Canberra's legal profession is bracing for a bruising presidential election after several candidates dispensed with tradition by declaring their intention to contest the poll.
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The Law Society will elect a new president later this month. But the ballot, unlike other recent elections, will not be a foregone conclusion.
A gentleman's agreement observed for the past several years, that has seen the vice-president slip seamlessly into the top job, has been abandoned as two contenders emerge to do battle with the woman who believed she had her name on the president's job.
Personal injury specialist Noor Blumer, of Blumer's lawyers in Civic, and Queanbeyan-based practitioner Brian Hatch have both stepped up to challenge Law Society vice-president and family law practitioner Kay Barralet for the presidency.
The job will be vacated by federal bureaucrat Athol Opas next month and, until the other two candidates emerged this week, Ms Barralet was expected to move into the president's job unopposed.
But Ms Barralet said that she was confident that her experience of eight years on the Law Society council and commitment to serve the broad range of interests in the territory's profession would find favour with the voters.
"I intend to serve for all lawyers, not just one particular group," she said. "All lawyers in Canberra have similar concerns, whether they be practising in the Public Service and affiliated organisations or in private practice.
"The issues will affect us all.
"Although I am a family lawyer by trade, I will represent a broad range of interests."
The election will unfold against the backdrop of two significant issues for Canberra lawyers - the ACT Government's proposed sweeping changes to personal injury laws, and a looming shake-up of the regulatory landscape that could see the society stripped of its disciplinary function.
Mr Hatch, a former partner in Civic firm Pamela Coward Higgins, told The Canberra Times yesterday that he believed the society needed strong leadership to face the challenges emerging for the legal profession.
"That [personal injury reforms] is one of the issues but there are and there will be other issues." Mr Hatch said he was worried about the Federal Government's plans to introduce a legal service commission that would replace the Law Society as the disciplinary body for the capital's lawyers.
"The national legal profession issue is still important in the ACT and if a legal services commission takes over the disciplinary compensation responsibility in the ACT, that will double the price of practising certificates, which will increase legal fees for everybody," Mr Hatch said.
Ms Blumer said personal injury law reform was an important issue but that it was one of a number of important issues the ACT legal profession faced.
Although her firm specialised in personal injuries, she could call on experience in many other areas of practice, including family law, criminal law and commercial litigation.
But Ms Blumer, who can also point to many years of activity in the Law Council of Australia and the Law Society as well as advocacy for women in the law, said she had not been canvassing her level of support.
"I have made myself available to serve as president if the profession wants me," she said.