Colloquium

Corporatising Legal Practice: Ethics, Culture and Structure
Queensland Law Society, Ann Street Brisbane
30 October 2009

This colloquium addresses the effects of the corporatising of legal practice in Australia. Its focus is on two kinds of corporatised practice: those that take an incorporated legal form (Incorporated Legal Practices); and those that retain the traditional form of a partnership, but that adopt corporate models of internal organisation by reason of their size and the nature of the work they do (large law firms). The contributors will assess the effect that these kinds of corporatisation have on the ethics of the lawyers affected, the structures and policies of the law practices that take on corporate models, and the regulation of corporatised law practices.

If you would like to attend, please email Heidi Davie (heidi.davie@usq.edu.au). The registration fee is $25.00.

Incorporated legal practices session

Structure and agency in law firms: How does organising affect professionalism?
John Gray, Associate Professor of Management and Research Leader, Professional Services Research, University of Western Sydney

Alternative business structures. Are non-lawyers a threat to
the core values of the lawyers in the firm?
John Corcoran, President, Law Council of Australia; Principal, Russell Kennedy, Melbourne.

Compliance audits of law firms - a glimpse into the future?
John Briton, Legal Services Commissioner, Queensland
Scott McLean, Principal Legal Officer and Practice Compliance Manager, Legal Services Commission, Brisbane

The practice of ethics inside law firms: Early results from the Queensland workplace culture check survey of law firms
Christine Parker, Associate Professor and Reader in Law, University of Melbourne
Lyn Aitkin, Legal Services Commission, Brisbane


Large law firms session

Ethical leadership and professional autonomy in the large law firm
Kim Economides, Professor of Law, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

The approach of a large law firm to ethical matters
Robert Milliner, Chief Executive Partner, Malleson Stephen Jacques, Sydney; Chair, Large Law Firms Group, Law Council of Australia.

Conflict Management and Information Barriers within large law firms
Ross Perrett, Partner, Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Clayton Utz, Brisbane

The virtues and vices of large law firms
Reid Mortensen, Professor of Law, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba

Assessing lawyers' ethics: Technical components and their relationships
Adrian Evans, Associate Professor of Law, Monash University, Melbourne