The AALA would like to congratulate member Arvind Dixit on his recent promotion to Partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. According to research conducted by the AALA in 2015, Asian Australians accounted for only 3.1% of partners in Australian law firms.

The AALA also wishes to congratulate member Tim Wong and his team at Luxottica for being nominated as finalists for the Lawyers Weekly FMCG Lawyer of the Year and FMCG Team of the Year awards respectively. More details about the Lawyers Weekly 2018 awards can be found here.

The AALA further wishes to congratulate Suresh Rajkumar Senathirajah and Minal Vohra on their appointment as Senior Counsel for Victoria late last year. Suresh and Minal join a small but growing number of Asian Australian silks. Research conducted by the AALA in 2015 revealed that, of some 6160 barristers in Australia, only 94 were Asian Australian - and of that 94, only 7 were Senior Counsel.

In a previous speech by Dr Tim Soutphommasane, Race Discrimination Commissioner, to the AALA, Dr Soutphommasane noted that "invisibility" of Asian Australians in leadership positions creates cultural assumptions and stereotypes about Asian Australians, which contributes to the issue of unconscious bias. The AALA therefore believes promoting the achievements of Asian Australian lawyers is an important part of promoting cultural diversity in the law. If you know of any Asian Australians that have made notable recent achievements, please let us know at info@aala.org.au.