04.09.2019
Of Shields and Swords – let the jousting begin!
Justice Derrington, President of the ALRC, presented at the Freedom19 Conference in Sydney. “On Thursday of last week, the Attorney-General released an exposure draft of religious freedoms reforms, which he intends to present to Parliament in final form in October. The exposure draft traverses many of the issues that were within the ALRC’s original terms …
Read more29.01.2019
Law Reform – Future Directions
When I was invited (almost 12 months ago now) to speak at this conference and on this topic, I felt relatively confident that after a year in the role as President of the ALRC, I might have some useful thoughts to share with you about future directions in law reform. That confidence evaporated rapidly when I began preparing theses remarks.
I have identified two main reasons for that loss of confidence (in addition to the obvious point that it is not a topic that lends itself naturally to humour). The first, and most important, reason has been the realisation of just how little influence the ALRC itself has in the topics that will be selected for future law reform references and the degree of political expediency involved the topics that are referred to the Commission. The second reason is the great uncertainty that surrounds the funding of the ALRC and the obvious challenge such uncertainty presents for ensuring that the ALRC can attract and retain a legal team of the highest quality.
04.10.2018
Litigation Funding: Access and Ethics
Speaking at the Australian Academy of Law lecture in Brisbane, 4 Oct 2018, the Hon Justice S C Derrington, President of the ALRC, provided some background to Litigation Funding and Class Actions in Australia, and around the world. “Against this background, I turn to consider the overarching principles by which the ALRC has been guided …
Read more31.05.2018
Access to justice in modern legal practice – what does it mean?
But what does access to justice mean? Is there a difference between a justice system and a
legal system? Does a legal system pre-suppose that justice is the end goal? And what, in any
event, is encompassed by notions of justice?