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Annual report 2013.14

9 September 2014

The Honourable Jarrod Bleijie MP

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice

Level 18, State Law Building

50 Ann Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Dear Mr Bleijie

Queensland Law Society 2013-14 annual reportI am pleased to present the 2013-14 annual report and financial statements for Queensland Law Society.

I certify that this annual report complies with: the prescribed requirements of the Financial Accountability Act 2009 and the Financial and Performance

Management Standard 2009 the detailed requirements set out in the Annual report requirements for Queensland Government

agencies.

A checklist outlining the annual reporting requirements can be accessed at qls.com.au.

Yours sincerely

Ian Brown

President

Queensland Law Society

Queensland Law Society | Annual report 2013.14 Page 1 of 113

About us

Queensland Law Society represents the majority of Queensland’s solicitors, providing leadership in law to more than 12,000 members.

We offer members high quality products and services to help them maintain and build their professional skills, legal practice and careers, particularly through:

Our learning and professional development offerings that help ensure members stay up to date with changes in the law, the evolution of ‘the business of law’ and are aware of, and monitor, their personal wellbeing.

Our practice support offerings that provide legal practice and broader business management guidance to help members build their firms and keep up with changes in operational practices.

We demonstrate leadership and represent members’ and the community’s interests through:

Our advocacy service that reviews proposed legislative change, presents submissions to government on potential issues and proactively identifies social concerns for recommended redress.

Our ethics service that helps members resolve ethical dilemmas and provides learning and professional development and practical tools for assessing problems and guiding ethical decision-making.

Our professional standards service that supports members with information and advice for trust account compliance and guidance statements to help manage potential issues in legal practice.

We receive funding from membership fees, products and services and the Legal Practitioner Interest on Trust Accounts Fund. The Department of Justice and Attorney-General administers the fund for Queensland Law Society to manage regulation of the profession.

Lexon Insurance is a wholly owned subsidiary company that provides statutory professional indemnity insurance as the Legal Profession Act 2007 requires.

Member categoriesContinuing an upward trend, the number of student members increased this year by 30%.

Category Male % male

Female % female

Total

Full member 5036 53.3% 4411 46.7% 9447

Associate member 243 47.0% 274 53.0% 517

Associate (Student) 757 35.8% 1355 64.2% 2112

Complimentary member 51 98.1% 1 1.9% 52

Honorary member 15 78.9% 4 21.1% 19

Total 6102 50.2% 6045 49.8% 12147


Our vision

To lead the legal profession by advocating for good law and supporting good lawyers.

Our mission

To be the profession’s trusted advisor through providing quality advice, advocacy, and learning and professional development for our members.

Our values

Respect We value people and acknowledge their contributions.

Integrity We are honest and fair in our actions.

Service We work together to anticipate needs, exceed expectations and honour commitments.

These values frame our service delivery, legal profession leadership and internal and external relationships.


About this report

Queensland Law Society’s 2013-14 annual report presents our corporate performance information for the period 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014.

The report records our activities and achievements for the 2013-14 financial year assessed against strategic and operational planning objectives. It also summarises our future priorities and challenges.

Our annual report accords with Queensland Government reporting requirements. Queensland Law Society is incorporated under the Legal Profession Act 2007 and defined as a statutory body under the Financial Accountability Act 2009. Our member-elected Council maintains our independence in governance. Council includes an Attorney-General’s nominee.

In line with Queensland Law Society’s Strategic Plan 2013-18, this report presents our performance measured against four strategic objectives.

Leadership in Law is the theme of our 2013-14 annual report. The theme reflects our Strategic Plan 2013-18 vision to lead the profession by advocating for good law and supporting good lawyers. The report demonstrates how we have provided practical leadership through valuable member services and innovative thought leadership that support both members in practice and our profession in its principles.

Our commitment to accessibility

This annual report can be accessed at www.qls.com.au,via Queensland Parliament’s website or by contacting us (see below). Our website has historical annual reports from the past 15 years.

Please contact us if you require assistance in understanding the annual report or for referral to interpreter services.

Feedback

If you have feedback or questions about content in this annual report, please contact:

Law Society House, 179 Ann Street, Brisbane Qld 4000

1300 367 757

[email protected]

www.qls.com.au/annual-reports


http://www.qls.com.au/annual-reports

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.qls.com.au/

Year in review

2013-14 was a busy period for Queensland Law Society across all service delivery areas. Here are highlights of our events and advocacy activity and, more broadly, important legal profession changes this year.

July

19-20 Queensland Law Society and Family Law Practitioners Association Family Law Residential24 Annual Conveyancing Conference25 MemberConnect breakfast, 2018 – a view of the future25 Early Career Lawyers (ECL) Allied Professional Networking Evening with Institute of Chartered

Accountants in Australia

August

2 District Law Association Presidents’ Workshop2 13th Annual Personal Injuries Conference 20134 Annual Alternative Dispute Resolution Conference16 Annual Criminal Law Conference28 New Member Drinks

September

11 Commenced public advocacy on proposed G20 legislation17 The Honourable David Thomas sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court, becoming Queensland Civil

and Administrative Tribunal president on 22 Oct23 Commenced public advocacy on proposed workers’ compensation scheme changes26-27 14th Annual Property Law Conference 2013

October

10 MemberConnect breakfast, Corporate Social Responsibility15-17 Government rapidly passed legislation on workers’ compensation, ‘bikies’ and arbitrary detention for sex

offenders, triggering considerable QLS advocacy activity19 Agnes McWhinney Award given at Women Lawyers Association of Queensland’s Gala Awards Dinner24 Queensland Law Society 2014 Council election results announced


November

1-2 Annual Succession and Elder Law Residential 20134 We commended the government for changes to directors’ liability laws15-16 North Queensland Symposium25 White Ribbon Day Breakfast28 Queensland Law Society’s 85th Annual General Meeting at which members voted on governance and

corporate structure changes

December

6 Specialist Accreditation Christmas Breakfast with the Chief Justice18 Commended the government’s acceptance of child protection inquiry recommendations20 Welcomed three new magistrates appointments

January

1 Ian Brown becomes 2014 Queensland Law Society President; Annette Bradfield served as 2013 Queensland Law Society President

9 Welcomed changes to the Disability Services Act 2006 concerning the treatment of adults with intellectual or cognitive disabilities

February

6 New Year Profession Drinks21 Legal Profession Dinner, including President’s Medal presentation to solicitor John Sneddon26 Congratulated Chief Justice Paul de Jersey AC on his appointment as Queensland Governor

March

11 Legal Careers Expo 201418 Publicly spoke out on proposed changes to youth justice in a joint statement with the Youth Advocacy

Centre21 Launched our much-anticipated updated Costs Guide21-22 Queensland Law Society Symposium 2014

April

4 Launched our mandatory sentencing policy paper with Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson10 Welcomed Solicitor-General and Electoral Commissioner appointments


May

7 New Member Drinks12-18 Law Week 201416 Queensland Law Society Annual Ball30 Gold Coast Symposium

June

12 Welcomed Queensland’s next Chief Justice, Tim Carmody12 Early career lawyers v. barristers debate19 Congratulated Magistrates Ray Rinaudo and Leanne O’Shea on respective appointments to Chief

Magistrate and Deputy Chief Magistrate


Highlights 2013-14

The following 2013-14 performance highlights are measured against Queensland Law Society’s key performance indicators as listed in the Strategic Plan 2013-18.

Membership retention across segments of the profession

Post-admission experience

Overall, full membership grew by 3.4%.

Post-admission experience 2013-14 membership

numbers

2012-13 membership

numbers

% difference (+/-)

0-5 years 2804 2830 -0.9%

6-12 years 2767 2653 +4.2%

13-20 years 1636 1517 +7.8%

21+ years 2240 2135 +4.9%

Total 9447 9135 +3.4%

Firm size

Membership increase in micro and medium firms, as well as corporate counsel (+5.9%), slight to moderate membership decreases across other firm categories.

Size of firm 2013-14 numbers 2012-13 numbers % difference (+/-)

Single practitioners (1 PC*) 721 724 -0.41%

Micro firms (2-5 PCs) 1880 1756 +7%

Small firms (6-19 PCs) 1497 1498 -0.06%

Medium-sized firms (20-49 PCs) 729 663 +9.95%

Large firms (50+ PCs) 1831 1901 -3.68%

Please note: This table does not include full members who are in-house counsel, government solicitors, community legal centre practitioners, consultants or academics.

*PC = practising certificate


Principal practising certificate (PPC) holders – member participation

Size of firm Number of member PPC

holders

% of total PPC holders

Target %

Large 432 98.9% 97%

Medium-sized 216 98.2% 100%

Small, micro and sole practitioners

2021 98.6% 98.5%

We achieved our targets for large and smaller-sized firms but fell short regarding medium-sized firms.

Financial targets

For the Year ended 30 June 2014 the Group achieved an operating surplus of $10.6m. Higher income was achieved through increased memberships and insurance levies. While a successful outcome, the higher income was offset by increased claims cost.

Consolidated

2014 $m 2013$m

Revenues from membership activities (parent) 16.0 15.0

Insurance scheme revenues 30.3 28.9

Investment income 12.0 12.7

Other income 1.4 1.6

59.8 58.2

Expenses:

Membership related 3.1 3.1

Admin, employee and depreciation 18.1 17.2

Claims and insurance related 28.0 21.3

49.2 41.6

Operating surplus 10.6 16.5


Members’ satisfaction scores

For 2013-14 our target was an average 3.8 out of 5, which was comfortably achieved across all service areas.

Service area Score

Target score 3.8

Law Society House 4.5

L&PD events 4.3

Social events 4.4

Advocacy 4.5

Trust account investigations 4.8

Members’ active engagement scores

We were pleased with the result that showed 61% of members had at least two points of contact with Queensland Law Society, as represented below.

Points of contact include:

participation on our committees discretionary monetary spend click throughs on QLS Update logins to our website.

Points of contact

Average Percentage

0 993 11%

1 2575 28%

2 3503 38%

3 1941 21%

4 150 2%

Impact of advocacy activities

We received a 194% increase in parliamentary debate mentions and an 82% increase in published and broadcast media content with an advertising space value of $7.5m.

Staff engagement results

Annual internal staff engagement survey results found staff feel better informed about Queensland Law Society’s strategic progress, vision and direction.


Our recognition by the profession for setting professional standards and quality in guidance notes

Trust account investigations and compliance reviews averaged member satisfaction scores of 4.8 out of 5 this year. We developed a new guidance statement process that demonstrates both service innovation and excellent cross-team collaboration.

Progress to plan

At 30 June 2014 we achieved 85% of our 45 targets in the corporate plan.


President’s review This year was marked by two polar opposite trends – a return to the ‘old normal’ of business as the dust settled after the frenetic peak of the mining boom, and a growing awareness of the ‘new normal’ with economic pressures exerting their influence on recent trends in changes to practice.

Our Queensland economy

Queensland’s economy differs from that of most other states due to our reliance on both mining and resources and government investment. The Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics reported this year that of the 45 Australian coal projects at feasibility stage, 34 were in Queensland. Although this may indicate potential business opportunities for law firms, in the past year 10 Central Queensland mining projects moved from planning and construction to production, at which point high demand for legal services falls. Potentially filling some of this gap is a large number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects. There is $79 billion worth of LNG projects underway at different stages of development, from publicly announced to under construction. These have been welcome projects for our commercial solicitors, although, again, demand for legal services will fall as projects move to production in 2014-15.

The state government is a significant driver of the Queensland economy. Most multinational and national organisations have their head offices located in Sydney and Melbourne, so for Queensland solicitors, there is a greater reliance on government investment to drive the need for legal work – directly and indirectly. Current major projects are worth in excess of $8 billion. However with the goal to see a budget surplus in 2014-15, there is pressure to reduce government expenditure across all areas, including service provider costs. We have supported members through these leaner times with learning and professional development seminars such as ‘Building practice value’, ‘Building referrals’ and ‘Personal productivity’, and providing business networking opportunities with chartered accountants and the Australia Chinese General Chamber of Business.

Construction

Meanwhile, construction in Queensland has been steady. In the December quarter, Commsec reported work was up 8.3% on the previous year, with residential construction partly filling the gap left by the decline in the mining boom. Low interest rates are expected to continue to support this trend, although total construction volumes may decrease next year. Growing need in the health and aged care areas will drive construction infrastructure investment. The proportion of the population aged 65 years and over continues to trend upwards, projected to be nearly 20% of Queensland’s population by 2036, and our state has three major hospital projects underway – The Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, Logan Hospital Expansion and Gold Coast University Hospital. The demand for construction lawyers is evidenced in our solicitor referral statistics, with inquiries for building and construction lawyers entering the top 10 this year.

Agribusiness

Another cornerstone of Queensland’s economy, agribusiness, has also experienced a challenging year, although there are signs of future opportunities. According to Queensland government statistics, Queensland tops the nation in available agricultural land. Agricultural commodities are worth $13.7 billion and the government supports doubling production by 2040. However, our state’s farmers have been in long-term pain with increasing land and labour prices over the last 10 years. The consequence of this is that more farmers require legal services to refinance their business – a trend expected to continue for at least the next year or so. Tellingly, our ‘Insolvency and bankruptcy intensive’ was booked to over capacity this year. There is an expectation that agribusiness, together with expansion in the gas industry, and growth in the areas of international education, tourism and wealth management will fill the vacuum left by the mining and resources downturn. On a positive note, primary producers may take advantage of the government’s ‘2040 agricultural strategy’ to invest in production improvements.


IPOs and M&As

Examining the business world more broadly in relation to initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions, seven Queensland firms were involved in IPOs in 2013. The number of IPOs was an improvement on the year before, and the second half of 2013-14 continued to strengthen their investment pull. This contrasted with a quieter year for mergers and acquisitions although there were positive signs of market pick-up in 2014. This is pleasing to note as a major proportion of our members have a nominated interest in commercial law. This year we supported these members through a number of services, including Symposium 2014’s Business Stream, which was well-received by delegates, scoring an average 4.3 out of 5. Fittingly, the highest score (4.8) was given to the session on The landscape of business restructures.

Corporate conditions

The ‘renormalising’ of economic conditions resulted in some practices reducing their recruitment or, in the case of three national firms’ Brisbane offices, reducing staff numbers. Employment reports indicate this was due to the winding back of economic growth, the influx of international firms from 2012-13 merger activity and reduced in-house budgets for outsourcing legal work. In the current economic climate, firms have examined their costs and for those who have undergone mergers, assessed any duplication of support services. As a result, many of the redundancies were reported to be legal support staff, an outcome of the ongoing reshaping of the profession. Likewise, frugal corporate budgets resulted in a flat recruitment environment for in-house solicitors.

Law firm mergers settled to a more sustainable pace after global firms made Australian in-roads last year. In 2013-14 Thomsons Lawyers and Herbert Geer became Thomson Geer, Hemming + Hart joined with Colin Biggers & Paisley, and Adelaide firm Kelly & Co merged with HWL Ebsworth. Ashurst finalised the full financial integration of their Australian and UK operations.

New normal

In times such as these when commercial clients are cost-sensitive, have a preference for in-house counsel and broader business trends show an economy in slow recovery, there is a tension between the available volume of work (and clients’ ability to negotiate prices down), and law firms’ need to earn income. Clients’ strong negotiating power, particularly in the past year, has led to increased awareness, discussion and, for some firms, adoption of, fixed price billing, outsourcing, commoditisation and other alternate legal service structures. In fact outsourcing has been the subject of at least 15 national and state-based legal profession publication articles in the past year.

There is a growing trend for a new breed of law firm where lawyers work remotely, on secondment and/or on a fixed fee basis. At this year’s Legal Profession Dinner, this was flagged as the ‘new normal’, and is clearly evidenced by the national growth of law firms that run alternative business models (two such firms commenced operations in Brisbane last year), in addition to the growing number of boutique practices. Our Practice Development and Management Committee has explored the issue this year and provided members with practical advice, particularly around outsourcing and confidentiality.

Law students

As the future of the profession, it is important we support law students to ensure their numbers are sustainable comparative to available placements. We currently have a situation where students vastly outnumber the internships on offer. In the past year, two more Queensland universities have added a law degree to their course offerings, making a total of nine law schools in the state. Graduate Careers reported 20% of legal employers did not recruit any graduates in 2013, citing economic conditions as the main issue affecting recruitment, while 60% said the number of applications exceeded their average expectations.

Anecdotal evidence, primarily through our Early Career Lawyers Committee, is that there are not enough clerkships to ensure placements for all. Law firms are fiscally restrained with some barely maintaining their intake and there are few non-law firm opportunities available – even Legal Aid Queensland did not run its internship


program this year. I have publicly stated that it is unhelpful to potentially encourage a vast pool of students whose numbers greatly exceed the opportunities for employment in the legal profession. This year we have initiated regular meetings, to occur at least twice yearly, between QLS and Queensland universities’ law deans to discuss this and other issues. We will keep members informed of relevant outcomes of these discussions.

Pro bono figures

For the first time in Queensland, at this year’s renewal, solicitors were asked how many pro bono hours they expected to volunteer in 2013-14. The aim was to give a much clearer picture of how much our profession gives back to the community, and indicate to those in positions of influence the integral role that pro bono legal service providers play in our communities. An impressive 24% of eligible solicitors responded with their pro bono hours, stating they give a total of 165,087 hours, that’s an average 68.61 hours per respondent, not counting the 116 members who work solely for community legal centres. We will use this information to ensure that we are providing Queensland solicitors with effective support for pro bono work, to see where we may need to strengthen relationships between the Society and community service providers and reinforce through the media and other channels the positive and valuable contribution our profession makes to the community.

Rule of Law

In essence, the Rule of Law is upheld when there is effective consultation, equality in the administration and enforcement of law, and an independent judiciary.

Queensland Law Society plays an essential role in supporting the Rule of Law by advocating for fair and just laws and protecting the interests of our profession and the community.

Our aim is to, where possible, work with government on proposed legislative changes through our submissions and presentations to parliamentary committees.

This financial year we have produced 208 submissions and we will continue this prodigious output to keep the importance of the Rule of Law top of mind for all – the profession, the community, government and other interested parties. More information on some of the high profile issues from this year is available in our 2013-14 Advocacy Annual: qls.com.au > About QLS > Queensland Law Society > Resources & publications > Corporate documents > Advocacy Annuals.

Chief Justice

Chief Justice Paul de Jersey AC has led the judiciary, one of the cornerstones of our democracy, since 1998. There is a pleasing symmetry in knowing the Chief Justice will soon assume the office of Governor of Queensland. The Chief Justice will bring to the office of Governor the dignity, compassion and grace for which he is renowned. He was instrumental in the modernisation of our justice system, including overseeing the implementation of the Moynihan reforms, and carries with him to the Governor’s office the respect, affection and best wishes of more than 10,000 solicitors. We have always been grateful for His Honour’s abiding interest in the future of the profession and we are sure that this interest will continue when he assumes the role of Governor.

Legal Profession Uniform Law

National legal profession reform moved forward in New South Wales and Victoria with the Legal Profession Uniform Law now passed in both states. The law aims for consistent regulatory and professional standards requirements. It has created a Legal Services Council, and Commissioner for Uniform Legal Services Regulation. We are undertaking a detailed review of the model legislation and will keep members well-informed of our resulting policy stance and any relevant government actions in Queensland.


Thank you

It has been a busy year on all fronts and I warmly thank our 2013 and 2014 Council members, 2013 president Annette Bradfield (who set the bar high and left big shoes to fill), Queensland Law Society’s incredibly hardworking CEO, Noela L’Estrange and our dedicated QLS team for delivering valuable outcomes to members this financial year.

Ian BrownPresident


CEO’s review 2013-14 membership overview

This year, full membership grew to 9447 members, a 3.4% increase on last year. This is slightly less than overall growth of the profession although a healthy majority, 90.2%, of solicitors are members.

The number of female solicitors continues to grow, up by 6.7% to 5025 this year. At this rate we predict the number of women to outnumber men in 2-3 years’ time. The upward surge in female practitioners of course reflects the composition of younger generations of solicitors, those classified as ‘Gen Y’ born between 1980 and 1994. The majority of these solicitors are women. They are also, interestingly, the majority of our full members. I will shortly discuss QLS initiatives this year for female solicitors but first will complete the demographic picture of the profession.

For the first time, there are now more ‘Gen X’ male practitioners (those born between 1965 and 1979) than Baby Boomers. This indicates we’ve reached the tipping point when the older generation starts to retire, which will also hasten changes in the female:male ratio as the majority of Baby Boomers are men. Chartered Accountants reports 1.4 million business owners will retire in the next 10 years. This will likely include the majority of our 2688 Baby Boomer full members.

Outside Brisbane, the greatest practitioner growth has been in the Toowoomba and Fitzroy regions. This is attributable to the growth in commercial, personal injuries and wills and estates law in Toowoomba, while the Fitzroy region is experiencing significant infrastructure investment with Gladstone as the hub for three major LNG projects worth billions, ramping up for production in 2014-15. Legal profession activity in these regions is evidenced in QLS seminar attendance, with the Toowoomba and Gladstone Intensives receiving attendance figures over or close to capacity, respectively. Our regional practitioners provide critical services to their local communities. We are proud to support them in practice.

Women in the profession

Although there is growth in the number of women in the profession, the number of those in director or partner positions remains at 20%, the same figure as last year. The profession needs to do better and attend to this lack of parity. Although the days are numbered for the discrepancy in these numbers, particularly with the imminent retirement of many male Baby Boomers, it remains an anomaly for the profession – one Queensland Law Society is committed to supporting redress where we can. As a profession, we could justifiably reject the rationale that we’re waiting for room to be made through natural attrition of older generations. Most people can make partner from the age of 36 on, some even younger. This means a number of ‘Gen X’ female practitioners should now be up for partnership.

Queensland Law Society’s role for the profession is to encourage workplaces to consider more women for partnerships and suggest methods for balancing the demands of work and home. This year we made significant in-roads in developing and promoting a number of solutions – a highlight of which was establishing a Flexibility Working Group. Working with the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland, we have collected and communicated members’ work practice experiences statewide to encourage firms to improve their flexibility. We also established a dedicated webpage with comprehensive resources and plan to conduct an online survey. Queensland Law Society reviewed with interest outcomes of the Law Council of Australia’s National Attrition and Re-engagement Study (NARS) and provided input to the resulting discussion paper. We understand there will be national collation of law societies’ input that will be fed back for state-based discussions. Queensland Law Society also sponsored the Australian Institute of Management’s International Women’s Day debate luncheon in March.


Looking after the profession

In addition to the Flexibility Working Group, I am proud to report we were also central to setting up the Resilience Working Group. Although recent evidence is mainly anecdotal, it is a safe assumption that an increasingly demanding work environment is a common experience in legal practice, particularly in tight economic times. The Resilience Working Group aims to build and maintain momentum in the profession for ongoing awareness of solicitors’ susceptibility to stress and depression, and methods for its minimisation. Work to date includes facilitating the Queensland launch of the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation’s Psychological Wellbeing: Best Practice Guidelines for the Legal Profession and promoting adoption of Mental Health First Aid counsellors, two of which we have in-house at Queensland Law Society.

We continued our free counselling service offering, LawCare that this year received calls from 426 people, the majority from medium-sized firms. Our senior counsellors service provides guidance and support for practitioners across Queensland. Our highly successful recruitment campaign this year saw 29% growth in the number of senior counsellors to 48, boosted by program improvements such as the Senior Counsellors’ Conference and formal reporting mechanisms. In addition, we piloted a mentoring program to address career and personal support issues.

Corporate governance

One of our biggest strategic initiatives for 2013-14 was developing and presenting to members proposed changes to Queensland Law Society’s governance structure. These changes were designed to improve our strategic agility, ensure stable leadership, strengthen corporate knowledge, inspire a longer term vision and create smooth transitional arrangements when Council members change. This of course required member endorsement, which was also critical for presenting the proposed changes to the Attorney-General. To ensure members were well-informed about the changes and their capability to exercise voting rights at the annual general meeting, we conducted a comprehensive communication campaign. The campaign used the web, social media, our publications, and committee and Council networks to introduce the changes, encourage participation and communicate the outcome. The motions sparked considerable interest in the AGM with about 40 members attending in person and 724 members sending proxies. In the end, members passed motions to register Queensland Law Society as a company limited by guarantee and change the governance structure. We presented the outcomes to the Attorney-General as the next step required legislative change to the Queensland Law Society Act 1952. We await the Attorney-General’s decision.

Annual Business and Professions Study

This year we participated in the benchmarking research from Beaton Research + Consulting to assess our performance against eight comparison member associations, identify our strengths, areas for improvement and trends. We have participated in this research for some years now, the last time being in 2010. Our performance is trending upwards but we are not as strong as the top three associations in our benchmark group. These results have inspired renewed focus on service excellence, as we now have current, accurate measures against which to compare our performance. Our external performance assessment is neatly mirrored by our internal staff engagement survey, providing a complete picture of how we are perceived and how we perceive ourselves. Results from this Annual Business and Professions Study inspired a five-year strategy revision, using the research scores as measures of success.

Track record of listening to members and taking action

Last year we reported on planned service improvements inspired by our member research. I am pleased to say that every item is either complete or in train. This includes significant deliverables such as developing value propositions for member segments, tailoring communication based on member demographics and delivering a mentoring program. We have laid the ground work for improving our website navigation and will use the value propositions for targeted service offerings in the coming year. You will find information on these deliverables in the Serving our members section.


Financial performance

Queensland Law Society Incorporated, as a group, reported a net surplus before tax of $10.6m, comprising $1.7m from the Society and $8.9m from insurance activities (including the Law Claims Levy Fund).

The revenue from member professional development events was below budget, reflecting challenging economic times across the state, and changes in membership demographics. This has been offset by strong growth (17%) in multimedia product sales (DVDs) from the previous year. We continue to focus on improving the quality of our advice, services and products for members, including reviewing our professional development offerings, to ensure that there is an appropriate target audience for our conferences and seminars.

Our full member numbers exceeded budget by 3%, resulting in higher revenue. The surplus will be used to improve our products and services for members.

The insurance scheme (including the Law Claim Levy Fund) reported a profit of $8.9m, exceeding budget expectations. This was largely driven by better than anticipated investment returns but offset by an increase in claims expenses. The scheme continues to retain its low insurance rates since the introduction of the Gross Fee Income model in 2007-08. Levy increases have been kept below 2% for the 2013-14 year. We will continue our obligation to members to keep rates as low as possible while maintaining appropriate capital adequacy.

This year we farewelled Legal Services Commissioner John Briton who completed his two-term tenure in the role. Mr Briton started his role with the passing of the Legal Profession Act 2004. Although there were times of healthy discussion and disagreement, we have always had great respect for the role of Commissioner and recognise the importance of a productive working relationship between the Society and the Legal Services Commission (LSC). This is particularly so in the areas of ethics (where we work with the LSC to provide guidance to practitioners) and professional standards (for which we conduct investigatory services on delegation). We thank Mr Briton for his years of service, support and lively debate. Mr Robert Brittan was appointed Acting Legal Services Commissioner.

It has been an eventful year for Queensland Law Society, with many service delivery improvements for members. This would not be possible without the energy and passion of our presidents, Annette Bradfield (2013) and Ian Brown (2014). Our Council drives our policy and strategic agenda and I am grateful to our previous and current Council members for volunteering so many hours for the good of the profession and the community. This is particularly so for those who retired in 2014 after serving in the 2011-13 Council, providing a steady guiding hand during a period of heightened professional, government and legislative change. Finally, my sincere thanks to all staff – the people who deliver above and beyond for members every day, without whom all our good intentions would remain just that.

Noela L’EstrangeChief Executive Officer


Our strategy Queensland Law Society has identified four areas of focus to help us achieve our vision of leading the legal profession by advocating for good law and supporting good lawyers.

These areas of focus are the foundation on which our Corporate Plan 2013-14 was built. The following table illustrates:

Objectives that support each of our four areas of focus Initiatives to achieve each objective Targets for each initiative Whether we achieved the target in 2013-14 Corresponding annual report page for more information Next steps for 2014-15.

Serving our members

Our strategies to grow membership include:

Create and deliver member value propositions for membership segments Redevelopment and re-positioning of learning and professional development offerings.

Leading our profession

We aim to lead the profession through setting professional standards, providing ethical guidance and targeted advocacy. This includes:

Development of ethics offerings and targeted advocacy Establishment and strengthening of our position in setting professional standards.

Developing our culture

Key to delivery of excellent member service.

Ensuring our sustainability

We will strengthen our financial sustainability through:

Growth of our internal business capability.


Performance overviewObjective Initiatives Targets 2013-14 Achieved 2013-14 Aims 2014-15

Serving ourmembers

Maintain and grow membership through better and targeted offers to priority segments

Membership restructure Council approval for restructure of membership entitlements

Achieved No further action required. Changes embedded in business as usual (BAU)

50% growth in associate membership 22% growth in associate membership Continue to monitor and increase associate memberships as BAU

Account management approach

Account management framework developed and approach adopted

Achieved Embed account management approach in BAU

Increased member engagement scores Beaton Benchmarks 2013 member engagement score is up 5% on the 2010 score

Increase Beaton Benchmarks member engagement score from 2013 benchmark (target for 2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 1)

Membership targets for principal practising certificate holders: 97% from large firms; 100% from medium firms; 98.5% from small firms or sole practices

Achieved Maintain membership levels for principal practising certificate holders (target for 2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 1)

Segmented offering Build recognition of membership value to maintain membership at 2012 levels (93% of practising certificate holders)

Membership as at 1 July 2014 is 90% of practising certificate holders

Grow the percentage of practitioners who take out membership using 2013-14 percentage of 90% as benchmark (target for 2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 1)

Maintain large firm involvement in policy committees

28% of policy committee members from firms of 50+ practising certificates

Ensure policy committee composition reflects membership demographics and segments and maintains churn rate below 18% (target for 2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 5)

Pilot one-on-one mentoring for 0-5 and 6-12 years’ PAE

Mentoring program launched 1 February 2014 with 26 participants (13 pairs)

To be reviewed in November 2014 to test viability

Actively measure member engagement

An efficient, accurate and agreed engagement metric is developed and incorporated into regular reporting and individual staff members’ goals

Implementation complete. Reporting began in February 2014

Monitor and further develop engagement metric

Maximise return on investment in iMIS

Run three successful pilots of the Communities function

Communities live for 3 Council communities Expansion of roll out to additional committees

Improve business intelligence Several new data reporting initiatives implemented

Continue to improve business reporting from information in iMIS as requested by business users

Targeted renewals campaign

Long term target is 2018 membership participation rate of 94% of practitioners

2014 achieved membership participation rate of 90% of practitioners

Grow the percentage of practitioners who take out membership using 2013-14 percentage of 90% as benchmark (target for 2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 1)

Redevelop and re-position our PD offer – move from compliance to leader

Produce premium practice management course (PMC) curriculum led by established experts

Maintain 75% market share Maintained 100% market share – no new competitors yet in the market (although imminent)

Maintain 75% market share for PMC

Secure 80% of market share from medium and large firms by providing tailored offering

Maintained 100% market share – no new competitors yet in the market (although imminent)

Secure 80% of market share for PMC from medium and large firms

Marketing strategy Soft launch to members December 2013 Project broadened to include internal service excellence component. Soft launch to members July 2014

Launch of new branding is an aspect of key focus on improving staff knowledge, capability and service delivery (2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 2)

Build partnerships with speciality law associations with which we deliver conferences (AILA, FLPA, DLAs etc)

Satisfaction score from partners of >3.5 2014, and >4 for 2015

Met anecdotally. No quantitative measure in place

Continued positive, collaborative relationships with all specialty law associations with which we deliver conferences

Utilise member input to design professional development offerings

Committee commitment to Queensland Law Society Learning and Professional Development (L&PD) Strategy for conference planning

Met. Queensland Law Society Symposium 2014 outstanding example of committee commitment to L&PD strategy

No further action required. Changes embedded as BAU

Design professional development that meets the needs of members with 6-12 and 15+ years’ PAE who work in sole, micro and small firms

All conferences to market on time Several conferences late to market Continue to improve conference planning and on time delivery


Objective Initiatives Targets 2013-14 Achieved 2013-14 Aims 2014-15

Member satisfaction rating of 3.8 for conferences in specialist accreditation areas

Member satisfaction rating of 4.3 Member satisfaction rating of 4.0 for all conferences

Profitability targets for conferences met Profitability below target Improve profitability analysis and meet all profitability targets for conferences

Member satisfaction rating of 4.0 for masterclass series in practice management and leadership, and breakeven financial result

Member satisfaction rating of 4.3. Exceeded profitability targets

Continue to monitor as BAU

Grow specialist accreditation

2014 assessment tasks incorporate best practice models

Achieved No further action required. Embedded as BAU

2015 candidates have a 55% success rate In progress Continue to monitor as BAU

Leading ourprofession

Maintain our leadership in legal ethics and advocacy

Build engagement and alignment to strategic plan with policy committees

All policy committees complete business plans for 2014 that support Queensland Law Society’s 2013-18 Strategic Plan

Achieved Monitor policy committee programs to ensure deliverables are achieved (target for 2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 5)

Committee members’ engagement score >80 and churn rate <20%

Committee satisfaction score 4.36/5, churn rate of 16%

Monitor policy committee composition to ensure it reflects membership demographics and segments and maintains churn rate below 18% (target for 2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 1)

Unprompted recall of top three advocacy issues by 10% of committee members

Unprompted recall of top three issues success rate was 37.3%

Continue to monitor and embed as BAU

All committees have an identified talent pool to recruit new members

Achieved Continue to monitor and embed as BAU

Publication of ‘leading’ ethical advice

Publish ASCR commentary and achieve 500 sales by 30 June 2014

Delays in committee approval. Launch scheduled for July 2014

Implement 2014-15 Corporate Plan initiative to develop our ethics offering (target for 2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 3)

Establish and strengthen our position in setting professional standards

Define and scope ‘professional standards’

Make recommendations to Council about scope and role of Queensland Law Society in relation to professional standards

Achieved Implement 2014-15 corporate plan initiative to publish professional standards guidelines and FAQs (target for 2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 4)

Relevant communications All regulatory correspondence templates reviewed and updated

Not achieved On track for completion in July 2014

Developingour culture

Grow internal business capability

Build leadership capability Leadership team are focused and engaged 66% of staff report having high role satisfaction and 81% report high commitment to Queensland Law Society. 360° assessments and debriefs for Executive Team completed

Key focus in 2014-15 on improving staff knowledge, capability and service delivery (2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 2)

Managers and staff are clear about expectations

Engagement scores for 2014 reflect that 79% of staff have clearly identified individual goals


Projects are delivered on time and to budget Focus on using project management methodology for major projects – renewals and Symposium

Review and improve project management tools and capability (target for 2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 2)

Build corporate capability and capacity

100% of staff undertake individual competency assessment and determine developmental needs

Assessments undertaken Key focus in 2014-15 on improving staff knowledge, capability and service delivery (2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 2)

All team members have active continuing professional development plans that are reviewed at least quarterly by respective managers

Achieved No further action required. Embedded in BAU

Evidence of increased knowledge and capability across business units

Achieved Key focus in 2014-15 on improving staff knowledge, capability and service delivery (2014-15 Corporate Plan Initiative 2)

Evidence of increased application of iMIS iMIS power user delegates are in place. iMIS induction in place for new starters

Continue to improve uptake and usage of iMIS as BAU

All staff are aware of key business metrics Business plans and reports made more accessible to all staff


Success is celebrated and performance issues are easily and quickly identified and effectively managed

2014 engagement survey results demonstrate that 55% of employees believe that their manager recognises and rewards good performance


Intimate knowledge of the profession

High level of collaboration between business units, sharing of relevant and timely information

Anecdotal evidence that communication and engagement between business units has improved



Objective Initiatives Targets 2013-14 Achieved 2013-14 Aims 2014-15

Develop a reliable and calculable engagement scoring method to benchmark and measure member engagement

Scoring method established Refine scoring method to ensure accurate, appropriate measurements

Intimate knowledge of direct engagement with members in key target segments

Queensland Law Society staff can articulate key policy positions

Relevant business tools updated No further action required. Embedded in BAU

Professional development programs reflect topical issues

Achieved through close collaboration with policy committees and ad hoc conference planning committees

No further action required. Embedded in BAU

Ensuring oursustainability

Law Society House (Level 2) review

Budgeted position achieved and customer feedback satisfaction of 4/5

Budget position achieved, satisfaction score of 4/5 exceeded. Review of Level 2 offering completed

Ongoing implementation of recommendations and incremental improvements from Level 2 review as BAU

Document management system

Requirements captured and documented with recommendation to Executive Team

Complete. Scoping document provided to CEO along with recommendations as to next steps

Finalise scope and requirements and proceed to project initiation and tender


Membership snapshot

Memberships by generation, category and gender

Full Associate Student Complimentary Honorary

Generation Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Total %

Builder 146 12 17 1 2 0 45 1 4 1 229 1.9%

Baby Boomer 1779 562 119 97 65 52 0 0 11 3 2688 22.1%

Generation X 1849 1580 74 121 149 231 0 0 0 0 4004 33.0%

Generation Y 1260 2255 33 53 513 1008 0 0 0 0 5122 42.2%

Generation Z 1 1 0 0 28 64 0 0 0 0 94 0.8%

Not categorised

0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 6 0.0%

Unknown 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0%

Subtotal 5036 4411 243 274 757 1355 51 1 15 4 – –

Total 9447 517 2112 52 19 12147 100%

Firm size PC count

Single 1

Micro 2 – 5

Small 6 – 19

Medium 20 – 49

Large 50 +

Generation category Year of birth range

Builders 1925–1945

Baby Boomers 1946–1964

Generation X 1965–1979

Generation Y 1980–1994

Generation Z 1995–2010

Not categorised pre 1925


Members by law firm sizeHalf of our full members who work in law firms are in micro and small firms; 27% are in large firms.

For small firms, our practice support service this year established a small practice portal that received an impressive 4,215 unique visitors.

For large firms, our ethics and advocacy services continue to be of high importance. This year we delivered regular bespoke ethics engagement sessions and large firms were the source of 41% of new advocacy committee members.

Law firm size Total %

Single 721 10.83%

Micro 1880 28.24%

Small 1497 22.48%

Medium 729 10.95%

Large 1831 27.50%

Age of solicitors (full members)For the first time, there are now more ‘Gen X’ male practitioners (those born between 1965 and 1979) than Baby Boomers, as the Baby Boomers reach the retirement tipping point. This will hasten changes in the female:male ratio as the majority of Baby Boomers are men.

Generation Total %

Builder 158 1.67%

Baby Boomer 2341 24.78%

Generation X 3429 36.30%

Generation Y 3515 37.21%

Generation Z 2 0.02%

Not categorised 0 0.00%

Unknown 2 0.02%

Gender of membersThe year-on-year growth of female full members continues to outstrip that of males. Female member numbers are up 1.94% on last year’s total (when calculated against total full member numbers); male member numbers increased by 1.66%. We hope this hastens greater gender parity in director roles.

Total %

Male 5036 53.3%

Female 4411 46.7%


Serving our members

Key outcomes for 2013-14

Delivered 28,439 continuing professional development (CPD) hours including 62 events, practice management courses, specialist accreditation assessments, DVDs, online learning and in-house seminars, exceeding our target of 3 hours of CPD per member.

Reviewed and improved key aspects of our Practice Management Course and Specialist Accreditation process.

4215 unique visitors to the Small Practice Portal – equates to more than half of our full members, including those in medium-large practices.

Queensland Law Society Symposium 2014’s microsite was incredibly successful with more than 18,000 pageviews and 5081 unique visits.

Demonstrating leadership through our initiatives

In 2013-14 Queensland Law Society demonstrated our leadership with strategic member service initiatives that met the needs of specific member groups, and we established metrics to track our progress. This involved:

Tailoring our member services: It is critical we ensure our service pillars of learning and professional development, ethics, advocacy, professional standards and practice support meet member needs based on the area of law in which they practise, the size of their firm and their career stage. More information on these initiatives is available in this annual report in relevant service sections. We also set stretch targets for specific initiatives, detailed on these pages.

Ensuring the right fit: To determine our success, we must continually assess. This year we implemented a variety of metrics to measure members’ response to, and engagement with, our services, determining service uptake, member satisfaction, strengths on which to build and areas for improvement.

Keeping our promises: We action our undertakings and keep a constant eye on the end outcomes. This includes delivery of our corporate and strategic plans, following through on statements in our previous annual report and reviewing outcomes of our member research. This annual report is specifically structured around our corporate plan for a clear line of sight between what we promised and our fulfilment of those promises. Corporate plan deliverables are included in further sections of this report.

In 2013-14 we delivered on 85% of our 45 corporate plan line items – the majority of our plan. Our reflections on, and outcomes of, our overall results are expanded upon in the corporate and strategic plan sections of this report.

Tailoring our member services

Membership entitlementsThis year we reviewed membership entitlements for full, associate and student members to maximise value for each member segment. This dovetailed with a detailed assessment of member demographics and development of our account management framework. The outcomes were:


Full members continue to receive their current complete suite of professional, social and commercial benefits

Associate members receive online publications (print may be accessed for a fee), professional development discounts, Supreme Court Library Queensland member access and continue to receive commercial benefits

Student members continue to enjoy complimentary membership and receive online publications, access to some web-based resources and invitations to attend non-professional development networking events.

Associate membership growthOur aim for 50% growth in associate membership is in progress, although this year we achieved a 22% growth. Associate members include affiliate members of the profession to the solicitors’ branch, such as barristers, practice managers and law students. Our recruitment activities this year included invitations to professional development and networking events, Queensland Law Society’s Legal Careers Expo and participation in university Open Days. We will continue to refine our associate member offerings and recruitment campaign, promoting our revised member benefits and leveraging our account management framework.

Account management frameworkIn 2013-14 we established a successful framework for reinforcing member relationships, assigning appropriate Queensland Law Society contacts to manage our connections with specific member groups. This resulted in:

our ethics service delivering regular bespoke engagement sessions to medium and large law firms that received excellent delegate satisfaction scores, averaging 4.6 for presentations and 4.7 for the presenters

our practice support service establishing a small practice portal that has received an impressive 4215 unique visitors

our learning and professional development team: o building mid-career lawyers’ skills with four masterclasses, three of which were booked to over

capacity and received high member satisfaction ratings across all events, averaging 4.3 out of 5.

o managing six highly attended, highly rated, regional intensives our marketing and engagement team:

o hosting a number of successful social events for early career lawyers including sold-out allied professional networking evenings, a debate with the Bar Association of Queensland and a personal development seminar

o holding a successful Legal Careers Expo, gaining 213 new student members and attending six university career fairs, gaining a further 219 new student members. This helped boost our student membership numbers by 30% to 2112

o managing ongoing relationship development with regional solicitors through district law associations (DLAs), with excellent attendance figures at the DLA workshop and regional networking events.

Ensuring the right fit

Annual Business and Professions StudyThe Annual Business and Professions Study provided comprehensive information on members’ perceptions benchmarked against eight comparison member associations. The report gave qualitative and quantitative insight into members’ assessments of membership value, our services and member engagement success. In addition, it plotted our performance trends over the last few years. The survey received 1104 respondents, 13.10% of our full members.


The top three drivers of QLS member engagement include:

1. Providing leadership in the field

2. Relevance of communications

3. Supporting the development of my knowledge and skills.

Since our last participation in the survey in 2010, we have had a strong lift in positive trends around our performance tracking and are performing particularly well in representing members’ interests in media and government and providing access to information. Across a number of other engagement drivers we were not as strong as the top three in our benchmark group. As a result, our key areas of focus for 2014-15 are:

Promoting the value of membership Providing greater satisfaction with member services.

In addition, we reviewed and refined our Strategic Plan 2013-18 and will measure our success against improvements in our key engagement drivers.

These external survey results together with our internal staff engagement survey outcomes informed planning for our member service excellence project to be implemented in 2014-15. A further consequence of this assessment was the business decision to delay output of our revised marketing strategy so it could dovetail with the member service excellence project next year. We look forward to improving our position in years to come, starting with the key areas of focus specified on this page.

Members’ active engagement scoresThis year we developed and implemented members’ active engagement scores to identify the level of member involvement with the Society. These were based on four points of contact:

participation on our committees discretionary monetary spend click throughs on QLS Update logins to our website.

With these defined metrics to track member engagement, we can assess member perceptions of value and ensure we deliver relevant, required services. Metrics were assessed monthly with the following results at year end.

Number of contact points

Percentage of members

0 11%

1 28%

2 38%

3 21%

4 2%

Most (61%) of members had at least two points of contact with Queensland Law Society. This is encouraging and we aim to maintain and improve this result over the next 12 months by tailoring QLS Update content, enhancing our learning and professional development offering and strengthening policy committee succession planning.


Keeping our promises

Improving business intelligenceWe embraced a comprehensive approach to business intelligence this year, examining our service delivery from a number of different angles to provide a fuller picture of member perceptions and engagement, as well as our internal culture. These metrics included:

Annual Business and Professions Study active member engagement scores delegate satisfaction scores across learning and professional development, ethics, advocacy,

professional standards, practice support and social events internal staff engagement survey results 360 degree performance assessments for our executive team and some managers.

These results have informed our corporate and revised strategic plans, external and internal projects and staff performance assessments. Members will benefit with improvements to our tailored services and information content and delivery.

Enhancing published contentWe have achieved our goal of providing members with services and information based on their location, size of their firm and career stage. This is evidenced in the results of our account management framework, the average open rate of QLS Update being nearly 10% above the legal profession average and strong member satisfaction ratings across all member services. Work is nearing completion on our taxonomy project that will enable members to receive QLS Update, learning and professional development and website content, including media releases and Latest News articles, tailored to their specified areas of interest. The project will transform our members' receipt of professional information.

Building our online communityIn 2013-14, following Project Connect that introduced our new member relationship management system iMIS, we implemented the system’s Communities function. This function is similar to an extranet with members of defined groups able to log in to the system via Queensland Law Society’s website to receive announcements, access documents and share information. Our Council, Executive Committee and Audit and Investment Committee were the first to use the Communities function with our Advocacy, Specialist Accreditation and Professional Standards teams to follow in 2014-15.

Queensland law firms by size

In 2013-14, the number of sole practitioner practices shrunk by 3.6%, while micro practices grew by 4.1%. This demonstrates growth in specialist boutique practice. The total number of law firms, 1688, remained almost the same (one more than in 2012-13).

Qld law firms Total %

Single 757 44.8%

Micro 704 41.7%

Small 180 10.7%

Medium 27 1.6%

Large 20 1.2%


Learning and professional development

This year our learning and professional development program focused on delivering to meet our members’ needs based on 2012-13 research results. This involved leveraging Queensland Law Society’s strengths in providing unique content presented by high profile and in-house experts that sets the pace for the profession.

Our results

We held 62 conferences, seminars and workshops that educated 3482 delegates – 13 more events than last year and an impressive 11% increase on the previous year’s delegate numbers.

In total, we delivered 28,439 continuing professional development (CPD) hours that includes these 62 events, practice management courses, specialist accreditation assessments, DVDs, online learning and in-house seminars. This result exceeds our target of delivering three hours of CPD per member, or 27,405 hours in total (based on 2012-13 full membership numbers).

Members’ satisfaction ratings for our events this year scored an average 4.3 out of 5 – well above our 3.8 benchmark.

Committee involvement is central to ensuring our program addresses relevant topics and takes account of current issues and important aspects of practice. Committee members advise on the content and approach for our conferences and black letter law seminars and often recommend appropriate presenters. Also, our policy committees and advocacy team help develop L&PD events on topical concerns, drawing on their direct involvement in formulating advocacy positions on proposed and enacted changes to our laws. Topics such as ‘Fair Work Act – Ordering the bullying to stop’ and ‘PPSA – practical issues explored’ set the pace for the profession and prepared solicitors for legislative and practice changes. These topical seminars, commonly delivered as ‘In Focus’ sessions and webinars, routinely exceeded both target delegate numbers and benchmark satisfaction ratings.

Of the 62 learning and professional development events this year, 96% were delivered to market on time while 93% met their financial targets. A strong result although below our target of 100%. This was due to schedule demands with event implementation and a small handful of events having a low turnout. In 2014-15 we aim to remedy this through consistently applying assessments of member needs to program development, and improved schedule management.

Delivering to members’ needs

The excellent results on the following pages demonstrate our success in identifying, and delivering to, member needs. We thank all members who participated in the 2012-13 research. Your responses helped us define and then realise these outcomes.

Leveraging our expertise

This year we leveraged Queensland Law Society’s expertise to deliver exclusive content for a number of sessions:

Ethics: Ethics sessions were consistently well-attended and well-received, thanks in large part to the esteem in which the profession holds our ethics team. The team presented at:

o eight major conferences

o six regional intensives


o practice management courses

o an ethics-specific core CPD webinar ‘Managing misconduct risks’ that more than doubled target participant numbers.

Practice management: Member satisfaction ratings show our practice support business unit presented a number of highly regarded seminars in 2013-14. This is in addition to learning and professional development delivery as part of the practice management course and regional events. Seminars included:

o Building client appreciation

o Building practice value

o Getting your pricing on the right track

o Legal practice in an online world. Trust accounting and professional standards: Our annual trust accounts refresher exceeded its delegate

target and scored a 4.4 out of 5 satisfaction rating. The trust accounting team presented at seven well-attended practice management courses; professional standards at four.

Advocacy: The advocacy team is, of course, integral to policy committees’ input into black letter law conferences and seminars. Team members’ presentations were consistently rated highly and surpassed their delegate targets by an average 30%. These included:

o Conveyancing conference

o Introduction to wills and estates

o Property law conference

o Webinar In focus: property law update

o In focus: New developments in property law.

Webinar In focus: Directors’ liability, 5 December 2013

“Presenters were exceptional.”

Webinar: PPSA basics, 28 May 2014

“Well done for a very complex area of law.”

Tailoring sessions to member needs

We continued delivery of tailored sessions based on members’ practice size and post-admission experience (PAE) – this year focusing on the following specific member segments:

Non-conference programs for small to medium firms (6-49 PCs)o 0-5 years’ PAE

We continued our Essentials series for early career lawyers that averaged a 77.8% attending delegate rate, and 4.4 out of 5 for member satisfaction.

Sessions on family law, writing skills and personal productivity and client relationships attracted the most delegates; those about family law, courtroom skills and will drafting received the highest satisfaction ratings.

o 6-12 years’ PAE Our results show that we met and exceeded the expectations of this important

member group and strengthened the program’s financial outcomes for further reinvestment next year.

Masterclass seminars were extremely popular this year. On average, the number of delegates exceeded attendance targets by 157%. Members reported an average 4.3 out of 5 satisfaction rating.


Masterclasses in ‘Personal Property Securities Act (PPSA)’ and ‘Perfecting the art of drafting and advocacy’ received double their target attendees. Contract law was also booked to capacity.

Conference programs for sole to micro firms (1-5 PCs)

The majority of content across all conferences and intensives was applicable to practitioners with 7+ years’ PAE. Larger conferences contained some session content tailored for mid-career and senior practitioners and accredited specialists. Following are examples and session ratings.

o Personal injuries conference Average member satisfaction rating: 4.2 out of 5; conference booking result: 77%

capacity Nuts and bolts of dependency claims Legal landscape of host employment and labour hire

o Property law conference Demystifying e-conveyancing (member satisfaction rating: 4.2 out of 5; conference

booking target exceeded: 111%) Risk management tips: Lexon property update (member satisfaction rating: 4 out of 5)

o Succession and Elder Law Residential Drafting a trust deed from scratch – does your precedent deed pass muster? (member

satisfaction rating: 4.4 out of 5; conference booking result: 77% capacity) The detailed case analysis to refine your practice (member satisfaction rating: 4.5 out

of 5)o North Queensland Symposium

Average conference satisfaction rating: 4.1 out of 5; conference booking result: 51% capacity. Result to be addressed with improved program scheduling in 2014-15.

Tips and tricks for case conferencing Everyday practice issues in everyday practice

o Gold Coast Symposium Cultural diversity masterclass (member satisfaction rating: 4.2 out of 5; conference

booking target exceeded: 117%) Top five employment law issues for legal practice principals (member satisfaction

rating: 3.9 out of 5).

In addition to our comprehensive offering for solicitors, our support staff courses continued to flourish with 30 students enrolling in the Diploma of Legal Services and 12 in the Certificate IV in Legal Services. This is a 27% increase in total enrolments on 2012-13, attributed to ongoing course development and growing awareness of these high quality offerings. In 2013-14 we launched a one-day ‘Introduction to family law’ seminar, completion of which equated to one unit towards a Diploma of Legal Services. The seminar scored an average 4.5 out of 5 for member satisfaction. Similarly, the ‘Introduction to wills and estates’ seminar, which was booked to capacity, received an outstanding score of 4.7. We have had 21 Diploma graduates so far.

Essentials 8: Writing skills, 21 November 2013

“Thank you for being so helpful and knowledgeable and showing both sides of the coin. Other plain English seminars I have been to are ‘my way or the highway’.”

Masterclass: Contract Law, 27 February 2014

“This is one of the better seminars that I have been to; knowledgeable, entertaining, great at explaining content.”


Providing access to unique content

We offered members unique content thanks to our learning and professional development team’s access to a broad range of experienced practitioners and our ongoing analysis of practice trends. We are an established leader in the profession in this respect and this is demonstrated in our results including:

Case law updates, delivered as ‘In focus’ seminars and conference sessions. Our In focus seminars were incredibly successful this year, averaging a 137% booking rate and 4.2 out of 5 member satisfaction rating.

‘Legal practice in an online world’ examined e-filing, forensic technology, cloud computing and ethical social media issues. The seminar was booked to capacity and attendees rated it a high 4.2. This event was second only to Queensland Law Society Symposium 2014 in DVD sales.

President’s Medal winner John Sneddon presented a case study in courage, sacrifice and fortitude, narrating his efforts to free Australian Marcus Lee from a nightmare five years battling fraud charges in Dubai. The MemberConnect breakfast was one of our highest rated events of the year.

Another breakfast featured trailblazing solicitor Robert Reed on corporate social responsibility. Mr Reed is known nationwide for his commitment to pro bono practice and community service. This breakfast was also highly scored at 4.76 out of 5.

Core CPD workshop: Legal practice in an online world, 13 November 2013

“Users can work anywhere in the world, same user experience. They can connect from any device. Multiple users do that in our office all the time, so that’s a major benefit.”

David Skinner, Operations Manager, de Groots Wills and Estates Lawyers, on cloud computing

Introduction to conveyancing, 8-9 October 2013“I learnt so much, met great people and now feel more equipped and confident.”

Presenting high profile speakers

In the 2012-13 research results, members noted one of Queensland Law Society’s service strengths was leveraging our unique stakeholder relationships to present high profile speakers at signature events. In 2013-14 these included our QLS Symposium 2014 plenary speakers – Chief Justice Paul de Jersey AC (in his last Symposium presentation before becoming Governor of Queensland), Dr John Hewson and Beaton Research + Consulting executive chair Dr George Beaton, all scoring 4.2 or higher from hundreds of delegates in the room. The 7th annual Gold Coast Symposium featured former New South Wales Opposition leader and current Lifeline chair John Brogden who presented on resilience and wellbeing and received the highest delegate rating, 4.7, of all the speakers at the conference.

Offering co-branded events

Our stakeholder relationships enabled Queensland Law Society to meet members’ requests for co-branded events that link to industry content and contacts. In 2013-14, these relationships and events included:

CPA Australia – CPA Program Foundation Exams: This year we established a partnership with CPA Australia to offer members an exclusive opportunity to undertake CPA Program Foundation exams to enhance members’ practice management skillset and build their accounting knowledge. We will assess uptake of this offering in 2014-15.

Family Law Practitioners Association – Family Law Residential: This event reached 98% capacity and rated highly with attendees. It featured nine judges from the Family and Federal Circuit Courts of Australia.

Preparations for:


o Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners – A Century Strong, 100 Years of Family Provision: In 2013-14 intensive collaboration commenced on this event that recognises the centenary of Family Provision Application legislation. The event will be held in July 2014.

o The Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators – Annual BCIPA Intensive: Likewise, planning and collaboration for this event began this year for the event to be held in late July.

We have healthy, mutually supportive relationships with speciality law associations. These relationships benefit the association and Queensland Law Society, evidenced by this year’s increase in delegates and high satisfaction ratings for learning and professional and social events.

Expanded webinars service

Our webinar service was a wonderful member service success this year. It is an ideal delivery vehicle for Queensland Law Society as members from across the state can easily access learning and professional development content at relatively low cost.

Webinars are also quick and easy to organise and enable Queensland Law Society to be responsive during times of legislative change. This was useful in late 2013 when workers’ compensation changes and ‘anti-bikie’ laws were rapidly introduced and passed in parliament. We also provided webinars on property law changes, directors’ duties and youth justice reforms.

As webinars are remote access events, delegate numbers can be expanded to meet requirements without affecting service delivery. With topical, timely content, easy, affordable access and the capability to reach every corner of Queensland, it is no wonder our webinars were more often than not booked to capacity plus, averaging 151% and 4.2 out of 5 for delegate satisfaction.

More convenient seminar timeframes

In response to member feedback, this year we revised our seminar delivery days and times to ensure convenient attendance times for practitioners. As a result:

Any event that’s half day or less than half a day is held first thing in the morning. Webinars are mainly lunchtime events. Seminars are generally scheduled later in the week. We no longer hold full day workshops. The longest workshops are now half a day. Only conferences are

full day events.

Scheduling learning and professional development events at suitable times for members contributed to an 11% increase in practitioner event attendance in 2012-13.

Leadership in applications

In 2013-14 we updated the Symposium mobile application (app) and launched apps for four major conferences.

Through our conference apps, delegates can design a personal program for multi-stream events, access presentation files and documents and connect with other delegates.

The updated Symposium app improved usability on last year with ‘important info at a glance’ available from the home screen and a sleeker easy-to-navigate design. These improvements saw unique visitors to the app jump from 866 in 2012-13 to 1026 this year, an increase of 15%.


Our new conference apps offered similar functionality and were a popular additional service to these events.

Event App unique visitors

Number of delegates

Unique visitors as a % of delegate numbers

Family Law Residential 518 358 144%

Personal Injuries Conference 347 116 299%

Property Law Conference 322 111 290%

Succession and Elder Law Residential

437 172 254%

Unique visitors as a % of delegate numbers indicates delegates accessed their conference app through at least one device, usually 2-3.

Queensland Law Society Symposium 2014

Staying ahead and setting the pace

This year Queensland Law Society Symposium 2014’s theme, Staying ahead, was successfully reflected in the increase in delegate numbers and DVD sales, contemporary, relevant session content and high member satisfaction ratings.

To promote Symposium 2014 we created our first custom built Symposium microsite, launched in November 2013. The microsite was designed to be completely responsive (adaptive to any mobile, tablet or laptop) and was specifically built for usability (for easy navigation of multiple program streams and presenters’ biographies). The microsite was incredibly successful with more than 18,000 pageviews and 5081 unique visits – completely overtaking Symposium’s QLS webpage that received 492 pageviews.

We had a 10% increase in delegates, with 506 practitioners attending, mostly from South East Queensland, although some came from as far away as China, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. DVD sales increased four-fold on the previous year with 291 sold to date. This was the result of responding to members’ purchase preferences for stream-specific (eg criminal, family and succession law) and core CPD sessions DVDs.

The overall ratings for content and presenters exceeded the benchmark of 4 out of 5:

The overall content rating for Day 1 was 4.2, and for Day 2 was 4.1. The overall presenter rating for Day 1 was 4.2 and for Day 2 was 4.2.

Symposium 2014 addressed a number of current issues in sessions that received a positive response from members including:

Masterclass: how to get the interim orders you want (family law stream). Session rating 4.9. The landscape of business restructures (business law stream). Session rating 4.8. Disclosure requirements – PIPA, MAIA, WCRA and UCPR (personal injuries stream). Session rating

4.8. Enduring Powers of Attorney – not as simple as they seem (succession law stream). Session rating 4.8. Rehabilitation obligations under the statutory regimes and duty of care in nervous shock claims

(personal injuries stream). Session rating 4.7.


Symposium 2014, Chief Justice’s Address, 21 March 2014“The profession in Queensland fills me with pride. It is ethical, efficient, altruistic. Nationally, it is of substantial proportion and highly respected. The professional associations exhibit desirable independence and really dedicated devotion to their members’ interests. I have always regarded it as a very substantial privilege to be the putative leader of the profession in this State and I hope in that role I have been able to do some good.”

Chief Justice Paul de Jersey AC

Symposium 2014, Closing Plenary, 22 March “There are some areas where we are internationally competitive. Anything that’s brain-based, high value-added we can actually do it. But we haven’t had a focused strategy in order to do that.”

Dr John Hewson

Symposium 2014, Core CPD Outsourcing Seminar, 21 March “Outsourcing is not a dark art, but simply a proven tool to deliver measureable productivity.”

Mark Badger, Non-Executive Director, Strategic Business Alliance

A highlight of Symposium 2014 was Chief Justice Paul de Jersey AC’s final address before becoming Governor of Queensland. The Chief Justice reflected on the value regional practitioners bring to their community, the benefits of change in courtroom practice, the 2012 move to the new District and Supreme Court, the current and future role of technology in the justice system and pride in the profession.

Our opening plenary, ‘Riding the storm – perspectives on taking a legal practice through tough times’, reflected on the current legal market for practitioners. Chair Dr George Beaton presented market data and emerging trends for successful, sustainable practice. Of particular interest to delegates, Dr Beaton noted there were many changes in train in Australia and throughout the world that are having significant impact on legal practice. These include the growing consumer power of clients, the growth of nimble law firms that are the antithesis of traditional law firms and the need for law firms to examine their services, billing and structure, not just for future revenue, but for future survival. The opening plenary session received a 4.1 rating.

Symposium 2014 also marked the launch of the Costs Guide. The guide was introduced to the profession at a session chaired by Queensland Law Society CEO Noela L’Estrange and featuring a panel of the guide’s authors. It is a practical, comprehensive resource for members to use in managing their cost communication with clients. Ms L’Estrange stressed to practitioners that, although the guide provides sound advice, they need to exercise independent judgment in client communication, particularly regarding current and future costs, and work to be completed. The session scored 4.1.

Of particular note during Day 1, two core CPD sessions examined major transitions to how solicitors manage their work and deliver services.

‘Work small, look big: an introduction to outsourcing’ explored the benefits and methods of legal process outsourcing. It addressed:

How outsourcing can absorb workflows and enable practices to focus on other, more specialised, work Types of work that can be outsourced Opportunities for small and large practices.

‘Cloud computing: should you head into the clouds?’ discussed alternative cloud computing options, their advantages, disadvantages, risks and ethical considerations.


These sessions provided delegates with balanced perspectives and practical advice and were well-received, both achieving ratings of 4.1.

Day 1 was capped off with two entertaining events. We hosted an inaugural Symposium debate, ‘A case without a barrister is never a winner’. Federal Circuit Court Judge Anne Demack presided over the debate, commencing the session by getting the audience to sing and move around. Judge Demack and Judge Rafter’s former associate Thomas Lynch received enthusiastic responses in delegate feedback. The debate provided an entertaining finish to the day’s sessions, and, based on delegate input, the question was confirmed in the affirmative.

Our cocktail event, ‘Symposium by Night’, was a pleasing success with 130 people, 25% of delegates, attending. This is the same number as last year. Guests enjoyed canapés and beverages, live jazz and catching up with colleagues after the first big day of Symposium.

Day 2 was launched with an address to the profession from Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie MP who announced the potential introduction of web-based guilty pleas. Highly rated criminal law sessions on the day included:

Recent legislative reform: what you need to know, rated 4.6 Cybercrime: sex, hacks and trolls, rated 4.6 Coercive hearings (about the Crime and Misconduct Commission’s power to compel people to attend

hearings and give evidence), rated 4.1.

Symposium delegates also enjoyed business law sessions ‘Personal Property Securities Act 2009 – practical insights for business lawyers’ and ‘Consumer and competition law update’. These sessions were timely for the imminent federal Attorney-General’s review of the PPSA and potential for Australian Competition and Consumer Commission funding cuts in the May federal budget.

Symposium finished with a flourish with Dr John Hewson presenting the closing plenary ‘Surviving the perfect storm – where to from here?’. Dr Hewson provided insight on Australia’s economic outlook, including:

an overview of global influences including Russia, China and America the current situation of our domestic economy – high cost of living, high production costs, high interest

rates and bank fees, high Australian dollar, decreasing productivity the need for substantial economic reform and to move away from manufacturing towards Australia’s skill

strengths – research and services.

Delegates highly enjoyed Dr Hewson’s address, evidenced by the session’s 4.4 rating.

Member feedback

“I found the expertise and passion of each of the presenters the most enjoyable aspect. I was more focussed and engaged as a result.”

“Variety is well balanced between members of the profession and judicial officers.”

“Well done – great day, very informative, relevant and interesting.”

“A well run, educational and enjoyable 2 days.”


Practice support

Our practice support services help members develop their business skills and manage their law firms. This year we made significant improvements to our practice management course in response to member feedback, conducted a substantial number of practice health checks and experienced an increase in the number of members participating in the Limitation of Liability Scheme.

For lawyers

Practice support services for individual practitioners include our inquiry service and online practice support advice. This year we responded to 687 member inquiries, slightly (2%) fewer than last year. Most inquiries pertained to starting a practice, the practice management course and advice on different types of practice structures.

Our most popular online practice support tips aligned to the current counter cyclical times, with practitioners accessing information relating to billing and income creation. These included tips on the growing trend of fixed fees, and ways to increase productivity and revenue. Members were also interested in relationship building, particularly regarding networking and client service.

Overall, we had a 4% increase in unique visits to the practice support tips pages with 3,811 visits. This number equates to 41% of full members accessing this information.

Top 5 practice support tips in 2013-14

Practice support tip Unique visits 2013-14

Unique visits 2012-13

How to offer fixed fees 365 78

10 top tips for boosting productivity 287 276

Seven deadly sins of profit leakage 257 382

Effective networking 232 66

Do you really provide excellent client service?

196 58


For law firms

We provide professional practice management support through our practice management course that prepares future firm leaders, through practice health checks that enable firms to assess their profitability, business model and strategy and the Limitation of Liability Scheme that limits practices’ civil liability.

Management course makes practice perfectFor practitioners, successful completion of the practice management course is mandatory to become a law firm principal. This year we made a number of improvements to the course including:

reducing the amount of pre-workshop study to 30-35 hours of readings and DVD viewings holding three days of face-to-face workshops to embed learning through more discussion and

application of concepts – previously it was a one-day workshop with further home-based study tailoring content and style of facilitator for those in small/sole practices or medium/large practices refining our five assessment items that now comprise a trust accounting exam and workbook, ethics

case study responses, a self-audit on risk, compliance and standards and development of a high level business plan.

Practice management course participants

“This course is invaluable not just to those wishing to go it alone but for those who run their own department.”

“Excellent course – wish I had access to this material when I started as a legal practitioner.”

“The overall aspect was enjoyable, informative, holistic and made me very aware of the importance of careful planning of your business venture.”

We also introduced travel rebates of up to $700 for regional practitioners, with 15 members taking advantage of the offer.

These improvements resulted in 148 small/sole practice course graduates and 67 graduates in the medium/large practice course, a total 7% increase on 2012-13. Our success is reinforced through a high member satisfaction rating, averaging 4.23. We retained our market share as no competitors have yet appeared in the market.

In addition to the practice management course, we conducted practice support-focused learning and professional development seminars including a masterclass for mid-career members in managing people and teams that received a 4.43 delegate satisfaction, and an essentials seminar for early career lawyers on personal productivity and client skills that received a 4.2 satisfaction rating.

With the focus on improving the practitioner practice management course, we did not offer the non-practitioner course this year. We made the business decision to offer the course every second year and will report on 2014-15 graduate figures and course ratings in our next annual report.

Health checks ensure firms are business fit In 2012-13 we conducted 37 practice health checks – more than three times that of the previous year thanks to Professional Standards Council funding for program review and promotion. The council is a federal government body focused on improving professional standards and protecting consumers. It helps ensure professional associations encourage effective risk management and adherence to professional indemnity insurance standards.

Practice health checks are a holistic business tool that enable law firms to assess their structure, finances, client services, recordkeeping, risk management, ethics and professional standards and human resources systems. The results of the health checks recognise corporate strengths and areas for improvement. This year we improved the health checks program through improved online resources in the practice health check portal that this year was accessed 1,601 times. Offering members more detail and guidance on practice issues resulted in


the increase in participants and 37 firms taking part in practice consultations (every firm that undertook a health check, agreed to a consultation session).

Participating practices this year came from across Queensland including Brisbane, Hervey Bay, Rockhampton, Toowoomba, Kingaroy, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Cairns and Townsville. Practice consultations discuss business strategies and legal profession requirements, gaps in the firm and methods for addressing these. In an online survey, health check participants rated the service highly – 4.8 out of 5 with all making practice changes as a result. The practice health check service will be reviewed in 2014-15.

Protecting membersThe Limitation of Liability Scheme limits the damages that can be awarded against a participating scheme member in court to $1.5m.

There were 4707 participants in the scheme this year – 228 more than last year, a 5% increase. This is due to Queensland Law Society proactively advising practices of their status under the scheme.

Currently, for a practice to be totally protected every solicitor in the firm must be a member of the scheme. Ideally, incorporated legal practices (ILPs) could be participants in the scheme but this is currently not the case. This requires legislative change to the Legal Profession Act 2007, not expected until 2015-16. We will continue to advocate for this change on members’ behalf.

Portal opens doors for small practiceThe launch of our small practice portal has seen 4,215 unique visitors access information on starting and managing a small practice, Queensland Law Society’s Ethics Centre, trust accounting and the Limitation of Liability Scheme. This equates to more than half of our full members, including those in medium-large practices. Previously, members accessed this information from various locations throughout Queensland Law Society’s website.

The portal is a convenient resource from which practices can receive advice and business management tools specifically designed for firms with 19 solicitors or fewer. These include a checklist for starting practice, ILP information kit, practice budget template and a guide for costs and billing. Throughout the coming year there will be ongoing development of the portal’s resources and information, in keeping with the growing number of small boutique practices.

In 2013-14 we offered members access to LegalDatum – a broad benchmarking tool for firms to comparatively price their legal services. The service enables firms to accurately price their services, helps improve client communication and aims to reduce complaints and cost assessments. To date, 31 firms have taken advantage of the service. We placed the offer on hold on 1 June, pending assessment.

Full member position type and gender across specific position typesThe number of female members has grown to 46.7% of all full members (from 45.8% last year), yet the number of female directors and partners has not grown – women hold only 20% of these roles. The Law Council of Australia’s National Attrition and Re-engagement Study found one in three women were considering changing careers in the next five years. We aim to help address this through a number of support initiatives.

Position type Male % Female % Total

Director/Partner 1568 79.6% 402 20.4% 1970

Employed solicitor 1680 39.8% 2549 60.2% 4229

Government 162 35.2% 299 64.8% 461

Sole practitioner 684 78.9% 183 21.1% 867

Corporate 424 45.9% 500 54.1% 924


Specialist accreditation

In 2013-14 we celebrated two major specialist accreditation successes. For the 2013 program, Queensland Law Society had the highest number of practitioners completing the full assessment program in 15 years, while the 2014 program received a 28% increase in applications compared to the previous offering in 2012. The table on this page shows the area of law offerings for each year.

We now have 464 accredited specialists, a 5% increase on 2012-13, plus eight practitioners who hold accreditation in two areas.

Our results this year reflect the success of two major improvements completed in 2013-14 – a revision of our assessment process and providing additional support for candidates.

Important analysis and positive effects

This year we reviewed our assessment policy and process to improve our marking rigour, strengthen the program’s integrity, ensure objective, consistent assessment and set prescriptive marking rules to support the assessment responsibilities of our specialist accreditation committees.

The analysis involved liaison with other law societies and academic members of our specialist accreditation committees to consider their assessment processes, marking guides and results. The outcome was a revision of our guides to include specific, graded requirements that improve marking consistency and reliability, no matter who wielded the red pen. A comprehensive marking policy overlays the guides and sets out the marking and remarking processes.

2013 and 2014 specialist accreditation areas of law

2013 program (2013-14 graduates) 2014 program (2013-14 applicants)

Family law Business law

Personal injuries law Commercial litigation

Property law Criminal law

Succession law Workplace relations law

Taxation law Immigration law

A reliable, transparent marking framework benefits candidates, our specialist accreditation board and committees, current accredited specialists, and more broadly, the legal profession, Queensland Law Society and the community. The new policy and process enables us to:

further build the specialist accreditation program’s reputation enhance the candidate experience ensure the program is a valued member offering consolidate working relationships with our interstate counterparts ensure consistency and objectivity in marking.

This year, 300 individual items of assessment were reviewed under this new policy and process, resulting in 100 candidates benefiting from this new framework – the most candidates to undertake the full assessment program since 1998.


In addition, this year we hosted the annual Family Law Specialist Accreditation Program Debrief with attendees from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia and the Law Council of Australia. The outcome was a number of important changes for the 2015 program, notably marking guides improvements to provide better structure behind, and support for, assessment decisions.

Improved candidate support

Those in the 2014 program had the advantage of additional support as we revised the structure and content of our assessment briefings. The briefings now include, together with a process overview and assessment standards, specific committee advice on what has been done well by past candidates and where candidates have fallen short. We also introduced a tutorial component where candidates prepared responses to a past assessment item and discussed this with committee members. This provides insight on what assessors are seeking and enables the candidate to undertake more focused preparation and improve their likelihood of success.

These improvements resulted in exceptional member satisfaction ratings – an averaged 4.75 out of 5 across all five briefing evenings with business law, commercial litigation and criminal law receiving full marks, the only learning and professional development events to do so in 2013-14.

Breakfast of champions

Attendees at this year’s Specialist Accreditation Breakfast included 168 accredited specialists who helped celebrate the graduation of 34 new specialists. In 2011, the last time the same program was available, we had 26 graduates. There was a particular increase in property law, personal injuries and succession law graduates, likely due to the increased interest in these areas of law at the courses’ application stage. The breakfast had 260 attendees in total, a 16% increase on attendees who undertook the same course in 2011. Guests enjoyed an address from Chief Justice Paul de Jersey AC before applauding graduates’ achievements.

Current Board members

Our Specialist Accreditation Board oversees and provides direction for the specialist accreditation program. Their legal expertise and standing in the profession ensures they are the natural choice to guide the best of the best. We thank them for their time and commitment this year.

Name Firm Board role

Megan Mahon

Mahon Legal Chair – appointed January 2014Past president of Queensland Law Society 2007-08

Genevieve Dee Cooper Grace Ward Deputy Chair – appointed May 2014Previous member of Queensland Law Society Council and accredited specialist in family law

Rachael Miller Quinlan Miller & Treston Accredited specialist in personal injuries law

Nita Stratton-Funk Nita Stratton-Funk and Associates

Accredited specialist in family law

Michael Fitzgerald Ashurst Australia Deputy President of Queensland Law Society

Paul Newman Allens Accredited specialist in property law

Chris Coyne Coyne & Associates Current member of Queensland Law Society CouncilAccredited specialist in commercial litigation

Kathy Atkins Jones Mitchell Lawyers and Clinical Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Bond University

Accredited specialist in family law



Professor Sally Kift

Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), James Cook University, Australian Learning and Teaching Council Discipline Scholar: Law

Past Board members

We recognise Michele Sheehan’s eight years of service to the specialist accreditation program and express our appreciation of Ms Sheehan’s leadership and professionalism.


Michele Sheehan(2005 – Dec 2013)Chair from June 2012 – Dec 2013

Sheehan & Co Immediate past chair and accredited specialist in family law and succession law

Specialist accreditation committee chairs

Our committee chairs and members are today’s experts in their areas of law and volunteer many hours a year to cultivating tomorrow’s specialists. They provide an invaluable service to their profession and we commend their dedication.

Area Name Firm

Business Law Stephen Woodward Woodward Lawyers

Commercial Litigation Geoff Hancock(appointed February 2014) Tucker & Cowen Solictors

Criminal Law Glen Cranny Gilshenan & Luton Legal Practice

Workplace Relations Jill Hignett HR Law

Immigration Law Glenn FergusonBen Willis (April – June 2014)

Ferguson CannonFragomen

Family Law Don Leembruggen Barry.Nilsson. Lawyers

Personal Injuries Julie Cameron Corrs Chambers Westgarth

Property Law Stephen Jones Stephen E. Jones Consultant Lawyer

Succession Law Gary Lanham Minter Ellison

Taxation Law Harry Rigney H M Rigney


Member recognition

Legal Principal recognised for outstanding community principles

Michelle James, a Maurice Blackburn Lawyers principal won the 2013 Agnes McWhinney Award.

Ms James is Queensland President of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, Vice President of the Moreton Bay Law Association and a Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist in personal injuries law.

Named in honour of Queensland’s first admitted female solicitor, the award recognises the outstanding professional or community contribution by a woman lawyer and the significant involvement of women in the legal profession and the community.

Aside from her professional achievements, Michelle’s community contributions include membership of the Management Committee of the Pine Rivers Neighbourhood Centre, volunteering at the Pine Rivers Legal Centre and work as an adult literacy tutor.

Michelle accepted the award at the annual Women Lawyers Association of Queensland Award Dinner on Saturday 19 October at Brisbane City Hall.

President’s Medal silver lining to five-year nightmare

This year we awarded the prestigious 2014 President’s Medal to solicitor John Sneddon for his work in freeing Australian Marcus Lee from a nightmare five years in Dubai.

Mr Sneddon worked on Mr Lee’s case pro bono, managing a successful outcome to one of Australia’s most challenging, remarkable and high profile legal matters in recent times.

In 2009 Marcus Lee was arrested in Dubai on what were later proved to be false allegations of fraud regarding a property sale.

Marcus was jailed pending an investigation. He spent the first two months in solitary confinement. After six months, charges were laid. In total, he spent eleven months in jail. It was during this time that Marcus and his wife Julie reached out to John.

Marcus was placed under house arrest until his case was heard last year. He was acquitted in May. This was followed by a Prosecutor’s Appeal that was dismissed in November. Marcus and Julie finally returned home in January 2014.

Throughout this harrowing ordeal, John Sneddon’s legal skill, intelligence, patience and unwavering support of Marcus set him apart as an exemplar of the finest elements of the legal profession.

Mr Sneddon is a most deserving recipient of the 2014 President’s Medal for his outstanding contribution to the profession and access to justice, and his commitment to upholding the Rule of Law.

MemberConnect breakfast, 20 May 2014

“Focus on the charges – nothing else matters. Approach the case in the local way, and respect the local legal and cultural sensitivities.”

President’s Medal winner John Sneddon’s advice to solicitors on managing clients’ cases overseas. Mr Sneddon represented Marcus Lee and won an acquittal on fraud charges in Dubai.


Workplace practice makes perfect award winner

Resilience has become part of the common workplace lexicon, particularly in the legal profession. It has been defined as the ability to bounce back, withstand stress and the individual’s belief in their personal control of how they will cope with adverse circumstances.

It is commonly accepted that many organisations operate in an environment of too much to do in too little time with high performance expectations. Add the emotive, client-oriented environment that most lawyers work in and it is easy to see how ‘belief in personal control’ can buckle under pressure.

For some time, Queensland Law Society has worked on solutions to this issue centred on encouraging better workplace practices.

One of our longest-running initiatives to help achieve this and encourage healthy, harmonious workplaces is the Equity and Diversity Award.

This year Maurice Blackburn Lawyers won the Large Practice Award for demonstrated success in promoting consistent equity initiatives and implementing equal opportunity policies across different offices.

Innovative Maurice Blackburn initiatives included arranging emergency childcare services, having a prayer room and providing three days of religious, domestic or volunteering leave.

This award, and those nominated, show the profession the practical and innovative programs every firm can introduce to build resilience and a positive culture.

Brisbane Family Law Centre was commended in the Small Practice Award category for demonstrating a good firm culture, with strong evidence of flexible working arrangements for staff.

50 and 25 year members – exemplars to the profession

Queensland Law Society appreciates the decades of dedication to the Rule of Law, good legal practice, professional standards and community service from our 50 and 25 year members. This year we celebrated 50 years of membership with seven members (listed below) while 84 members reached their 25-year milestone.

We were immensely proud to recognise a golden anniversary for these remarkable solicitors:

Lyn Anthony Crowley from Crowley Greenhalgh Peter Douglas Cousins from Legal Aid Queensland Hugh Grant who was also 1996-97 Queensland Law Society president Bernard Knapp from Bernard Knapp Lawyers Samuel Leonard Stafford James McDermott John Neive O’Donoghue Kerry Prior from McCullough Robertson.

Most of the recipients were presented with their Queensland Law Society pins at the Legal Profession Dinner by our 2014 president, Ian Brown.

To give context to the breadth of the careers of those who celebrated 50 years, if these solicitors conducted an average of three legal transactions per day (a conservative number) over 50 years, they helped their clients in more than 36,000 matters. For 25 year members, they employed their expertise in 18,000 matters.

The practice of law is a calling, and these practitioners demonstrate a devotion to that calling that is an exemplar for other solicitors.


Member events

New Year Profession Drinks

Our New Year Profession Drinks are a casual occasion to launch the new working year and allows colleagues to reconnect after the Christmas break. The complimentary event attracted 93 attendees, 20% fewer than the previous year but close to our target of 100 attendees.

Legal Profession Dinner

The Legal Profession Dinner enables the incoming Queensland Law Society president to make Queensland Law Society Council strategies known to key legal professionals and politicians. The dinner also includes award of the President’s Medal, Equity and Diversity Award and 50 year pin recipients. There were 5% fewer paid attendees than last year. Many guests were impressed with the event that continues to attract a high calibre of speakers with Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie toasting the profession and Father Frank Brennan SJ AO giving the keynote address. Special guests included federal Attorney-General, Senator the Honourable George Brandis QC and The Honourable Chief Justice Paul de Jersey AC.

New member drinks

We hold two new member drinks events in Brisbane each year for solicitors to meet our president, CEO and other solicitors. This year 57 new members attended these drinks, representing 18% of 312 new members. In terms of proportion attending, this is 6% fewer than last year’s figure, although we now hold two, as opposed to four, events each year. These events introduce the benefits of Queensland Law Society membership, with information on:

the range of Queensland Law Society services on offer avenues for building your professional profile – such as through committee work and specialist

accreditation Queensland Law Society’s governing structure.

QLS Annual Ball

Brisbane City Hall was transformed into a vintage circus for an evening of spectacular theatre at the Queensland Law Society Annual Ball, hosted by the Early Career Lawyers Committee. The event was held under the vaulted elegance and magenta silk of the ‘big top’, with dazzling, fearless performers entertaining 322 guests, just under last year’s figure of 338. A portion of all ticket proceeds were donated to the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation.

MemberConnect breakfasts

Our MemberConnect breakfasts are complimentary events for senior lawyers in mid to large law firms. They commonly centre on a significant, broad-based business issue or corporate activity. This year we held the following MemberConnect events:

2018 – a view of the futureo Presented an overview of the economic and social trends in the medium-term and their impact

on the legal professiono Featured special guest Senator the Honourable George Brandis, QC, the Deputy Leader of the

Opposition in the Senate, Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister for the Artso Near-capacity event (95%)

o Delegate rating 4.7.


Corporate social responsibilityo Reinforced the importance and value of corporate social responsibility through the prism of

Marcus Lee’s acquittal on fraud charges and return to Australia this year from Dubaio Featured President’s Medal winner and lawyer for Marcus Lee, John Sneddon

o Near-capacity event (95%)

o Delegate rating 4.6.

Early career lawyers’ events

Early career lawyer numbers increased 12.5% last year, however they are the ones most likely to leave the profession, usually seeking better work-life balance. This is a concerning trend, one that drives Queensland Law Society to ensure early career lawyers receive appropriate support through skills development and helping build support networks.

These include Essentials seminars, movie nights, personal development seminars, allied professional evenings and regional networking drinks. We had 649 total attendees at these events this year, a 36% decrease on last year’s figure due to reductions in attendance at professional development events. Events that were rated received an average 4.4 out of 5, indicating high satisfaction. We did not hold an Early Career Lawyers’ Conference this financial year, although we held a core CPD workshop that scored 4.2 out of 5. The previous conference was held in May 2013 and one is coming up in July 2014.

Government lawyers

Government lawyers practice in a unique arena. Their decisions directly influence the government’s financial management, project planning and implementation, the success of numerous initiatives and public perceptions of this success. Queensland Law Society supports our government lawyer members through learning and professional development offerings that build government counsel’s technical and broader relationship management competencies, essential for their public sector roles. We did not hold a Government Lawyers’ Conference this financial year. The previous conference was held in May 2013 and one is coming up in August 2014.

Regional events

Regional lawyers are a significant proportion of our membership, comprising 30% of practitioners. In his last Chief Justice Address at Symposium, Chief Justice Paul de Jersey AC noted the central role of solicitors in their community and it is certainly one which Queensland Law Society recognises, evidenced by the volume of professional development and social events held this year. We either hosted or sponsored a number of events, always working in partnership with our dedicated DLAs.

This year the majority of DLA presidents, 16 out of 18, attended our annual workshop that included addresses from the Attorney-General on legal profession reform and The Courier-Mail assistant editor Bob McDonald on media relations. We held early career lawyer social events on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts that were incredibly popular, being near to or over capacity, and experienced similar results for our professional development intensives in Hervey Bay, Rockhampton, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Kingaroy and Gladstone that scored an average 4.3 member satisfaction rating. We welcome the opportunity to sponsor regional events, this year supporting, for the first time, two Sunshine Coast Law Association CPD events and a Moreton Bay Law Association social event. Our comprehensive sponsorship calendar included:

District Law Association Queensland Law Society-sponsored event

Cairns Supreme Court Library Donation of branded paper coffee cups (250)

Central Queensland Law Association Annual Conference


District Law Association Queensland Law Society-sponsored event

2013 Charity Ball

Downs and South West Law Association Annual Dinner

Far North Queensland Law Association CPD Judiciary Series – cosponsoring drinks with the Bar over three eventsCarbolic Smoke Ball

Moreton Bay Law Association Wine Night

North Queensland Law Association Annual Conference

South Burnett Law Association Annual Christmas Party

Sunshine Coast Law Association Two CPD events – Traffic Offences and Core AreasJustin Crosby Memorial Law Bursary Fund Raising Dinner

Townsville District Law Association Early Career Lawyers Function, attended by Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie MP

MemberConnect breakfast, Corporate Social Responsibility, 10 October 2013“With more and more businesses across Australia, significant investment has been put into developing corporate social responsibility initiatives in a coordinated and strategic way. This has been mirrored in the legal industry, particularly with the growth and maturing of pro bono programs.”

Robert Reed, Special Counsel & Director (Brisbane office), Community Investment Program, Minter Ellison lawyers

Showing leadership with associations

Queensland Law Society recognises that some of the most highly valued member events are those that reinforce or help members’ relationships with other professionals. This year we made a concerted effort to meet this need, working closely with other associations on social events and in workshop environments. These include events with:

ECL and Institute of Chartered Accountants and Australian Institute of Superannuation Trusteeso Networking evening in Brisbane: sold-out event with 62 legal profession attendees, rated 4.6.

ECL and Institute of Chartered Accountantso Putt Putt Challenge: 30 attendees, not rated. Solicitors won the event.

ECL and Bar Association of Queenslando Queensland Law Society vs Bar Association of Queensland Debate: sold-out event described

as ‘comedy gold’ with Justice Martin Daubney presiding, 81 attendees, rated 4.4. Solicitors won the debate.

Women’s Legal Serviceo Supreme Court Breakfast White Ribbon Day Breakfast: sold-out event that also involved the

Bar Association of Queensland, Queensland Courts and Gadens, attended by distinguished guests including the Governor of Queensland, Her Excellency Penelope Wensley AC, members of the judiciary, solicitors and barristers, 350 attendees, not rated.

Australia Chinese General Chamber of Business


o Evening with Zhao Yongchen, newly appointed Consul-General for China in Queensland: discussion on processes around setting up a business and working in China, 34 invited guests, not rated.

Women Lawyers Association of Queenslando Co-established Flexibility Working Group and sponsored Agnes McWhinney Award presented

at WLAQ’s Gala Awards Dinner, with the winner being Michelle James of Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.

Australasian Legal Practice Management Associationo Formalised our partnership with the Australasian Legal Practice Management Association, sets

the stage for 2014-15’s mutual promotion of webinars and provision of speakers. Queensland university law school deans

o Initiated twice-yearly meetings with law deans from the nine Queensland law schools to ensure ongoing consultation on current issues such as law graduate and placement volumes, and student career preparation.

Indigenous Law Association of Queenslando Managed inaugural hosting in Australia of the World Indigenous Conference that attracted an

encouraging level of interest with 153 delegates from countries as widespread as Nicaragua, Chile and Canada.

Student members

This year we increased our student membership by 30% to 2112 through our Legal Careers Expo and attendance at university Open Days. More than 500 students converged on the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre for the Expo and a record breaking 213 students visited the QLS stand to fill in a student membership form. We took part in careers fairs at the University of Southern Queensland, James Cook University, University of Queensland, Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology and Bond University. We answered students’ questions on available jobs, alternative career pathways, resume writing and job applications. Queensland Law Society gained an additional 219 new student members from these events. Sponsorship activities included two University of Queensland events in late 2013 – supporting the TC Beirne School of Law’s Best Mooting Team Award and the Justice and the Law Society’s Pandora’s Box and Annual Professional Breakfast.


Law Week 2014

Law Week is traditionally a national community-facing event that aims to educate the public about the law and legal services. To complement this, Queensland Law Society’s Law Week was focused on the profession and our members.

Events included:

complimentary professional development opportunities with an Open Day at Law Society House the Queensland launch of national mental health guidelines our Annual Ball, hosted by our Early Career Lawyers Committee sponsorship of, and participation in, the Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House’s (QPILCH’s)

Queensland Legal Walk.

Department of Justice and Attorney-General Law Week Display

We sponsored the Department of Justice and Attorney-General Law Week Display that involved members of the public learning about the law and legal services through talks, entertainment and a giant six metre display wall in Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall that included a QR code for Queensland Law Society’s Find a Solicitor service.

Law Society House Open Day

Our Open Day was a highly successful event that achieved 50% more delegates than its target and scored an average overall satisfaction rating of 4.4 out of 5. More than 120 members enjoyed a host of professional development sessions and learnt more about the professional benefits, social privileges and commercial rewards of Queensland Law Society membership. The complimentary event included eight 45 minute sessions, based on members’ areas of interest. Topics covered:

acting for a not-for-profit organisation vicarious trauma online legal research tools how to get involved in volunteering new business models tips on how to structure your legal career.

Attendees enjoyed afternoon tea, barista-prepared espressos and, for some lucky members, the reward of prizes and giveaways.

Member feedback

“Amazed by the quality of the seminars. Appreciate this opportunity and proud to be a member of QLS.”

“The day was superbly run, presentations were excellent, and catering was spot on. Well done QLS, you have outdone yourself!”

“It was a good atmosphere. I enjoyed learning about things I wouldn’t ordinarily learn about.”

“You are such a good resource to the profession!”


Tristan Jepson Foundation’s mental health guidelines

During Law Week we were proud to host the statewide launch of the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation’s Best Practice Guidelines for the Legal Profession and announce Queensland Law Society as a signatory to the guidelines. We were privileged to have Foundation co-founder Marie Jepson speak at the event to 30 invited guests. The guidelines aim to improve psychological wellbeing in the legal profession, with signatories assessing their organisation’s workplace policies and practices against 13 psychosocial factors, with advice on how to achieve best practice.

Queensland Law Society Annual Ball

Our vintage circus-themed Annual Ball in Brisbane was a highlight of our 2013-14 social calendar with 322 guests, including 280 rising stars of the legal profession, attending the black-tie affair. In her introduction to the event, Queensland Law Society Early Career Lawyers Committee chair Greer Oliver said that the evening’s circus theme was relevant to young lawyers, because the experience of many resembled that of the human cannonball. We donated a portion of all ticket proceeds to the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation and presented a cheque on the night to foundation co-founder Marie Jepson.

Queensland Legal Walk

We continued our proud sponsorship of QPILCH’s Brisbane Queensland Legal Walk which this year had 800 registrations including 23 from Queensland Law Society. We were one of the walk’s largest teams with others including Ashurst, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland Courts and the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.

This year the format was changed to include both a 4.5km walk and 6.2km run. The top fundraisers were:

North Quarter Lane Chambers (top team fundraiser) Clayton Utz (second top team fundraiser) Carbolic Chambers (third top team fundraiser) Suncoast Community Legal Service (fourth top team fundraiser).

Walks were also held on the Sunshine Coast, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns, attracting nearly 1000 participants across the state and raising more than $50,000 to support QPILCH’s essential legal assistance services.


Our publications

Proctor

Proctor is Queensland’s leading legal profession publication providing solicitors and allied legal professionals with articles on black letter law, recent cases, ethical issues, Queensland Law Society’s policy positions, practice support information, advice on resilience and social news. Receiving Proctor is a member benefit and we have a number of non-member subscribers. Total circulation is 9708. This year our non-member subscription drive earned $8936, exceeding the budget target of $8000.

Planning and preparation finalised this year to improve the online version of Proctor. From July 2014, subscribers can access eProctor in an easy-to-use, interactive browsing format, as opposed to the current PDF.

Members will be able to seamlessly browse articles and access bonus content. The browser will feature a responsive format for use across different platforms and enhanced search functionality, including the ability to search across all issues to find previous stories. We expect this to be a popular function as the Proctor archive webpage received 2006 unique pageviews this year.

NB: The 2012-13 annual report mentioned possible extension of the series on university law schools to practical legal training providers. This did not occur and we focused this year on building our social media platforms through which students are more likely to engage with the Society.

QLS Update

QLS Update is our weekly enewsletter providing the latest news affecting the profession. It contains legislative updates, news on profession changes, calls for member input into our policy submissions to government, ethics tips and learning and professional development, social and external event information. It is a popular resource with our 9553 subscribers, gathering an average click through rate in 2013-14 of 45.43%, up by 3.27% on the previous year. In 2014-15, members can look forward to receiving QLS Update tailored to their specified areas of practice.

Diary decommissioned

This year we made the business decision to decommission the Queensland Law Society 2014 Diary and Legal Directory. Sales during the past five years have gradually declined an average 14% each year (see graph below), indicating members’ growing use of electronic, as opposed to paper-based, diaries.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority’s latest report showed there were 11.19 million smartphone users in Australia, up 29% on the previous year. Digital diaries are now widely available from Microsoft, iTunes and Google Play and the Australian Bureau of Statistics stated this year there was an increase in businesses enabling staff to work remotely – one third of all ‘micro’ business and three quarters of larger organisations.

This technological push forward has diminished member appetite for our hard copy diaries and so, with a focus on providing members with relevant, valuable services, we decided to stop producing this product. Members with any queries can contact us on 1300 367 757 or email [email protected].

Diary sales decline 2010-2014

Year No. of sales2010 2618

2011 2399

2012 1831

2013 1403

2014 1239


mailto:[email protected]

Member rewards portal

Our member rewards portal received 4719 unique pageviews between January and June 2014.

Through the portal members access a range of commercial rewards for car purchases, healthcare, financial services, travel and hotels, life insurance and entertainment. We are continuing to enhance the offering to encourage even greater take-up with expected new rewards for credit card services and retail goods in the coming year.


Members benefit from learned librarians

This year the Supreme Court Library Queensland supplied 34% more documents and conducted 9.5% more research hours than the previous year, illustrated in the table on this page. Queensland Law Society membership offers exclusive library benefits including free photocopying and printing, up to 10 free research and document delivery requests, remote access to journals and reference materials, and free legal research training.

The total number of document delivery and research requests was 4828 for this year, compared to 4755 the previous year, a slight increase of 1.5%. Reflecting the professionalism and knowledge of staff, the results show the library managed document and research requests of increased size and complexity while reducing the average document processing time by more than an hour. The growth of web-based, flexible legal resources, such as Queensland Courts’ ongoing expansion of online information, including civil court case files, is demonstrated by the reduction in the use of paper-based services, such as photocopying.

Supreme Court Library Queensland 2013-14 service results

Service 2013-14 total 2012-13 total

Number of document requests 3345 3256

Documents supplied 10,467 7790

Average response timeframe (document processing)

3.1 hours to respond to requests (turnaround time); 7.8 min to do the requests

4.2 hours to respond to requests (turnaround time); 6.5 min to do the requests

Number of research requests 1483 1499

Research hours (total and averaged across requests)

722 hours 30 min (average 29.2 minutes)

659 hours 40 min (average 26.4 minutes)

Number of photocopying requests

392 individual requests 578 individual requests

Number of pages – total and average

Total copied/printed: 15,986 pagesAverage per request: 40.8 pages

Total copied/printed: 22,138 pagesAverage per request: 38.3 pages

Locations of our membersOutside Brisbane, the greatest member growth in 2013-14 was in the Toowoomba and Fitzroy regions due to Toowoomba’s growth in commercial, personal injuries and wills and estates law, and the Fitzroy region’s central LNG project location.

Region Total %

Brisbane Inner City 5787 47.6%

Brisbane - North 142 1.2%

Brisbane - South 527 4.3%

Brisbane - East 104 0.9%

Brisbane - West 554 4.6%


Region Total %

Cairns 362 3.0%

Darling Downs - Maranoa 70 0.6%

Fitzroy 212 1.7%

Gold Coast 1222 10.1%

Ipswich 211 1.7%

Logan - Beaudesert 148 1.2%

Mackay 149 1.2%

Moreton Bay - North 81 0.7%

Moreton Bay - South 58 0.5%

Queensland - Outback 36 0.3%

Sunshine Coast 313 2.6%

Toowoomba 388 3.2%

Townsville 381 3.1%

Wide Bay 163 1.3%

Outside Qld 1239 10.2%


Leading our profession


Responded to 3571 email and phone inquiries on ethics issues and 4913 email and phone inquiries on professional standards issues including trust accounting.

Launched our much-anticipated updated Costs Guide.

Managed several major advocacy challenges, for example, in relation to workers’ compensation and the ‘bikie laws’.

208 advocacy submissions dispatched and 194% increase in parliamentary debate mentions.

98% of our 4913 phone and email professional standards inquiries received a same-day turnaround.

Adopted, and hosted the statewide launch of the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation’s Best Practice Guidelines for the Legal Profession to support good practice in the profession in managing mental health risks.

Queensland Law Society provides leadership in advocacy, ethics, professional standards and resilience – the latter being one of the most significant issues affecting the legal profession. In doing so, we deliver numerous benefits to our members and the community.

For members, we showcased our leadership strength in 2013-14 through advocating on major legislative issues, further developing our highly regarded and innovative Ethics Centre services, effectively managing essential trust account management services and proactively addressing mental wellbeing trends.

Our legal profession leadership benefits the community as we support development and application of fair and just laws, support redress for social concerns and provide solicitors with guidance and tools for ethical, professionally sound practice.

Stand-out results are highlighted in our key outcomes on this page and reinforced through positive member feedback quoted throughout this section.


Leadership in advocacy

Advocacy on proposed legislation is one of the most essential services we provide for members and the public. Through our submissions, we offer the government an impartial, expert assessment to help ensure laws are fair and work well for those of us who administer them, and for the community.

In 2013-14 we received a 194% increase in parliamentary debate mentions. This reflects both the high value of our contribution to these critical debates, and of course the lively legislative arena of late 2013. Despite consultation challenges, we successfully represented the profession across a number of areas of law, maintaining our healthy submission production and advocacy success rates (defined as changes to legislation, policy or procedure of government).

We have 329 committee members in total. Our committees are made up of members who are experts in their fields and volunteer their time to advise on current law and opportunities for change. In addition, they contribute the content for many of our substantive professional development events.

This year we welcomed 56 new committee members while 53 members resigned, this represents a turnover rate of approximately 16%, successfully achieving our target of <20% turnover thanks to each committee having an identified recruitment talent pool. We are pleased to have maintained our committee numbers while they were reinvigorated with ideas and contributions from new members. As at 30 June 2014, we successfully recruited new members from the following types of law firms and legal practice:

14 from the Large Law Firm Group 3 from large law firms 7 from medium-sized firms 2 from small firms 15 from in-house counsel, the tertiary sector, Legal Aid Queensland, community legal centres and

Indigenous legal services.

NB: This list includes members appointed to more than one committee.

Committee members rate Advocacy

In keeping with Queensland Law Society’s drive to assess and continually improve our performance, in 2013-14 we surveyed committee members on their perceptions of our advocacy efforts, Committee Charter awareness and recall of important issues. We received a substantive response rate of 41% from policy committee members with the strongest response rate from large firms. The results were pleasing, showing a high level of engagement and satisfaction with our advocacy team and Queensland Law Society’s advocacy initiatives, and excellent recall of policy matters.

4.58/5 average satisfaction score for support received from policy solicitors 4.34/5 average satisfaction score for how members’ viewed their committee contributed to the

profession in 2013 4.16/5 average satisfaction score for the Society’s advocacy on behalf of members in 2013 74% awareness of terms in Queensland Law Society’s Committee Charter the Society’s top three advocacy issues/policy matters in 2013 were: (1) bikie laws; (2) workers’

compensation changes; and (3) Legal Services Commission (LSC) concerns regarding costs.


Each committee developed an annual program consisting of the committee’s objectives, proposed initiatives and meeting schedules. This supports the strategic plan as the outcomes of these programs demonstrate our leadership in advocacy.

Working with state government

The end of 2013 proved to be a testing time for Queensland Law Society and our advocacy efforts as the state government progressed a robust legislative agenda.

Primarily, public focus was on three legislative initiatives, all introduced and passed during the parliamentary sitting session of mid-October 2013, and included legislation:

targeting criminal motorcycle gangs and other organised crime associations (which became known as the ‘bikie laws’)

making significant changes to the Queensland Workers’ Compensation Scheme targeting the continued detention of certain sex offenders by order of the Executive Government.

The substance of all three of these policy initiatives was unexpected and was not the subject of prior consultation with QLS or other stakeholders.

2013 QLS President Annette Bradfield raised concerns about the fact that these major initiatives were introduced and passed in the one parliamentary sitting, without review by any parliamentary committee, and that they were not the subject of prior public consultation on the government’s policy initiatives.

In addition, certain elements of parts of the legislative packages were highlighted as being problematic, including:

the effect that a permanent injury assessment threshold for access to common law would have on the Workers’ Compensation Scheme

the very broad ambit of the Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act and the fact that it applied to groups beyond those proscribed as criminal motorcycle gangs

the nature of detention by executive order.

Throughout this period we constantly reiterated our standing offer to consult with the Queensland Government on ameliorating unintended consequences and provided a number of suggestions for reform with respect to the ‘bikie laws’. The government’s sex offender laws were consequently found to be invalid by the Queensland Court of Appeal.

Appeals to the High Court are current on aspects of the ‘bikie laws’. Into 2014 QLS maintained its communication with the government and spoke out when appropriate on issues of good law or to defend the reputation of the legal profession.

Results of a new strategic approach

2013-14 heralded a new approach for advocacy, with a strategic focus on significant issues such as the effective administration of law, the interests of the profession and the community, and the need to uphold the Rule of Law.

We saw a significant increase in parliamentary mentions reflecting the relevance, importance and accuracy of our arguments and the success of strategically choosing the issues on which to promote our views.

Advocacy activity 2013-14 2012-13

Submissions dispatched 208 203

Quotes in Queensland parliamentary debates 262 135

Successes (defined as changes to legislation, policy or procedure of government)

77 74


Major contributing factors to our advocacy success are the expertise of our committees and maintaining productive stakeholder relationships. We are viewed as an influential stakeholder and regularly take members’ concerns on legislative and government policy issues to government. More than 300 solicitors on 26 committees give voice to members’ concerns for their clients, and the broader community, nearly one third, 28% of these are from large law firms.

Some notable successes in 2013-14 were:

our active participation in the Child Protection Inquiry resulting in adoption of a number of our recommendations in the government’s final report

incorporation of our recommendations into directors’ liability law reform resulting in the government removing its proposal to tier deemed liability provisions that reversed the onus of proof

the Standing Senate Committee on Economics noting our concerns regarding proposed franchising law changes and based on these, recommending draft legislation be further refined

the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee referencing Queensland Law Society in their report on G20 legislation, endorsing our proposal to establish a legal hotline, remove offence duplication and require the Police Commissioner to provide written notice to people prohibited from security areas.

For more information on these successes, visit qls.com.au > For the profession > Advocacy.

Our members’ voice in the media

There was an increase in media interest in Queensland Law Society’s policy views in 2013-14, demonstrated by an 82% increase in published and broadcast media content. This year 490 stories highlighted our advocacy activities. Reflecting our new strategic approach to significant issues, we produced 33 media releases, compared to 49 in 2012-13. Our responses to media inquiries, at 131, were 38 more than the previous year.

Media activity 2013-14 2012-13

Media releases produced and distributed 33 49

QLS-responded media 131 93

Media reports filed 490 269

NB: The number of media reports filed is not equivalent to the total number of media reports on the next page as: (a) the same content is often syndicated across a number of outlets and (b) the reported total number of reports detailed here also includes non-policy based news items.

These results reflect the quality of our media content and strength of our media relationships. More broadly, the increase in media stories also signifies growing media story syndication and the consolidation of certain media outlets.

This year we commissioned iSentia to conduct a 2013-14 media review of our activity. The review includes analysis of our policy and non-policy based media activity, although the majority of this activity relates to our advocacy work.

A total of 3,414 reports mentioned Queensland Law Society this year. This includes all syndicated and non-policy based news items. These reached a cumulative potential audience/circulation of 42,745,467 and had an advertising space value of $7,573,538.

Radio was the leading media type by volume, with 1460 reports. Newspaper/online publication coverage had the highest audience/circulation of 23,096,850,

cumulatively. Leading outlets in the various media types that published content mentioning Queensland Law Society

were:o print: The Courier-Mail


o radio: Radio National

o television: ABC News 24

o online: news.com.au.

Mandatory sentencing policy paper launched

In April we launched our mandatory sentencing policy paper that forms the foundation of our future advocacy work in this area. The paper detailed our concerns with mandatory sentencing and offered alternate solutions to reduce crime.

Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson and Queensland Law Society president Ian Brown presented the paper to a number of important stakeholders. Among the attendees were President of the Court of Appeal the Honourable Justice Margaret McMurdo AC, Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Kevin Cocks and Bar Association of Queensland president Peter Davis QC.

The launch received significant media interest from Brisbane Times, The Courier-Mail, ABC, 4BC, The Australian and APN (regional newswire service). The paper has been downloaded 98 times.

This is a positive result when compared to total downloads of the last advocacy submission on mandatory penalties, which was downloaded 16 times.

Mandatory sentencing policy paper launch, 4 April 2014

“Mandatory sentencing is another incremental stake stabbed in the heart of the foundations of our liberal democracy, driven by the progressive ideal that more prescriptive legislation can drive better results.”

Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson, Australian Human Rights Commission

An assortment of important advocacy issues

These issue synopses are a sample of some of the more critical concerns during the year on which we provided submissions to government.

Anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing legislationIn December 2013, the Australian Government released an Issues Paper regarding a statutory review of Commonwealth anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) legislation. Queensland Law Society provided significant contributions to two submissions through the Law Council of Australia in January 2014 and February 2014.

One relevant aspect of the Issues Paper was analysing whether sectors, including the legal profession and the services it provides, should be regulated under AML/CTF legislation. We expressed significant concern with any outcomes that would result in lawyers being subject to additional compliance costs, as had been the case in other jurisdictions where AML/CTF obligations were imposed on the legal profession, citing:

No specific risks have been identified in Australia by the AML regulators relating to the legal profession. The legal profession is already highly regulated (with the Uniform Legal Profession Act coming into

NSW and Victoria as a good example). There are currently close to 5000 pages of regulation for a profession of 60,000 practitioners.

The legal profession has the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules and the Australian Bar Conduct Rules, which also have specific requirements relating to dealing with clients’ money.

There are significant penalties for lawyers who breach those rules – including losing a practising certificate and jail for fraudulent acts.

The costs of the scheme in the UK have been high and the equivalent cost in Australia would be close to $800m. We expect that the consumers of legal services will absorb these costs at least to some extent.


The additional cost would impact across the profession, but particularly harshly on smaller practices. The costs are very high across the profession, and completely out of proportion to the risks sought to be managed.

These additional costs will impede Australian firms competing in the Asia-Pacific region, where other countries are not applying the same rules.

Our legal system is premised on lawyers’ obligations to the Courts and clients. Confidentiality is a key to client expectations. The reporting requirements of AML will undermine this basic expectation in an unacceptable way.

Canada and the USA have not included the legal profession in similar schemes, they rely on the legal profession regulatory regime to manage any risks.

Queensland Law Society has worked closely with the Law Council of Australia on a guide for solicitors (Anti-Money Laundering Guide for Legal Practitioners) that gives practical guidance on how to avoid becoming involved in illegal activities.

We supported the legal profession speaking with one voice to oppose this concerning proposal. We will keep members informed of any developments.

Reform of the Queensland Workers’ Compensation SchemeQueensland Law Society was a strong advocate for the strengths of the existing Queensland Workers’ Compensation Scheme in the parliamentary review of the scheme and in the face of the Queensland Government’s subsequent reforms.

We opposed the introduction of an injury rating threshold for access to common law claims.

The LNP-dominated parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing the Workers’ Compensation Scheme agreed with our submissions and positions espoused at public hearings that substantial reform of the features of the scheme was not needed.

The committee’s report advised against the introduction of common law access thresholds and the abolition of claims for injuries sustained in journeys to and from work. Queensland Law Society publicly supported the committee’s report.

We continued to make our position known to Members of Parliament and relevant Ministers following release of the report.

After much media speculation, the government submitted its response on the day it introduced a Bill into parliament to effect a number of substantial reforms to the scheme. The Bill was declared urgent and among other changes:

introduced a more than 5% degree of permanent impairment threshold to access damages at common law

abolished QComp and transferred its responsibilities to the Department of Justice and Attorney-General required a worker to provide an employer with a notification of previous injuries, if requested, and denied

an injured worker compensation for an aggravation of an undisclosed injury allowed for access to a prospective worker’s claims history in particular circumstances increased the onus of proof for compensable psychiatric or psychological injuries increased penalties for persons who defraud or attempt to defraud insurers.

We voiced our concern about these changes in the media and by correspondence to all Members of Parliament. Ultimately the Bill was passed late at night following a motion to limit debate carried by the government.

Anti-association laws – Amendments to the Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act 2013 and the Criminal Law (Criminal Organisations Disruption) Amendment Act 2013Anti-association legislation continued to be a major concern for the Society. Following the mid-October introduction into parliament of urgent laws generally directed at participants in criminal organisations described as ‘bikie gangs’, the government introduced a second tranche in November 2013.


We objected to the mandatory sentencing provision under s7 of the Act, which could see a person being subjected to up to 25 years in prison, in addition to sentencing for the commission of the offence. We also objected to the provisions which sought to reverse the onus of proof:

s5(2), where the person has to prove that the association is not one that has, as one of its purposes, the purpose of engaging in or conspiring to engage in declared offences

s6, where the person has to prove that they are not an office bearer of an association.

The Criminal Law (Criminal Organisations Disruption) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 was introduced to parliament on 19 November 2013, referred to a parliamentary committee for review and report by 21 November 2013 and passed on the evening of that day. It took only two days for the Bill to be introduced, read, reviewed and passed. We objected to the mandatory sentencing provision which would see a six month mandatory imprisonment term for the commission of new offences and the reversal of the onus of proof provisions.

The Bill introduced amendments to use confidential police intelligence about whether a person was a member of a declared criminal organisation to determine whether they were fit to hold an occupational licence under the Electrical Safety Act 2002, the Liquor Act 1992, the Queensland Building Services Authority Act 1991, the Racing Act 2002, the Second-hand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act 2003, the Security Providers Act 1993, the Tow Truck Act 1973, the Weapons Act 1990, the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and the Motor Dealers and Chattel Auctioneers Bill 2013.

Despite the compressed timeframe for the parliamentary committee review (36 hours), we made two submissions raising concerns. In February 2014, in support of our members we responded publicly to the Premier’s claims that criminal defence lawyers were part of the criminal gang machine. The Society will continue to advocate for reform in this area.

G20 (Safety and Security) Bill 2013Queensland Law Society made detailed submissions to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee on the G20 (Safety and Security) Bill 2013.

Firstly, we indicated that we welcomed the G20 forum being held in Queensland and understood the need for a heightened emphasis on security and safety in line with this significant international event. However, we noted that some of the ordinary principles of justice were being suspended under the Bill, and existing alternatives in the criminal law were available to address some of the security concerns.

We did not consider there was a need to provide a presumption against bail, given the current laws in the Bail Act 1980 were sufficient to ensure that, in the appropriate circumstances, a person who posed an ongoing threat to the G20 would be refused bail. We also requested clarification as to how remand centres would accommodate a significant rise in the number of individuals on remand during the G20 period. Other significant concerns included:

reversal of the onus of proof by some of the offences contained in the Act, including that people carrying everyday items which may be a ‘prohibited item’ under the Act into the security area bore the onus of proof to provide lawful excuse

police power to seize and remove obstruction objects, which may be immediately forfeited to the State, including bicycles, cars and trucks. We submitted that forfeiture applications could be made to a court, particularly in circumstances where valuable items may be in question.

In light of these proposals, we suggested that the government should examine ways of increasing the availability of legal assistance to provide information and advice about the operation of the proposed legislation to members of the community. We commented that in NSW during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, a legal hotline was formed to provide information, referrals and legal advice. We recommended that the government establish and fund a similar service.

Queensland Law Society’s president and advocacy representatives appeared at the public hearing on 26 September 2013. In response to the Society’s submissions, the committee recommended that:


clause 18 of the Bill be amended to remove unnecessary duplication between the criterion involving damage to property and the definition of violent disruption offence

the Minister for Police and Community Safety engage in further discussions with the Attorney-General and LAQ to investigate the establishment of a G20 Legal Hotline similar to that put in place for the Sydney APEC meeting

clause 51(3) of the Bill be amended to require the Commissioner of Police to give written notice of a decision under clause 51(2) to a person who made written submissions, as soon as reasonably practicable.

The G20 (Safety and Security) Bill 2013 was passed on 29 October 2013. The government endorsed our suggestion regarding a legal hotline. In addition to advocacy for the hotline, Queensland Law Society supported the Caxton Legal Centre’s training for independent legal observers during the G20. We will keep members informed of relevant developments. As an international event, the G20 will draw media attention to the management of any civil actions.

Property Occupations Bill 2013Queensland Law Society has called for reform of the requirements for forming residential sales contracts for some time.

We appreciated being consulted by government on the outline of a property occupations Bill to relocate property agent elements in the split of the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000. While we contributed extensively to the process and were supportive of the intent and general direction of the proposed legislation, the government did not adopt as matters of policy some issues of concern the Society raised.

On 20 November 2013 the Attorney-General introduced the Property Occupations Bill 2013 into Queensland Parliament and it was referred to the Parliamentary Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee.

We were particularly supportive of the simplification of the warning statement requirements when entering into a residential property sales contract. In submissions to the parliamentary committee we cautioned against removing the requirement for a person to obtain legal advice before waiving or shortening their cooling off rights. We also raised concern with the practical implications of a change to make a contract signed within two days of an auction an ‘auction contract’, without a cooling off right.

The removal of the existing termination right for a buyer where a seller fails to comply with inclusion of the new warning statement in the body of the contract meant innocent parties could be lured into non-complying contracts by shysters and may have few rights to seek recourse once bound to the contract.

The Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee tabled its report in parliament on 24 February 2014, where our submissions were extensively quoted, but the committee proposed no amendments.

Committee chairs

We thank our committee chairs for their commitment to the profession, volunteering of their expertise and coordination for their members. This list is also available on our website: qls.com.au > Becoming a member > Member benefits > Professional benefits > Committees.

Committee Chair

Access to Justice/Pro Bono Law Committee Chair: Robert Reed, Minter Ellison

Deputy Chair: Bruce Doyle, Doyle Family Law

Accident Compensation/Tort Law Committee

Chair: Michael Garbett, Moray & Agnew

Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee Chair: Khory McCormick, Minter Ellison


Committee Chair

Banking and Financial Services Law Committee

Chair: Ian Lockhart, Minter Ellison

Deputy Chair: Michael Anastas, HWL Ebsworth

Children’s Law Committee Chair: Jennifer Glover, Legal Aid Queensland

Deputy Chair: Damian Bartholomew, Youth Advocacy Centre Inc.

Company Law Committee (co-sits as Law Council of Australia Committee)

Chair: Bruce Cowley, Minter Ellison

Competition and Consumer Law Committee Chair: David Grace, Cooper Grace Ward

Construction and Infrastructure Law Committee (co-sits as Law Council of Australia Committee)

Chair: Ross Williams, HWL Ebsworth

Criminal Law Committee Chair: Glen Cranny, Gilshenan & Luton Legal Practice

Early Career Lawyers Committee Chair: Greer Oliver, CBP Pty Ltd

Elder Law Committee Chair: Dianne Pendergast, Barrister-at-Law

Deputy Chair: Brian Herd, CRH Law

Equalising Opportunities in the Law Committee

Chair: Ann-Maree David, The College of Law Qld Pty Ltd

Deputy Chair: Paula Rogers, Queensland Law Reform Commission

Family Law Committee Chair: Alison Ross, HopgoodGanim

Deputy Chair: Katharine Atkins, Jones Mitchell Lawyers

Franchising Law Committee Chair: Tony Conaghan, Thomson Geer

Government Lawyers Committee Chair: Shane Budden, Queensland Building and Construction Commission

Health and Disability Law Committee Chair: to be appointed

Industrial Law Committee Chair: Robert Stevenson, Australian Workplace Lawyers

Insolvency and Reconstruction Law Committee (co-sits as Law Council of Australia Committee)

Chair: Scott Butler, McCullough Robertson

International Law/Relations Committee Chair: Teresa Kearney, Russells

Litigation Rules Committee Chair: Tony Deane, Clayton Utz

Deputy Chair: Paul Garrett, Hickey & Garrett


Committee Chair

Mining and Resources Committee Chair: Jeremy Chenoweth, Ashurst Australia

Not-For-Profit Law Committee Chair: Matthew Turnour, Neumann & Turnour Lawyers

Deputy Chair: Andrew Lind, Corney & Lind

Planning and Environmental Law Committee Chair: Leanne Bowie, Leanne Bowie Lawyers

Practice Development and Management Committee

Chair: Elizabeth Shearer, Affording Justice

Property and Development Law Committee Chair: Matthew Raven, Gadens Lawyers – Brisbane

Revenue Law Committee Chair: Duncan Bedford, McCullough Robertson

Succession Law Committee Chair: Gary Lanham, Minter Ellison

Deputy Chair: Glenn Dickson, Barrister-at-Law

Technology and Intellectual Property Committee

Chair: Harold Littler, McKays Solicitors

Deputy Chair: Angeline Behan, Wynnes Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys


Status of members by position typeCorporate lawyer membership increased by 5.7%, demonstrating commercial clients’ preference to use in-house counsel rather than outsource work to law firms.

Government membership was stable.

Position type Total %

Director/Partner 1979 16.3%

Employed solicitor 4233 34.8%

Government 577 4.8%

Sole practitioner 874 7.2%

Academic 51 0.4%

Consultant 202 1.7%

Corporate 989 8.1%

Judicial 9 0.1%

Community legal 117 1.0%

Not practising 786 6.5%

Student/Clerk 2116 17.4%

Other 214 1.8%


Ethics

Signature achievements for our Ethics Centre and Ethics Committee this year included the development and launch of the updated Costs Guide and finalised content for the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules Commentary, to be released in early July 2014. In addition, we further extended our ethics offering with frequent bespoke education sessions to medium and large law firms, inaugural participation in the Practice Management Course and holding the first Queensland Law Society Senior Counsellors’ Conference in more than a decade.

QLS Costs Guide 2014

In March 2014 we launched our much-anticipated updated Costs Guide. The Costs Guide is delivered as part of our role to support the profession’s understanding of practical issues with respect to the solicitor-client costs relationship. The guide helps practitioners better engage with their clients through its strong focus on client communication – encouraging solicitors to clearly explain expected costs at the outset and inform clients when circumstances change, prior to continuing work. It provides templates and examples of covering letters and client agreements and covers different concerns in different types of law, for example, if you are a criminal law solicitor, how to ensure you are paid in ‘clean’ money, or if you are a succession law solicitor, how to charge an estate if you are also the executor.

The Costs Guide was launched at QLS Symposium 2014 and has been popular with members. To date, the web page has had 2108 unique pageviews and the guide downloaded 1702 times. Content from the guide will be incorporated into 2014-15 regional intensive workshops.

Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules Commentary

A major undertaking this year was development of our Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules Commentary. In 2012 the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules (ASCR) replaced the Legal Profession (Solicitors) Rule 2007. It was envisaged that each law society would adopt (via their jurisdiction’s rule making process) the ASCR as their solicitors’ conduct rules. So far, three jurisdictions have done so: Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales. The Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules 2012 in Practice: A Commentary for Australian Legal Practitioners (ASCR Commentary) is the most comprehensive guide to help practitioners understand the ASCR.

It details the following issues, with extensive case citations:

the nature and purpose of the rules fundamental duties of solicitors client relations advocacy and litigation solicitor relations law practice management.

Most of the rules are annotated with practical suggestions on how to manage ethical issues. The commentary also contains questions to help resolve ethical dilemmas, reference tables for both legislation and cases and a full index. It will be available to members in early July 2014.


Educating on ethics

We had three notable ethics-based learning and professional development achievements in 2013-14 – our ethics team started presenting at Queensland Law Society’s practice management courses, we maintained a high number of law firm engagement sessions and we held our first Queensland Law Society Senior Counsellors’ Conference in more than 10 years following a review of the service.

Ethics workshops offered in PMCThe Ethics Centre team now present the professional responsibility component of practice management courses, previously the role of our professional standards team. The change was part of broader course improvements for greater attendee participation and applied learning. Course attendees are still taught the technical aspects and requirements of trust account management and this is now combined with a focus on broader ethical issues. These are presented as case studies in a workshop format, as opposed to the previous panel-based discussions. The workshops reinforce attendees’ prior at-home learning and provoke thinking on ethical issues. A sample case study is provided below.

Case study 1

Duncan Lawyers maintains a website that describes the firm’s history and areas of legal practice.

The website also includes biographies of each of the firm’s solicitors. These biographies provide information as to areas of specialisation and recent professional accomplishments.

Adjacent to the biographical information for each solicitor is a link permitting someone viewing the biography to send an email directly to the solicitor.

Using the link provided on the website, John White from Arc Corporation Pty Ltd (Arc) sends an email to Bruce Anderson, one of the solicitors at Duncan Lawyers. Bruce specialises in commercial litigation.

In John’s email to Bruce, John indicates that Arc wishes to retain him to bring a claim against Pollock Corporation. John selected Bruce in good faith based on the published qualifications. John and Arc have had no prior dealings with Bruce or Duncan Lawyers.

Are there any ethical issues?

Engaging law firmsOur engagement sessions are targeted at medium and large law firms, tailored for each organisation’s circumstances. The purpose of the sessions is to educate members on ethics such as their obligations, how to ensure they keep within the bounds of acceptable practice and applying this knowledge to relevant example scenarios. We also provide information on our ethics offerings, such as the inquiry service, web resources and Queensland Law Society senior counsellors. Our average presentation and presenter scores were particularly high – 4.6 and 4.7 respectively. These are excellent results considering we maintained a demanding schedule of 4-5 sessions a month. Positive results are also reflected in member feedback.

Members’ engagement sessions feedback

“The presentation was very relevant and practical.”

“It was one of the most interactive sessions we have had as part of our technical excellence program and clearly the audience was very much engaged.”


Supporting our profession’s leading practitionersWe have 48 Queensland Law Society senior counsellors across Queensland who are experienced practitioners available to provide guidance to members on professional and ethical issues – a 29% increase on last year when we had 37 counsellors. The increase is due to a successful recruitment campaign and improvements to the service and program structure that included introducing a reporting mechanism and reintroducing the QLS Senior Counsellors’ Conference.

In 2013-14 we held the first conference for more than 10 years. It attracted 38 attendees, 79% of all counsellors. The conference attracted 38 counsellors, 79% of all counsellors. This high attendance demonstrated counsellors’ need for relevant professional development that recognised their seniority and also helped them assist Queensland Law Society members. An impressive line-up of presenters including Justice Margaret McMurdo AC and Judge Brad Farr spoke on important subjects such as:

the judiciary’s perspective on solicitors’ duties to the court how to provide support to early career lawyers the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules 2012 modern technology and ethics client legal privilege for in-house and government lawyers.

Queensland Law Society senior counsellors now provide quarterly reports to quantify the number of inquiries received and describe the general content of inquiries. This information is used to inform our ethics offering and future professional development seminars. Specifics regarding practitioners and circumstances are not reported. The six months of data collected to date shows the Counsellors answered 84 calls on issues such as client legal privilege, costs and conduct of practice.

Our senior counsellors

We are grateful to our senior counsellors for their guidance and support of practitioners across Queensland. They provide a valued service for solicitors which also benefits the community. This list is also available on our website: qls.com.au > Becoming a member > Member benefits > Professional benefits > Senior counsellors > Find a senior counsellor.

Peter Apel, Apels Solicitors Rodney Barnes, JCU – Division of Finance and Resource Planning Russell Beer, MacDonnells Law Michael Beirne, Barclay Beirne Lawyers Christopher Bowrey, Wilson/Ryan/Grose Mark Bray, Bradley & Bray James Byrne, James Byrne & Company Peter Carne, Public Trust Office Martin Conroy, Australian Law Group Peter Cooper, Cooper Grace Ward Glen Cranny, Gilshenan & Luton Legal Practice Peter Eardley, Eardley Motteram Peter Elliott, Giudes & Elliott Anne English, Bottoms English Paul Fallu, Dale & Fallu Glenn Ferguson, Ferguson Cannon Ross Forgione, Forgione Lawyers Kurt Fowler, Fowler Lawyers George Fox, Fox Bradfield Lawyers Gary Hutchinson, Cooke & Hutchinson


Vicki Jackson, South & Geldard Peter Jolly, Thynne & Macartney Warwick Jones, Jones Mitchell Lawyers Peter Kenny, Thynne & Macartney Michael Klug, Clayton Utz Ross Lee, Lee Lawyers William (Bill) Loughnan, Thynne & Macartney Jeffrey Mann AM, McCullough Robertson Justin McDonnell, King & Wood Mallesons Wendy Miller, Damien Greer Lawyers Andrew Moloney, Moloney MacCallum Lawyers John Nagel, John Nagel & Co. Thomas Nulty, DLA Piper Australia Terence O’Gorman AM, Robertson O’Gorman Ross Perrett, Clayton Utz William (Bill) Potts, Potts Lawyers William (Bill) Purcell, Purcell Chadwick & Skelly Ronald (Jim) James Reaston, O’Reilly Stevens Bovey Lawyers John Stephen Rees, ReesLaw Anthony Ryan, Payne Butler Lang John Ryan, Whitsunday Law John Shaw, Swanwick Murray Roche Garth Smith, Mellick Smith & Associates Thomas Sullivan, Davidson & Sullivan John Taylor, Taylors Solicitors Chris Trevor, Chris Trevor and Associates Gregory Vickery AM, Norton Rose Fulbright Kathryn Walker, Walker Lawyers

Providing ethical guidance

This year we supported members’ ethics education at 15 learning and professional development events, including regional intensives and government and early career lawyers conferences.

The Ethics Centre team responded to, and opened matters for, 3571 email and phone inquiries. This is a 31% increase, likely the result of ongoing member communication about our ethics advice services.

We raised the importance of Queensland Law Society’s ethics advice service and strengthened confidentiality expectations at the national level this year. The Office of General Counsel, assisted by Ethics Centre solicitors, successfully argued for public interest immunity to a federal agency to protect the identity and content of discussions with practitioners. This is now a matter of public record and our rationale is summarised here.

Queensland Law Society’s Ethics Centre performs an important function in that it permits solicitors (whether members of the Society or not) to seek ethical guidance on how they should deal with an ethical issue arising during the course of their practice.

This function is based on the solicitor being able to disclose information in a strictly confidential setting. The relationship between a solicitor and the Society’s officers (who are all solicitors) who provide this

service can be said to be akin to a solicitor and client relationship.


There is a clear public interest in a solicitor being able to seek independent guidance in situations where they are uncertain as to the course of action to be adopted in the discharge of their professional and ethical obligations.

This style of service is of such fundamental importance that it is recognised as a permitted exception to the client confidence rule as stipulated in the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules 2012.

Legal professional privilege is not lost simply because the solicitor makes such disclosure to the Society’s officers for the limited purpose of seeking ethical guidance. Further, such information is held on a strictly confidential basis by the Society and is securely stored (with very restricted access rights).

In addition to our advice service, the Ethics Centre website is another ready source of ethics information and advice. We had a significant upswing in website access this year, from 46,808 in 2012-13 to 68,319 in 2013-14 – a 46% increase. Apart from the homepage, the most frequently accessed pages were:

Discipline Updates Information on the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rule 2012 Costs resources.

Our positive ethics inquiries and website results are due to the growing awareness of, and engagement with, ethics services through the law firm engagement program, high profile deliverables (the Costs Guide and ASCR Commentary) and regular features in Queensland Law Society publications.

Total views of our ethics FAQs have fallen 15% to 31,510, likely due to a reduced reliance on web-based information as we implemented an extensive education program this year. The top five most frequently accessed ethics FAQs are largely the same as last year, with one new addition regarding ‘letters of demand’.

Our Ethics Committee, which oversees our ethics program, spent a considerable period of time developing and finalising the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules 2012 in Practice: A Commentary for Australian Legal Practitioners. The committee also approved the publication of a guidance note on referral fees, considered draft protocols for non-binding ethics rulings and the position of foreign-qualified lawyers, and established two standing sub-committees.

Ethics FAQ 2013-14 unique visits

Change (+/-) from 2012-13

What are the rules about ‘Chinese walls’ (information barriers)?

2220 +423

What are the rules about letters of demand? 1645 +354

If a solicitor is abusive, uses bad language, or makes nasty or hurtful comments, is this a valid cause for complaint?

1510 -271

What are the exceptions to the duty of confidentiality? 1366 -43

What is the law on legal professional privilege? 1337 -110


Practising certificates issued 2013-14The greatest practising certificate (PC) growth was in unrestricted employee PCs, up 10%, which agrees with our membership growth figures for those with 6 or more years’ experience. There has been 2.9% growth in principal PCs, in line with growth in micro-sized firms. Restricted employee PCs fell by 5.9%, potentially indicating more early career lawyers finishing their period of post-admission supervision.

Practising certificate type Total %

Unrestricted Principal 2912 27.6%

Unrestricted Employee 5271 49.9%

Unrestricted Volunteer 32 0.3%

Restricted Principal 0 0.0%

Restricted Employee 2051 19.4%

Restricted Volunteer 61 0.6%

Other PC/Travelling PC 195 1.8%

Limited Principal 22 0.2%

Foreign Law 11 0.1%


Professional standards

This year our professional standards team supported members and good legal practice by conducting a comprehensive review of our regulatory correspondence, formalising our process for developing guidance statements and responsively managing trust account queries.

We guide and support our members

Queensland Law Society provides members with advice on complex or sensitive professional issues to give them confidence in practice and ensure consistent application of appropriate professional standards. The scope and nature of this role, endorsed by Queensland Law Society’s Council, is an important part of our service to solicitors and the community. In 2013-14, our professional standards, ethics and advocacy teams began a process for researching and publishing guidance statements (previously known as guidance notes). The process ensures regular assessment of members’ needs and the legislative and practice landscape for more comprehensive advice on potential issues.

Previously developed on an as-needs basis, review of the possible need for guidance statements is now discussed at every policy committee meeting. This need is assessed by our professional standards and ethics experts who, together with the policy committee, manage production of the guidance statement. The Legal Services Commission has indicated it will participate in this process. The finalised guidance is communicated to the profession through our website, publications, committees and compliance reviewers. Members will start receiving regular guidance statements in 2014-15.

We communicate clearly to our members

This year we conducted a significant review of our regulatory correspondence – the first since the introduction of the Legal Profession Act 2004. Since that time, our templates have been updated on an ad hoc basis, but in the 10th anniversary year of the Act, we completed assessment of most of our 250 standardised pieces of correspondence.

Clear communication to our members on their professional standards obligations is imperative as advice received can significantly affect practice administration and legal issue management. The review modernises the language in our templates, and ensures our correspondence is legislatively up to date, consistent and communicated clearly. Members have since benefited from receiving information and counsel that is understandable, practical and unambiguous.

The review will be completed in July 2014.

Members’ trust account investigations feedback

“Well organised and offered a practical practice suggestion I have adopted.”

“The audit was appreciated. The response received is very helpful in assisting in bringing the practice into perfect alignment with legislative requirements. Thank you.”

“I believe it is important (and appropriate given that QLS is for the most part dealing with its own members) that the experience for the practitioner be a positive one as far as possible, by using the opportunity to point out any


unmet requirements and making suggestions for the simplest and most economical ways to ensure compliance.”

Members’ compliance review feedback

“The Auditor was also a lawyer who had been in practice and I believe this helped, significantly, in the process.”

“The review process was very beneficial and assisted in answering queries.”

We are responsive to members’ needs and practice requirements

Our phone and email inquiries rose from 4506 last year to 4913, a 9% increase. Many are time critical as they involve issues such as trust account management, the definition of trust money, advice on how to account for it, when it can be used and the legislated process for moving trust money. We are pleased to report that 98% of inquiries received a same-day turnaround.

The increase in inquiries is due to our comprehensive assessment of all law practices’ trust accounts. This year we conducted fewer compliance reviews, 294 in 2013-14 compared to 444 the previous year, but more investigations, 187 compared to 105 last year, as a result of this assessment. By their nature, investigations are more labour intensive than compliance reviews, hence the fall in reviews conducted this year.

The assessment is conducted every 2-3 years during the practising certificate renewal period when practices submit Law Practice Declarations and Trust Money Statements. Law practices that don’t have a trust account are ‘investigated’ as there is no trust account for which to conduct a compliance review. We investigated 44 practices that did not have trust accounts, the outcome of which was a compliance check to help them complete the necessary arrangements.

Members scored both our compliance review and investigations teams highly in terms of their satisfaction of our service. Our compliance reviews and investigations each rated an average 4.8 out of 5.

We appointed receivers and trust money supervisors in 13 instances due to practitioners passing away, going out of business as a result of bankruptcy or a determination that the trust account required supervision. This means that law firm funds cannot be removed from a trust account without Queensland Law Society approval. Supervisions are generally in place for an average two years.

Shoring up member education delivered through the inquiry service, compliance reviews and investigations, we presented our annual trust account refresher, which exceed its delegate target and received a 4.4 member satisfaction rating, and conducted four panel sessions at practice management workshops in 2013.

We give back to the community (literally)

This year we conducted a special project to distribute old trust balances from the Queensland Law Society’s Receivers’ Account. The Receivers’ Account was an amalgamation of monies from the trust accounts of firms placed in external intervention. It ceased being used on 1 July 2004 with the commencement of the Legal Profession Act 2004.

The project involved disbursing funds from 31 trust accounts containing 470 trust ledger balances, totalling $239k. Entitled persons and, when we could not locate a beneficial owner, the Public Trustee, received the funds. We will keep trying to locate the owners of monies held until all avenues are exhausted, at which time the funds are handed to the Public Trustee for safekeeping.

The project had two additional outcomes: we distributed 90 balances in trust accounts not included in the Receivers’ Account representing $72k in payments and recovered $142k from instances where funds in a trust ledger were held for practitioners’ costs and outlays (part of their receivership costs).

Queensland solicitors pay an annual Fidelity Guarantee Fund levy which is the main source of income for the Fidelity Guarantee Fund. This ensures the fund is resourced to reimburse people subjected to financial loss from improper law associate conduct that results in law practice default or trust account fraud.


In 2013-14 there were 12 new potential Fidelity Guarantee Fund claims, 71% fewer than last year, with total payments estimated to be $165k with the statutory cap limit. This is a reduction of 27 files and $1.06m in estimated payments compared to 2012-13. The fund paid 55 claims, totalling $1.42m and refused three.

As at 30 June 2014, the balance of the fund was $23.58m an increase of $5.78m on the previous year. The fund’s income of $4.57m is $470k more than 2012-13. Income includes $3.51m in practitioner contributions and $920k in interest.

Legal Services Commission investigations

Queensland Law Society conducts investigations at the Legal Services Commission’s delegation for complex matters or those requiring legal practitioner insight. We returned recommendations on 210 investigations this year, 55% fewer than 2012-13. There were 40 reported instances where the commission’s determination diverged from Queensland Law Society’s recommendation. Of these, the majority of divergence was the result of the commission deciding it was not in the public interest to prosecute. There were no instances of Queensland Law Society recommending against prosecution and the commission disagreeing with this.

Members who are the subject of a complaint can access three hours of free legal advice. In the last 12 months, 97 solicitors used this service. From 1 July 2014 we are increasing this service offering, enabling members to access six hours of free legal advice.

We thank members of the Professional Conduct Committee who spend many hours reviewing investigators’ recommendations prior to returning them to the Legal Services Commission for action.

Members’ compliance review feedback“Happily we are fully compliant, so the process did not point out any deficiencies … the process indeed identified where we are absolutely doing the right thing, which was helpful to know.”


ResilienceMental health is a serious issue for the future viability of the legal profession. If it is not addressed, it may result in accelerated early and mid-career attrition rates and a reduction in the profession’s numbers, knowledge and talent. Considering the growth of the profession in the younger age brackets – 73% of Queensland Law Society members are Generation X or Y – this could have serious ramifications.

In 2013-14 Queensland Law Society implemented a number of new initiatives in response to this risk including:

forming the Flexibility Working Group to research and assess workplace flexibility arrangements and issues, and communicating these to the profession

developing the Resilience Working Group, whose purpose is to raise awareness of the causes of mental health issues in the profession across different career stages, and the steps that can be taken to prevent or address these issues as they arise

launching and adopting the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation’s Best Practice Guidelines for Legal Practitioners

establishing a mentoring program for early career lawyers working with the Law Council of Australia on outcomes of their National Attrition and Re-engagement

Study (NARS) instituting formally-trained Mental Health First Aid Officers for Queensland Law Society staff.

We also continued to provide members, their staff and families with counselling support services through LawCare.

Flexibility Working Group

Flexible work arrangements include any arrangement that differs from the traditional workday, the standard work week, or the traditional workplace. Flexibility means allowing an employee some input and control over how they would like to manage their time in order to achieve what the business requires of them. The members of the Flexibility Working Group represent a cross section of legal practice in Queensland, including medium-sized and large law firms, government, and in-house. The working group’s aims are:

for employees and supervisors to explore flexible work arrangements to provide tools and support to people considering and negotiating flexible work arrangements to empower employees to open a dialogue with a supervisor or manager.

To this end, the group conducts research and gathers content for sharing with the profession through Queensland Law Society’s Proctor magazine. Recent articles include My flexibility story: Mismanaged return from maternity leave ends in resignation (March 2014) and another from a senior lawyer in a boutique firm on successful flexibility practices (May 2014). The Flexibility Working Group also works closely with the Equalising Opportunities in the Law Committee on policy issues.


Resilience Working Group

The Resilience Working Group involves Queensland Law Society members, resilience thought leaders and members of Queensland Law Society’s leadership team working together to review, research and look at developing practical support on:

the causes of depression in the profession steps to address the issue best practice workplace approaches for treatment and prevention.

The working group was instrumental in the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation’s best practice guidelines’ Queensland launch and work closely with both our Learning and Professional Development team on seminar content and our Marketing and Engagement team on publication material.

“On behalf of the Board of the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation, I wish to express our appreciation and thanks to Noela L’Estrange and Queensland Law Society for their ongoing support, demonstration of leadership by becoming a founding signatory to the Psychological Wellbeing: Best Practice Guidelines for the Legal Profession, commitment to encourage their ongoing implementation in Queensland and partnering with us to change the legal workplace culture.”

Marie Jepson, Co-founder, Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation

Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation’s Best Practice Guidelines for the Legal Profession

The Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation’s Best Practice Guidelines for the Legal Profession provide a guide to help law firms’ structure and measure the environment in which people work and the firm’s approach to mental health support for solicitors.

Queensland Law Society is now a signatory to the guidelines, hosting the statewide launch and promoting adoption of the guidelines to our members. The guidelines enable law firms to assess their workplace practices against 13 psychosocial factors and determine – depending on their resources, workplace size and risk profile – the level they wish to attain, ranging from basic to best practice. We are pleased to report that assessed against these factors, Queensland Law Society’s internal culture, policies and practices are already on the way to best practice.

We hope to inspire all law-based workplaces – our 1688 law firms, those with in-house counsel and government departments – to sign on, and congratulate those who already have:

Best Wilson Buckley Family Law Brisbane Family Law Centre Allens Ashurst Henry Davis York Herbert Smith Freehills HopgoodGanim K & L Gates King & Wood Mallesons Leighton Construction Murdoch Family Lawyers Norton Rose Fulbright Queensland Association of Independent Legal Services Inc


Tresscox Westpac.

Mentoring program

This year we piloted our mentoring program to support members seeking guidance from more experienced legal practitioners who have a specific skill set, or firm or practice experience. The role of Queensland Law Society mentors is to help ‘mentees’ to:

develop knowledge and skills to develop their chosen career path clarify their goals and define strategies and actions to meet those goals assist their understanding of how the legal profession is changing and how they might best take

advantage of these opportunities.

The program offers a formal support structure that also allows participants to organically grow their relationships. It includes:

a matching service to help mentees connect with the best available mentor for their unique circumstances

guidance and training for both mentors and mentees on how to establish, progress and end the mentoring relationship

Myers Briggs Type Indicator Step II™ Interpretive Report for mentors and mentees outlining individual preferences

eight formal sessions per annum, conducted face to face, by phone or Skype.

We now have 13 mentor-mentee pairings, which is more than the original target of 10. The majority of mentors were sole practitioners and the majority of mentees were from small firms. We are pleased with the program’s results so far and will assess the pilot for fuller implementation in 2014-15.

Law Council of Australia’s NARS

Queensland Law Society developed detailed responses to the Law Council of Australia’s NARS discussion paper. We are proud to say we could respond with specific policies and practices applied to our member services, member relations and workplace regarding the five key areas of need:

1. Career path transformation

2. Leadership and role modelling

3. Relationships and support

4. Workplace safety

5. Transparency and measures of success.

We will communicate the finalised outcomes to members in the coming year, and work on further developments to help members.

More small firm staff access LawCare counselling

LawCare provides free, confidential counselling services to Queensland Law Society members, their immediate family and legal support staff for workplace and personal concerns. This year 426 people contacted LawCare. This is 24% more than in 2012-13, which could indicate greater awareness of mental health issues, and a year of added stress on finances and employment concerns. In contrast to last year, the majority of members accessing the service, 37%, were from medium-sized law firms. Medium-sized firms are caught between large firms’ economies of scale and small boutique firms’ flexible services and billing methods while expected to deliver the best of both worlds to all clients. Certainly this is demonstrated in the top three workplace issues identified by LawCare as being operational demands, and, in a change from last year, issues with organisational climate taking precedence over workplace conflict. The majority of calls were, however, about private matters with a 27:73 split between calls about workplace and personal concerns.


Developing our culture


Achieved 85% of our ambitious 45 targets in the 2012-13 operational plan.

Staff engagement survey revealed increases in staff feeling better informed about Queensland Law Society’s strategic progress, vision and direction, pride in their organisation, feeling Queensland Law Society has a high level of employee engagement and believing that their manager provides regular feedback.

Average audience growth across our social media platforms was 111%.

Connected 34,578 people to solicitor services.

Members’ trusted counsel

It was an active year for Queensland Law Society’s Council that included a Council election, changes to Council governance and oversight of the Society’s response to significant legislative issues.

In accordance with the Legal Profession Act 2007, Council comprises 12 members, being four office bearers – president, deputy president (who succeeds the president in Council’s second year), vice president and immediate past president – and eight elected Council members. In addition, the Attorney-General nominates a Council representative. Therefore during Council’s two-year term there are 13 council members in the first year and 12 Council members in the second year.

Our Council is responsible for the governance of Queensland Law Society including the continual review of the strategic plan and the Society’s performance as reported through the CEO. Council is also responsible for approving the annual budget and overseeing the financial management of the Society’s affairs.

Proposed changes to our governance

This year we conducted an extensive member consultation process on proposed governance changes for the Society. The changes aim to modernise the way Queensland Law Society operates and adjust the Council structure to best meet the future needs of the profession. The process was in line with the Society’s intent to have an open and transparent member review and endorsement process and encourage members to engage in voting on the changes at the 85th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in person or through proxies.

The proposed governance changes include:

Queensland Law Society will convert from a statutory body to a company limited by guarantee. The 12 members of Council will comprise nine directly elected by the membership and three appointed

by Council. The three appointed members will enable Council to ensure that all of the necessary skillsets for a governing body are available and that representation is provided for all key member segments.

All councillors must be members of the Society. The term of office for Council members will increase to three years (currently two years). Councillors will be able to stand for a maximum of two consecutive terms, after which they will be

required to take a 12-month break before renominating. This allows an improved level of succession planning.


Council terms will be staggered with annual elections/appointments for one third of Council. This will enable better retention of corporate knowledge and increase Council’s ability to plan strategically.

Office-bearers will continue to be the president, deputy president and vice president, but these office bearers will be elected by Council for a term of one year, after which the deputy president will succeed the president, and the vice president will succeed the deputy president.

Council will elect the vice president each year and confirm by resolution the positions of deputy president and president.

The president will become the immediate past president at the completion of their term as president and remain on Council for a further 12 months. The immediate past president will be able to exceed the maximum term of six years in order to serve in the position as immediate past president for the seventh year before retiring. There is flexibility for the president to serve a second consecutive term if necessary.

We carefully considered and planned these improvements, receiving legal advice, examining similar law association models in NSW and Victoria, as well as models of other membership organisations, and considering member feedback.

Members received extensive communication in the lead-up to the AGM to ensure they had input on the proposals. This included a formal member feedback process and form, publishing notices and member feedback in Queensland Law Society publications and on our website, social media announcements, emails to district law associations and policy committee chairs, a fact sheet and FAQs, a presentation from our president on Queensland Law Society’s YouTube channel and content for frontline staff to encourage members to participate.

The motions sparked considerable interest in the AGM with about 40 members attending in person, and 724 members submitting proxy votes. The proxy votes represented 8.2% of the membership, comfortably above the benchmark for proxy activity for similar organisations which ComputerShare, an independent service provider that managed the online voting, advised sat at around 5% of membership.

The outcome of the AGM was that members:

Approved 3a. Registration as company limited by guarantee Rejected the motion raised at the AGM to amend motion 3b Approved 3b. Changes to governance structure of QLS (in its original form).

Voting summary

For Against Abstain

Registration as company limited by guarantee More than 645* 23 25

Members motion to amend 3b 155 225 2

Changes to governance structure of QLS 406 166 3

*Motion 3a was moved on a show of hands and voting included all proxies and the members in attendance at the meeting.

We thank all members who participated in the AGM.

Legislative change is now required to implement the proposed governance changes. We are in discussions with the Attorney-General’s office on the issue and will keep members informed as this progresses.


Electing to influence

Elections for Council are held in October every second year, with all full Society members eligible to vote. The 2013 Council election involved implementation of a comprehensive, multi-phase plan to:

advise all members to ensure they were on the Roll of Members so they could nominate and/or vote encourage nominations for President, Deputy President, Vice President and Ordinary Members support candidates in their election campaigns manage the election process announce the results.

Members received regular election updates through the election website, social media, electronic direct mail (EDMs), our publications, emails to district law associations, other Queensland law associations and policy committee chairs, and printed materials available at Law Society House.

There was a broad field of 18 candidates, from different sized practices, locations and areas of law. We helped candidates build their campaigns through:

uploading their profile and photo to the election website candidacy announcements through our social media channels ongoing promotion for members to review and become familiar with nominees’ profiles via EDMs, QLS

Update and notifications to DLAs and other law associations social media tips, a fact sheet and FAQs free postcards for their distribution.

Members were actively encouraged to take the opportunity to vote and give voice to their preference in the governance of the profession. This resulted in 1689 members voting, nearly 20% of full members. This was 5% fewer members than those who voted in the 2011 election which introduced e-voting. Our 2014 Council members are included in the Council meeting attendance table.

Audit and Investment Committee

Our Audit and Investment Committee is a sub-committee of Council and is responsible for overseeing, and ensuring the integrity of, the financial reporting process and for responsible investment of surplus funds in accordance with the Investment Policy. The committee met three times during the year. It is led by an independent chair, Mr Grant Wallace.

Council meeting attendance

Our Council meets regularly to oversee Queensland Law Society’s policy direction through the strategic and corporate plans, and to discuss matters affecting the practice of law and proposed legislation.

Meetings attended

Queensland Law Society Councillor 2013 2014

Ian Brown (President 2014, Vice President 2013) 5/5 6/6

Annette Bradfield (Immediate Past President 2014, President 2013) 5/5 1/1*

Dr John de Groot (Immediate Past President 2013) 5/5 n/a

Michael Fitzgerald (Deputy President 2014) 4/5 6/6

Deborah Awyzio (Vice President 2014, Attorney-General’s nominee 2013) 2/5 4/6

Rohan Armstrong 5/5 n/a


Queensland Law Society Councillor 2013 2014

Kara Cook n/a 6/6

Christopher Coyne n/a 4/6

Genevieve Dee 4/5 n/a

Warren Denny 2/5 n/a

Suzanne Greenwood 4/5 n/a

Danielle Keyes n/a 5/6

Joanne Parisi 4/5 n/a

Bill Potts 5/5 3/6

Elizabeth Shearer n/a 6/6

Christine Smyth n/a 6/6

Ken Taylor n/a 6/6

Paul Tully 5/5 6/6

Paul Spiro (Attorney-General’s nominee 2014) n/a 5/6

*resigned February 2014.

Please note: Details on our consultancy use and overseas travel are available on our website, qls.com.au and through the Queensland Government Open Data website, qld.gov.au/data.


Our 2013 Council

July to December 2013

Annette Bradfield (President 2013)

Ian Brown (Vice President)

Dr John de Groot (Immediate Past President 2013)

Rohan Armstrong

Genevieve Dee

Warren Denny

Michael Fitzgerald

Suzanne Greenwood

Joanne Parisi

Bill Potts

Paul Tully

Deborah Awyzio (Attorney-General’s nominee)

January to June 2014

Ian Brown (President 2014)

Michael Fitzgerald (Deputy President 2014)

Deborah Awyzio (Vice President 2014)

Annette Bradfield (Immediate Past President 2014, resigned February 2014)

Kara Cook

Christopher Coyne

Danielle Keyes

Bill Potts

Elizabeth Shearer

Christine Smyth

Ken Taylor

Paul Tully

Paul Spiro (Attorney-General’s nominee 2014)


ASX Corporate Governance Principles

Although not a listed entity, Queensland Law Society has adopted best practice governance arrangements in line with the ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations. The purpose is to ensure good governance outcomes and meet the reasonable expectations of our members. We report here on our compliance with those principles and recommendations.

Principle 1 – Lay solid foundations for management and oversight.

Companies should establish and disclose the respective roles and responsibilities of board and management.

1.1 Companies should establish the functions reserved to the board and those delegated to senior executives and disclose those functions.

Queensland Law Society (the Society) has established a Council Charter that clearly outlines the role and functions Council reserves for itself as the governing body of the organisation and those which may be delegated to management. The functions specifically reserved for Council include:

appointing and removing the chief executive officer (CEO) and determining the role’s terms and conditions of employment (including remuneration)

reviewing and ratifying: o systems of risk management and internal control and compliance, codes of conduct and legal

compliance o financial and other reporting

o major capital expenditure, capital management, the investment policy for the Society, management of its statutory accounts (ie the Law Claims Levy Fund and FGF) and those of its entities, and acquisitions and divestitures)

any matters in excess of powers that, from time to time, it may have delegated to the CEO and senior management (for instance, in relation to capital expenditure)

approving each of the following, on the recommendation of the CEO:o the strategic operational plan, at least annually

o the budget, at least annually

o the appointment and, where required, the removal of the group chief financial officer, corporate secretary, and general counsel

o significant changes to organisational structure

o the acquisition, establishment, disposal or cessation of any significant business of the Society or its entities.

The Council Charter is published on the Society’s website – qls.com.au.

We actively fulfil our obligations regarding continual professional development. Queensland Law Society provides an induction program for all new Councillors and has an approved policy and funding for the President or Deputy President to undertake the Graduate Diploma with the Australian Institute of Company Directors each year and for all Councillors to attend relevant workshops, seminars and conferences to update and maintain their skills and knowledge to perform their role effectively.


1.2 Companies should disclose the process for evaluating the performance of senior executives. The performance of the Society’s senior management is evaluated by the CEO at least half yearly in reviewing progress against stated objectives of the Society’s strategic plan.

The Society has adopted a remuneration policy that supports our corporate values, is transparent, fair and consistent and aims to attract, retain and motivate employees to achieve the Society’s strategic objectives by encouraging accountability and teamwork.

Principle 2 – Structure the board to add value.

Companies should have a board of an effective composition, size and commitment to adequately discharge its responsibilities and duties.

There were 11 Council (board) meetings during the year. The president, CEO and corporate secretary discuss and finalise the agenda for each meeting which routinely includes monthly financial reports, quarterly progress to strategic objectives and update and exception reports for major projects and undertakings. Council papers are distributed a week prior to the meeting to ensure councillors are fully conversant with issues for discussion.

2.1 A majority of the board should be independent directors.Every two years members vote for 12 of the current 13 positions of the Society’s Council. The Attorney-General nominates the 13th councillor.

2.2 The Chair should be an independent director.The President (Chair) and Deputy President of the Society are determined by member vote every two years. The President holds the position for one year and the Deputy President then becomes the President for the following year. Both positions are independent.

2.3 The roles of the chair and chief executive should not be exercised by the same individual.The Society separates the role of the President (Chair) who is elected by members and the CEO who the Society employs. The CEO is appointed for a renewable term.

2.4 The board should establish a nomination committee.Given the nature of the organisation and the manner in which Council members are selected, Queensland Law Society has determined it is not practicable or necessary to establish a permanent nomination committee. As required, a nomination committee is established for the recruitment of key positions, such as the Independent Chair of the Audit and Investment Committee in 2012.

Council has adopted a policy for nominee appointments to be made with due consideration of:

nominee appointments to external organisations the complexity of the business to which the appointment is made the necessary and desired skill set of the board/committee to which the appointment is made the level of experience required the appropriateness of the appointment any real or perceived conflicts of interest.

Appointments are made for a term of two years, after which the incumbent may seek reappointment for a maximum of three consecutive terms.

2.5 Companies should disclose the process for evaluating the board, its committees and individual directors.

Council undertakes a bi-annual performance self-evaluation that compares the performance of Council with the requirements of its charter and effects any improvements to the Council charter deemed necessary or desirable.


Principle 3 – Promote ethical and responsible decision making.

Companies should actively promote ethical and responsible decision making.

3.1 Companies should establish a code of conduct and disclose the code or a summary of the code as to: the practices to maintain confidence in the company’s integrity the practices necessary to take into account their legal obligations and the reasonable

expectations of stakeholders the responsibility and accountability of individuals for reporting and investigating reports of

unethical practice.

The Society has developed and implemented a Code of Conduct that applies to all staff and we encourage our Council, committee members, members and business colleagues to partner with us in implementing our Code. Staff are educated in the importance of the Code, requirements to ensure adherence and potential impacts if the Code is breached.

3.2 Companies should establish a policy concerning diversity and disclose the policy or a summary of that policy. The policy should include requirements for the board to establish measureable objectives of achieving gender diversity for the board to annually assess both the objectives and the progress in achieving them.

The Society has developed and adopted a variety of policies and practices that encourage a diverse workforce and promote flexible working arrangements. These policies include our reward and remuneration policy, carer’s policy, study assistance and learning and development policies.

3.3 Companies should disclose in each annual report the measureable objectives for achieving gender diversity set by the board in accordance with the diversity policy and progress towards achieving them.

The Society endeavours to encourage and maintain diversity in all forms throughout its workforce. To date this has been successfully addressed and achieved by our recruitment and selection processes, which seek to employ the best candidate to meet the ongoing needs of the Society. We are mindful of our size, the industry in which we operate and the likely candidate pool for vacancies. We provide:

a flexible work environment opportunities for individual development a supportive learning and development policy which encourages continual professional development to

enable staff career progression.

We do not currently have, or consider it necessary to have, a specific policy on, or plan to promote, gender diversity.

3.4 Companies should disclose in each annual report the proportion of women employees, women in senior executive positions and women on the board.

68% of the Society’s workforce is female. Females represent 48% of middle management, 62.5% of senior management and 47% of the Society’s Council (Board).


Principle 4 – Safeguard integrity in financial reporting.

Companies should have a structure to independently verify and safeguard the integrity of their financial reporting.

4.1 The board should establish an audit committee.

4.2 The audit committee should be structured so that it: consists only of non-executive directors consists of a majority of independent directors is chaired by an independent chair, who is not chair of the board has at least three members.

4.3 The audit committee should have a formal charter.The Society has an Audit and Investment Committee that meets not less than three times per year. The committee has an independent Chair who is not the Queensland Law Society President and it currently consists of five independent councillors and the CEO. The Audit and Investment Committee operates under a Council-approved Terms of Reference document which is approved by Council and is annually reviewed.

Principle 5 – Make timely and balanced disclosure.

Companies should promote timely and balanced disclosure of all material matters concerning the company.

5.1 Companies should establish written policies designed to ensure compliance with ASX Listing Rule disclosure requirements and to ensure accountability at a senior executive level for that compliance and disclose those policies or a summary of those policies.

The Society is not a public entity and therefore does not have any continuous disclosure obligations. A copy of the Society’s annual report is made available to all members and stakeholders and published on the Society’s website.

Principle 6 – Respect the rights of shareholders.

Companies should respect the rights of shareholders and facilitate the effective exercise of those rights.

6.1 Companies should design a communications policy for promoting effective communication with shareholders and encouraging their participation at general meetings and disclose their policy or summary of that policy.

The Society regularly uses video and teleconferencing facilities to overcome geographical challenges of providing services across Queensland and to ensure regional participation. We have developed a communication strategy to foster a high level of engagement with our members, stakeholders and the broader public. Examples of the execution of this strategy in the past year have included communication with members about the 2013 Council elections and proposed governance changes.


Principle 7 – Recognise and manage risk.

Companies should establish a sound system of risk oversight and management of internal control.

7.1 Companies should establish policies for the oversight and management of material business risks and disclose a summary of those policies.

The Society has established an Audit and Investment Committee with an independent chair that oversees the financial activities, investments, risk management and reporting of the Society. The committee has its own Terms of Reference and meets at least three times per year. We are a statutory body and meet the obligations and requirements of the Financial Accountability Act 2009.

7.2 The board should require management to design and implement the risk management and internal control system to manage the company’s material business risks and report to it on whether those risks are being effectively managed. The board should disclose that management has reported to it on the effectiveness of the company’s management of its material risks.

The Society has adopted an integrated risk management approach, with risk assessments performed routinely in the development of business cases and the normal course of business. Material risks are identified, assessed and captured on a centralised risk register. Management reviews the register at least quarterly and updates it whenever new risks are identified. It is then submitted to both the Audit and Investment Committee and Council for their respective consideration and review.

7.3 The board should disclose whether it has received assurance from the chief executive officer (or equivalent) and the chief financial officer (or equivalent) that the declaration provided in accordance with section 295A of the Corporations Act is founded on a sound system of risk management and internal control and that the system is operating effectively in all material respects in relation to financial reporting risks.

Through the Audit and Investment Committee, Council receives written assurance from both the CEO and the group financial officer in accordance with Financial Accountability Act 2009. This Act contains similar provisions to section 295A of the Corporations Act 2001.

Principle 8 – Remunerate fairly and responsibly.

Companies should ensure that the level and composition of remuneration is sufficient and reasonable and that its relationship to performance is clear.

8.1 The board should establish a remuneration committee.

8.2 The remuneration committee should be structured so that it: consists of a majority of independent directors is chaired by an independent chair has at least three members.

Given the size and nature of the Society and that Council is elected by Society members, we do not consider it necessary or practical to establish a remuneration committee.

8.3 Companies should clearly distinguish the structure of the non-executive directors’ remuneration from that of executive directors and senior executives.

The President and Vice President are the only non-executive directors (Councillors) who receive an Honorarium for their services to the Society. Council determines the Honorarium from time to time. The non-executive and independent chair of the Audit and Investment Committee is paid an agreed rate.


Our connection continuum

We connect potential clients to members and keep members connected to Queensland Law Society through accessible, responsive communication services. These services deliver business results and the right information for members to strengthen their bottom line and grow their professional knowledge.

In 2013-14 there were increases in:

referral service inquiries that connect people to our members member inquiries to Queensland Law Society our social media audiences.

We welcome these positive results that support our members in practice, demonstrate the value of Queensland Law Society services and help us communicate our services, and the benefits of solicitors’ services, to an ever-growing audience.

Building our members’ business

Queensland Law Society connects potential clients to members through our phone and web inquiry referral services. Members need to apply for inclusion on the referral list for which they must satisfy criteria relating to their years of practice and fulfilment of professional standards. Of course, potential clients can choose to use a basic search to find a particular solicitor or law firm, however the referral list helps more law firms connect with clients as searches can be based on areas of law and specialist accreditation.

The success of our referral service is demonstrated by the increase in referrals this year. Phone referrals increased by 7% to 34,578. The majority of phone referrals sought a solicitor in civil litigation, industrial relations/employment law or family law – the same as last year. We encourage practitioners to apply for listing on the referrals database (email [email protected] or phone 1300 367 757).

Access to Find a Solicitor, our web inquiry services resulted in 673,269 pageviews, 1.7% more than last year’s total of 661,466 pageviews. This year, we have not included referrals from Queensland Law Society staff in our calculations, only external access to the service. We are pleased to report that, even without staff access, the service maintained a healthy number of pageviews, offering participating practitioners a valuable referral stream. The Find a Solicitor service was highlighted at the Department of Justice and Attorney-General Law Week Display in Brisbane, as a community service.

Communication results speak volumes

Our contact centre responds to hundreds of calls each day from members and the public. In 2013-14 we answered 67,941 phone inquiries, a 3% drop from the previous year. This is largely due to 4701 fewer general inquiries, the result of our relatively new interactive voice response system that has now been running for just over a year. The system provides advice on the types of information available from Queensland Law Society and directs people to online information sources.

Member inquiries increased by 6% to 41,217, equating to 22 member calls every hour. This reflects the growth of valued member services such as ethics and professional standards advice, the specialist accreditation program and learning and professional development events.

These offerings and other important outcomes such as our advocacy activity, media outcomes and other legal profession news are regularly communicated through our social media channels. Our channels increased in take up as all Queensland Law Society staff became involved in feeding in content to keep our members informed,


and coordinating campaigns across multiple social media platforms. Our Twitter account has gained more than half as many followers as last year, while our Facebook and LinkedIn audiences have more than doubled.


Leading our people forward

Highlights of our internal activity this year included training two Mental Health First Aid officers, and conducting two important assessments – review of our policies against the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation (TJMF) guidelines and our internal staff engagement survey.

Mental Health First Aid

Queensland Law Society is committed to promoting health and wellbeing at work. We now have two certified Mental Health First Aiders who successfully completed the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) course run by MHFA Australia, a national not-for-profit health promotion charity that runs mental health training and research.

Self-assessments

QLS’s promotion of MHFA helps ensure a best practice approach to organisational mental health issues as advocated by the TJMF Psychological Wellbeing: Best Practice Guidelines for the Legal Profession. The guidelines were officially launched in May.

While the guidelines assessed Queensland Law Society’s wellbeing policies and processes, our internal staff engagement survey measured staff commitment, role satisfaction and engagement.

The results showed a high level of commitment among QLS staff (81%). An increasing number of staff feel better informed, that they receive regular feedback from their manager and have a good understanding QLS’s vision. Other encouraging results included:

77% of staff were proud to say that they work for QLS 79% state that they have clear goals to achieve – these goals are linked directly to the corporate plan 81% state that they have a good relationship with their manager.

We are ensuring these results are reinforced through strengthening team members’ involvement in planning and decision-making and their capabilities to achieve our strategic goals.

About the people who serve our members

Queensland Law Society has 99.5 full time equivalent staff. This is an 8% increase on last year, an investment based on assessment of service and project needs to deliver on our corporate and strategic plans. We welcomed 33 new team members through our comprehensive induction program and met our goal of 90% of new recruits staying at least a year.

Our workforce is predominantly female, 68% female:32% male. Females represent 62.5% of our executive leadership team and 48% of our middle management team. We expect the profession will be in a similar position in 2-3 years. Staff turnover increased from 11% to 17%, mainly due to retirement and resignations of long-serving team members.

Staff capability/learning and development overview

We strongly support and encourage ongoing professional development and apply a blended learning solution to learning and development. Our approach is to recognise and build on individuals’ strengths and develop skills that are critical to their respective roles.


Given the diverse roles and skill sets in Queensland Law Society, every team member has a tailored professional development plan to build necessary skills and capabilities. This is based on assessment of capability gaps as part of the annual performance planning process.

In addition, we launched 360 degree reviews for our leadership team with progressive business unit roll out for managers. The reviews focused on four key performance areas – strategic thinking and business planning, leadership, relationship building and commercial acumen. This is an ongoing project that forms the basis of leadership development plans that dovetail with their performance plans.

This year, learning and development activity included:

attendance at workshops and conferences such as developing high performance teams, providing exceptional customer service and the art of membership, industry events such as the National Ethics Forum, and specialised training such as CPD seminars, Microsoft Office programs and digital marketing.

eight one-hour ‘lunch and learn’ sessions with topics including de Bono’s six thinking hats, mental toughness and resilience, e-communication and social media, trust accounting 101, and budgeting and superannuation.

study assistance for team members undertaking law degrees, certificates in business and training and assessment, the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ Company Directors Course, and postgraduate qualifications including law, employment relations and MBAs.

annual refreshers of our regulatory and compliance requirements, including recordkeeping, public records, and the Information Privacy Act.

planning for project management and service excellence training that will support on time, to-budget project delivery and high quality, tailored member service.

Cross-team collaboration

In 2013-14 a number of initiatives involved cross-team collaboration that resulted in positive outcomes from members. These included:

finalisation of the Australian Solicitors Conduct Rules commentary – a considerable project undertaken by our Ethics and Design teams that produced 170 pages of content. The commentary will be available in early 2014-15.

coordination of the iMIS Power Users Group that involves representatives from each division helping their team members navigate and use iMIS (our member relationship management system), as well as identifying reporting and other technical needs for discussion and action in the group.

the new guidance statements process that leveraged the existing close working relationship between our Professional Standards, Ethics and Advocacy teams to formalise guidance statements’ assessment and production for members

an effective working relationship between the Advocacy and Communication teams to manage policy issues, communicate these to all staff and provide direction for frontline team members to help manage member inquiries.


QLS staff by employment type

Employment type Number %

Full time 79 72%

Part time 25 23%

Casual 6 5%

Executive leadership team

Gender Number %

Female 5 62.5%

Male 3 37.5%

Management team

Gender Number %

Female 10 48%

Male 11 52%


Our leadership team

Noela L’Estrange

Chief Executive Officer

BA (Hons) LLB MAdmin FAICD FAIM

Noela L’Estrange was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Queensland Law Society in May 2009.

She is a director of Lexon Insurance Pte Ltd and is a member of its Audit and Investment Committee.

Noela is a director of the Camerata of St John’s and a Fellow of both the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Institute of Management.

She is a member of the management committee for the Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House (QPILCH), which operates the Society’s pro bono legal program, and a member of both the Supreme Court Library Queensland Committee and chairs its Finance and Risk Management sub-committee. She is a member of the Griffith Law School Visiting Committee.

Noela has extensive experience in the legal profession, as a practitioner in both private and public practice, an academic, human resources lawyer, strategic consultant and, immediately prior to her appointment, as the Director of Legal Practice Support for the Australian Government Solicitor in Canberra.

She has been a director of public and private companies, a national director of the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association and a councillor for the ACT for the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Erin Bray

General Manager, Marketing and Engagement

GradCertBus AFAMI CPM

Erin Bray joined Queensland Law Society in May 2011 and provides strategic and operational support through corporate branding, member engagement, and marketing products and services.

Erin leads a multidisciplinary team responsible for attraction and retention of members, publications, public relations, internal and external communications, advertising and sponsorship, market research, visual identity, brand awareness and events management.

Erin has also been the President of the Queensland Association of Law Firm Marketers (QALFM) since 2012.


Anne Gately

General Manager, Member Services and Products

MA Dip Ed PGCE MAICD FAIM

Anne Gately is responsible for teams that design and deliver a range of products, services and experiences that are commercially viable and sustainable and which form the member value proposition of Queensland Law Society.

Anne’s experience includes senior management roles in three global professional services firms, including two legal firms, and a national member association.

Anne’s roles were in strategic and operational leadership, marketing and business development.

Anne has experience as a non-executive director of an e-learning company and three professional associations.

Vijay Mavani

Finance Manager

BCA MBA CA

Vijay Mavani joined Queensland Law Society in February 2014 and has overall financial responsibility for the Society.

He holds an MBA from Southern Cross University and a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration from Victoria University of Wellington. Vijay is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

He has extensive experience in financial management and has held senior financial roles in various organisations both in the private and public sector.

Jo Mugglestone

General Manager, Human Resources

Grad Dip Psychology BA (Psychology) BA (Business)

Jo Mugglestone joined Queensland Law Society in February 2014 and is responsible for ensuring that effective human resource and organisational development systems and practices are in place to support the business strategy.

Jo has held key senior leadership roles in human resource management across a range of industries including mining and engineering, aviation and professional services.

Bronwyn Neroni

General Manager, Corporate Governance and Strategy Support/Corporate Secretary

BA LLB

Bronwyn Neroni ensures that Queensland Law Society maintains appropriate governance and effectively manages risk and compliance. She is also responsible for working with the Council and the leadership team to develop and implement strategy and manage reporting. She joined the Society in June 2014.

Bronwyn was admitted to practice as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1999. She has experience as a litigation lawyer, in-house legal adviser, legal practice manager and as national manager of the pro bono practice at the Australian Government Solicitor. She is a non-executive director of Deaf Services Queensland.


Scott Rowan

General Manager, Corporate Services

BCom CA

Scott Rowan looks after Queensland Law Society’s internal corporate needs, ensuring our IT systems, administrative support, facilities and workplace health and safety systems support operational and strategic requirements.

Scott is a graduate of the University of Queensland and has more than 14 years’ experience in information systems, along with a background in accounting.

He brings a strong drive to deliver on strategic objectives through the selection, implementation and ongoing use of appropriate systems and processes.

Craig Smiley

General Manager, Professional Standards

LLB (Hons)

Craig Smiley joined Queensland Law Society in June 2004. He leads the Society’s Professional Standards Division.

Craig provides leadership to the Professional Standards team across trust account investigations, legal investigations, the Legal Practitioners’ Fidelity Guarantee Fund and external interventions. He is Queensland Law Society’s Deputy Secretary.

Craig has practised law as both a solicitor and barrister in private practice and as a government lawyer.

Dianne Firman

General Manager, Human Resources

Masters of Organisational Development and Strategic Human Resource Management

Grad Dip Organisational Psychology

Dianne Firman joined the Society in April 2010 and was responsible for ensuring effective human resource and organisational development systems and practices to support the business strategy. She has an extensive background in human resource management across a range of sectors including hospitality, airlines, professional services and tertiary education.

Dianne resigned in February 2014.

Katrina North

Corporate Secretary

MBA, GAICD, ACIS

Katrina North joined the Society in May 2010 with a background in strategy, corporate administration and governance and brought experience from a variety of industries including professional services, government-owned corporations, small-to-medium sized enterprises and financial institutions.

She holds an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management, is a Chartered Company Secretary, a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Non-Executive Director of Museum and Gallery Services Queensland.

Katrina resigned in April 2014.


Anthony Walduck

Chief Financial Officer

BCom, CA

Anthony Walduck joined Queensland Law Society in November 2005 and had financial responsibility for the Group.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Queensland and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia. He commenced his career with a Big 4 chartered accounting firm before holding various senior financial positions with a number of insurers.

Anthony resigned in January 2014.


Ensuring our sustainability


We decreased our electricity usage by 11%.

We decreased workplace health and safety incidents by 47%.

There was a 20% increase in people registering to use Law Society House facilities.

Our privacy awareness intranet articles received a total of 458 unique pageviews – equivalent to all Queensland Law Society staff reading every article more than once.

Taking care of our staff

The health and safety of our staff is of primary importance to Queensland Law Society. This year we held monthly introductory workplace health and safety (WH&S) workshops for all new team members, along with ongoing WH&S awareness activities for all Queensland Law Society teams. These included intranet articles and team briefs on anti-bullying amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009, upcoming training, safe food disposal and the flu shot program.

Our WH&S workshops covered everyone’s obligations regarding fire and emergency evacuation procedures, manual handling, risk assessments, workplace harassment, equal opportunity and grievance policies and processes. In addition, manual handling training was rolled out across all teams during the course of the year.

The main focus for 2013-14 was development and implementation of the Body Corporate Emergency Planning Committee’s Traffic Management Plan in response to the moving traffic hazard identified in the easement and basement car parks areas.

This hazard was assessed as an acute risk for pedestrians who use these areas and occupants of Law Society House have been instructed to not use the easement as a pedestrian thoroughfare. The only entry and egress point is through the main door.

As a control measure, the roller shutter to the main car park was closed to create a physical barrier between pedestrians, restrict unnecessary vehicle access and slow the speed of vehicles using the loading dock and car park.

As a result of our ongoing awareness activities (regular team discussions, intranet articles and training) and the Traffic Management Plan, and introduction of the Traffic Management Plan, we had a significant reduction in manual handling and ergonomics, slips, trips and falls, and near misses incidents.

2013-14 workplace health and safety incidents

Incident type Incidents reported in

2013-14

Incidents reported in

2012-13

Manual handling and ergonomics 5 11

Slips, trips and falls 3 4

Near misses 0 4

Amenities 1 1

Traffic 1 1


Incident type Incidents reported in

2013-14

Incidents reported in

2012-13

Harassment (from a Law Society House visitor)

1 0

Lost Time Injuries 0 2


Improving our document management

Queensland Law Society has more than 1.1 million files stored on its network. Our data storage is growing at about 10% per year and email storage by 20% per year.

In 2013-14 we commenced scoping and executive-level discussions for a project to introduce a new electronic document and records management system for the Society that aims to:

improve our recordkeeping systems increase staff efficiency through collaboration and sharing manage the complete content lifecycle of documents, as part of corporate best practice and to ensure

appropriate infrastructure support for our regulatory retention and disposal obligations reduce downtime and recovery costs in the case of disasters such as flood, fire and theft that affect

hardcopy documentation kept on site.

Planned member benefits are service efficiencies from improved information sharing and accuracy within Queensland Law Society. The project supports effective document management, efficient workflow, information security and encourages staff to reduce their paper use.

The first stage of preparation for the new system was completed this year with a new file naming convention developed and implemented. The convention ensures file title consistency, strengthens our recordkeeping discipline, makes it easier to quickly find the correct information and improves information sharing among teams.


Privacy duties on the record

Our recordkeeping, communication and business management activities this year included reviewing privacy requirements in the wake of changes to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

We conducted reviews of the Society’s approved forms, other forms where personal information is collected and the Society’s Privacy Statement, Privacy Plan and Code of Practice.

We ensured all staff knew of Commonwealth Privacy Act changes, referring people to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner for information on who the Act covers and what it covers.

Queensland Law Society reinforced to staff the importance of understanding their obligations during Privacy Awareness Week (4-11 May), encouraging them to refresh their knowledge of our privacy policy and noting that, with a number of personal information touchpoints throughout the Society, everyone needed to keep a keen eye on their information management.

Our information management skills were sharpened with online training in recordkeeping, public records and the Information Privacy Act 2009. This ensured Queensland Law Society had organisation-wide awareness, understanding and application of our regulatory obligations. 80% of staff completed and successfully passed the online training modules this year, with the remainder to finish their training by end-September 2014. All new Queensland Law Society team members completed training within four weeks of starting their roles.

In total our four privacy obligation intranet articles to staff received 458 unique pageviews.


Hidden treasures discovered

One of the most thrilling finds of this year came from a regulatory compliance activity. In 2013-14 we reviewed our archival system in keeping with our retention and disposal schedules:

QDAN674 (Vers.1) Queensland Law Society Retention and Disposal Schedule QDAN249 (Vers.7) QSA General Retention and Disposal Schedule for Administrative Records.

The project involved meticulous examination, recording and classification of 11,000 boxes of archive materials stored offsite and revealed a surprising discovery. We uncovered documents dating back to the formation of the first Queensland Law Society in 1873. This included the first minutes, member list, renewal period and annual report.

These documents are now in the hands of Queensland State Archives. Amazingly (but not surprisingly) the documents showed the ethics and professional standards to which the legal profession holds today are the same as those at our inception.

Apart from this extraordinary discovery, the archive project led to two significant outcomes: contents of each of the 11,000 boxes are now digitally catalogued at Queensland Law Society, keeping safe historical records of the profession and ensuring their contents are easy to search and find; and we have identified records for possible destruction in accordance with the schedules listed. The project is ongoing with 840 boxes to be classified and digitised in 2014-15.

The history of Queensland Law Society’s activities will be publicly available for researchers through Queensland State Archives.


Law Society House – a home for our members

This year we conducted a comprehensive review of our Law Society House facilities to ensure it offered the best amenities, value and comfort for members. Located on Level 2, 179 Ann Street, Brisbane, our facilities offer a range of services for Brisbane-based and regional members.

These include:

a wide range of room sizes and formats with 11 rooms and three auditorium spaces for small to large meetings, mediations and events

members’ lounge offering daily papers, photocopying and refreshments free wireless internet audio conferencing presentation equipment such as electronic and regular whiteboards, data projectors, flip charts, laptop

computers, lecterns and a variety of microphone options in-house and external catering.

The review examined all aspects of Law Society House service provision to members including opening hours, cost, staffing, catering and the booking process. Outcomes of the review highlighted:

costs were comparable to similar venue services offered by other member associations a need for additional and cross-trained staff to help manage early and late function hours and times of

peak activity requirement for a catering review to determine preferred and support suppliers potential refinement of internal booking coordination processes to manage activations and cancellations.

We are considering these recommendations for 2014-15 implementation.

Venue use

We experienced an increase in room usage thanks to an active promotion campaign that included communication to members and previous Law Society House guests. Registered interest from potential guests, and the percentage of these from which bookings resulted, also increased.

In 2012-13 we had 668 people register their interest of which 270 made reservations – a 40% booking success rate.

In 2013-14 this increased to 801 people registered (a 20% increase) of which 394 made reservations – an impressive 46% increase on the previous year. This represents a 49% booking success rate.

Booking volumes are detailed here with some registered guests making multiple bookings during the course of the year.

Rooms by type 2013 - 2014 2012 - 2013

Auditorium 337 285

Lounge 7 8

Mediation 322 310


Rooms by type 2013 - 2014 2012 - 2013

Meeting 1966 1911

Total 2632 2514

The increase in the number of registered guests and a healthy conversion rate for bookings enabled us to meet our financial target. In addition, we are pleased with 2013-14’s average member satisfaction rating of 4.5 out of 5 and in the coming year will focus on meeting the high benchmark this sets.


Our environmental sustainability

We received mixed results this year for our environmental sustainability. We saved energy and used less electricity, however our paper and co-mix recycling efforts fell.

Our electricity usage decreased by 11% this year from 492.42kWh in 2012-13 to 435.42KwH in 2013-14. This pleasing result is mainly due to adjustments to our air conditioning system, one of our main power consumers. We have reset air conditioning temperatures to 22.5-24.5 degrees, from the previous 21.5-23.5 degrees, reducing compressor cycles and electricity consumption.

The reduction in paper recycling by 3% from 2.7 tonnes* to 2.6 tonnes highlights our growth in storing documents electronically. The table below details the environmental benefits of our paper recycling this year compared to last.

We produced 67.32 cubic metres of co-mix recycling (ie cardboard, newspapers, plastics) compared to 69.96 cubic metres the year before. In the next 12 months we will embark on a ‘green re-education’ program to reinforce recycling benefits and practicalities to staff.

This year we instituted a food diversion program with Rosies Youth Mission who collect leftover food three times a week for the homeless. Approximately one fifth of food ordered by staff for Queensland Law Society events and by members using our facilities is not consumed. Our regular donations were welcomed and appreciated – fresh fruit being the reported favourite. We will continue our involvement with this program while at the same time measure our catering food wastage to maximise value for those using Law Society House facilities.

Office paper recycling results

We saved 2013-14 2012-13

Trees 34.6 35.6

Landfill 10.62 cubic metres

10.92 cubic metres

Electricity 10,885kWh 11,193kWh

Oil 6.59 barrels 7.32 barrels*

Water 77.57kl 86.61kl

Carbon emissions 6.07 tonnes 6.78 tonnes

*incorrectly transcribed in 2012-13 annual report that originally stated 3.4 tonnes of office paper recycling and 2.52 barrels of oil.


Business supporters

Annual membership in our Queensland Law Society Business Supporter Program promotes our commercial partners’ services to a specific and sought-after consumer audience – Queensland solicitors.

Conversely, Business Supporters are highly valued by our members as their services are relevant to legal practice. We thank our supporters for their patronage in 2013-14 and look forward to continuing our beneficial business relationship next year.

At 30 June 2014, Queensland Law Society Business Supporters are:

Area of business Organisation

Accounting BDO

FWO Chartered Accountants

SV Partners

Broadcast hire Pro-Cam

Information services CITEC Confirm

Investigators/process serving Advance National Services

Sharmans Investigations and Process Serving

Legal publishing Smokeball

Legal software Law Support Australia

LEAP

Printing services Law In Order

Property advisors Herron Todd White

Serviced offices Clarence Professional Offices


Our financial performance

The Group’s consolidated results include the Society’s membership activities, insurance activities (through Lexon Insurance Pte Ltd and the Law Claims Levy Fund – LCLF) and the regulatory responsibilities that Queensland Law Society carries out under legislative requirements.

Parent entity, Queensland Law Society Incorporated

Membership revenue

Queensland Law Society (the parent entity) reported an operating surplus of $1.7m compared to the prior year’s surplus of $1.6m. Overall revenue was favourable compared to last year with a 3% growth in full membership numbers.

Full membership numbers

2006-07 7066

2007-08 7530

2008-09 7781

2009-10 8111

2010-11 8501

2011-12 8761

2012-13 9170

2013-14 9447

Operating surplus

2013 1.6m

2014 1.7m

RevenueTotal revenue increased to $18.5m (up from 17.7m the previous year). Our event revenue was marginally behind last year resulting from a reduced number of seminars. This was offset by increased revenue from multimedia (DVD) product sales due to higher member demands for this product. Investment income decreased on the back of falling interest rates.


CostsThrough effective management of controllable costs, the majority of expenses increased by less than the Consumer Price Index. Staff costs make up a large proportion of the Society’s total costs. Staff are the Society’s most important asset bringing intellectual, legal and technical expertise to meet the demands of the profession. Appropriate human resource and remuneration strategies are in place to retain this expertise to ensure the success of the Society. This is reflected in the stability of full-time equivalent employees throughout the year.

Net assetsNet assets of the parent entity are $53.3m, up from $51.3m in 2012-13. Retained surpluses are used to deliver major strategic projects for members.

Consolidated result

A summary of the Group result is shown below.

Queensland Law Society Inc 2014$m 2013$m

Parent company

Revenue – membership activities 16.0 15.0


Other income 1.8 2.0

18.5 17.7

Expenses 16.7 16.1

Operating surplus before tax (QLS) 1.7 1.6

Insurance scheme (Lexon/LCLF)

Revenue – insurance related 30.3 28.9


41.7 40.9

Expenses 32.8 25.9

Operating surplus before tax (insurance) 8.9 14.9

Consolidated surplus before tax 10.6 16.5


Insurance scheme

The insurance scheme results comprise those of Lexon Insurance Pte Ltd and the Law Claims Levy Fund. The scheme reported a surplus before tax of $8.9m, compared to $14.9m for 2012-13, resulting from an increase in claim expenses of $8.3m. The increase is due to changes to the reinsurance program combined with prior year adjustments. One of the key changes to Lexon’s insurance program was to increase its self-insurance (attachment point) from $22.5m to $28.8m. An additional $5m was recognised as an insurance expense in the profit and loss as a result of an increase in risk margins associated with the increased attachment point.

Falling interest rates resulted in reduced investment income of $0.5m.

The insurance scheme has in place an investment policy statement which provides a framework for managing the investment portfolio. Throughout the year the scheme maintained more than 70% of investments in income securities, with the balance in equities, credit and property. The scheme reported returns of 5.2% from income securities and 16.6% from equities, credit and property, giving a combined result of 8.4%, compared to 9.8% the previous year.


Plans for the future

Our corporate and strategic plans are the short and medium term roadmaps for Queensland Law Society and our members. These plans are influenced by member feedback, previous corporate results and external and internal factors. This year we conducted extensive preparations for developing our Corporate Plan 2014-15 and reviewing our Strategic Plan 2013-18, informed by results from the Annual Business and Professions Study, our internal staff engagement survey and assessment of the environment in which our members practise.

Strategic Plan 2013-18

We have revised Queensland Law Society’s five year strategic plan in line with our refreshed vision and in light of internal and external survey results, updating our previous vision, ‘To be the leading legal professional membership association’, developed in 2009. The legal profession and Queensland Law Society have undergone a number of significant environmental changes since then.

For our membership, their demographics and business structures have changed, and there are changes in the demand for legal services, who provides them and how they are accessed.

For Queensland Law Society, our structure, team members, membership environment and even our office differs largely from five years ago.

Our new vision, approved by Council, has a sharper focus and provides the parameters within which we will mark success. It crystallises the expectations of our members, which are central to our service delivery, and provides direction for our future leadership across all service areas.

Queensland Law Society’s new vision is:

To lead the legal profession by advocating for good law and supporting good lawyers.

The revised plan

Our strategic plan goals are based on membership engagement drivers, as identified in the Annual Business and Professions Study and our members’ feedback.

Our new goals are focused on:

Member participation Leadership in core member support services Member service delivery Financial sustainability.

Member service excellence is the main driver to help us achieve our vision.

Professional standards guidance statements and targeted advocacy activities are new ‘initiatives’, reflecting their importance to the number one engagement driver, ‘Providing leadership in the field’.


Corporate Plan 2014-15

Our corporate plan is simpler, clearer and more closely connected to the strategic plan.

This year we closely examined the content of the corporate plan, determining that 45 targets indicated a mix of strategic and business as usual (BAU) activities. We have removed all BAU activities as they overload the plan, affecting our ability to focus on our goals. We need to have the capability and capacity to meet our goals, and these goals need to be achievable – the new corporate plan provides this.

The plan has been simplified to one major project per goal with each project integrating effort from across teams. The focus in the corporate plan is on:

tailoring our offerings to members based on member value propositions implementing our member service excellence project reinforcing our leadership of the profession in ethics, professional standards and advocacy.

These projects align to the 10 membership engagement drivers identified in the Annual Business and Professions Study and directly align the corporate plan with our 2013-18 strategic goals.


Our future focus

We are in the midst of a number of radical changes, some from within the profession, some the result of external social and economic forces. These simultaneous, interrelated changes will have significant impact on the profession.

Collectively, these changes are ‘the new normal’. They include:

Managing economic pressures with clients focused on costs leading to greater demand for specialised advice and growth in commoditisation and outsourcing and requiring fee structures related to these changing services

Changes to our business management practices as law firm structures continue to evolve and new technologies underpin corporate agility and responsiveness

Human resource issues requiring flexible work practices, management of early and mid-career attrition rates, recognition of resilience concerns and the growing discrepancy between the number of law graduates and available professional placements

External factors that directly influence practice and our self-perception, including legislative and regulatory change and the reputation of the profession within the community.

Economic pressures

Commoditisation, growth of legal process outsourcing, growing frequency of non-traditional fee structures, technological changes and the seven-year post-GFC economic slump have had a significant impact on consumer perceptions regarding legal services. Consumers are increasingly of the view that some legal services can be conducted by non-legal professionals and that when they engage a solicitor, legal fees can be negotiated. These interconnected changes are creating the perfect storm for blue ocean possibilities – new ways of working, new services, new markets.

Commoditisation is the standardisation of ‘routine’ legal processes such that they can be conducted by non-legal service providers and/or at a lower price than fees for specialised legal work. Commoditisation of personal legal services such as wills and conveyancing processes have a well-worn history – as far back as the 1980s consumers could purchase will kits. What has drawn discussion to commoditisation lately is:

the expansion of legal products on offer such as financial agreements the inability of firms, after years of GFC recovery, to further cut their costs – making commoditised

products an option to stay competitive the growth of in-house solicitors (2013-14 saw growth of 5% on the previous year) as clients seek to

reduce legal fee outlays, and resulting application of commoditised corporate consistency commoditisation’s relationship to legal process outsourcing.

Legal process outsourcing (LPO) is at least 15 years old and involves the industrial processing or creation of legal documents such as the large volumes involved in disputes, ensuring contract due diligence and conducting research. It came into its stride post-GFC when in-house counsel budgets tightened. It is now reportedly a $1 billion/year industry in India, although there are a number of local firms that facilitate these services as well. Firms in Queensland are taking advantage of the proliferation of LPO services, with smaller practices outsourcing administrative tasks to the Philippines, where dictation can be processed overnight in Manila.

Of course, LPO leads to greater commoditisation of legal services which in turn leads to recalibration of how clients perceive legal services and costs. King & Wood Mallesons’ annual Compass report, based on in-house counsel survey results, this year showed fee structures based on fixed and capped fees were the most common change to external counsel briefs. The argument for these changes has been reduced budgets for in-house


teams supported by greater client negotiating power in a leaner market. However, for external counsel, fixed fees may not mean reduced law firm revenue. In a 2013 survey of practitioners Thomson Reuters found 56% of those who manually track billable time underestimated their hours. Moving to a fixed price model may increase law firm income due to greater certainty that hours worked will be billed.

Interlinked with commoditisation, LPO and fixed fees are changes in legal practice technology – its rate of adoption, and growing sophistication and efficiencies. Technology enables the legal profession to be more accessible, accountable and transparent to clients. For example, there is a growing trend to adopt inter-organisational systems, so clients such as banks and in-house lawyers can log on and see the progress of their legal work in real time. The Commonwealth Bank’s Legal Market Pulse report for the March 2014 quarter found 76% of respondents from large and mid-size firms will invest in new technologies in the next 12 months. Interestingly, despite reports from technology service providers of Australian law firms lagging in new technology take up, the Pulse survey showed the majority of practitioners believe Australian law firms adopt technology at the same pace as, or faster than, other countries.

Business management practices

Changes in legal service providers and products, and how services are delivered and billed, has opened the door to different practice structures. There is growth in boutique firms, usually defined as ‘micro’ practices of 2-5 solicitors, which specialise in specific areas of law for example, intellectual property, taxation, agribusiness or planning and environment. These firms are becoming an attraction for lawyers, with mid-careers able to receive more ‘face time’ with clients and faster professional advancement than they might in a large firm, despite comparatively lower salaries. According to Thomson Reuters research this year, the turn towards specialisation is in response to commoditisation. Legal practitioners are realising they need to differentiate their technical strengths from ‘bread and butter’ legal services. This year we saw former large law firm partners open Brisbane boutiques, some of whom ventured into a new type of practice.

There is a growing trend for firms to institute new ways of working and relating to clients such as removing billable hours – billing work instead on a fixed fee or project basis, seconding staff to clients and/or creating a flexible, remote work environment in lieu of the daily office routine. Alternatively-structured law firm AdventBalance opened a Brisbane office in February and established firms such as Sparke Helmore are also applying alternate fee structures. Recognition of the trend is evidenced by the Productivity Commission’s Access to Justice Inquiry this year that included queries on legal professionals’ billing arrangements. In its submission, the Law Council of Australia recognised the benefit of ‘unbundled’ legal services (where legal support is provided for a specific aspect of a matter) in making services affordable for people who do not quality for legal aid. The Bar Association of Queensland also noted the number of Brisbane solicitors’ firms that ‘sought to offer flat fee arrangements for their clients’.

We predict more firms will adopt various iterations of these new structures resulting from clients’ negotiating power, technology improvements that support remote access and the gradual move away from solicitors performing ‘routinised’ legal work towards the need for demonstrating flexibility and specialisation. Examination of alternate billing practices forms part of Queensland Law Society’s practice management courses and there is a dedicated section of our website that provides members with advice on fixed fees and commoditisation.

Human resource issues

The increasing popularity of adaptable practice structures and billing arrangements aligns with the need for flexible, balanced work practices as the number of female solicitors in Queensland is set to overtake the number of males in a few years, and the majority of women are Gen Y – the age bracket which suffers from the highest attrition. The Law Council of Australia’s National Attrition and Re-engagement Study found one in three women were considering changing careers in the next five years and that managing career and family demands was not only difficult, but a source of discrimination. We expect this to change through proactive, ongoing support initiatives such as those Queensland Law Society delivered this year and as a natural result of demographic change as more women attain decision-making partnership positions.


As mentioned in the President’s review, there are concerns about the discrepancy between the number of law graduates and available placements with some universities’ undergraduate enrolments increasing at twice the rate of other courses. This year The Australian Financial Review analysed law graduate numbers with the results showing a 330% increase in post-graduate completions between 2001 and 2012. Competition for employment is evidenced by both the 12,000 graduates that annually enter a national market of 60,000 solicitors, and the 4.5% drop in law graduates finding full-time employment in 2013 to 78.5%. The issue is exacerbated by commoditisation and LPO as law firms refer simpler legal tasks, historically reserved for graduates, to external agencies.

It is expected the graduate volume will continue to increase, although planned federal government changes to student tertiary fee contributions, and the structure of degree costs may slow growth in 2016. The Grattan Institute stated annual fees for a law degree could rise, on average, from $9792 a year to $37,831 a year – a 25% increase. However, it would not be a healthy situation for the future of the profession if able and passionate law students were dissuaded by degree costs. Queensland Law Society supports law students seeking employment through our annual Legal Careers Expo, and offers resilience and mentoring services to early career lawyers. We expect the need for these services to continue to increase for at least the next two years.

External factors

The last 12 months was a year of significant legislative change with 70 pieces of state legislation receiving assent in 2013-14, compared to 62 the previous year. The coming year will likely bring further criminal law change resulting from the parliamentary inquiry into criminal activity. We can expect the ongoing dismantling of the Property Agents & Motor Dealers Act and potential insurance changes resulting from the National Injury Insurance Scheme. Our 26 policy committees will continue to analyse proposed changes and present submissions to government, providing advice on legislative issues and unintended consequences. Our aim is to ensure laws are fair and just for our members and the community. In publicly communicating our advocacy efforts we also strengthen positive public perceptions of the profession as objective experts who, for the common good, volunteer advice to government on proposed laws, particularly their practical implications, and highlight any unexpected consequences.

These interconnected trends will see the Queensland legal profession shift into a more efficient, nimble and specialist profession – necessary traits in times of ongoing legislative change. Queensland Law Society is committed to supporting the profession through this period of great change in practice. We will monitor trends, update professional development and practice management content and tailor our service offering to ensure we not only keep pace with, but move ahead of and anticipate, members’ needs. In doing so, we maximise our ability to be as efficient, nimble and specialist as our members.


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