative to later times. But it had its own lively collegial life and the Blackstone Dinner and the Law Students Association Ball became part of the Law Society’s social calendar.

The annual round of social events had carried on from the 1930s. It was a pleasant addition of the 1950s that Howard Reilly’s connection with WA Newspapers gave him access to the stately launch ‘Hiawatha.’ Lloyd Davies, in his book on Sheila McClemans, commented on the Law Society’s social functions. At the time: These were not merely occasions for recreation. In their informal atmosphere professional problems were shared and discussed, cases were sometimes settled between opposing solicitors and, for the

young, there was much that could be learned about law and procedure from older practitioners who became more approachable as the wine flowed.20 This was also a form of continuing legal education. An instructive anecdote, even from times long past, still had practical application as little had changed.

At the annual general meeting of 1952, the President, Hubert Stables, stated that the Law Council was desirous of knowing how many of the profession would be attending the Coronation in the United Kingdom as the Law Society of England intended to hold a small function. King George VI had died and the young Princess Elizabeth was to be crowned Queen Elizabeth II. From here on, those distinguished at the bar became QC instead of KC.

The issues of the early ‘50s Since little had changed and the Law Society’s attempts at reform had largely been frustrated, the issues of the time were either continuing because they were inherent in legal practice or were unresolved. The question of costs gained prominence. In 1951, it was announced that the Supreme Court’s scale of costs was to be increased by 100 percent. Justice Wolff requested that Council prepare a scale of costs to cover all charges not included in the existing scales. This task progressed over two years.

In 1953, the Law Society was requested (again

by Justice Wolff) to draft rules and this work fell to John Dunphy. It is an example of the large and complex work undertaken by individual

members of Council at the time. The Law Society recommended that the revised 780 pages of Supreme Court Rules be bound in loose leaf.

In 1952, the President appeared before a select committee of the Legislative Council appointed to enquire into the activities of private enquiry agents. The provisions of the Matrimonial Causes Act supported an industry of sleuths whose task was to discover either party to a marriage in a compromising situation with a non-party. It was resolved by Council that the President should give evidence along the following lines:

1. Private Enquiry Agents are necessary in view of the existing grounds for dissolution of marriage.

2. No registration of Agents is required except for those involved in investigation of any matrimonial causes.

3. Licences to practise as Agents should only be granted to persons of proven good character and at the discretion of a Magistrate.

4. No person other than a licensed Agent should be allowed to recover fees for enquiry work.

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The issue of etiquette in court came to prominence in 1953. To paraphrase the minutes of 6 May: Attitude of Magistrates to the Profession: Council recommended an approach be made to Magistrates expressing Society’s concern at the deterioration of relations between the Bench and the Bar and suggested that general complaints by the Bench might be referred to the Society in lieu of being made the subject of a public announcement, and where individual practitioners are concerned the matter be dealt with in chambers.

Attitude of Magistrates to Witnesses and Parties: Council recommended that a conference be held by Magistrates with a view to ensuring that witnesses are not deterred from coming to Courts by conduct of Bench or Bar. Attitude of Judges to profession, parties and witnesses: Council recommended no approach be made to the Judges but that there should be included in the Professional Etiquette Rules at present being drafted, rules for the guidance of practitioners when appearing as Counsel.

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The press: Council recommended an approach be made to the press to withhold from publication the name of a practitioner when the practitioner is personally criticised.

It can be imagined that the press of the time was enjoyably occupied in court, noting down the scathing comments made by the Bench to practitioners. Chief Justice Dwyer was known to be so vicious in his sarcasm that there were practitioners who appeared before him and never went in to court again. Apparently witnesses and parties were not exempt. It is not surprising that Council recommended no approach be made to the Judges.

The annual general meeting of 1954 was held on 21 April. The President, Howard Reilly, was able to report progress. Draft rules relating to professional etiquette and conduct had been prepared by Council and it was intended to circulate these to all members for discussion at the next meeting. At the meeting of May it was resolved “that Council expand the Rules at present drafted, with a view to eventually providing a code.” Two reports on professional conduct were submitted by Committee and approved by the Council. This was part of a long-term process.

With reference to law reform, the President reported: It is pleasing to record that members of Parliament are making increasing use of the Society for advice on Bills introduced into the House and as a result the opinions of your Council have been sought and given. It is, of course, too much to expect that our opinions would always find acceptance but … the fact that we are at least consulted is, you will probably agree, a considerable advance in status.

The Law Society discussed the idea of a joint Parliamentary Law Reform Committee as proposed by Hale and Virtue in their paper of 1948, but this did not proceed.

The major problem of inadequate legal sources remained unresolved. In 1954 the Law Society once again pursued the matter of consolidating and annotating the Western Australian Statutes.

The Solicitor General responded that there were not the resources within the Crown Law Department to undertake this massive task.

Judges continued to take handwritten notes of trials. Under the heading ‘Mechanised Reporting in Criminal Trials’, the minutes of 13 June 1956 stated that “a mass of information has been obtained and submitted to the Judges.” Nothing changed.

A committee structure

President Oscar Negus reported in 1955: “The subcommittee system became effective during the year and enabled the Council to streamline its work.” The initial committees were Professional Affairs, Poor Persons Legal Assistance, Law Reform and the Social Committee. The Professional Affairs Committee encompassed not only the important matter of professional conduct and ethics but also insurance against professional negligence and other issues concerned with the financial underpinnings of practice. A voluntary scheme

of professional indemnity insurance and a voluntary superannuation scheme were under investigation at the time.

A Costs Committee and a Legislation Committee were added the following year.

Costs had clearly grown in importance, not only as a concern but as a demanding area of work. The Legislation Committee had the role of representing the Law Society’s viewpoint to legislators. It considered proposed legislation, which might include testing the views of the membership.

At this stage, committees were sub-committees of Council, whose number was increased to 11 members in 1959, each member being on at least one committee. The introduction of standing committees identified and channelled the Law Society’s major areas of activity. Over time, the committee system expanded in scope and evolved into the medium through which large and rapid social and legal changes were translated into tangible issues and practical solutions.

Drunken driving: a rare controversy

It was rare for a policy issue to ruffle the surface of the Law Society in the 1950s, however the matter of ‘drunken driving’ under Section 32 of the Traffic Act elicited unusually diverse views. The British Medical Association (as the AMA was still known) wrote to the Law Society suggesting that blood alcohol content form the basis for the offence. This was considered by Council and it was resolved: 1. That Council could not support BMA proposals in their present form 2. That the Society in a general meeting be asked whether, as a matter of policy, the Society should concern itself in the matter

3. That Council approves the principle that the alcoholic content of the blood should be used as a test to determine whether or not a person should drive a vehicle 4. That Council is of the opinion: a. That a new offence should be created viz: being in control of a vehicle with a certain alcoholic content in the blood; b. That a person charged with this offence should be able to himself require a test of blood and urine and that in default of such a test the allegations in the complaint as

to blood alcohol content should constitute prima facie evidence.

A general meeting decided that a joint committee of the BMA and the Law Society should be formed for the purpose of considering the medical and legal issues. After considerable deliberating, the joint committee made its recommendations. But these were not palatable to the Law Society and this became a long running matter. Issues with both legal and medical implications were evolving with medical science.

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Country matters Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the population of country WA remained a great deal larger, in relative terms, than in more recent times. When the annual subscriptions were increased in 1951, the inconvenience of practising outside the metropolitan area continued to be recognised: Metro – admitted over 5 years: £4 4/Metro – admitted less than 5 years: £3 3/Country: £2 2/The inadequacy of court hearings was a particular bane of country practice and was highlighted in a file entitled ‘District Court’, opened in 1952.21 The name referred to the system of rural courts in Queensland, which had been drawn to the Law Society’s attention.

Bunbury was at the forefront of lobbying for country interests, and in 1955, it was recorded that a movement was afoot which might lead to the formation of a south west branch of the Law Society. This was furthered with a Council meeting held in Bunbury.22 The Minutes of 30 September 1955 recorded: On Saturday 9th September 1955 all members of Council (except one who was out of the State) attended a meeting of South-Western practitioners held in Bunbury. Those present included every practitioner in Bunbury, Harvey, Manjimup, Bridgetown, Collie and Busselton with the exception of one whose absence was due to illness in his family...

The meeting was a great success and dealt with various problems of country practitioners. It was followed by sporting

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fixtures in the afternoon and a dinner at the Rose Hotel in the evening. The Council suggests that similar meetings should be held in other country centres in the ensuing year and that consideration should be given to the amendment of the Constitution to provide for the formation of country branches and the holding of State Conventions at regular intervals.

At the meeting of 14 March 1956 it was resolved “that a Committee, to be known as the South West Conference be formed to include all members in that area, and that a copy of the Resolution, signed by the President and under the seal of the Society, be handed to the Committee.” Bill Pidgeon and Reginald Withers, both in practice in Bunbury, were instrumental in this.

Thereafter, the South West Conference held its own meetings, commented on the decisions and reports of the Law Society in Perth and referred many practical issues to Council. Some were specific to country areas: inexperienced police officers acting as clerks of courts in the country due to frequent transfers, for instance, or the delay experienced by country practitioners in having sub-division applications dealt with by the Town Planning Board. Others were concerns shared widely across the profession.

The close working relationship between the Law Society in Perth and the South West was crowned in 1958 by the first South West Legal Convention, held in Bunbury.23 This was an ambitious venture. No similar residential gathering of legal minds had been arranged by the Law Society.

The Convention was planned for the weekend of the 26-27 July and was preceded by much liaison between members of the South West Conference and the Law Society’s Secretary in Perth. Accommodation, hospitality and local activities were organised by practitioners in Bunbury, while invitations, numbers of guests and the question of whether wives would be in attendance were dealt with by the Secretary in Perth. The Law Society covered specific costs.

The guest list began with three judges and many familiar names from the Law Society. More than 40 practitioners from Perth attended, many with their wives. Together with country practitioners and wives, there were 103 people on the list.

The South West Convention was much more than a large and distinguished gathering out of Perth. With the more changeable 1960s at hand, it evolved into ever broader discussions, with participants from yet more distant places. And the important dimension of country hospitality endured.

Members of Council, including the President, occasionally attended meetings in Bunbury. The Law Reform Committee took up the matter of a better court system and made representations for more frequent visits by the Supreme Court to ‘Country Areas.’24 It was neither immediately successful nor a complete solution, and the issue continued well into the 1960s, eventually culminating in quite a different ‘District Court’ system from the Queensland scheme considered in the 1950s. It could be said that, as a result of the South West practitioners’ initiative, the interests of the profession in the country were at least structured into the business of the Law Society.

1958: Programme from the South West Convention

1957: 30 years have passed

The annual general meeting of 1957 was held at the Adelphi Hotel, and attended by 30 members. We can imagine the gentlemanly rumble of conversation through the haze of smoke which wreathed any professional gathering of the time. The President reported that, in consequence of “the growing business of the Society”, it had been found necessary to obtain an assistant for the Secretary, Mr A Greadell.

The Sale of Goods Act, among other things, was under review by the Law Reform Committee and this partly reflected the social problems created by the customer credit system of the 1950s, known as ‘hire-purchase.’

In the same year, Lloyd Davies approached the Law Society about the activities of the bailiff in the Kwinana-Rockingham area. A new class

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of debtors increased pressure on the Poor Persons’ Legal Assistance Act. The report on that Act stated, “With the passage of time, it has become more and more apparent that the present Poor Persons Legal Assistance is inadequate for the purpose and, as members will be aware, the Society has, for a number of years advocated the introduction of some system such as that in force in South Australia, but with no result.” During the year, 83 applications had been received and it proved possible to assist 54 of these.

The Department of Native Welfare wrote during 1957 asking the Law Society if it would “have any objection to the granting of legal assistance to people having Aboriginal blood.” The Law Society replied that it would not object. There are occasional reminders of what a different world it was.

The Legislation Committee was in the process of liaising with Federal Ministers about a Commonwealth Matrimonial Causes Bill. In principle, the Law Society was not opposed to uniform divorce legislation throughout Australia.

However, based on consensus among members, it put forward several points, the first being that the ‘five year separation’ ground should be preserved as “it constitutes statutory recognition... that marriages which have hopelessly broken down should be dissolved.”

In 1957, word was received informally that the 11th Australian Legal Convention would be held in Perth in 1959. A planning committee was formed. This was not only a triumph for Perth, but also symbolic of a widening view of the world.

A wider world: the Australian Legal Convention, Perth, 1959

During the late 1950s, Perth eagerly anticipated the Empire and Commonwealth Games to be held in 1962. This event indicated that the world at large was finally prepared to assemble in Perth – at least occasionally. At the same time, the Law Society was making local arrangements for the 11th Australian Legal Convention.

Oscar Negus QC was elected as the first Western Australian President of the Law Council for 1958/59. The Law Council’s own history describes him as, “a former President of the LSWA who would subsequently be appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1962. A partner at Parker & Parker in Perth, he demonstrated a particular interest in law reform and in advancing the relationship between the Australian and overseas legal professions.”25 Negus played a large part in organising the Convention and was also in the chair. Regrettably, neither the programme nor the Law Society’s own file on the Convention has come to light, but The West Australian covered it in considerable detail.

‘LEGAL MEN GATHER TODAY’, the edition of 14 July 1959 announced. The article began:

About 163 lawyers from other States and overseas, including 26 judges, as well as judges and numerous barristers and solicitors in Western Australia, will attend the 11th Legal Convention of the Law Council of Australia which will open this afternoon.

The Convention was launched at Winthrop Hall with a speech by the Governor, Sir Charles Gairdner, and a keynote address on ‘Our Common Heritage’ by Sir Holroyd Pearce, Lord Justice of Appeal. From The West Australian’s article, we can gather what the rest of the programme had in store. The remaining sittings were to be at the YAL Hall in Murray Street.

Quoting from The West Australian: Papers which will be presented and discussed at the Convention will be: •

“Some Aspects of the Judicial Process in the Supreme Court of the United States” by Mr Justice Harlan, as Associate Justice of that court.

•

“Law Reform in England” by Dr A.L. Goodhart, K.B.E. Q.C., Master of the University College, Oxford University.

•

“Company Directors” by Sir Douglas Menzies, a Justice of the High Court of Australia.

•

The convention will discuss on Friday some aspects of the Matrimonial Causes Bill.

On Thursday, the first annual general meeting of the Australian section of the International Commission of Jurists will be held in conjunction with the Convention.

On Friday, an address entitled “The State as a Defendant” – prepared by Lord Somervell of Harrow, who was unable to attend – will be read by Sir Edward Pearce.

The learned and lively discussion over the next several days was reported comprehensively.

The session on the Matrimonial Causes Bill was especially lively, as it elicited widely differing views. The programme concluded on Saturday, 18 July with “attendance at sporting fixtures.”

Provision was also made for an optional three day tour by train of the South West “timber, fruit growing and dairying districts.” There were no vineyards to mention at that stage.

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1959: Blackstone Society

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

As the decade ends

The 11th Australian Legal Convention brought the 1950s to a successful conclusion for the Law Society and the signs were positive for the decade to come. A Council of Law Reporting was formed to place Western Australian Law Reports on a better footing. It consisted of the Chief Justice, a member of the Law School, John Hale QC, and Phillip Adams. It was convened by Francis Burt. By March 1959 it was in working order and ready to select material. Though not part of the Law Society, it was a move towards improvement in sources of the law.

A new constitution for the Law Society’s Law Reform Committee recognised the importance of that function. The existing Committee was to remain a ‘steering committee.’ In essence it was given power to delegate and to form subcommittees for particular purposes. It was moved that Judges and representatives of the Law School sit on the Committee. There was a special resolution that a ‘Statute Law Reform Committee’

be constituted to deal with special subjects and was to include a Judge and a Law School representative. It was also clarified that law reform matters were to be submitted in principle and committees were not to undertake drafting. Thus law reform, as a part of the Law Society’s business was expanded in scope and capacity and the membership broadened.

In February 1959, Justice Wolff became Chief Justice on the retirement of Sir John Dwyer.

He kept the Law Society in harness, signifying to the President that he “would welcome the formation of a Society Rules Committee, with or without the Master of the Supreme Court, to make recommendations from time to time for the amendment of Supreme Court Rules.” A Rules Committee was duly formed. More importantly, Chief Justice Wolff, though formidable in his own way, did not reduce practitioners to nervous wrecks and was receptive to the viewpoint of the profession.

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The legal assistance scheme of the future

Nineteen fifty-nine also saw the astonishing resurrection of the Law Society’s legal assistance scheme of 1950. Throughout the decade, the Solicitor General, in concert with the Law Society, had continued to raise the dire situation of legal assistance in Western Australia. The situation was also of direct concern to the Association of Women Justices of the Peace whose members dealt with the desperate plight of women seeking protection orders without legal representation. In 1959, after six years of inactivity by Emil Nulsen, Arthur Frederick Watts became Attorney General and brought a fresh perspective to the portfolio.

The Association of Women Justices had, from time to time, written to Emil Nulsen, Minister for Justice, imploring him to at least extend the

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scope of the Poor Persons’ Legal Assistance Scheme to include matrimonial issues.

Eventually a letter from a Mrs Kastner, of the Association, and addressed to Nulsen, reached Watts. He appears to have been appalled by the situation and by the operation of the Poor Persons’ Legal Assistance Act generally.

He instructed the Crown Law Department to change the condescending ‘Poor Persons’ Legal Assistance Officer’ to ‘Legal Aid Enquiry Assistant.’

Watts had already determined to change the system fundamentally when his attention was drawn to the Law Society’s original scheme. From then on, things moved at a gallop in the Attorney General’s and Crown Law Departments. In April 1959, the Attorney General contacted the President, Howard

Reilly and, as a result, the Law Society became directly involved in translating the original proposal of 1950 into a practical arrangement with the Government. Apprehending a flood of matrimonial issues, the President suggested to the Attorney General that these matters be excluded. This received a frosty response. The letter from Mrs Kastner JP had, in part, spurred Watts to action: matrimonial matters would be included.

In essence, the scheme which went to cabinet had no legislative basis. It was a funding arrangement whereby the Government would provide an annual grant of £3,500 paid in monthly instalments to enable the Law Society to carry out and take complete responsibility for the Legal Aid Scheme. Premises would be provided in the Supreme Court building, which

had been under renovation. There was to be no statutory means test for applicants and the Law Society had complete discretion in dealing with applications. Moreover, the scheme was entirely voluntary, except for paid support staff. The guidelines for solicitors laid down: “The scheme is a form of charity, but, from the viewpoint of the profession, [it] may be regarded as experience gained in much the same way as medical honoraries regard their work at public hospitals�.26 The substance and intent of the original proposal was retained. And so the temporary setback of 1950 was overcome and a great work of the next decade set in motion.

1959: Letter from President, Howard Reilly to the Attorney General regarding the Poor Persons Legal Assistance Scheme

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Chapter Notes:

Presidents: 1950–1959

17. The documents mentioned in connection with this matter are found in State Records Office, Western Australia, Consignment 6815, Crown Law Department, Item 1961/03352, Legal Aid Scheme. (Crown Law, Legal Aid Scheme).

18. The letter in question is strangely unsigned and undated but is from Sir Ross’s address at 20 Mount Street.

19. Crown Law, Legal Aid Scheme, Solicitor General to Minister for Justice, 30 July 1953.

20. Lloyd Davies, Sheila: A Biography of Sheila Mary McClemans, Leichhardt, NSW, 2000, 142.

21. Law Society of Western Australia Incorporated, State Library of Western Australia, Acc 3554A, MN 931, Item 348, ‘District Court (Circuit Courts)’.

22. Minutes of meeting 18 August 1955.

23. State Library of Western Australia, Law Society of Western Australia Incorporated, Acc 3554A, MN 931, Item 384, ‘South West Conventions.’

1950 – 1951 John Evenden Virtue (1905 – 1986) About: Admitted WA 1928; founding partner Godfrey Virtue, Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1951 – 1975); Senior Puisne judge (1969-1975); KBE.

24. Minutes of Meeting, 6 March 1959.

25. The Law Council of Australia: the People, the Profession and the Institutions, Canberra, 2007, 99.

26. Law Society of Western Australia Incorporated, State Library of Western Australia, Acc 3554A, MN 931, Item 33A, ‘Legal Aid Scheme’.

1951 – 1952 Hubert Taylor Stables (1897 – 1972) About: Rhodes Scholar (1918), Admitted WA 1923; Partner Villeneuve, Smith and Keall.

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

1952 – 1954

1954 – 1956

Howard Vincent Reilly (1905 – 1973)

Oscar Joseph Negus (1902 – 1970)

About: Admitted WA 1932; Partner Dwyer and Thomas.

About: Admitted WA 1926; Partner Parker and Parker; Queen's Counsel; Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1962 – 1969).

1956 – 1958

1958 – 1960

George Dundas Wright (1917 – 1975)

Howard Vincent Reilly (1905 – 1973)

About: Admitted WA 1948; Partner Jackson McDonald, Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1975).

About: Admitted WA 1932; Partner Dwyer and Thomas.

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55 Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia 1964: Perth skyline Source: John McCall, Creative Commons

Chapter Four

1960–1969

90 Years of the Law Society (1927-2017) | Page 56

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An epic work begins

Nineteen sixty marked the beginning of 16 years during which the Law Society carried the provision of legal assistance in Western Australia. At a meeting of 15 June 1960, President Howard Reilly announced “the appointment of Miss S. McClemans as Secretary of the Society as from 1st July (which was received with applause).” Sheila McClemans was not only to be Secretary to the Law Society, but was also charged with establishing the Law Society’s Legal Aid Scheme as a going concern. It was 10 years, almost to the day, since the Law Society had first submitted its proposal for such a scheme to the Attorney General.

The new Secretary’s responsibilities included dealing with practical arrangements for the Scheme and the legal fine tuning, and also acting as the first line of professional advice.

She had the assistance of one typist. Sheila McClemans was one of very few female practitioners in Western Australia at the time.

But they had all earned their stripes and there was never any doubt of the respect accorded to her. Since her admission in 1933, she had led a life of achievement which included setting up the first all-female partnership with Molly Kingston during the 1930s and taking a leading role in the Women’s Royal Australian Navy during the war. In the middle 1950s, she established her own practice, specialising in divorce and undertaking much pro bono work.27 Ian in particular had worked closely with her, and was able to vouch for her ability to

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“assume responsibility for quite a complex project, make an immediate assessment of the most efficient way to handle it and act accordingly, yet at the same time to refer it to the sub-committee concerned for approval, so that there would be no suggestion of autocracy on her part.”28 There could be no better background or personal qualities for the work at hand.

The scheme was a dramatic departure from anything previously undertaken by the Law Society, despite its enduring involvement in pro bono work. This was a service to the public which needed a physical premises, a budget and continuing management – crisis management to a degree, as resources were always stretched. Sheila McClemans recalls the basic process: “It was the job of the Law Society to receive the applications, to vet them and decide whether they had legal merit as well as being within the means test – it wasn’t a rigid test – and then to assign them to various solicitors.”29 The foreboding of the President that matrimonial cases would cause a flood of work was well placed: the dependence of women and the regime of divorce law remained a recipe for personal crises. However, the Secretary was able to dispose of most of these matters. Of the 90 applications received in the first calendar month, she dealt with 48. The other large group comprised criminal cases, and most of these were referred to a Committee to be assigned or rejected. Services of counsel were

of most benefit in criminal matters.

In reaching a decision, the Committee made both a moral and legal assessment.

An application might be rejected as either ‘undeserving’ or ‘no legal merit.’

Once the Legal Aid Ian Medcalf Scheme was in Source: Parliament of operation, a myriad Western Australia of administrative and legal issues arose. What happened if the applicant was unable to pay for costs such as court fees, obtaining evidence from experts and so on?

The government grant was increased slightly to cover unavoidable costs. Where assistance was refused – and the Committee had complete discretion – an avenue of appeal to the Council of the Law Society was created.

South Australia had provided the model for the WA scheme and Sheila McClemans began what became a long-term correspondence with her counterpart in Adelaide. In 1962, while on a trip to Melbourne, she called in at Adelaide to confer in person and see the South Australian scheme in operation.

At the annual general meeting of 1961, it was noted that “recognition should be given to

those practitioners who served on the Legal Aid Committee, which involved considerable and continuous work.” Between weekly meetings, the Committee might be called upon at short notice if a case raised an urgent matter.

Sheila McClemans recalled: “Practitioners were prepared to do work for no fee at all.

It was entirely voluntary, and they were wonderful.”30 She emphasised that, not only did solicitors work for nothing, they also excluded themselves from taking paying matters for the duration of a voluntary undertaking. And later in the same interview: “We asked them to put their names on the roster and on the roster their names went.”

It can be inferred that the Secretary was just the person to achieve a high level of selfless cooperation, given her own imposing presence and the common knowledge that she was moving mountains herself. Former Chief Judge Kevin Hammond, then practising in Northam, recalled that the Secretary would be aware if he was coming to Perth and he would find her on the telephone asking him to “just pop in to Wooroloo” on a legal aid matter. “She was irresistible,” he commented.31 This early scheme was an epic of dedication by the Committee, the Secretary and those undertaking the pro bono work. The arrangement endured for eleven years and was followed by a second and larger scheme which was only replaced by the Legal Aid Commission.

1960: Letter from Sheila McClemans to Crown Law Department regarding costs issues

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1960-62: The Burt-McClemans years

The traditional profession was still in its heyday during the 1960s, but the social context of the decade favoured a general broadening of outlook and an increase in activity. Television arrived in Perth in 1959 with TVW Channel 7, soon joined by ABW Channel 2. It was, of course, black and white and primitive, but wondrous nonetheless. The first small screen became part of life. The television age raised new questions of professional conduct.

Practitioners appearing on TV might purport to represent the views of the profession or try to promote themselves. Advertising by practitioners was permanently on the agenda, but off the screen, at least for the next two decades.

Within government, there was much practical re-assessment of institutions and processes, which generated many enquiries with associated legal issues. This flowed into legislation. Law reform as an activity of the Law Society was at the height of significance in the 1960s. As in the legal aid field, there was no government instrumentality dedicated to the process. Even though the Law Society maintained political neutrality and avoided ‘policy issues’, it nonetheless performed all the functions of a law reform agency in key respects.

This phase of the Law Society’s history reflected a quickening pace – and a dynamic

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team. At the annual general meeting of 25 October 1960, Francis Burt QC was elected President. An excerpt from his oral history interview reads: INTERVIEWER: Just how did you view the Law Society and its role in that period?

BURT: It was a very important period of the Law Society, I think, and a period of rapid growth, not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively, not due to anything I did to it, I don’t think, but due to a very large extent to what Sheila McClemans did to it.32 As Secretary of the Law Society, Sheila McClemans had an uncanny way of furthering ideas and projects, not only in the legal aid field. The demands of the time and the number of her letters on various files beg the question: how did she do it? Even so, Sir Francis’ reluctance to take any credit should be disregarded, except as a sign of modesty. He recalled this as a time of deliberate broadening out – loosening the grip of Howard Street, as he termed it. Howard Street was, of course, the heartland of the Perth profession. He saw the 1958 conferences in Bunbury as part of this broadening process.

Within the Law Society, there was a clear emphasis on a wider involvement of members, which set the tone of the future. This happened in a number of ways.

c1960s: Sheila McClemans during her time as Secretary of the Law Society

The first Summer School

In late 1960, a combined initiative of the Law School and the Law Society launched the idea of a workshop for the legal profession. The complexity of the Taxation Act was the catalyst, and thus taxation became the subject of the first Law Summer School. Sir Francis recalled: It was becoming apparent that people who graduated at the time that I did, the development in the law was really overrunning them. It was happening so quickly. The Summer School was designed to keep people up-to-date with what was going on. I think it was pretty important.

This was not planned to be an annual event.

But it was deemed an unqualified success and the President was of the view that it should be repeated. The subject for 1962 was the new Federal Matrimonial Causes Act. After that, Summer School became an institution.

In an article published in Brief in March 2006, Robert Nicholson recounted the unusual origins of the first Law Summer School, held in 1961: My father, a solicitor, had been invited by the Barristers’ Board, the precursor of our present Legal Practice Board, to present lectures to the articled clerks on revenue law. This covered income tax as well as the now long deceased subjects of death duties and gift duty. Although it was his custom to usually spend Saturdays in the office, he then added Sundays to the same category. He went down to the UWA Law School library, then in its temporary accommodation, and worked on reviewing cases and preparing his lectures.

You may think this an irrelevancy to the origins to the Summer School. In fact at the same time as he was doing this there was present in the Law School that wonderful character Willard H Pedrick. He was then a Professor of Law at the University of Chicago and subsequently became Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Arizona.

He was an entertaining and engaging person, distinguished by the regular wearing of a The University of Western Australia campus, location of the first bowtie and the ability Law Summer School Source: The University of Western Australia to talk with students and professors alike. In private companies for State probate unprecedented moves for the times, he and Federal estate duty purposes; on entertained us at home, enrapturing us with tax planning schemes; and generally the his wonderful piano playing. He too worked subject of avoidance and evasion of tax in the law library on the weekend. was also discussed, along with the topic of Out of inevitable conversations between overseas travelling expenses in respect of Willard Pedrick and my father came which lawyers were entitled to deductions. the idea for having a Law Summer The latter topic was doubtless designed School to discuss revenue issues. It was to attract enrolments. The papers were around that topic that the first Summer presented by stars of that time including School was constructed. There was a Justice Negus, Philip Adams QC, Robert discussion of Gale’s case on the issue Ainslie QC, John Wheatley, FTP Burt QC of valuation for gift duty purposes; on and HV Reilly. private superannuation schemes; on the valuation of shares in partnership and Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

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The golden age of the general meeting

In 1961, the operation of the new Commonwealth Matrimonial Causes Act was a matter which concerned all States. The general meeting of 22 February 1961 took the form of a forum on this issue. A panel of five explored various aspects of the Act and Rules, and discussion followed. The President stated that, given the interest evinced, a panel discussion would also be appropriate when new legislation such as the Uniform Companies Act was brought forward. Again, a way of galvanising discourse gained its own momentum on the President’s initiative.

Topics for panel discussion at general meetings were wide ranging.

Among them were the possible abolition of civic juries, the efficient administration of the legal office, and a scheme, suggested by the Child Welfare Department, for keeping certain juvenile offenders out of the court system.

At the general meeting of 18 April 1962, the topic was ‘Principles for the guidance of practitioners in

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Professional Conduct.’ The panel consisted of the President and Howard Reilly. The Professional Affairs Committee had taken advice circulated to practitioners in 1955 and 1959, together with the matters on which guidance had been sought from time to time. From them, the Committee extracted a set of principles. The President expressed the view that these should be drafted in terms which were as general as possible, while applicable to any complex issue. Panel members explained the alterations which had been made and the meeting recommended a number of matters for Council to consider further. Justice Hale then gave “a most informative talk on professional conduct in court.” The important work of revising and updating the rules of conduct had taken another step.

This meeting is an example of the lively and informative discussion of the time. It served as continuing legal education and provided a way for Council and various committees to seek the ideas of

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

the membership. Attendances edged towards 50 and important decisions were made. It was the golden age of the general meeting and this was part of the new dynamic.

In his report of 1961, Francis Burt observed that, apart from its practical aspects, the year’s work had resulted in a greater consciousness of the law as a vocation and of the sense of "brotherhood" which all true vocations create in those who serve in them. This he felt, “was reflected in a very real change in the relationship between the members of the profession one to another and in the relationship between the Bench and the Bar.” Howard Reilly observed that the past year had probably been the most successful in the Law Society’s history, and Max Kott said the Law Society now had force and reflected the enthusiasm of the Council and members.

The Law Society of Western Australia Professional Conduct Rules

A sense of history

The eighteenth of June 1961 marked the centenary of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. The State Government joined with the Law Society to hold a State dinner to celebrate the occasion. The High Court was sitting in Perth at the time and its judges were able to be present along with Ministers of the Crown, and other guests – 204 in all.

The Assistant Secretary compiled a History of the Law Society from the first meeting of June 1927 to 1960, detailing many of its activities chronologically and extracting names of office bearers. The Law Society’s attention was drawn to the neglected state of the grave of William Henry Mackie, the Chairman of Quarter Sessions in the new Swan River colony. An inspection was made of the grave and the Law Society resolved to make a contribution to its upkeep.

The Law Society also recognised that it had a history behind it. The

Annual Report of 1962 opened with an interesting historic overview: This year which has just ended was the thirty fifth year in the life of this Society. When the Society was first formed, twenty four practitioners met together in the Library of the Supreme Court to form a Society of legal practitioners. It is interesting to note that of those twenty four, the following are currently members of the Society: The Hon JL Walker QC, Mr TS Louch QC, Sir Ross McDonald QC, and Mr HS Parker. It is also interesting that the following who attended the original meeting, were the fathers of practitioners who are at present members: Mr JN Nicholson, Mr MG Lavan, Mr RH Goodman, Mr RD Lane and TAS Davy.

The Annual Report of 1962 made history in itself as it was the first to be printed as a booklet, obviously with a wider distribution in mind. The two years which Francis Burt had

spent as President lifted the Law Society to a new level, especially in the field of law reform. He concluded his report of 1962 by reflecting on the purpose of a Law Society: If service to the law is truly definitive of the function of the lawyer then it must, I think, be definitive of the functions of the Society in all matters other than domestic matters. We are not individually nor collectively concerned with the quality of substantive law nor with the results it produces. We are only concerned and we are exclusively concerned to see that there is law and that it operates so as to produce the result which it prescribes.

The phrase ‘there is law’ is pertinent.

He especially condemned the areas of ‘no law’ in which the absolute discretion of a Minister or a board excluded the rule of law. The task of a Law Society was to vigorously defend against any erosion of the rule of law.

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Comings and goings

The new Chief Justice returned to WA from an overseas trip in February 1961 and was welcomed at a well-attended function. He immediately signalled his intention of revising and re-writing the Supreme Court Act and this naturally involved the Law Society. First he set a committee to writing a schedule of costs relating to the Matrimonial Causes Act. During 1962, Oscar Negus QC was elevated to the Supreme Court Bench. Howard Reilly replaced him as the Law Society’s representative on the Law Council and remained in that position for six years. It was generally anticipated that Howard Reilly would go to the Bench. He was certainly a giant of the profession at the time. However, he became thoroughly involved in Law Council affairs and the national body’s links with Western Australia were strengthened. In 1965 he received an OBE for services to the legal profession.

During his second year as President of the Law Society in 1962, Francis Burt QC went into private practice as a barrister. He was joined

by John Wickham, Terry Walsh and Gresley Clarkson and, in 1963, the four established the Western Australian Bar Association. The Law Society, including Burt himself, was determined that an independent bar would not divide the profession and it was a requirement that those wishing to join the Bar Association were also members of the Law Society.

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Phillip Adams was elected President for 1963 and remained until the end of 1964. In his President’s Report of 1963, he emphasised the continued integration of the profession, as other States apparently had gained the wrong impression. He observed: “Unity in the profession is very important. I am happy to report that in this State, the Law Society is recognised as speaking for the profession as a whole.” An enduring principle was thus reinforced.

Council members were elected by secret ballot for the first time in 1962 and the number increased from 14 to 17. The President reported: It has been a decision of the Council that it is wise policy to spread the work of the Society amongst as many members as possible and to bring fresh blood to the Council. For that reason some practitioners who have been members of the Council for some years have not stood for reelection. Membership of Council ought to be a keenly sought honour for which there ought to be a contest.

Council would continue to include a country practitioner, but also two practitioners of not more than five years standing. For the first time, a role for young practitioners was formalised.

The larger Council allowed for more committees. During 1961, a Complaints

Committee was formed, following an amendment to the Legal Practitioners Act which empowered Council to make a complaint to the Barristers’ Board if it was of the opinion that a prima facie case existed against a practitioner for conduct warranting disciplinary action.

A new standing committee, the Tertiary Education Committee was formed in 1962. The Commonwealth Government was sponsoring an enquiry into tertiary education and the Law Society made its own submission. The university law course and its relationship to articles training was set to become a great deal more challenging in the next several years.

In 1963, a House Committee began investigating suitable accommodation for the Law Society. At that stage, increased space in the Supreme Court building was already needed to cope with the expansion of the Legal Aid Scheme.

The first technological advance in the Law Society’s operations occurred in 1962, when Council acquired a duplicator. This was the forerunner of the photocopier. It was reported: “Already it has proved its use to practitioners, and the work done on it, in appeal books and the like, costs the practitioner less than it does to have the work done elsewhere and it is to be hoped that members will avail themselves of this service.”

1963: Ceremonial, social and educational

The Social Committee of the Law Society became the Activities Committee, in recognition that the Society had expanded its repertoire.

The newly broadened Committee organised ceremonial, social and educational events.

The Opening of the Legal Year consisted of a church service in either St George’s or St Mary’s Cathedral attended by the judiciary and practitioners and followed by a procession back to the Supreme Court. In 1963 it was reported: After the respective services, members of the profession, including judges, assembled in Supreme Court Gardens for a photograph. In all, 152 practitioners and judges appear. It will be hung in the Law Society’s rooms at the Supreme Court.

The topic for Summer School for 1963 was ‘The New Trusts and Perpetuities Legislation’.

It concluded with an informal buffet. A lively ‘collegial’ life was described: a cricket match against the Law students, golf matches against the Chartered Accountants and the AMA, a Christmas cocktail party and the annual dinner attended by the High Court judges.

Former Chief Judge Kevin Hammond recalls the High Court Dinner of the 1960s as a formal, black-tie affair with good and interesting speeches. It was the major gathering of the profession and provided the opportunity for

country practitioners to meet people they only knew through correspondence.

now stay at the Highway Motel, as well as the traditional Rose Hotel.

Newly admitted practitioners and those who had been in practice for 50 years were invited to informal parties. On 6 November, a farewell dinner was held to mark the retirement of Professor Beasley. He had been associated with the Law Society since its inception and at this stage a majority of members would probably have studied under him.

In 1963, the practitioners of Geraldton issued an invitation for the 1964 Convention to be held there. There were attractions:

There were also more casual gatherings with both a social and educational element. New terms indicated a new way of gathering: ‘forum’, ‘seminar’, ‘buffet’, ‘smorgasbord’. Two seminars on the new Companies Act were held at the Law School and the President paid tribute to the help the profession received from the Faculty of Law. The August general meeting was also attended by members of the medical profession at the Law Society’s venue with a forum consisting of two lawyers and two doctors. The sharing of perspectives and knowledge between professions was also increasing.

A suggestion has been made for a chartered airlift… If the Convention was held in late September it might be possible to include a barbeque picnic out amongst the wildflowers. The everlasting daisies around Geraldton are, of course, a wellknown tourist feature of the area.

There were 98 attendees at the Geraldton Convention in 1964. The subjects that year emphasised crime and punishment and included the thought-provoking ‘Power without discipline – the rule of no law.’

The Bunbury Convention of 1963 – ‘the happiest event of the year’ – demonstrated that this occasion had become significant in its own right. The Chief Justices from all States of Australia and from New Zealand attended. There was the added excitement that guests could

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1963: Opening of the Legal Year First row: P Panegyres, G Sadleir, M Nash, J Rodgers, M McCusker, I Warner, T Kakulas, G Honniball, J Forrest, B Singleton, R Nicholson, E J Picton-Warlow, T Walsh, I Cearns, W Bryant, J O'Halloran, G Harvey.

Second row: I Medcalf, J Lavan, H Reilly, J Lalor, H Solomon, K Dougall, P Godfrey, F O'Dea, M Solomon, J McMillan, M Kott, E Tindal, T S Louch QC, J P Durack QC, Sir Ross McDonald QC, P R Adams, the Hon Justice R Nevile, the Hon Justice L W Jackson, the Hon Chief Justice A A Wolff, the Hon Justice J E Virtue, the Hon Justice J Hale, the Hon Justice O J Negus, the Hon Justice Dunphy, E F Downing QC, G J Boylson QC, F T P Burt QC, S Connor, Q Stow, R Stoddart, R Williams, R Bryant, J O'Halloran, G Clarkson.

Third row: R Jahn, I Viner, W Godfrey, F Hill, H Cogan, J Daly-Smith, G White, W Kingsbury, H Macoboy, J Dewar, J Lefroy, V Fabricius, J Nicholson, K Olney, L Turnbull, G Bedford-Brown, K Burton, C Gibson, T Draper, E Heenan, S McClemans, B Walton, J Dunphy, K Walsh, L Regan, L Wood, D Darge.

Fourth row: R Chappell, B Kakulas, J Syme, H Olney, C Robertson, K Paterson, P Massie, M Lewi, J Wickham, O Dixon, B Marshall, J Lemonis, H Craven Smith-Milne, C Hopkins, C O'Sullivan, F Ackland, W Callaghan, K Biddles, J Heulin, T Davy, K Rodgers, W Blackwood, P Brinsden, R Jones, J Heenan, R Holmes, E Edwards, G Keall, H Lodge, R Iddison, E Pearson, P Connaughton, J Samuel.

Fifth row: R Walker, C Boys, I Gunning, P Atkins, S Offer, P Sharp, R Hammond, A Dodd, I Connor, J Fewings, A Gibson, B Smith, J Prickett, B Ollquist, J Marian, J Elsey, A Wallace, J Mazza, H Smith, R Nowland, I Stephenson, G Kennedy, J Manera, N Durack, J Toohey, W Goodlet, P Collins, D Heenan.

Sixth row: G Staples, A Barblett, B O'Dea, D Anderson, C Langoulant, D Morris, B Rowland, R Bertram, D Sander, R Kott, D O'Dea, J Tippett, R Lynch, D Connor.

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c1960s: Procession at the Opening of the Legal Year

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The Circuit Court: partial relief for the country

There was a breakthrough in 1963 when the Circuit Court, which visited Kalgoorlie, was extended to Bunbury, Albany and Geraldton.

Receiving word of this from the Chief Justice, the Law Society responded that it “rejoices to see the commencement of a system for which it has long been an advocate.”33 The Circuit Court would sit four times a year in each centre.

The Law Society was the medium through which the Chief Justice made arrangements which would be practicable for the profession in the various towns. Among other things, the Secretary advised country centres that there might be a ‘fitting ceremony’ to mark the opening of the Circuit Court.

At the beginning of each visit, the judge found himself accompanied on the bench by Members of State Parliament, local government personnel and other dignitaries, with an overflow of worthies in the jury box. When the laying of a plaque was scheduled to delay the business of the court in a particular town, the Chief Justice advised the Secretary of the Law Society that, though he was ‘not displeased’, the time had come to dispense with the ceremony.

The Circuit Court mitigated the situation for country centres, but it was only a stage on the way to a proper District Court system. Four years of quickening change passed before the Law Society seriously took up that issue.

1967: Letter from the Chief Justice concerning inadequate accommodation

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Law reform: ‘intense activity’

Along with the Legal Aid Scheme, the everincreasing and more complex work of the Law Reform Committee was the defining activity of the decade. In each of these fields, the Law Society was largely responsible for a function which would eventually be taken over by a government agency – the Legal Aid Commission and the Law Reform Commission respectively.

The restructuring of the Committee in 1959 bore fruit as the work grew. The Chief Justice chaired most meetings and sub-committees co-opted members of the profession with specialised knowledge. The workload was heavy and was not limited to meetings as individual members undertook to research particular subjects. For each matter under consideration, an ad hoc sub-committee was set up to study the problem raised. In this way, the committee system expanded, even though all were under the general umbrella of law reform.

There was an endless variety of law reform matters. Some were generated by official enquiries and reports, which were many.

Certain items were especially challenging. The Mental Health Bill 1962 was described as “a most contentious Act which was a monumental task for the Committee dealing with it.”34 This replaced the Lunacy Act 1903 and much subsidiary legislation.

An amendment to the Criminal Code to decriminalise attempted suicide was referred by Parliament. The Law Society vetted this for legal issues and concurred with the legislation.

Both this and the mental health legislation exemplify a trend away from moral judgments and legal sanctions on human misery. This was a sign of the future.

The social context of the 1960s raised new concerns. There was accelerating suburban growth and also new concepts of high density living. Blocks of flats were set to mushroom and the concept of strata titles was under extensive discussion in the lead up to the Strata Titles Act 1966. Legislation to create a new kind of title to property was an enormous undertaking and the Law Reform Committee was closely involved.

Institute of WA (REIWA). The Law Society drew REIWA’s attention to an unconscionable clause in the form of offer and acceptance. REIWA undertook to keep the Law Society informed on changes to the scale of charges so that it could alert members. This early liaison grew to a working relationship on ‘pro forma’ real estate documents and to a new Conveyancing Committee.

During the 1960s, there was communication with other States and the Law Council, as a number of new enactments were Federal and their implications were under consideration by all States. The Law Council requested the Law Society to form a Law Reform Committee under its direction and the Committee already constituted took on the dual function, thus placing “extra strain on an already burdened committee.”35 The same report listed 21 matters considered by the Law Reform Committee. The Jenkins Report on a Uniform Companies Act gave rise to a new standing committee on the Companies Act.

In relation to property matters, the Law Society also began liaising with the Real Estate

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A second generation President: John Lavan 1964-66

The election of John Lavan as President for 1964/65 was an auspicious event as his father, Michael Lavan, was a foundation member of the Law Society and served as President from 1930 to 1935. By 1964, the question of better accommodation for the Law Society had progressed from urgent to dire.

It was important to keep the Legal Aid Scheme office close to the Supreme Court for convenience and to minimise cost, so the Law Society had focused on the Old Court House adjacent to the Supreme Court as a prospective premises. The building was occupied by the Arbitration Court, which was to vacate it at the end of 1964. The Law Society moved promptly to register its interest.

John Lavan was able to report in 1965: ...the problem (accommodation) has been resolved by our being granted the tenure of the historic building at the side of the Supreme Court which, until recently, has been occupied by the Industrial Arbitration Court. This building was erected in 1837 and was the first Supreme Court in the State. In its original concept, it functioned simultaneously as a church, a school and court. It will provide us with much better accommodation for the administration of the Legal Aid Scheme and at the same time provide us with an ideal home for our other Society activities. Restoration of the building is to be put in train36.

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He later recalled working with Sheila McClemans on this process: Another thing that we managed together was the renovation of the premises. Apart from the fact that with great diligence, Sheila McClemans was able to get hold of the last remaining shingle maker in Western Australia and consequently the re-roofing of the premises was undertaken and completed, she was also able to scrounge from the Government stores on temporary issue only, the chairs which were in the original Parliament House in Western Australia. As far as I know, they’re still there37.

So began an association between the Law Society and this historic structure which has evolved in ways that could not have been foreseen.

In 1965, Sheila McClemans resigned as Secretary. A party to mark her retirement from the post drew “a record attendance, indicative of her popularity throughout the profession...” In her five years in charge of the Legal Aid Scheme, she had gained a great deal of knowledge of both Criminal Law and associated human issues, even though this was not her area of practice. Loris Wood became Secretary. However, Sheila McClemans remained Assistant Secretary and continued her involvement with the Legal Aid Scheme; more hands on deck were certainly needed.

1964-66: President John Lavan

1967: Change in the air In the final report of his presidency in 1966, John Lavan reflected on what the future might hold for the Law Society: As we look to the future, not only of the Society but of the State, we must appreciate that our role must of necessity emerge beyond being merely the sounding board of the profession. The Society might well lose ground rapidly if it applied too literally the objectives set out in the Constitution38.

No previous president had spoken in terms of the Law Society’s future in the context of the State, nor urged this breadth of interpretation.

John Lavan QC was not a radical, but change was in the air. Following iron ore discoveries in the Pilbara, the embargo on the export of iron ore was lifted in 1960. Mount Whaleback was the first deposit to be developed. Mount Tom Price and Mount Newman followed. The first shipments of iron ore left Western Australia in 1965. It was already apparent that the State’s economy was shifting, although no-one quite foresaw the extent of the coming mineral boom and its effect on Perth.

David Malcolm had been elected one of the two junior members of Council. In July 1967, his time on Council was curtailed when he accepted an appointment with the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines. He kept in close contact with Western Australia and the subject of Asian development entered the discourse, just as Asia was also about to become a major factor in iron ore exports.

Within Australia, a broader shift in identity was in progress, from an outpost of Britain to a part

of Asia. Legal issues in Asia now involved Australia, in particular the rule of law as a principle concerning all and still a dream for many. An international perspective was also apparent within the Law Council. In August 1966 a conference of seventeen Countries in Asia and the Western Pacific was held in Canberra and from this emerged the Law Association of Asia and the Western Pacific – LAWASIA.

1966: President Gresley Clarkson

The constituent members of the Law Council formed their own Law Asia Committees and Western Australia, in this respect, was especially close to the action. A new – and quite different – stream of activity emerged.

In America, the civil rights movement was gaining force, as were protests against the Vietnam War. A more questioning outlook had sprung up, especially amongst youth, and ran

parallel with the old order, even in Perth. In a number of ways, it was becoming clear that the future would not be a larger and brighter version of the past.

Taking the long view, it might be said that the Law Society’s first 40 years were followed by a decade of transition to new ways and new assumptions and that this in turn led into 40 years when change within the profession and the Law Society never ceased. That transition had begun.

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The Legal Contribution Trust Fund and another delayed Legal Assistance Scheme

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From the outset of the Law Society’s legal assistance scheme, available resources were inadequate to handle the demand. The Annual Report of 1963/64 observed that the Law Society “is in the unhappy position of being in the path of what is really a social problem and not a legal one.” Each applicant needed a professional standard of attention which meant that they could not all be dealt with immediately. Appointments needed to be made, and in some cases the delay precluded any real assistance. Reluctant compromise was unavoidable. Despite all this, the service made a huge difference to many people.

After considerable debate, the Society resolved to endorse a scheme whereby an indemnity fund should be established and that money be raised for the establishment of such a fund, from the interest on trust accounts on a similar basis to that recently introduced in Victoria and that the fund so established should be used:

A scheme with no statutory basis and only government funding was inherently insecure.

On 22 October 1964, Francis Burt wrote to Sheila McClemans recommending that the Law Society put to the Government a proposal which would give the Legal Aid Scheme a statutory basis and make it self-funding. This idea was taken up and the President reported in 1965:

c. such other purposes as the Society might approve 39.

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

a. for the payment of compensation to clients who may suffer loss from defalcation by Solicitors. b. the financing of a Legal Aid Scheme; and

It might be noted a scheme to cover defalcations by solicitors had been on the table since the 1930s.

Such a fund would obviate the need for voluntary legal aid work and enable solicitors

to receive 90 percent of their fees. The Minister for Justice was receptive to the idea and the Professional Affairs Committee began the work on the specifics. During 1966, much liaising took place with the Solicitor General and relevant Crown Law officers to produce a legislative scheme which eventually came into being as the Legal Contribution Trust Act 1967.

It was then a matter of the scheme becoming operational.

President John Dewar reported in 1968 that the amount in the fund from the deposit of solicitors’ trust funds exceeded $1,400,000, which would yield approximately $60,000 per year. However, the first claim on the interest was the establishment of a guarantee fund.

Part 5 of the Act, which provided for a Legal Assistance Scheme, needed much planning and fine tuning. Another three years passed before the second Legal Aid Scheme became operational.

Training and numbers

By the middle of the decade it is clear that things which had worked in a relatively static profession did not work in one that was part of a rapidly growing and faster moving society.

The population of WA grew from around 600,000 to 1,000,000 during the 1960s, due to both immigration from Europe and the iron ore discoveries of the mid-1960s. The ‘North West’ came into prominence.

The legal profession was inadequate in numbers and under pressure. This raised other issues: the Complaints Committee formed in 1962 had found that delays and oversights by practitioners – failure to answer letters or phone calls – had increased.

The Law Society kept a close watch on a course for legal executives offered by the West Australian Institute of Technology. But in the circumstances, it was thought not such a bad thing if practitioners were able to delegate some tasks to those with such training. An Institute of Legal Executives was formed in

1967 and a co-operative liaison with the Law Society was established.

Meanwhile, lawyers from the Northern Territory who wished to practise in the North West, as well as others who were coming to Perth from interstate, were all required to spend six months as clerks in practices before they could be admitted in Western Australia. The need for reciprocity became urgent. This issue ran into the next decade.

In 1967, the new Law School Building at the University was under construction. It was suggested to the Law Society that a fountain in the courtyard would be a suitable contribution.

The fountain was not straightforward and neither was the future of legal education. In the mid-1960s the first members of the post war baby boom arrived at university. There was pressure on numbers and a coming surge into the profession.

Against this background, both the Law School and the Law Society were closely considering

the four year law course followed by two years of articles. Tertiary education was a policy issue in the 1960s and the Law Society had submitted its views on legal education to an enquiry in 1962. Five years later, there were many more graduates – which were needed – but not enough practices with the time and inclination to take them as articled clerks.

In his report of 1966/67, John Dewar observed, “The system of articled clerks, as either a complete or partial means of preparing for practice as a lawyer, has become beset by difficulties which were unknown 10 years ago. The task of placing students in offices has become a very serious problem.” The same issue had been encountered by other States, the report continued. It concluded “it appears that the solution might well have to be revolutionary in nature.” The matter, of course, did not subside. Instead, legal education, as an issue and as an activity, was set to grow in the years ahead.

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The Permanent Law Reform Committee

Since the 1940s, the Law Society had advocated an official Law Reform Committee which would include the judiciary, practitioners, academics and members of the Crown Law Department. This was taken up again in 1963 and more specifically by John Lavan in 1966.

A statutory body based on the Law Society’s model never eventuated. Until 1968, the Law Reform Committee was, in fact if not officially, performing the function of the law reform body in Western Australia. In 1968, the Government

took a major step. The President was pleased to report that an official ‘Permanent Law Reform Committee’ had been established in January of that year. It was, of course, the precursor of the Law Reform Commission.

The permanent Committee consisted of three members and an Executive Officer. The Law Society’s nominee and Chairman was Barry Rowland. The President went on to note that the Law Society’s own Law Reform Committee

was not redundant, as matters were still referred to it by outside organisations and the Committee also initiated its own investigations.

The Law Society was not at all protective of its leading role: the President described the permanent committee as “the greatest step forward in this State for many years.” He anticipated “a new era of productive reform.”

This was borne out by events in the following decade.

The District Court

Despite the Circuit Court, the judicial system was still failing country WA. In the South West, some Police Magistrates were not qualified to hear civil cases. Local court work was placed at the bottom of the Circuit Court list so that cases were often not reached or not concluded. The generally unsatisfactory situation led to cases being settled on terms which ought not to have prevailed. North of Geraldton, all Supreme Court matters were to be heard in Perth which discouraged litigation generally – and the North West was growing in population and importance.

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In 1967, William Pidgeon, representing the South West Conference, put it to the Law Society that the time for a County Court system had arrived. A District Court Committee was convened by Peter Brinsden.

In the changed climate of the late 1960s, the Committee went back to first principles and examined the legislation in other states. The priority was to serve the country areas; but the overload of Supreme Court cases in Perth had also entered the equation40. This was an issue close to the Chief Justice’s heart as

he had once been a country practitioner and was now exposed to the pressure of numbers on the Supreme Court. The Law Society and the Chief Justice shared the view that judges in any future District Court should not be resident in the regions but rather centred in Perth with frequent regional sittings. The need for another layer in the court hierarchy had become an issue for the whole state, including the metropolitan area. This was the key to the model adopted.

As the decade ends

President Bob Wallace reported in 1969 that membership stood at 360 and that “younger members of the profession are taking a greater interest.” 41

arranged that the newly appointed judges would be permitted to serve on the Law Society’s committees. John Toohey became a Vice President.

There were departures both happy and sad.

John Lavan QC and John Wickham QC were elevated to the Supreme Court Bench, as was Francis Burt QC. With the burgeoning workload, such losses were critical. On a sombre note, the Law Society mourned the deaths of Justice Negus and the previous year’s President John Dewar. The committee system had grown significantly over the 1960s. At the end of the decade, each member of Council was on at least one standing committee and was called upon to convene ad hoc committees on special subjects, including group insurance against negligence, Titles Office procedure and public relations.

Sydney Good QC, an important public officer in the Law Society’s work, , and a former member of Council, was appointed chairman of the District Court. He had chaired the Third Party Claims Tribunal which had always concerned the Law Society, as it was outside the judicial system, despite being in capable hands. The creation of a District Court saw the tribunal brought under the jurisdiction of the Minister for Justice. It remained under the Chairmanship of Good, now a judge in his own right. This was welcomed by the Law Society.

In 1967, it had been decided not to increase numbers on Council and instead to second more individuals to sub-committees.

Participation by members increased rapidly.

The Professional Affairs Committee had become the precursor of the Executive. It consisted of the President and two Vice Presidents and acted “as the cipher for minor matters in between monthly meetings of the Council and making recommendations in respect of more serious matters to the Council at its monthly meetings.”42 The imminent establishment of the District Court created a further pressure. Of the Council elected in October 1969, three members -Robert Jones, Desmond Heenan, Bill Pidgeon -- were elevated to the District Court. It was

A farewell to Sir Albert Wolff was the bestattended event of the year and he was congratulated on his elevation to Lieutenant Governor. His replacement, Chief Justice Jackson, transformed the disposition of the Bench from formidable to courteous and amiable.

The Legal Aid Scheme battled on under ever more pressure. Its caseload was a study in social problems begging real solutions.

WA was not alone in this: correspondence between the States and even with Hong Kong and Canada showed that all were faced with different versions of inadequate resources and intractable problems.

The President reported that it was hoped to commence the new scheme, based on income from the Legal Contribution Fund, in the new year. But the Law Society had only recently

Albert Asher Wolff Chief Justice of Western Australia, 1959-69 Source: May it Please Your Honour: a History of the Supreme Court of Western Australia from 1861-2005

been in a position to accurately assess what its likely income under the Act would be. A watch was being kept on a similarly constituted scheme in Queensland which, after three years of operation, was already in financial difficulties.

A deputation to the Minister for Justice was planned to try and find a solution. There were many issues in progress when the 1970s arrived.

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Chapter Notes:

Presidents: 1960–1969

27. Kathryn Spurling, ‘McClemans, Sheila Mary (1909-1988)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, online.

28. Lloyd Davies, Sheila.

29. Sheila McClemans, Interviewed by Christine Shervington, October 1982.

30. Sheila McClemans, Interview 1982.

31. Chief Judge Kevin Hammond, discussion with Author, May 2017.

32. Transcript of Interview with Sir Francis Burt, Interviewer, Rhonda Jamieson, 1994-5.

33. Law Society of Western Australia Incorporated, State Library of Western Australia, Acc 3554A, MN 931, Item 348, ‘District Court (Circuit Courts)’.

34. Annual Report, 1961/62.

35. Annual Report, 1962/63.

36. President’s Report, 1965.

37. John Lavan, Oral History Project (transcript of recording), p 54.

38. President’s Report, 1966.

1960 – 1962 Francis Theodore Page (Red) Burt (1918 – 2004) About: Admitted WA 1941; Partner Joseph Muir and Williams, first President WA Bar Association; Queen's Counsel; Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1969 – 1977); Chief Justice of Western Australia (1977 – 1988); Governor (1990 – 1993); AC; KCMG.

39. President’s Report, 1965.

40. Brief, March 1990.

41. President’s Report, 1969.

42. Annual Report, 1968/69.

1962 – 1964 Phillip Rennell Adams (1908 – 1994) About: Admitted WA 1935; Partner Stone James; Queen's Counsel; CMG.

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1964 – 1966

1966

John Martin Lavan (1911 – 2006)

Gresley Drummond Clarkson (1916 – 2005)

About: Admitted WA 1934; Partner Lavan and Walsh, Queen's Counsel; KT; KT St J; Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1969 – 1981); Senior Puisne judge (1977 - 1981). Son of Michael Lavan, the Law Society’s second President.

About: Admitted WA 1939; founding member WA Bar Association, Queen's Counsel; AM; Judge Supreme Court Papua New Guinea (1966 – 1975).

1966 – 1968

1968 – 1970

John Samuel Charles Dewar (1911 – 1969)

Alkin Robert Alexander (Bob) Wallace (1924 – 2011)

About: Admitted WA 1935; solicitor.

About: Admitted WA 1950; founding Partner Kott Wallace (later Kott Gunning); AO; Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1972 – 1991); Senior Puisne judge (1983 – 1991).

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1971: Fremantle Prison Source: Creative Commons

Chapter Five

1970–1979

90 Years of the Law Society (1927-2017) | Page 78

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Change comes from without

The quickening pace of life and legal practice, apparent in the 1960s, became a surge in the 1970s. Everything moved more quickly and things which had never moved were shaken loose. Change came from without. The mineral boom had become a force of history, changing the State’s economy from agricultural to mining and also bringing Western Australia into

the world of international finance. The legal profession and eventually the Law Society were in the path of this transformation.

Rapid change within Western Australia coincided with an historic watershed in the Western World. Post-war baby boomers were entering adult life and the professions. Already

Legal education – the issue of the decade

The issue of legal education reached a new stage in 1970. The Legal Education Committee received a submission from the Law School which persuaded it that the system of two year articles had broken down and that the Law course should be extended to five years to include a first year in another faculty. The high failure rate at first year level indicated that there was a need for greater maturity in students commencing Law. The students in need of greater maturity were baby boomers who, by then, comprised the student body.

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The articles system and practical legal education as an alternative were under discussion across Australia in the 1970s.

The University formed a Post Graduate Legal Education Committee and the Law Society had equal representation with the Law School. From then on, the rapidly developing and rapidly changing circumstances of articles training engaged both Law Society and Law School for the decade ahead. The issue would be revisited.

a younger group of adults – those trained in the 1950s and 1960s – were rising in importance within the Western Australian legal profession.

More generally the age of tradition and acceptance moved into an age of change and questioning and this extended to policy level.

The Law Society was a mirror of the times.

Law reform in transition

Law reform as a major undertaking was settling into a new era, during which the Law Society worked with the Permanent Law Reform Committee, which prepared the way for the Law Reform Commission.

President Peter Brinsden reported in 1972: “The Law Society dealt with so many matters affecting law reform that it is difficult to know which ones to single out.” During the Permanent Committee’s interregnum, the Law Society adjusted to furthering its law reform aims in several ways. It responded to the recommendations of the Committee and could apply to the Attorney General to have the Committee examine legislation, an example being the Limitation Act 1935 and associated matters.

The triumph of 1972 was to finally have a right of appeal included in the Liquor Act, “which the Law Society had been seeking for years.”43 It would appear from the context that this resulted from liaison with the Permanent Committee. By the time the Law Reform Commission was established in 1972, the Law Society had adjusted to taking a prominent role in a larger process.

Once in operation, the Law Reform Commission sought the views of interested parties in undertaking its projects and provided feedback through working papers. The Law Society was

c1970s: Chief Justice Lawrence Jackson heads the procession at the Opening of the Legal Year Source: May it Please Your Honour: a History of the Supreme Court of Western Australia from 1861-2005

a major party to the process and an authority on the legal soundness of any proposed legislation. President John Toohey QC reported in 1973 that, at the invitation of the Law Reform Commission, the Law Society made detailed recommendations on aspects of the Real Estate Act in need of amendment. The Minister for

Town Planning requested that the Law Society nominate a convenor of an ad hoc committee set up to examine the whole question of the appellate provisions of the Town Planning Act. A satisfactory outcome was achieved. A proper appeal process was an important ‘rule of law’ issue.

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Real estate and planning matters

The accelerating surge in suburban growth entered a new phase in the 1970s. The Metropolitan Region Planning Authority was created in 1970 to oversee the development of Perth. Within its own scheme of arterial roads and other major features directing development, each local authority was required to produce its own town planning scheme. Change of a type never before seen in Perth was underway at the time and there were thorny legal issues. The main topic for the Summer School of 1971 was town planning.

Property transactions and town planning processes were intermeshed in new and complex ways. A review of the Real Estate Act was among the first major works of the Law Reform Commission. President John Toohey QC reported in 1973 that, at the invitation of the Commission, the Law Society made detailed recommendations on aspects of the Real Estate Act in need of amendment. At this stage the Law Society was also liaising with and advising a number of bodies which had been creatred to direct aspects of growth.

The Minister for Town Planning requested the Law Society to nominate a convenor of an ad hoc committee set up to examine the whole

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question of the appellate provisions of the Town Planning and Development Act. Among the processes underway in the 1970s was the wholesale resumption of existing speculative subdivisions from goldrush days. These were inconsistant with planning for modern use but some blocks were occupied and there were many absentee owners. This was only one of many processes which generated grievances and appeals.

A proper appeal process was not only a practical necessity; it was also an important ‘rule of law’ issue. The Law Society objected strongly to the Town Planning Court, a creature of statute which enabled the minister to veto an appeal before it reached a hearing.

However, the Town Planning and Development Amendment Act of 1976 created an independent Town Planning Tribunal which the Law Society found acceptable. It did not come into operation until 1979.

With the upsurge in property transactions, the process of transferring land needed to be streamlined, but in a way which both clarified rights and obligations and provided for legal contingencies. The Law Society’s existing liaison with REIWA was stepped up and

focussed on devising a ‘General Conditions of Sale’ pro forma. The form devised by the Conveyancing Committee was approved by the Real Estate Institute and came into general use in 1970.

The actual form was the tip of an iceberg, which consisted of covering the broad legal issues, dealing with practicalities raised by practitioners, the Builders Association, local authorities, estate agents, settlement agents and others. Constant improvement was a work in progress. In 1975, all standard forms changed from foolscap to A4 – a sign of the times.

Standardising property documents became a key activity of the Conveyancing Committee.

One real estate issue of the decade, of great concern to the Law Society, has disappeared without a trace as it was a losing battle.

Settlement agents doing work once the preserve of lawyers was regarded as an encroachment. They were here to stay, of course, but not in legal offices. In 1972 a new professional conduct rule was introduced to cover practitioners running financial companies and settlement agencies, which was considered undesirable.

A new legal assistance scheme

Bringing the Law Society’s new legal assistance scheme into operation was the great work of 1970/71. This meant the end of the voluntary scheme which, by 1971, had served some 20,000 applicants, with roughly 9,000 assignments to solicitors. That scheme remains a monument to pro bono work and to the dedication of the scheme’s secretary and assistant secretary who somehow kept it afloat under ever increasing duress.

For the new scheme to commence, it was necessary to activate Part 5 of the Legal Contribution Trust Act which would create a Legal Assistance Fund. The fund needed to be adequate to cover the projected administration of the scheme and payment to solicitors at the rate of 90 percent of scheduled fees. The Legal Contribution Trust Act was amended to raise more money by requiring that 65 percent rather than 50 percent of the minimum balance in solicitors’ trust accounts was to be deposited with the fund. This delayed the commencement date.

Sheila McClemans sat on the committee considering the draft regulations to cover the new scheme. Arrangements in other jurisdictions were studied. Once again, it was a matter of creating much of the procedure from the ground up. She recalled that, by that time, she felt she had become too closely involved with legal aid and she resumed private practice,

joining Hammond, Fitzgerald and King where she remained until 1980.

Under the new scheme, a statutory means test replaced the discretion of Council. A legal and clerical procedure was put in place to cover both clients referred by practitioners and those who applied directly.

In the middle of 1971, everything was happening at once. The question of premises was urgent. When the District Court moved from the Supreme Court building, there was space for the staff working on setting up the scheme. On 6 September, Loris Wood was appointed as supervisor. Only when the High Court had finished its sittings was he able to take up an office.

There was a need for the Law Society and the legal assistance premises to be close to one another. Fortuitously, space became available in the old Treasury Building when the Department of the North West moved elsewhere, and that was considered to be ideal. On 3 October, Part 5 of the Act came into operation. The finances of the scheme were separated from those of the Law Society, as a result of which it was necessary to double the subscription. At 9.00am on 4 October the doors opened to the first client of a coming deluge.

shopfront service was situated in the Padbury Building on the present site of Myer Forrest Chase – then Forrest Place. By October 1973 there were some 60 practitioners involved, under a management committee. From the $2 fee paid by clients, the Bureau had amassed $4,632 and had become able to pay rent for the premises. A branch was opened in the Fremantle Town Hall.

The second Annual Report of 1972/73 noted a close interrelation between “legal aid for Aborigines” and the Law Society’s legal aid scheme. Mr G McDonald of the New Era Aboriginal Fellowship became a member of the committee.

Nineteen seventy-four saw the scheme extended in two ways. A duty counsel attended at the Local Courts then in East Perth and Beaufort Street. It provided immediate advice and a degree of representation to individuals arrested or summoned. The service was extended to the North West with rostered tours of the area by local practitioners or those from Perth.

During the six years of its operation, this scheme embodied the upsurge in imaginative, public spirited initiatives which characterised the 1970s in many fields.

Other activities accrued. In 1972, a group of younger practitioners initiated a Legal Advice Bureau to give advice at a nominal cost. This

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The mineral boom and the changing profession

The mining economy fed into the legal profession and the Law Society in several ways. The nature of legal practice changed dramatically.

In the days when Western Australia was an agricultural economy, it could be said that if a farmer walked through the door, having come to Perth for Show Week, all else would be put on hold. Once the mineral boom was underway, miners arrived on planes from around the world at any time and required the same treatment.

Reform of the Mining Act 1904 was the subject of an enquiry chaired by Phillip Adams QC, former President. A Mining Sub-committee had been formed and kept a watch. When proposed amendments followed the enquiry, the Law Society objected strongly to a provision which would deprive certain litigants of the right to establish before the Supreme Court whether a right to a tenement existed. In other words, it expunged an existing legal right.45 The Fuel, Energy and Power Resources Bill was also in the drafting process and came under the same ministerial portfolio. The Sub-committee submitted a mass of detailed material concerning legal issues or pitfalls in both Bills – some going to fundamental legal rights. This is snapshot of the challenge the Law Society faced in trying to influence the legislative process when it involved fast moving issues and large interests.

Secondly, mining contracts crossed state and national boundaries and involved

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international companies – especially once iron ore became marketable. Asia and America entered the equation. The relative seclusion of the profession in Perth could not serve future needs.

In 1970, Section 20(a) of the Legal Practitioners Act was amended by the deletion of the six months residence requirement. This occasioned an urgent special general meeting attended by 71 members – a record number.46 It was resolved to make a submission to the Attorney General requesting that the amendment be reversed and the residence qualification re-

instated. Commenting on objections to the amendment, President Peter Brinsden reported: “Interstate lawyers with no intention of living in Perth can be admitted in order to attend to one matter. This has already been taken advantage of.”

splitting purposes was another idea which grated on purists, but which eventually proceeded.

A generational transition was beginning in the early 1970s and was reflected in different outlooks within the profession. The majority vote at the meeting, and the hint of indignation, were consistent with the traditional outlook on a Western Australian profession. Voluntary incorporation of legal practices for income

1973: The world comes to Perth – a second Australian Legal Convention In 1973, Perth hosted the Australian Legal Convention, for the first time since 1959. There was a marked difference. In 1959, an important gathering from the outside world was still something of a novelty. By 1973, the outside world was part of Perth. In 1959, the excitement of the occasion was the stature of the speakers, but the whole function could be held in one hall and was essentially for the enlightenment of the profession. Former Federal Court Justice the Hon Robert Nicholson AO, who was closely involved with organising the 1973 conference, recalls that the idea was to show that Perth was part of an international world 47. The conference was the inaugural event in the ballroom of the new Sheraton Hotel, itself part of a worldwide

chain. The cover of the conference programme featured the new skyline of Perth, but included an image of Eliza Shaw, a Swan River pioneer – a deliberate reminder that Perth had a history.

Among the memorable guests was Bob Meserve, President of the American Bar Association, known as counsel to the Kennedy clan, but also a fearless campaigner for ethical standards in a hostile political climate (Watergate). There were distinguished jurists including Farli S Nariman, Solicitor General of India. The breadth of topics not only marked a new maturity in the legal profession but was also intended to relate to the public: a televised panel discussion on legal issues included Dame Roma Mitchell, Bob Meserve and Gerard Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

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Brennan QC, future justice of the High Court.

Western Australia gained respect and exposure from the conference. Peter Brinsden QC became President of the Law Council for 1974 and when the Law Council set up a National Secretariat in 1975, Robert Nicholson became foundation Secretary-General, a position which he held until 1981. The Law Council established committees of its own in constituent bodies in the mid-1970s and the Law Society formed a Commercial Committee. The Law Council

also invited its constituent bodies to form local committees of Law Asia. The Committee formed in Perth entertained visiting Asian judges, lawyers and students throughout the year.

Behind the scenes The Convention was followed by a meeting of Executive Officers, showing that administration and management of legal associations was rising in importance, though not in Perth. The Secretary of the Law Society had become the Executive Officer in 1970 and the first incumbent was John Gardner. In 1972, the Law Society had 385 members and by 1973 its membership had grown to 435. Larger increases were on the way. The annual reports of the early 1970s routinely thanked the ‘small, loyal staff’ for their support. In fact, it can be inferred that the staff was so small it had to be loyal to stay and keep pace with the expanding horizons of the Law Society and the workload involved.

The Annual Report of 1970 observed: “Whilst the work of the Council has been onerous, it

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would have been quite unbearable were it not for the willingness of members of the profession generally to serve upon those committees which they have been invited to join.” The committee system was re-organised in 1970 so that each delivered a report to Council.

As new issues arose – and many would – the committee structure absorbed them. The trend was to involve more members from outside Council. In 1974, there were 50 such committee members. Council’s work increased and more matters were attended to between meetings by the President and Vice Presidents. Council meetings in the Old Court House were held around a kidney shaped table.

General meetings, on the other hand, were reduced from six per year to three, the three to include the High Court Dinner and the legal/

Bulletin, precursor to the Law Society's Brief journal. The edition pictured contains a reminder of the upcoming 17th Australian Legal Convention, held in Perth in 1973.

medical meeting, in order to comply with the Constitution. A special general meeting would only be called to make a major decision, an example being a resolution to support the abolition of appeals to the Privy Council, which was carried by one vote.

In 1970, the Law Society and the Royal Western Australian Historical Society combined to set a plaque in the Old Court House, recording its distinction as Perth’s oldest public building.

The structure was conveniently and pleasantly placed and also rent free. However, as the headquarters of a growing professional body, it was already outdated. The issue of additional or alternative accommodation was not resolved for another 12 years.

A Law Museum

In the 1970s, much of the modern built environment of St Georges Terrace rose from the streetscape of the past. The legal office was changing rapidly and those which contained relics or were relics themselves were cleared and renovated, or possibly demolished. The firm of Muir, Williams and Nicholson contacted the Law Society in 1973 about ‘historic relics’ which might form the basis of a law museum.

A Museum Committee was formed.

Members included Francis Burt QC and two representatives of the ‘spouses group’ which had taken much responsibility for entertaining convention guests. That group turned its hand to dealing with the historic items which were donated. It was decided early that the collection would relate to Western Australia, rather than the law generally.

At the annual general meeting of 1974, Lloyd Davies moved an important motion: That this Society takes whatever steps are necessary in an endeavour to obtain permanent title to the building at present occupied by what is known as the ‘Old Supreme Court and its curtilage’.

1970: The Old Court House, with the recently unveiled stone tablet at the front of the building

This was the start of a project which has evolved in ways that could not have been anticipated.

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Brief: new times, new voices

Some forty years after the last attempt to establish a Law Society journal, the mission was accomplished when Brief made its first appearance in February 1974. Edited for the first six years by Nigel Clarke, Brief brought the Law Society to life, putting a face to the profession – many faces – and also raising new voices. The young Robert French wrote an article on the activities of Past President John Toohey QC, who was spending a year of voluntary work assisting the Justice Committee of the New Era Aboriginal Fellowship to expand the Aboriginal Legal Service to the North West.

Malcolm McCusker opened the subject of legal education with a series of articles in which he doubted that the modified law course, with one year of LLB and one year of articles, achieved the breadth and depth needed.

The tone of Brief in the 1970s was thoughtprovoking, informative, anecdotal and often irreverent. Nigel Clarke carried the load of writing articles, eliciting them and, according to him, plagiarising.

There were many serious articles, such as ‘Know your professional conduct rules’.

There were also incidents of courtroom farce and the follies of early practice. Lloyd Davies became an unfailing raconteur. Paul Nichols, in a tongue-in-cheek article, mentioned items disappearing from robing rooms, and referred to “the increase in socialist beliefs among members of the legal profession.” Brief was also a forum through which committees described their activities and sought the views of members. It performed some of the functions of the old style general meeting, now history.

1974: The first issue of Brief

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From the President – legislative overload

Barry Rowland, in a column ‘From the President’ reflected: “The scope of the affairs of the Society is increasing at a rapid rate... I suppose the greatest change is in the volume of work undertaken by Council members and this is brought about, in the main, by an increase in legislative activity both at State and Federal levels.”

It was not only volume of legislation, but also content. The President observed: “In the past, the Society has tended to adopt a somewhat conservative approach when dealing with matters that might properly be regarded as policy, but I suspect that tendency is diminishing to some extent. The Society’s comments on proposed divorce legislation indicate this new approach.”

The new divorce legislation was the Family Law Bill. The legislative agenda of the Whitlam Labor Government was making its turbulent way through the system in 1974. The Bill was intended to

sweep away the Matrimonial Causes Act and its fault-based framework. The President expressed concern in Brief that the institution of the family may be eroded.

The more breathtaking Bill before Parliament in 1973 was the Human Rights Bill, which sought to implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966. The President reported that the Law Society was in favour of such a Bill being introduced.

On the other hand, the wholesale lifting of policy statements from international documents and their inclusion in the Bill as provisions to be legally enforced was criticised as “producing the greatest legislative change in our history.”

The Human Rights Bill lapsed, but the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 was a turning point. The concepts inherent in the social equality programs of the Law Society in 2017 emerged at this time.

February 1974: President Barry Rowland addresses readers in the first edition of Brief

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Practical Legal Training on the agenda

Commentary in Brief traced the evolving crisis of articles training.

In 1974, it was feared there would not be enough lawyers.

By 1977, there were articles such as ‘Lawyers to Burn.’48 Numbers at the Law School had risen significantly. The President reported that the Law Society was “actively seeking the assistance of its members in placing articled clerks.” Firms were surveyed and it was found that many did not want a different system, but time and cost factors meant that they did not want to take articled clerks either. There was a consensus that articles would not survive. Council appointed a special committee to plan and submit an alternative scheme should the need arise.

The Law Council of Australia held its first National Conference on Legal Education in Sydney.

New South Wales and Victoria had already set up practical legal training courses through the College of Law and the Leo Cussen Institute respectively.

The trend was unmistakable.

Geoffrey Miller, who attended the conference, wrote in his report, “I believe we can devise a Legal

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Practice Course of this type, to be conducted at the University of Western Australia Law School …

In essence it would be a substitute for articles.”

The discussion turned to various alternatives.

Hugh Guthrie, a keen contributor to Brief, suggested a form of training which could be run by retired practitioners and which would handle actual matters – simulated articles, so to speak.

Appended to the Law Society’s report of 1978 was a detailed plan of a practical legal training course, to be run at the Law School. It was touch and go whether WA acquired its own PLT course at that stage, as other states were in the process of doing. Apparently cost was a factor. The issue persisted; but there was less urgency in the 1980s due to changing economic circumstances.

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August 1974: Excerpt from Brief detailing President Barry Rowland's visit to Singapore for a legal conference

1977: ‘The ever whirling wheel of change’

At the 50th annual general meeting of the Law Society on 26 October 1977, President Terry Walsh reported: “Perhaps the highlight social function of the year was the Jubilee Celebration of the Society which was held on the 3rd October 1977.” He referred to TAL Davy’s motion to form a law association in June 1927 and continued: “Sir Lawrence Jackson KCMG gave a most enlightening address, tracing the history of the Law Society through the last 50 years.” Sir Lawrence had lately retired and been succeeded by Chief Justice Francis Burt.

The previous year, the High Court dinner had been held at the Parmelia Hotel in Mill Street.

Round tables had replaced the long ceremonial tables of times past, and women practitioners were present. Among the guests was Justice McTiernan, who had also been at the Law Society’s inaugural High Court dinner in 1934.

He was about to retire after 46 years on the bench.

Commenting on 1977, the President used the phrase ‘the ever whirling wheel of change’ – a term of the poet Spencer – to describe “the atmosphere of change that the legal profession in this State is currently experiencing.”

Membership of the Law Society was nudging 700, of whom some 40 were women. There were 21 committees involving 100 extra practitioners (a large increase) and the Law Society was represented on 21 outside bodies.

The work of committees represented both continuity and change. Reports show that each was taking a detailed and practical approach to a given area, formulating, researching, making submissions, liaising, and making representations to Ministers. This intensive level of work had run through the 50 years and would continue.

particular America. The traditional profession might have rolled in its grave, but there could no longer be a simple prohibition on advertising.

The report of 1977 stated: “In the long term, the whole of the Professional Conduct Rules of the Law Society of Western Australia will require careful examination from the Committees.” This was a project with a long and significant future.

Some were considering matters referred by the Legal Aid Commission. Yet we know that there were no staff servicing individual committees at the time. Effective note-taking and good memories were, perhaps, a factor in the clear and detailed reports. Despite the range of committees taking up legislative matters in their own fields, a Law Reform Committee was still relevant. As had always been the case, practitioners in their daily work noticed specific ways in which change was needed.

The Family Law Act had become part of the legal landscape, along with its court system.

When the Family Court of Western Australia was established in 1976, Alan Barblett became Chairman of Justices, as had been anticipated.

He had been thrust into the field of divorce law when a paper on Matrimonial Causes Costs was needed for the Law Summer School of 1962. Being the most junior member in the room, he was given the task. From there his practice in the area grew and led eventually to Family Law.49

An important new committee of 1976 was the Ethics Committee, with responsibility to advise Council on ethical issues and also practitioners who needed guidance in day-to-day practice.

The principal responsibility for ethical matters still lay with the Professional Affairs Committee, but often quick advice was needed. The Ethics Committee included a Queen’s Counsel for complex issues.

In the context of the late 1970s, advertising was a large and difficult area which intermeshed with the trend towards specialisation. The Committee studied other jurisdictions, in

A new area of practice had emerged and the Law Society called two meetings of practitioners interested in Family Law, under the auspices of the Council. The Family Law Committee grappled with Family Law Costs, which was a Federal matter and also involved the Law Council. In 1977, the Court was still developing and the Committee held two meetings with the Chairman to discuss the Court’s functioning. So the Law Society absorbed a completely new area of practice and a new judicial structure.

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An epic work concludes

The watershed of 1977 and in some ways, of the decade, was the establishment of the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia.

Financially, it was the right time for the Law Society to pass the baton. In early 1976, the President reported: “Unfortunately, at the beginning of this year, our scheme began to founder, not through mismanagement but lack of funds.”50 There were delays in payment of accounts. Solicitors offered to work for nothing to keep the scheme afloat. The response was “more than one could anticipate.”

Despite the Legal Assistance Fund, the Law Society’s legal aid scheme had always been subsidised by the Government. The establishment of the Australian Legal Aid Office had relieved the scheme of responsibility for matrimonial clients, but funding was reduced accordingly. An emergency Federal grant of $50,000 was procured for the remainder of

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1976. Meanwhile, the Law Society’s Council had been in discussions with the Attorney General, Ian Medcalf, on a new legal aid scheme for Western Australia and in 1976, the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia was established. It opened for business in 1977.

The Law Society’s legal aid scheme of the 1970s was undoubtedly a grand finale to the 50 years when the Society had taken primary responsibility for legal assistance in Western Australia. By 1976, the legal aid activities of the Law Society also included a prison visiting service and had cooperated with the West Australian Council of Social Services to place social workers at the East Perth and Beaufort Street Courts. The legal aid scheme and its offshoots were suited to the 1970s when young lawyers with a fresh outlook were coming through the system and when ideas could be

put into effect with a notepad, old and cheap premises and not a great deal else.

Sheila McClemans felt that something was lost when legal aid in Western Australia ceased to be the responsibility of the Law Society.

However, she became a member of the Legal Aid Commission from 1977 to 1980, and no doubt brought the spirit and philosophy of the Law Society’s service to the public with her, along with a vast experience of the issues. In the same year she was appointed CMG and awarded the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal.

The key feature of the Legal Aid Commission – which the Law Society had opposed – was its use of salaried in-house lawyers. However, once the new process was an accomplished fact, and policy issues began to emerge, the Law Society became an important source of advice.

Historic building, historic administration

In January 1977, Bill Robinson retired from the position of Executive Officer after three years of service “beyond the ordinary call.”51 The position was filled temporarily by DJ O’Dea and P Blaxall until the permanent appointment of John Franklin, former legal officer at the Law Society of New South Wales. After 14 months, he produced a document: ‘The Executive Director’s Report on the Administration of the Law Society of Western Australia from 1 June 1977 to 7 August 1978.’52 In that report the Executive Director listed the Committees of the Law Society and the number of times each had met that year. This was accompanied by the following: In the New South Wales Law Society, one professional officer is responsible for the functioning of four committees. This Society now has twenty two standing committees, four ad hoc committees and representatives on twenty outside committees. The number of committees is increasing. The staff of the Society consists of the Executive Director, one typist, a junior girl and an accountant.

It is because of this structure, apparent understaffing and lack of funds, combined with a yearly increase in both junior and

senior membership... that contributed to my decision of not staying permanently in Western Australia.

His intention was reasonably clear. The activities of the Law Society had seriously overtaken its administration and the keynote was a lack of resources. Redressing this situation was a coming challenge.

Meanwhile, the Old Court House as a headquarters became an increasing problem.

A report of 1978 stated: “It has been accepted by various Councils that the present Society premises are inadequate for present and future needs.”53 It went on to describe the situation in the Old Court House. The main hall was adequate for Council but not for general meetings, nor the twenty plus committees.

In addition to an office for the Executive Director there was “one room used as the general secretarial office and which carries the reception counter, the Society’s records in filing cabinets, photocopying or duplicating equipment and two employed female staff (inadequate).” Photocopying was the only technological advance, except the golf ball typewriter. It could be used by members at a charge of 20c per page. There were no toilet

facilities except those in the Supreme Court Building, which meant paying a security guard after hours. The pleasant surroundings were acknowledged, however.

The report also outlined the future needs of the Law Society, from the perspective of 1978 and how a larger space would be utilised. It foresaw the establishment of a legal practice course that might be on the premises, and also anticipated the replacement of both the Barristers’ Board and the Law Society by a single body.

Everything was thought possible at the time.

The administrative area would be divided into departments according to the major branches of administration – ‘legal, accounts, Guarantee Fund, practising certificate’. There were also ‘lunch-recreation room (women) and lunch room (men)’.

The Law Society had already enquired about room in other legal premises, including the District Court building, then under construction.

Nothing eventuated. Somehow, the Society struggled on in its historic setting for another seven years. However, in 1979, at the instigation of the Treasurer, Rory Argyle, the Law Society began budgeting for the landmark purchase of a property.

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The legal world reflects

At the Summer School of 1979, John Toohey delivered a paper entitled ‘Aboriginals and the Law: Lessons of 150 Years.’ A commentary by Ronald Wilson QC followed. It was also the year of WAY 79, which marked the 150th anniversary of the ‘settlement’ of Western Australia. This was accompanied by more celebration than reflection. John Toohey and Ronald Wilson, however, were among those in the profession who were confronting the assumptions of the past and, within a decade, these issues would be under close scrutiny at policy level and in the High Court.

The legal world generally was taking stock of itself in the late 1970s. In England, a Royal Commission was set up to enquire into the profession. The Law Society formed an ad hoc committee to follow the proceedings and to report to Council from time to time. David Malcolm wrote on ‘The Future Role of Lawyers’ in Brief of February 1978. At the Law Summer School that year, Chief Justice Burt noted that the law now had to say “something to everyone.” The following year he commented that established institutions were in disarray, but we should not be alarmed by that fact. As ideas were modified, so were institutions.

The Law Society contemplated its relationship with the more diverse profession taking shape. The subscription had been raised to $100 and though the membership had reached 705, President Alan Blanckensee commented that only a perceptive minority recognised its responsibility to the profession as a whole. It was not a foregone conclusion

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that practitioners would join, let alone become active.

The profession had once been a small fraternity. Now it was much larger, less cohesive and not entirely fraternal. There were 40 female members. Crown Law was not well represented in the Law Society, apparently regarding it as being essentially for private practitioners. The President also perceived that the Crown objected to the Law Society speaking out on some matters, as it was increasingly inclined to do. But if it stopped being involved in public affairs, ‘the ranks’ would think it was irrelevant. The question was on the table: How could the Law Society speak for the whole profession? What could it offer?

The 1970s ended on a positive note and a thoughtful one. In 1979, Ronald Wilson became the first Western Australian member of the High Court. In December 1979, Brief printed excerpts from an address by Sir Ninian Stephen to a young lawyers’ luncheon in Melbourne. He began by questioning what special qualities young lawyers brought to professional life, and continued: The answer lay, I concluded, in the quite critical position in which the law finds itself today, a position which young lawyers should be able better to appreciate and better to deal with than can the middle aged and elderly. You can at least look at problems with fresh eyes, unclouded by years of experience in old ways; you

June 1979: Brief announces the appointment of Ronald Wilson to the High Court of Australia

may recognise needs which older lawyers overlook and bring to them new remedies suited to the times.

The decade just past had seen a number of comfortable certainties give way to open questions, but also to new possibilities, and this is the context in which the Law Society’s later history unfolded.

1980: President Geoffrey Miller presents the Law Society Cup to Ray Sweetman, "the successful Reinsman who drove Special Garry to victory" (per Brief) at Gloucester Park on Friday, 28 March

1980: President Geoffrey Miller and Vice President Rory Argyle attend a legal convention in Penang, Malaysia

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Chapter Notes:

Presidents: 1970–1979

43. Annual Report, 1972.

44. Annual Report 1970-71.

45. State Library, MN 931, Acc 3554A, Item 52.

46. Annual Report 1970/71.

47. Interview with the author, 2017.

48. Brief, 1977, 14, 26-9.

49. Transcript of Interview with Alan Barblett, 13 February 2007.

50. Brief, April 1976.

51. Brief, Vol 4, Feb 1977, 6.

52. Item 461.

53. State Library, MN 931, Acc 3554A, Item 461 ‘Premises’.

1970 – 1972 Peter Frederick Brinsden (1922 – 2002) About: Admitted WA 1949; Queen's Counsel; AO; Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1976 – 1990).

1972 – 1973 John Leslie Toohey (1930 – 2015) About: Admitted WA 1952; Partner Ilbery, Toohey and Barblett; Queen's Counsel; AC; Judge Federal Court of Australia (1977 – 1987); Justice of the High Court of Australia (1987 – 1998).

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1973 – 1975

1975 – 1977

Barry William Rowland

Terence Alan Walsh

About: Admitted WA 1953; partner Lavan and Walsh; member WA Bar Association; Queen's Counsel; Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1982 – 1996).

About: Admitted WA 1960; founding member WA Bar Association 1963; Queen's Counsel; Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1988 – 1998).

1977 – 1979

1979 – 1981

Alan Eric Blanckensee (1926 – 2017)

Geoffrey Peter Miller

About: Admitted WA 1949; AO; Partner Stone James (ret).

About: Admitted WA 1965; Partner Godfrey Virtue; Queen's Counsel; Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1998 – 2009).

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia 1985: Law Summer School

Chapter Six

1980–1989

90 Years of the Law Society (1927-2017) | Page 98

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Better understanding: a work of the ‘80s President Geoffrey Miller reported in 1980: “This year the Council had a firm commitment to improve public relations with the profession, the community and the media.” The self-reflection of the 1970s had confronted questions such as ‘Is the legal profession seen as aloof?’

Throughout the history of the Law Society ‘the usual attacks on the profession’ had been cited at intervals. The complexity of the times and the changing social outlook demanded a better understanding by all parties and this was to be a permanent state of affairs, but it was a particular work of the 1980s. As the decade progressed, there was a greater emphasis on educating the public about the legal system and this became part of the broader aim of ‘access to justice.’

Early in the decade, the major challenge was dealing with misunderstandings between practitioners and others. The media became more than an irritation in 1980 when an individual who had complained to the Law Society about a practitioner was dissatisfied with the result. She wrote a scathing letter to The West Australian and the Law Society felt obliged to take issue with the press for publishing it without consultation. Readers were given a misleading impression both of the Law Society’s conduct and that of the profession.

Once that matter had been dealt with, a more constructive approach followed. The President opened a dialogue and a Media Working Party was formed. The media had its own issues with the legal system concerning conditions under which the press worked in court and the difficulty in gaining access to information. The Law Society could assist by liaising with the judiciary about practicalities. President Geoffrey 99

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Miller made himself available for direct comment on legal issues at short notice. He recalls that improving relations with the media was the work which afforded the greatest satisfaction.54 More generally, the Law Society arranged regular meetings with policy makers and others with an interest in the legal system.

The Executive met with Ministers of the Crown (in particular the Attorney General), members of the Opposition, heads of court, heads of Government departments and legal agencies. This developed through the decade and became structured into the way of doing things. The days of being caught unaware by adverse decisions or policies were not over, but at least a mutual understanding of viewpoints was encouraged. The Law Society took an outward step in speaking for the profession.

Dealing with complaints from members of the public against practitioners had become a large and complex area. Of the 110 complaints received in 1980, only three were referred to the Barristers’ Board. Many could be dealt with by the Executive Officer, as they resulted from a misunderstanding. Those remaining went to the Complaints Committee and needed to be examined closely. For this purpose, the committee needed a combination of specialists and all-rounders and also included a cross section of age groups. It was noted that a large number of complaints could have been avoided through proper communication with clients. Here also, better understanding was needed.

Peter Fitzpatrick Executive Director 1985 – 1996

The twin aims of a better informed public and a better informed profession were explicit or implicit in much of the Law Society’s work to come, the more so as the decade progressed.

A different profession

Improving public relations with the profession was something of a new concept, reflecting a different world of legal practice. In 1980 there were 880 members and, by the standards of the cosy fraternity of the past, it was possible to get lost in the crowd. Subgroups and specific areas of practice were forming and specialisation was in prospect. The most senior and the youngest practitioners were from different worlds.

At the annual general meeting of 1982, which was held at the King’s Hotel, Howard Solomon retired from Council. After an active

life in practice, he had used his retirement to contribute by joining Council. He was the last of the ‘traditional profession’ active in the Law Society. In general, members of that generation were either on the Bench, retired, or the subject of an obituary recounting military service and sporting prowess, among other things.

The Functions Committee, which organised the collegial life of the Law Society, had a dilemma. There was concern to attract young practitioners by making events cheaper, but that did not suit the more senior. “Members are

not entranced with Society social gatherings,” President, Rory Argyle reported in 1982. He commented that perhaps the Law Society should concentrate on a few very good functions such as the High Court dinner and Christmas cocktail party and leave it to groupings within the Law Society to organise smaller more individual functions. Things picked up when ‘sundowners’ became popular. They could be held anywhere and were mentioned often in Brief over the decade.

Young lawyers and Law Day A particular grouping which now stood out was the young lawyers, whose numbers were rising year by year, as was their independent initiative.

In his Christmas message of 1983, the Chief Justice wrote: At no time in my experience has there been such a wealth of young talent. That’s very encouraging and it is very encouraging to see that there is a significant percentage of females now practising at the bar.

During the 1970s, young practitioners were already volunteering at the Legal Advice Bureau and giving talks to schools. In 1980, the Law Society’s Young Lawyers Committee (YLC) was formed. Its specific work was oriented to the

needs of articled clerks and young practitioners, and to the public sphere. At this stage the Committee organised lunchtime lectures for young practitioners, school lectures and community lectures – for instance to a women’s learning group. They attended three weekend camps for gifted children discussing the workings and theory of law and were involved with the Committee for the International Year of the Disabled. There was a definite policy of involving members of the YLC in the Law Society’s committees and processes. The young lawyers of the early 1980s were the office bearers of the near future, as office bearers were also younger than they had once been.

In 1983, two young lawyers, Penny Keeley and Felicity Davies, had the idea of following the eastern States concept of ‘Law Day’ and this was endorsed by President, Ian Temby.

A Law Day Committee was set up, with the President as Co-Chairman. An organising group drawn from the Young Lawyers Committee volunteered much of the liaison and legwork.

During the early part of the year, everything was happening.55 Though the great bulk of effort was voluntary, a publicity and public relations expert was hired in February, not only to publicise the event, but also to liaise with the media about ways to

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engage the public through radio and television.

A Law Day logo was designed.

The support of the profession was canvassed and one firm responded: "In our view it may ‘cheapen’ lawyers in the eyes of those members of the public who tend to use lawyers." A large part of the concept was to bring the law to people who tended not to use lawyers. The President was able to advise the firm that "Yours in the only critical letter received."

The churches were involved and the day itself, Monday, 18 April 1983, began with a service at St George’s Cathedral. Free legal advice was to be a central feature and this took the form of eleven legal advice booths – several in Perth and Fremantle and also at Carousel, Karrinyup and Garden City shopping centres. The booths also provided information on common legal issues and also publicised community legal centres which were becoming a feature of the legal landscape. Sussex Street Community Law Service participated and provided information on its services.

Young people were engaged through a Law Day poster contest for primary schools and an essay writing competition for high schools.

The winners were announced on the day.

Author and artist Shaun Tan, then aged nine, won the poster competition. School students toured the various law courts and a mock trial was held in Courtroom Three at the Supreme Court. The Law Society opened its premises and the museum in the Old Court House to the public. Channel 9 held a talk show on which practitioners received calls.

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c1984: Robert Meadows at the Law Society's premises

Following Law Day there was not only positive feedback, but also requests from various shopping centres to have legal advice booths at any future event. Apparently they had drawn a crowd. The Daily News, then the evening newspaper in Perth, reported a ‘public rush’ for free legal advice on Law Day. The President presented Penny Keeley and Felicity Davies with a mocked up Certificate of Merit each for their effort in conceiving and

furthering the idea of Law Day. Voluntary effort enabled costs to be kept at roughly $5,000. It was clear from the response there was a place for an annual event and in 1984, the date was aligned with Law Day in other States. As is well known, the event went from strength to strength, becoming Law Week in 1987, and evolving to meet changing legal and social needs.

Women in practice

As the Chief Justice’s Christmas message also indicated, women were entering the profession in significant numbers and this would increase.

In a later oral history interview, Sir Francis Burt commented on the drought of women which preceded the flood: Well then we got some very, very good females into the law. There were a bunch of them that are well identified: I think Sheila McClemans and Mrs [Joan] Heenan and three or four others. But then there seemed to be, for some reason unknown to me, a complete withdrawal of women from the law. You had Molly Kingston and Sheila and these people who were senior, but no 30-year olds about. I don’t know why that was, whether it had something to do with the war.

That was the case, of course. Consequently, the relatively sudden increase in young women was a major component of the changes which eventually supplanted the traditional profession and its worldview – but not overnight.

In 1982, Women Lawyers of Western Australia (WLWA) was formed, representing another important sub-group of the profession. When WLWA celebrated its 20th birthday in 2002, Brief reported the speech given by Chief Judge Toni Kennedy, one of the founders. She observed that women practitioners felt there was a need for a separate organisation so that the male profession would know they were a force to be reckoned with.

Brief of September 1984 was a special issue on women in the law. There were signs of the

1985: Governor Professor Gordon Reid swears in Toni Kennedy and Paul Healy (seated). The Hon Joe Berinson, Attorney General, is across the table and Kevin Parker QC, Solicitor General, is at far right.

times: Kim Rooney completed her pupillage with David Malcolm QC and joined the Independent Bar. Sir Ronald Wilson appointed Melanie Sloss as Associate in the High Court.

Chief Judge Toni Kennedy was the first female appointed to the judiciary in Western Australia when she became a District Court Judge in 1985.

In 1984, the Federal Government passed the Sex Discrimination Act, which gave effect to Australia’s international obligations, primarily under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

Brief featured an article about the Act by Anne Payne. The Law Society formed a Women Practitioners Committee which, within two years, had evolved into the Equal Opportunity Committee, to keep pace with broadening awareness and legislative frameworks. It is worth pausing to reflect on this event. The outlook of the masculine profession may not have changed greatly – the whole idea of women in the law still jarred on many – but the ground had shifted.

1985: Her Hon Antoinette Kennedy AO is appointed, becoming WA’s first female judge

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Brief on poverty and the law

The July issue of Brief in 1984 addressed the question of the law and the poor. Legislation of the 1970s had largely removed judgmental charity from the equation. The issue entered a modern phase.

Peter Huxtable wrote an article on ‘Justice for All’, which had a hollow ring to it. Legal Aid funding was already diminishing and it was clear the Legal Aid Commission was not the panacea it was hoped. Moira Rayney wrote an article on the Social Security Appeals Tribunal.

The plight of the deserted wife with children had been eased by Supporting Mothers Benefit, for

instance, but the most vulnerable in society still needed assistance navigating the system and its appeal process.

Wayne Martin addressed the new administrative appeals system. The Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act set up a tribunal presided over by a judge of the Federal Court. This was a means of dispute resolution which avoided the court system but which complied with the rule of law. The Australian Administrative Tribunal (AAT), Ombudsman, Freedom of Information, and the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) came into being.

This range of Commonwealth processes highlighted the deficiencies within Western Australia. Even with free processes, the poor needed assistance. Wayne Martin hoped that more practitioners would become involved in the tribunal work. An Administrative Law Committee was formed in 1985 with Wayne Martin as Convenor.

All of the above indicated that the legal context in which the poor could or could not exercise their rights had changed greatly and improved somewhat. However, it foreshadowed the coming issue of ‘access to the law.’

Dealing with a rising workload In 2017, former Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Miller (who had been appointed to the Supreme Court in the period 1998-2009) recalled that, during his two year presidency, the time available for his own professional work fell by some 50 percent due to a steeply increasing workload on Law Society business. Rory Argyle, in his report of 1982, observed that the workload of being President was becoming an issue in terms of professional life. The increased level of liaison was a factor, but so too was the amount of policy work. Council meetings were held monthly from 4.00pm to 6.00pm and the practice had been to go on to Northbridge for an Italian meal. But increasingly, business ran over time and it was necessary to adjourn a meeting.

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In 1980, an area of major concern was the ‘Inquiry into the Future Organisation of the Legal Profession’, set up by the State Government. The large questions of the 1970s had led on to a general climate of institutional overhaul. Between February and May of 1980 Council and Executive met frequently to compile a 111 page submission to the Inquiry.

In essence, the Law Society wished to take on a considerably larger role, which would have included absorbing most of the work of the Barristers’ Board, especially the whole of the complaints function. This aim was not realised, of course, but the Inquiry ground on for several years and consumed considerable time in framing responses to proposals.

The main item in the early 1980s was the amount of government activity and the number of submissions and responses needed at short notice. This was the work of some 20 policy committees. At the beginning of 1981 there was one of many moves to rationalise the committee system and consequently four major committees were constituted: the Courts Committee, the Property/Commercial Committee, the Professional Affairs Committee and the Education Committee.

A dedicated Law Reform Committee disappeared, but the work of law reform continued to grow. It was now channelled through committees relevant to the particular subject matter. A significant part of that

work involved liaising with the Law Reform Commission. From 1983, there was a reforming Attorney General, the Hon Joe Berinson, who liaised closely with the legal profession on policy reviews, such as the Murray Review of the Criminal Code. Activity increased further.

At the beginning of the 1980s there were some 150 members on committees. By 1989, there were roughly 600. Such was the volume of

submissions and responses that the Council struggled to be conversant with all matters that were going out in the Law Society’s name.

In 1985, President Hal Jackson reflected: “Ever greater responsibility is being cast on committees and their structure and workload is of considerable importance.” Council was increased from 10 to 12 ordinary members and the Executive was increased to four to

include the Treasurer. By 1985 it was having a breakfast meeting every two weeks – ‘breakfast’ sometimes extending for four hours. The issue of funnelling a torrent of policy work through a small number of decision makers was not resolved during the decade.

Continuing Legal Education (CLE): learning all the time The Education Committee had a major new work to do. In 1980, Michael Murray and Ian Temby attended a conference on ‘Continuing Legal Education in the ‘80s’ hosted by the Law Society of New South Wales. By this time, constant change was combined with a trend towards specialisation and, in the interests of both practitioners and the public, professional knowledge could not stagnate. Summer School and occasional seminars were no longer sufficient. The Law Society decided to enter the field of continuing legal education in earnest.

Nineteen eighty was “very much a building year.”56 A co-ordinating role was conferred on the Law Society’s Education Committee, giving it oversight of all education activities, including Summer School and the educational work of the Young Lawyers.

By 1982, the Education Committee had 17 advisory groups who contributed ideas on what was needed in particular areas of the law. On that basis a programme for 1983 was designed.

The Law Society involved legal agencies, community groups and occupations with an interest in and knowledge of the subject matter.

The Law Society and Legal Aid Commission joined forces on seminars, the police participated in presenting the course on the Road Traffic Act, and the Australian Bankers Association was consulted in the organisation of the Banking Law course and seminar. Others included the Insurance Council, the Taxation Institute and the Australian Film Institute.

By 1983, the surge in CLE activity had accomplished a model which served in the long term, although the Committee’s convenor stated that, in this new field, it was a case of “learning all the time.” In developing a

programme for 1984, the Committee planned more participation and less lecturing. Workshop courses on examination of witnesses and drafting of wills were held. Costing was an issue. Could the Committee budget for some losses on ‘developmental’ courses with smaller followings such as Maritime Law? It was decided that it could. There was an adventurous approach to possibilities.

CLE as an undertaking needed planning, organisation and venues. It needed human resources. Initially this was covered by two practitioners on a part time basis, but in 1982 it was reported: To assist in the administration of the programme in 1982, the Society employed an administrative assistant (Ms Judy Jones) who has since been engaged full

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time in the administration of the Society’s educational activities.

Judy Jones thus became the Law Society’s first specialist staff member. She stayed for some 15 years and worked in a number of capacities.

Staff, especially long-term staff, were about to become a major and positive factor in the Law Society’s operations.

Essentially, however, CLE was built on a huge voluntary effort. There was the Education

Committee and its sub-committees, and also a separate Education Executive. The judiciary and senior profession generously offered their time and expertise in delivering courses, thus setting a high standard which carried through in the long-term.

The Ethics Committee and the revised Legal Practice Rules The major concerns of the Ethics Committee during the decade were foreshadowed in 1980.

“This is one of the most important standing committees of Council,” the President noted, “The Convenor answers many questions of a day-to-day nature.” The availability of advice on ethical matters at short notice was partly a safeguard and partly a service.

A repetitive issue at the time was conduct calculated to attract business unfairly. A practitioner extolling his own capability in the course of a media interview about a case typified this advertising by stealth. Such conduct occasioned a stern communication from the Law Society. The approach to advertising had evolved to the point that informing the public was endorsed and a ‘Legal Services Directory’ was published, along the lines of several other States. It took the whole of 1981 to assemble the material, and the first edition was published in 1982.

The key item in the 1980 Annual Report read ‘Work has begun on updating the Professional Conduct Rules and Rulings of the Council of

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the Law Society.’ The Committee was chaired

by Robert Meadows and two members of the Young Lawyers Committee worked on researching the rules current in other States. It was reported: “They have distilled from a vast quantity of materials a completely revised and detailed Professional Conduct Code.”57

is also examining ways the Society may, by helpful intervention, seek to assist practitioners who appear to be running into difficulty in ethical matters.”58 In other words, the Law Society might take the initiative in correcting dangerous conduct if a practitioner was unlikely to do so.

The draft went to members for comment and on that basis further changes were made. In 1983, the revised and consolidated Professional Conduct Rules were published. The completion of the Rules was a particular goal of Ian Temby during his year as President. The task of the Committee then became monitoring the application of the rules. Advertising, as a nascent area, needed further fine tuning as it evolved; but a more liberal approach did not open the floodgates to abuses, as had been feared.

Preserving standards and avoiding complaints went to the core of the Law Society’s work.

In 1984, President Daryl Williams made a statement of principle on the interests of the profession in relation to complaints. There had been occasional criticism from practitioners that the Law Society failed members when it did not defend them against complaints by the public.

The President considered that this view was misguided. He pointed out that the profession had a greater interest that anyone else in maintaining high standards of professional conduct. Only by properly serving the needs of the public could the profession retain the trust of the public. Without this, it could not expect to maintain a monopoly on legal work. He assured members of the Law Society’s support against

As the decade progressed, the financial climate in Perth became aggressively and flamboyantly entrepreneurial and the Law Society was certainly aware of this. In 1986, the report of the Ethics Committee stated: “The Committee

unjustified complaints but: “...any practitioner who breaches the standards expected of him by his fellow professionals puts the interests of the public and fellow practitioners at risk

and cannot expect to continue to receive the unqualified support of the Society.”59

1985: The Public Purposes Trust (PPT) Interest rates were high in the early 1980s and would become higher as the decade progressed. Those earned on solicitors’ trust accounts benefited neither client nor practitioner but rather were retained by the banks. The Law Society considered how this wasted money could be turned to a worthwhile purpose. In 1983, President Daryl Williams reported: Since late 1983, the Society has been receiving significant payments from banks calculated on the basis of funds in Solicitors’ trust accounts with the respective banks. The Society holds the funds under an arrangement with the Attorney-General, on trust for various public purposes connected with the law.

The task for 1984/85 was to establish an institutional framework for administration of

the funds. Legislation was envisaged but “regrettably has taken longer than anticipated.”

This calls to mind the long-running task of setting up the Legal Contribution Fund in the late 1960s. Solicitors’ trust funds were an important resource through which the Law Society could achieve goals for the good of the public in relation to the legal system.

In 1985, President Hal Jackson, was able to report the passage of the Law Society Public Purposes Trust Act, enabling the Law Society to use the monies held in trust. The deed establishing the Trust was set out in the schedule to the Act. Brief reported: “In its role as Trustee, the Law Society sets policies with regard to the investment of the Trust’s assets and provides administration services to the Trust. The Trust receives its income from two sources, being income from the Trust’s

investments and 49 percent of the interest paid by banks, on Solicitors Trust Accounts in Western Australia.”60 The President referred to “the potential of the Public Purposes Trust as an instrument of legal development in the State.”61 The timing was perfect, as there were many community oriented projects needing an infusion of funds.

The Law Society was also about to enter on a phase of works with a public agenda and the PPT was a factor in making this possible. The policy was to keep the first grants conservative so that the capital could continue to build. At the time of writing in 2017, it can be said that the fund has proved itself in the long term and has been a foundation of progress in the great variety of areas where the legal and public dimensions coincide.

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New premises: 68 St Georges Terrace

The Old Court House had been inadequate for many of the Law Society’s needs for over ten years. By 1984 there were five staff, but increased activity meant that more would be needed and there was not the room to accommodate them. This was a precipitating factor in the decision to seek other premises. It was also the case, however, that adapting the building to technology – such as it was at the time – was an untenable proposition.

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However, there were no illusions that this was the answer to accommodation needs. It was anticipated that the premises would suffice for about five years, and that proved accurate.

Naturally the purchase of floor space at Exchange House had a major impact on the finances, but the anticipated deficits over the next several years were avoided through several rises in subscriptions, and identifying areas of under-charging.

It had been anticipated that space would be provided for the Law Society’s administration and meeting requirements in the Supreme Court building, as part of the major renovation to accommodate a new library. This did not materialise. However, the Law Society had spent six years building up reserves in anticipation of acquiring new premises and at 30 June 1984, it was in a very healthy financial position. This was despite challenges posed by an increase in activities, the desire to keep the cost of CLE courses to a minimum and the impact of income tax on investments. The President was able to report that subscriptions had risen by less than 5 percent annually in recent years.

Exchange House was used as the Law Society’s administrative offices, while meetings were held at the Supreme Court. In November 1985, Neil Roberts was replaced as Executive Director by Peter Fitzpatrick. Of military background, he was the first nonpractitioner to hold the position and stayed for 12 years, during which massive change unfolded. Whereas previous administrative officers had managed things as they were and changes essentially came from members, the new incumbent was, as Robert Meadows recalled, ‘a doer’ -- expansive in outlook, at a time when the Law Society was also purposefully going out into the world.

In October 1984, the Law Society was able to acquire the strata title to the eighth floor of ’Exchange House’ at 68 St Georges Terrace.

Together with the fit out, this cost $260,000. It was noted that this was not the first choice, but the Law Society could not afford the first choice so it went back to Exchange House, a modest office block next to Trinity Arcade on the eastern side. The location could not be faulted.

Staff could now be increased to meet new needs and, in 1986, Win Wilson was taken on “to cope with the voluminous work of the Professional Conduct and Ethics Committees.”

At this stage, staff were appointed as a new need arose. Judy Jones was seconded to work with the committee planning the 24th Australian Legal Convention for 1987. Geraldine Byrne replaced her as Education Officer and PPT Administrator. The Executive Director and the

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1984: President Daryl Williams signs the purchase documents for Exchange House, with Hal Jackson, Robert Meadows and Robert Nicholson standing

increasing staff took a role in finding effective ways to implement policy.

In 1986 the Law Society purchased a Wang Computer, with four work stations and a laser printer. Word processing, accounting software and ‘facsimiles’ were quantum leaps in administration technology. Computerised information retrieval systems were on the horizon. By 1986, the Law Society was in a position to embark on a notably adventurous decade of its work.

1986: ‘An outward looking role’

In this time of rapid change it was apparent, year by year, that various activities or concerns were appearing, evolving, sometimes forming common threads or acting on each other in such a way that a new subject area emerged.

A committee tended to follow. In 1986, the Community Affairs Committee introduced itself: “The Community Affairs Committee was established in 1986 with responsibility for the outward looking role of the Society within the Community.” Some projects of other committees were transferred and some new tasks were initiated. The following were its planned functions: •

the operation of the law booth at the Perth Royal show;

•

the introduction of a Mock Trial Competition for secondary schools in 1987;

•

liaison with the Education Department regarding the conduct of legal studies in secondary schools;

•

advice and assistance on legal careers; and

•

assistance with public awareness and public education concerning the law.

The Committee met with the Chief Justice, Sir Francis Burt, regarding legal education and representatives also attended a conference of community law centres, which were springing up at a great rate. The interests of the public and the profession were two sides of the same coin. The better understood the law was, the better it would be for both the public and the profession.

This concept, and the work flowing from it, grew in importance.

The existing Women Practitioners Committee was changed to the Equal Opportunity Committee. Once the concept of equal opportunity was broadly accepted, questions followed: How was this to be procured? What were the obstacles? An immediate issue was childcare.

Michael Murray QC, President in 1988, commented at the time that some members of the profession “smile indulgently” and obviously think to themselves “what sort of an administration have we got here?” However, he considered provision was needed for the profession “to keep within its ranks the many women practitioners who are now graduating as well as good quality people within the administration.”62

1986: Law booth at the Perth Royal show

This work indicates the way in which education and access to law were drawing together.

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1987: The Francis Burt Law Centre

The Old Court House had seen 25 years of the Law Society’s own evolution and, when the Law Society vacated, the farewell was significant.

But in fact, the historic setting which could not serve administrative needs came into its own in other ways. The Law Museum Committee took responsibility for fitting out the building as a museum, to be operated under licence from the Under Secretary for Law. $38,000 from the PPT facilitated this process. There were already some cabinets around the wall with legal artefacts, which had previously caused Rory Argyle to comment to the Chairman of the Museum Committee: “You won’t be happy until you push us out the door.”63 The structure was restored in important respects as well as fitted out. Sir Lawrence Jackson was especially interested in restoring the building to its layout as the Arbitration Court of 1905. There was a major re-roofing in slate, which was the original material. The back room was set up by Parker and Parker as the firm then was, and a portrait of Chief Justice Steven Henry Parker adorned the wall.

The idea of an educational dimension came from Elizabeth Picton-Warlow, a practitioner’s wife and member of the Planning Committee for the Law Centre. She pointed out that this would open the way to funding for educational purposes. This proved to be a turning point. In 1987, a Mock Trial Competition for schools was 1987: Opening of the Francis Burt Law Centre

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introduced, in order to increase young people’s awareness of the law and legal institutions.

In early 1987, the Law Society commissioned a portrait of the Chief Justice and sought permission to name the centre in his honour.

The President reported in 1987: “The establishment of this centre arose out of a suggestion by the Chief Justice and it is appropriate that he should have agreed to have the centre named after him.”

Many historic threads came together in May when the Chief Justice Francis Burt dedicated the Francis Burt Law Centre. His great grandfather, Sir Archibald Burt, had presided in the Old Court House as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Burt was at home there, having attended committee meetings in the 1960s after his time as President, and had taken a continued interest in the building as a museum. His donation of Archibald Burt’s diaries was a major acquisition for the Centre.

In preparation for the opening, the Chief Justice’s portrait was placed in the Law Centre where it has looked down benignly on the many activities since.

The 60th Jubilee

To mark the Law Society’s 60th Jubilee, the cover of Brief in June carried a portrait which had been designated Sir Walter James by the Art Gallery. Practitioners who still remembered Sir Walter in the flesh were positive that he was not the gentleman in the portrait. The University was then consulted and produced a portrait which it identified as Sir Walter. The cover of the July issue was headed ‘the real Sir Walter James’, who in fact was the real Sir Alex Reid,

a former chancellor of the University of Western Australia. The August issue of Brief made a good humoured confession of the confusion but did not risk another cover portrait and the real Sir Walter James appeared on page 21.

The fifth of June was as close to the anniversary as practicably possible and a crowd of 192 attended a gala ball at the still-new Observation City. The address was given by Joan Heenan, the seventh woman admitted to practice in

Western Australia. In 1987 she was celebrating 50 years in practice. A pioneer female practitioner was a highly appropriate guest of honour; however, her speech hardly mentioned gender. She was simply a very experienced and respected practitioner with a varied history. It included, among other things, carrying out work for the mining magnate Claude de Benales, including the purchase of the property on which London Court was built.

‘Winds of Change’ – the 24th Australian Legal Convention The Law Society hosted its third Australian Legal Convention in September 1986. The theme ‘Winds of Change’ was selected. In his introduction to the Convention, President of the Law Council, Daryl Williams QC set out the complexities besetting the law in many respects and stated, “As the winds of change threaten to become gales, the 24th Legal Convention promises to be a landmark.”

Daryl Williams QC was President of the Law Council during a fraught time. During 1986, Bar Associations in the larger States were threatening to withdraw from the Law Council

unless they were granted individual voting rights. General turbulence and uncertainty reigned. Daryl Williams QC became President in 1987 and is credited with averting the crisis through an agreement referred to as ‘the Hobart Accord.’

The changes sweeping through the legal world included mergers and much larger partnerships, specialisation, the information explosion and the tension between business and profession.

In the lead up to the Convention, a cartoon eagle in long wig and casual gear made many appearances in Brief. This was ‘Legal Eagle’.

The Convention was to take place in September and the cover of Brief that month announced ‘The Eagle Has Landed.’

Robert Meadows QC reflected on the success of the Convention: In those days, the Australian Legal Convention was a major event where you’d get fifteen hundred, two thousand people attending. …that major convention where everybody came has fallen away and it’s been replaced by specialist conventions.

So you have a Family Lawyers’ Conference and the like, which is a great pity, because

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these were great occasions, and we had a committee that worked on that. David Malcolm was the Chair of the Papers’ Committee, Pino Monaco was the Chair of the Organising Committee and we had a wonderful – I was going to say young woman – she’d probably resent that, called Judy Jones who was the Secretary and she was just so competent. But it was a grand affair. We had fifteen hundred people in Perth, which is just astonishing for those days and we had the most amazing array of speakers thanks to David Malcolm’s powers of persuasion and contacts.64

If each Australian Legal Convention in Perth reflected its own times, it might be said that the 1959 Conference proved to Perth that it had been noticed. The 1973 Conference announced that Perth was modern and had joined the world. ‘Winds of Change’ confronted the rising challenges of the late ’80s from many learned and provocative angles, while also celebrating a new urbanity and sophistication – Western Australian style.

A New South Wales contingent travelled on a specially-reserved Indian Pacific and was met at the East Perth terminal by a welcoming party from the Law Society. For the major function, ‘A Ritzy Affaire’, the Law Society had to think seriously about its options -- existing hotels were not large enough for the 1,000 people booked. The Burswood Resort, then under construction, would not be completed in time.

As it happened, the Fremantle Port Authority had rejuvenated the Passenger Terminal which had all the required facilities.

September 1987: Cover of Brief

1987: ‘Winds of Change’, 24th Australian Legal Convention, Perth

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Quiet achievement

In addition to the obvious landmarks of 1987, there were quiet achievements, in particular the resolution of the long running insurance issue. A general meeting voted in favour of the Law Society “making arrangements for legal practitioners in Western Australia to be required to insure under the compulsory Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme operated by the Law Society of New South Wales, with effect from 1 July 1988.”65 The matter of compulsory professional indemnity insurance was permanently on the agenda from 1984. Most firms were already taking out professional indemnity insurance; but the problem was with those who took the risk of ‘winging it’ in order to avoid the cost.

The Attorney General left no doubt that, if the legal profession did not devise a compulsory scheme of its own accord, the Government would do so for it. The Law Society, of course, wished the profession to remain self-regulating, and that meant putting in place a scheme which would be supported by statute.

This, in turn, involved researching and devising a concept agreeable to both members and the Attorney General. It was no mean feat and played out for five years. Initially a Professional Indemnity Insurance Committee consulted with insurers about the type of scheme which would be appropriate and gathered claim details from firms.

During Daryl Williams’ presidency in 1984, a difficult meeting discussed the kind of scheme acceptable and settled on a master scheme.

Meetings about insurance matters were always

difficult: a master scheme was devised and then rejected by a meeting.

The Attorney General made it clear in 1986 that the legal profession was required to devise its own scheme, failing which legislation would force the issue. A minimum terms scheme was drawn up but with the proviso that the obligation to join could be avoided in certain circumstances.

This was rejected by the Attorney General.

The President regretted to report the end of the Legal Advice Bureau, which had been run in association with the Legal Aid Commission. Sufficient volunteers from the profession were no longer available during office hours. He put this down to increased business pressures. The environment of legal assistance was changing, but the Law Society continued its commitment through an arrangement with the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). With funds from the PPT, the CAB was able to employ solicitors for an advice service on its premises during working hours, while the Law Society provided a week night service 1990: The Law Society's Mobile Legal Advice unit

from its own premises with administrative support from the Bureau. This was the forerunner of the Shopfront Lawyer. A legal advice van was also set up and visited shopping centres on Saturday mornings while also making country trips.

After two highly successful years as President, Robert Meadows became editor of Brief for a further seven.

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1988: ‘One profession’

Western Australia achieved a ‘first’ in 1988 when Michael Murray QC became the first Officer of the Crown to become President of a law society or bar association in any state.66 In the same year, Sir Francis Burt retired after 11 years as Chief Justice and David Malcolm, QC, then a Vice President of the Law Society, succeeded him from 9 May 1988.

The President referred to the late 1980s as “watershed times.” Given the pressures to change the way legal services were delivered, he considered that “in a relatively short space of time the practice of the law will be almost unrecognisable to previous generations of lawyers.”67 Of particular concern was the danger that this larger and rapidly-changing profession would fragment into interest groups – large and small practices, criminal, family, corporate and women. Some already had their own associations. As an Officer of the Crown, Michael Murray QC had always regarded

himself as part of a single profession and the time had come to reinforce the idea that the profession as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This became a work of the Law Society in 1988.

The President considered that the Law Society’s committee system was an important key to a sense of esprit de corps: It is the committee system which enables each individual member to directly shape the policies of the Society, and therefore the legal profession in this State in respect of matters which concern us all, no matter what mode of practice we adopt on a daily basis. It is participation in the committee system of the Society which reinforces for each of us our commitment to the profession as a whole and its public activities. It is that involvement which enables us to appreciate, no matter in what limited areas we practice, we are all members of the wide legal profession

and have an interest in those things which affect the status and operation of that profession.68 The President wished to convey the message: “when you want something done, put it to the Society and it becomes the policy of the whole profession.” If there was a concern to a particular area of practice, the formation of a committee could channel it, provide the resources of the Law Society and bring it to the attention of policy makers. The Law Society stepped up its liaison with important outside bodies so as to become a more effective mouthpiece.

It was an advantage to the general functioning of the Law Society to encompass all areas of knowledge and expertise. CLE became more focused on ensuring skills in particular fields.

Professional conduct rules needed to be drafted in relation to an area of practice, a case in point being corporate lawyers.

Five year articles In the late 1980s there was still only one Law School in Perth and pressure for places was intense. Some would-be law students were going interstate to study, especially to Darwin.

At the same time, articles places were readily available and graduates could be selective.

Practices in the major regional centres found

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it especially difficult to attract graduates from Perth.

In 1988, the Law Society responded to this combination of circumstances in a practical way. The system of five year articles, traditionally administered by the Barristers' Board was still in place as an alternative path

to admission, but very seldom utilised. Chief Justice Sir Francis Burt had earlier raised the possibility of adapting the five year articles concept to contemporary needs. During 1988, the Articles Committee, chaired by Neville Owen, took up the idea and planned a scheme which would combine five year articles with

a specially devised academic program. The scheme was administered by Gerladine Byrne.

The majority of participants in the scheme were already working as law clerks. The practices employing them applied to the Law Society for the employee to take part in the scheme as an articled clerk. A certain number of participants were needed for economies of scale and there were only six from country practices.

City firms were also canvassed and 64 clerks were accepted into the scheme. Those from the country, though small in number, were important. They were local people who were enabled to fulfil the requirements for admission without leaving home permanently and they were significant in the context of regional practice.

The program commenced in 1989 with an address of welcome from Sir Francis Burt. The academic program was identical to that at the University of Western Australia Law School and to the same academic standard, but without optional units. The Law Society made direct arrangements with Law School lecturers to run courses and lectures were given ‘en bloc’ during summer and mid year vacations.

Tutorials were run by practitioners and honours students. Articled clerks in Bunbury, Geraldton, Albany and Kalgoorlie had individual tutorials by telephone. There was a ‘distance education’ component.

A high standard was set from the start and anyone who failed an examination was out of the program. By the second year, there had been considerable wastage. However, thirty eight clerks saw their five years of articles through and were admitted to practice at the end of 1993. This included the six from the country. Firms were happy with the results.

The scheme was a ‘once off’ response to circumstances 1986: Sitting of the District Court of Western Australia and would not be repeated. The opening of Murdoch law School removed some of the pressure for places. At the same time there was a surplus of articled clerks due to the recession of the early 1990s.

However, this scheme demonstrated how the Law Society could assist in smoothing the fluctuations inherent in the legal education system, in an innovative and practical way.

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1989: A Legal Aid crisis and plans for a civil litigation scheme

There had been a brief interlude when the advent of the Legal Aid Commission significantly addressed the matter of access to justice. That time was over by the late 1980s and would not return. Funding to the Legal Aid Commission had already been reduced to the point that it was described as being in crisis.69 By the end of the decade, access to justice had developed as an Australia-wide issue.

In his monthly report in Brief of June 1989, the President noted that the bulk of the legal aid dollar was spent on criminal and family matters.

Most people in society, however, fell between those who would finance themselves and those who could get legal aid. At the 24th Legal Convention, Sir Francis Burt had described the predicament of these people, “for whom the law can do nothing.”

The Law Society took up the issue and a committee was formed to consider a practical response. At its June meeting, the Council of the Law Society adopted the concept of a legal assistance scheme described as follows:

“The scheme is intended to provide legal assistance to people to bring or defend civil proceedings where they do not have the financial resources to do so unaided.”

The President observed: “...the Legal Resources Scheme is the Law Society’s response to that situation, and a step in the right direction in dealing with the crisis confronting the Legal Aid system.”

The proposed system was to be based on a fund built up gradually over a period of time.

Applications to amass an initial fund of $1,000,000 were submitted to the Commonwealth and State Governments and to the PPT. The Commonwealth had initiated a Senate enquiry into the cost of justice but refused to contribute anything to a scheme intended to make justice affordable -- the irony was not lost on the Law Society. Laying the foundations of the scheme which became the Litigation Assistance Fund continued into the new decade.

1989: Selection of Law Week photographs from Brief

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A new home needed

True to expectations, by 1989 the Law Society had outgrown its premises at 68 St Georges Terrace. Council meetings could not be accommodated and most were held in the boardrooms of law firms, with committee meetings at the Francis Burt Law Centre and the Burt Reading Room in the Supreme Court. During the four years the Law Society had been at 68 St Georges Terrace, membership had increased to some 1,500 and the staff had grown to 15, including four part-timers.

During 1989, the quest was to locate suitable premises – to buy rather than lease. Interestingly, West Perth was considered as a location but excluded as the Law Society needed its home at the heart of the profession.

The practicalities of the search for accommodation were largely the work of the Executive Director.

By October, attention focused on premises at 33 Barrack Street, which met the Law Society’s requirements.

The question was how to arrange finances to acquire it. The Public Purposes Trust once more proved its worth, as the building was considered a valid investment for a trust and the Law Society was able to enter into an arrangement whereby the PPT would own a three-quarter share and the Law Society a one-quarter share. This would give the Law Society scope to increase its share over time, while avoiding an initial over-commitment.

1989: Law Society Christmas party, as reported in Brief

Chapter Notes: 54. Justice Geoffrey Miller, Response to Law Society Questionnaire, 2017.

60. Brief, 6 September 1985.

65. Annual Report 1987.

61. President’s Report, 1985.

66. Brief, February, 1989.

55. Penelope Keeley, Discussion by email, 2017.

62. President’s Report, 1988.

67. Annual Report 1988.

56. President’s Report, 1980.

63. The Hon Robert Nicholson AO, interviewed 2017.

68. Annual Report 1988.

57. President’s Report, 1982.

58. President’s Report, 1986.

59. President’s Report, 1984.

69. Annual Report 1989.

64. Robert Meadows QC, Oral History project (transcript of recording), 2015.

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Presidents: 1980–1989

1982

1983

Rory Edward Stanley Argyle

Ian Douglas Temby

About: Admitted WA 1960; Partner Parker and Parker (ret).

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About: Admitted WA 1966; Partner Northmore Hale Davy and Leake; Queen’s Counsel; first Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions; first Commissioner I.C.A.C. (NSW); AO.

1984

1985

Daryl Robert Williams

Henry Hall (Hal) Jackson

About: Rhodes Scholar (1965); admitted WA 1968; Queen's Counsel; AM; Member House of Representatives (Tangney) (1993 – 2004); Attorney General Commonwealth of Australia (1996 – 2003).

About: Admitted WA 1965; Partner Godfrey Virtue; Judge District Court of Western Australia (1986 – 2003); President Children's Court of Western Australia (1989 –1993).

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

1986 – 1987

1988

Robert John Meadows

Michael John Murray

About: Admitted WA 1966; Partner Muir Williams Nicholson; Queen's Counsel; Solicitor General of Western Australia (1994 – 2011).

About: Admitted WA 1965; Crown Counsel (1980 – 1990); Queen's Counsel; AM; Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (1990 – 2012); Senior Puisne judge (2002 - 2012).

1989 – 1990 Rene Lucien Le Miere About: Admitted WA 1978; Queen's Counsel; Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (2004 – ); Senior Puisne judge (2015 – ).

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1993: The newly opened Federal and Family Court building

Chapter Seven

1990–1999

90 Years of the Law Society (1927-2017) | Page 120

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Law Society House, 33 Barrack Street

The 1990s began at 33 Barrack Street, Perth.

The building defined the physical setting, new possibilities and eventually the limitations of the decade. On settlement of the purchase on 30 June 1990, the building was named ‘Law Society House.’

The building consisted of an eight floor structure with a narrow frontage, with long and not particularly spacious floor platforms running back from the eastern side of the street.

In fitting out the building, the Law Society used solid rosewood furniture, some of it from Mallesons, which was shifting premises, and the effect was suitably professional.

1990: Geraldine Byrne on the seventh floor of Law Society House

The Law Society used three of the floors. The eighth floor was the hub of decision making. At the eastern end of the building was a large blue curtain which formed the backdrop to council photographs. A long meeting table, set beside it, accommodated both Council and committee meetings.

The demands of the time posed problems for Council as the policy making body. It met on the second Monday of each month, but policy issues arose continually and urgently and President Rene Le Miere, noted in 1990 that the Executive was increasingly obliged to make the required decisions, which placed it under pressure.

Presidents also routinely referred to committees as “the lifeblood of the Society”. In 1990, there were 57 committees and some had 16 participants. It was reported in 1990 that over 700 members had served on committees that year. One hundred and sixty submissions had

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accomplished. In 1990, there were 15 full-time and three part-time staff. The lifts to the seventh floor opened to an area with a curved reception desk on either side. The Executive Officer’s office abutted the Barrack Street frontage.

November 1989: Brief announces the Law Society’s move to 33 Barrack Street, Perth

been produced, many in the unreasonably short time allowed by both State and Federal Governments. Committees met at lunchtime and members, pressed for time, were provided with sandwiches made on the premises.

It was a huge undertaking for staff to support this number of committees and this amount of activity. The seventh floor was the engine room where the greater part of that feat was

The Law Society’s staff had grown as needed.

With new initiatives and activities constantly accruing, individuals often changed jobs or took on new projects or additional responsibilities.

Versatility, initiative, imagination and going the extra mile were all part of implementing policy.

Technology had reached the point that Brief in 1991 used the phrase ‘paper monster’, to describe the amount of paper unleashed on the modern office by word processing, copying, faxing and printing out of data. The term ‘electronic mail’ referred to an innovation that would not be in common use for several years.

A Computerisation Committee was established that year.

The ground floor – community services

Space at Law Society House made it possible for the Law Society to embark on a new era of legal assistance schemes and measures. Once more, functioning systems had to be created from the ground up. The Shopfront Lawyer, on the Barrack street frontage, was a joint scheme of the Law Society and the Citizens Advice Bureau, which was located next door to Law Society House on the river side. A lawyer was in attendance during ordinary working hours

and the service consisted of a twenty minute consultation for $20. Simple drafting work might be undertaken or the person referred on for legal advice.

of the public on legal and financial matters relating to consumer credit.” Interest rates were still astronomical, although that was about to change.

With the assistance of a grant from the PPT, a Consumer Credit Service was set up and was located at the rear section of the ground floor.

It was stated: “A lawyer and financial adviser will be present to give advice to members

Also on the ground floor was the Law Asia Secretariat, which was located in Perth during the early 1990s. In 1991, the Law Society hosted the 12th Law Asia Conference, the first within Australia.

The Litigation Assistance Fund Work was already progressing on a ‘legal resources scheme’ when the Law Society moved to Law Society House. The scheme was to involve a contingency agreement entered into between the fund and the client.

This needed an amendment to the Legal Practitioners Act to make an exception to the law against maintenance and champerty.

By the end of 1990, necessary amendments had been passed and the Law Society could advertise for a Fund Manager. On 5 June 1991, the Litigation Assistance Fund (LAF) celebrated its official launch at the Francis Burt Law Centre. It was described in Brief: “The Litigation Assistance Fund is a charitable Trust established by seeding grants of the PPT and Lotteries Commission. It will be self-funded by

15 percent of the monies or property received by the funded person.”70 The Law Society acted as Trustee. Solicitors would be paid ordinary fees, or in some cases reduced fees to reflect an element of pro bono work. Thirty-four practitioners signalled their willingness to sit on assessment panels.

There were echoes of establishing the Legal Aid Scheme of 1971 – a complex system, funded by a trust, with many exigencies to provide for. John Chaney recognised Margaret Hordon, Administrator of the Fund who, he observed, had been faced with a blank sheet of paper from which to formulate guidelines and procedures for the administration of the Fund.

Andrea Lace became the practitioner in charge of the Fund, detailing the merits of submissions

for the Law Society’s consideration, and the level of funding which could allocated. Though the assessment process was reminiscent of the Law Society’s previous legal assistance schemes, the LAF was without precedent and needed to be kept under constant review.

The Annual Report stated: “This is one of the boldest initiatives taken by the legal profession throughout Australia.” It was described as “an important experiment being watched closely in all other Australian jurisdictions for its potential to increase access to the law.”

By November, there had been 18 grants of assistance from 83 applications. Medium-sized commercial disputes figured prominently in LAF work. Another chapter in the Law Society’s history of legal assistance opened.

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Law Access The final legal service established on the ground floor at Law Society House was the Law Access Community Legal Service. Greg Mohen was appointed in October 1992 to establish and manage the scheme and it was launched in February 1993. Law Access was ‘a coordinated pro bono legal advice scheme’ and it also needed an administrative framework involving many forms, processes and decisions.

It was not necessary to advertise the service.

Referrals came from community legal centres, the Shopfront Lawyer, law firms and sometimes the courts. Through networking and developing the Law Society’s referral

database, Law Access became an effective clearing house. Greg Mohen also gave practical encouragement to pro bono work within the profession; for example, partnering firms with community legal centres. By the early 1990s, faxing was in common use and email was not far in the future. Technology definitely facilitated liaison.

Law Access was aligned with future trends.

Funded services such as the LAF were fraught with financial challenges, but pro bono work was increasingly structured into the business plans of firms. Eventually this original service evolved to the present Law Access Ltd.

In 1991, John Chaney commented in Brief that he had been taken to task by a member for the way the Law Society was involving itself in ‘community stuff’ rather than concentrating on protecting the interests of the profession.

He responded: “the simple answer is that the profession does not exist in a vacuum. Unless it is seen to be making itself relevant and making a real contribution to the community, it will be seen as self-serving and irrelevant.” Over some trying years to come, the Law Society was able to point to the vital role it was playing in serving the public interest.

Cost, delay and alternative dispute resolution In the late 1980s, Justices Ipp and Seaman began examining the issue of delays and inefficiencies which had become inherent in the court system. The Law Society became closely involved and formed its own Courts Delay Reduction Committee. The immediate issue was a massive backlog of cases in the Supreme Court, which was dealt with to some degree through case management and expedited hearings. The Law Society was represented on the Court’s Monitoring Committee, partly to ensure that the Court and the profession drove case management, rather than the reverse.

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fostering Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

This was the theme of Law Week in 1992. By that time, Law Week was an opportunity to highlight a particular legal issue. In the lead up, Australia’s foremost mediation authority came to Perth to address the profession. New South Wales had conducted Settlements Week in 1991, and on this basis, the Law Society planned Resolutions Week.

The Law Society’s President, Rick Cullen, reported in 1992 that, five months after the proposal was passed by Council in June, Resolutions Week was “up and running in Workers’ Compensation Board matters.” Out of an available pool of 60 matters, mediations had been arranged in 25 cases. A grant of $50,000

was received from the PPT for the Law Society to run mediations in all matters in the Supreme Court and District Court (non-personal injuries) in 1993. An extra staff member was taken on to coordinate the scheme.

In 1993, President Ted Sharp reported that many practitioners had given up their time to become accredited as mediators with LEADR and made themselves available to mediate for a minimal fee. Resolutions Week, together with a Supreme Court blitz known as the August Special Sittings, virtually eliminated the long-term backlog during 1993. This was the beginning of the Law Society’s lengthy involvement in ADR.

Speaking out – ‘our sword is not rusty’ The Law Society had made a concerted effort to gain the understanding of policy makers throughout the 1980s and it had been a constructive decade. But the political climate could change. Emotive issues had a habit of playing out through ‘law and order’ campaigns in the media, sometimes resulting in provisions which undermined judicial independence. In the early 1990s, the issue was juvenile crime and supposed ‘slaps on the wrist’ in the Children’s Court.

During 1992, the Society emphatically opposed legislation which imposed mandatory sentences for certain offences, which it felt would undermine judicial discretion.

The following year, President Ted Sharp reported that he had hoped to spend his time consolidating the many works of the previous two years. Instead, 1993 was consumed by

a campaign against proposals which would have excluded common law rights and legal practitioners from critical parts of the processes relating to workers compensation.

In early 1993, a sequence of events played out that included a peremptory inquiry with six working days for submissions, ministerial statements about ‘greedy lawyers’ and similar references, together with misrepresentations of the Law Society’s viewpoints, and misleading statements about the effect of proposed legislation. All this was in the context of a distorted concept of ‘access to justice’ as somehow involving the exclusion of lawyers.

The President noted in his report of 1993: “The Society has always endeavoured to maintain an apolitical stance on most issues, but when individual rights and the rights of practitioners are threatened, it has no choice

but to confront the Government of the day.”

Besides spending endless Council and committee time considering the issue and seeking to sway the Minister, the Law Society took the unprecedented step of calling a press conference, designed to alert the public to a “a serious attack on some fundamental rights.”

Following an Extraordinary General Meeting in July, the Law Society pressed forward with an advertising campaign, especially focusing on the retrospective elements of the legislation.

The campaign did not prevent the passage of the legislation, and the only option was to closely monitor its operation, which the Law Society continued to do. Reporting in 1994, President Michael McPhee stated that, despite the unsuccessful campaign, the Law Society was right to speak out. He observed, “Our sword is not rusty.”

Stress as an issue and LawCare WA In 1990, the Law Society held its winter conference in Broome. The theme was Environmental Awareness and Economic Development. It was also the occasion for a discussion about stress which had crept up on legal practice. Mention of ‘stress’ at all was a breakthrough. The time had not long passed – and for some it had not passed all – when signs of stress were perceived as a personal failing.

In October 1990, Brief dealt with the causes of stress among lawyers. Different kinds of practices had their own pressures. Young lawyers were especially vulnerable in the faster paced profession. In July 1990, a ‘Senior Advisors Panel’ was established by the Law Society to advise practitioners on professional issues causing stress. The signal development was the launch of an independent counselling service for lawyers.

A practitioner seeking a referral to LawCare WA needed to go through either the Senior Advisors Panel or the Executive Director, which raised an obvious confidentiality problem.

But stress as a matter for the Law Society’s attention had certainly crystallised, as had the beginnings of a professional safety net.

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Women practitioners and a profession for people

Women practitioners were subject to additional pressures, which was a matter of concern.

By 1990, 48 percent of law graduates were female and the influx of women had changed the face of the profession. In 1989, the Equal Opportunity Committee initiated a study of the consequences for the profession. Funding was provided by the PPT and a market research consultant undertook the study. The group, surveyed via a sampling process, consisted of those who had graduated since 1970. The needs of working parents, especially mothers, were central. An equal number of males and females were surveyed, so it was also a window on the younger sector of the profession, but with at least some already in an advanced stage of parenthood.

One conclusion drawn from the responses of women was that: “The procedure of the legal profession must change from that which evolved to accommodate male needs and aspirations to one which accommodates people.”

A Crèche Committee looked at the practical matter of childcare and planned towards the establishment of a crèche within the profession.

This was complex to achieve and did not ultimately proceed. It was also a long way from what a proportion of the profession thought the Law Society should be doing.

Celia Searle, then a Senior Associate at Parker and Parker, wrote an article headed

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1990: At Law Summer School

‘How do you cope as a full-time lawyer and mother?’. The article depicted a mammoth planning and balancing act. In the pre-digital era, she suggested extending word processing shifts to enable a return to work at night if necessary. A correspondent to Brief suggested this was more suited to a women’s magazine than a serious legal journal.

This may well have reflected a generational difference. Both genders surveyed (the younger age group) were feeling the pressure and looking for more flexibility. The results of the survey fed into the issue of childcare and maternity/paternity leave, as well as into the broader issue of stress within the profession.

The Chief Justice’s Gender Bias Taskforce

In 1993, the issue of gender and the law was taken up at the highest level. During 1990, Chief Justice David Malcolm had attended a conference in Edinburgh on the subject of Equality and the Administration of Justice, which encompassed race, gender and class.

Gender bias was already under close scrutiny in the western world and the Chief Justice was prepared to concede that the conference led to self-examination.

In 2014, Justice Janine Pritchard looked back on the way in which this also led him to action71: ...he came to appreciate that there was a need for all judges, himself included, ‘to be made aware of the possibility of unconscious bias in decision-making and of bias in the substantive law in its application to women’.72 But Chief Justice Malcolm did not simply seek to educate himself, and other judges, about gender bias. Following on from the example set by a number of states in the United States and a number of Canadian provinces, the Chief Justice appointed the Taskforce to

investigate the extent to which gender bias existed in the law and in the administration of justice in Western Australia, and to make recommendations for its elimination. The Taskforce was asked to examine gender bias in relation to the substantive law, the judiciary, the procedures of the courts, and the organisation and work of the legal profession.

The Law Society was closely involved with the work of the Taskforce. In 1994, Chairman of the Equal Opportunity Committee, Greg McIntyre reported: The Committee was formally represented by its Convenor on the Chief Justice's Gender Bias Task Force. The Convenor sat on the Education and Judicial Appointments Committee and contributed to the recommendations and report of that Committee- prepared by its Convenor, Ms Penny Keeley which arc included in the Report of the Task Force. The Equal Opportunity Committee received progress reports on the Task Force's work and had

an opportunity to contribute to discussion on the issues raised.

The report of the taskforce, published in 1994 was a pivotal document. In great detail, it challenged all those involved with women and the legal system to detect bias and take effective steps to overcome it. In the longer term, it has continued to provide a benchmark against which to measure progress.

Justice Pritchard further observed: It is easy to lose sight of the significance of Chief Justice Malcolm’s decision to establish the Taskforce. It was, in many respects, a radical step for its time because it involved the acknowledgment that gender bias may exist in the law and the administration of the justice in this State.

In the light of times long past, when the Bench stood in the way of necessary change, it is interesting to see how Chief Justices in recent decades have been at the forefront.

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Mabo, reconciliation and ‘learning together’

The early 1990s was a watershed time in race relations and Aboriginal land rights, and the legal system was the medium for massive change. The Mabo case swept away the assumption of ‘terra nullius’ as it had been applied to the continent of Australia. The concept of ‘native title’ emerged as a result.

In 1993, the Australian Parliament enacted the Native Title Act and State enactments followed.

There was a legal process and machinery for native title claims, together with a new area of practice and jurisprudence. The legal issues were huge and complex.

Like ‘terra nullius’, other assumptions about Indigenous people had run deep in Australian society, producing policies and practices that cast a long shadow. Official enquiries into Aboriginal deaths in custory and the forced removal of children confronted the consequences.

Looking to the future, it was realised by both Indigenous and other leaders, that a united effort was needed to find solutions and this meant mutual understanding. ‘Reconciliation’ was the term which encompassed this new perspective. It reflected the concept of ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ also applied by the new regime in South Africa. The Australian Parliament passed the Council for Aboriginal Reconcilation Act, No 127 of 1991.

The following excerpt from the preamble to the Act, (though not in context), encapsulates the process set in motion: "to address progressively Aboriginal disadvantage and aspirations in relation to land, housing, law

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and justice, cultural heritage, education, employment, health, infrastructure, economic development and any other relevant matters in the decade leading to the centenary of Federation."

To further these aims, the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was created.

In this legal and social context, the law associations in Australian became involved. In 1994 the Law Council of Australia, using Federal government funds, established the John Koowarta Reconciliation Law Scholarship for the benefit of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people undertaking tertiary studies leading to admission as legal practitioners.

The judiciary and the Law Society in WA took up the challenge in collaberation with Indigenous leaders and the Aboriginal Legal Service. Law Society House was the venue for a number of discussions and social events to liaise with Indigenous people. In these early days of reconciliation, it was a matter of gaining understanding, sharing ideas and insights and seeking common ground. On the initiative of the Chief Justice, a one day seminar on Aboriginal

reconcilation was held in the Supreme Court on 21 February 1997. It was entitled ‘Learning Together’. This was a joint initiative by the group Australians for Reconciliation, the Supreme Court and the Law Society, all of whom worked together through a committee.

There were keynote addresses, panels and workshops.

Indigenous leader Pat Dodson spoke of the need to preserve Aboriginal culture and re-empower Aboriginal elders. He put the question: how is this nation to become home to all of us? A draft reconciliation document was discussed.

Thus the Law Society took up the issue of reconciliation, and everything which has happened since arose from this transformation in outlook.

The recession and an articles drought

There was a distinct ‘morning after’ atmosphere to the early 1990s, following the property boom and financial excesses of the 1980s. During 1990, a severe recession took hold. Brief of June 1991 reported a slowing down of work especially amongst larger firms. An article was headed ‘Danger signals for firms in trouble.’ A survey suggested that firms were making a conscious effort to cut costs in day-to-day operations. CLE receipts were down.

Suddenly, large firms which had taken 15 or 20 articled clerks took five. The under-supply of graduates turned to a glut. Smoothing the peaks and troughs inherent in the system now called for a campaign to place graduates. Geraldine Byrne made personal approaches to all available contacts and advised graduates on how to maximise their prospects. She recalled, “The profession was wonderful in their response.”

President Ted Sharp, in his report of 1993, described all sectors, including the Bar and judiciary, “working together for the good of the graduates.”

The first graduates from Murdoch University Law School were coming through the system in 1994.

It was apparent that graduating in law no longer guaranteed a job in the legal profession. This was a new state of affairs and one which did not only reflect economic conditions.

Articles issues were set to continue. Among the recommendations in the Clarkson Enquiry was the establishment of a Legal Practice Institute.

This was investigated thoroughly by the Practical Legal Training Committee of the Law Society

and, at the annual general meeting of December 1992, there was a majority vote in favour of some form of institute. However, Council subsequently decided to consider avenues for practical legal training within the articles system and at the last meeting of 1992 resolved to establish an Articles Task Force.

By this time, the issue was not so much the fluctuating supply of articles places as the uneven quality of articles training and its inherent inadequacy in modern practice. In 1993, the Barristers’ Board became the Legal Practice Board, which has remained the regulatory body for the legal profession. The Law Society and the Legal Practice Board joined forces to further the idea of integrating practical training into articles. This was the process which led eventually to the Articles Training Program in 1995.

Brief reports on the early 1990s recession

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Law Mutual and risk management

In 1994, it became apparent that the Law Society’s participation in ‘Law Cover’, a NSW scheme, was not serving the interests of Western Australian practitioners. The first event of the year was an increase of 100 percent in insurance premiums. Large claims on the eastern seaboard had caused premiums to rocket. WA, on the other hand, had a

respectable claims history and was in a position to negotiate a better arrangement on its own account.

insurance regime. In December 1994, a concept was approved and in 1995, Law Mutual (WA) was established.

In 1994, the Professional Indemnity Insurance Committee authorised the Executive Director to conduct a full enquiry into the insurance markets available to the profession. His resulting report was the basis for a new

As a result, managing an insurance scheme became a major work of the Law Society. Risk management seminars, though not initially compulsory, fed into the preventive aspect of professional standards.

1995: President Judy Eckert Due to unforeseen circumstances, there was a change of President in 1995 and the Law Society gained its first female President, Judy Eckert. She assumed office in 1995 and remained President in 1996. This development was certainly a sign of the times. She was of the view that “Work/life balance issues are not women’s issues. They are management issues.”

The Law Society and society in general were moving into a different gear after the expansiveness of previous years. Economic rationalism was the new outlook together with ‘downsizing’, ‘the bottom line’ and ‘the

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economic imperative.’ There were savage cuts to the Federal Government’s legal aid budget.

Judy Eckert expressed strong reservations about economic rationalism in terms of its application to the legal profession. However, there were new financial pressures on the Law Society, which suffered an unforeseen financial loss in 1995. This called for a reassessment of priorities and retargeting of resources.

In 1996, the President reported that a major work of the year had been to consider what the role of the Law Society was and how it could fulfil the needs of members. She further observed:

[This] has highlighted the need to analyse what the needs of our members are and to ensure that we are servicing those needs and not undertaking any extraneous tasks.

We need to carefully monitor the cost of each project or policy that we take on and ensure that we can justify that cost to our members.

This was the background to the first membership survey of 1996, the results of which formed the basis of the strategic plan of 1998.

1997: The Society at 70 – a slice through time

When the Presidency of the Law Society transferred from Judy Eckert to John Syminton in 1997, handing over the Law Society’s one mobile phone was an important and symbolic act. The mobile phone of the time was clunky, expensive and purely a telephone. It was necessary for important and urgent business which could not wait for an ordinary phone call.

Technology was in rapid transition to general usage, however, and its importance to the legal profession was apparent. Brief of January 1997 carried an article ‘Why lawyers need e-mail’. The issue of March 1997 included ‘Netwatch’ which listed official websites that included online legislation. These were relatively few and there was no Western Australian material included.

The Law Society acquired its first website in 1996 and a second in 1998.

President John Syminton foreshadowed that a boom was at hand and warned of professional hazards such as conflict of interest. The coming boom in mineral prices lasted until the mid2010s. Financial constraint however, was the ‘new normal’. Public functions, in particular were under duress and a massive funding cut in 1996 reduced the Commonwealth Government’s contribution to Legal Aid from 55 percent to 32 percent. Crisis moved to fullscale meltdown. A bleak future was signalled and the work of the Law Society was coloured by this starvation of funds.

Economic rationalism put a dollar value on all things and time costing was under intense discussion as an issue. Legal practice was ever more of a business – a very large business for some firms, which had moved to national

and then international, losing their Western Australian identity in the process. The large firms as a segment of the profession were becoming a factor in the Law Society’s work.

Judy Jones left after 15 years with the Law Society. Eventually, there were staff members who had been there for over 20 years, by which time they carried much of the Society’s corporate memory. The Old Court House celebrated its 160th anniversary in 1997. There were plans to open additional centre in Fremantle with an emphasis on the history of Aboriginal people and the law in Western Australia.

In 1996, the Western Australian Law Reform Commission was given its largest ever task – Project No 92: ‘Review of the criminal and civil justice system in Western Australia’.

Sixty-six consultants were appointed by the Commission to complete the report in a reasonable time. Its findings fudamentally influenced the directions taken by the Law Society in the coming years. During 1998, a process of consultation was negotiated and an ad hoc committee set up to deal with the inquiry. It was soon hard at work formulating responses to working papers.

1999: Law Society sailing competition

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1993: Centenary of the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia Back row: Donald Watts, Dr Anthoney Dickey QC, Timothy McComish, Allan Fenbury, David Clyne, Wayne Martin QC, Michael O’Sullivan QC Middle row: Stephen Owen-Conway QC, Christopher Humphry, Christopher Steytler QC, Roger Macknay QC, Laurie James, John McKechnie QC, Christopher Pullin QC, Robert Pringle QC Front row: Robert O’Connor QC, Hon. Ian Viner QC, Francis Mallon (Deputy Chairman), Ross Chappell, (Chairman), Kevin Parker AO, RFD, QC (Chairman 1979-1993), Jane Thompson LLB, BA (Secretary), Nicholas Hasluck AM, QC, Ronald E. Birmingham

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1990, 1992: Logos designed for the Winter Conferences in Broome and Queenstown, New Zealand

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A tighter ship and the first strategic plan Alison Gaines joined the Law Society as Executive Director in 1997, coming from a background in public sector management. In her introductory column in Brief, she stated that the Law Society must be relevant to the needs of its members and that “the Law Society surveys will form the basis on which new policies and strategies are both recognised and implemented.” 73 The first strategic plan of 1998 placed service to members as the central undertaking and this approach would continue to evolve and eventually be finely tuned to members’ views and wishes. It was integral to encouraging a large and growing membership to support all of the Law Society’s roles.

The actual process of defining the Law Society’s goals for a given period, allocating

resources and reviewing progress, was a new approach. Also inherent in this process was a certain battening-down: a more pressured profession had greater need for the Law Society’s support in practical ways. Some services to members were definitely becoming parts of a safety net.

Specific membership services initiated in 1998 included a ‘members only’ website on which the Annual Report and committee activities could be viewed. It also offered increased and improved email communication and encouraged email referral to member firms.

This was a crucial first step towards the central role the website would eventually play. There was also a Legal Assistants Training Course, to which practices could refer their staff. There were 54 referrals that year. To implement the

Alison Gaines Executive Director 1997 – 2006

Law Society’s defined goals, the 37 staff were organised into ‘teams’ which carried out related functions. The Law Society had entered a new age of management.

The media revisited In 1998, President Kate O’Brien described the work of the Law Society as “more intense, more sophisticated, more varied and more time-consuming.” Legislation at odds with the rule of law plagued the Law Society at intervals during the 1990s. Two Bills introduced in 1998 “contained dramatic changes to our sentencing laws.”74 Included in the Bills was a so-called ‘sentencing matrix’ which imposed time-consuming and complicated processes on judges, while at the same time undermining judicial discretion.

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The workers’ compensation issue returned when amendments to the existing objectionable legislation were introduced by the Minister for Labour Relations. The Law Society made clear to the Minister its objection to a statutory definition of negligence and the capping of liability. However, it also carried out a more general campaign. The President reported that, in her assessment, the Law Society had been “very effective in positioning the Society’s concerns within the broader community and parliamentary debate,” and further, that the Law Society “has had considerable impact

upon the way in which these issues have been considered.”

The President that year made it a special mission to achieve a better understanding with the media and community. Sensationalism pervaded any ‘law and order’ issue and, as a criminal law practitioner, she had a particular concern with fundamental misunderstandings about these kinds of issues, which were generating ‘intense public interest.’

During 1998, the Francis Burt Law Education Centre held two seminars, intended to

encourage more reasoned and informed debate on law and order issues. One seminar was for journalists. The other was for peak senior citizens’ groups. The most senior judges made presentations and answered questions.

The Law Society considered its relationship with the community as threefold: the first aspect consisted of legal services (Shopfront Lawyer,

Law Access and Law Week); the second, educational services through the Francis Burt Law Education Centre; and the third aspect was the development of a media strategy, which included being prepared to comment regularly on controversial matters. ‘Speaking out’ was acknowledged and formalised as part of the Law Society’s role and controversy

was no object. Also part of the strategy was to participate in more reflective information sessions dealing with the law, such as talkback radio. By the end of 1998, the President reported that the Law Society “has an enviable public profile and the media will inevitably seek the Law Society’s views on future issues relating to the law.”

Plain speaking and an exit survey In 1998, Sir Francis Burt launched the Law Society’s educational website at the Law Education Centre. While welcoming anything which used technology for a good purpose, he admitted to having no idea about the internet. In his capacity as elder statesman of the profession, Sir Francis was not afraid to speak plainly about changes which he did not welcome. At the opening of the Notre Dame Law School the previous year he commented on money as the arbiter of all things and hoped that the new law school might rekindle the idea of the law as a calling.

By this time, the financial imperative, along with a multitude of other pressures and complexities, was part of legal practice. The Law Society had noted that young practitioners were leaving the profession – women in particular but also men. In 1997, the Law Society formed a joint committee with Women

Lawyers of WA, chaired by Clare Thompson, to address the position of women in the profession and this included the problem of wastage. The Young Lawyers Committee also had a direct interest in preventing younger practitioners getting into practical difficulties or feeling alienated. In co-ordination with the joint committee, it piloted a mentor program.

In 1998, the joint Law Society/Women Lawyers of WA Committee commissioned an exit survey “to understand why women and men are leaving the profession and what could be done by the profession to improve retention rates.” The results which came to hand in 1999 were sobering. Reasons for having quit the legal profession were various, with the lack of flexibility to balance family commitments prominent among them. The absence of any positive reinforcement in some firms figured, as did time billing, sexual harassment and

burnout. All negative experiences were more pronounced among women.

It was noted in Brief of July 1999 that the respondents were dissatisfied and disaffected, and if measures were not taken, “some of the best and brightest” would be lost to the profession. A special committee was appointed to seek solutions and continue monitoring wastage. Immediate measures were to firm up the pilot mentoring scheme, with extra efforts to assist both young lawyers in practice and those setting up new practices. After consultation, proper protocols were devised for the sexual harassment mediation process.

In 2002, LawCare WA was upgraded to a more professional and confidential service.

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2000: A taxing year

Decisions and policies which would affect the future were still incubating when the new millennium began. The Goods and Services Tax came into effect on 1 July 2000 and clearly this affected the multiple and already complex transactions involved in the practice of law. A specific education program was mounted by the Law Society to ease the transition, through seminars and using the technology of the day.

There was a GST website, an email advisory service and a staff member dedicated to the task of informing members and firms. A layer of financial administration was added to the Law Society’s operations as well as those of the profession.

The National Competition Policy Review was in progress. In its responses to working papers, the Law Society had maintained its support for more flexible business structures while emphatically rejecting proposals which would erode the concept of a properly regulated legal profession. The idea that certain legal services could be treated as requiring less than full professional attention and handled by unqualified or under-qualified people was the phenomenon that caused alarm – and also frustration. The pervasive thread in the Presidents’ comments in Law Society communications was that policy makers

needed to understand (and did not) that the role of a profession in the community went beyond bare economics.

Following the massive cut to legal aid funding by the Commonwealth in 1996, an air of perpetual crisis surrounded the legal aid system. The legal crisis of the late 1980s now almost seemed utopian in relative terms. More people tried to represent themselves, thus placing greater pressure on the court system.

Legal aid as an area of practice was becoming financially untenable for private practitioners.

Naturally the Legal Aid Commission took measures to get legal representation for the least cost and in 2000 raised the idea of tendering by practitioners for criminal work.

The Law Society considered this highly objectionable.

Practitioners had to haggle with the Commission on behalf of clients, to have a matter funded at all, let alone properly funded.

Country areas were in a desperate state. There was pressure from government for lawyers to support the tottering system through pro bono work. In 2000, the President commented wryly that there was not a similar expectation that architects and builders would work free

of charge to provide houses for the “dwellingchallenged.”

The 1990s had seen the commodifying of all things, including the legal system. Late in 2000, President Gregory Boyle attended the Presidents of Law Associations (POLA) Conference in Delhi. Here he was forcefully struck by the value placed on the rule of law by law associations from countries where it could not be taken for granted. It threw into sharp relief the obsession with economic issues surrounding the law shown by policy makers in Australia, and how quickly the ‘sacred values’ on which the legal system is built could be eroded.

Chapter Notes: 70. Brief, April 1991.

71. Justice Janine Pritchard, Supreme Court of Western Australia, Notre Dame University – Eminent Speakers Series, 24 October 2014, The Report of the 20th Anniversary Review of the 1994 Chief Justice’s Gender Bias Taskforce: Challenges and Opportunities.

72. Report of the Chief Justice’s Taskforce on Gender Bias, 30 June 1994.

73. Brief, June 1997.

74. Annual Report 1998.

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Presidents: 1990–1999

1991

1992

John Anthony Chaney

Richard Anthony Clarke (Rick) Cullen

About: Admitted WA 1976; Senior Counsel; Judge District Court of Western Australia (2004 – 2009), Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (2009 – ), President State Administrative Tribunal (2009 – 2014).

About: Admitted WA 1977; Director Cullen McLeod.

1993

1994

Theodore Henry (Ted) Sharp

Michael John McPhee

About: Admitted WA 1968; consultant Herbert Smith Freehills.

About: Admitted WA 1973; solicitor; MJ McPhee Barrister & Solicitors.

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Presidents: 1990–1999

1995

1995 – 1996

Pino Anthony Monaco

Judith Elsa (Judy) Eckert

About: Admitted WA 1975; Director GV Lawyers

About: Admitted WA 1981; first female Law Society President, District Court Judge (2005 – 2011), Deputy President State Administrative Tribunal (2005 – 2011).

1997

1998

John George Syminton

Catherine Joan (Kate) O’Brien

About: Admitted WA 1976; Director Warren Syminton Ralph.

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About: Admitted WA 1977; Centenary Medal; Judge District Court of Western Australia (1999 – 2010); President Children's Court of Western Australia (2002 – 2004).

1999 John Robert Broderick Ley About: Admitted WA 1975; barrister; Francis Burt Chambers.

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia The Law Society's Old Court House Law Museum Courtesy of Justin Tonti-Filippini

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2016: David Malcolm Justice Centre

Chapter Eight

2000–2017

Author note: The Law Society has selected the following topics as worthy of treatment for the period 2000-2017

90 Years of the Law Society (1927-2017) | Page 140

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Work on an ‘omnibus bill’ – The Legal Practice Act 2003

In 2000, the WA Law Reform Commission Inquiry into the Civil and Criminal Justice System produced its report containing 447 recommendations. That same year, the Law Society accepted an invitation to join a steering party to work through the report. The particular interests of the Law Society in relation to the Report had been on the agenda for some years: the national practice certificate, incorporated legal practices, multidisciplinary partnerships, and the supervision of foreign lawyers practising the law of a third country.

Following the State election of 2001, the Hon Jim McGinty, a reforming Attorney General, took office and this shaped the coming process. The recommendations of the Law Reform Commission would take many years to realise, but the legislative process began immediately. The Law Society provided a “high level of specialist advice to the new Government” during 2001.75 Specifically, as President Elizabeth Heenan reported in 2003, it “entered into negotiations with the Department of Justice to draft an omnibus bill to amend the Legal Practitioners Act 1893.” The omnibus

bill was introduced in the autumn session of Parliament in 2002 and became law in October 2003.

The new Legal Practice Act opened the way for changes sought by the Law Society. The Legal Practice Board was responsible for implementing the Act. As it transpired, the legislation was overtaken by events, in particular by progress towards attempts to achieve a 'national' profession, and was replaced by the Legal Profession Act of 2009.

Chief Justice’s Law Week Youth Appeal

The perceived crisis of juvenile offending and ‘street kids’ had played out in many fraught ways over the 1990s. It intermeshed with drugs as a social scourge and strongly appealed to a sensationalist media. Supporting young people at risk and thus keeping them out of the criminal justice system was close to the interests and public spirit of the Law Society and the judiciary. As part of Law Week over a number of years, firms had prepared wills at a cost of $50 and donated the proceeds to a homeless youth program, called ‘Oasis Homes’.

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During Law Week 2001, practices other than those drafting wills were invited to become involved by donating an amount from work undertaken during the week. The public was also canvassed. The Chief Justice’s Law Week Youth Appeal was subsequently formalised, as the President reported: The Chief Justice has lent his name to the new charitable trust established by the Society this year, and approved by the Australian Taxation Office as a vehicle for the raising of funds by the Society for

distribution to youth charities focusing on diverting vulnerable young people away from the criminal justice system.

Raising money for the Trust was to be carried on throughout the year. ‘Youth in your community’ became the theme of Law Week in 2002. Justice Kenneth Martin, President in 2001, recalls that this initiative was a source of particular satisfaction that year, and that the enthusiasm and practical support of the judiciary for this scheme was a crucial factor.76

89 St Georges Terrace

During 2000, the Public Purposes Trust (PPT) decided to dispose of its interest in Law Society House. The idea of buying out the PPT was rejected by the Law Society for a number of reasons. In any case, the Law Society had grown beyond what the premises offered.

An offer on Law Society House was accepted by the PPT and Law Society in October 2001.

Meanwhile, suitable premises had been located at 89 St Georges Terrace, which was more central to the profession. This time the plan was to lease the premises and on Christmas Eve 2001, Council considered the terms of the lease. Early in 2002, a seven year lease was signed for the entire fourth floor and part of the ground floor. The fitout of the building proceeded. As was the case at Law Society House, the ground floor was to remain the community services area.

On the 20 June, the annual President’s cocktail party was held at the new premises, which were opened by Chief Justice David Malcolm. He also named the Law Society’s five meeting rooms to be used for training, meetings and conferences: the Sir Walter James Room, the Red Burt Room, the Sheila McClemans Room, the John Toohey Room and the Judy Eckert Room.

All, with the exception of Sheila McClemans, were former Presidents of the Law Society and all played important roles in the development of the local profession through their involvement with the Law Society.77 Guest included descendants of Sir Walter James, and in person, Judy Eckert and Sir Francis Burt.

2002: The Law Society relocates to new premises at 89 St Georges Terrace, Perth

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2004: The oral history programme

By the late 1980s it was clear that the number of those who remembered the ‘traditional profession’ and early years of the Law Society was decreasing rapidly. Capturing their ‘living memory’ was urgent. In 1987, Robert Nicholson supported an oral history project and a PPT grant was secured.

Robert Meadows and Geraldine Byrne undertook three interviews, including one of Sir Ronald Wilson, while Jane Fleming interviewed 12 practitioners, including Philip Adams and Hugh Guthrie, whose interest in the past of the profession and memory of events were exceptional.

In 2004, an infusion of funds came in the form of a $25,000 bequest from Leah Cohen to the Francis Burt Law Education Centre, for purposes which included oral history.

In that year, Sir Francis Burt himself died.

Fortunately he had been comprehensively interviewed on several occasions, highlighting the importance of the project.

The history of the Western Australian legal system was in the spotlight during 2005 as a history of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, May it Please Your Honour, by Professor Geoffrey Bolton and Geraldine Byrne, was published. An oral history working group was set up at the Law Society under

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the chairmanship of Michal Lewi. During 2004 and 2005, a selection of initial oral history contacts was made and letters of invitation written. The initial criterion was date of admission, but a special effort was also made to interview those of outstanding significance, including Chief Justice Malcolm.

The Cohen bequest was exhausted by 2009, but the programme had gained momentum and its importance was appreciated.

Brief of August 2013 reported: 2004: President Ian Weldon addresses the inaugural Law Office Management Expo

Over the years, oral histories have been taken of a number of judges and practitioners, some now deceased. 29 oral histories have now been completed, and together with another 19 resulting from an earlier programme carried out

by Library and Information Services of Western Australia, they provide an impressive record of legal practice in

Western Australia, going back to the early years of the 20thcentury.

At the present time, the approach is to “actively pursue specific themes in the selection process, for example ‘Women in law’”. As a result of the project, the Francis Burt Law Education Programme now houses a significant collection of recordings on the legal profession in Western Australia.

Access to Justice Committee re-established

By 2005, the erosion of legal aid funding had been ongoing for many years. The situation had become so dire that there were echoes of the 1950s, when virtually no-one qualified for assistance under the outdated Poor Persons Legal Assistance Act. The Law Society reiterated constantly that legal aid work was becoming untenable for the private profession. In her May report to Brief, President Celia Searle made the point yet again that: …increasing numbers of practitioners decline to take on legal aid matters as the level of funding is too derisory to justify time spent, not only in dealing with the matter, but also following up the payment process. This in turn puts pressure on the profession, both on those firms that do continue to accept legal aid work, and those who take on matters on a pro bono basis.

Another dimension was added to the more general crisis due to the unforeseen consequences of legislative change. The President expressed grave concern that criminal law reforms had pushed many more serious matters to the Magistrates Court and

that this had not been adequately taken into account in the legal aid budget.

Historically, legal aid had not funded so-called ‘minor criminal matters’ in the lower court. There were now many more matters carrying prison terms which were classed as ‘minor’. As a result, many more people were unrepresented. The Law Society sought and received a report from the Magistrates Court which revealed the sobering number of unrepresented litigants imprisoned.

In 2005, the Law Society re-established its Access to Justice Committee in order to make representations to Federal Attorney General the Hon Philip Ruddock, State Attorney General the Hon Jim McGinty, State Treasurer Eric Ripper and the Department of Justice.

The legal aid crisis unfolded against the efforts of the Law Society and private practice to enable access to justice by 2005: Brief reviews Law Week other means. However, the era when the Law Society funded its own schemes – the Shopfront Lawyer and the Litigation dimensions. Broadly however, an adequate Assistance Fund -- was drawing to a close. The publicly funded legal aid system was central to future lay in the encouragement and channelling a reasonable level of access to justice. of pro bono work, a process with many

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Law Summer School revived: continuing the tradition

Law Summer School of 1961 was the first gathering for the purpose of continuing legal education, even though the term was not then in use. It had grown in stature and scope over the decades, but had eventually lapsed from the crowded CLE calendar in 1993.

Brief of February 2004 reported that, in anticipation of mandatory CLE, the Summer School “which is fondly remembered by senior members of the profession”, would be revived through an arrangement between the Law Society and the University of Western Australia.

A committee, jointly chaired by the Dean of Law, Bill Ford, and the Convenor of the Law Society’s Education Committee, undertook the planning. Professor Ford wrote in Brief of December 2005: The traditional partners in the Summer School – the Law Society and the Law School, University of Western Australia – have decided to revive the Summer School programme to create an event that will focus on the big issues in the law for the legal year to come. They will ensure that a programme of influential international and national speakers will confront the profession with the latest issues impacting on law making, administration of law and issues affecting lawyers and their clients.

The issues selected were: •

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The rule of law and changes in human rights in the age of terror;

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2006: The return of Law Summer School

•

The regulation of commerce and public authorities in Australia; and

•

Issues in civil and criminal litigation affecting the regulated commercial and public sector.

With mandatory continuing professional development (CPD) on the horizon, the new Summer School was planned very much with this in mind. Once mandatory CPD

commenced, Law Summer School assumed an additional significance. As President Alain Musikanth observed in opening Law Summer School 2017: Law Summer School is the Law Society’s flagship legal education conference and forms the centrepiece of our programme of Continuing Professional Development for the legal profession.

President Wayne Martin is appointed Chief Justice

Wayne Martin QC, having been one of the two Vice Presidents of the Law Society since 2004, succeeded to the presidency in 2006. In his first President’s Report in Brief of February 2006, he signalled the issues he intended to take up that year. The campaign for legal aid funding was foremost among them. Others included: •

Law Mutual – an overhaul to keep pace with the times, to increase flexibility and to pave the way for it to become autonomous;

•

export of legal services – to take advantage of Western Australia’s geographical location to further the provision of legal services to Asia; and

•

to overcome the inequitable calculation of stamp duty on the transfer of legal practices.

The retirement of Chief Justice Malcolm was approaching and, during the early part of 2006, his replacement was considered.

President Wayne Martin observed of the 18 years during which Chief Justice Malcolm had occupied the position: The Society has had an extremely constructive working relationship with the Chief Justice over that period, and

we look forward to forging a similar relationship with his successor, given the many challenges which lie ahead.

An historic irony is apparent, of course, as Wayne Martin QC was himself appointed the new Chief Justice on 4 April 2006. Thus he became the first sitting President to make that transition.

The new Chief Justice set about confronting an era of proliferating challenges, but also great achievement. The Attorney General, the Hon Jim McGinty, and the Chief Justice worked closely to modernise the court system.

Ten years later, on 9 September 2016, a gala dinner attended by 470 marked Chief Justice Martin’s decade on the bench. His wideranging address to the gathering was not brimming with optimism: some imponderables had become more so. The incarceration of Indigenous people was a particular source of sadness. In essence, it reflected the prodigious level of work, thought and policy involvement required of a modern Chief Justice.

2006: The Hon David Malcolm AC (Chief Justice of Western Australia) and the Hon Murray Gleeson AC (Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia)

The aspirations expressed in Chief Justice Martin’s original welcome speech were not all within reach. However, there is no doubt that his hope for a continued constructive working relationship between Chief Justice and Law Society has been more than fulfilled.

2006: The Hon Chief Justice David Malcolm AC with President of the Law Society (and future Chief Justice) Wayne Martin QC Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

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A New Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer

In January 2006, Executive Director Alison Gaines resigned her position. In July that year, David Price was appointed Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer. Formerly a Chief Executive Officer in the local government sector, David brought a background in corporate governance and customer service. It was a fresh start for the Law Society.

David Price took the view that knowing the wishes of practitioners was the basis of properly serving the Law Society’s membership. Between 2005/06 and 2016/17, the Law Society’s membership increased by 59 percent -- from 2,432 in 2005/06 to a record 3,870 in 2016/17. Member satisfaction was also growing, from 58 percent (2007) to 83 percent (2016).

Over the same period, the Law Society’s face-to-face continuing professional development offering increased from 24 seminars (2005/06) to 85 seminars (2016/17).

Attendances at seminars increased from 1,108 (2005/06) to 4,779 (2016/17).

The Law Society also saw an improvement in its financial position. In 2005/06, the Law Society had accumulated net assets of $2.24m and $1.71m cash reserves. Ten years later, the Law Society had $3.24m of accumulated net assets and $2.92m cash reserves. The Law Society had also paid down one third of the loan ($1.14m) to purchase its premises at 160 St Georges Terrace.

In the coming years, the Law Society would endeavour to build upon its reputation as the

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2006: David Price is appointed Executive Director

"essential membership for the legal profession", working more efficiently and effectively to

ensure strong advocacy on behalf of, and ‘good value’ for, its members.

The voice of the legal profession in Western Australia In its eightieth year, the Law Society considered a suitable tagline to encapsulate its role as an organisation. ‘The voice of the legal profession in Western Australia’ was chosen.

The concept is as old as the Law Society: “To represent generally the views of the profession” was the first aim of the original Constitution. The Law Society would speak out very directly when the interests or standing of the legal profession or the proper functioning

of the legal system was at stake. Wider ‘policy issues’ were studiously avoided.

A very distinct change had occurred in the 1970s, when the Law Society, in a more adventurous age, was prepared to express a view on what would once have been considered ‘policy’. There followed an historic leap forward in the 1980s when the Law Society embarked on its ‘outward role’, taking practical steps to not only speak for the interests of the profession, but also to speak with the public

about the law and to increase understanding.

In the same vein, the Law Society generally liaised more widely so that the viewpoint of the profession was understood in places where a greater awareness was needed.

The Law Society continued to speak out where appropriate, including on “issues arising as a result of crime and punishment, the rehabilitation of prisoners, the number of prisoners on remand and access to justice.”78

CPD expanded Recommendation 441 of the 2000 WA Law Reform Commission Report began: “A programme of mandatory continuing legal education (CLE) should be established in Western Australia.” Recommendation 440 specifically required continuing attendance at legal ethics courses. The Australian Law Reform Commission in its 2000 report Managing Justice also recommended mandatory professional development.

By 2000, the Law Society saw that mandatory CLE was an idea whose time had come. The voluntary CLE offerings were of a high standard but it was observed that most in attendance were young enthusiastic practitioners, while the more senior and experienced were not in

evidence. The complexity of the law and rapid changes taking place meant that experience was not sufficient. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needed to be structured into regulation of the profession.

The Law Society had great potential to become a major provider and this, in turn, would constitute an additional income stream.

Justice Kenneth Martin recalls assessing the Law Society as too dependent on membership subscriptions, and needing to develop additional income sources.79 In 2002, the Law Society received a grant to investigate the idea and appointed a legal education consultant to consider various

schemes nationally and internationally. There was a need to assess the market to ensure that, should it become compulsory, demand could be met.

The introduction of a mandatory system of CPD waited on the ponderous passage of the Legal Profession Bill through Parliament. It was impossible for the Law Society to anticipate precisely when practitioners would need to begin collecting CPD points, but assuming it would be early 2008, the commencement of the program was timed accordingly. The Act came into operation in late May 2008.

During 2006 and 2007, the Law Society had already prepared the content and delivery of

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its CLE program to “position itself to cater for the CPD market.” The Law Society’s Council approved a business case for the appointment of a Manager of Professional Development and Education and Julia Burch joined the Society in that role in October 2007.

Interactive technology was central to the process. To manage the administration and delivery of CPD, a Learning Management System (LMS) was set up. Members could enrol in courses and pay by credit card through the website. Interactive courses were available online. This was a significant leap forward at the time.

A business plan for CPD was approved by Council in February 2008. The transition from CLE to CPD ran smoothly. As to the receptiveness of the profession to the ‘mandatory’ aspect of the new system, it is recalled that, initially, there was some resistance. However, over time, a change was apparent: there was less fidgeting and checking of mobile phones. The courses were of a high quality and interesting, and there were new opportunities for networking and socialising.

anticipation of the change, but a massive stepping-up in the number and variety of courses was to follow, with a particular view to giving practitioners many ways to make up their quota of CPD points, including online seminars that could be viewed at a practitioner’s convenience.

Once CPD was an established activity, it put a different complexion on ‘education’. The CLE programme had already expanded in

The Aboriginal Lawyers Committee In Brief of May 2010, President Hylton Quail reported: I am very pleased to advise members that for the first time the Society will have an Aboriginal Lawyers’ Committee.

The purposes of the Committee include encouraging and supporting Aboriginal lawyers, law graduates and law students in their professional development and, through the Society, communicating with the legal profession and the broader community on issues of importance to Aboriginal people.

Convenor June Kenny was a Nygina woman from the Kimberley and Managing Director of Dwyer Durack. In a Q&A for Brief in 2010, she expressed the view that an active body of

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lawyers was needed to “support and advance other Aboriginal people to study law and become part of the legal profession”.

June Kenny had entered the legal profession through ‘Koor Kudidji’, an alternative entry program for Aboriginal students to study law. While studying, she had helped mentor Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law students. She intended to resurrect the Law Society’s Aboriginal students mentoring program.

The Committee took on wider issues concerning the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including the reconciliation, recognition and native title processes. It collaborated with the Francis Burt Law

Education Programme on a project entitled ‘Make Native Title Happen’.

The Aboriginal Lawyers Committee successfully proposed that the National Indigenous Legal Conference be held in Perth. Over 160 people attended the conference, which was held at the Esplanade Hotel in October 2012. A clear impression from the report of the Conference was the calibre of the emerging Aboriginal cohort within the legal profession. This was emphasised when Tammy Solonec, member of the Aboriginal Lawyers Committee, won Junior WA Woman Lawyer of the Year in 2013. At the time she was Managing Solicitor of the Law and Advocacy Unit of the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia.

The Law Society’s Reconciliation Action Plan

Following the successful National Indigenous Legal Conference, the Aboriginal Lawyers Committee turned its attention to a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) for the Law Society.

Reconciliation Australia had developed the RAP programme as a framework for organisations to realise their vision for reconciliation. In practical terms, it involved developing a business plan to document how an organisation intends to contribute to reconciliation through its own work. A RAP Working Group was established and liaised closely with the Aboriginal Lawyers Committee, (which was later renamed the

Indigenous Legal Issues Committee) and with Reconciliation Australia.

The Law Society’s Reconciliation Action Plan, Reflect, was launched in July 2015 at the Old Court House Law Museum. Krista McMeeken gave an address in which she recalled participating in the Aboriginal Lawyers Committee firstly as a student, then a practitioner and eventually as convenor. She further reflected: “The support for this work, while always present at the Law Society, has strengthened and expanded over time and now forms a key element of the President’s goals for the next phase of the Society’s community engagement.”

The Law Society has now reached the end of the initial Reflect RAP, which covered the period from June 2015 to June 2016. A new Innovate RAP has been developed to encompass July 2017 to July 2019. The new RAP is just one aspect of the Law Society’s ‘Closing the Gap’ strategic campaign, focusing on legal issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Western Australia, including overrepresentation in Western Australia’s prison system. It outlines how the Law Society plans to build on the work done in previous years to promote a Western Australian legal profession where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law students, graduates and practitioners feel valued and respected.

2015: Launch of the Law Society’s Reconciliation Action Plan

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Long-term advocacy on jury reform

During 2009/10 there was wide-ranging discussion about juries as part of the criminal justice system. Technology and social media raised many issues, as did the question of intimidation of jurors. The WA Law Reform Commission (WALRC) addressed the matter of selection of juries and associated issues as set out in the Juries Act 1957 (WA). The Commission’s preliminary findings were published in its Discussion Paper on Juror Selection, Eligibility and Exemption. The paper found, among other things, that the ‘burden’ of jury duty was borne unevenly, and that blanket exemptions were a problem.

In its submission to the WALRC, the Law Society pointed out its consistent view that jury pools needed to be widened and fewer excuses from jury service allowed: “The strength of the jury system is in it being representative of the community at large”.

As part of the reform process, the Department of the Attorney General advocated “ending the ban which excludes lawyers, corruption watchdog officers, judges’ associates, justices of the peace and bailiffs from jury service during their employment and for up to five years after they leave their position.”

The Law Society was strongly against the idea of police officers and lawyers serving on juries, as it had the potential to undermine public confidence in the system and the role of the judiciary. In his report to Brief in March 2010, President Hylton Quail stated, “The function of the jury is to decide the facts and it is therefore important for the jury to be divorced from knowledge of the application of laws.”

The Law Society’s advocacy was successful.

The Annual Report of 2010/2011 stated: “On a positive note our long-term advocacy on jury reform has resulted in amendments which will make juries more representative and strengthen the criminal justice system for the future.”

Leading role in debate on law and order issues During 2009, there was an upsurge of ‘law and order’ publicity concerning Northbridge and the result was the Criminal Investigation Amendment Bill 2009. The Bill would have enabled the police to search individuals at random, without any other authority. This constituted an erosion of fundamental human rights and thus undermined the rule of law.

The Law Society took on the responsibility of combatting this measure, thus becoming the effective opposition.

President Hylton Quail, recalled that the campaign included lobbying the Nationals and Greens and appearing in the media. The language was direct: 151

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Proposed laws, which will give police unprecedented stop and search powers, are likely to unfairly target minority groups such as Aboriginals and Muslims and would be more at home in a fascist regime, the Law Society of Western Australia warned yesterday. Society President Hylton Quail said the plan to give police unqualified powers to stop and search people in designated areas would risk undignified intrusions on law-abiding citizens’ rights and lacked appropriate safeguards and security checks. “These laws are commonly found in police states, historically and around the world and

fundamentally erode all our civil liberties,” Mr Quail said.80 Eventually, public opinion turned against the measure. This was a breakthrough, not only on that issue, but as a sign the Law Society could make its voice heard in the community.

The President reported in 2010: “We opposed the introduction of prohibited behaviour orders and were successful in limiting their operation in relation to children. We have continued to speak out against mandatory sentencing and successfully led the campaign against proposed stop and search laws.”

Report on psychological distress: mental health and the legal profession

In 2007, Beyondblue published the results of its ‘National Depression Initiative’, which, among other things, identified the legal profession as notably vulnerable to anxiety and depression.

Brief noted the results and the particular reasons outlined: •

competitiveness and fear of failure;

•

nature of legal work – warding off what will go wrong;

•

following clients’ instructions which contradict better judgment;

•

disillusionment and ethical dilemmas; and

•

perfectionism.

Workplace bullying and time billing were also cited. Depression and anxiety among law students and lawyers emerged as a national issue, for law schools as well as the profession.

In January 2009, a national report, Courting the Blues: Attitudes Towards Depression in Australian Law Students and Legal Practitioners, made a sobering finding: “When compared with other professions, lawyers were found to have experienced the highest incidence of depressive symptoms.”

The issue had never become dormant for the Society, as the pressures of legal practice, if anything, were increasing. Brief of March 2010 reported that, during mid-2009, the Young Lawyers Committee had identified the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008 as an additional stress factor.

Australian Bar Association to introduce a Referral Service for practitioners who were the subject of a complaint to the Legal Profession Complaints Committee. The Legal Profession Complaints Committee also modified its processes to be less protracted and stressful for practitioners.

The Law Society formed an Ad Hoc Committee on Psychological Distress and Depression in the legal profession. The matter of stress and complaints had been under discussion during 2010. The Committee, under the chairmanship of Dr Chris Kendall, undertook its own mental health investigation, the results of which were published in 2011 under the title Psychological Distress and Depression in the Legal Profession.

President Elizabeth Needham reported in 2016 that the Law Society’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee had examined the relevance and effectiveness of each of the original recommendations:

The report contained 29 recommendations and a Mental Health Committee was established to implement them. The Law Society’s existing processes were modified and harnessed to the objective of mental wellbeing. The Law Society’s LawCare WA programme was fundamentally overhauled. The Law Society partnered with an Employee Assistance Provider, giving members access to three free and confidential counselling sessions per year.

Recognising that complaints were a major stress factor, in May 2011 the Law Society formed a partnership with the Western

It found that since 2011, the Law Society has raised awareness of mental health and wellbeing within the legal profession, resulting in many of the original recommendations becoming redundant.

Many of the initiatives proposed in the Report have become established as Law Society programmes and member benefits.

The Law Society remains concerned about the prevalence of mental health issues in the profession and is committed to doing what it can to reduce it. The result of the review is that the Report’s original 29 recommendations have been reduced to 13, which now form the Mental Health and Wellbeing Recommendations 2016 to 2020.

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Commemorative Wig Photo | Monday, 8 March 2010 | Stirling Gardens, Perth First row: Her Honour Judge Catherine O'Brien, His Honour Judge Denis Reynolds, Her Honour Judge Felicity Davis, His Honour Judge Andrew Stavrianou, His Honour Judge Stephen Scott, His Honour Judge Philip Eaton, His Honour Judge Bruce Goetze, Her Honour Judge Anette Schoombee, His Honour Judge William Groves, Her Honour Judge Mary Yeats, Her Honour Chief Judge Antoinette Kennedy, His Honour Judge Peter Martino, Her Honour Judge Troy Sweeney, His Honour Judge Richard Keen, His Honour Judge Christopher Stevenson, His Honour Judge Kevin Sleight, His Honour Judge Philip McCann, His Honour Judge Simon Stone, Her Honour Judge Julie Wager, His Honour Judge John Staude, His Honour Judge Simon Moncrieff Second row: Anthony Elliot , Mark Trowell QC, Thomas Percy QC, Ron Birmingham QC, Michelle Quigley, Hon John Quigley MLA, Angela Stavrianou, John Prior, Belinda Lonsdale, Judith Fordham, Simon Watters, Hylton Quail, Elaine Wambeck, Matthew Keogh, Dr Eric Heenan, Anthony Derrick SC, Stephen Davies SC, Laurie Levy SC, Robert O'Connor QC, Magistrate Richard Bayly, Hon Michael Mischin MLC, Kim Farmer, Philip Urquhart Third row: Brent Meertens, Gerald Yin, Rosalina Chiu, Sharon lvey, Brett Davies, Claire Kilby, Kelvin Tang, Allan Newton, Elliot Nielsen, Lyn Zinenko, Dean Love, Paul Sullivan, Richard Klimek, Malcolm Bateman, Frank Voon, John Park, Hugo Undsay, Jonathan Davies, RJ Lawson, David Manera, Alison Aldrich, Louise Horwood, Oliver Paxman, Martyn Plummer, Adam Ebell, Nicola Marshall, Scott Elliss, Karen Farley, Seamus Rafferty, Cameron Henderson, Lindsay Robbins Fourth row: Brenda Robbins, Kim Farmer, Vasilos Evangel, John Byrne, Andrew Maughan, Linda Petrusa, Abigail Rogers, Andrew Monisse, Darryl Ryan, Peter Macliver, Graeme Windsor, Gray Porter, Frances Veltman, John Hawkins, Robert Nash, Timothy Mason, Greg Boland, Rick Cullen, Alan Troy, Melissa Rosair, Andrew Maloney, John Mengler, John D'Angelo, Peter Kakulas, Lana White, David Fort, Darren Renton, Maria-Elena Cheshire, Ted Wilkinson, Janie Gibbs, Bogdan Soactar, Peter Panizza, Judy Seif Fifth row: Robert Lindsay, Mark Gunning, Nobby Clark, Bruce Duckham, Sarah King, Robert Richardson, Antoinette Fedele, Lynette Quinlivan, Stefano Boni, Rachel Colgan, Mark Millington, Evan Shackleton, Gillian Stockdale, Craig Astill, David Davidson, Rona Clare, Gemma Beggs, David Lima, David Moen, Johnson Kitto, David Bodeker, Mara Barone, Robert Owen, Craig Mcintosh, Paul Meyer, Anthony Kay, Peter McGowan, Brian Conway, lan Macfarlane, Mark Greenland, Robert Smith Sixth row: Andrew Chelvathurai, Michael Hawkins, Alex Zilkens, Stephen Gabriel, Joanne Deligeorges, Tony Hager, Rod Keeley, Jennifer Hon, Michael Robbins, Stephen McGrath, Peter Cassidy, Melanie Smith, Kelly Isaacs, Alice Barter, Lloyd Rayney, Will Clements, Hannes Schoombee, Wayne Burg, Megan In de Braekt, Michael Ryan, Nicholas Lemmon, Ben Tyers, Chris Miocevich, Simon Freitag, Joanne Boots, Raoul Cywicki, Heather Hussey, Raelene Johnston, Amanda Burrows, Louise O'Connor

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Professional Standards Scheme part of the Strategic Plan of 2008-2011 and in November 2011, the Law Society once more resolved to progress an application.

The Professional Standards Act 1997 introduced an avenue for members of professions to limit their liability for common law damages by entering into a scheme based on assuring certain standards within the profession.

The Law Society was able to introduce the Scheme for members on 1 July 2014. A Professional Standards Scheme Committee was established to make decisions or recommendations to the Law Society’s Council and administer the Scheme.

The Law Society made an application to the Professional Standards Council in 2004, but it could not be dealt with at the time because, as reported in Brief, September 2005, the whole question of professional standards was in a state of upheaval nationally.

Exploring the relevance of a Professional Standards Scheme was raised once again as

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160 St Georges Terrace

By 2008, it was apparent that a review of rental at 89 St Georges Terrace 2009 would prove oppressive. Since the Law Society leased space at 89 St Georges Terrace in 2002, member activities had mushroomed further, as had the possibilities for technology, meaning the premises were no longer suitable. The rental market did not favour leasing, finances were healthy, and the decision was made that the Law Society would buy its own building in which it could not only work efficiently in the immediate future but also had the flexibility to grow.

The President announced in Brief of October 2011: I am very pleased to be able to tell you that, after careful consideration by Council and the Executive, and a comprehensive due diligence process, the Society has contracted to purchase a new home at 160 St Georges Terrace... The Society is buying the whole of level 4 (544m), four contiguous strata lots which will be fitted out for the administration of the Society and Law Mutual and also a single strata lot of 117m on level 5, which will be fitted out and used for meeting and training purposes.

The new premises were officially opened by Chief Justice Martin on Wednesday, 6 June 2012.

By 2017, the Law Society had paid off a third of the cost of its premises and is projected to own it outright in less than ten years.

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The Law Society's offices (2012-present) at 160 St Georges Terrace, Perth

Matthew Keogh – youngest President

From time to time the presidency of the Law Society has represented a new perspective, making a break from previous conventions. In 2015, President Matthew Keogh was elected as the Law Society’s youngest President.

Matthew Keogh reflected in his first President’s Report of February 2015: I am not in the same cohort as other leaders of our profession, such as those in the judiciary, members of regulators or leading government. I think this is a good thing as it affords me a unique perspective on the issues we as a profession and community have to encounter and deal

with; in particular, a longer-term horizon.

This also demonstrates the leadership of the Society in tackling the challenge of generational change, which can be a struggle for many organisations.

Matthew Keogh completed eight months as President before being elected to the House of Representatives as the first Federal Member for Burt.

In July 2017, he commented that, as a young President, he was able to speak from a position of seniority but with first-hand knowledge of young lawyers’ situation. He also recalled: “I took it upon myself to speak to the profession on social media – Twitter and LinkedIn. I got a following – people I’d never met. Members of the profession said they appreciated knowing what the President was doing.” 81

Gender bias, diversity and equal opportunity The Chief Justice’s Gender Bias Taskforce Review of 1994 provided a benchmark against which to measure how far the Western Australian legal system had progressed in tackling issues of gender bias. In 2014, Women Lawyers of Western Australia (WLWA) published its own review (the 2014 Report).

Chapter 2 of the 2014 Report dealt with ‘Career Paths for Women in the Legal Profession’ and directly involved the Law Society.

Council considered how the Law Society would go about carrying out the relevant recommendations. As a result, Council resolved that the Executive would prepare a Directions Paper with respect to action to be undertaken

by the Law Society. The Executive established a Working Group which liaised with the Joint Law Society/Women Lawyers Committee. The Committee had the task of identifying where the Law Society was currently falling short on the recommendations in Chapter 2 and making practical proposals as to how this could be rectified.

The result was the ‘Final Directions Paper’ (The Law Society’s Response to the Women Lawyers of Western Australia’s 20th Anniversary Review of the 1994 Chief Justice’s Gender Bias Taskforce Review). Some of the key recommendations in the Directions Paper included:

•

the development of a Gender Action Plan to timetable and focus the Law Society’s efforts to address gender diversity in the legal profession;

•

adding further resources to the Law Society’s webpages on ‘Women Lawyers’ and ‘Gender Diversity’ to assist both members and others to progress gender diversity initiatives;

•

hosting a summit or day-long forum to raise awareness and promote discussion within the legal profession of key features of the campaign; and

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•

that the Law Society, subject to financial assistance from the Western Australian Bar Association and WLWA, give consideration to commissioning and publishing by 2019 a new retention study similar to the 1999 Report on the Retention of Legal Practitioners.

Consistently, the Law Society, in 2015, adopted a statement of principles developed by the Law Council of Australia, entitled the Diversity and Equality Charter. The Charter had been developed following a National Attrition and

Re-engagement Survey (NARS) conducted

by Law Council which had set out to obtain quantitative data and confirm trends in progression and attrition rates of female lawyers.

In February 2016, the Law Society decided to adopt ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ as one of its strategic campaigns. This would specifically focus on issues affecting the retention and advancement of women in the profession. In 2016, women made up 60 percent of the Law Society’s Council.

Advocacy to expand motor vehicle insurance In 2015, the Western Australian Government announced its intention to establish a no-fault catastrophic injury scheme for motor vehicle accidents. A proposed scheme was set out in the Insurance Commission of Western Australia’s green paper. The Law Society welcomed the announcement.

The purpose of the scheme was to provide for the 48 percent of people who fell outside the existing Compulsory Third Party Insurance Scheme. As President Matthew Keogh noted in a media release, “It is clear that the current scheme looks after those who are injured wrongfully, but not those who cannot prove anyone else was at fault, or who have behaved carelessly or recklessly.”

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The National Productivity Commission recommended all States enact a scheme with this basic intent. Western Australia and Queensland were the last states to take action. Attention focused on which form the scheme should take, given that it would need to cover all people who were catastrophically injured.

The Law Society strongly favoured the option which allowed those already covered by the Third Party Compulsory Insurance Scheme (who were injured as a result of another person’s negligence) to retain their independence of choice in relation to care and support.

2016: The Hon Chief Justice Wayne Martin AC addresses the Law Society's Gala Dinner to celebrate His Honour's 10 years as Chief Justice

The Legal Aid Matters campaign

Legal aid funding had been in serious crisis for some 14 years when Hylton Quail once more drove home the point in an issue of Brief in 2010. He pointed out that the hourly payment for a complex legal aid case in 1991 was $115 and in 2010 it was $120, in a legal system which had become more demanding of time.

He acknowledged that the State Government had provided an infusion of funds, but nowhere near what was required.

In 2016, the Legal Aid Matters campaign, led by the Law Council of Australia and supported by the Law Society, was launched. President Elizabeth Needham commented: “It is shortsighted of successive governments to fail to address this funding crisis as it only results in increased costs to the tax payer and in fact the whole community; whether that be by lengthier court proceedings, more people in jail or going to court in the first place when the provision of sound legal advice or social work assistance from, for example a Community

Legal Centre, might have avoided the need for legal proceedings at all.”

The Legal Aid Matters campaign called upon the Commonwealth Government to: •

develop a National Partnership Agreement with the States/Territories which is based on national objectives, as distinct from Commonwealth or State goals;

•

restore Commonwealth funding to Legal Aid Commissions to a 50 percent share (up from 35 percent) on a constant per capita basis;

•

immediately provide 50 percent of the further $200 million called for by the Productivity Commission to fund civil law assistance; and

•

make Commonwealth increases conditional on States and Territories at least maintaining their funding levels.

On 28 April 2016 the Law Society hosted a campaign panel forum titled ‘Be Afraid Without Legal Aid’. Fred Chaney AO discussed the importance of a properly-funded legal assistance sector at the ‘The Case for Legal Aid’ Law Week Breakfast on Monday, 16 May. Brief of May that year reported that the opening of Law Week was also a national day of action in support of the Legal Aid Matters campaign.

The campaign became a national groundswell, and in April 2017, the Federal Attorney General announced that a further cut would not occur and that $55.7 million would be restored to the legal aid sector over three years. In the same month, the State Attorney General announced a plan to provide community legal centres with almost $1.2 million to compensate for the loss of funding from the Legal Contribution Trust. It can be said that a broad and insistent outcry bore fruit. In view of the extent to which the legal aid sector had been starved of funds, however, the situation remains serious.

2016: Legal Aid Matters campaign Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

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The future of the legal profession

In Brief of April 2017, President Alain Musikanth announced the Law Society’s new strategic campaign, the ‘Future of the Legal Profession’.

This broad subject, as a focus in the Law Society's ninetieth year, resonates with history.

In 1967, President John Lavan identified a notion amongst his generation that things were suddenly a great deal less predictable than they had been. In 1977, Terry Walsh referred to “The ever whirling wheel of change”. At that stage the challenge was adjusting to the new reality of constant change in society and its legal implications.

In 1987, the ‘Winds of Change’ Australian Legal Convention in Perth confronted sweeping changes within the profession – the growing business orientation, specialisation, the dissolving of the old firm and State loyalties, along with yet more change in the world at large. In 1988, President Michael Murray QC referred to the era as ‘watershed times’.

In 1996, President Judy Eckert reflected that the profession was facing its most important and dynamic time ever and “the nature of legal practice could change dramatically in the next five years or so”. At that stage, “structural and legislative change” was considered highly likely.

These predictions would prove to be accurate: digital technology had already begun to shape the future.

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While the 90th anniversary year involved reflection on past achievements, the Law Society also sought to face the challenges of the future.

Law Week 2017 commenced with the Law Week Breakfast and a keynote address by Katie Miller, former President of the Law Institute of Victoria and author of the report Disruption, Innovation and Change: The Future of the Legal Profession.

It concluded with a Law Society forum with managing partners of large law firms and other key stakeholders to discuss the challenge faced by law firms using artificial intelligence technology to ensure that emerging and future lawyers remained able to develop and refine their practical skills to levels necessary for the performance of competent professional work.

In 2017, a Futures Reference Group, comprising both internal and external members, was established to guide its work, and it was announced that a range of futurethemed topics, including artificial intelligence, cybercrime, commoditisation of legal work, multidisciplinary practices, diversification, out-sourcing and unbundling of legal services, would be examined in Law Society discussion papers, guidelines, CPD seminars and Brief articles.

Another matter high on the Law Society’s agenda towards the end of its ninth decade of particular significance to the future was national harmonisation of key aspects concerning regulation of the legal profession.

In 2014, the Law Society undertook a review of a proposed uniform scheme for regulation of the profession. The review concluded, among other things, that the scheme had many features that would benefit the profession in Western Australia. Those benefits included: a structure for the regulation of the profession respecting the primacy of the Supreme Court in relation to the admission to and removal from the Roll and the role of local regulatory authorities in relation to discipline; uniform admission criteria; uniform disclosure obligations in relation to costs; uniform continuing professional development rules; and a more liberal regime for the admission of foreign lawyers. The review recommended qualified adoption of the scheme as a law of Western Australia and, in August 2014, Council unanimously resolved to make a recommendation to the State Attorney General accordingly. On 1 July 2015, the uniform scheme came into force in New South Wales and Victoria.

Following a change in government in Western Australia in March 2017, the Law Society wrote to new State Attorney General, the Hon

John Quigley, requesting the taking of appropriate steps to progress qualified adoption of the uniform scheme as a law of Western Australia in the short term. In Brief of July 2017, President Alain Musikanth reported that work was advancing, and that the Law Society was “actively engaged with both government and other stakeholders in an effort to achieve an outcome consistent with the Society’s position�.

In confronting the challenges of the future, the Law Society was again acting as the leader of the Western Australian legal profession, as it had done over the previous nine decades.

Despite the changes in the wider world over the past 90 years, the Law Society

has remained committed to its founding principles: advancing the interests of the legal profession; promoting good practice and curbing malpractice; advancing legal education; promoting the administration of justice and the development and improvement of the law; and encouraging collegiality.

From its humble beginnings in the old Supreme Court library, where a group of around 30 legal practitioners gathered on 15 June 1927, the Law Society has evolved into the leading, and by far the largest, organisation for the legal profession in Western Australia.

Chapter Notes: 75. Annual Report, 2001.

76. The Hon Justice Kenneth Martin, telephone discussion with author, April 2017.

77. Brief, April 2002.

78. Brief, December 2008, p 3.

79. The Hon Justice Kenneth Martin, telephone discussion with author, May 2017.

80. The West Australian, 20 January 2010.

81. Interview with the author, 2017.

of theBreakfast, Law Society of Western Australia 2017: President Alain MusikanthCelebrating addresses 90 theYears Law Week which featured a keynote 160 address by Katie Miller on Legal traditions in an age of disruption: How do lawyers decide what to keep and what to relinquish?

Presidents: 2000–2017

161

2000

2001

Gregory Robert Boyle

Kenneth James Martin

About: Admitted WA 1969; Partner Jackson McDonald (ret).

About: Admitted WA 1978; Queen's Counsel; Centenary Medal; Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (2009 – ).

2002

2003

Clare Helen Thompson

Elizabeth Jean Heenan

About: Admitted WA 1994; barrister, Francis Burt Chambers.

About: Admitted WA 1976; special counsel, Culshaw Miller.

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

2004

2005

Ian Weldon

Celia Alison Searle

About: Admitted WA 1986; barrister, Sir Clifford Grant Chambers.

About: Admitted WA 1984; solicitor (ret).

2006

2006 – 2007

Wayne Stewart Martin

Maria Grazia Saraceni

About: Admitted WA 1977; Queen's Counsel, AC; Chief Justice of Western Australia (2006 – ).

About: Admitted WA 1992; barrister, Francis Burt Chambers.

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Presidents: 2000–2017

2008 – 2009

2010 – 2011

Dudley Randolph Stow

Hylton Colin Quail

About: Admitted WA 1968; consultant, Herbert Smith Freehills.

About: Admitted WA 1992; barrister, Francis Burt Chambers.

2012

2013

Dr Christopher Nigel William Kendall

Craig Marshall Slater

About: Admitted WA 2001; Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

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Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

About: Admitted WA 1988; barrister, Francis Burt Chambers.

2014

2015

Konrad Jacques Mony de Kerloy

Matthew James Keogh

About: Admitted WA 1985; partner, Herbert Smith Freehills.

About: Admitted WA 2006; Member House of Representatives (Burt) (2016 – ).

2015 – 2016

2017

Elizabeth Cecily Jane Needham

Alain Jonathan Musikanth

About: Admitted WA 1995; barrister; Francis Burt Chambers.

About: Admitted WA 2002; barrister, Francis Burt Chambers.

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19 27

20s

19 28

On 15 June, at a meeting of about 30 practitioners at the Supreme Court Library, presided over by the Master of the Supreme Court, Thomas Frederick Davies, Thomas Davy moves “that an Association of Legal Practitioners of Western Australia” be formed. The motion is seconded by Michael Lavan. After a short discussion, the motion is put and carried unanimously.

Assists in the execution of the Poor Persons’ Legal Assistance Act 1928 and becomes instrumental in the operation of Western Australia’s first formalised legal aid system, connecting volunteer practitioners and applicants.

Sir Walter James KC, a former Premier and Attorney-General of Western Australia, becomes the Law Society’s first President on 3 October, serving as President until 1930.

F R Barlee Secretary 1927 – 1933

Two representatives from the Council are appointed to the fledgling Faculty of Law at the University of Western Australia.

Sir Walter Hartwell James KC President 1927 – 1930

19 30

Michael Gibson Lavan KC President 1930 – 1935

30s

During the Great Depression, appoints three members of Council to confer with other public bodies on the subject of work for the unemployed.

Wallace Elias Bickley Solomon President 1935 – 1937

The first High Court Dinner is held on 24 August at the Esplanade hotel, with over 50 members in attendance.

Sydney Howard-Bath President 1937 – 1940

19 40 Establishes a Law Reform Committee to consider and recommend law reforms.

19 46 Establishes the Law Society War Commemoration Prize at UWA. The prize is to the value of £10 and is awarded to the best student at the Barristers’ Board examination, to perpetuate the memory of those who fell in the war.

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19 47

Incorporated under the provisions of the Associations Incorporation Act 1895

19 33 A founding member of the Law Council of Australia.

19 34 G D Clarkson (at War 1941-45) Secretary 1939 – 1946

J E Virtue Secretary 1933 – 1935

40s

B G Simpson Secretary 1935 – 1939

1939-45 Several members serve in the armed forces, including the Secretary, Brian Simpson, who resigns from his position following the declaration of war, to take up military duties.

Provides free legal assistance to members of the armed forces and their families throughout the war.

Nathaniel Peaden Lappin President 1940 – 1943

P B Vershuer (Acting) Secretary 1941 – 1943

John Peter (Jack) Durack KC President 1943 – 1945

C H Schonell (Acting) Secretary 1943 – 1945

Wallace Turnbull Unmack President 1945 – 1948

S H Johnson Secretary 1946 – 1949

19 48

19 46 Establishes the Law Society War Commemoration Prize at UWA. The prize is to the value of £10 and is awarded to the best student at the Barristers’ Board examination, to perpetuate the memory of those who fell in the war.

Wallace Turnbull Unmack President 1945 – 1948

19 47

19 48

Incorporated under the provisions of the Associations Incorporation Act 1895 on 8 December.

I Stephenson (personal leave 1952-53) Secretary 1951 – 1954

John Evenden Virtue President 1950 – 1951

I W P McCall (Acting) Secretary 1952 – 1953

Hubert Taylor Stables President 1951 – 1952

Advocates for the consolidation and reprinting of Western Australian statutes.

50s

I G Medcalf Secretary 1949 – 1951

Recommends an amendment to the Legal Practitioners Act 1893 to remove the qualification “natural born or naturalised British subject” from section 9 of the Act.

19 54

Oscar Joseph Negus QC President 1954 – 1956

Advocates for the creation of a new offence of drink driving relating to “being in control of a vehicle with a certain alcoholic content in the blood”.

A W B Gleadell Secretary 1954 – 1960

George Dundas Wright President 1956 – 1958

Adopts a statement of principles on professional conduct for members.

19 58

19 59

Oscar Negus QC becomes the first Western Australian President of the Law Council of Australia.

The Australian Legal Convention is held in Perth for the first time.

The first South West Legal Convention is held in Bunbury.

Howard Vincent Reilly President 1958 – 1960

John Hale President 1948 – 1950

19 53

Howard Vincent Reilly President 1952 – 1954

S M McClemans Secretary 1960 – 1965

S H Johnson Secretary 1946 – 1949

60s

19 60 Establishes Law Trusts, a superannuation scheme for legal practitioners.

1960s Hosts regular education conferences for practitioners in country centres such as Bunbury and Geraldton.

Francis Theodore Page (Red) Burt QC President 1960 – 1962

Establishes a Legal Assistance Scheme.

Sheila McClemans, first female Secretary appointed and administers the Scheme.

19 61

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

The first Law Summer School conference is held at UWA.

166

19 58

19 59

control of a vehicle with a certain alcoholic content in the blood”.

George Dundas Wright President 1956 – 1958

Adopts a statement of principles on professional conduct for members.

Oscar Negus QC becomes the first Western Australian President of the Law Council of Australia.

19 58

The Australian Legal Convention is held in Perth for the first time.

The first South West Legal Convention is held in Bunbury.

Oscar Negus becomes the first Western Australian President of the Howard Vincent Reilly S MQC McClemans Law Council of Australia.

President 1958 – 1960 Secretary 1960 – 1965

60s

The first South West Legal Convention is held in Bunbury.

S M McClemans Secretary 1960 – 1965

1960s

Howard Vincent Reilly President 1958 – 1960

60s

Sheila McClemans, first female Secretary appointed and administers the Scheme.

The first Law Summer School conference is held at UWA.

Hosts regular education conferences for practitioners in country centres such as Bunbury and Geraldton.

19 19 61 63

Phillip Rennell Adams President 1962 – 1964 Francis Theodore Page (Red) Burt QC President 1960 – 1962

The first Law Summer School conference is held at UWA. Council is enlarged from 11 to 17 members, allowing formation of larger committees, including an Activities Committee “charged with the arrangement of all ceremonial, social and educational functions” and a House Committee “to deal with long range planning for accommodation for the Society and other matters appropriate to its growth.” Other committees include Professional Affairs, Law Reform, Legal Aid, Complaints and Costs and Rules.

Council is enlarged from 11 to 17 members, allowing formation of larger committees, including an Activities Committee “charged with the arrangement of all ceremonial, a House Committee John Martinsocial Lavan and educational functions” and L C Wood “to deal President with long range planning for accommodationSecretary for the 1965 Society and other 1964 – 1966 – 1970 matters appropriate to its growth.” Other committees include Professional Affairs, Law Reform, Legal Aid, Complaints and Costs and Rules.

1963-64

19 63

Phillip Rennell Adams President 1962 – 1964

Successful in lobbying for the dock in criminal trials to be modified to “create a less penal aspect”. Also recommends that the age of criminal responsibility be reduced to 18 (from 21), and that attempted suicide no longer be considered a criminal offence.

1963-64

Successful in lobbying for the dock in criminal trialsDrummond to be modified “create a Gresley Clarksonto QC President 1966 less penal aspect”. Also recommends that the age of criminal responsibility be reduced to 18 (from 21), and that attempted suicide no longer be considered a criminal offence.

19 65

19 67

John Martin Lavan President 1964 – 1966

Gresley Drummond Clarkson QC President 1966

L C Wood Secretary 1965 – 1970

Obtains its own premises at the Old Court House, Stirling Gardens.

19 19 65 69

Begins administering the Legal Assistance Fund, following the enactment of the Legal Contribution Trust Act 1967.

19 67

John Samuel Charles Dewar President 1966 – 1968

70s

Obtains its own premises at the Old Court House, Stirling Gardens.

On 30 August, resolves to accept a proposal to establish a District Court system in Western Australia.

19 69

Alkin Robert Alexander (Bob) Wallace President 1968 – 1970

John Samuel Charles Dewar President 1966 – 1968 Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Partners with the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia to develop the General Conditions for the Sale of Land, replacing the outdated Table A

Sheila McClemans, first female Secretary appointed and administers the Scheme.

Establishes Law Trusts, a superannuation scheme for legal practitioners.

19 61

1960s

167

19 60

Establishes a Legal Assistance Scheme.

Francis Theodore Page (Red) Burt QC President 1960 – 1962

1969-70

The Australian Legal Convention is held in Perth for the first time.

Establishes Law Trusts, a superannuation scheme for legal practitioners.

Establishes a Legal Assistance Scheme.

Hosts regular education conferences for practitioners in country centres such as Bunbury and Geraldton.

Begins administering the Legal Assistance Fund, following the enactment of the Legal Contribution Trust Act 1967.

19 19 59 60

70s

J A Gardner Executive Officer 1970 – 1974

On 30 August, resolves to accept a proposal to establish a District Court system in Western Australia.

Peter Frederick Brinsden QC President 1970 – 1972

Begins administering the Legal Assistance Fund, following the enactment of the Legal Contribution Trust Act 1967.

19 72 1960s 1960s

John Samuel Charles Dewar President 1966 – 1968 Justice Supports work of the New Era Aboriginal Fellowship.

The Fellowship’s

Hosts regular education conferences for practitioners in country centres such Committee chaired byconferences Robert French, later Chief of and the High Court Hosts regulariseducation for practitioners in country centres such asJustice Bunbury Geraldton. of Australia (2008 – 2017) and Law Society Life Member (2002). The as Bunbury and Fellowship Geraldton. evolves into the Aboriginal Legal Service of WA in 1974.

1969-70

Leslie Toohey QC Theodore Page (Red) Burt QC or the Advocates for bail laws to be changedFrancis to place theJohn onus on the police President 1972Burt 1973 Page (Red) QC burden President 1960 –– 1962 Crown to demonstrate why bail should Francis not beTheodore granted, rather than the President 1960 – 1962 falling upon the accused.

Partners with the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia to develop the Phillipthe Rennell Adams Table A General Conditions for the Sale of Land, replacing outdated Phillip Rennell Adams President 1962 – 1964 Schedule to the Transfer of Land Act 1893.

70s 70s

19 80 19 19 67 67

The first issue ofthe Brief is published.

Adopts new Professional Conduct Rules, which recognise right of lawyers to advertise their services.

Establishes a Law Museum at the Old Court House.

The first ‘Law Day’, a precursor event toofthe currentAustralia Law Week, is held the on Partners with the Real Estate Institute Western to develop Partners the Realfor Estate Institute of Western Australia to develop the 18 April.

Generalwith Conditions the Sale of Land, replacing theMonday, outdated Table A General Conditions for the Sale of Land, theof outdated Table A Schedule to replacing the Transfer Land Act 1893.

J A Franklin Schedule to the Transfer Terenceof Alan Walsh Land Act 1893.

Officer 1977 – 1978 President 1975 – 1977 ComplaintsExecutive Committee established to assist members of the profession in their P Jestablished Fitzpatrick AM to assist members Henry Jackson Complaints Committee ofHall the(Hal) profession their relations with the in public.

Executive Director 1985 – 1996 President relations with1985 the public.

A local LAWASIA committee is also established.

A local LAWASIA committee is also established.

19 80 19 19 72 72

Robert John Meadows President 1986 – 1987

Hosts an overseas convention in Penang, Malaysia.

19 73 19 19 65 65 1980-81 19 19 69 69 19 77 JohnEric Martin Lavan Alan Blanckensee John Martin Lavan President 1964 1966 President 1977 ––1979 President 1964 – 1966

80s

P A Smith L C Wood L C Wood Secretary 1965 – 1970 Executive Officer 1978 – 1979 Secretary 1965 – 1970

R K F Davis Geoffrey Peter Miller QC Approves the constitution of the Post Graduate Legal Education Committee Executive Director 1979 – 1981 President 1979 – 1981 at UWA, with representatives appointed to the Committee.

The Australian Legal Convention is held in Perth for the second time.

N G Roberts

70s

Executive Director 1981 – 1985

Obtains its own premises at the Old Court House, Stirling Gardens.

Obtains its own premises at the Old Court House, Stirling Gardens.

William Rowland QC W J Robinson (Acting) Involved Barry in preparing submissions to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the President 1973 – 1975 Future Organisation of the Legal Profession.Executive Officer 1974 – 1977

John Samuel Charles Dewar John President Samuel Charles 1966 –Dewar 1968 President 1966 – 1968

19 74 83 1969-70 1969-70

Executive Officer 1974 – 1977

Council is enlarged from 11 to 17 members, allowing formation of larger Council is enlarged from to 17 members, allowing formation ofarrangement larger committees, including an11 Activities Committee “charged with the committees, including Activities Committee “charged the Committee arrangement of all ceremonial, socialanand educational functions” and awith House On 13 December the Legal Aid Commission Act 1976 isathe assented to,and allowing of ceremonial, and educational functions” and House Committee “toall deal with long social range planning for accommodation for Society other the Legalappropriate Aid long Commission of Western Australia to take the operation of “to deal with range planning for accommodation forover the Society and other matters toaits growth.”

Other committees include Professional On 4 October, begins new Legal Aid Scheme. the Legal Assistance matters appropriate toScheme. its growth.”

Other committees include Professional Affairs, Law Reform, Aid, Complaints and and Rules.

Secretary Loris WoodLegal becomes supervisor of theCosts Scheme.

Affairs, Law Reform, Legal Aid, Complaints and Costs and Rules.

Advocates for bail laws to be changed to place the onus on the police or the Crown to demonstrate why bail should not be granted, rather than the burden falling upon the accused.

Hosts an overseas convention in Penang, Malaysia.

Begins administering the Legal Assistance Fund, following the enactment of the John Leslie Toohey QC of the Rory Edward Stanley Argyle Begins administering the Legal Assistance Fund, following the enactment Legal Contribution Trust Act 1967.

President 1972 – 1982 1973 President Legal Contribution Trust Act 1967.

Approves theRobert constitution theWallace Post Graduate LegalJ Education Alkin Alexanderof (Bob) A Gardner Committee at UWA,President with representatives appointed to the Committee.

1968 – 1970 Executive Officer 1970 – 1974 The first Law Summer School conference is held at UWA. The Australian first Barry LawWilliam Summer School at the UWA. Rowland QC conference Wheld J Robinson (Acting) The Legal Convention is held in is Perth for second time.

19 63 19 63 19 19 77 71

19 74 1963-64 1963-64 19 72 President 1962 – 1964

President 1966

19 69 19 73 19 19 61 61

President 1973 – 1975 Peter Frederick Brinsden QC President 1970 – 1972

Complaints Committee established to assist members of the profession in their relations with the public.

The first issue of Brief is published.

A local LAWASIA committee is also established.

Establishes a Law Museum at the Old Court House.

Successful in lobbying for the dock in criminal trials to be modified to “create a Successful in lobbying forrecommends the dock in criminal tocriminal be modified to “createbe a less penal aspect”.

Also that the trials age of responsibility less penal that the age ofno criminal responsibility reduced toaspect”.

18 (fromAlso 21), recommends and that attempted suicide longerAlan be Walsh consideredbe a J A Franklin Terence reduced toExecutive 18 (fromOfficer 21), 1977 and that attempted suicide no longer be–considered a – 1978 President 1975 1977 offence. criminal criminal offence.

Supports work of the New Era Aboriginal Fellowship. The Fellowship’s Justice Committee is chaired by Robert French, later Chief Justice of the High Court Gresley Drummond Clarkson of Australia (2008 – 2017) and Law Society Life Member (2002).

The QC Fellowship Gresley Drummond Clarkson QC President evolves into the Aboriginal Legal Service of 1966 WA in 1974.

Establishes Law Trusts, a superannuation scheme for legal practitioners.

Establishes Law Trusts, a superannuation scheme for legal practitioners.

On 4 October, begins a new Legal Aid Scheme.

Establishes a Legal Assistance Scheme.

Secretary Loris Wood becomesScheme. supervisor of the Scheme.

Establishes a Legal Assistance Sheila McClemans, first female Secretary appointed and administers Sheila McClemans, first female Secretary appointed and administers the Scheme. the Scheme.

On 30 August, resolves to accept a proposal to establish a District Court system in Western Australia.

70s 70s

On 30 August, resolves to accept a proposal to establish a District Court system On 30 August, resolves to accept a proposal to establish a District Court system in Western Australia. in Western Australia.

Ian Douglas Temby QC President 1983 Alkin Robert Alexander (Bob) Wallace J A Gardner Alkin Robert Alexander JExecutive A Gardner President 1968 – 1970 (Bob) Wallace Officer 1970 – 1974 President 1968 – 1970 Executive Officer 1970 – 1974 On 13 December Legal Daryl Robertthe Williams QCAid Commission Act 1976 is assented to, allowing 1984 the LegalPresident Aid Commission of Western Australia to take over the operation of Frederick Brinsden QC the LegalPeter Assistance Scheme.

Peter Frederick Brinsden President 1970 – 1972 QC President 1970 – 1972

19 71 19 85 71

Alan Eric Blanckensee President 1977 – 1979

80s

P A Smith Executive Officer 1978 – 1979

R K F Davis Peter Miller QC Moves toGeoffrey new premises at 68 St Georges Terrace, Perth.

– 1981 Presidentbegins 1979 – 1981 On 4 October, aCelebrating new Legal90 Aid Scheme.

Years ofExecutive the LawDirector Society1979 of Western Australia On 4 October, begins a new Legal Aid Scheme.

Secretary WoodTrust becomes supervisorwith of the Scheme.

The PublicLoris Purposes is established, Law Society as Trustee.

Secretary Loris Wood becomes supervisor of the Scheme.

Applications are assessed through an independent three stage process by an N G Roberts Allocations Committee and the Attorney General.

168

On 13 December the Legal Aid Commission Act 1976 is assented to, allowing the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia to take over the operation of the Legal Assistance Scheme.

J A Franklin Executive Officer 1977 – 1978

Terence Alan Walsh President 1975 – 1977

19 80

80s

Alan Eric Blanckensee President 1977 – 1979

P A Smith Executive Officer 1978 – 1979

Geoffrey Peter Miller QC President 1979 – 1981

R K F Davis Executive Director 1979 – 1981

Hosts an overseas convention in Penang, Malaysia.

1980-81

Rory Edward Stanley Argyle President 1982

N G Roberts Executive Director 1981 – 1985

Involved in preparing submissions to the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Future Organisation of the Legal Profession.

19 83

Ian Douglas Temby QC President 1983

Adopts new Professional Conduct Rules, which recognise the right of lawyers to advertise their services.

Daryl Robert Williams QC President 1984

The first ‘Law Day’, a precursor event to the current Law Week, is held on Monday, 18 April.

P J Fitzpatrick AM Executive Director 1985 – 1996

19 85

Henry Hall (Hal) Jackson President 1985

Robert John Meadows President 1986 – 1987

Moves to new premises at 68 St Georges Terrace, Perth.

The Public Purposes Trust is established, with Law Society as Trustee.

Applications are assessed through an independent three stage process by an Allocations Committee and the Attorney General.

19 87

Michael John Murray QC President 1988

Francis Burt Law Education Centre (now Francis Burt Law Education Programme) is established at the Old Court House.

Old Court House Law Museum is relaunched as a separate entity.

19 89

Mock Trial Competition is established.

The Australian Legal Convention is held in Perth for the fourth time, with the theme ‘Winds of Change’.

Purchases 33 Barrack Street, Perth as a joint venture with the Public Purposes Trust.

Rene Lucien Le Miere President 1989 – 1990

169

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

90s

1991

theme ‘Winds of Change’.

Purchases 33 Barrack Street, Perth as a joint venture with the Public Purposes Trust.

Rene Lucien Le Miere President 1989 – 1990

1990 Establishes the Legal Superannuation Fund.

Assists the Supreme Court in establishing an expedited hearing list, to reduce trial delays. At the invitation of the Supreme Court, representatives are involved in introducing case flow management procedures to the Court.

19 9 2 Establishes the Law Access Pro Bono Referral Scheme.

19 9 4

90s

1991 Establishes a Computerisation Committee.

John Anthony Chaney President 1991

Richard Anthony Clarke (Rick) Cullen President 1992

19 9 3 Advocates against the introduction of new workers’ compensation legislation, which, in its view, constitutes an attack on fundamental rights. Activities include the convening of a press conference and an advertising campaign.

Runs a Mobile Legal Advice Van which travels around the suburbs of Perth and visits country areas.

Theodore Henry (Ted) Sharp President 1993 Michael John McPhee President 1994

19 9 5

1994-95 Implements an Articles Training Program to assist law graduates.

Judy Eckert elected first female President.

Establishes Law Mutual (WA), making Professional Indemnity Insurance arrangements on behalf of Western Australian practitioners. Compulsory risk management introduced to help improve service to the public and reduce premiums.

Successfully advocates for an inquiry into Legal Aid at both State and Federal Level.

1996 Helps develop a new case management system for Supreme and District Courts.

Develops the Quality Practice Standard (QPS).

Pino Anthony Monaco President 1995

Judith Elsa (Judy) Eckert President 1995 – 1996

19 9 7

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Brings together various interest groups and the media for a Legal Aid Crises Summit at the Supreme Court. Makes approaches to the State and

170

arrangements on behalf of Western Australian practitioners. Compulsory risk management introduced to help improve service to the public and reduce premiums.

President 1995

Judith Elsa (Judy) Eckert President 1995 – 1996

Successfully advocates for an inquiry into Legal Aid at both State and Federal Level.

1996

19 9 7

Helps develop a new case management system for Supreme and District Courts.

Brings together various interest groups and the media for a Legal Aid Crises Summit at the Supreme Court. Makes approaches to the State and Commonwealth Attorneys General and Legal Aid Commissioners to solve faltering negotiations on funding.

Develops the Quality Practice Standard (QPS).

Develops its first website.

Develops a Plain Language Costs Agreement. Adopts guidelines against discrimination and sexual harassment.

John George Syminton President 1997

1998

1999

Establishes a Clear Writing Committee. Runs an annual plain English drafting competition for law students, incorporated into the first year legal writing course at the Murdoch University School of Law.

Convenes a symposium with all courts and stakeholder groups, including 20 community groups, to discuss how courts might improve services to the public resulting in rapid implementation of changes.

Catherine Joan (Kate) O’Brien President 1998

Makes successful submission for introduction of legislation allowing for incorporation of legal practices and facilitating move to multidisciplinary partnerships.

John Robert Broderick Ley President 1999

Provides a suite of resources for the profession in the run up to the 1 July implementation of the GST. Carries out a State-wide education campaign, attended by over 600 practitioners, and sets up a dedicated GST website and email advisory service.

Works to improve access of country practitioners to court services and introduces a scheme of two annual complementary vouchers for Continuing Legal Education papers for country practitioners.

171

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

A L Gaines Executive Director 1997 – 2006

Advocates and lobbies for improvement in legal assistance funding, and for stabilisation of Legal Aid Commission through prompt appointment of a permanent Director.

A Professional Liability Committee is established to assist in preparing a scheme under the Professional Standards Act 1997.

2000

J O’Halloran (Acting) Executive Director 1997

Gregory Robert Boyle President 2000

00s Kenneth James Martin QC President 2001

2001 The Chief Justice’s Law Week Youth Appeal Trust is established by members, with the Hon Chief Justice David Malcolm AC as inaugural patron, for purpose of creating an ongoing charitable fundraising effort by legal practitioners to support youth charities including, in particular, youth support services assisting youth from the criminal justice system.

Enters into negotiations with Department of Justice to draft omnibus Bill to amend the Legal Practitioners Act 1893 providing for, among other things, incorporated legal practices, multidisciplinary practices, supervision of foreign lawyers and practising third country law. Bill ultimately becomes the Legal Practice Act 2003.

Clare Helen Thompson President 2002

2004-05 An Oral Histories Working Group is established to ensure that the history of the WA legal profession continues to be documented.

2005-06 Re-establishes Access to Justice Committee and makes representations to the Federal and State governments to improve funding to Legal Aid WA.

00s

2002 Sells Barrack Street premises and moves to new leased premises at 89 St Georges Terrace, Perth.

Undertakes review of professional conduct rules, review of Litigation Assistance Fund and examination of the feasibility of mandatory Continuing Legal Education.

Implements sexual harassment mediation strategy as part of two new professional conduct rules against sexual harassment.

Elizabeth Jean Heenan President 2003

Ian Weldon President 2004

2005 The Young Lawyers Committee, in conjunction with the Young Professionals Network, holds the Young Professionals Ball at Burswood.

Celia Alison Searle President 2005

Facilitates a free legal advice service for the community during Law Week, in high demand and well supported by metropolitan and country firms.

Wayne Stewart Martin QC President 2006 D E Price Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer 2006 – present

Maria Grazia Saraceni President 2006 – 2007

2007 Adopts ‘The voice of the legal profession in Western Australia’ as its tagline.

2006 Enters into joint venture with the University of Western Australia to revive Law Summer School. Keynote speaker is the Rt Hon Lord Justice Kennedy on ‘The Celebrating 90 Years Law Society of Western Australia Rule of Law and Changes in Human Rightsofinthe the Age of Terror’.

President Wayne Martin QC (now the Hon Wayne Martin AC) is appointed Chief Justice of Western Australia.

172

D E Price Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer 2006 – present

Maria Grazia Saraceni President 2006 – 2007

2006

2007

Enters into joint venture with the University of Western Australia to revive Law Summer School. Keynote speaker is the Rt Hon Lord Justice Kennedy on ‘The Rule of Law and Changes in Human Rights in the Age of Terror’.

Adopts ‘The voice of the legal profession in Western Australia’ as its tagline.

President Wayne Martin QC (now the Hon Wayne Martin AC) is appointed Chief Justice of Western Australia.

2008

National Golden Gavel competition is held in Perth for the first time.

Dudley Randolph Stow President 2008 – 2009

Significantly expands its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme, following introduction of mandatory CPD as part of the Legal Profession Act 2008.

Life Member the Hon Robert French AC is appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. A cocktail function is held to celebrate the appointment.

2009

Hylton Colin Quail President 2010 – 2011

2009-11 Takes a leading role in the public debate on a number of ‘law and order’ issues, including opposing increased stop and search powers for police, prohibited behaviour orders, ‘naming and shaming’ of children and continuing to oppose mandatory sentencing and unacceptably high juvenile detention rates.

Continues to promote sentencing reform and reconsideration of criminal property confiscation laws.

Long-term advocacy on jury reform results in legislative amendments to make juries more representative and strengthen the criminal justice system.

2012 Purchases and moves to its current premises at 160 St Georges Terrace, Perth.

173

2013-14

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Establishes an Aboriginal Lawyers Committee (since renamed the Indigenous Legal Issues Committee) with the purpose of supporting Aboriginal lawyers, graduates and law students in their professional development, and communicating with the legal profession and the broader community on issues of importance to Aboriginal people.

10s Dr Christopher Nigel William Kendall President 2012

2011 Launches its Report on Psychological Distress and Depression in the Legal Profession, which results in 29 recommendations, including the establishment of a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee and a revamped LawCare WA service, providing professional, confidential and free counselling services to support members.

Craig Marshall Slater President 2013

2014

Purchases and moves to its current premises at 160 St Georges Terrace, Perth.

2013-14 Produces a detailed report and later adopts a position of conditional support for Western Australia to join the Legal Profession Uniform Law scheme.

2014-15 Undertakes an organisational review, resulting in improved and more targeted communication with members and increased efficiency.

Matthew James Keogh President 2015

Craig Marshall Slater President 2013

2014 Establishes a Professional Standards Scheme under the Professional Standards Scheme Act 1997 (WA) for its members to cap occupational liability.

Konrad Jacques Mony de Kerloy President 2014

2015 Matthew Keogh elected youngest President.

Develops new website, providing practitioners with easier access to a vast range of resources and toolkits, best practice guides and a member dashboard.

2016 Successfully advocates for the expansion of motor vehicle insurance to guarantee those seriously injured in road accidents are covered.

Joins national Legal Aid Matters campaign against funding cuts to legal aid and community legal centres.

Adopts ‘Final Directions Paper’ in response to the Women Lawyers of Western Australia’s 20th Anniversary Review of the 1994 Chief Justice’s Gender Bias Taskforce Review.

Women make up 60% of Council.

Alain Jonathan Musikanth President 2017

Launches its first Reconciliation Action Plan, ‘Reflect’.

Law Access Limited is incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Law Society taking on operation of Pro Bono Referral Scheme.

Adopts Law Council’s Diversity and Equality Charter.

Elizabeth Cecily Jane Needham President 2015 – 2016

2017 Actively advocates and lobbies for adoption of Legal Profession Uniform Law scheme in Western Australia subject to conditions.

Adopts “Future of the Legal Profession” as a strategic focus, establishes Futures Reference Group and commences implementation of associated measures.

Legal Aid Matters campaign bears fruit with restoration of funding by Federal Government to, and announcement by State Government of additional funding for, community legal centres.

Achieves a record membership of 3,868.

Celebrates 90th anniversary.

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia Alain Jonathan Musikanth President 2017

174

2017: 90th Anniversary Lunch with Past Presidents, Life Members and guests

175

Back row: David Price (2006-present Chief Executive Officer); Greg McIntyre SC (2017 Vice President), Jocelyne Boujos (2017 Treasurer); Ian Weldon (2004 President); Elizabeth Heenan (2003 President/Life Member); Neil Roberts (1981-85 Executive Director); Clare Thompson (2002 President/Life Member); The Hon Justice Ken Martin (2001 President/Life Member); John Ley (1999 President); Her Hon Kate O’Brien (1998 President/Life Member); John Syminton (1997 President/Life Member); Michael McPhee (1994 President); Hayley Cormann (2017 Senior Vice President); John Fiocco (Life Member); Ted Sharp (1993 President) Middle row: Matthew Howard SC (President, WA Bar Association); Susan Fielding (Life Member); Steven Penglis (Life Member); Laurie Shervington (Life Member); Maria Saraceni (2006-07 President); The Hon Chief Justice Wayne Martin AC (2006 President/Life Member); The Hon Justice John Chaney (1991 President/Life Member); The Hon Michael Murray AM QC (1988 President/Life Member); Robert Meadows QC (1986-87 President); The Hon Daryl Williams AM QC (1984 President/Life Member); Alison Gaines (1997-2006 Executive Director) Front row: John Gillett (Life Member); The Hon Carmel McLure AC QC (Life Member); Dudley Stow (2008-09 President/Life Member); Konrad de Kerloy (2014 President); Alain Musikanth (2017 Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia President); The Hon Barry Rowland QC (1973-75 President); The Hon Geoffrey Miller QC (1979-81 President); His Hon Hal Jackson (1985 President); The Hon Robert Nicholson AO KCSJ FAAL (Life Member); The Hon Robert French AC (Life Member)

90 Years of the Law Society (1927-2017)

176

Presidents

1927-30 Sir Walter Hartwell James KC

1975-77

Terence Alan Walsh

2005

Celia Alison Searle

1930-35 Michael Gibson Lavan KC

1977-79

Alan Eric Blanckensee

2006

Wayne Stewart Martin QC

1935-37

Wallace Elias Bickley Solomon

1979-81

Geoffrey Peter Miller QC

2006-07

Maria Grazia Saraceni

1937-40

Sydney Howard-Bath

1982

Rory Edward Stanley Argyle

2008-09 Dudley Randolph Stow

1940-43

Nathaniel Peaden Lappin

1983

Ian Douglas Temby QC

2010-11

Hylton Colin Quail

1943-45

John Peter Durack KC

1984

Daryl Robert Williams QC

2012

Christopher Nigel William Kendall

1945-48

Wallace Turnbull Unmack

1985

Henry Hall (Hal) Jackson

2013

Craig Marshall Slater

1948-50

John Hale

1986-87 Robert John Meadows

2014

Konrad Jacques Mony de Kerloy

1950-51

John Evenden Virtue

1988

2015

Matthew James Keogh

1951-52 Hubert Taylor Stables

1989-90 Rene Lucien Le Miere

2015-16 Elizabeth Cecily Jane Needham

1952-54 Howard Vincent Reilly

1991

John Anthony Chaney

2017

1954-56

1992

Richard Anthony Clarke (Rick) Cullen

1993

Theodore Henry (Ted) Sharp

1994

Michael John McPhee

1995

Pino Anthony Monaco

Oscar Joseph Negus QC

1956-58 George Dundas Wright 1958-60 Howard Vincent Reilly 1960-62 Francis Theodore Page (Red) Burt QC 1962-64

Phillip Rennell Adams

1995-96 Judith Elsa (Judy) Eckert

1964-66 John Martin Lavan

1997

John George Syminton

1966

1998

Catherine Joan (Kate) O’Brien

1966-68 John Samuel Charles Dewar

1999

John Robert Broderick Ley

1968-70 Alkin Robert Alexander (Bob) Wallace

2000

Gregory Robert Boyle

2001

Kenneth James Martin QC

2002

Clare Helen Thompson

2003

Elizabeth Jean Heenan

Gresley Drummond Clarkson QC

1970-72 Peter Frederick Brinsden QC 1972-73 John Leslie Toohey QC 1973-75 Barry William Rowland QC

177

Michael John Murray QC

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

2004 Ian Weldon

Alain Jonathan Musikanth

Vice Presidents

Davies, T F (1927-30, 1938-42)

Wallace, A R A (1966-68)

James, L E (1995-96)

Lavan, M G (1927-30)

Brinsden, P F (1967-70)

Syminton, J G (1995-96)

Solomon, W E B (1930-35)

Wickham, J L (1968-69)

Hall, M R (1997)

Howard-Bath, S (1931-37, 1940-41)

Toohey, J L (1969-70)

O’Brien, C J (1997)

Lappin, N P (1935-40)

Walsh, T A (1971-75)

Ley, J R B (1998)

Lyon, P (1937-38)

Lodge, H S (1971-72)

Boyle, G R (1998-99)

Williams, A R (1941-42)

Blanckensee, A E (1973-77)

Martin, K J (1999-2000)

Hatfield, K W (1943-44)

Gunning, I R (1975-76)

Stow, D R (2000, 2006-07)

Shillington, J (1943-44)

Miller, G P (1976-79)

Thompson, C H (2001)

Dunphy, E A (1944-46)

Samuel, J A (1977-78)

Martino, D J (2001)

Seaton, L D (1944-45)

Argyle, R E S (1978-81)

Heenan, E J (2002)

Boylson, G J (1945-46)

Temby, I D (1980-82)

Hardy, M (2002-03)

Stow, Q R (1946-48)

Williams, D R (1982-83)

Searle, C A (2003-04)

Dunphy, J (1946-48, 1951-56)

Jackson, H H (1983-84)

Martin, W S (2004-05)

Jackson, L W (1948-49)

Meadows, R J (1984-85)

Saraceni, M G (2005-06)

Virtue, J E (1948-50)

Nicholson, R D (1985-86)

Quail, H C (2006-09)

Stables, H T (1949-51)

Murray, M J (1986-87)

Watters, S B (2008-10)

Reilly, H V (1951-52, 1956-58)

Malcolm, D K (1986-88)

Kendall, C N W (2010-11)

Wright, G D (1952-56)

Le Miere, R L (1988)

Slater, C M (2011-12)

Hale, J (1956-58)

Chaney, J A (1988-90)

de Kerloy, K J M (2012-13)

Burt, F T P (1958-60)

Cullen, R A C (1989-91)

Keogh, M J (2013-14)

Adams, P R (1958-62)

Sharp, T H (1991-92)

Needham, E C J (2014-15)

Lavan, J M (1960-65)

McPhee, M J (1992-93)

Musikanth, A J (2015-16)

Clarkson, G D (1962-66)

Martino, P D (1993)

Cormann, H M (2015-17)

Dewar, J S C (1964-66)

Monaco, P A (1994)

McIntyre, G M G (2017)

Medcalf, I G (1966-67)

Eckert, J E (1994-95) Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

178

Treasurers

179

Williams, D R (1982)

Ley, J R B (1997)

Musikanth, A J (2014)

Harmer, R W (1983-84)

Martin, K J (1998)

Cormann, H M (2015)

Murray, M J (1985)

Thompson, C H (1999-2000)

Botsis, M (2015)

Malcolm, D K (1986)

Heenan, E J (2001)

Ebbs, N C (2016)

Le Miere, R L (1987)

Gluestein, B C (2002, 2004)

Boujos, J (2017)

Chaney, J A (1988)

Weldon, I (2003)

Ipp, D A (1988)

Stow, D R (2005)

Sharp, T H (1989-90)

Edwards, K J (2006-07)

McPhee, M J (1991)

Fordham, J G (2008-10)

Martino, P D (1992)

Slater, C M (2009-2010)

Monaco, P A (1993)

de Kerloy, K J M (2011)

Iffla, L M (1994)

Hass, P E (2012)

Sanderson, C W (1995-96)

Needham, E C J (2013)

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Councillorsi

Ordinary and ex officio members (including

Good, S H (1935-37, 1946-47)

Stables, H T (1948-49, 1952-54)

Immediate Past Presidents)

Williams, A R (1936-1942)

Dewar, J S C (1948-64, 1968-69)

Stow, Q R (1936-41)

Williams, W R (1949-54)

Ainslie, R I (1936-39)

Verschuer, P B (1949-54)

Blanckensee, E von (1937-42)

Ackland, F (1949-55, 1957-70)

Tindal, E (1937-38)

Clarkson, G D (1951-55, 1958-62)

Cullen, N de Barran (1938-40)

Wright, G D (1951-52, 1958-62)

Guthrie, H N (1938-40, 1945-48)

Jones, R E (1952-70)

Simpson, B G (1939-40)

Davy, T A S (1954-65)

Hughes, T J (1940-41)

Stephenson, I (1954-63, 1965-66)

Dunphy, J (1941-46, 1950-51)

Burt, F T P (1955-58, 1964-68)

Reilly, H V (1941-42, 1947-49, 1954-56,

Martin, J C (1957-59)

1962-68)

Wallace, A R A (1957-64, 1965-66, 1970-72)

Shillington, J (1941-42)

Wilson, R D (1957-58)

Dunphy, E A (1943-44)

Lavan, J M (1958-60, 1966-69)

Mills, J B (1943-46)

Toohey, J L (1959-65, 1968, 1970-73)

de Morley, L W (1943-44)

Dodd, A (1959-64)

Tippett, S (1943-44)

Brinsden, P F (1962-67, 1972-73)

Hatfield, K W (1944-45)

Medcalf, I G (1962-66, 1967-68)

Boylson, G J (1944-45)

Heenan, D C (1963-67, 1969-70)

Walsh, D (1944-46)

Viner, R I (1963-65, 1967-69)

Adams, P R (1945-50, 1955-58)

Sharp, P L (1964-65)

Jackson, L W (1945-48)

Walsh, T A (1965-71, 1978-79)

Hale, J (1946-48, 1950-52)

Lodge, H S (1965-71)

Wickham, J L (1946-51)

Rowland, B W (1965-70)

Negus, O J (1946-1950, 1956-1962)|

Williams, P J (1965-66)

D’Arcy, G B (1927-29, 1930-31) Davy, T A L (1927-28) Dwyer, J P (1927-28) Leake, F W (1927-28) Lyon, P (1927-30, 1934-38) McDonald, R R (1927-29, 1932-34) Nairn, W M (1927-29) Watson, B T (1928-29) Solomon, W E B (1928-30, 1937-44) Louch, T S (1928-30) Watters, C T (1929-30) Howard-Bath, S (1929-30) McMillan, J (1929-32) Davies, T F (1930-38) Nicholson, J S (1930-32) Seaton, L D (1930-33, 1940-44) Virtue, J E (1930-33, 1935-37, 1947-48) Watkins W W (1930-32, 1939-41) Lappin, N P (1932-1934) Stoddart, R J (1932-1936) Unmack, W T (1932-33, 1948-49) Cleland, D M (1933-34) Gillett, E W (1933-36)

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

180

Councillors

181

Cannon, R W (1966-67, 1968-69, 1980-81)

Allan, K N (1976-80)

Holden, M H (1985)

Wallwork, H A (1966-67, 1969-72, 1974-76,

Edwards, K J (1976-84)

Malcolm, D K (1985)

1982-83)

Jackson, H H (1977-82, 1986-87)

Monaco, P A (1985-92, 1995-96)

Sander, D G (1967-72)

Keall, R D (1977-79)

Robbins, L B (1985-86, 1988-90)

O’Dea, B T (1968-72)

Marshall, I L (1977-79)

Syminton, J G (1985, 1992-94, 1998)

Cullen, D de Barran (1968-71)

Harmer, R W (1977-79, 1983)

McPhee, M J (1986-1990)

Anderson, R J M (1969-71, 1975-77)

Tolcon, N (1977-78, 1986)

Iffla, L M (1986-87, 1992-93, 1995-97)

Gunning, I R (1970-75, 1976-77)

Lewis, M A (1977-79)

Olivier, J P T (1986-93)

Blanckensee, A E (1970-73, 1980)

McLernon, H (1980-83)

Rooney, K M (1986-87)

Samuel, J A (1970-77)

Murray, M J (1980-84, 1989)

Shervington, L J (1986-91)

Barblett, A J (1971-75)

Pass, B J (1980-81)

Ipp, D A (1987)

O’Connor, T E (1971-72)

Williams, D R (1980-81, 1985)

Sharp, T H (1987-88, 1994)

Wood, L C (1971-74)

Mackinlay, A R (1980)

Andrews, R A (1988-89)

Temby, I D (1971-77, 1984)

Solomon, H A (1980-82)

Leslie, H M (1988-89)

Franklyn, E M (1972-74)

Scott, G F (1981-82)

O’Brien, C J (1988-89, 1991, 1999)

Miller, G P (1972-76, 1982)

Reynolds, R M B (1981-82)

Pullin, C J L (1988-91)

Parker, K H (1972-75, 1977-79)

Chaney, J A (1982-85, 1987, 1992)

James, L E (1989-94)

Vinnicombe, M M (1972-73, 1976-77)

Meadows, R J (1982-83, 1988)

McKerracher, N W (1990-93)

Argyle, R E S (1973-77)

Bryant, D (1983-84)

Greenland, M L (1990-91)

Jackson, L A (1973-74)

Cullen, R A C (1983-88, 1993)

Martino, P D (1990-91)

King, G A (1973-74)

Keeley, P J (1983-84)

Healey, J M (1990)

Newby, D M (1974-77)

Le Miere, R L (1984-85, 1991)

Crooks, S D (1991-96)

Adams, J R (1974-76)

Nicholson, R D (1984)

McAuliffe, K J (1991-92)

Heenan, E M (1974-79)

Warren, R D (1984-87)

Ley, J R B (1992-96, 2000)

Kakulas, B P (1975-77)

Ainslie, R J (1985)

Boyle, G R (1992-97, 2001)

McCusker, M J (1975-76)

Boud, M E (1985-86)

Eckert, J E (1992-93, 1997)

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Councillors

Fitzpatrick, P S (1993-94)

Weldon, I (2000-02, 2005)

Kendall, C N W (2008-09, 2013)

Hawkins, M J (1993, 1995-96)

Forrest, L (2000-04)

Parks, R M (2008-09)

Boyle, C J (1994)

Hardy, M (2001, 2004)

Quigley, M C (2008-09)

Fiocco, J G M (1994-95)

Quail, H C (2001, 2005-06, 2012)

Staude, J G (2008, 2010)

Tavelli, J M (1994-2005)

Searle, C A (2001-02, 2006-07)

McIntyre, G M G (2009-16)

Nash, R J (1994-99)

Martin, W S (2001)

Slater, C M (2009, 2014)

Scott, S G (1994-95)

Jones, A W M (2001)

Creek, S E (2010-11)

Stow, D R (1995-99, 2010-11)

Penglis, S (2002-2012)

de Kerloy, K J M (2010, 2015)

Fordham, J G (1995, 2006-07, 2010-11)

Saraceni, M G (2002-05, 2008-09)

Goerke, G J (2010-11)

Aristei, A J (1996-98)

Robertson, A J (2002-03)

Blades, D V (2011)

Tannock, M M (1996-97)

Redman, N J (2002-06)

Kay, A (2011-13)

Tedeschi, M A (1996-97)

Edmands, P J (2002)

Keogh, M J (2011-12, 2016)

Gluestein, B C (1997-2001, 2003)

Bayly, R G (2003-05)

Ashdown, B W (2012-14)

Hullett, M S (1997-98)

McCann, P P (2003-05)

Cormann, H M (2012-2014)

Martin, K J (1997, 2002)

Siopis, A N (2003-04)

Heenan, E M (2012-13)

Wager, J A (1998-2000)

Garnsworthy, D J (2004-07)

Musikanth, A J (2013)

Wilkinson, P N (1998-99, 2017)

Dharmananda, S K (2004-05)

Needham, E C J (2012-13, 2017)

Petersen, I D (1998-99)

Crawford, C (2005-06)

Russell, C P K (2013-14)

Thompson, C H (1998, 2003)

Cashman, M A (2005)

van Hattem, N P (2013-14, 2017)

Keating, N M T (1998, 2007-08)

Sirett, S R (2005-10)

Botsis, M (2014-16)

French, S S (1999-2000)

Bates, K P (2006-08)

Dharmananda, B (2014-15, 2017)

Heenan, E J (1999-2000, 2004)

Hass, P E (2006-07, 2009-14)

Ebbs, N C (2014-15, 2017)

Tottle, P A (1999-2000)

McLeod, D W (2006-17)

Aldrich, A J (2015-16)

Griffiths, R F (1999-2002)

O’Leary, T (2006)

Connolly, T (2015-16)

Martino, D J (2000)

Prior, J B (2006-2011)

Ebell, A C (2014-17)

Watters, S B (2000-2007)

Lonsdale, B J (2007-08, 2010-13)

Ellery, N D (2015-16) Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

182

Councillors

Fletcher, C A (2015-17)

Pickering, G (2015)

Cullen, R A C (1980-81)

McKenna, M T (2015-17)

Sojan, B (2016-17)

Chaney, J A (1981)

Boujos, J (2016)

Keating, N M T (1982, 1986)

Lee, R J (2016-17) Edwards, E (2017) Sudweeks, S (2017)

Le Miere, R L (1983)

Samuel, J A (1962-63)

Iffla, L M (1983, 1985)

Walsh, T A (1962-65)

O’Sullivan, C P (1984)

McCusker, M J (1963-65)

Rooney, K M (1984-85)

Malcolm, D K (1966-67)

Leslie, H M (1986-87)

Pidgeon, W P (1962-63, 1965-70)

Vinnicombe, M M (1966-70)

Hullett, M S (1987)

Franklyn, E M (1963-65)

Anderson, R J M (1967-68)

Clabburn, J (1988)

Hammond, K J (1970-72, 1973-74)

Viol, R J (1968-69)

Fogliani, R V (1988)

Bannerman, T B (1972-73, 1975-76)

Temby, I D (1969-71)

Appleyard, K M (1989)

Myers, E J (1974-75)

Hasluck, N P (1970-73)

Monaghan, D (1989)

Clement, D A B (1976-78)

Hall, M R (1971-72)

Beech, A R (1990-91)

Lalor, C (1978-79)

Heenan, E M (1972-74)

Sinagra, D R (1990-91)

Smith, D (1980)

McLeod, D W (1973-74)

Fleischer, K (1992)

Boyle, CJ (1981-84, 1989-93)

Bolto, E L (1974-75)

Heath, M (1992)

Gluestein, B C (1985)

French, R S (1974-76)

Nash, R J (1993)

Crane, P L (1986-88)

O’Sullivan, T G (1975-76)

Tannock, M M (1993-95)

Cole, P R (1994-95)

Cheyne, J J (1976-77)

Galati, C (1994-95)

Giudice, G (1996-2004)

Maloney, D (1976-77)

Temby, S (1996)

McKenzie, C (2005-2012)

Pass, B J (1977-79)

Taylor, M (1996)

Hayter, M (2013)

Wiese, P L (1977-78)

Thompson, C H (1997)

Syme, C (2014)

Mackinlay, A R (1978-79)

Siddique, R (1997)

Birman, J R (1980)

Unwin, S (1998)

Country Members

183

Keeley, P J (1982) Junior Members

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

Councillors

Tyson, C (1998)

Hill, R (2014-15)

Marsh, D (1995)

Forrest, L (1999)

Christensen, R (2015)

Ogawa, N (1996)

Williams, A (1999-2000)

Bavich, S (2016)

Fernandes, C S (1997)

Robertson, A J (2000)

Ecker, S (2016)

Shilkin, R D (1998)

Correy, S (2001-03)

Moffat, J (2016-17)

Leary, J (1999)

McLean, A (2001)

Mittra, D (2017)

Batros, B (2000)

Browne-Cooper, T (2002)

Silby, N (2017)

Syminton, J (2001)

Edelman, J (2003)

Moffitt, B G (2002)

Moffitt, B G (2003-04) Vanderaa, S (2004)

Taylor, J (2003) Articled Clerk Members

Hemsley, M (2004)

Stapley-Oh, R A M (2005-06)

Rooney, K M (1980)

Windsor, J (2005)

O’Leary, T (2005)

Keating, N M T (1981)

Heenan, E M (2006)

Cook, K (2006-07)

Davis, F C (1982)

Mukund, M (2007)

Quigley, M (2007)

de Kerloy, K J M (1983)

Seggie, E (2008)

O’Brien, R (2008)

La Ferla, D N (1984)

Clarke, G C (2009)

Keogh, M J (2008, 2010)

Dick, J (1985)

Allan, H (2009)

Joyner, A C (1986)

Sher, J (2009)

Nash, R J (1987)

Heenan, E M (2010)

Lewins, K B (1988)

Wambeck, E C (2010)

Gallagher, M D (1989)

Paxman, L (2011)

Richards, A J (1990)

van Hattem, N P (2011-12)

Galati, C (1991)

Ebell, A C (2012-13)

MacFie, R B (1992)

Russell, C P K (2012)

Rinaldi, D (1993)

Cavanagh, E (2013-15)

Veletta, S R (1994)

Ellison, H (2013-14)

Siddique, R (1995)

Notes:

i. Ordinary, Junior, Articled Clerk, Ex Officio Members and Immediate Past Presidents. Periods of service as President, Vice President or Treasurer are not included.

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

184

Trustees

Goodman, R H (1927-30, 1932-40)

Louch, T S (1953-65)

Brinsden, P F (1974-76)

Durack, J P (1927-40)

Negus, O J (1960-62)

Adams, P R (1973-74, 1975-77)

Solomon, W E B (1930-32)

Burt, F T P (1963-69)

Wright, G D (1973-75)

Leake, F W (1953-60)

Reilly, H V (1965-73)

Brinsden, P F (1974-76)

Ackland, F (1969-73)

Rowland, B W (1976-77)

Secretaries

185

1927 – 1933

Barlee, F R

1949 – 1951

Medcalf, I G

1933 – 1935

Virtue, J E

Stephenson, I

1935 – 1939

Simpson, B G

1951 – 1954

1939 – 1946

Clarkson, G D

1952 – 1953

McCall, I W P (Acting)

(at War 1941-45)

1954 – 1960

Gleadell, A W B

1941 – 1943

Vershuer, P B (Acting)

1960 – 1965

McClemans, S M

1943 – 1945

Schonell, C H (Acting)

1965 – 1970

Wood, L C

1946 – 1949

Johnson, S H

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

(personal leave 1952-53)

Executive Officers 1970 – 1974

Gardner, J A

1974 – 1977

Robinson, W J (Acting)

1977 – 1978

Franklin, J A

1978 – 1979

Smith, P A

Executive Directors 1979 – 1981

Davis, R K F

1981 – 1985

Roberts, N G

1985 – 1996

Fitzpatrick, P J

1997

O’Halloran, J (Acting)

1997 – 2006

Gaines, A L

2006 – 2015

Price, D E

Chief Executive Officer 2015 – present Price, D E

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

186

Life Members

1996

2005

2013

The Hon Barry Rowland QC

His Hon Judge John Chaney

Her Hon Antoinette Kennedy AO

The Hon John Wickham QC

Rick Cullen

The Hon Robert Nicholson AO

2007

2014

Michal Lewi

Dudley Stow

The Hon P Durack QC*

2008

2015

The Hon John Toohey AC*

John Gillett

Steven Penglis

The Hon Ian Medcalf AO*

David Garnsworthy

The Hon Justice Carmel McLure

Rory Argyle

1998 The Hon Sir Francis Burt AC*

Clare Thompson 2002

2009

Gregory Boyle

Elizabeth Heenan

2016

Judy Eckert

The Hon Justice Ken Martin

Susan Fielding The Hon Kevin Parker AC RFD QC

The Hon Robert French The Hon Chief Justice David Malcolm AC*

2010

Robert Meadows QC

John Fiocco

Her Hon Judge Kate O’Brien

Laurie Shervington

Chris Zelestis QC

2017 Robert Kronberger

John Syminton 2012 2003

His Excellency Malcolm McCusker AC CVO QC

The Hon Sir John Lavan*

The Hon Chief Justice Wayne Martin AC The Hon Michael Murray QC The Hon Daryl Williams AM QC

187

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia

*Deceased

lawsocietywa.asn.au 3

Celebrating 90 Years of the Law Society of Western Australia