Ethics in the practice of law: a profession, a business or both?

Time and date: 5:30 - 7:00pm, Tuesday 20 June 2017

Venue: Ceremonial Court of the Federal Court of Australia, Level 21, Law Courts Building, Queen's Square, Sydney

This, the second ethics themed Sydney event of the Academy for 2017, brings together an eminent panel of participants in the Australian legal services market to debate the tension between the ancient fiduciary-based ethical principles on which the legal profession is based and the modern mercantile profit-driven business objectives of those who make their living out of the practice of law. 

While that tension has long been a feature of legal practice, it has become more acute as firms have grown larger and more profitable (and more expensive to run), a rapid evolutionary process that, in a few short decades, has found its apotheosis in today’s global law firms of +1,000 partners with billings in the billions of dollars.  Some firms have even become listed companies, a significant legal development that has imposed additional layers of duties and responsibilities on the principals and yielded mixed success. 

The panel will be comprised as follows:

Chair and moderator: Fiona McLeod SC, President of the Law Council of Australia

Panellists:

Donald Robertson, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills and Adjunct Professor of Law, University of Sydney Law School

Noel Hutley SC, Barrister Sydney and former President of the New South Wales Bar Association

Dr Attracta Lagan, Ethicist and Founder of "Managing Values"

John McKenzie, Legal Services Commissioner for New South Wales

Dr Linda Tucker, Chairperson, Community Legal Centres New South Wales

Please see the attached flyer for further details.

To listen to a recording of the event, please click on the following link.