The lawyers, clients and business of law symposium series
This series is held as an ongoing partnership with the Griffith Socio-Legal Research Centre to bring legal practitioners together with legal academics and regulators to provide a forum for discussion on issues of topical importance to the legal community.
The series grew out of the first symposium held on Lawyers' Work Lawyers' Conduct, where the participants affirmed the need for an ongoing series of symposia which enable practitioners, academics and regulators to discuss ethical and conduct issues arising in the course of contemporary legal practice in Queensland and identify potential research collaborations.
The Lawyer’s Work, Lawyer’s Conduct Symposium
The Commission and the Griffith Law School held the Lawyer's Work, Lawyer's Conduct Symposium on 11 November 2005. Our aim was simple - to bring legal practitioners together with legal academics and regulators to establish linkages between people who have mutual interests but rarely meet and talk with each other; to identify research topics relevant to our shared interest in improving standards of conduct within the profession; and to explore potential partnerships in furthering that research.
Following affirmation from the participants that the process was valuable and should be ongoing, the Commission and the Griffith Law School agreed to conduct three symposia in 2006-07 under the broad heading Lawyers, clients and the business of law.
Read the report of the Lawyer’s Work, Lawyer’s Conduct symposium
(131kB pdf) held on 11 November 2005.
Lawyers, Clients and the Business of Law Series
- Creative Practice or Profiteering?
The first symposium of the Lawyers, Clients and the Business of Law Series was held under the title Creative Practice or Profiteering? It focused on billing practices for charging outlays and issues surrounding litigation lending and the 50/50 rule in the context of personal injuries proceedings.
Read the report of the Creative Practice or Profiteering symposium (185kB pdf) held on 7 September 2006, including the program, the scenarios, the presentations by the four panellists and a report of the group discussions. - Conflicts of Interests: perspectives from diverse legal settings
The second symposium of the Lawyers, Clients and the Business of Law Series was held under the title Conflicts of Interests: perspectives from diverse legal settings. It focused on the importance of conflicts of interest as an ethical issue and the challenges it has long posed for practitioners.
Read the report of the Conflicts of interests: perspectives from diverse legal settings (127kB pdf) held on 15th March 2007, including program, scenarios, presentations by three panellists and a report of the group discussions. - Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct
The third symposium of the Lawyers, Clients and the Business of Law Series was held under the title Unsatisfactory Professional Conduct. It provided an opportunity for the legal community to reflect on and discuss the important concept of "unsatisfactory professional conduct" as it appears in the Legal Profession Act 2007. Read the report of the Unsatisfactory Professional conduct symposium
(183kb pdf) held on 19 July 2007, including the program, the scenarios and the presentations by the two panellists. -
Ethics and Creativity in Billing Practices
The third symposium of the Lawyers, clients and the business of law series was held under the title Ethics and creativity in billing practices, in May 2008. It provided an opportunity for the legal community to reflect on and discuss billing practices.
Read the report of Billing Practices symposium (3094kb pdf) held on 15 May 2008, including the program, the scenarios, the presentations and a report of the group discussions.