blog.vgso.vic.gov.au

VGSO Alumni NewsIssue 1, 13 May 2016

in this issue

From the Victorian Government Solicitor

VPS pro bono partnerships

CONNECT WITH VGSO

Our staff continue our partnership with Brimbank Melton Community Legal Centre (BMCLC) and Inner Melbourne Community Legal.

In 2015, VGSO staff provided a total of 2713 hours of pro bono work. This included 2575 hours of pro bono legal advice provided by lawyers and 238 hours of administrative support from legal assistants.

VGSO’s BMCLC ‘team captain’ Andrew Suddick (General Counsel, Litigation & Dispute Resolution) liaised with Attorney-General Martin Pakula

Welcome to our first issue of Alumni News. I hope you enjoy it.

And we hope you’ll be able to join us on AlumNight (see page 4), to catch up with past and present VGSO colleagues and to re-live some of those memorable - or, even, not so memorable - moments from your time here.

It’s hard to believe we’re almost half way through 2016, which is proving to be another busy year for the office. Our litigators are busy litigating; our advisers are busy advising; our conveyors are busy conveying; and our trainees are busy training. And they’re only able to do what they’re doing because those

PRO BONO OPPORTUNITIES AT BRIMBANK MELTON COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTRE

If you are interested in volunteering or would like more information about the pro bono program,

please contact Andrew Suddick from the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office on 8684 0458.

The Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office has an established pro bono partnership with Brimbank Melton Community Legal Centre (BMCLC), providing staff every Wednesday to assist BMCLC clients with a variety of legal issues.

The VGSO is seeking expressions of interest from government lawyers about becoming involved in the pro bono program at BMCLC. Participants will attend BMCLC at St Albans every Wednesday for five consecutive weeks.

Areas of law lawyers regularly assist with during their time at BMCLC include:

CONTACT THE PRO BONO TEAM

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE PRO BONO PROGRAM?

≥ a clear pro bono lawyer role description

≥ induction, orientation and any necessary training

≥ to use your legal skills to directly assist clients

≥ a supervisor at all times

≥ contact, via 20 minute interviews, with people who cannot afford a lawyer and do not qualify for legal aid

WHERE IS BMCLC?BMCLC is located at 358 Main Road St Albans, 25kms

from the CBD, easily accessed via car, train or bus.

• fines and infringements• family law

• debt issues• housing and tenancy

• consumer complaints•motor vehicle accidents

From the VGS 1

VPS pro bono partnerships 1

Staff news: Changing places 2

Royal duties 2

Celebrating #IWD2016 and #equitablebriefing

3

Role of the government lawyer 3

Innovation imperative 3

VGSO Alumni event: Alumnight 4

Where are they now? 4

to have the program endorsed all VPS government lawyers are eligible to participate in the program. For more information about getting involved at BMCLC, contact Andrew via andrew.suddick@vgso.vic.gov.au or if you are viewing this online click on the image below to download a brochure.

Pro Bono Program contactAndrew Suddickandrew.suddick@vgso.vic.gov.au8684 0458

Twitter@VicGovSolicitor

LinkedInVictorian Government Solicitor’s Office

VGSO Blogblog.vgso.vic.gov.au

CPD opportunitiesIf you are still working in the VPS you can take advantage of upcoming seminars and check out the dates via our website vgso.vic.gov.au or click on the calendar below to download a handy monthly program.

Recent blog posts

Superannuation - just for employees?

Social media - when can you dismiss a public sector employee for inappropriate comments?

Getting closer to safer families -RCFV report

Contact the Alumni teammarketing.team@vsgo.vic.gov.au9947 1446

behind the scenes, our legal assistants and our corporate services staff, are working incredibly hard to make sure everything gets done as and when it needs to.

Some of what we’ve been doing, and some of the developments at VGSO, are touched on in Alumni News. But there’s lots more, so we hope to see you on 9 June so we can share that with you and catch up with what you’ve been doing.

Best wishes

Peter

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Changing places

Royal duties

2016 has seen Assistant Victorian Government Solicitors Shaun LeGrand and Stephen Lee ‘changing places’, with Stephen returning to lead VGSO’s Police Branch and Shaun taking up the AVGS mantle in our Litigation & Dispute Resolution Branch.

VGSO’s Senior Management now comprises:

Peter StewartVictorian Government Solicitorpeter.stewart@vgso.vic.gov.au8684 0400

Jacqueline ParkerAssistant Victorian Government Solicitor Workplace Relations & Occupational Safetyjacqueline.parker@vgso.vic.gov.au9032 3011

Julie FreemanAssistant Victorian Government Solicitor Commercial, Property & Technologyjulie.freeman@vgso.vic.gov.au9947 1404

Shaun LeGrandAssistant Victorian Government Solicitor Litigation & Dispute Resolutionshaun.legrand@vgso.vic.gov.au8684 0410

Alison O’BrienAssistant Victorian Government Solicitor Government & Public Lawalison.o’brien@vgso.vic.gov.au8684 0416

Stephen LeeAssistant Victorian Government Solicitor Police Branchstephen.lee@vgso.vic.gov.au9247 6797

Daniel NarayanGeneral Manager Corporate Servicesdaniel.narayan@vgso.vic.gov.au9947 1472

In March 2015, after more than 36 years of outstanding service, VGSO’s highly respected and widely admired Deputy Victorian Government Solicitor, James Ruddle, retired. He was fittingly farewelled by staff, clients and alumni alike. Also in attendance were former Victorian Government Solicitors Ronald Beazley (1991 - 2000), James Syme (2001 - 2006) and John Cain (2006 - 2011).

As widely reported in recent media, the Royal Commission into Family Violence handed down its final report, State of Victoria, Royal Commission into Family Violence: Summary and recommendations on 29 March 2016 following 13 months of information and evidence gathering. Within the 2000 plus page publication, the report makes 227 recommendations. The report is seven volumes and 41 chapters, with each chapter addressing a particular theme and set of issues. Interestingly it was the first Royal Commission held under the new Inquiries Act 2014.

The VGSO team responsible for representing the State recently authored a blog post regarding the release of the report, drawing out key themes and recommendations. Read the post on the VGSO blog at blog.vgso.vic.gov.au.

You can read the full final report on the Royal Commission into Family Violence website www.rcfv.com.au or click on the image to the right if you are viewing this online.

Above James Ruddle with a book of staff tributes. Above right James Syme, Rebecca French and Ron Beazley. Right James Ruddle and Peter Stewart.

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Former Public Law team member, Associate Professor Gabrielle Appleby of The University of New South Wales, had a chance to turn the tables earlier this year and teach her previous mentor Alison O’Brien (Assistant Victorian Government Solicitor, Government & Public Law) a thing or two.

Gabrielle was guest speaker at a VGSO ethics CPD seminar entitled ‘Walking the tightrope: balancing the role of advisor and advocate as a government lawyer’. Gabrielle’s presentation included fascinating research from her upcoming book, The Role of the Solicitor-General: Negotiating Law, Politics and Public Interest (Hart, 2016).

Many of you may well remember the monthly seminars on legal developments that VGSO hosts for clients - if you are still working in the VPS you can take advantage of upcoming seminars and check out the dates via our website vgso.vic.gov.au or if you are viewing this online, click on the calendar to the right to download a handy monthly program.

Next month:Tuesday, 21 JuneConstitutional Law focusTo receive invitations please email marketing.team@vgso.vic.gov.au

Celebrating #IWD2016 and #equitablebriefing

Role of the government lawyer

On Monday 21 March, the VGSO took the opportunity to celebrate International Women’s Day and formally launch our Equitable Briefing Policy, playing host to more than 55 women barristers and bar readers keen to work with government and access high quality briefs.

VGSO is a signatory to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and the Victorian Bar’s Commercial Bar Association joint initiative on Equitable Briefing and the event was a practical step in enabling VGSO solicitors to broaden their briefing pool and network with new faces at the Bar.

The evening was opened by Catherine Roberts (Managing Principal Solicitor, Government & Public Law), one of the authors of VGSO’s policy. Following was a valuable panel discussion regarding the solicitor/barrister relationship. Special guests for the evening included panel moderator Melinda Richards SC, Crown Counsel and panellists Fiona McLeod SC and Rachel Ellyard both of the Victorian Bar, Janine Hebiton (VGSO, Managing Principal Solicitor, Government & Public Law) and

Melinda Richards SC, Rachel Ellyard and Fiona McLeod SC

Monika Pekevska (VGSO, Managing Principal Solicitor, Litigation & Dispute Resolution).

It was great to see a number of alumni in attendance on the evening, including Natalie Blok (Victorian Bar), Michelle Jenkins (Reader, Victorian Bar) and Julia Watson (Victorian Bar).

There is no doubt that competitive tension, technology and client expectations are creating a perfect disruptive storm in the legal industry right now. In what could have been seen as disruptive for VGSO, Katie Miller spent twelve months away from her role at VGSO, as President of the Law Institute of Victoria in 2015.

Katie returned in February with not only an impressive list of twitter followers but more importantly, valuable insights on disruption for government and its lawyers following the publication of her LIV report Disruption Innovation and Change: The Future of the Legal Profession.

Innovation imperative

As Innovation Counsel, Katie will support the government’s commitment to drive innovation by providing public sector entities with information and opportunities to innovate in procuring and using legal services. Innovation can be big or small - Katie is interested in how government can use everything from artificial intelligence to standardised systems and processes to improve the efficiency and quality of government legal services. Katie has found that the best ideas for change in legal services come from those who use them (clients!) and has an open invitation to clients to contact her to discuss what they wish they could change, if only they had a genie in a bottle - or an Innovation Counsel!

Katie Miller, Innovation Counselkatie.miller@vgso.vic.gov.au8684 0268

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VGSO invites you to catch up with colleagues old and new at Alumnight on Thursday, 9 June. All current and former staff are welcome to attend and you can RSVP via the VGSO Events team on marketing.team@vgso.vic.gov.au.

Where are they now?

Alumnight

LIFE AFTER LAW

Nick BusiettaManaging Director, Liminal VR

In early 2015, Nick left the VGSO to head a start up company specialising in virtual reality software. VGSO Alumni News spoke with Nick about his ‘new life’ outside the law.

Describe your new roleI am the Managing Director and co-founder of Liminal VR. My role is extraordinarily broad and involves sales and marketing, business development, addressing legal issues, human resources, research and development, innovation and general administration. As a small company there isn’t much I don’t get involved in.

What is Liminal?We design and develop bespoke virtual reality business applications for mobile phones and desktop computers.

Our main areas of focus are currently to develop marketing and visualisation tools for property development, product simulation, architecture, interior design, construction and furniture. Our longer term objective is to develop psychological applications, but this arm of our business is in a heavy R&D phase right now.

Virtual reality may sound like science fiction for most people, but we expect it to transform nearly every industry in the coming years. Instead of viewing audiovisual content on a 2D screen,

you can now experience content immersively by wearing a head mounted display. This gives you a sense of being placed inside a digital environment, allowing you to look around in every direction, and experience a sense of scale, space and depth that is not possible on conventional 2D screens. [See www.liminal360.com]

What was your role at VGSO?I was a Senior Solicitor in Isabel Parson’s (Managing Principal Solicitor, Commercial, Property & Technology) Information Technology/Intellectual Property team. My practice focused on information and communications technology procurement, cloud computing, outsourcing and strategic procurement.

Does Nick the Lawyer appear at Liminal?As Managing Director of an early-stage software company, the legal skills I learned working as an IT/IP lawyer under Isabel and the rest of the team have been invaluable. That said, you never stop learning on the job and my role demands that I pay attention to every aspect of our business. The most significant transition I have had to make in my new role is to embrace uncertainty and make gut decisions based on limited information, which has required a significant change in mindset from my time practising as a lawyer.

What, if anything, would you have taken with you to Liminal from VGSO?The hours! There is no such thing as work life balance running your own company. I also miss the administrative assistants and the brains trust on level 33.

If you know of an alum who you would love to see and may need to be contacted by snail mail, you can contact marketing.team@vgso.vic.gov.au.

The VGSO Alumni Program presents

Date: Thursday, 9 June 2016Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pmVenue: Level 27, 121 Exhibition Street, MelbourneDress: Business attireCost: FreeRSVP: marketing.team@vgso.vic.gov.au or 9947 1446

AlumNight

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BOUNCE BACK

Michele RowlandPrincipal Solicitor, VGSO

Michele recently returned to the VGSO from her role as in-house counsel and Registrar at the Business Licensing Authority. VGSO Alumni News asked her a few questions about her experience as a client of VGSO and returning to the office.

What does your role entail at VGSO?My role, in the administrative law team, largely entails supervising junior lawyers on matters involving merits and judicial review, statutory interpretation and advice work regarding Freedom of Information and privacy.

How does that differ from your previous role outside VGSO?My previous role outside was largely autonomous. As in-house counsel and BLA Registrar, I was not part of a legal team, and I was involved in operational and administrative matters such as change management and staffing issues as part of the leadership team, as well as having my legal role.

What was it like being a client of VGSO? It was an interesting experience! Given I had worked on BLA matters, sometimes it felt as though I had never really left! My experience as a client was a positive one, as I always felt confident that in engaging the VGSO, for instance, in VCAT matters or to provide advice, I was in ‘safe hands’ and could rely on the responsiveness, thoroughness and accuracy of the legal services provided. There was also the sense that we were working as a team to obtain the best outcome.

Do you perform your role at VGSO differently since you returned from the ‘client side’? I think I am more attuned to considering what the client might expect - the need to keep them apprised of any developments in a timely and succinct fashion. Being a client also emphasised the importance of building good client relationships.

What surprised you when you returned to the VGSO?The space that time recording occupies, and the structural improvement in the supervision of junior lawyers.

Was there anything you missed after leaving VGSO?I missed the positives associated with working in a legal office - the collegiality of being part of a legal team and discussing legal issues with colleagues, the focus on ‘straight law’ and the more complex legal advice work and variety.

Did you always want a career in law or government?Initially at university it was my intention to be an art historian, but I decided to do honours part-time so that I could commence a law degree. I often had people comment that art history and law was a strange mix. I love the arts but have always been keenly interested in wider cultural issues such as politics and the way we are governed, so doing law was an extension of that interest.

If you could add a subject or two into the modern day law degree, what would they be?Statutory interpretation - I understand one of the newer law schools in Melbourne offers a course in it.

What is the best thing about being a government lawyer?The idea that you are working for the public good, and to contribute to better government decision-making and the administration of justice.