WLA ACT Elects New Committee

WLA ACT held its Annual General Meeting on 20 September 2017 at the ACT Law Society. 

We are pleased to announce the election of our new Committee for 2017-18:

President: Danielle Mildren

Vice President: Georgina McKay

Secretary: Belinda Miller

Treasurer: Emma Lawrence

Policy Sub-Committee Co-Chairs: Rori Moyo and Alison Osmond

Events Sub-Committee Co-Chairs: Fiona Paton and Tori Cumner

Communications Sub-Committee Co-Chairs: Liz Leiter and Kirsty Easdale

Australian Women Lawyers Representative: Liana Westcott

We extend our thanks to the 2016-17 and in particular, to our outgoing President, Prue Bindon, and welcome the new committee. 

Maddocks sponsors breakfast with The Hon Linda Burney MP

WLA ACT would like to extend our gratitude to Maddocks for generously sponsoring the upcoming Mentor Breakfast with The Hon Linda Burney MP. 

Tickets to the breakfast are available for purchase online. 

Maddocks is a WLA ACT Corporate Member and we are grateful for their ongoing support. 

Tickets on sale for Mentor Breakfast with The Hon Linda Burney MP

WLA ACT is pleased to invite you to our October Mentor Breakfast with guest speaker The Hon Linda Burney MP. Tickets are now available to be purchased online. 

Mentor breakfasts provide our members with the opportunity to hear from a prominent woman in the community and to celebrate and learn from their achievements.

Following her election to the Federal House of Representatives she was immediately appointed as Shadow Minister for Human Services.

As a proud member of the Wiradjuri nation, Linda was the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the NSW Parliament and the first Aboriginal woman to serve in the Australian House of Representatives.  Linda’s commitment to Indigenous issues spans more than 30 years.

Linda has a long held commitment the prevention of domestic violence and family violence and has detailed publically her personal experience with it. 

We note, all WLA ACT events are child friendly. 

This event is proudly sponsored by Maddocks.

Event Details

Date and time: Friday 20 October, 7.30am for a 7:45am start. 

Location: Members Dining Room 3, Old Parliament House, Canberra

Tickets: $30 for WLA ACT Members, $40 for Non-members. Includes hot breakfast. 

Your chance to win - Australian Women Lawyers 20th Birthday Gala

To celebrate the 20th birthday of Australian Women Lawyers, we are providing the chance for one of our members to attend the AWL birthday gala dinner in Melbourne on Friday 15 September.

The includes $500 towards flights and accommodation and a free ticket to the dinner celebrations.

To enter, simply write to us (contact@wlaact.org.au) in 300 words or less why you would like to attend.

'The Illusion of Perfection' - Mentor Breakfast with Jennifer Wyborn

WLA ACT is pleased to invite you to our Mentor Breakfast, with guest speaker Jennifer Wyborn, Partner at Clayton Utz, to be held on Tuesday 5 September at QT Hotel.

Mentor breakfasts provide our members with the opportunity to hear from a prominent woman in the legal profession and to celebrate and learn from their achievements.

Jennifer will talk on the topic of 'The Illusion of Perfection'.

Jennifer has had an illustrious career and is currently a Partner at Clayton Utz heading up the Workplace Relations, Employment and Safety Team in Canberra. 

For further information and to book tickets, please see the events page. 

Meet a Member - Nisha Selvaraj

This month we profiled Nisha Selvaraj for our Meet a Member section. Nisha is a Senior Legal Officer in Indigenous Affairs Legal at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. 

'I think the best piece of advice I could give myself, and it’s a piece of advice I have given to friends and colleagues alike, is to back yourself.'

Check out our Meet a Member page to see Nisha's full profile. 

The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is a WLA ACT Corporate Member for the 2017-18 year. 

August Newsletter

We have recently published our August Newsletter. We hope you enjoy information about WLA ACT activities, including:

• our recent and upcoming events;
• meet a member;
• practising while pregnant;
• our new corporate membership;
• book review; and
• legal highlights.

Please see our website for past newsletters. 

Mentor a Law Student

The Women Lawyers Association of the ACT is delighted to let you know that the ANU Women in Law Organisation (WILO) and the University of Canberra Women Lawyers' Mentor Program (WLMP) are ready to sign up mentors for the next session of their mentor programs.

You can sign up to mentor an ANU law student by clicking here.
You can sign up to mentor a UC law student by clicking here.

Sign ups will close on 11 August 2017 and matches with mentees will be advised around 14 August 2017.

WLA ACT is grateful for those members who have given up their time to mentor women law students on these programs so far. We encourage you to do so again and for members who haven't done so yet to join these programs.

For the WILO mentor manual click here

For the WLMP mentor manual click here

We look forward to seeing mentors and mentees at the end of session cocktail function in late October.