There is nothing so delightfully raw and primal as watching a group of Australia’s best young lawyers tongue-lash each other at the National Golden Gavel competition.

Hosted by comedian James Smith, the National Gavels, which took place on Friday 20 October 2017, is more than just a hardcore legal industry public speaking event. It’s a battle of wits and a rare opportunity for the industry to let its hair down, to exchange friendly fire (sometimes pointed mud-slinging other times fully fledged, no holds barred attacks), and to see who spars supreme and who cracks in the extreme.

As if the stakes weren’t already high enough for this year’s silver-tongued Golden Gavel State champions, NSW Young Lawyers, who hosted an absolutely flawless evening, decided to up the ante for competitors by sticking everyone on a glass-walled boat cruising Sydney Harbour.

The competition rules are simple:

• Step 1: Receive your topic 24-hours before the National Gavels competition
• Step 2: Try not to have a coronary
• Step 3: Pull together a pithy, witty and ironic speech that stretches the limits of political correctness without compromising a long and prosperous career in the law (40% for humour; 30% for cleverness and originality; 30% for performance)
• Step 4: Comply with a 5-minute time limit
• Step 5: Enter the arena, show no weakness, and as NSW finalist, Floyd Alexander-Hunt’s, mum advised her:

Take down the competition!”

We’ve mentioned previously that the Golden Gavels is a spectator sport held in front of peers, colleagues and industry big wigs (puns are fun).

Poking fun and creating a dialogue around entrenched lawyer stereotypes and legal protocols are welcomed. But contestants must be careful to toe the line without crossing it as Barnaby Grant soon discovered when his light-hearted comment asking “are women people?” resulted in him being gently reminded by The Honourable Justice Lucy McCallum that three out of four competition judges were, in fact, female.

Needless to say, Barnaby didn’t win.

So without further ado, here are just a few of our favourite contestants:

Elly Phelan – Queensland

Topic: Lawyers in a post-apocalyptic world, or how I learned to stop worrying and love the law.

Barnaby Grant – South Australia

Topic: Trial by combat and other good alternatives to modern litigation.

Floyd Alexander-Hunt – New South Wales (represent!)

Topic: Can you imagine a world without lawyers?

Congratulations to Floyd for taking out the Patron’s Choice Award!

Conor O’Bryan – Victoria

Topic: CVs, tender pitches, and other works of offiction.

Congratulations to Conor for taking our the runner-up prize!

Micah Kickett – Northern Territory

Topic: How to speak conversational legalese in one easy lesson.

Huge congratulations to Micah for winning this year’s National Gavels with an epic performance (including rap battle sequence).

In her welcome speech, Renee Bianchi, Law Council of Australia’s Young Lawyers Committee said:

The event is part of the calendar of events of the Law Council of Australia’s Young Lawyers Committee (LCA YLC). The LCA YLC is an advisory committee of the Law Council. It represents young lawyers at a national level and advises the Law Council on issues affecting, and matters of concern to, Australian young lawyers. The LCA YLC is responsible for the coordination of the National Golden Gavel and the Australian Young Lawyer Awards, however, each year they are hosted by a different State.”

This year’s event is hosted by NSW Young Lawyers, a division of the Law Society of NSW. It is wonderful to have this event back in NSW after some time.”

Australian Young Lawyer Awards 2017

The National Gavels also includes the presentation of the Individual and Organisation categories of the Australian Young Lawyer Awards.

Congratulations to this year’s winner, 29-year-old commercial lawyer, James Skelton, who took out the 2017 Australian Young Lawyer Award.

Law Council of Australia President, Fiona McLeod SC, praised Mr Skelton’s contribution:

James is an incredibly dynamic and accomplished young lawyer well deserving of this honour.”

Congratulations to the 2017 Australian Young Lawyer Award (Organisation) winners, the NSW Young Lawyers Human Rights Committee, for its Refugee Assistance Project (RAP).

The RAP provides form-filling assistance to asylum seekers and refugees who are subject to the Fast Track Assessment process and might otherwise find the entire process impossible,” Ms McLeod said.

The RAP has done tremendous work in assisting asylum seekers and refugees to exercise their right to seek asylum.

Bring on next year!

This year, the 2017 State of the Profession Address was held at the Law Society of NSW on Thursday,
21 September where The Honourable Justice Margaret Beazley AO, addressed members on a topic at the forefront of every Australian lawyer’s mind – “Law In The Age Of The Algorithm.”

The law is not immune to technology

Algorithms are present in our day-to-day lives and (perhaps in spite of wishful thinking by many lawyers), the law is not immune to the influence of technology.

Justice Beazley suggested the challenges for the legal system and the legal profession are twofold:

1. keeping up to date with new technologies
2. using technology to serve clients and further the administration of justice.

The second point is fundamental to the efficient and effective administration of the legal system.

For young Australian lawyers:

As a generation of legal practitioners who are likely to be most impacted by these developments, your challenge will be to ensure that technological change supports the administration of justice and the rule of law and does not supplant it with concepts that are alien to our rich legal tradition,” Justice Beazley said.

Changing nature of the legal workplace

The changing nature of the legal workplace is reflected in flexibility and connectivity.

Justice Beazley considered how technology has brought about change by aiding communication and legal research and also because it knows no borders. Her Honour observed that this has enabled globalised legal practice that has connected offices around the world in ways that couldn’t be imagined a few decades ago. Amalgamations between Australian and London-based firms, for example, as well as several London-based and American firms opening offices in Australia has impacted the type of legal work undertaken. It has also intensified competition for partnerships and increased the pressure and expectations placed on associates.

While technology has positively changed the face of the modern legal workplace – by giving lawyers the freedom to work anywhere and anytime – this freedom often manifests more like a trap that sees us working everywhere, all the time.

There is a story … of a lawyer on a family holiday on a yacht in the British Virgin Islands precariously clinging to the mast to gain enough reception to send a final message to the firm back home. It is reputed that there are competitions where lawyers compete for the most exotic place from which to clock up billable hours – the base camp of Kilimanjaro being one particularly notable entry!” Justice Beazley said.

Justice Beazley reflected on France’s legislation that prevents employers from contacting staff after working hours. Her Honour considered that this approach would not be an obvious reform that would gain traction in Australia.

New mechanisms for legal advice

Described as the ‘death adder leaning over the lawyer’s shoulder,’ Justice Beazley also talked about the new buzzword which will have an impact on legal work and jobs – artificial intelligence.

Whilst the ‘grad’ won’t become obsolete, the day-to-day activities of graduate lawyers will undergo a significant shift as many of their tasks become automated,” Justice Beazley said.

Her Honour considered that it will be difficult to predict the full impact of AI on the legal profession. A few examples of recent developments include ‘smart contracts’, automated due diligence programs, programs to help drivers challenge parking fines, programs to assist people claiming refunds for delayed flights, programs to apply for emergency housing, and programs to assist people claiming asylum.

Online dispute resolution models that do not require the assistance of a lawyer are being promoted as a quick and effective tool to resolve disputes and to increase access to justice for the ‘missing middle’ cohort of Australians who cannot afford legal representation but who do not qualify for legal aid.

Last year, the Australian government provided funding to National Legal Aid to look into creating an AI system for divorce proceedings. Graham Hill, National Legal Aid chairman, estimates that 20% of all family law disputes in Australia could be resolved using online dispute resolution. The benefit of this approach would be to save time and money and, if implemented:

This development would free up judicial resources to be used for difficult disputes and in cases where the legal principles need to be established or clarified,” Justice Beazley said.

Facilitating procedures in court

Technology is changing the face of court procedure and processes. In particular, the administrative functions of the court, pre-trial procedures and the hearing process have been impacted.

Some examples Justice Beazley touched on include online filing, e-discovery and document management, electronic courtrooms, video links in criminal matters, and the use of safe rooms from which vulnerable witnesses may give evidence.

Some of the challenges associated with the use of technology in the court system include the extent to which parties are able to navigate technology; and the cost of technology as well as the time and cost involved with training judges to use it.

Impact of technology on the development of law 

For lawyers, one major challenge is to understand the suite of new legal problems arising from technological innovation across industry, commerce and social communication. For example, the unique legal issues associated with multi-national corporations minimising or avoiding exposure to tax obligations, the implications of blockchain technology and crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin.

Last month, the Australian government announced plans to regulate Bitcoin through anti-money laundering laws and, earlier this year, Japan became the first national government to adopt this approach. This makes Bitcoin exchanges in Japan now subject to audits and other anti-money laundering safeguards.

The legal issues which are thrown up by these developments are tied to algorithms – the entire Bitcoin currency is built on them! There will be no choice but for the lawyer in the third decade of this century to understand the implications of algorithmic technology. The refrain of the 20th century lawyer ‘I did law so I didn’t have to do maths’ will be as archaic as the penny farthing bicycle was at the beginning of the 20th century,” Justice Beazley said.

The human cost

Her Honour observed that the role of the court is foundational to society and that robots, on their own, will never be able to achieve this.

Individuals need to feel that they are treated ‘fairly’ in their interaction with the legal system. Fairness in this context is not only in the outcome of their case or resolution of their issue. It is the human need to be listened to,” Justice Beazley said.

To sum up

This year’s State of the Profession Address by The Honourable Justice Margaret Beazley AO, raised a number of fascinating opportunities and challenges to the current practice of law in Australia, and forecast a range of ways in which technology is likely to impact the future of the profession.

Technology, AI and robots do have their limitations and, as such, can never replace the human element which is fundamental to the effective function of the legal system and access to justice. Technology is, however, likely to change the nature of the role of Australian lawyers by streamlining current legal processes and enhancing the administration of justice.

Yes, the future is uncertain … but this means that it is full of possibilities.

To young lawyers, Justice Beazley says this:

You are uniquely positioned at the forefront of this new era of law and lawyering, it will be you who will get to determine what the future looks like.”

She added a cautionary note regarding the challenge in embracing algorithmic technology, which will be to recognise the inherent limitations of it and the need for human involvement and monitoring.

Personally, I think that the future is something to be very excited about.

Watch the Honourable Justice Margaret Beazley AO’s full State of the Profession Address below:

How do you think technology is impacting the practice of law in Australia? What challenges or opportunities have you observed? Let us know in the comments!

What’s happening?

For the 11^th year running, NSW Young Lawyers is hosting its highly anticipated Charity Ball.

Who’s invited?

All young professionals are welcome, not just lawyers!

What if I don’t have anything disco-themed to wear?

Accessorise on site with Studio 54-themed props available for purchase at the event. All proceeds go to charity.

Why attend? 

Network with other young professionals, have a ball (gettit!?), and feel good by supporting a great charity.

What to expect?

Live music, dinner, drinks, prize raffles and more. Dust off your bell-bottomed trousers, platforms and glitter encrusted jumpsuits, and get dressed to impress in your best 70’s glamour!

Where will proceeds go?

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Refugee Advice & Casework Service (RACS). Attending the charity event of the year not only makes for a good time but also assists the RACS to continue its important work helping people rebuild their lives in Australia.

Tickets are selling fast – so “do the hustle” and book your spot quick!

What if you can’t make the event?

You can still support the RACS by purchasing an advanced raffle ticket in the prize draw. An exciting range of prizes is up for grabs. All raffle tickets will be drawn on the night of the Charity Ball.

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Saturday 16 September 2017

Time: 7pm – 11.30pm

Venue: Four Seasons Hotel Sydney, 199 George St, Sydney

Single Ticket: $200.00

Table of 10: $1,900.00

PURCHASE TICKETS

• SINGLE TICKET
• TABLE TICKET

Further Information

• NSW Young Lawyers Office
  Call: (02) 9926 0182
• Email: ylgeneral@lawsociety.com.au
• Visit: www.younglawyers.com.au