DECEMBER 2002

Number 6

The Chairman has recently provided by email an advance copy of the Conference brochure. The brochure names the Association as one of the participating organisations and refers to the Association Seminar (see below) However the download time and the drain on the colour ink jet was such that we are not tempted to forward it to you! If you have registered your interest in the Conference with the organising Committee, then you should shortly receive a copy of the brochure direct from them or through your local society. Meanwhile the brochure and registration form can be accessed on site at www.clc.efirst.com.au .

The Secretary would be grateful if public sector lawyers registering for the Conference would also at the same time let him know by email to cjdr@cjdr.screaming.net that they have done so and indicating whether or not they will be attending the Association Seminar (see below). This will give those making the arrangements for the Seminar a better idea of the numbers likely to be involved. It will also enable the Association to advise all those who indicate an interest in the Seminar of the arrangements for it as they develop

Would any person not registering for the Conference itself but wishing to attend the Seminar please let the Secretary know by email cjdr@cjdr.screaming.net as soon as possible

When the Constitution was drafted, the thinking was that there would be at most one Institutional member for each separate jurisdiction, probably the Committee of the relevant Bar Council or Law Society that represented the interests of public sector lawyers in that jurisdiction. A little more thought, easy with hindsight, would have demonstrated that such an approach was untenable, not least in England and Wales where there are several bodies with distinct interests in such lawyers and even within the Government Legal Service a number of different elements none of whose lawyers are seemingly represented formally within the Law Society or Bar Council. The adoption of an inclusive approach to applications for institutional membership, notwithstanding the precise terms of the Constitution, is undoubtedly the right one at this stage of the Association's development. It has for instance enabled us to register as Institutional members various state and provincial legal services as well as the Commonwealth Secretariat Legal Division, on whose support, advice and assistance we continue of necessity to rely.

The Constitution was drafted sufficiently widely so as to embrace not just employed public sector lawyers but also their private practice or academic colleagues with a significant involvement or interest in public sector law and its practice. This was in recognition of the changes that were then afoot with public sector offices increasingly making use of their private sector colleagues in the delivery of legal services to their client employers, a trend which has developed considerably in the last few years in many jurisdictions in different ways. This has led to greater movement both ways between the two sectors. Our Chairman, after a life time in private practice, is now a government lawyer and two other active Association members, one a Canadian and the other an Australian, have moved into the private sector. We perhaps need to consider whether all such members, public or private sector, should have equal status within the Association or whether we need to differentiate between them in some way to protect the original employed sector ethos of the Association.

The Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit has recently published an initial report on this project, entitled "Joining Up the Commonwealth: A response to Governmental calls for increased co-ordination with Civil Society" The report makes a number of recommendations on "Mapping the Peoples' Commonwealth", on "Commonwealth Centres" and on "Accreditation". The report and further information about the project can be accessed through the CPSU website at www.cpsu.org.uk

The Local Government Group of the Law Society of England and Wales has recently launched its own website as the first stage of a two stage project to provide itself with a new and up to date reference source for its members. The interim site can be found at www.localgovernmentlawyers.org.uk . It is currently seeking views from Group members on the format and content of the permanent site which it is hoped will be ready for launching by the middle of next year.

13th COMMONWEALTH LAW CONFERENCE 2003: MELBOURNE 13-17 APRIL 2003

The Chairman has recently let me have by email an advance copy of the Conference brochure. However the download time and the drain on my colour ink jet was such that I am not tempted to forward it to you! If you have registered your interest in the Conference with the organising Committee, then you should shortly receive a copy direct from them or through your local society. If you have not yet registered I would advise you to do so without delay even if you are undecided as yet on whether you will be able to attend. You can do so by email to clc@liv.asn.au Meanwhile further information about the Conference can be obtained through the Conference web site at http://www.liv.asn.au/conferences/comlawc

Early Bird Registration fees are set at A$1450 for members of the CLA,  A$1600 for non members, A$1100 for Young Lawyers (ie. those with less than 6 years post admission practice) and A$550 for accompanying guests.  These rates only apply to registrations for which payments in full are received by the Conference Secretariat by no later than 31 January 2003. Thereafter the standard fees are respectively A$1750, A$1900, A$1450 and A$550.

The Organising Committee is committed to making the Conference as inclusive and accessible as possible.  Lawyers from developing countries within the Commonwealth who might otherwise find it difficult to travel to Australia can be offered assistance. Such delegates would stay with Melbourne based lawyers.

The brochure names the Association as one of the participating organisations and refers to the Association Seminar (see below) The Association Secretary would be grateful if public sector lawyers registering for the Conference would also at the same time let him know by email to cjdr@cjdr.screaming.net that they have done so as this will give those making the Association's arrangements for the Conference a better idea of the numbers likely to be involved in the seminar or otherwise.

THE CONFERENCE AND THE ASSOCIATION.

The Association in the final event will be playing no direct role within the main conference programme although a number of sessions within the Commerce and Corporations stream may be of particular interest to public sector lawyers.

However the Association will be holding a Seminar in the Melbourne Conference Centre on Sunday 13 April before the Conference starts for all practitioners interested in public sector law matters, whether or not they are registered for the Conference itself. The programme for the Seminar will be as follows:

Anyone wishing to make a formal contribution to any of these sessions should please contact the Chairman as soon as possible at James.Syme@vgso.vic.gov.au

Would all those persons, whether or not registering for the Conference itself, wishing to attend  the Seminar please advise the Secretary accordingly as soon as possible by email to cjdr@cjdr.screaming.net

We have been advised by  Conference organisers that all persons attending the Seminar will be required to contribute A$60 to cover the cost of lunch and coffee and tea for the day.  Further discussions are now taking place to see whether this fee can be waived at least for those registering for the  Conference itself or, if not,  whether the cost might possibly covered by sponsorship. Further details on this will be posted on the web site as soon as they are available. Any fee that might ultimately be required will be collected at registration on the day of the Seminar.

The Seminar will be followed by a General Meeting of the Association as announced on the Association web site in the 3 July Update. A draft agenda for the meeting will be published on the site shortly. The final agenda and supporting papers will be emailed to all members before the end of March. Any member who has any proposal which they would like discussed at the Meeting is asked to let the Secretary have details no later than the end of February

ASSOCIATION SECRETARY WANTED

I have been involved with CAPSL since its creation was first mooted in Auckland in 1990 and the time has clearly now come for me to hand over the job of Secretary to someone younger who can take the Association forward over the next decade. I shall therefore be resigning from the post at the conclusion of the Melbourne Conference and the search is on for a successor. Anyone interested in the job is invited, without commitment on either side, to get in touch with the Chairman or me.

 Set out below is an outline of the duties of the post as it now exists:

1.Establishing and maintaining contact with related bodies. 2. Promoting the Association generally. 3. Recruiting and enrolling new members 4. Maintaining the records of the Association. 5.Maintaining the Association web site. 6. Identifying possible successor chairmen. 7. Supporting the Chairman. 8. Organising with the Chairmen General Meetings and Seminars. 9. Identifying a fellow national as Association Treasurer. 10. Securing, in liaison with the Treasurer, funding for the Association.

The post would suit a recently retired public sector lawyer who is a good networker, is computer literate, has internet and fax access and has some time on his or her hands. It is difficult to estimate with any precision the time required for the post as the job is very much what the holder makes of it. Flexibility is perhaps the key. I would initially be available to advise and support the new Secretary and for a limited period would , if asked to do so, be prepared to continue to maintain the Association web site.

THE ASSOCIATION WEB SITE

As those of you who have visited the new web site periodically will know, I have so far usually managed to update it on a regular monthly basis. Its content is gradually increasing but, as was said in the April 2002 Newsletter there remains plenty of scope for contributions from individual members which would help to make it more interesting.

Phase 2 of the site's development, which will provide a member only password protected site,  will remain on hold until the membership base has further developed and more interest has been shown in such a development. This will be an issue which we must discuss in Melbourne.

MEMBERSHIP

Our membership grows slowly. We have three new individual members in Canada. with, I hope, more to follow as a result of the recent promotion of the Association by their Government and Public Sector Lawyers' Conference, one of our Institutional members. We have also had new members in Australia. Jersey, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It gave me particular pleasure recently also to welcome, as an Individual Member, our first Ugandan representative, Rehmah Nabunya, a Legal Assistant with the Ugandan Government Legal Service.

So gradually the word about CAPSL is spreading and our membership is becoming more representative of the Commonwealth as a whole. More members yet would be welcome, particularly Institutional ones - the Government Legal Services of the Commonwealth are very backward in coming forward although we have recently accepted into membership both Kiribati and Kwa Zulu Natal. Anything that anyone could do to persuade more Government Legal Services  to sign up would be most welcome. There is only a limited amount more that I can do but i shall keep trying

There are now only five members, Individual and Institutional, who do not yet have email access and to whom I have therefore to post the Newsletter. I am really most grateful to the membership as a whole for co-operating with me by providing me with email addresses. This makes my life so much easier and keeps our administrative costs down.

ASSOCIATION CONSTITUTION: MEMBERSHIP

We do not wish to spend time unnecessarily at our General Meeting in Melbourne discussing yet again Constitutional issues: we will undoubtedly have more important and pressing issues deserving debate. However, we will probably need at least to revisit the definition of Member in the light of recent experience in dealing with membership applications.

Institutional members

When the Constitution was drafted, the thinking was that there would be at most one Institutional member for each separate jurisdiction, probably the Committee of the relevant Bar Council or Law Society that represented the interests of public sector lawyers in that jurisdiction. A little more thought, easy with hindsight, would have demonstrated that such an approach was untenable, not least in England and Wales where there are several bodies with distinct interests in such lawyers and even within the Government Legal Service a number of different elements none of whose lawyers are seemingly represented formally within the Law Society or Bar Council. The adoption of an inclusive approach to applications for institutional membership, notwithstanding the precise terms of the Constitution, is undoubtedly the right one at this stage of the Association's development. It has for instance enabled us to register as an Institutional member the Commonwealth Secretariat Legal Division, on whose support, advice and assistance we continue of necessity to rely.

The public/private sector divide

The Constitution was drafted sufficiently widely so as to embrace not just employed public sector lawyers but also their private practice or academic colleagues with a significant involvement or interest in public sector law and its practice. This was in recognition of the changes that were then afoot with public sector offices increasingly making use of their private sector colleagues in the delivery of legal services to their client employers, a trend which has developed considerably in the last few years in many jurisdictions in different ways. This has led to greater movement both ways between the two sectors. Our Chairman, after a life time in private practice, is now a government lawyer and two other active public sector members, one a Canadian and the other an Australian, have moved into the private sector. We perhaps need to consider whether all such members, public or private sector, should have equal status within the Association or whether we need to differentiate between them in some way to protect the original employed sector ethos of the Association.

Non Commonwealth public sector lawyers

A third strand, perhaps a rather more arguable one, is the possible admission to the Association, in some form of Associate membership, of non Commonwealth employed public sector lawyers. Through the Secretary, the Association has had until recently an involvement in the IBA and its Committee 15 - Government Law. However, the Secretary, following consultations with a number of lawyers involved with that Committee, resigned as it was quite apparent that we were getting no value for our annual subscription. There has not even been a Committee Newsletter since May 2000 and there is seemingly little likelihood of one in the foreseeable future. In short the IBA, at least at the centre of the organistaion, currently gives the impression of being disinterested in the public sector lawyer (although it has recently agreed to provide on their new web site a direct link to ours for which we are grateful) and in consequence does nothing of any real interest for the vast majority of them. The situation may change in the future but meanwhile maybe we could offer some kind of home to those non Commonwealth employed public sector lawyers who might otherwise have looked to the IBA.

The Secretay would be very pleased if we could have some reaction to the ideas outlined above, whether negative or positive, as it will assist us in formulating any proposals on this topic for submission to the General Meeting in Melbourne.

ZIMBABWE

The Council of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association resolved at its  Annual Meeting in London in June to condemn the arrests of Sternford Mayo, President of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, and of Wilbert Mapombere, its Executive Secretary and their subsequent charging with offences alleging possession of "subversive documents" under the Public Order and Security Act.

The Council observed that the arrests followed the Law Society's expressions of concern about the current state of the rule of law in Zimbabwe. It considers that they pose a serious and continued threat to the independence of the legal profession. It is gravely concerned for the safety and rights of lawyers and others advocating the rule of law and international human rights in Zimbabwe.

Recalling the Harare Declaration, the founding principles of the Commonwealth and of the CLA and the Latimer House Guidelines on Parliamentary Supremacy and the Independence of the Judiciary, the Council supported the statement issued by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers calling on the Government of Zimbabwe to comply with its international obligations, respect the role of lawyers and to withdraw unconditionally the charges made against Sternford Mayo and Wilbert Mapombere.

The CLA urges the Authorities in Zimbabwe to:

1. Uphold the safety, well being and legal rights of all persons in Zimbabwe, in particular members of the legal profession, and to ensure that the right to a fair trial is not violated

2. Ensure that Members of the Judiciary and Legal Profession of Zimbabwe are able to discharge their functions independently and without impediment; and

3. Meet with representatives of the Legal Profession, the Judiciary including but not limited to elected representatives of the Law Society of Zimbabwe in order to ensure a just solution of the present Constitutional Issues.

The CLA will:

1. actively support the Legal Profession of Zimbabwe in their efforts to uphold the Rule of Law, the independence of the Judiciary and of the Legal Profession in Zimbabwe; and

2. assist within its means in providing such technical and other assistance as the Law Society of Zimbabwe may seek in those efforts.

The Council also resolved with regret, in the light of the circumstances referred to above, to withdraw an invitation it had extended to the Law Society of Zimbabwe to host the 14th Commonwealth Law Conference in 2005. A final decision on the venue for the 2005 Conference is awaited and will be announced as soon as it has been taken.

COMMONWEALTH CIVIL SOCIETY PROJECT

Our views have been sought by the Commonwealth Civil Society Project at the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit. The project, which is being funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is examining some of the key recommendations of the High Level Review Group on civil society. As its first task the project has been "mapping" NGOs of which we are one of many; looking at accreditation procedure for such bodies; and considering the establishment of Commonwealth Centres. It is not clear at the moment whether we will have much to contribute to the project but a good working link has been built up with the project officer, Amanda Shah, and by way of preliminary comment we have stressed the importance to organisations such as ours of a clearly identified point of contact within the Commonwealth Secretariat to whom we can turn, when necessary, for assistance or advice with a reasonable expectation that it will be forthcoming within an acceptable timescale. This will be particularly important when the CAPSL Secretary is no longer UK based and, with relative ease, able to knock on doors.

The Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit has recently published an initial report on this project, to which the Association made a modest contribution (see June Update below), entitled "Joining Up the Commonwealth: A response to Governmental calls for increased co-ordination with Civil Society" The report makes a number of recommendations on "Mapping the Peoples' Commonwealth", on "Commonwealth Centres" and on "Accreditation". The report and further information about the project can be accessed through the CPSU website at www.cpsu.org.uk

The report deserves more detailed consideration than time has so far allowed before comment but it appeared that the Association was one of a small minority of Commonwealth-wide bodies that did not at present have formal Commonwealth accreditation. As there appeared to be some advantage in seeking such accreditation if only to ensure that we would in future rank with the majority, application for accreditation was made. However, we have now been advised that as the current accreditation criteria are currently under review it has been decided to defer a decision on the Association's application for accreditation until the review has been completed.

LAWYERS IN THE PUBLIC EYE

"The Lawyer", a UK weekly which is now primarily of interest to the larger city firms, has nevertheless recently profiled two public sector lawyers, David Hamilton, Head of Legal with the Metropolitan Police and a member of the Association (12 August 2002) and Philip Thomson, Head of Legal at Essex County Council and past Chairman of the Local Government Group, whose department was this year's winner of The Lawyer's Public Sector Team of the Year (19 August 2002). Such publicity for often under-recognised public sector lawyers is always welcome.

David controls a team of 40 lawyers and 60 case workers and support staff and an annual budget of ?.4m (including running costs and outside counsel). The team, which is split into 3 groups, concentrates on the civil aspects of the force's operational matters with more than half its time being spent on managing civil claims and a fifth dealing with employment and tribunal work. Phillip controls a team of similar size - 50 lawyers with 60 paralegals and support staff - and an annual spend of ?.3m, most of which is required for running the in-house team. Unusually for an in-house lawyer, he spends 70% of his own time policing local politicians as he holds the additional appointment of Monitoring Officer.

I would be interested in receiving and publishing similar stories about other public sector lawyers. I can only publish what I get!

NEW PUBLIC SECTOR WEB SITE

The Local Government Group of the Law Society of England and Wales has recently launched its own website as the first stage of a two stage project to provide itself with a new and up to date reference source for its members. The interim site can be found at www.localgovernmentlawyers.org.uk . It is seeking views from Group members on the format and content of the permanent site which it is hoped will be ready for launching by the middle of next year.

TRAINING FOR PUBLIC SECTOR REFORM

Public sector educators and trainers from management development
institutions in 12 Commonwealth countries recently attended in New Zealand
an intensive training session on 'Supporting public sector reform -
using education and training to build capacity'.

A ten-day 'training of trainers' seminar had been organised by the Commonwealth
Secretariat in collaboration with Victoria University of Wellington in New
Zealand. Its 20 participants were public sector professionals who, through training, consultancy and policy advice, support the planning, design and implementation of public sector
reform in their countries.

"The issue in developing countries today is not whether the public sector
should or needs to reform - that's happening anyway," said Dr Victor Ayeni
of the Secretariat's Governance and Institutional Development Division,
which managed the seminar. "The real issue is what the public sector should
change into, and in so doing ensure that what is accomplished is in the best
interests of society."

The seminar's objectives included developing managerial and public service
skills and knowledge in Commonwealth developing countries, and equipping
participants with practical tools and ideas of best practice on how they can
play a leading role in the transformation of their own governmental
institutions and organisations. Participants also made site visits to
gain first-hand experience of the achievements of public sector reform in
New Zealand.

"This is a hands-on programme," Dr Ayeni explained. "Each participant is
expected to arrive with a case study about an aspect of public sector
reform, and depart with an action plan. Each case study is expected to
describe a management challenge that could be assisted by an education or
training programme. Participants will then give presentations on education
or training programmes they plan to deliver after the seminar."

Each year training is provided by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC),  the Commonwealth Secretariat's development arm, to thousands of public sector officials
and staff in Commonwealth developing countries. Much of this training focuses on public sector reform and improving government services.

PUBLICATIONS

Since the last Newsletter was published, we have received the latest editions of The Commonwealth Lawyer, of Clarion (the CLA's newsletter), of Government Lawyer (a Law Society of NSW newsletter); Noter Up (the Journal of the Law Society Local Government Group, England & Wales); and of Pass It On (an ABA Government Public Sector Lawyers newsletter). Details from these publications, so far as they may be of wider interest, eg. on PFI procurement, can be found on the publications page of the Association web site where mention is also made of two recent publications on public administration which have proved of interest to some of our members. The Secretary would be pleased to be put on the circulation list for any comparable publications elsewhere in the Commonwealth as they provide a rich source of material for this page and our own newsletter and web site.

CJDR 2 December 2002