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Lawyers in Australia

Lawyers in Australia

By Ainslie Lamb AM and John Littrich
CONTENTSREVIEWS
Lawyers in Australia is a wide-ranging and detailed examination of the legal profession. It contextualises the role, responsibilities and ethics of lawyers in contemporary Australian society and discusses recent trends and issues.

There are chapters about:

  • who lawyers are and what they do
  • legal education in Australia including trends and developments
  • the structure and regulation of the legal profession
  • legal culture, including demographic and sociological trends
  • the judiciary, focussing on accountability and the processes by which judges and magistrates are appointed
  • the changing nature of legal services delivery due to the development of a national legal services market
  • access to justice, including legal aid and pro bono services
  • equality before the law with specific attention to indigenous peoples and refugees
  • ethics and professional responsibility, including complaints and the disciplinary process
  • the lawyer-client relationship, covering the ‘retainer’, the duty to advise, the duty of competence and care, and the duty of loyalty
  • the lawyer’s duty to the court and the proper administration of justice
  • the future of the legal profession and legal services

Ainslie Lamb and John Littrich are solicitors with 38 years of practice experience between them. They now teach at the Legal Practice Unit at the University of Wollongong of which Lamb was Foundation Director. Associate Professor Lamb has prior experience with the Leo Cussen Institute in Victoria and the Law Society of Upper Canada in Ontario and, in 2003, was made a Member of the Order of Australia.

CONTENTS

Part 1 - The Sociological Context

Lawyers
Legal Education in Australia
The Development of the Legal Profession in Australia
Legal Culture
The Judiciary
The Delivery Of Legal Services
Access to Justice – Meeting the costs
Access to Justice – Equality before the law
Access to Justice – Indigenous Australians

Part 2 - The Ethical Context

Ethics, Values and Professional Responsibility
The Lawyer-Client Relationship – The Retainer
The Lawyer-Client Relationship – The Duty to Advise
The Lawyer-Client Relationship – Duty of Competence and Care
The Lawyer-Client Relationship – The Duty of Loyalty
The Lawyer’s Duty to the Court and the Proper Administration of Justice 
The Lawyer’s Duty to Other Members of the Profession and to Third Parties
Epilogue – 20/20 Vision

REVIEWS

Students completing their bachelor of laws in jurisdictions where the study of ethics is compulsory (this is not the case in WA), and all graduates completing admissions courses, will find the section on ethics a very useful summary. It deals with ethical codes, the client-lawyer relationship and the lawyer’s duty to the court, to other members of the profession and third parties. The client-lawyer relationship incorporates detailed analysis of the retainer, the duty to advise, the duty of competence and care and the duty of loyalty. This section is also a primer for lawyers who wish to enlarge their understanding of the law underpinning professional conduct rules and the law relating to professional privilege and lawyer liability.
The sociological context covers the definition of a lawyer and legal work, the development of the Australian profession and professional institutions like law societies, fidelity funds and public purposes funds. There is a broader discussion about the role of the judiciary, the legal culture, the costs and delivery of legal services and access to justice that is general background for any lawyer or student preparing to undertake specific law reform analysis.
To a certain extent the authors create for law students a tempered but nevertheless heroic context for their future practice of the law, emphasising what the law can do. The book would be a useful addition to a firm library, particularly if that firm engages winter and summer clerks and articled clerks and graduate trainees.

Law Society Journal of Western Australia, Vol 34 (10) November 2007

    

Published 16 July 2007
Publisher The Federation Press
Paperback/352pp
ISBN 9781862876415
Australian RRP $60.00
Direct Price $55.00
International Price $55.00
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Law - Legal Profession / Legal Practice
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