Type | Bar association |
---|---|
Region served | Australia |
The Australian Bar Association (ABA) is the peak body representing more than 6,000 barristers throughout Australia.
The ABA was established in 1963 to serve, promote and represent its members, and advocate for fair and equal justice for all. [1] The ABA's members are barristers registered to practise law in Australia and who are also members of a State or Territory Bar Association. [2]
Its purpose is to promote the administration of justice, the rule of law and the excellence of the Bar. The ABA supports its members and the community by delivering services to promote the rule of law and access to justice; fostering a collegiate, inclusive and diverse national association of barristers; maintaining and enhancing professional standards; and providing opportunities for members to enhance professional performance. [3]
The current president of the ABA is Peter Dunning (Queensland). Roisin Annesley and Dominic Toomey are vice-presidents, Andrew Muller is treasurer and Ian Robertson is chair of the Advocacy Training Council. [4]
The ABA's constituent Bar Associations are:
The previous six presidents [11] of the ABA are:
President | State | Year |
---|---|---|
Fiona McLeod | Victoria | 2015 |
Patrick O'Sullivan | South Australia | 2016 |
E William Alstergren | Victoria | 2017 |
Noel Hutley | New South Wales | 2018 |
Jennifer Batrouney | Victoria | 2019 |
Matthew Howard | Western Australia | 2020, 2021 |
Matt Collins | Victoria | 2022 |
A number of previous presidents of the ABA have subsequently been appointed to Federal and State Courts and Tribunals.
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching the law and giving legal opinions.
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to practise there as such. For example, in England and Wales a solicitor is admitted to practise under the provisions of the Solicitors Act 1974. With some exceptions, practising solicitors must possess a practising certificate. There are many more solicitors than barristers in England; they undertake the general aspects of giving legal advice and conducting legal proceedings.
In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth realms, a King's Counsel is a lawyer appointed by the state as a senior advocate or barrister with a high degree of skill and experience in the law. When the reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Queen's Counsel (QC).
Pro bono publico, usually shortened to pro bono, is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who are unable to afford them. More recently, the term is used to describe specialist services provided by any professional free of charge to an individual or community.
A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separate the area in which court business is done from the viewing area for the general public.
A law society is an association of lawyers with a regulatory role that includes the right to supervise the training, qualifications, and conduct of lawyers. Where there is a distinction between barristers and solicitors, solicitors are regulated by the law societies and barristers by a separate bar council.
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to the bar". "The bar" is now used as a collective noun for barristers, but literally referred to the wooden barrier in old courtrooms, which separated the often crowded public area at the rear from the space near the judges reserved for those having business with the court. Barristers would sit or stand immediately behind it, facing the judge, and could use it as a table for their briefs.
A bar council or bar association, in a common law jurisdiction with a legal profession split between solicitors and barristers or advocates, is a professional body that regulates the profession of barristers. In such jurisdictions, solicitors are generally regulated by the law society.
The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictions that have chosen to change the title "King's Counsel" to a name without monarchical connotations, usually related to the British monarch that is no longer head of state, such that reference to the King is no longer appropriate. Examples of jurisdictions that have made the change because of the latter reason include Mauritius, Zambia, India, Hong Kong, Ireland, South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Singapore, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Jurisdictions that have retained the monarch as head of state, but have nonetheless opted for the new title include some states and territories of Australia, as well as Belize.
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