Consumers trust lawyers more than priests
Lawyers are among the best-rated professionals in Australia when it comes to honesty and ethics.
However, the latest Professions Survey from Roy Morgan shows there is still work to be done by the legal profession as lawyers were only rated ‘high’ or ‘very high’ by 35 per cent of respondents. That’s unchanged from last year but down from the high of 44 per cent in 1984.
That means they are far above insurance brokers (10 per cent) and MPs (16 per cent) and also jump ahead of ministers of religion (34 per cent). But lawyers are well below accountants (50 per cent), dentists (79 per cent) and nurses (94 per cent).
Other legal professionals scored higher; state supreme court judges were rated high or very high by 71 per cent while high court judges received a 74 per cent rating.
Reaching an all-time high in 2017 are the police with a 76 per cent rating.
Ashurst loses team of five to Gibson Dunn
A team of five lawyers has jumped ship from Ashurst in Paris to Gibson Dunn. They will launch new litigation and finance practices and reinforce the office's existing restructuring and corporate capabilities.
The five - Amanda Bevan, Eric Bouffard, Bertrand Delaunay, Jean-Pierre Farges, and Pierre-Emmanuel Fender – are well respected in the market and join the firm as it grows its presence and capabilities in Europe.
Space law specialism is set to rocket
The demand for lawyers specializing in space law is set for a boost in the coming years according to an expert in space commercialization.
Space lawyer Del Smith of Reed Smith says that the subspecialty of aviation law is already increasing its ranks, growing from just 10 specialists in the late nineties to a couple of hundred now.
Smith told Bloomberg that “it will be a seriously growing area for the next few years.”
Smith gave the opening speech at the American Bar Association’s symposium on space law in Washington DC last week.
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