The festive season brings familiar celebratory rituals. For Bar News, it is a cover that evokes the fun and relaxation that we all look forward to at the end of the Law Term. We have had barristers mopedding, paragliding, beachcombing, surfing (the latter with some judges waiting for the break). These images traditionally come courtesy of our regular illustrator Rocco Fazzari, although this year we decided to go live, with a playful image of shoeless barristers engaging in some parklife.¹

That does not mean we have dispensed with Rocco’s services, for this issue he is interviewed by Talitha Fishburn and provides insight into his time as a court illustrator and political cartoonist, and into the changes in his creative process as he has embraced technology in his more recent work.

We have been fortunate to be able to bring to print two of the leading lectures presented by the Bar Association. First, the Commercial Law Section’s Bathurst Lecture, delivered this year by the Honourable Chief Justice Andrew Bell. His paper on ‘The Corporation in Private International Law’, sees a return to his Honour’s scholarly origins and canvasses issues of corporate presence and corporate liability for multinational corporate groups, drawing a line between the growing trend towards corporate social accountability and greater liberality in jurisdictional and choice of law approaches to international litigation.

Second, the Diversity and Equality Committee’s 2023 Sybil Morrison Lecture delivered by the 2022 Katrina Dawson Award recipients, Imogen Hogan and Monica Aguinaldo. This year’s lecture paid tribute to the Honourable Justice Carolyn Simpson AO KC. Monica’s speech celebrates Justice Simpson’s significance as a female leader at the bar and then the bench, and as a champion for social justice. Imogen’s speech focuses on her Honour’s judicial legacy, particularly in sentencing and in common law.

We are also pleased to publish the Honourable Justice Jagot’s compelling keynote address at the Mind Counts Annual Lecture 2023: ‘Burning bright without burning out’. Her Honour sheds light on the factors that lead barristers to experience burnout and gives a sharp and perceptive account of workplace behaviours that regularly feature in the legal profession and the impacts they can have on the psychological wellbeing of younger lawyers in particular. It is particularly inspiring to have one of the leaders of the national judiciary speak with grace and insight about the barriers to wellbeing that are built into the way that we practise the profession.

Our features this month include a triptych on the role of psychology and storytelling in advocacy. Farid Assaf SC addresses psychological and literary aspects of narrative with a view to providing guidance for barristers to improve their advocacy by considering the presentation of a case as a story to be told, and embraced, by the tribunal. Then we have two pieces addressing recent authority on the presentation of evidence of conversations in affidavits in New South Wales. David Parish gives an entertaining historical account of the practices and authorities that led to the denunciation by Jackman J in Kane’s Hire Pty Ltd v Anderson Aviation Australia Pty Ltd of the formal requirements for direct speech traditionally prefaced by the qualifier ‘words to the effect’ (since affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Gan v Xie). While Hugh Stowe and Alexander Vial, assisted by academic psychologists Dr Helen Paterson and Dr Misia Temler, consider Kane’s Hire in the context of the psychology of memory of conversations and the way in which practitioners should approach the taking and presentation of evidence of witnesses’ recollections of conversations.

Our personalia this month is interesting and broad-ranging. Mahmud Hawila interviews her Honour Judge Tupman about her extraordinary efforts to facilitate the evacuation of women judges from Afghanistan. Her Honour’s account is as heartening as it is concerning, as she addresses the triumph of meeting the judges that she and her colleagues at the International Association of Women Judges were able to bring to Australia, and the real concern about the judges who remain behind, desperate to leave.

There is an interview with the new Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Anna Cody, covering her past experiences and her concerns and intentions as she enters her new role. Particularly useful is her description of how the Bar can lead the way in achieving equality and in promoting the implementation of the new enforcement provisions in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth).

Following eight years of service as the Bar Practice Course director, Gillian Mahony SC has passed the torch to Ralphed Notley, who steps into this significant and crucial position for incoming barristers. Ralphed gives an insight into his longstanding involvement with the Bar Practice Course and his first course at the helm, and pays tribute to Gillian for her outstanding service. Ralphed calls for members to consider participating in the course. We echo that call – the Association’s Bar Practice Course is world class because of the talent and dedication of the judges and barristers who so generously give their time to pass on their experience and wisdom to new readers each year.

Our new appointments and farewells this issue involve a number of welcomes to new judges. Daniel Klineberg writes on Justice Ian Jackman SC’s appointment to the Federal Court and Callan O’Neill writes on former Bar Councillor Yaseen Shariff SC’s appointment. Penny Thew writes on Justice Anthony McGrath SC’s appointment to the Supreme Court and Kevin Tang on Justice Scott Nixon SC.

Our farewells address the loss of some of the most prominent and well-loved members of the Bench and Bar. Murray Tobias AM KC, Bob Hunter KC and the eternal David Jackson AM KC are all remembered. A colleague of David Jackson has contributed a fascinating and affectionate portrait of one of the greatest advocates Australia will ever see, accompanied by some wonderful pictures courtesy of his loving family (including Louise Jackson who contributed to his obituary in these pages).

Moving to matters of summertime relief, Talitha Fishburn and Justin Pen provide the inside scoop on the uproarious and well-received Bar Revue, which drew a notable crowd of judges over its three-night run, including a special appearance by the Chief Justice.

For those who enjoy listening to podcasts while driving, walking, or even running on the sand, Reg Graycar has a fantastic list of legal podcasts to keep you engaged these holidays.

While in sporting matters, the much-loved NSW Bar FC report makes a return, presented by Anthony Lo Surdo SC, David Stanton, and Simon Philips.

My final edition

This is my 19th and final edition as editor. I have absolutely loved the role – indeed there is nothing I have enjoyed more in my time at the Bar.

I am handing it over to very capable hands. Catherine Gleeson SC will bring a fresh perspective and do a wonderful job.

In my highly biased opinion, I view Bar News as one of the great institutions of the NSW Bar. That it is written of the Bar by the Bar is its greatest strength. Full credit must go to Ruth McColl as founding editor, along with subsequent editors Justin Gleeson, Andrew Bell and Jeremy Stoljar, for making it what it is.

In my first editorial in the Summer of 2017 I wrote that, as the official journal of the NSW Bar, Bar News should record what the bar was, what it is, and be a forum for ideas of what it can be. To that end I encouraged articles on bar history, on the changing nature of the Bar and its increasingly diverse membership and carried articles on technology and practice that explored the Bar of the future. We increased our focus on the regional bars, carried more interviews and profiles with a variety of barristers and judges, and continued to publish articles that reflected the diversity of the Bar, not least of which was a special edition that came to be known as the ‘diversity edition’, with my favourite cover – a Vanity Fair-style lift-out.

Other special editions focussed on: expert evidence; ethics; practice and procedure; wellbeing; First Nations and the NSW Bar; technology; ADR; and climate change. Another favourite of mine was the special (and appropriately exclusively online) COVID-19 edition, filled with the personal stories of barristers coping with the sudden changes brought about by lockdown and the cessation of in-person hearings.

In my first editorial I said I wanted Bar News to be accessible and enjoyable to read. To that end we updated the layout, while including more illustrations, cartoons and photographs. For this latest edition we have further modernised the look and feel. One of my best decisions was to find and commission Rocco Fazzari to be our regular illustrator, and I am pleased he is honoured for his work in this edition.

There are so many people I want to thank. Arthur Moses SC, not only for appointing me editor but thereafter only rarely calling to shout at my decisions. The committee members over the last six-and-a-half years who have provided ideas, been a wonderful sounding board and prolific authors of wonderful stories. I also want to thank all our other contributors, including those who contributed to our special editions. Indeed, one of the delights of being editor has been the opportunity to meet and work with so many barristers from so many different areas of the Bar. I want to thank my practice manager Domonique Elder for assisting to carve out time to do the work, and the Bar Association staff who not only brought each edition patiently and professionally to print, but also made valuable and significant suggestions to improve each edition, in particular Chris Winslow and then Rebecca Seraglio. While again I acknowledge my bias, I think the Bar News committee can take some pride in the fact that we produce a magazine three times a year that is at least as good as the Law Society Journal for something like a one-tenth of its cost.

I will miss this role immensely and wish Catherine and the rest of the Committee all the best. BN

^ENDNOTES

^{1 We cannot confirm the identity of the models depicted, given that a barrister playing cricket barefoot in a public park while robed would of course be a complete breach of etiquette.}