Queensland’s silk wannabes … Rollicking dinner to venerate Her Maj … Wigging and gowning … Keeping the motley alive in the Solomon Islands … Unsatisfactory conduct charge thrown out against barrister who blew the whistle on harassing judge … Twitter tutorial for lawyers 

The other bars wrap themselves in layers of secrecy when it comes to the silk season, which is so unimaginative – particularly when the lists tend to leak like a sieves. 

Here’s the bumper 2022 list for Queensland – between 10 and 20 percent more applicants than usual, a quarter of which are female barristers. 

Thanks to Jiving Jarrod Bleijie-Petersen, of distant memory, all new silks automatically take the KC bauble, there being no provision for republican briefs to opt for SC.  

The BAQ was saddened by the death of the monarch and expressed its condolences noting that her “eventful life was one of service and dedication”. 

After all, people from Queensland have a special affinity for her majesty – the entire state being named in honour of the the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha female line on the throne. 

However, despite the sadness there was no need for the annual bar dinner to be cancelled. Parliament was put on hold, citizens were draped in black, flags were half mast, but the bar’s  feasting and merriment went on as scheduled.

The BAQ thought the best way “to acknowledge her Majesty’s passing and celebrate her significant contribution” was to have a big old knees-up in in the Rose Room at the aptly named Cloudland. 

Reports are to hand that bouncers had to temporarily eject someone from the festivities. 

The Queensland bar’s rules on court dress have the tone of the Eton Prefects’ manual of 1893, including this passage which is worth pasting next to the mirror: 

A barrister shall robe for any proceedings where robes are customarily worn but shall not robe when appearing before a court as a witness or as a party in person. 

A barrister shall not appear publicly in robes, without the permission of the Association, except: 

When robes are worn in a public place, the barrister shall wear a full set of robes. However, this rule shall not prevent a barrister appearing in the vicinity of chambers without a wig or gown. 

Defenestrated Sydney barrister and showpony Charles Waterstreet demonstrated how to merchandise watches – in wig and gown. 

Róisín Annesley KC, chief barmaid at Vic’s Bar ‘n’ Grill, passes on thanks from the Solomon Islands public solicitors office for the “coordination of a large donation of wigs and gowns” for staff in Honiara. 

“I am assured that the donated wigs and gowns will be put to good use,” Róisín assured everyone.

It’s comforting to know that the Queen Anne dress code is alive and kicking in the furthest corners of Oceania. 

The gift of cast off vestments from Victorian briefs may help to smooth the ruffled diplomatic feathers over the announcement that Australia has offered money to assist with the Solomon Island elections.

The Sogavare government was livid that Foreign Minister Wong had made the offer public, while his China-loving regime was insisting that the elections had to be deferred until after the Pacific Games – allegedly because it didn’t have the resources to hold both events in the same year. 

Bread and circuses first. Elections later. 

Our Torrenside field agent reports that it only took six years for Adelaide brief Claire O’Connor SC to have a professional complaint against her run its course and be overturned on appeal. 

In October, it was Ginger Snatch’s unhappy duty to report a series of complaints about male gropers, harassers and pests making life unpleasant for female lawyers.

The Daily Rupert in Adelaide had reported a Facebook post from O’Connor that she had been the “victim of serious infringements, once by someone who now sits on our District Court”. 

O’Connor was unsuccessful in the 2016 election for president of the SA Law Society and her post also took a swipe at the clubby lineage of people who run the show in the city of churches: 

“Daddy, schooling, skin colour, gender preference (and) disability will not impact such appointments in generations to come.” 

See Procrustes on this very point.

This was too much for the grand fromages of the profession. Then president David Caruso declared: 

“We are concerned by the possible negative suggestions which a reader might draw from the post about individuals and key institutions within the administration of justice.” 

The Legal Profession Conduct Commissioner, Greg May, reprimanded O’Connor for her social media handiwork and ordered she issue a grovel. 

Just to be clear, the person who claimed to be sexually harassed was disciplined, but not the alleged offending judge. 

At the end of last month, the Legal Professional Conduct Tribunal upheld O’Connor’s appeal against the finding of “unsatisfactory conduct”. She had not brought the profession into disrepute by revealing she had been sexually put upon by the unnamed judge.

The adverse findings regarding her comments about parentage, gender, skin colour and gender preference were also overturned.

Last year an anonymous male lawyer unsuccessfully tried again to drag O’Connor before the Bureau de Spank over more recent posts about The Christian Porter and overseas developments that suggested misogyny should be a hate crime. 

She quipped that we’d be stuck for lawyers if misogyny was a hate crime because “many would be charged themselves”. 

After intervention by Julian Burnside for O’Connor, the disciplinary tribunal said enough was enough, and it was not in the public interest for the complaint to be reopened.  

Only yesterday (Wednesday, Sept. 14) the SA Law Society hosted a webinar on the topic Should we outlaw Twitter for lawyers? 

Even though it is an entirely dopey idea for anyone, apart from Donald Trump, to be banned from communicating, the law society arranged for a special “CLE Performer”, Stuart Teicher Esq, to run through the arguments that justify why social media platforms should not be used by lawyers.

Topics covered included: 

Mr Teicher Esq is an American “professional legal educator”. 

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