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MINUTES OF THE FORMATION MEETING HELD IN
VANCOUVER ON 26 AUGUST 1996
PRESENT: In the Chair, David Gates, Chair,
Conference of Government and Public Sector Lawyers CBA. 39
others (as recorded in the minute book.)
1. WELCOME
The Chairman explained that Canada as host nation
had been asked to provide the Chairman for this Formation Meeting and
said that he had much pleasure in taking on the task and welcoming all
those present.
2. ADDRESS
The Chairman then welcomed in particular John Tait,
Senior Adviser, Privy Council Office, Ottawa who addressed the meeting
on "The Role of the Public Sector Lawyer in the 1990s". The key issue
was how the public sector lawyer could always reconcile service to
client with the obligation to comply with the rule of law. [Note.
The full text of this address was printed in the Commonwealth Lawyer
February 1997 at page 58] In thanking the speaker for his thought
provoking address, Michael Saunders (Treasurer Solicitor, UK) said that
in the UK consideration was being given to guidance for Government
lawyers and in this respect Mr. Tait's address would be valuable.
3. CONSTITUTION
There followed a discussion of the draft Constitution
which had been prepared in consultation with members of the Steering
Committee that had been set up at the meeting held in Nicosia in 1993.
Discussion centred mainly on a provision in Clause 6 for a regionally
constituted Committee of the Association. The proposal did not receive
unanimous support and it was eventually AGREED:
1. to approve the draft Constitution as a working
document pending reconsideration of Clause 6 at the next meeting in
Kuala Lumpur in 1999.
2. to ask the Commonwealth Secretariat meanwhile
to advise on the most appropriate approach for Constituting such a
Committee.
3. to invite all national, state or regional
professional bodies (or the appropriate Committees or Groups threof) of
public sector lawyers to become Institutional Members of the
Association.
4. FINANCE
It was reported that the Local Government Group of the
Law Society of England and Wales, which had been funding the formation
administrative expenses, had generously agreed to fund the
administrative expenses of the Association until the next meeting in
1999. It was therefore AGREED:
to thank the
Group for
its past support and to accept gratefully its
offer of further support until 1999; and
in consequence to levy no subscription before
1999.
5. CHAIRMAN
On the proposition of the Chairman of the meeting, duly
seconded, it was AGREED that Dato' Heliliah Yusof
(Solicitor-General of Malaysia) be elected as the first Chairman of the
Association for the period 1996 - 1999.
6. HON SECRETARY
On the proposition of the Chairman of the meeting, duly
seconded, it was AGREED that Christopher Robinson ( Secretary of
the Steering Committee) be elected as the first Hon Secretary for the
period 1996 - 1999.
7. HON TREASURER
On the proposition of the Secretary, who reminded the
meeting that Clause 5.4 of the Constitution provided that the Hon
Secretary and the Hon Treasurer should for ease of communication should
normally be from the same Commonwealth country, duly seconded by Peter
Urwin (Chairman of the Local Government of England and Wales) it was
AGREED that the Hon Treasurer of that Group for the time being be
elected as the first Hon Treasurer of the Association for the period
1996 - 1999.
8. COMMITTEE
In the light of Min 3 above it was AGREED to empower the
Chairman, if necessary, to constitute a provisional Committee on the
basis eventually recommended by the Commonwealth Secretariat and to
delegate to that Committee all such powers of the Association as may be
necessary to ensure its proper functioning until its next General
Meeting.
9. KUALA LUMPUR
After a brief discussion, it was AGREED:
1. to hold the next General Meeting during the
course of the 12th Commonwealth Law Conference at Kuala Lumpur in
September 1999 on a date and at a time to be determined by the
Chairman; and
2. to seek to arrange with the Conference
Secretariat as part of the main Conference programme a full day that
would focus on public sector law issues that would be of interest to
delegates generally but of particular interest to public sector lawyers.
10. COMMONWEALTH LAW BOOK PROGRAMME
On consideration of a paper by the Hon Secretary, it was
AGREED to encourage all members to support the aims of the
Commonwealth Book Programme and to advise the Hon Secretary of any
personal needs.
11. EXCHANGE AND SECONDMENT ARRANGEMENTS
Greg Ross (Australia) drew attention to the recently
established New South Wales Law Society Overseas Solicitor Exchange
Programme. Mark Berlin (Canada) drew attention to the Canadian
Department of Justice's Visitors and Professional Interchange Programme.
Both invited those present to consider participation in these schemes
which accorded closely with the aims of the Association. It was
AGREED:
1. to sup[port both schemes;
2. To bring them to the attention of members of
the Association; and
3. to encouragement the establishment of
comparable by other Commonwealth countries.
12. SPONSORSHIP
On the proposition of the Chairman of the meeting it was
unanimously AGREED to thank Sweet & Maxwell Ltd. for kindly
agreeing to host the meeting and the following reception.
CJDR 15 AUGUST 1999
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