News Archive

AALA members are invited to view the screening of Crazy Rich Asians on 5 September 2018 commencing at 5.45pm at Palace Cinema Como, The Como Centre, Level 1, Cnr Toorak Rd and Chapel St, South Yarra. 

 

The Asian Australian Foundation’s Gathering Circle will be holding a fundraiser movie night to Crazy Rich Asians which is based on the worldwide bestseller of the same title by Kevin Kwan. It is the first major Hollywood production (directed by Jon M Chu) to have an all Asian cast in 25 years including 3 Asian Australians (Chris Pang, Ronny Cheng and Remy Hii).

 

It will be a fun night of networking over drinks and canapés and a panel discussion prior to the movie. All ticket proceeds will go towards a grant to PANDA in addressing Perinatal-Postnatal Anxiety & Depression sufferers in Australia.

 

The event is fabulously sponsored by Jeanswest Corporation, SILC Group and Charter Keck Cramer.

 

To book tickets for the night which will be on 5 September 2018 commencing at 5.45pm at Palace Cinema Como, The Como Centre, go to https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=410072&

On behalf of the AALA's New South Wales Branch, we invite you to attend our Annual William Lee Address 2018. 

The event has been named in honour of the first barrister of Chinese descent to be admitted to the NSW Bar 

The event will take the form of a panel presentation and a Q&A session with audience members, followed by drinks and networking.  We are delighted that the AALA has secured the following distinguished guests as panellists:

• Kenneth Nguyen Partner, Ashurst;

• Juliana Warner Managing Partner,  Herbert Smith Freehills;

• B J Kim International Program Manager, EDO; 

• Julie Chai CEO, Asian Leadership Project;  

and as moderator

    Richard Gough Partner, Baker Mckenzie; 

The address aims to provide a forum in which to further explore the current challenges and concerns in promoting Asian cultural diversity within the legal profession.

Please RSVP by clicking here.

AALA members are invited to attend the 2018 CIArb Australia Business Lunch featuring Guest Speaker, Alan Oxley. To be held at the RACV Club, Melbourne, the lunch will be attended by distinguished guests including The Hon Martin Pakula, Attorney General of Victoria, members of the judiciary, institutes  and commercial enterprises. As seats are strictly limited, be sure to register on time.

Australasian Lawyer has recently published an article on overcoming diversity challenges in the legal profession. The article references research from the AALA as well as the upcoming Women in Law Summit.

To read the article, please click here.

AALA members are warmly invited to attend the 7th National Australian Women Lawyers Conference on 25-26 August 2018 at the Sofitel Wentworth Sydney.

The AWL Conference will be the highlight conference for the year for all female and male practitioners, leaders and senior professionals across the Australian legal sector who support the advancement of women lawyers.

The theme for the AWL Conference is ‘Investing in the Future’. This theme will capture current issues of innovation and technology and the law, including the utilisation of innovation and technology as an essential tool for new and senior lawyers in the furthering of diversity and inclusion, quality leadership, best practice, flexible work options, the achievement of policy and law reform, and attainment of access to justice.

The AWL Conference will be launched at a formal Welcome Reception at 5:30pm to 7:30pm on Friday 24 August with the Honourable Mark Speakman SC (Attorney General of New South Wales) and Fiona McLeod SC (Immediate Past President of the Law Council of Australia) as speakers. The prestigious Australian Women Lawyers Award will be presented at a Gala Dinner at 6:30pm on Saturday 25 August featuring speaker Tanya Hosch (General Manager Inclusion & Social Policy of the AFL).

Further details are available at: https://aomevents.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsitePortal/australian-womens-laywers-awl-2018/awl18/ExtraContent/ContentPage?page=1.

The AALA and Asian Law Centre invite you to 'An Introduction of the Korean Judicial System' presented by Judge Yun-Kyung Bae.

Date: Monday 30 July 2018
Time: 1 - 2pm
Venue: Room 608, Level 6, Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton, 3053
Registration: here

All welcome. Please forward this information to those who may be interested. 

The seminar introduces Korea's legal system briefly in comparison with the Australian legal system.
The seminar covers the organisation of the judiciary and composition of the court, and introduces recent changes in the legal training and appointment of judges.

It also explains some features of trials, which is the jury trial system in criminal trials and the operation of the ADR in civil trials.

Speaker: Judge Yun-Kyung Bae, Seoul Central District Court, Korea

Judge Bae is a Judge in Seoul Central District Court in Korea. She completed a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Laws at Seoul National University, as well as completing the course at Judicial Research & Training Institute of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea. She was initially appointed a Judge in 2007 at Seoul Central District Court. She is a visiting scholar at the Melbourne Law School under the Overseas Training Programme of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea (August 2017 – August 2018). In this Programme, Judge Bae focuses on study on Competition Law, especially the amendment of Australian Competition Law regarding Concerted Practice.

Kind Regards,

Asian Australian Lawyers Association

Congratulations to our National Treasurer Divesh Patel, who is now a Partner at Johnson Winter & Slattery.

A previous study conducted by the AALA in 2015 showed that only 3.1% of partners in Australian law firms were Asian Australians. For more information about cultural diversity in the legal profession, you can see our infographic.

On 7 June 2018, Asian Australian Lawyers Association (AALA) and Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) jointly held the third of its CEO series, featuring CEOs of Australian companies to explore their views on the importance of cultural diversity in the workplace.

On the panel of speakers were:

•         Corinne Ong, CEO of ENGIE Services in Australia and New Zealand,
•          Lawrence Kim, General Counsel at ENGIE Australia and New Zealand, and
•       Andrew Chan, Head of Legal for ENGIE Services in Australia & New Zealand,
•       Our very own Kerry Truong, a Melbourne-based lawyer and AALA Victorian Branch Secretary, led the panel discussion about ENGIE’s efforts to leverage the power of cultural diversity amongst its workforce.

The ENGIE speakers shared their experiences and obstacles faced in the younger years of their careers.

We heard that ENGIE as a company seeks for their staff to represent the community that they serve.

It was interesting to note that in relation to hiring a culturally diverse team, ENGIE was interested in having a culturally diverse team but moreover, ENGIE was focused on having a diversity of mindset within its company and saw benefits to this.

AALA thanks the ENGIE panel of speakers and Kerry Truong for their work in preparing the excellent discussion on the night.

AALA would also like to extend its thanks to HFS for its collaboration and hosting the event at its offices.

On 4 June 2018, Asian Australian Lawyers Association and Melbourne Law School Asia Law Centre co-hosted Judge Yuri Takemura’s presentation on “Expert Evidence in Australia and Japan”. The event was well attended by members of the AALA, and students and representatives from Melbourne University.

Judge Takemura is from Yokohama District Court in Japan. She was a visiting scholar at the Melbourne Law School under the Overseas Training Programme of the Supreme Court of Japan (June 2017 – June 2018). The programme provides judges with an opportunity to gain insights on the administration of justice through comprehensive research on foreign jurisdictions.

Judge Takemura provided a very detailed and informative comparative analysis between how legal practitioners and our courts deal with expert evidence in Australia and Japan. The analysis included the advantages, the limitations and suggestions to improve the processes in Japan.

Judge Takemura has been a strong supporter of AALA during her stay in Melbourne, and has often participated in events organised by the AALA. The AALA wishes her well and all the best with her future endeavours upon her return to Japan.

The Asian Australian Lawyers Association is proud to officially launch our Queensland branch. 

Our patron, the Honourable Michael Kirby, flew into Brisbane last evening to deliver a keynote speech and ring in this new chapter for our organisation. Our launch was hosted by our national sponsor, Baker McKenzie, who put on a sensational event for us. 

Partner Aleisa Crepin opened the proceedings and celebrated the longstanding partnership between Baker McKenzie and AALA.

Our hosts for the evening, the Baker McKenzie team with Mr Kirby:

As part of our launch, we also held a panel session that discussed Asian Australian leadership in the Australian legal industry - what it looks like and, perhaps, what it could look like. Our panel comprised:

• Laina Chan  |  Barrister and Director of the Society of Construction Law Australia (SoCLA);
• Associate Professor Ann Black  |  Expert in the legal cultures of Asia at UQ and co-author of Law and Legal Institutions of Asia: Traditions, adaptations and innovations (Cambridge University Press 2011); and
• Nicholas Ng  |  President of the Queensland Branch of the AALA, Partner at Allens, and Board member of the Infrastructure Association of Queensland.
  

The panel was joined by Mr Kirby (who provided incredible commentary and responses to the reflections of our panel speakers), and was chaired by our National President, Tuanh Nguyen (Director, PwC).

We'd also like to introduce the committee for our Queensland Branch: (left to right) Tuck Chung (Baker McKenzie), Stephanie Tang (Allens), Leila Galung, Anand Shah, Nicholas Ng (Qld President and Partner, Allens), Catherine Chiang (Qld Secretary) and Brydon Wang (AALA National ExCo Member).

Thanks again to our national sponsor, Baker McKenzie.

We'd also like to thank our event sponsor, Leo Cussen: