As part of the LIV's 150th anniversary celebrations, Friday Facts will feature a legal legacy item each week for the remainder of the year. This week members may be surprised to know the LIV's foundations were based on a Bread and Cheese Club. The club was established by a dozen Melbourne solicitors with mutual interests in shooting, cricket, fishing and eating a good lunch in congenial company. It was dissolved in 1859 and the club's remaining members joined the newly-formed LIV.
Members who recall an interesting anecdote or reflection should send the item, of no more than 100 words, to fridayfacts@liv.asn.au for possible publication. Please include your name, address, telephone number and any other relevant information.
LIV and world leaders in electronic access to information and provision of email services.
In our current state of splendid access electronically to government information such as ASIC, Land Titles Office, (and lodgement of caveats online shortly),Statutes, rulings, cases and virtually every piece of information to run the average legal office and to communicate instantly in or out of the office, it should be remembered that in the early 80's the LIV was at the world forefront of many such services. Download abstract
We thank Jason Gregory for the Abstract.
Legal Practice in the 1890's
A series of itemised invoices of the legal firm Abbott Eales & Beckett in respect of one client and his estate gives some insight as to legal practice in the 1890's. The overwhelming impression to be gained from these invoices is that the practice of law in estate and property matters has not changed substantially in over 100 years - except in relation to communication methods. Download abstract.
We thank Rob Bradley for the Abstract.
Friday Facts: Issue 555 - 30 January 2009
The complete Rules made pursuant to the Legal Profession Practice Act 1958 including Trust Account and Conduct Rules as at August 1978 was a 28 page booklet.
Further, Trust Account Rule 40 required Trust Ledger Accounts to be retained indefinitely, and all other records to be retained for seven years. See Conduct Rule 2(5) provides that the word "barrister/solicitor" on a sign shall not exceed 3" in height or in width unless express permission is obtained from the Law Institute Council. See also the four times advertisement insertion Conduct Rule in 2(3)(b)(iii).
We thank Raoul Vernon for the above interesting historical fact.
Friday Facts: Issue 556 - 06 February 2009
Reading today's story about the 1976 LIV annual dinner brought back memories for me. My wife and I attended that dinner and we had to run the gauntlet of the protestors. It was very unpleasant and not something we would ever wish to experience again. However, there were lighter moments. Sir Ninian Stephen (then a High Court judge) was a guest at the dinner. One of the protestors jumped in front of Sir Ninian as he entered the venue and yelled at him: "Haven't you read the Constitution?" Sir Ninian later remarked: "Obviously a student of my judgments."
We thank Michael Dolan for the above interesting historical fact.
The 1976 annual LIV dinner is remembered by the 450 guests for the 1000-odd demonstrators who arrived to confront guest speaker and then Governor-General Sir John Kerr who, between being invited to speak by the LIV in 1975 and arriving at the dinner, had sacked the Whitlam government. Protestors spat on guests and threw stones, eggs and smoke bombs at them as they arrived. Police seized a long-bladed knife from a protestor and several others were arrested or hospitalised. Victorian Premier Sir Rupert Hamer told the press the following day that the demonstration, which caused $20,000 damage, was "un-Australian".
Friday Facts: Issue 557 - 13 February 2009
On this day 12 months ago members of the state's legal profession attended the LIV's Bourke Street headquarters to mark the federal government's apology to Indigenous Australians. The 130 attendees watched via satellite Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's historic apology for past mistreatments and promise of a future where all Australians would have equal opportunities. Those gathered said it was clear that a great need to say and hear the word "sorry" was being filled. The LIV soon after introduced the annual LIV Indigenous bursary which finances practical legal training at the Victorian College of Law for a post-graduate Indigenous law graduate.
Friday Facts: Issue 558 - 20 February 2009
Before the LIV officially came into existence in March 1859, five other attempts, in 1843, 1845, 1851, 1853 and 1857, had been made to establish a professional law association in Victoria. In fact, on two of these occasions a society was actually formed. The earlier failures were opined to be because "the early lawyers were a mixed lot and it was unlikely a man with prospects of substantial success in the UK would have come to the colony”. Although the nephew one of the best practitioners who came to Victoria was reported to say that his uncle did so because he had "made a mis-marriage”.
Friday Facts: Issue 559 - 27 February 2009
The assistance currently being offered to Black Saturday Bushfire victims is not the first time LIV members have dispensed free legal advice in times of crisis. In both World Wars solicitors made notable contributions to the war effort by conducting a soldiers’ advice bureau where free advice and service was made available to members of the armed forces and their families. LIV members also staffed the Australian Red Cross Information Bureau which was set up during WWII to answer inquiries about prisoners of war and missing or wounded soldiers.
Friday Facts: Issue 560 - 06 March 2009
From the very first the LIV was concerned with professional conduct. On the first admission day after its formation, counsel on its behalf opposed the admission of a man with a criminal conviction. The Acting Chief Justice said "the Court was very glad that there was an opposition on behalf of the law society. Such a society was calculated to render essential service to the community”.
Friday Facts: Issue 561 - 13 March 2009
Special services were held at St Paul’s and St Patrick’s Cathedrals on Sunday, 22 March 1959 to mark the LIV’s centenary. At St Paul’s, Archbishop, the Rt Rev Dr F Woods took as his text what he described as the Lawyer’s Psalm, Psalm No 19. He said this divided into three stanzas – the first concerned with the law and order of nature, the second with the law and order of the moral universe and the third with the law and order of the spiritual. At St Patrick’s, Rev Fr Kevin O’Sullivan SJ, who formerly practised as a solicitor, took as his text "There is no authority that is not from God” and examined the age-old conflict over the question "When the law of the state conflicts with the law of God, which will prevail?”.
Friday Facts: Issue 562 - 20 March 2009
As the LIV prepares for its sesquicentenary dinner next Friday, 27 March, it’s timely to look back on the Centenary Dinner in March 1959. There was an attendance of 370 at the dinner at Union House. Guests included the Prime Minister RG Menzies, Chief Justice Sir Edmund Herring, representatives of allied professions, former LIV presidents and a number of the most senior solicitors of the state. Proposing the toast to the LIV in whimsical vein, the Prime Minister referred to his own happy association with the law. The president responded to the toast and said that to mark the centenary the LIV had decided to inaugurate "The Solicitors Prize” award.
Friday Facts: Issue 563 - 27 March 2009
This week marks the official beginning of the LIV 150 years ago. Staff celebrated at a special luncheon yesterday and tonight is the sesquicentenary gala dinner. Organising any event is a task where one usually operates by the rule that if something can go wrong it will. And this seems to be a plaint for the ages. Take an item that appeared in the May 1959 LIJ, entitled "A Whinge, by a man entitled to indulge it”. "Experience in organising the recent Centenary Ball provokes the following comments, which may be of assistance to organisers of similar functions in the future.
- Don’t assume that because Tom, Dick and Harry apply for a table for six, the number in their party will remain at six.
- Don’t work out the number of tickets anyone requires by reference to the amount of the cheque sent with the application.
- Ignore telephone applications.
- Don’t allot tables until four days before the Ball”.
And the list went on . . .
Friday Facts: Issue 564 - 03 April 2009
Annual general meetings are not what they used to be. Nowadays it’s a simple matter of dealing with constitutional issues, a wrap-up on the year from the outgoing president and a welcome to the new Executive. However, at the annual meeting of 22 November 1923, after the business session, the Supreme Court master in equity Mr MM Phillips delivered an address on Shakespeare. He opposed the views expressed by critics that the plays attributed to Shakespeare were written by Francis Bacon. At the close of the address a discussion followed.
Friday Facts: Issue 565 - 10 April 2009
The number of full practising certificates issued in 1978 was 3006. Employee certificates were issued to 1048 practitioners of whom 115 subsequently obtained full certificates. By the end of 1978 there were 4368 members of the LIV. Today the LIV has more than 14,500 members.
Friday Facts: Issue 566 - 17 April 2009
Applications for practising certificates for 1970 had to be lodged during August 1969. The practising fee for 1970 was $55 except for those admitted to practice in 1969 for whom the amount was $12. The contribution payable to the Solicitors’ Guarantee Fund was $10.
Friday Facts: Issue 567 - 24 April 2009
In 1999, the world was worried about the Y2K bug and possible damage to computers as the clock ticked midnight into the year 2000. In response to this concern, the LIV Council set up a Y2K members’ information strategy to provide assistance to members worried about getting bitten by the bug. The group was to be responsible for making a list of issues for firms and generating ideas of activities to be undertaken to assist members.
Friday Facts: Issue 568 - 01 May 2009
Almost without exception the first members of the LIV played an important part in the development of the new state of Victoria. Among the first members was John Barter Bennett who arrived in Melbourne in 1842. Circa 1856 he established the firm of Bennett & Taylor, which became Bennett, Taylor & Sandford. After its dissolution he practised alone and circa 1871 formed the new partnership, Bennett & Attenborough, later Bennett, Attenborough, Wilks & Nunn. He was LIV vice-president in 1859 and president from 1860-62. He was a Victorian MP from November 1856-1863.
Friday Facts: Issue 569 - 08 May 2009
It was 10 years ago, as reported in the April 1999 LIJ, that video evidence from an overseas witness was heard for the first time in a criminal case in the Supreme Court of Victoria. Justice John Coldrey, who presided over the retrial where the evidence was taken, proclaimed it a success and said many valuable lessons had been learned.
Friday Facts: Issue 570 - 15 May 2009
In a 16 May 1927 circular, LIV members were informed that the Institute had made arrangements to publish the Law Institute Journal, "which as you know by our annual reports, has been under consideration for some years past. The first issue will appear on 1 July and it will consist of 12 pages of reading matter and 12 pages of advertising”. The circular said that "the only reason that the journal was not issued in previous years was the desire to stabilise the finances of the LIV, having regard to its commitments in the purchase of Law Institute House”.
Friday Facts: Issue 571 - 22 May 2009
The June 1949 LIJ reported the outcomes of a survey of incomes and future prospects in the Victorian legal profession. It was found that a typical solicitor in his first two years of practice should not expect to earn more than 500 pounds a year for the financial year 1947-48. Third, fourth and fifth year lawyers earned about 750 pounds per annum. Of those who had practised for five years or longer, 47 per cent reported an income of less than 1000 pounds.
Friday Facts: Issue 572 - 29 May 2009
The LIV formed the Legal Aid Committee in conjunction with the Victorian Bar in 1961. Originally the legal aid scheme was funded by a state government grant, with revenue coming from the surplus of the Solicitors’ Guarantee Fund.
Friday Facts: Issue 573 - 05 June 2009
Interesting experiences during his recent tour through Central Australia were related by His Excellency the Governor (the Earl of Stradbroke) at a dinner attended by 300 members of the LIV at the Hotel Windsor on 19 August 1924. Lord Stradbroke predicted a bright future for the Central area but said there were difficulties to be met. "There was insufficient water in some districts; and between Oodnadatta and Darwin there was neither doctor nor lawyer. Perhaps that was the secret of people’s contentment”. [Cue laughter].
Friday Facts: Issue 574 - 12 June 2009
Interesting experiences during his recent tour through Central Australia were related by His Excellency the Governor (the Earl of Stradbroke) at a dinner attended by 300 members of the LIV at the Hotel Windsor on 19 August 1924. Lord Stradbroke predicted a bright future for the Central area but said there were difficulties to be met. "There was insufficient water in some districts; and between Oodnadatta and Darwin there was neither doctor nor lawyer. Perhaps that was the secret of people’s contentment”. [Cue laughter].
Friday Facts: Issue 575 - 19 June 2009
When waxing lyrical about how cheap things were in the “olden days” have a think about how much you were being paid. The wage rates set for the first pay period to commence on or after 27 June 1979 were: Employee solicitors - first year of service $200.10, second year of service $228.10, third year of service $255.70; articled clerks, graduate articled clerks $127; four-year articled clerks: first year $91.40, second year $98.70, third year $117.30 and fourth year $138.70. The minimum wage for adults at the time was $123.80.
Friday Facts: Issue 576 - 26 June 2009
On Thursday, 22 June 1978, 22 LIV members and senior staff attending a Thursday evening Council meeting ran for their lives as fire ripped through the LIV's building at 465 Little Bourke Street. The fire, which was deliberately lit, destroyed files and gutted the LIV's library as it burned through the entire ground floor of the two-storey building. The four offices on the second storey received some fire and smoke and water damage but most records remained intact in their steel filing cabinets.
Friday Facts: Issue 577 - 03 July 2009
The LIV has hosted a controversial guest or two over its 150 years, but none more so than the Governor-General in June 1976 at its annual dinner. Several months earlier it had been an inspired suggestion to ask the former Law Council of Australia president, former member of the Sydney Bar and a popular and progressive Chief Justice of New South Wales and current Governor-General Sir John Kerr to speak. However, the 11 November 1975 dismissal of the Labor Whitlam government had provoked general outrage and the dinner was picketed. About 450 guests had to run the gauntlet of 1000 protestors.
Friday Facts: Issue 578 - 10 July 2009
In 1929, The Argus newspaper reported LIV Council criticism of rules relating to special complaints which the state Attorney-General (Mr McFarlane) announced would soon become legislation. Included in these rules was a scale of costs providing greater fees for counsel than for solicitors who appear where no counsel is employed. .
Friday Facts: Issue 579 - 17 July 2009
In 1999 the image of lawyers as honest and ethical citizens received an unexpected boost after years of decline. An annual survey of which professions are the most respected saw the legal profession record one of the largest increases, with 34 per cent of those surveyed saying lawyers were honest and ethical. This was an 8 per cent increase on the previous year, where only 26 per cent of people respected lawyers. The 1998 figure was the lowest recorded for the profession since the survey was first conducted in 1976.
Friday Facts: Issue 580 - 24 July 2009
Early LIV member Robert Stirling Hore Anderson was a Victorian MP almost continuously from 1858 to1864 (there was a three-month break in 1859) and again from March 1866 to October 1883. He was LIV president 1877-1878, 1883-1884 and Municipal Council chair 1857-1861.
Friday Facts: Issue 581 - 31 July 2009
From the Lazy Man's Notes of Cases, April 1950 LIJ Innkeeper: A guest left his locked car (with ignition locked also) in the forecourt of a hotel intended for parking, just near a busy main street while he dined at the hotel. It was stolen. Held in the absence of any negligence on the guest's part, the innkeeper was liable.
Friday Facts: Issue 582 - 07 August 2009
A survey of incomes and future prospects in the legal profession was held in December 1948. The results, reported in the June 1949 LIJ, looked at numbers in training. In 1948 there were 561 undergraduate students enrolled in law at the University of Melbourne. It was estimated that an increase in the membership of the profession of between 8 and 12 per cent would result if all those who qualified during the upcoming five years desire to practise, which would almost certainly mean overcrowding. However, it was said that law offered sound training for general administrative work and, provided the employment market remained reasonably buoyant, “there is no reason why the surplus of qualified men [sic] should not be absorbed outside the profession".
Friday Facts: Issue 583 - 14 August 2009
In 1917, presidents of the Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong law associations became members of the LIV Council. However, it would be another 50 years before suburban Melbourne law associations began to appear when the number of LIV members practising in the suburbs was nearly 1000.
Friday Facts: Issue 584 - 21 August 2009
The LIV was formed in 1859, only five years after the Eureka Rebellion and four years since the Act to Establish a Constitution in and for the Colony of Victoria was declared. The LIV was also born in the same year the first Australian Rules football match was played at the MCG between the Melbourne Football Club and South Yarra and the year before Australian explorers Burke and Wills began their fateful expedition to cross the continent from south to north.
Friday Facts: Issue 585 - 28 August 2009
The Legal Aid Act 1961 was drafted by LIV secretary Arthur Heymanson and accepted, almost without amendment, by the parliamentary draftsman of the day. Mr Heymanson was made an honorary life member of the LIV in 1973. There are currently 41 other LIV life members, including Bushfires Royal Commission chair Justice Bernard Teague AO.
Friday Facts: Issue 586 - 04 September 2009
Membership of the LIV during its formative years was small and money tight. However, the minutes of the second annual report reveal that one of the first things on which money was spent was the establishment of a library. From the minutes, it seems the LIV messenger who had previously ferried missives around town became the first librarian. However, at the end of 1862 he was relieved of his duties as a consequence of his old age when it was also decided that “every effort was to be made to procure his admission into the benevolent asylum”.
Friday Facts: Issue 587 - 11 September 2009
The LIV applied to the Earl Marshal of England for a grant of armorial bearings and on 20 June 1961 the coat of arms was granted to the LIV. It bears the seals of the three Kings of Arms: Norroy and Ulster, Garter and Clarenceux.
Friday Facts: Issue 588 - 18 September 2009
In declaring the LIV's new premises at the corner of Little Collins and McKillop Streets open at a ceremony on 18 September 1924, Acting Chief Justice Sir Leo Cussen congratulated the LIV on its "splendid progress" and expressed gratitude at the fact the relations between the judiciary and the LIV were most cordial. He said there was no doubt the LIV exercised a healthy influence over the profession generally, and also did good work in public affairs.
Friday Facts: Issue 589 - 25 September 2009
G Flos Greig was the first woman to undertake the law course at the University of Melbourne and did so at a time when women were not admitted to practice in Victoria. Her enrolment brought into prominence the matter of admission of women and in April 1903 the Legal Profession Practice Act was amended to "remove some anomalies in the law relating to women". This cleared the way for Ms Greig to be admitted to practice on 1 August 1905. The amendment to the Victorian Legal Profession Practice Act occurred 16 years before the corresponding English enactment.
Friday Facts: Issue 590 - 02 October 2009
According to The Argus newspaper, provision was made for the granting of legal assistance to "poor persons" in a Bill that then Victorian Attorney-General Slater gave notice to in the Legislative Assembly on 4 October 1927. Prior to this there had been an Act which provided for the granting of counsel to poor persons, but it was surrounded by so many legal difficulties that it was practically inoperative and rarely availed of. The new legislation simplified the procedure and made the terms more liberal.
Friday Facts: Issue 591 - 09 October 2009
In 1987, current Bushfires Royal Commission chair Justice Bernard Teague became the first solicitor to be appointed to the Supreme Court bench. In fact, until then, only barristers had been appointed as Supreme and County Court judges in Victoria. But did you know Sir John Davies, a solicitor, declined an invitation to join the Supreme Court in 1906.
Friday Facts: Issue 592 - 16 October 2009
Next Tuesday, the state’s chief law officer Rob Hulls will celebrate the personal milestone of being Victorian Attorney-General of Victoria for 10 years, following his swearing in on 20 October 1999. Mr Hulls, who was admitted to practice in 1983, is also the Deputy Premier. As Attorney-General he has released two Justice Statements.
Friday Facts: Issue 593 - 23 October 2009
From an initial 26 in 1859, LIV membership grew to 106 in 1890, 230 in 1900 and 269 in 1910. By 1920 the figure was 437 and 20 years later it stood at 681. In 1950 it had reached 1078 and in March 1959 it stood at 1422. Fifty years later LIV membership is in excess of 14,000.
Friday Facts: Issue 594 - 30 October 2009
The 1938 LIV annual meeting directed president Francis Gubbins to resume a practice which had fallen into disuse – that of giving a presidential address. In the course of his address, Mr Gubbins said there had previously been 38 presidential addresses and he was unable to find a subject for his speech that had not been given by one of his predecessors. He asked leave, therefore, to deliver a short homily which attacked the profession’s “thoughtless critics” when [the profession] had many admirable virtues and a sense of professional duty which saw lawyers settling hundreds of disputes a year when, by raising an eyebrow, they could begin a law suit profitable to them but disastrous for the client.
Friday Facts: Issue 595 - 06 November 2009
In 1929 LIV executive officer CH Lucas began advocating in the LIJ and the media for the establishment of an indemnity fund. Mr Lucas’ proposal was a form of compulsory insurance against professional dishonesty and aroused great interest in legal circles. Mr Lucas contended that victims of professional dishonesty were entitled to restitution and an indemnity fund would make this possible. The following year the LIV took action to set up the indemnity fund.
Friday Facts: Issue 596 - 13 November 2009
The LIV’s building at 470 Bourke Street was officially opened by Premier Sir Rupert Hamer 30 years ago today – 13 November 1979. Because of limited space, the event was invitation only. The former LIV building at 565 Little Bourke Street was auctioned on 17 October. The property was initially passed in but a private sale was subsequently negotiated at $610,000.
Friday Facts: Issue 597 - 20 November 2009
At its 1923 AGM, the LIV referred to the delays taking place in the Titles Office caused by increased work and lack of accommodation for the staff. The LIV resolved to “respectfully urge upon the Ministry that funds be made available to add to the Titles Office building so the long-delayed additional accommodation be provided and staff increased”. The profession felt entitled to make this request as “the Titles Office is a large revenue-producing department and the public has a right to expect that its business can be completed without the delays and attendant losses suffered for so long”.
Friday Facts: Issue 598 - 27 November 2009
It was only 10 years ago that law firm Law Partners Barristers and Solicitors won the LIV co-sponsored 1999 Legal Profession Emerging Technology Awards for its “cyber solicitor”, described in the Law Institute Journal as the world’s first do-it-yourself service for producing wills and power of attorney documents. Blake Dawson was runner-up with its eDiscover system, which automated the process of reviewing electronic documents and resulted in significant productivity and quality benefits.
Friday Facts: Issue 599 - 04 December 2009
In December 1929, LIV executive officer CH Lucas began a campaign in the Law Institute Journal, which spread into the wider media, for the establishment of an indemnity fund. Mr Lucas’ proposal was a form of compulsory insurance against professional dishonesty and aroused great interest in legal circles. Mr Lucas contended that victims of professional dishonesty were entitled to restitution and an indemnity fund would make restitution possible. It was in August 1930 that the LIV took action to set up the indemnity fund.
Friday Facts: Issue 600 - 11 December 2009
In early 1998, the LIV began delivering Friday Facts to those members who had joined the Information Superhighway via email. Up to that time members could only receive the weekly newsletter either by the traditional snail mail or facsimile. The LIV at the time promised members that the electronic version of Friday Facts would ensure “timely and often invaluable information will flash up on members’ screens every week. It may be about significant changes to legislation, fee structures or taxation matters. Sometimes it announces forthcoming seminars and President’s Luncheons”.