Bar Practice Centre: Prospectus: Brisbane College of Advanced Education

.Before 1960 there was not perceived at the Queensland Bar any need for a formal system of pract ical training for young barristers because the small ness of the bar of those years ensure.d that all juniors knew all seniors well. The rule was that a new man squatted in a senior man's chambers until he could locate and afford chambers of his own. Many barristers acted as part-time lecturers for the University Law School and students came early in the ir course to know the practising bar. The pace at the bar was slower than it later became. The young barrister had plenty of opportunity to question, to talk with and to observe more experienced persons; he also had more time. During the first part of the nineteen sixties the Bar Association started developing a system of pupillage and this came into force in 1965. It has continued ever since with considerable success but discernible deficiencies. One deficiency is the absence of a permanent administrator to arrange lectures, to keep records and to ensure, as even the most enthusiastic and hard-working Pupillage Committee Convenor cannot ensure, that the system is properly administered. At least as early as 1971 the Committee of the Bar Association was considering some sort of joint venture with a tertiary educational institution in which that institution would provide certain resources, particularly administrative , while the Bar would provide other resources, particularly experienced lecturers. This is not the place to trace the history of the Bar Committee's endeavours to put in place a practical training course for barristers. It is enough to say that the Brisbane College of Advanced Education , and especially its School of Business, has readily accommodated our aspirations both with bricks and mortar and with administrative assistance. The Kedron Park Campus is conveniently located and it contains all the physical facilities that are required. In particular, it houses a real court room, which is actually the reconstruction of the old Industrial Court in the State Buildings adjoining Anzac Square. I expect that the College's resources in electronics will be of inestimable value to the worth of the Centre's course - even the young barristers of the leisurely pre-war days were never lucky enough to be able to examine their performances critically on a television screen! The College has also made available the services of Kenneth Rhodes, a full-time member of the faculty and a practising barr ister, and of his secretary. Those services will, in my opinion, ensure that the course is properly nurtured and does not, like so many well intentioned efforts of the bar, wither on the vine for want of husbandry . The first course will be offered to recent entrants to the ranks of the practising bar. I hope that it will not be long before the Rules Relating to the Admission of Barristers are amended to make completion of the course a necessary part of St age Six of the requirements for admission to the Bar. There are good reasons why the course should generally be taken before actual admission; after admission pupillage should sufficiently refine the new barrister's skills. Former readers of the course will in any event be welcome to return to take part in the activities of a current course although it is hoped they will notify the Warden of their intention to do so. I should hope that by 1985 the Bar Practice Centre is undertaking continuing practical training for all members of the Bar. It is to be emphasised that the Bar Practice Centre is not a platform for the presentation of learned papers on aspects of the law. The clear direction and thrust is towards the pragmatic needs of the new, or aspiring, admittee to the junior bar. The benefits sought are the achievement of higher standards of professional practice at the junior bar and, as a direct consequence, higher standards of service rendered to individual clients and to the public at large. If the Bar Practice Centre fails in achieving these objectives, it will have failed completely. One must therefore identify the critical areas of performance for the achievement of success. Leaving aside the physical resources, and matters of administration, there is one single factor which underpins the success of this project. It is, therefore, the critical area of performance. It is the enthusiastic and effective presentation of pragmatic lectures and training exercises. Since these will mostly be in the hands of our own senior members in the Bar Association and, at least at present, without fee for their services, success is dependent upon those people. That it has, to a considerable extent, been these same people who have promoted the idea of the Bar Practice Centre, testifies to a high level of professional concern and integrity. The readers at the Centre are the initial beneficiaries. Cedric Hampson

FOREWORD TO SECOND EDITION The Bar Practice Centre provided its first course in 1983 and two courses in 1984. A total of 106 graduated from the first three courses, there are 40 readers taking the current course and 50 readers have enrolled for the second course of 1985. Since an amendment to the Rules Relating to the Admission of Barristers made in 1984 a person may not be admitted as a barrister unless he/she has completed a course at the Bar Practice Centre . Members of the Management Committee have been delighted with the support which the profession has given to the Centre. The instruction in the course is almost entirely provided by active members of the legal profession and the Management Committee and all the readers in the courses are very grateful to those judges, magistrates, barristers and solicitors who have given so freely of their valuable time. The Bar Practice Centre is a joint venture by the Bar Association and the Brisbane College of Advanced Education. The services provided by the Brisbane College of Advanced Education have been invaluable. These services lie in the provision not only of accommodation and administrative assistance but also in the support which can only come from an institution dedicated to regular tertiary education. The curriculum of the courses has not been static. Each course is re considered in the light of the comments of readers in previous courses. There has been considerable modification and some experimentation in the Management Committee's efforts to ensure that readers doing the course are offered the best practical training for barristers available in Australia. Cedric Hampson