Meritorious Service

On December 15th, I finally completed the last step in my legal education --- I graduated with the Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from ANU.  With merit, I might add.  According to my diploma (or testamur as it's called at ANU), I finished the course of study with merit, which means better than average but one step below distinction (distinction being the highest level).  I'm pretty happy with my result and it now means I can go forth into the world and seek admission into the legal profession.  This was the last step, academically anyway.

Speaking of admission, I handed in the paperwork to the Supreme Court Registry today.  The woman at the Legal Practitioners Admissions Board sent an e-mail to the registry and I was told that a file would be created right away,  Hopefully this means that there won't be any hiccups like last time.  All things being equal, I'm only about 3 weeks away from admission.  I really can't wait.  I'll finally be a full member of the legal community and I can go up to the Northern Territory confident that I have what it takes to succeed.

Interestingly, I had lunch with some of my law school friends.  1, Roland, still has a semester to complete while the other, Rohan, is working for ACT Legal Aid and already has a practising certificate.  In order to be admitted, an already admitted lawyer must move your admission before the court.  Since Rohan is such, I asked if he would move my admission and he agreed.  So, that's another issue all sorted.

2 world leaders died in the last week or two, Kim Jong Il and Vaclav Havel.  Coincidentally, the day before he died I was just thinking of Vaclav Havel in a very roundabout way.  As Christmas is coming up I got the tune Good King Wenceslaus into my head and Wenceslaus is an English rendering of Vaclav.  From there, I just started wondering what Vaclav Havel was doing and then I read the news.  Life is full of these odd coincidences.  I wasn't really thinking of Kim Jong Il except in the context of the wonderful caricature of him in Team America: World Police.  I hope that North Korea starts to come in from the cold but I realize that is unlikely.  Still, it would be nice if North Korea can emerge from its frozen state but only time will tell.

Finally, I'd like to wish everyone a happy Hanukkah.  It started on the 20th and in the words of Adam Sandler, it goes for "8 crazy nights."

Oh, and here's a photo of my from my GDLP graduation.  It's myself and Dr. Dominique Dalla-Pozza, a professor at ANU who taught me Commonwealth Constitutional Law and now teaches that and Australian Public Law.  I'm the one on the right.

The Best Laid Plans

It seems as though my plans have been set upon a new and unplanned course, for reasons not of my choosing.  I was supposed to have been admitted tomorrow in the Supreme Court as a lawyer.  It would have made me a full member of the legal profession.  The plan was to be admitted and then sort of just wait around until my job started in the Northern Territory.  I could take pride in my accomplishment and tell everyone I was a lawyer.  As it turns out, it's not going to happen precisely as planned.

On the Monday before my admission I sent an e-mail to the Legal Practitioners Admissions Board (LPAB) asking what time my admissions ceremony would be on Friday.  The ceremonies take place one after the other but the time slot is important since you know when to show up and you're not left waiting around.  I then received an e-mail saying that they did not have my paperwork so I would be unable to be admitted.  This was an unwelcome surprise for me, particularly as I had submitted my paperwork many months ago.  I quickly phoned back and asked how could this be.  Luckily, I had copies of everything I had submitted as well as the receipt showing that I had paid the requisite fee.  I was told that they would try to find my paperwork as there didn't seem to be anything in the system against either the receipt number or the admissions number (a sort of reference number).

The next morning I received a call and was told that my paperwork was nowhere to be found.  The Secretary of the LPAB was at a complete loss to explain the situation.  Even given the months that had gone by, my paperwork should still have been on file.  We agreed that I would come in to discuss the situation and I had the added complication that I had to be admitted before I left for the Northern Territory, which was before the next scheduled admissions ceremony.

I arrived that afternoon at the LPAB, which is housed in the Supreme Court building, and I discussed my options with the Secretary.  She was quite contrite and it seems my paperwork simply vanished without a trace.  It seems that whoever took my paperwork hadn't followed proper procedure to enter the information into the computer system in addition to filing it.  The best explanation we could come up with was that it had somehow been thrown away.  A few months ago, the Supreme Court Registry, which is the body which accepts documents, moved from the Supreme Court building to the Magistrates Court building next door.  At the time I submitted my paperwork it was still in the Supreme Court building and I have a feeling my paperwork may have been misplaced during the move.  At any rate, it meant admission at the December ceremony was not possible.

Luckily, there was a solution.  The Secretary suggested that I be admitted at a special ceremony tentatively set for January 13th, which was exactly what I was thinking.  Although admissions ceremonies are held for convenience a court is entitled to admit someone whenever they want.  Given the circumstances, a special ceremony was warranted.  What it means in practical terms is that I will show up at the Supreme Court on that day and a lawyer will make a motion for me to be admitted, exactly as would've happened tomorrow except that I will be the only person there in January.  Assuming nothing else goes awry, I will be admitted as a lawyer then.

While the solution is acceptable it is a hassle as it means I must resubmit virtually all my paperwork.  This includes an affidavit from myself, copies of various documents and 3 character affidavits.  It's an unnecessary headache but a necessary evil given the circumstances.  In case you're wondering why I can't be admitted sooner it's because the Supreme Court is in recess for most of that period and copies of my paperwork also go to the Law Society who vet the application as well.  While I'm happy to have found a solution, I would rather one was not necessary.  I'll also impart something else that has kept with me over many years, a saying I have taken to heart since I was very young, nothing vanishes without a trace.

On the lighter side, in an article in the Canberra Times, it was revealed that ACTTAB (my employer) and a few other gambling providers, mostly private bookmakers, had been operating under invalid licences for the last 10 years!  The situation stems from an oversight following a change in legislation in 2002 when a new bookmakers' act came into force in the ACT.  Under transitional provisions, existing licences (like whose for ACTTAB) to provide gambling services continued but had to be renewed after 6 months but that never happened.  The people and agencies just kept going along as per normal.  The mistake was somehow discovered during day-to-day operations, not because of a specific check, and the government's lawyers advised that the current licences were technically invalid.  The ACT Legislative Assembly then stepped in and enacted legislation which legitimized those licences retrospectively, meaning now there's no problem.  I just think that it's funny how I've spent virtually my entire career with ACTTAB while the agency was operating with an invalid licence.  What a strange thing it is, or was, to be more specific.

I guess everyone has paperwork issues sometimes.