Mentor Breakfast with The Hon. Associate Justice McWilliam sold out

Ont Tuesday 13 February WLA ACT will host its first event of 2018, a Mentor Breakfast with guest speaker the Honourable Associate Justice Verity McWilliam.

Associate Justice McWilliam was sworn in as the Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of the ACT in June 2017. Prior to her appointment, Associate Justice McWilliam was a solicitor at PwC and the Crown Solicitor’s Office of NSW before being called to the NSW bar and practising in the areas of commercial/equity, criminal, employment, environment/planning, public and torts law.

Associate Justice McWilliam will share her insights on her fascinating career at our first mentor breakfast of the year.

This has been a popular event and tickets sold out quickly. Should you wish to be placed on a waiting list, please email contact@wlaact.org.au. 

WLA ACT 2017/18 Pay & Conditions Survey NOW OPEN

The Women Lawyers Association ACT's 2017 Pay & Conditions Survey is now open! 

The Women Lawyers Association (WLA) ACT and the ACT Young Lawyers are seeking the views of ACT-based lawyers of all genders and career levels.
 
The ACT is a small jurisdiction and information about employment, pay and conditions is often unavailable in the public sphere, making it difficult for lawyers to find an independent benchmark from which to negotiate their entitlements.
The purpose of this survey is to collect data about the characteristics of individual lawyers working in the ACT, and the nature of their employment, pay and conditions. The WLA ACT and the ACT Young Lawyers Committee will collate and publish the findings of the survey with the aim of providing ACT lawyers with an insight into their professional community.
 
The survey will take 10-15 minutes to complete online.
 
The WLA ACT and ACT Young Lawyers Committee are committed to protecting your privacy. This survey is anonymous, therefore the information we collect will not tell us anything about you specifically (such as your personal details). The WLA ACT and ACT Young Lawyers Committee may use the data collected through this survey for the purposes of releasing a Pay and Conditions Report and other materials pertaining to the findings of the survey. A copy of the 2016 Report can be found HERE.

The expansion of the survey to all lawyers in the ACT has been made possible thanks to our generous sponsors.

A book launch! The essential reference guide to financial planning

Michael Miller from MLC Advice Canberra (one of our fantastic sponsors) has written a book! WLA ACT welcomes this book, titled ‘Personal Financial Services Essentials for Lawyers’, which seeks to demystify financial planning for lawyers.

WLA ACT committee members joined Michael at the book launch on Wednesday 25 October. The event welcomed attendees from across the Canberra legal community, who enjoyed words from guest speaker Noor Blumer, ACT Woman Lawyer of the Year 2016.

Covering topics such as superannuation, insurance and social security, the text combines an explanation of the legal basis for many areas of financial planning, with information and examples on how these are applied by financial planning professionals for their clients.

"Personal Financial Services Essentials for Lawyers is an essential reference providing practical guidance to lawyers on where to start when it comes to matters that may affect the financial planning dealings of their clients"

Copies of the book can be obtained through Lexis Nexis.

Michael Miller of MLC Advice Canberra is the principal sponsor of WLA ACT.

Meet a Member - Emily Bowler

This month we profiled Emily Bowler for our Meet a Member section. Emily is a lawyer at Baker Deane & Nutt, currently practising in personal injury litigation.

'My advice would be to get a mentor and also to become a mentor yourself. As a young lawyer it is extremely valuable to have the opportunity to meet with a more senior practitioner and to ask questions regarding career progression, different working environments and life as a lawyer in a confidential setting.' 

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

Baker Deane and Nutt is a WLA ACT Corporate Member for the 2017-18 year. 

MLC Seminar: How to buy your first home – then pay that loan off!

We are pleased to invite you to a seminar hosted by our Principal Sponsor, MLC Advice, to be held on Wednesday 8 November at 5:30pm.

Come along to this session to learn all about getting your first home and loan, and then how to make sure you can pay that loan off and own that home mortgage free. The session will cover:

• How to avoid the Lifestyle Creep that will keep you from owning your home
• Saving a deposit for your home, including the new First Home Super Savers Scheme rules
• Special mortgage options available for lawyers
• First home buyer and stamp duty concessions, the differences between ACT & NSW
• Understanding the difference between a mortgage offset or redraw and why it’s important
• Having a plan to avoid home ownership bill shock
• How to pay that loan down, faster

Further information and registration can be found on our Events Page. 

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.