Lawyer stands up against legal aid cuts
Australia’s attorney-general George Brandis made a statement on Friday in response to a 2014 report calling for additional funding to offset cuts in every state and territory in recent years, which have denied people of legal representation.
Mr Brandis said: "The Australian government is committed to doing what it can to increase funding levels for legal assistance in a tight fiscal environment.”
The federal government’s position has been criticized by co-chair of the Law Council of Australia’s campaign on access to justice, David Neal SC. He told The Age: "Budgets are about priorities, and for this and previous governments, equality before the law has no priority." Lawyers are set to stage rallies across Australia.
Norton Rose Fulbright hires 1 partner, promotes 6 in Australia
The partner headcount at Norton Rose Fulbright in Australia has been boosted by 7. The firm has hired Samantha Kelly from
DLA Piper where she was a senior insurance partner. She will be based in Sydney and her appointment follows that of former
DLA Piper colleague Jacques Jacob in March.
NRF has also announced its latest round of promotions with 6 new Aussie partners among the 39 globally. They are: Jeffrey Black (financial restructuring & insolvency), and Meriel Steadman (litigation) in Perth; Ben Davis (litigation) in Melbourne; and Georgina Hey (IP), John Moran (insurance) and Tim Mornane (banking & finance) in Sydney.
Academics call for stronger bonds between lawyers, engineers
With the world increasingly tech-driven, two academics from very different disciplines want greater co-operation. Lawyers and engineers should work together say Julio M. Ottino, dean of America’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and Daniel B. Rodriguez, dean of the Pritzker School of Law, at Northwestern University.
The academics say that innovation in technology is opening up an “endless list of legal issues” and that as lawyers and engineers meet at university, education is where the stronger bonds should be formed.
Writing at chronicle.com they call for an expansion of the burgeoning mixed-learning of lawyers and engineers; ensuring that lawyers understand innovation and engineers understand risk management.
The deans conclude that for the innovation ecosystem to thrive “the engineering/law divide must be bridged by a more nuanced approach to educating lawyers and engineers.”
