Making news this week a new report has revealed NewLaw businesses are failing to access the in-house market, a leading commercial firm farewelled its longest-serving managing partner and a young commercial litigation lawyer has honoured a prominent female judge.
The 2016 ACC Australia Trends Survey found that the number of in-house counsels who have recently used a NewLaw businesses has dropped from 18% last year to just 14% this year.
This could be problematic, according to ACC president Gillian Wong, who told
Australasian Lawyer in-house legal teams may be missing out on the substantial benefits NewLaw businesses can offer.
“Many of the services NewLaw businesses provide are tailored to delivering a more efficient and cost-effective way of managing legal work, which is something many in-house counsel are seeking,” she said.
After nine years in the position,
DibbsBarker’s longest serving managing partner, Alan McArthur, has announced he will be moving on from the firm.
“I have enjoyed so much about my time with DibbsBarker, but most gratifying of all has been to see the growth of a great team in an environment that is warm, collegiate and truly unique during a period of enormous change and opportunity for the legal profession,” McArthur said.
McArthur and DibbsBarker have remained tight-lipped, however, on whether he will be moving to another law firm.
Finally, 24-year-old commercial litigation lawyer Megan Shine hopes to be the next Archibald Prize winner with
her portrait of Queensland’s top female justice and president of the Queensland Court of Appeal, Margaret McMurdo AC.
Shine, who studied art through law school, said it was McMurdo who inspired her to enter a career in the legal profession.
“When I was searching for an Archibald Prize subject she just instantly came to mind,” Shine told the ABC of her choice of subject.
“I emailed her and she kindly agreed to sit for me, which is great.”
Using a layering technique, Shine’s painting depicts McMurdo in a natural pose, a stance the pair decided upon after trying numerous poses.
