EDITOR: KATE.GIBBS@REEDBUSINESS.COM.AU I ADVERTISING: AMY.VIVIAN@REEDBUSINESS.COM.

AU 16 JULY 2009
www.thenewlawyer.com.au
1
Advertise
to over
15,000 legal
professionals
CLlCKHERE
TO LEARN MORE
Grads spill on big-
rm boys club
THE awful ramifications of work-
ing in the top tier, added to strong
beliefs about social justice, are the
key concerns of lawyers entering
the profession.
In an investigation into the
issues preoccupying Australias
young lawyers, The New Lawyer
can reveal that Generation Y
lawyers are struggling to weigh
up the lure of commercial law
against niche areas of law such as
environmental law and animal law.
There is a growing social con-
sciousness among young lawyers,
said May Samali, president of the
law society at Sydney University.
But many up-and-coming-lawyers
acknowledge that commercial law
practice offers a good foundation
for training to be a professional.
Top-tier firms [are] a good
place to start off, regardless of
whether you want to stay in com-
mercial law or move horizontally
to other areas.
US-based law graduate Aaron
Titus is critical of the lure of com-
mercial practice because of con-
cern over work-life balance.
The big firm career track was
the only option presented to stu-
dents at my school, said Titus.
I never want to work at a big
firm, no matter how much they
offer. Starting with the bar, the
big firm legal profession seems to
be one good ol boys club, hazing
ritual after another, and I dont
have any interest in participating.
A Queensland University of
Technology law graduate, who
asked not to be named, agrees
work-life balance is increasingly
important to Generation Y lawyers.
It is just not about getting in
there and slaving away and not
doing anything you enjoy doing
with your life, the graduate said.
Bubbling beneath the desire
for more work-life balance is law
graduates fear of the onset of
depression, and a fear of burning
out they enter a big firm after the
grueling years of intense study.
I am concerned about the high
depression rates. I want to see a
change in my generation in the
work-life balance because this
industry has a very bad reputa-
tion for that, said the Queensland
University law graduate.
Anxiety about the job market
has been tempered by reassur-
ances from law firms that over the
long term they will need to recruit
young lawyers.
The New South Wales Young
Lawyers Committee held a forum
earlier this year on this issue.
I think the big firms have
learnt from what they did in the
80s and were not going to just
get rid of hundreds of our staff
and then find ourselves in 6 or 12
months time not being able to find
good staff, said Louise Jardem,
president of the committee.
BREAKING NEWS: Law Courts get $214million upgrade >> page 2
By Biwa Kwan
>> COMMENT HERE
Lawyers threaten court walkout
over Aboriginal injustice
West Australias Aboriginal Legal
Service has threatened to take its
lawyers out of a string of courts,
saying they are unable to deal with the
consequences of a blatant targeting of
Aborigines in the justice system.
ALSWA chief executive Dennis
Eggington said heavy-handed policing
had clogged the justice system to near
collapse, The Australian reports today.
Some ALSWA lawyers had as many
as 50 clients hauled before them
eacg day, said Eggington. He said its
impossible to provide a quality service
as Aboriginal clients are churned
through with guilty pleas.
It wouldnt be tolerated if you were
dealing with non-Aboriginal people, he
said. But the acting police commissioner,
Chris Dawson, said Eggington had to
provide a specific complaint before
anything could be done.
WA has the highest rate of
Aboriginal imprisonment in the country,
and 3.5 per cent of the population
accounts for 40 per cent of adult
prisoners and 76 per cent of juvenile
detainees, The Australian reports.
>> local news
WE WANT YOUR WORDS
>> CLICK HERE
when you
book
online
Get
free
a
past
paper
Filebands
Keep
your les
together!
Click here to nd out more
Aus behind UK on exit fees: lawyer
A law firm has spoken out against the
exit fees being charged by lenders in
Australia, which it says are substantially
higher in every respect compared to
those charged in the UK. The UK is
light years ahead of Australia when it
comes to consumer protection and
activism, law firm Financial Redress
told Broker News. Disclosure is the
real issue ... Quite often the lender
provides no information as to how the
fee is calculated.
E
n
h
a
n
c
in
g

l
e
g
a
l
w
o
r
k
f
l
o
w

t
h
r
o
u
g
h

in
t
e
g
r
a
t
io
n
K
eyn
ote by C
h
arles C
h
ristian
,
pu
blish
er of th
e L
egal
Tech
n
ology In
sider (U
K
),
O
ran
ge R
ag an
d th
e A
m
erican
L
egal Tech
n
ology In
sider
Learn more about the pdfDocs
integrated document management
and workflow solution for law firms.
Panel discussion on legal
technology issues questions from
the audience.
Attend this complimentary seminar
in Sydney or Melbourne hosted by
DocsCorp.
Space is limited so register now.
Sydney Tuesday, 28 July
8:00am - registration and coffee
8:30-11:00am seminar
Melbourne Thursday, 30 July
8:00am - registration and coffee
8:30-11:00am seminar
20 JULY 2009 3
In the second part of
our two-part series
looking into the real-life
experiences of Australian
regional lawyers, Biwa
Kwan speaks to New
South Wales lawyer Tim
OBrien about how to
solve the problem of an
under-resourced regional
Australia.
As the bright lights of the city
sparkle brighter than the inf lat-
ed salaries and work-life balance
offered by law firms in regional
Australia for many young law-
yers, firms in the outskirts of
Sydney, Melbourne, Perth,
Adelaide and Darwin, say suc-
cession planning is seriously
under threat.
The Law Council of Australia
and Law Institute of Victorias
released a joint report into the
rural, regional and remote areas
lawyers this month.
Lawyers in regional areas are
experiencing increasing difficul-
ties in attracting and retaining
suitable staff, the report reads.
The recruitment problems
have a direct effect on the legal
sectors ability to service the legal
needs of regional communities.
Now, regional lawyers are add-
ing colour to the story by open-
ing up on their experiences.
No longer can many law firms
hire and keep younger lawyers
to the extent that such planning
would be possible.
Until the last few years I had
no concern about finding young
solicitors here to carry on the
practice. But I dont have the
same confidence now.
[My confidence] has substan-
tially diminished because there
are not any suitable young peo-
ple willing to come out here.
Tim OBrien, 63, has been
principal of OBrien Solicitors
in Berri for 40 years. He said
his succession plans has been
placed in jeopardy recently with
the departure of two of the firms
lawyers.
The law firm services the
Riverland region of South
Australia, which consists of five
communities with a total popu-
lation of 35,000.
OBrien is frustrated by the
difficulty in retaining staff as
the lure of the city drags away
up-and-coming lawyers and
even partners.
He recently had to wave farewell
to two partners, from the local
community, who had been lured
by the bright lights of the city.
I have had fairly continu-
ous succession of one or two
young graduates at a time, who
might stay for 12 months or two
years then its back to the city
because of the lure of the bright
lights and coffee shops and
everything else.
OBrien has had to continue
to work six-day weeks to cover
the work left by reduced staff.
The three to five partners have
recently dropped to two partners.
The failure to recruit and
retain lawyers to regional com-
munities has resulted in an over-
reliance on government-funded
community legal aid bodies that
do not have the same expertise as
commercial firms, said OBrien.
My view is that assistance
would be achieved far more
effectively from a cost point-
of-view and professional point-
of-view if the effort was made
to subsidise law firms for doing
that work, he said.
Then you could look to build
your law firms into greater mass.
And if you have got more lawyers
in the firm then you have a bet-
ter chance of retaining people
because they have the comfort
of discussing legal issues with
colleagues.
OBrien believes there should
be more government financial
incentives provided to attract
law graduates to work in regional
Australia, similar to the Higher
Education Contribution Scheme
assistance provided to medical
graduates.
The medical graduates have
substantial support to come out
to the country. They get fees
after hours, they get a financial
subsidy to come out to the coun-
try, but this doesnt exist in the
legal profession.
To read about other lawyers
experiences and thoughts
about working in regional
Australia, click HERE.
Effort should be made to subsidise law firms in regional areas: Tim OBrien
COMMENT & DEBATE
>> COMMENT HERE
Embattled regional rms
struggle with succession
WE WANT YOUR WORDS
>> CLICK HERE
21 MAY 2009 2
Law firms have long
shined in the world of
eco-responsibility. A sort
of green-glow was driven
by client demands and an
eagerness to snap up eco-
conscious young lawyers.
But how has the economic
downturn impacted this
green leaning? Biwa Kwan
and Kate Gibbs report.
RECYCLED carpets, bathroom
lights on sensors, eco-friendly paint,
the list of environmental refurbish-
ments made by Australian law firms
goes on. It is with a veritable green
brush that firms have been updating
offices in recent years. The cost has
been high but the value-for-money
has been higher, they have claimed.
But, as the economy spirals down-
wards, will firms remain as eco-
conscious, and do they need to?
Deacons, an Australian mid-
tier firm with offices in Brisbane
Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and
Perth, on top of other non-Austral-
ian jurisdictions, opened an innova-
tive new office in Grosvenor Place,
Sydney in July last year. Despite the
bright colours on the walls, a differ-
ent one for each floor, the predomi-
nant colour in the new office was a
definite green.
Nixon Peabody, the US law firm,
proudly announced in 2007 that it
was opening the first environment-
friendly office in San Francisco.
The firms new office is a model
of sustainable design, green build-
ing techniques, and a healthy work
environment, the firm said.
Such luxuries are well and good
when the economy booms. While
Deacons, for one, said the refit
would save the firm energy costs, the
implementation was a costly one.
Deacons and its top-tier coun-
terpart Freehills say the need for
green initiatives cannot be ignored
during the recession. Both agree
the pressures on firms to adhere to
their corporate social responsibili-
ties (CSR) have not waned, while the
cost savings are attractive.
Law firms have a major corpo-
rate responsibility to society and
clearly the climate change is the
major thing of our time they [law
firms] cant ignore it, says Deacons
director of business information
systems, Phil Scorgie.
Law firms such as Deacons and
Freehills argue there are a trifecta
of gains to be made in environmen-
tal impact, cost-savings and CSR.
It is certainly a win, win, win situ-
ation, says Scorgie.
Freehills managing partner and
head of the firms environment
committee, Peter Butler argues the
downside is minimal. One of the
things I stress internally is that the
huge advantage of moving into a
carbon neutral space is that almost
everything you do not only lifts staff
engagement, it is what our clients
want to see us do. It is doing the
right thing by our environment and
it usually saves us money.
But both acknowledge challenges
lie ahead for firms seeking gains in
environmental sustainability field.
Deacons predicts it will save
$150,000 this year, after achieving
cost neutral results from spending
$100,000 in the first year of imple-
menting its environmental sustaina-
bility charter in 2008. The firm also
set itself the carbon reduction target
of 30 per cent by mid 2008, the
equivalent of planting 5,550 trees.
Scorgie says Deacons, still one
of three Australian law firms list-
ed as carbon verified by external
audit the Carbon Footprint Report
2008, had made significant car-
bon footprint reductions through
its office fit-outs and environmen-
tal sustainable initiatives.
But, says Scorgie, efforts to
achieve carbon reduction targets are
being hampered by the carbon foot-
print generated by the various build-
ings in which Deacons is housed.
In the last seven years, all of
Deacons offices have been fitted out
with carbon positive desk stations,
joinery and chairs, recyclable wool
carpets, cork linoleum made from
renewable materials and energy
efficient T5 lights. Low VOC paint
was used and the design involved a
lot of glass to allow natural light.
Lindy Mace, Deacons national
facilities and procurement manager,
said fit-out considerations need to
involve environment sustainable
design simply because the fit-out
must last the seven- to ten-year
term of the office lease contract.
Certainly from a facilities per-
spective, when you look at fit outs,
it is now just what everybody does.
The designers will push it, the land-
lords will push it. If youre going
into a new leases, a lot of new leases
say you need to build a four or four-
and-a-half star fit out, so it has been
driven all the way down the line that
it is now just becoming the norm.
Freehills has been implement-
ing environmentally sustainable
initiatives for the past five years.
It has saved $100,000 in the past
year by replacing $1 water bottles
with refillable plastic bottles. The
firm has appointed a person to work
solely on the firms sustainability
management issues.
Freehills and Deacons are not
alone. Minter Ellison implemented
60 per cent GreenPower-accredited
electricity in July 2007, as well as
automatic shut-down of all comput-
ers after hours. Meanwhile, Allens
Arthur Robinson moved to using
75 per cent GreenPower-accredited
electricity, also in 2007, thus cut-
tings its emissions by 30 to 40 per
cent, the firm said at the time.
But as recruitment is no longer a
significant driving factor, and cost
savings are imperative, will firms
still prioritise green over the initial
outlay of gold?
Freehills suggests they will. The
firm is now considering whether to
move out or refit its Sydney office
after fitting out its Melbourne office
three years ago. There are quick
gains the next steps will be more
challenging. They include the office
building itself how to turn an old-
er-style office building into a more
energy efficient one, said Butler.
Freehills decision on what to do
will perhaps be most telling. As the
economy worsens, firms decisions
around environmental sustainabil-
ity will perhaps represent how far
green issues will be considered in a
financial downturn. And then it will
become more clear whether the ini-
tial outlay outweighs the eventual
cost-savings, and whether a green
conscience will outweigh a justified
concern around cost.
Will eco-responsibility wane as the economy worsens?
COMMENT & DEBATE
>> COMMENT HERE
Is the green light still on?
WE WANT YOUR WORDS
>> CLICK HERE