President’s Report

Welcome to the first edition of Brief for 2022, and my first President’s Report.

As I commence my term as President, I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Jocelyne Boujos. Jocelyne has made an outstanding contribution to our Law Society and much has been achieved under her dedicated leadership over this past year. With her bright personality and quiet determination, she threw herself into every challenge; graciously embraced those moments out of her comfort zone; and led the Law Society with such heartfelt joy and commitment. I look forward to Jocelyne continuing to make a valuable contribution in her role as Immediate Past President. I am also pleased to be welcoming our 2022 Council at our first meeting in February, and I look forward to working with the team this year. There are a number of key areas the Society will focus on during 2022, ranging from personal resilience in your legal practice to being a strong leader in your workplace, profession and community.

COVID-19 Protocols and Policies

COVID-19 still dominates the news headlines at the beginning of 2022. With the pending opening of our State borders, the Law Society continues to take measures to protect the health and safety of our staff, members and visitors to our office and the Old Court House Law Museum. As of Monday, 31 January 2022, all visitors to our offices who do not have a medical exemption must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 if they are over 16 years of age. »Read more here. Given the health risks associated with COVID-19, reasonably practicable steps may need to be taken that reduce the risk of COVID-19 being caught by workers or other persons arising from a business or undertaking. It is therefore appropriate to have a policy that reflects the requirements of any relevant Public Health Orders. To assist our members, the Law Society has developed a Guide to Assist the Development of a COVID-19 Vaccination Policy.

COVID-19 Information and Resources Hub

As we are living and working in a rapidly changing environment, I would like to remind you of the Law Society’s COVID-19 Information and Resources Hub, for the latest information relating to COVID-19.

LawCare WA

As a Law Society member, you have access to our complimentary LawCare WA health and wellbeing service to help you manage your career, life, health and wellbeing. To find out more about the Society’s LawCare WA services, visit lawsocietywa.asn.au/lawcarewa; or call 1300 687 327 to speak with a counsellor or to make an appointment.

CPD Freedom – do you have all your CPD points yet?

At this time of year, with the 31 March deadline looming, making sure you have all your CPD points is important. We have made this easy for you by offering CPD Freedom to all members, which provides unlimited attendance at live CPD seminars (including webinars), heavily discounted online seminars, seminar papers and discounts to special CPD events. Over 3,300 CPD Freedom members are enjoying highly engaging and interactive sessions. (CPD Freedom was included as a free membership benefit if you renewed your membership before 31 July 2021.) Our newest programme delivers well regarded speakers and great topics for an outstanding educational experience. The Law Society has also introduced a new online learning platform, CPD Online. It’s easy to earn your CPD points online with seminars available on-demand, at a time you choose, on your laptop, desktop or mobile device 24/7.

Legal Profession Uniform Law (LPUL)

A key issue of importance this year is to take Western Australia forward in the nationalisation of our profession, to achieve uniformity around a cohesive set of rules and regulations for how the Australian legal profession be best run. In December 2021, the Law Society wrote an open letter to Members of the Legislative Council in relation to the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Bill 2021 and Legal Profession Uniform Application (Levy) Bill 2021, as well as the Administration Amendment Bill 2021. There are only four Parliamentary sitting weeks in 2022 prior to 1 April. Therefore, the Law Society expressed concern as to why, with the support of both the Government and Opposition, these pieces of uncontroversial but important legislation has still not been passed? Read the open letter here. Given the uncertainties about the timing of when Parliament may pass the Legal Profession Uniform Law Bill, the Attorney General deferred the proposed 1 January 2022 commencement date. No definite date has yet been given, but the Attorney General will keep the Law Society and profession closely informed. Once passed, the Uniform Law will create a common legal services market across New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, encompassing more than three quarters of Australia’s lawyers. The Law Society has developed a series of resources and training sessions to support the profession through this change. We will be presenting our LPUL CPD series at the end of February and throughout March, so please keep a look out for more details.

What’s Our Story?

As legal professionals, we need to be challenging sexual harassment in the workplace to change the culture. What’s Our Story? brings you ‘sliding door’ scene re-enactments of what should have happened to highlight best practice behaviours. You will leave better informed about workplace sexual harassment, what to do about it and what the consequences are if a person crosses the line. Don’t miss out on this engaging and enjoyable presentation of a serious issue. If you missed out on last year’s sold-out performance, you now have chance to be in the audience and experience this event for yourself on Thursday, 24 March. Find out more here.

Advocacy Update

Since the December 2021 Issue of Brief the Society finished a busy year of advocacy work led by our Standing Committees. In December the Law Society Council approved:

- urgent correspondence suggesting amendments to the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill

-correspondence to the Attorney-General on the status of Registrars

- submission to the Department of Justice on the reform of sentencing legislation

- submission to the Department of Mines Industry Regulation and Safety regarding Security of Payment Regulations

- submission to Legal Services Council on conditional cost agreements under the Uniform Law.

In January 2022, the Law Society welcomed new Committee members appointed in the 2021 biennial review with an inaugural ‘Committee induction’, explaining the governance of the Law Society and Committee processes and procedures. The Society also convened a working group to consider a submission on the Mental Health Act 2014 statutory review, and in the pipeline are submissions on the contentious business determinations and s.31A of the Evidence Act.