Law Society of New South Wales

"LSNSW" redirects here. For the natural history organisation, see Linnean Society of New South Wales.

Law Society of New South Wales

Formation	1842 (formally 1884)
Location	New South Wales, Australia
Official language	English
Key people	Brett McGrath, President Kenneth Tickle, CEO
Website	www.lawsociety.com.au

The Law Society of New South Wales is a professional association which represents over 42,000 solicitors in Australia.^[1][2] The Law Society has statutory powers and regulates the practice of law in New South Wales.^[3]

The Law Society of NSW encourages debate and actively drives law reform issues through policy submissions^[4] and open dialogue with governments, parliamentary bodies, the courts and the New South Wales Department of Justice. It ensures the general public has appropriate access to justice and can be easily connected to members of the profession when they require legal advice.

Along with the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner, the Law Society sets and enforces professional standards,^[5] licenses solicitors to practise, investigates complaints and administers discipline to ensure both the community and the profession are properly served by ethical and responsible solicitors.

The coat of arms of the Law Society of NSW

History

The Law Society was informally started in 1842.^[6] In 1884, the society was formalized as "The Incorporated Law Institute of New South Wales", and had its first annual meeting the following year.

In 1960, the institute was renamed to "The Law Society of New South Wales". In 1963, the Society started publishing The Law Society Journal. The society also established the College of Law in 1973, the Legal Practitioners Act 1987 (NSW), Law Industry Superannuation Trust (LIST) and LawCare in 1989, and the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner in 1992. Vis-a-vis the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner (OLSC), alternatively, according to a 1994 leaflet from the OLSC, the OLSC was set up by the NSW government not the Law Society, and in July 1994 not 1992, by way of an amendment to the Legal Profession Act 1987, in particular Part 10. The 1987 Act was repealed in 2005 and replaced with the Legal Profession Act 2004 - in particular see Part 7.3.

The origins of the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner

List of presidents

Year	Name	Employer
1884–1891	John Williams[7]	NSW Crown Solicitor
1892–1908	William Pigott[8]
1909–11	F Curtiss
1912–14	EA Smith
1915–17	HCE Rich
1918–20	AM Hemsley[9]
1921–23	AC Stephen
1924–26	DW Roxburgh
1927–29	MAH Fitzhardinge
1930–32	AN Littlejohn
1933–35	JE Gosling
1936	APN Dalrymple
1937–39	WG Forsyth
1940	JW Stevenson
1941–43	WJ Baldock
1944–45	JG Crowther
1946	D Barron
1947–49	Arthur E. Abbott	Parner, Garland Seaborn & Abbott
1950	GA Yuill
1951–52	RZ de Ferranti
1953–54	WER Francis
1955–56	LW Taylor
1957–58	TGD Marshall
1959	NL Cowper
1960–61	John Watling	Partner, Sly & Russell
1962–63	K Smithers
1964–65	BJ McDonald
1966–67	WRD Stevenson
1968–69	CH Dunlop
1970–71	JK Bowen
1972–73	JR Broadbent
1974–75	Alan Loxton
1976–77	MM Hooke
1978	DG Barr
1979	DG Mackay
1980	AJ Mitchell
1981	MJ Gill
1982	Mahla Pearlman
1983	DE McLachlan
1984	Rod McGeoch
1985	F Herron
1986	Kim A Garling
1987	KH Dufty
1988	WV Windeyer
1989	BE Thornton
1990	GM Roberson
1991	DA de Carvalho
1992	John R Marsden	Founding Partner, Marsdens Law Group
1993	John Nelson	Partner, Gadens
1994	DG Fairlie
1995	DM Stack
1996	ND Lyall
1997	PV Fair
1998	Ron K Heinrich
1999	Margaret C Hole
2000	John FS North
2001	Nick K Meagher
2002	Kim Cull
2003	Robert JC Benjamin
2004	Gordon A Salier
2005	John E McIntyre
2006	June McPhie
2007	Geoff J Dunlevy[10]	Partner, Rhodes Kildea
2008	Hugh I Macken
2009	Joseph J Catanzariti[11]	Partner, Clayton Utz
2010	Mary J Macken
2011	Stuart D Westgarth[12]	Partner, HWL Ebsworth
2012	Justin J Dowd[13]	Partner, Watts McCray
2013	John C Dobson[14]
2014	Ros E Everett[15]	Partner, Everett Evans
2015	John F Eades[16]	Partner, Noyce, Salmon & D'Aquino
2016	Gary S Ulman[17]	Partner, Minter Ellison
2017	Pauline Wright	Partner, PJ Donnellan & Co
2018	Doug Humphreys OAM[18]
2019	Elizabeth Espinosa[19]
2020	Richard Harvey[20]
2021	Juliana Warner[20]	Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills
2022	Joanne van der Plaat	Partner, Blaxland Mawson & Rose
2023	Cassandra Banks	Partner, CB Legal
2024	Brett McGrath	Partner, Marsdens Law Group

Structure and organisation

The Law Society is governed by an internal Council, the Legal Profession Act 2004 (NSW) and the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The Council meets monthly and has 15 elected members who sit for 3 year terms and one appointed member who sits for 1 year. The Council has 1 country lawyer councillor, 1 suburban lawyer councillor, 1 city lawyer councillor, 1 corporate lawyer councillor, 1 government lawyer councillor, 1 large firm lawyer councillor, 1 NSW Young Lawyers councillor (appointed), and 8 general councillors.^[21] Law Society Councillors sit on the boards of LawCover (legal insurer), the NSW Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund, the Legal Profession Admissions Board, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (among others).

The Law Society has 23 committees devoted to different aspects of law.

Pro-bono work

The society started a voluntary "Pro Bono Scheme" in 1992.^[22]

See also

• Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society
• Law Council of Australia
• Law Institute of Victoria
• Law society

References

1. "The Law Society of New South Wales Homepage". The Law Society of New South Wales. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
2. "Professional Standards Council Home". New South Wales Professional Standards Council. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2013.
3. http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/psc/ll_psc.nsf/vwFiles/Scheme_LawSociety_Summary_nsw_20062011.pdf/$file/Scheme_LawSociety_Summary_nsw_20062011.pdf retrieved 2010-10-27 Archived 30 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine
4. "Policy Submissions 2018 | the Law Society of NSW". www.lawsociety.com.au. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
5. "Practising law in NSW | the Law Society of NSW". www.lawsociety.com.au. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
6. "Law Society of NSW – History". Lawsociety.com.au. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
7. "THE LAW INSTITUTE". Australian Star. 29 September 1888. p. 7 – via Trove.
8. "Death of Hon. W. H. Piggot". The Evening News. 15 March 1909. p. 6. Retrieved 21 May 2021 – via Trove.
9. "SYDNEY LEGAL FIGURE". West Australian. 13 July 1937. p. 16 – via Trove.
10. http://justinianarchive.com/828-article ; http://justinianarchive.com/833-article
11. "President | the Law Society of NSW". Archived from the original on 12 November 2009.
12. "President | the Law Society of NSW". Archived from the original on 19 February 2011.
13. "President | the Law Society of NSW". Archived from the original on 14 May 2012.
14. "President | the Law Society of NSW". Archived from the original on 11 August 2013.
15. "President | the Law Society of NSW". Archived from the original on 13 February 2014.
16. "President | the Law Society of NSW". Archived from the original on 20 March 2015.
17. "President | the Law Society of NSW". Archived from the original on 18 April 2016.
18. "President's message - 29 October 2018 | The Law Society of NSW". www.lawsociety.com.au. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
19. "Former Law Society President appointed as Land and Environment Court Commissioner | The Law Society of NSW". www.lawsociety.com.au. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
20. "Law Society of NSW announces 2021 President | The Law Society of NSW". www.lawsociety.com.au. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
21. "Law Society of NSW – Council". Lawsociety.com.au. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
22. "Law Society of NSW – Pro Bono Scheme". Lawsociety.com.au. Retrieved 28 December 2010.

External links

• Official website
• Law Society Journal