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Where am I now? Lawlink > Supreme Court > Speeches > Admission of Legal Practitioners (May 2005)
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Admission of Legal Practitioners (May 2005)
THE SUPREME COURT
OF NEW SOUTH WALES
BANCO COURT
Mason P
Young CJ in Eq
Sully J
Hamilton J
Bell J
McDougall J
Latham J
Friday 27 May 2005
ADMISSION OF LEGAL PRACTITIONERS
MASON P: The formal part of these proceedings is over, but before the Court adjourns, I wish to congratulate and welcome the new legal practitioners.
You are to be congratulated individually for the effort that has seen you here today commence as a legal practitioner in this State. It has involved a period of lengthy study and practical training. You are entitled to be proud of your achievements, just as your family and friends who are gathered here are also entitled to be proud of you.
The Chief Justice is unable to sit this morning. The Court sitting is the Full Court of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. On my right is Justice Hodgson; on my left, Justice Barrett. The Court sitting is the Full Court of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
It is necessary and fitting that admission to practice occurs by virtue of an order made by the Supreme Court of New South Wales in proceedings such as this. Apart from its formal role, this proceeding is a symbolic representation of the function of the Supreme Court in setting and maintaining standards of legal practice. It reminds the new legal practitioners, and the older ones, and the wider communities with which you are involved, that legal practitioners have duties to the Court that are paramount.
Among the obligations you owe to the Court are: a duty of full disclosure of the relevant law; a duty of candour not to mislead the Court as to any of the facts or to knowingly permit your client to do so; a duty not to permit commencement or continuance of any baseless proceedings; a duty to exercise care before making an allegation of misconduct against any person and to test any instructions you might receive from your client in that regard; a duty not to assist in any form of improper conduct; and a duty to conduct cases efficiently and expeditiously.
The performance of these duties may, on some occasions, conflict with your client's interests or, indeed, his or her enthusiasms. Nevertheless, they are obligations of a professional character that you owe to the Court.
I mentioned wider communities and there are necessarily obligations and relationships involved towards those wider communities. First and foremost are the clients whom you will be called upon to serve with undivided loyalty and commitment. As well, there are the clients who perhaps may not have the funds of your regular clients for whom you may be called upon to give access to justice by making your services available free of charge. There is the community of your fellow practitioners to whom you owe duties of honesty, courtesy and cooperation. There is the community of the public. Your duty to use your legal skills is one that involves applying them in a way which is consistent with your other obligations to serve the public good.
As you enter various niches in the legal profession, you will experience considerable pressure to conform to the cultures of the firm, the set of chambers, the government department, the faculty. This collective embrace is appropriate insofar as it educates, encourages and helps maintain proper professional standards. But never forget that you are a person first and a lawyer second. As individuals, you have the opportunity to project your values and your ideals into your chosen calling. Conversely, your personal well-being and the integrity of your life and belief system are vital to your ability to function as a legal practitioner.
The law is a demanding and exacting profession, but do not let it squeeze out your relationships with communities beyond the law and with those near and dear to you. Your professional life is important, but it is only a part of your wider calling.
It was said of Samuel Johnson's biographer Boswell that his father was a very closed and bookish man. The father was a busy barrister who was appointed a Judge in Scotland in 1754 when Boswell was 14. Throughout his life Boswell had a particularly fond memory of a day spent fishing with his father when he had been a small boy. We would now refer to this as "quality time" in a parent-child relationship. For Boswell it must have been a rare event whose memory remained with him into adulthood. After the father's death, Boswell came upon his diary and was able to turn up the entry of the happy day spent fishing. Sadly the father's note read something like this, "Unable to do any reading. Day wholly wasted fishing with son".
I want to finish on a more positive and happy note. This is a memorable occasion, a happy one and, as I have indicated, one in which you have every reason to be proud and thankful, just as your friends and family here have every reason to be proud of you and thankful that you have reached this stage of your career.
Once again, I congratulate and welcome you to the profession.
The Court will now adjourn.
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