LSB September 2022 LR

More documents

Recommendations

Info

FROM THE EDITOR Removing barriers relating to age and disability MICHAEL ESPOSITO, EDITOR IN THIS ISSUE One of the many takeaways from the Law Society’s recent half day CPD on disability access in profession was that disability is not binary. Barrister Mark Douglas, one of the presenters at this session, noted that as a person who was born almost entirely blind, he was actually among the minority of people in the disability community who had their disability from birth. Most people who have a disability acquire one at a later stage in their lives. And the major predictor of disability? Age. The most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics report indicates that 7.6% of Australians aged between birth to 14 have a disability. Between the ages of 15-24, 9.3% of Australians have a disability. This climbs to 13% of the population with a disability for Australians ages 25-65. But among the over 65s, about 50% of people report having a disability. And 42% per cent of people with disability would describe their disability as profound. So, you have a one in two chance of having a disability after your 65 th birthday. While progress has been made with regard to disability access and services, it is remarkable how lacking our society is in disability access infrastructure when you consider that almost 20% of Australians have a disability, and almost half of Australians over 65 have a disability. And this does not include “hidden” disabilities. At the Law Society’s CPD session, Mark remarked that the session marked the first time in his 25 years as a lawyer that the profession was seriously grappling with the issue of disability access in the legal sector. Disability access is an issue that should concern all practitioners. Many clients of legal services are in the older age bracket. It is therefore almost certain that most practitioners have served a number of clients with a disability, quite likely in many cases without even knowing it. And lawyers themselves are, on average, working until they are older. This means more working lawyers with disabilities. When you have two Supreme Court rooms that do not provide access for people with mobility issues, it is a clear sign that much more needs to be done in the profession to ensure lawyers, judges, clients, litigants, witnesses and all other participants in the justice sector do not face these barriers to access. How much better would it be for both clients and practitioners if there was some practice whereby the practitioner would be availed of any particular access requirements that the client had, and the practitioner could accommodate them, or at least have a greater understanding of their particular circumstances? The Society is working on a project to address this very issue, and more details on this will be revealed in the coming months, but in the meantime, I think that a healthy approach to interacting with others is to be aware that not everyone navigates the world the same way, and we should all be prepared to make some adjustments in order to live in an inclusive society, rather than expecting one section of the community to adapt. B ELDER ABUSE The need for reform YOUTH JUSTICE Why youth detention is failing SEEKING A STAY Representing civil client charged with criminal offences 6 18 27 4 THE BULLETIN September 2022
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE The law is serious business, but great to see so many people having fun JUSTIN STEWART-RATTRAY, PRESIDENT After a cold, wet, winter, I hope spirits are being lifted by the extra sunshine and daylight that now appear more regularly. Spirits were definitely high at the Legal Profession Dinner at Adelaide Oval on 19 August. After the strict mask and seating restrictions of last year’s dinner, and the unfortunate cancellation of the 2020 dinner due to Covid, it was amazing to see members of the profession mingle, dance and just enjoy themselves at this year’s event. I was so pleased that the Attorney General was able to attend and present the awards. The Honourable Kyam Maher also stayed on after the formalities to talk to guests, and I thank him for being so generous with his time with the many practitioners who were keen to meet and speak to him. Congratulations to all award winners – Mark Douglas, Ruth Beach, David Kelly, Amy Nikolovski, Madi McCarthy and Professor Tania Leiman. All winners were highly deserving and I thank them for their contributions to the legal profession. It was a thrill to interview former elite tennis coach Roger Rasheed and hear stories about his childhood and fascinating journey from Lebanese migrant to the top of his field in sports performance coaching. A huge vote to thanks goes to the Law Society staff who organised the event. What a great job they did! The venue looked stunning and the night was a success. And of course I am deeply grateful to the sponsors – without whose support this special event could not have happened. But the biggest thanks goes to everyone who attended the dinner. To all those who came, thank you for your support of the event. I hope you had a great time and you all looked fabulous! I encourage you to check out our social media (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn) to see the many photos from the night. A full wrap-up of the event will be published in next month’s Bulletin. At the dinner, I gave a brief snapshot of some of the some of the issues we have advocated for on behalf of the profession. One of these issues, which is very relevant to this “Ageing and the Law” edition of the Bulletin, concerns the order of signing of Advance Care Directives. The Law Society started a petition to remove the prescribed order of signing requirements of Advance Care Directives. The petition was circulated among members of the legal profession and received 878 signatures. The Society presented the petition to the Hon Chris Picton, Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Of all the issues that Members raise with the Society, the requirement that the substitute decision maker signs before the appointee of an Advance Care Directive (ACD) is by far the issue that is raised the most. This is because the mandated order of singing causes a number of problems for clients, such as unnecessary delays in finalising documents, extra costs for clients, and the increased risk of people losing capacity before finalising their ACD. The Society notes in its letter to the Minister that the prescribed order of signing could easily be revoked via an amendment to Regulation 8 of the Advance Care Directives Regulations 2014 (SA). This would permit ACDs to be signed in any order, and thus resolve a number of difficulties with the current regime. The Society has campaigned on this issue for several years, and we will continue to update the profession as to the progress of this campaign. Enjoy Spring! B September 2022 THE BULLETIN 5
Page 1 and 2: THE BULLETIN THE LAW SOCIETY OF SA
Page 3: This issue of The Law Society of So
Page 7 and 8: NEW SUIT ARRIVALS FROM SAVILLE ROW
Page 9 and 10: AGEING & THE LAW family or assets o
Page 11 and 12: AGEING & THE LAW partner abuse repr
Page 13 and 14: AGEING & THE LAW Endnotes 1 There a
Page 15 and 16: DISABILITY Report that police may b
Page 17 and 18: AGEING & THE LAW The most substanti
Page 19 and 20: EVENTS Nyland lunch celebrates powe
Page 21 and 22: RISK WATCH 3. If it involves trust
Page 23 and 24: INTERVIEW RH: Over the years you sp
Page 25 and 26: TAX FILES money was irrelevant - ne
Page 27 and 28: FEATURE STAYS OF CIVIL PROCEEDINGS
Page 29 and 30: CIVIL LITIGATION 2. The burden is u
Page 31 and 32: WELLBEING & RESILIENCE Ageing Well
Page 33 and 34: FAMILY LAW CASE NOTES PROPERTY - IN
Page 35 and 36: CLASSIFIEDS Advertise in The Bullet

LSB September 2022 LR

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?