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:

Lawyers Weekly has recently reported on the launch of the Asian Business Alliance, an alliance of a number of local Asian business councils, chambers and associations in Western Australia.

Peter Le, the president of the WA branch of the AALA, is the group's inaugural chair.

For more information, please click here.

This year, Herbert Smith Freehills, in collaboration with the AALA, are hosting a series of events with CEOs of Australian companies to explore their views on the importance of cultural diversity in the workplace. These events will be held in Herbert Smith Freehills’ Melbourne office.

The third of these events will be held on the evening of Thursday 7 June and will feature 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, will also be joining Corinne on the panel. Kerry Truong, a Melbourne-based lawyer and AALA Victorian Branch Secretary, will lead the panel discussion about ENGIE’s efforts to leverage the power of cultural diversity amongst its workforce. The panel will also discuss the wider importance of such issues for Australian businesses and the legal profession in Australia.

We are pleased to invite you to join us for this event. This is a unique opportunity to hear from leaders in the business world about diversity issues facing Australian businesses and the legal profession.

To register click here

We hope you can join us!

       

Expert Evidence in Australia and Japan Co-hosted by the Asian Law Centre and the Asian Australian Lawyers Association Inc. Date: Monday 4 June 2018 Time:5.30pm - 7.00pm Venue: Room 920, Level 9, Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton, 3053 Registration here

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

Complex cases often require expert knowledge to achieve appropriate resolution in the eyes of the parties and society. But it is challenging for judges who don't have specific expertise or experience in the relevant field to decide those cases. For ordinary civil cases requiring expertise,parties in Australia bring experts to the court and the cases are resolved by examining their opinions. On the other hand,in Japan, the courts appoint experts and solve those cases based on their opinions. This seminar will focus on how ordinary civil cases which need expertise are resolved in Japan and highlight the differences in ways of thinking of solutions for these cases between Australia and Japan

Speaker:

Yuri Takemura is a Judge in the Yokohama District Court in Japan. She received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from the Faculty of Law, Osaka University in 2009, and the degree of Juris Doctor from the Osaka University Law School in 2012. She passed the National Bar Examination in 2012 and completed a year-longcourse of practical legal training as a legal apprentice in 2013. She was appointed a Judge in 2014 and dealt with civil cases at the Yokohama District Court from 2014 to 2017. She is a visiting scholar at the Melbourne Law School under the Overseas Training Programme of the Supreme Court of Japan (June 2017 – June 2018). This programme provides judges with an opportunity to gain insights on the administration of justice through comprehensive research on foreign jurisdictions.

Invitation to the inaugural Asian Australian Foundation Oration dinner (www.aafoundation.org.au) on Tuesday 5 June 2018 at 6.30pm at the Pavilion room at the Victorian Arts Centre

The Asian Australian Foundation (AAF) was founded in 2015 and is a philanthropic community foundation that connects Asian Australians bringing together their resources and knowledge for public good, to shape a dynamic Asian philanthropic presence in Australia. 

AAF’s mission is to enable and promote collective giving in the Asian Australian community in order to “Give Voice and Inspire Change” on issues that matter by building bridges across community. 

Past grants made by the AAF include:

• Enable provision of ten scholarships to bright young students in the Western suburbs (many of whom are of Asian heritage) facing difficult and disadvantaged circumstances. This support has enabled and given each of the recipients hope for their future in education and employment through our partnership with Western Chances. (www.westernchances.org.au)
• Help address addiction and mental health through support and funding to Firststep (www.firstep.org.au) for a Case Management and Wellbeing Program
• Enable Anxiety Recovery Centre Victoria (ARCVic - www.arcvic.org.au) to provide specific workshops targeting the Asian Australian community that aim to provide an avenue for people to learn more about mental health and anxiety disorders in a supportive and safe environment and overcome the stigma associated with mental health. Such workshops also seek to work with parents to assist them identify anxiety in children and the support available
• Spearhead a project to raise awareness of perinatal anxiety and depression amongst the Asian Australian community through our partnership and support of PANDA - Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia (www.panda.org.au) which supports women, men and families across Australia to recover from post and antenatal depression and anxiety, a serious illness that affects around 100,000 Australian families every year

This year, the AAF is launching the Asian Australian Foundation Oration dinner. The Oration will showcase and celebrate the contribution and impact of significant leaders of Asian heritage to Australia, communities and the world. 

The Asian Australian Foundation Oration will be delivered by Dr. Tim Soutphommasane, Race Discrimination Commissioner.

The topic will be: “ The challenges for diversity in an environment of increasing populism. Where does Australia sit in this spectrum and how should Asian Australians show leadership in embracing such challenges.”

The dinner will also be an opportunity for networking, and to witness the awarding of grants to organisations that the AAF is supporting and has supported.

 

It will be a meaningful and inspirational night on Tuesday 5 June 2018 at 6.30pm at the Pavilion room at the Victorian Arts Centre. 

The Asian Australian Lawyers Association is putting together a table for the dinner.  If you would like to attend, please contact Ms Tuanh Nguyen at tuanh.nguyen.aala@gmail.com to register your interest.

 Details and bookings can also be made directly by 10 May 2018 if you wish to book your own table at:

https://www.trybooking.com/UUSZ 
or  
https://www.trybooking.com/365533

AALA encourages its members to register for the HKABA Young Professionals Event on 2nd May 2018. 

For more information, please see click here. Registrations to Gary Cheung at garcheung1080@gmail.com

The Victorian Bar has released "The State of the Victorian Bar" survey, which includes diversity statistics for the Victorian Bar.

In particular, the statistics reveal 15% of surveyed members were born overseas, 37% had at least one parent born overseas, and 9% spoke a language other than English at home. The most common of those languages were Greek, Italian, French, German and Hebrew. 

To read the survey reports, please click here.

Further, the Australian Human Rights Commission has recently released its updated report "Leading for Change", which follows its previous report released in 2016. 

The report finds, for instance, that only 1.6% of Chief Executives in Australia have an Asian cultural background, compared to 21% of the Australian population that has an Asian cultural background.

The report includes statistics from the Asian Australian Lawyers Association (at pages 16-17, 20 and 28).

To read the report, please click here.