President’s Message

Embracing innovation & strengthening the profession key goals for 2021

REBECCA SANDFORD, PRESIDENT

Iam honoured and delighted to serve the Society as President in 2021. It is a privilege to take on this role and I am looking forward to continuing the important work undertaken by presidents before me, and doing my part to help guide and support our Members and the profession.

It is fitting that the theme for the first Bulletin edition for this year is ‘Innovation and Adaption’. There’s no denying 2020 presented many challenges, and we were frequently required to make use of those skillsets. As we move into 2021, I am particularly alert to the stress and difficulties which many of us have recently faced, what can be done to help us reflect on and recover from those events, and what we can learn from those experiences to improve the delivery of legal services in SA for lawyers and clients into the future.

It should hopefully come as little surprise that one of my priorities during 2021 will be to consider how we as legal practitioners are managing and maintaining our mental health, and what we can do (individually and collectively) to better support our mental wellbeing. I am not alone in considering this to be one of the key issues facing our profession - the IBA has recently embarked on a global project aimed at assessing and addressing the mental wellbeing of lawyers around the world, commencing by undertaking two global surveys, one for individual lawyers and one for law firms and other institutions such as bar associations, law societies and in-house legal departments.

The surveys will help to gather important information about the state of mental health in the profession across the globe, and enable the development of strategies, tools and best practice guides to improve the wellbeing of lawyers in the future.

To support those efforts and further our own education, I am also aiming to undertake a South Australian version of the IBA survey during 2021. I hope this will allow us all to gain a better understanding of the mental health of our profession, open up some vital conversations about our mental health and wellbeing, and enable the Society to offer additional, targeted education and even more support to assist our Members and to help improve the health of the individuals and institutions tasked with upholding the rule of law and administration of justice.

The Society is due to adopt a new strategic plan by the end of 2021 for commencement at the start of 2022, so I also anticipate that much of my work this year will be directed towards developing and instituting that plan. I am keen to collaborate with and speak to as many Members as possible this year to identify strategies for consideration and inclusion. To facilitate that, I am intending to hold events during the year to seek input from our committees and key stakeholders, and I invite feedback and submissions from Members to help determine priorities and implement future change.

I also intend to look at the role of technology in the delivery of legal services, and consider how and where we can act to ensure we capitalise on advantages we have in SA which make us well positioned to be leaders in this space. Other issues which I expect will impact my term include the anticipated introduction of the Uniform Criminal Rules by the Courts, addressing ongoing concerns with respect to the decline in the Fidelity Fund, and continued assessment with respect to South Australia’s potential participation in the Uniform Law. I also expect to build on the important work done by recent presidents on matters such as improving the public perception of lawyers and increasing connection and collegiality within the profession.

To that end, I am pleased to be working alongside my fellow presidents interstate, and the Law Council of Australia, on a number of common issues facing lawyers and law societies around the country. I understand this is the first time that the majority of Law Society presidents nationally are female - I’m very proud to be a part of this historic occasion, and looking forward to what can be done at a national level as well as locally to progress issues affecting South Australian practitioners. Those include a national action plan for dealing with bullying, harassment and discrimination in the profession, and mental health strategies for lawyers, both of which will be priorities not only for the Society but also for the Law Council in 2021, and I expect that focus will help us all to make the profession a safer, more welcoming and inclusive place.

On a lighter note, I’m optimistic that in 2021 we will also have a few more opportunities than we did in 2020 to gather as colleagues and friends to celebrate what we do and how we do it, and I hope to see many of you at functions and events throughout the year.

These are certainly interesting times to be a lawyer. I am very much looking forward to representing our Members as President in 2021, and aiming to embrace the spirit of innovation and adaption throughout the balance of the year as I serve the Society in this role. B February 2021 THE BULLETIN