International Review December 2009

2009 International Review

Executive of the ILS: Chair:

As Law Council President John Corcoran noted in one of his Presidential Messages this year, international practice is the largest growth opportunity for Australian lawyers. And surely, 2009 has been one of the busiest years for the Law Council in relation to international work.

Dr Gordon Hughes Deputy Chairman: Mr Andrew Percival

All international work of the Law Council is based on its International Strategy. For 2009, the Law Council has adopted a Strategy which integrates the previous “principles” approach under six focused strategic goals. These goals are to:

Treasurer: Mr Glenn Ferguson Members:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Dr Wolfgang Babeck Mr Ross Becroft Mr Fred Chilton Ms Maria Jockel Ms June McPhie

Improve access to overseas markets for Australian lawyers Develop institutional linkages for the Law Council Promote and uphold the rule of law Engage in international capacity building activities Participate in policy formulation by Government Work with Law Council constituent bodies to implement the International Strategy

In accordance with this Strategy, Law Council delegations have participated in roundtables, meetings and conferences throughout 2009. Law Council delegations have travelled to Japan; South Korea; Malaysia; Hong Kong; Vietnam and Europe. During these visits, Memoranda of Understanding have been re-affirmed with the Japanese Federation of Bar Associations and with the Korean Bar Association. The Law Council has further received various delegations at the Secretariat in Canberra. The Law Council has also continued to discuss the opening of legal markets with counterparts in Malaysia and India.

Ms Mary Macken Mr Iain Sandford Prof Jeff Waincymer Executive Officers Ms Margery Nicoll Mr Hendryk Flaegel

Inside this issue USA

p2

China

p3

Japan

p4

Europe

p5

Trade Law

p6

Immigration Law

p7

Human Rights

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International Events

p8

Capacity Building

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Inside the ILS

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Membership

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The International Law Section has also seen some major events this year. The European Focus Group organised the first ever off-shore Conference for the Law Council and members of the China Focus Group participated and presented papers at conferences in China. The Immigration Lawyers’ Association of Australasia organised their most successful CPD Immigration Law Conference to date and the International Trade Law Symposium celebrated its 30th anniversary this year. The ILS has further created more international Focus Groups to encourage interested practitioners to join the Section. The ILS has also aligned its Strategy more closely with the Law Council’s International Strategy. The ILS has further activated its Human Rights Observer Panel for the first time and has continued to monitor international human rights matters in cooperation with the Law Council’s Human Rights and Criminal Law Unit. This newsletter will only give a short summary about the most important projects this year. However, if you have any questions or would like to have more details then please do not hesitate to contact us. We are more than happy to help! But for now I wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Hendryk Flaegel Administrator of the International Law Section

Happenings

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US Initiative Legal Services Initiative

US Initiative

The Law Council has received official correspondence from the United States Conference of Chief Justices advising that on 5 August 2009 the Conference adopted a resolution In Support of Cooperation among United States and Australian Bar Admission and Lawyer Disciplinary Bodies. The resolution: encourages the competent bar admission and lawyer disciplinary bodies in each United States state, territory, and the District of Columbia (American jurisdiction) to consider entering a voluntary, reciprocal, cooperative protocol with the LCA that, consistent with the proposed protocol attached to this resolution, calls for establishing a process for providing information regarding: 1. The key elements of the American jurisdiction’s legislation, professional rules, admission rules, rules relating to practicing certificates and other requirements related to admission to practice and lawyer discipline; 2. The qualifications and professional standing of and the status of any disciplinary proceedings involving a lawyer admitted in the American jurisdiction upon the request of the LCA; 3. Any sanction imposed on or complaint regarding violation of a professional regulation regarding an Australian lawyer who is practicing in the American jurisdiction. The Law Council Secretariat, with support from the International Law Section, has continued to meet with representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the International Legal Services Advisory Council to discuss ‘next steps’ for the US Legal Services Initiative in light of this development and events which may progress the Initiative in 2010.

International Legal Exchange Visit

International Legal Exchange Visit

On 6 June 2008, Mr Russell Miller AM, Immediate Past Chairman of the ILS, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Section of International Law of the American Bar Association. With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organisation in the world. The Section of International Law has over 24,000 members in 90 countries and has more than 60 committees, task forces, and working groups devoted to geographic and substantive legal interests, monitoring and disseminating information on international policy developments that effect international legal practice. A delegation of jurists, lawyers and academics, led by the Honourable Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, will visit Sydney from 8 to 10 February 2010 for a one day Conference and series of meetings with leaders in the Australian legal community, focusing on convergence, collaboration and potential conflicts in our legal systems that impact on cross-border trade and business relationships.

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The highlight of the delegation’s visit will be a Conference on 9 February 2010 at the Banco Court of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, which has been developed by the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law, in partnership with the Law Council of Australia, the Law Society of New South Wales and the New South Wales Bar Association, and other participating entities from the academic, corporate and legal sectors. The Conference will address critical legal, social and economic issues confronting international business, including the use of international law in domestic constitutional issues, the convergence of international commercial law norms and practice, increased criminalization of commercial conduct (such as cartel behavior and corporate bribery), emerging forms of property in the global economy (including emission trading schemes), and the impact of the global financial crisis on domestic and international securities regulation. The Conference will be followed on 10 February by a Moot Court Presentation on the Art of Persuading Judges. The Moot Court will involve Australian and international legal practitioners, presided over by Justice Scalia and the Honourable Ronald Sackville, the Honourable Justice Margaret Stone and Professor Gillian Triggs (acting as the Australian appellate bench).

Conference on CrossBorder Collaboration and Conflict Register Now!

The new US Ambassador to Australia, the Honourable Jeffrey Bleich, will address the Conference speakers and participants, which will include Chair and Chair-Elect of the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law, Glenn P. Hendrix and Salli A. Swartz, as well as corporate counsel, arbitrators, law school professors and practitioners from leading US, Australian and international firms. Other speakers and dignitaries will include the Honourable Chief Justice James Spigelman, AC, Chief Justice of New South Wales; the Hon Justice James Allsop, President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal; Sir Anthony Mason, AC, KBE, AC; the Hon Murray Gleeson, AC, QC; the Hon Michael Kirby, AC, CMG; Graeme Samuel, AO, Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission; and Tony D’Aloisio, Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. For further information please visit www.abanet.org/intlaw/ilexaus.

China Initiative Shanghai Legal and Judgment Writing Conference The International Law Section’s China Focus Group played a key role in organising and presenting papers at the China Law Society’s highly successful International Conference for Effective Legal and Judgment Writing. The trilingual Conference (Chinese, English and French) was a joint project of the China Law Society Legal Writing Society, the China Focus Group, the China research groups of two of Australia’s leading universities (the Centre for Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Sydney (CAPLUS) and the China Research Centre at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) and two French legal research groups – the Foundation for Continental Law (Civil Law Initiative) and the Association Franco-Chinoise pour le Droit Economique (AFCDE).

International Review 2009

China

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The Australian delegation was led by Focus Group Convenor Vivienne Bath who presented a paper on effective legal writing in contractual documents, with commentary by Professor Vai Io Lo of Bond University. Professor Cao of Griffiths University presented a paper, “Linguistic Uncertainty and Statutory Interpretation” with commentary by Professor Natalie Stoianoff (Faculty of Law, UTS), another member of the Focus Group. Judge Judith Gibson gave a paper (“Judicial Style and Reasoning”) and Justice Peter Rose, another delegation member, chaired the afternoon moot trial session, sharing the podium with a genuine Chinese Supreme Court judge, Judge He Bo of the Beijing High People’s Court, and Professor Stephanie Balme, Professor of Law at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China’s leading university.

The Australian delegation at the Conference in Shanghai.

Other speakers at the Conference included Professor Marie Gore, Professor of Law at the University of Paris II, Jacques Sagot (President of the AFCDE) and professors of law from the leading universities all over China. The Conference was opened with speeches from the Deputy President of the Shanghai High Court and the President of the China Legal and Writing Society, Professor Ma Hong Jun. Following this Conference, Judge Gibson, Professor Deborah Cao and Professor Vai Io Lo travelled to Beijing for the 24th IVR Conference which was attended by almost 1,000 academics from countries all over the world.

Japan Initiative On 27 and 28 July 2009, Law Council President John Corcoran led a delegation to Japan as part of the ‘Strengthening Australia-Japan Legal Infrastructure’ project, funded by the Australia-Japan Foundation. Meetings were held with the Japanese Federation of Bar Associations (JFBA) on the mobility of lawyers between Japan and Australia. The meetings comprised a roundtable on the mobility of lawyers as well as discussions and meetings with JFBA committee members on joint projects with the Law Council including the 2010 IBA’s South Pacific Forum in Tokyo and the Access to Justice Conference for Developing Bars, to be held in Brisbane in 2010. The meeting concluded with the signing of a Reaffirmation of the Memorandum of Understanding entered ten years ago between the Law Council and the JFBA. This reaffirmation was at the initiative of the JFBA to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of its relationship with the Law Council. A copy of the reaffirmed MOU can be found at www.lawcouncil.asn.au/programs/international/mou.cfm. Reaffirmed the MOU in Tokyo: Law Council President John Corcoran and Makoto Miyazaki, President of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

On 11 September 2009, the President also attended the 60th anniversary of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations in Tokyo on behalf of the Law Council and the Australian legal profession. A delegation from Japan also attended the Australian Legal Convention in Perth in September 2009. The delegation was led by Mr Tatsuya Kawasaki, Vice-President of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. On 13 January 2010, the Law Council will welcome Ms Yoshiko Takeichi and Ms Miyuki Nakagawa from the Japanese Ministry of Justice at the Secretariat in Canberra.

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Europe Initiative 60 years Deutsches Grundgesetz – The German Constitution turns 60! The European Focus Group of the International Law Section, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, the National Europe Centre of the Australian National University, the Goethe-Institute of Australia and the University of New England co-hosted an international comparative law Conference at University House in Canberra on 22 and 23 May 2009. The Conference covered highly relevant human and basic rights issues concerning human dignity, the right to life and freedom of communication but also federalism (and its reform), the role of the constitutional courts, social conflicts and inclusion as well as international integration. Speakers included the German Ambassador, His Excellency Dr Michael Witter, the Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory, the Hon Jon Stanhope MLA, the President of the Victorian Court of Appeal, the Hon Justice Chris Maxwell as well as eminent Australian and German academics. European Focus Group Convenor Thomas John and Focus Group member Professor Jürgen Bröhmer presented well-received papers at this event. Professor Bröhmer will publish the Conference proceedings in a forthcoming book.

Spoke in Canberra: The Hon Justice Chris Maxwell.

2nd Australian – European Lawyers Conference The European Focus Group of the International Law Section, the Humboldt University of Berlin and the German–Australian–Pacific Lawyers’ Association co-hosted the 2nd Australian–European Lawyers Conference in Berlin from 1 to 3 October 2009. Conference topics included investment, mergers & acquisitions, litigation/ADR, as well as current public law issues such as federalism reform in Australia and Germany. More than 80 people were in attendance, including Australian lawyers based in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria. The Conference was significant for the Law Council, being the first international ‘off-shore’ Conference held by the International Law Section and the Law Council of Australia. The event was opened by member of the German Bundestag Mr Jerzy Montag. His passionate defence of human rights in the age of terrorism received a standing ovation. Others presenting at the Conference included the President of the Law Council, Mr John Corcoran, the President of LAWASIA, Mr Glenn Ferguson, the Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department, Mr Roger Wilkins AO, and Mr Gerd Nettersheim, the Deputy Secretary of the German Ministry of Justice as well as Mr Hasso Lieber, State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Berlin. The Conference further included an Asia – Pacific Forum. This Forum discussed the rule of law, capacity building issues and international pro bono arrangements and showed how lawyers can help developing nations in the Asia and the Pacific region to adhere to the rule of law and to maintain a high standard in the legal profession. A special mention should be made to Mr Dorsami Naidu, the President of the Fiji Law Society, who travelled from Fiji to Berlin to participate in the Forum. Mr Naidu gave a moving presentation on the current situation in Fiji. Another highlight of the Conference was a Video Mock Trial.

International Review 2009

Mining in the Pilbara: A Video Mock Trial at the Berlin Conference.

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The Hon Justices Lindgren, Emmett and Jagot of the Federal Court of Australia presided over a pre-recorded mock trial highlighting legal issues of current concern for the Australian Government and overseas investors in Australian mineral resources. Counsel arguing the case were Tony Meagher SC with Kate Williams and Richard McHugh SC with Miranda Nagy. The Mock Trial was made possible by Dr Geoff Nicoll and Mr Arthur Hoyle from the University of Canberra who delivered the presentation. Preceding the Conference, the Australian Ambassador to Germany hosted a Cocktail Party at the Australian Embassy in Berlin for participants of the Conference and Australian lawyers practising in Europe.

Friendship Agreement Lawyers’ Association

Signed the MOU in Berlin: Law Council President John Corcoran (left) and GAPLA President Dr Michael Rosenthal.

with

German-Australian-Pacific

The President of the Law Council, Mr John Corcoran, signed a Friendship Agreement with the German-Australian-Pacific Lawyers’ Association (GAPLA) on behalf of the ILS at the 2nd Australian – European Lawyers’ Conference in Berlin. The Agreement was signed during the Conference Dinner at the Reichstag and will strengthen the ties between the ILS and GAPLA. For a copy of the MOU please visit www.lawcouncil.asn.au/ils. LAWASIA and the Union Internationale des Avocates, who sponsored the Conference, also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in Berlin.

International Trade Law The International Law Section, the Attorney-General’s Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade co-hosted the 2009 International Trade Law Symposium. The Symposium, which celebrated its 30th birthday, was successfully held at Old Parliament House in Canberra on 3 and 4 April 2009. More than 80 attendees participated in panel led discussions on the following topics:

International Trade Law

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international trade law year in review;

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trade and the environment, with a focus on climate change and emissions trading;

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developments in international arbitration;

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regional integration in the Asia-Pacific;

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developments in foreign investment law and major issues; and

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challenges in the further liberalisation of trade in services.

The Federal Attorney-General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP, opened the Symposium. Other speakers included senior officers from government departments such as Ian Govey and Amanda Gorely as well as academics and private practitioners such as Professor Doug Jones AM, Associate Professor Luke Nottage, Ron Salter and Damian Sturzaker. The last ILS – Austrade Roundtable was held in Melbourne in August 2009. The speaker was Ms Nicola Watkinson, National Manager Investment, Austrade. Ms Watkinson gave a presentation on Trends in Foreign Direct Investment in Australia.

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The ILS has also continued to co-operate with the Commercial Law Association. A seminar on outward investment into Asia was successfully held in Sydney in June 2009. More seminars are scheduled for 2010. The ILS also prepared a submission to the Inquiry into opportunities for expanding Australia’s trade and investment relations with the countries of Asia, the Pacific and Latin America and, together with the Law Institute of Australia, a joint submission into Australia’s Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duty System. All ILS submissions are available from the Law Council’s website.

Immigration Law

Happenings

More than 100 immigration lawyers attended the 2009 CPD Immigration Law Conference which was co-hosted by the Immigration Lawyers Association of Australasia Focus Group (ILAA) of the ILS and the Refugee & Immigration Legal Centre Inc. The Conference was held at the offices of Russell Kennedy in Melbourne on 20 and 21 March 2009. The aims of the Conference were to provide legal professionals with CPD points accreditation, to highlight and discuss important immigration law issues and to provide participants with a forum to exchange experiences. Speakers included the Hon Justice Mark Weinberg, Supreme Court of Victoria, Ms Robyn Bicket, Chief Lawyer, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Commissioner Barbara Deegan, Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and Mr Denis O’Brien, Principal Member, Refugee Review Tribunal. The program covered complex health and character issues, trends in migration law and policy reform, judicial review as well as role of tribunals and ethics. The Minister for Immigration, Senator Chris Evans, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services, the Hon Laurie Ferguson MP, had also accepted the invitation to speak at the Conference but were unable to attend due to the extended negotiations on the Alcopops Legislation. Preparations for the 2010 CPD Immigration Law Conference are well underway. It will be held in Melbourne on 26 and 27 March 2010. More detailed information will be available shortly. The ILAA Focus Group further hosted two seminars on the new migration assessment policy and prepared a submission to the Visa Subclass 457 Integrity Review.

Human Rights Karpal Singh trial This year, for the first time, the ILS activated its International Human Rights Observer Panel. The Panel, established in 2005, is a part-time panel of distinguished Australian lawyers prepared to serve as trial observers and undertake reviews in relation to human rights. In cooperation with LAWASIA, the Commonwealth Lawyers’ Association and the Union Internationale des Avocats, the ILS selected the Hon Jeffrey Miles AO, former Chief Justice of the Australian Capital Territory, to observe the first part of the Karpal Singh trial which was held in Kuala Lumpur in August 2009.

International Review 2009

At the 2009 CPD Immigration Law Conference: Mr David Drummond from the Department of Immigration and Ms Maria Jockel.

Happenings

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Mr Karpal Singh is a prominent lawyer in Malaysia; a member of the opposition in the Federal Parliament of Malaysia; and a frequent critic of the government. He has been prosecuted previously for sedition, in October 2001, but those proceedings were discontinued in early 2002. They were the subject of a report to LAWASIA, the Law Council of Australia and the Australian Bar Association by Mr Mark Trowell QC dated 6 December 2001. Mr Singh’s trial is still ongoing. It is expected that Mr Miles’ report will be released after the conclusion of the trial.

Human Rights Focus Group Dr Wolfgang Babeck and Ms June McPhie have been appointed as the new co-convenors of the International Human Rights Focus Group. Dr Babeck and Ms McPhie are currently assessing activities and topics for the Human Rights Focus Group. Members of the Focus Group will be contacted shortly to discuss the 2010 program.

International Legal Conferences IBA Conference In the absence of the Australian Ambassador, Law Council President John Corcoran, together with the Ambassador’s wife, co-hosted a very successful reception at the Residence of the Australian Embassy in Madrid for Australian lawyers attending the IBA Conference. The reception attracted a number of Australian lawyers not previously directly associated with the Law Council and gave the President an opportunity to speak on the role of the Law Council and its International Strategy. Mr Fred Chilton, Chair of the International Law Section’s IBA Focus Group, gave an overview of the Conference and encouraged Australian lawyers to become more involved in IBA Working Groups and Committees.

At the Reception in Madrid: Ms Kathy Farrell, Mr Fred Chilton, Mr Joe Catanzariti, Mr John Corcoran and Mr Glenn Ferguson.

The Law Council, supported by the Law Society of New South Wales and the New South Wales Bar Association and with the support of the Australian Bar Association, the Sydney Convention and Visitors Bureau, the New South Wales Government, the City of Sydney and the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, issued a formal invitation to the International Bar Association to hold one of its upcoming annual conferences in Sydney. This year, the IBA advised the Law Council that the bid was successful and that Sydney will host the 2017 IBA Conference. The ILS – IBA Focus Group was heavily involved in the preparation of the bid and has further continued to encourage Australian lawyers to get involved in the International Bar Association.

LAWASIA Conference This year’s LAWASIA Conference was held in Ho Chi Minh City from 9 to 12 November 2009. The current President of LAWASIA, Mr Glenn Ferguson, who is also the Law Council’s President-elect and Treasurer of the ILS, stood down at this meeting and was succeeded by Mr Lester Huang from the Hong Kong Law Society. As in previous years, there was a strong representation from Australian lawyers at the LAWASIA Conference.

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POLA In July 2009, a small Law Council delegation attended the 20th anniversary meeting of POLA. The theme of the Conference was ‘Global Economic Crisis and the Rule of Law’. Law Council President John Corcoran participated in a panel presentation entitled ‘New Era for the Rule of Law: Economic Development and Rule of Law’. The purpose of this session was to focus on the relationship between economic development and rule of law based upon various experiences in the different jurisdictions. The Conference was extremely well organised with strong attendance. Particular emphasis was placed on the fact that this was the 20th anniversary of POLA – and that Korea had been instrumental in establishing the first meeting of Presidents of Law Associations in Asia. The Law Council has already received an invitation from the Malaysian Bar Council to attend the Annual POLA meeting on 27 and 28 July 2010 in Kuala Lumpur.

Spoke at the POLA meeting: Law Council President Mr John Corcoran.

During the POLA Conference, the Law Council used the opportunity to reaffirm its Memorandum of Understanding with the Korean Bar Association.

International Capacity Building Australia – China Legal Professional Development Program Funding has been secured from AusAID for the 2010 Fourth AustraliaChina Legal Professional Development Program. It is expected that eight to ten Chinese lawyers will participate in the 2010 program. The program will officially commence with a reception at the Law Council Secretariat on 25 February 2010. The program was set up in 2007 and is supported by the Law Council, the Attorney-General's Department, the All China Lawyers' Association and the Chinese Ministry of Justice. The program usually runs for four and a half months and includes a 12-week professional placement within Australian law firms and universities.

South Pacific Lawyers’ Association The Law Council was able to secure funding from AusAID for members of the Steering Committee of the South Pacific Lawyers’ Association to attend the Australian Legal Convention in Perth in September 2009. It was also an opportunity to hold a face-to-face meeting of the Association and to meet with representatives from the IBA. The Steering Committee, chaired by Mr Ross Ray QC, convened a meeting on 17 September 2009 and members from Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Fiji and New Zealand attended both the Steering Committee meeting and the Bar Leaders’ Forum as Presidents of their respective Law Societies and Bars. At the Steering Committee meeting, the Committee endorsed the draft constitution prepared by the Constitution Subcommittee and requested that it be circulated for consideration by the Executive of Constituent Bodies of the Association.

International Review 2009

Capacity Building

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The Law Council Executive has already endorsed the Constitution of the South Pacific Lawyers’ Association. At the Bar Leaders’ Forum, the President and President-elect of the IBA reaffirmed the IBA’s commitment to supporting developing law societies and bar associations in the South Pacific through the South Pacific Lawyers’ Association. The commitment of the IBA to the future development of the South Pacific Lawyers’ Association was welcomed by the Steering Committee of the Association and strongly endorsed by the Law Council of Australia and the New Zealand Law Society. For further information please visit the website of the South Pacific Lawyers’ Association at www.southpacificbars.org. Met at the Legal Convention in Perth: Members of the South Pacific Lawyers’ Association and IBA President Mr Fernando PeláezPier (front row, 2nd from the left).

Papua New Guinea The Law Council has received a request for assistance from the Papua New Guinea Law Society to enable it to process outstanding complaints and disciplinary matters and prosecute outstanding matters. Following a meeting in Papua New Guinea involving ILS Executive member Iain Sandford, this project is now ready to be progressed with funding from AusAID and assistance from the Law Institute of Victoria.

Inside the ILS In 2009, the Executive of the International Law Section approved the establishment of three new Focus Groups. They are:

Inside the ILS

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Hong Kong Focus Group

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South Korea Focus Group

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International Mediation and Arbitration Focus Group

Members of the International Law Section are more than welcome to join the new Focus Groups. The ILS has further continued to support the Law Council of Australia in the planning and preparation of several overseas visits. To improve the relationship between the ILS and the Law Council, the ILS Strategy was further aligned so that the Section’s Strategy would mirror the Law Council’s International Strategy. This ensures that the ILS will be able to work closely with the Executive of the Law Council in relation to international trade negotiations and also in relation to opening up international legal markets for Australian lawyers, especially in the USA, China, Malaysia and India. At the end of 2008, the ILS website was integrated into the Law Council’s website. It has continued to grow and provides up to date news and information for all our members, stakeholders and other interested practitioners. The website is still a work in progress and it is anticipated that the new Members’ Only Section will be available early in the New Year.

International Review 2009

Inside the ILS

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Membership and Inquiries The International Law Section provides a focal point for judges, barristers, solicitors, government lawyers, corporate lawyers, academics and law students working in Australia and overseas, who are involved in transnational and international law matters, migration and human rights issues. It provides expert advice to the Law Council, its constituent bodies and to government through its focus groups and panels. Membership is open to Australian lawyers and law students as well as overseas lawyers who have either previously worked in an Australian law firm or have shown significant practical or scientific interest in the Australian legal system. This also includes a person outside the jurisdiction of the Section. For further information please contact me or visit www.lawcouncil.asn.au/sections/membership Also, if you wish to contribute to future editions of the newsletter then please do not hesitate to contact me. The deadline for the next newsletter is close of business 26 February 2010.

Contact: Mr Hendryk Flaegel Phone: +61 2 6246 3726 Email: [email protected] Website: www.lawcouncil.asn.au/ils

International Review 2009

Membership and Inquiries