What's happening in Law Week 2010?

This year, Law Week will take to the streets in cities and towns around New South Wales. An open air legal expo will be held in Sydney's Martin Place, where members of the public can talk face to face with major legal service providers. Put on your training shoes and join judges, lawyers and students in the annual Walk for Justice in the beautiful surrounds of Sydney's Harbour's foreshores.

For the second year running the Legal Services Roadshow, organised by Legal Aid, the courts and the Department of Justice and Attorney General will tour regional towns in New South Wales, calling in on Wagga Wagga, Deniliquin, Griffith and Leeton. There will be more talks by lawyers in your local library and open days by local courts.

And of course, the brightest and funniest young lawyers will compete for the prestigious Golden Gavel Award.

Please join us! Walk for Justice on Monday, 17 May

The ‘Walk for Justice’ is the opening event of Law Week in NSW and is held on National Pro Bono Day. It aims to create public awareness of the unmet legal need in our community and to raise funds to support the work of the Public Interest Law Clearing Houses across Australia. This year’s Walk for Justice in Sydney will be led by the Commonwealth and State attorneys-general. Funds raised from the Walk in Sydney will support the work of the Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH) NSW.  Download the brochure, registration and sponsorship forms.

An art exhibition will take place during Law Week at the Campbelltown Local Court.  The exhibition is in it's third year. Its aim is to break down barriers between the legal profession, the courts and the community. Artists from local indigenous groups,  domestic violence support groups and Campbelltown Hospital's mental health facilities will contribute works of art. Please contact  Angela Warton on ph: (02) 4626 5077 or e-mail: awarton@marsdens.net.au

Michael Kirby: Don't Forget the Justice Bit

The City of Sydney Library will host a special Law Week screening of Daryl Dellora's documentary, Michael Kirby: Don't Forget the Justice Bit, on Thursday, 20 May 2010 in the Customs House Library.  Filmed before, during and after his final days on the High Court of Australia, this documentary explores the personal, moral and spiritual convictions of one of Australia's most compassionate thinkers and greatest legal minds.Time: 5.30 for 6.30. Bookings are essential. Free event for library members, $15 for non-members.

Law Week Roadshow in Regional New South Wales

Albury 17 May

AM
Talks in the Public Library (553 Kiewa St, Albury)
Wills (Hume Riverina Community Legal Service) and Victims Rights (DJAG) 10am –11.30am.
Family Relationships (Hume Riverina Community Legal Service and the Family Relationships Centre) and Victims Rights (DJAG) 11.30am – 1.00pm.
Morning tea at Age Concern Albury Wodonga (432 Townsend St Albury):
Planning Ahead (TARS) 10.30am – 12pm.
PM
West Side Community Centre (16 Mulga Place, West Albury)
Lunch with the law: free legal advice for the local Aboriginal community (Hume Riverina Community Legal Service, Legal Aid NSW, Victims Services and Fair Trading NSW) 12pm – 3pm.
Talks in the Public Library (553 Kiewa St, Albury):
Tenancy Advice (Tenancy Advice Service) 2.00pm – 3.00pm.

Wagga Wagga 18 May

AM
Talks in the Public Library; (cnr Baylis & Morrow Street, Wagga Wagga)
Family Relationships (the Family Relationship Centre and Legal Aid NSW) and Victims Rights (DJAG) 10.30am – 12pm.
Morning tea at Riverina Gum Retirement Estate (44 Dalman St, Wagga Wagga):
Planning Ahead and the Capacity Toolkit (TARS, Diversity Services and NSW Trustee & Guardian) 11am – 12pm.
PM
Jack Avenue Community Centre (17 Jack Avenue, Mount Austin):
Lunch with the law (Legal Aid NSW, Victims Services and Fair Trading NSW) 12pm – 12.30pm.

Narrandera 19 May

AM
Talks in the Public Library (39 –51 East St, Narrandera)
Planning ahead (TARS, Diversity Services, NSW Trustee & Guardian) and Victims Rights (DJAG) 10.30am – 12.00pm.
 PM
Riverina Foundation (84 Audley St Narrandera):
Lunch with the law (Legal Aid NSW and Victims Services) 12pm – 2.30pm.

Leeton 20 May

AM
Talks in the Public Library (23-25 Chelmsford Place, Leeton NSW):
Family Relationships (the Family Relationship Centre and Legal Aid NSW) 10am – 11am
Planning Ahead (TARS, Diversity Services, NSW Trustee & Guardian) 11am – 12pm
Victims Rights (Victims Services) 12pm – 12.30pm.
PM
Leeton Land Council (5 Belah St, Leeton):
Lunch with the law (Legal Aid NSW and DJAG) 12.30pm – 2.30pm.

Griffith 21 May

AM
Talks in the Public Library (Banna Ave, Griffith)
Family Relationships (the Family Relationship Centre) (9.30am – 10.00am)
Victims Services (DJAG) 10.00am – 11.00am.
PM
Talks in the Public Library
Planning Ahead (TARS) 2.00pm – 3.00pm.
Griffith Land Council (5 Wiradjuri Place, Griffith):

Lunch with the law (Legal Aid NSW) 12pm – 2.30pm.

For further information about the Law Week Roadshow, contact Grace Illuzzi

About Law Week

Law Week was established in New South Wales to promote greater understanding within the community of the law, the legal system and the legal profession.  Law Week is an incorporated company administered by a board, which is comprised of the leaders of the justice system in New South Wales.  Over time, Law Week will grow to become a coordinated, nation-wide event.

Law Week Community Service Awards 2009

Auburn Library

Belmont Local Court

Annetta Kucharska receiving her LW Community Service Award. Shown here with Irene Sims, Mayor of Auburn City Council and John Burgess, General Manager of Auburn City Council.

Catherine Piper, Deputy Registrar at Belmont. Pictured with Michael Talbot, Assistant Director General, Courts & Tribunal Services.

Budding lawyer’s essay secures a valuable insight

Bonnyrigg High School student Michael Ly, who is planning for a career in the law, will spend a day with high-profile criminal lawyer Greg Walsh OAM as his prize for the winning paper on drink driving in the 2009 Law Week Arrive Alive Essay Competition. The Motor Accident Authority’s Arrive Alive program works with the Law Society to improve understanding by young drivers of the legal consequences of driving offences. The 2009 essayists were asked to write a story of up to 2,000 words studying the legal, financial and social consequences of breaking the law onthe road. Michael’s winning essay is available at www.arrivealive.com.au, as is that of runner-up Vanessa Leung from James Ruse Agricultural High. PHOTO: WESLEY LONERGAN 

 Road show takes legal advice out west

After a launch in Dubbo, the Legal Services Road Show rolled out across western NSW from Coonamble to Nyngan, providing free advice on debt, discrimination, fines, insurance and child support. Legal service providers participated in open days at courthouses and delivered talks, raising awareness of available free legal services. Legal Aid also visited Aboriginal communities in Collarenebri, Goodooga, Lightning Ridge and Moree to publicise the 31 May deadline for claims to the Aboriginal Trust Fund Repayment Scheme for wages, pensions and child endowments that were held in trust by the NSW government until 1969, and never repaid. Participants at the Coonamble courthouse (l to r): Elna Martin of Victim Services, clerk of Coonamble Court Cathy Pickering, Maryann Hausia, field officer of Western NSW Community Legal Service, graduate solicitor Stephanie Hope, Wendy Elder of Law Access, Monique Gorham, case manager of the Aboriginal Family Wellbeing and Margaret Short, solicitor for the Aged-Care Rights. Service (TARS). PHOTO: MICHAEL GRAHAM

Targetting teenagers with a message on safe driving

The Wollongong Law Society attracted a packed house of local school students for its Law Week Hypothetical “Targetting teenage drivers” with a panel of speakers comprising (l to r) adjudicator Ms Jane Healey, criminal lawyer Stewart Holt , forensic pathologist Dr Grant McBride, Judge Paul Conlon, Police Superintendent Kyle Stewart, organ donation coordinator Miriam Nonu, and Veronica Apap, a court reporter for the Illawarrra Mercury. PHOTO: GREG TOTMAN

 Speak-easy

It’s hard times and the tough got going at the Young Lawyers Golden Gavel Breakfast. Guys‘n’dolls, in a Chicago-like recession sweep, learnt the lessons from the crims and sharks and looked to put a bit of team spirit, if not ice, into the legal firm. Wear more cocktail gear and putthe firm back in firm advised Tom Payten of Allen Arthur Robinson (far right), who won for his piece on “Underbelly, with thenew money came a new breed ...”; and Anthony Jucha, of Jucha Legal, speaking to “Women lawyers do it better” was already there, pipped for first place by the length of his purple earrings. Justice Rachel Pepper, who has newly joined the Land and Environment Court, charged the ‘Four Seasons Ten’ for noxious emissions and put them on remand, but they’re an irrepressible bunch and it won’t take long for them to bust out. Look out, world.

 Walking for justice

Hundreds of lawyers and supporters strode off together simultaneously in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne in the Law Walk for Justice organised by the Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH) during Law Week to raise funds for pro bono causes. In Sydney, walkers completed a fivekilometre course through the Domain and around Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, with Commonwealth Attorney-General Robert McClelland, NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos, NSW Supreme Court Justice McClellan and NT Supreme Court Justice John Nader in the lead peloton. The walk was expected to raise more than the $11,500 gathered in 2008. PHOTO: ERNEST FRATCZAK

 Clued up on the law for older people

The Blue Mountains Law Society called in local experts to address its Law Week seminar focusing on issues of interest to older people. Speakers brought the audience up to date on powers of attorney, enduring guardianship, advance-care directions, wills, accommodation issues for elders, crime against older people and strategies for preventing it: (l to r) Blue Mountains Law Society president Darryl Browne, who chaired the free legal information seminar, Senior Constable Melissa Rosevear, Mark MacDiarmid, principal solicitor with the Elizabeth Evatt Community Legal Centre, and John Sheehy, an Accredited Specialist in wills and estates from Hazelbrook. PHOTO: BRAD BRIDGER

When recovery of children needs quick action

“Recovery Orders for Parents” is a plain English self-help kit explaining what a recovery order is and who can apply for one. Launched by Legal Aid NSW in Parramatta and other venues across the state during Law Week, the kit explains the laws about moving, and finding and recovering children, some of which are very complex but might need quick action. Legal Aid’s Director of Family Law Kylie Beckhouse (right) said the publication, launched together with an online resource for lawyers, would be invaluable, particularly for people in rural areas, where it could sometimes be difficult to get free or affordable legal help. The lawyers’ kit is available by following the ‘publication’ link on www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au, while the resource kit for parents can be ordered online or by calling 9219 5028. PHOTO: PETER SOLNESS

Neighbours and the law for Mandarin speakers

Neighbours and the Law was the topic of an information seminar for Mandarin speakers in Chatswood, which aimed to enhance understanding of neighbourliness, and the rights and responsibilities involved. Solicitor Clifford To discussed with attendees how to resolve issues. Among the topics covered were problems with trees, noise, access to a neighbour’s land, development, apartment living and dispute-resolution mechanisms. To was also available to certify copies and witness statutory declarations for participants. PHOTO: MOSHE ROSENZVEIG

 Investigating the other side of the story

Media types were asked to consider ways to address the negative public perception of the law and lawyers at a Law Week breakfast seminar hosted by the City of Sydney Law Society. Exploring the relationship between the media and the law in a disucssion of interest to both lawyers and the wider community were James Eyers (below), legal editor of the Australian Financial Review, Laura McIntyre (right) senior reporter from Lawyers Weekly; and the Law Society’s media adviser Maria Ianotti (far right). PHOTOS: TOM WILLIAMS