Thursday, 6 February 2025
Strengthening the legal profession to better serve the community
A sharp focus on supporting NSW’s 43,000 solicitors through every stage of their careers is at the heart of plans for Australia’s largest legal membership body in 2025.
The new President of the Law Society of NSW Jennifer Ball will outline her President’s Priorities tonight in the organisation’s traditional Opening of Law Term Dinner, in the presence of the Chief Justice of NSW and other senior legal and community figures.
“Solicitors are the justice system’s ‘primary care’ professionals, and the best ‘first point of contact’ for people looking for solutions to their legal problems, or advice on complex business and personal issues,” Ms Ball said.
“The better we at the Law Society can support these dedicated professionals, the better equipped they are to serve their clients and communities. I am committed to helping deliver the tools solicitors need to succeed at every stage of their career, from admission, career development, and through to retirement.”
Ms Ball’s term leading the Law Society began on 1 January 2025. She says the emphasis on ‘service’ is a theme that runs through all her 2025 President’s Priorities. They are:
- Honouring solicitors’ service to their communities;
- Helping practices navigate new regulatory hurdles;
- Delivering quality support for solicitors’ career success; and
- Building solicitors’ mental health and well-being.
Ms Ball said she wants to do more to increase understanding in the community about how solicitors give back to the community, in addition to their day-to-day work, often helping vulnerable people deal with complex legal problems.
“More light should fall on lawyers’ service through pro bono work, a revered tradition of the legal profession. In the last financial year, Australian lawyers performed almost 800,000 pro-bono hours. That’s just shy of 20,000 working weeks provided free of charge, on matters ranging from crime and family law to helping non-profit organisations.”
Last year, the Commonwealth expanded its anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism funding (AML/CTF) regime to apply to many of the services solicitors provide. Ms Ball said she is committed to helping solicitors to navigate this and other regulatory hurdles.
“Public confidence in the justice system requires a legal profession that’s duty bound to ethical obligations, so solicitors recognise the need to starve organised crime and terror groups of money and resources,” Ms Ball said.
“However, compliance costs related to the new AML/CTF scheme will be a significant challenge for many small practices, potentially creating an access to justice problem, especially in regional communities. As the rules for the new scheme are developed and introduced, the Law Society will continue to update its resources, including on our AML/CTF Hub.”
With a legal career spanning more than three decades, Ms Ball emphasised the importance of the Law Society’s support for practitioners, from as early as law school, through to life after the law.
“One of the true joys of practising law is that the learning never stops. That’s why I’m dedicated to helping to ensure that solicitors are equipped not only for their own success, but also for their clients,” Ms Ball said.
“This principle applies not just across all careers stages, but also all practice sectors. Whether practicing as a suburban sole solicitor, at a practice on a country town main street, a community legal centre, government department, or on the top floor of a national firm, every solicitor deserves the learning opportunities to help them function at their best.”
During 2o24, the Law Society delivered more than 40,000 individual units of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to solicitors. As lawyers come to grips with the advance of new technology, like Generative AI, Ms Ball said she is looking forward to finding more innovative ongoing training, particularly to early career lawyers, to give them the best possible start to their life of service to the law and community, and to equip them with the skills and understanding to serve their clients well.
Ms Ball’s final priority, Building solicitors’ mental health and wellbeing, recognises the well-documented impact of the stressors of a career in law on practitioners’ work and private lives.
“I am the fourth successive President of the Law Society to identify the need to help lawyers address mental health issues, as they work in one of the most stressful occupations in the community. I’m honoured to continue this ongoing work, which delivers regular workshops led by mental health experts and free 24/7 crisis counselling to all solicitors in NSW,” Ms Ball said.
Ms Ball also announced her President’s Charity for 2025, Stillbirth Foundation Australia, an organisation that raises funds to research an issue that affects 2,000 families each year.
“Every day in Australia, six babies are stillborn, a statistic that hasn’t changed since my precious and sweet boy Elliot was stillborn 21 years ago. It is such an enduring loss. Instead of taking home a newborn child, they take home a lifetime of questions and pain,” Ms Ball said.
After graduating from Macquarie University with degrees in Science (Genetics and Biochemistry) and Law, Ms Ball was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW in 1989. She is a senior Partner in the Commercial Litigation practice of major national law firm Clayton Utz, where she has worked since 2001.
Ms Ball was first elected to the Council of the Law Society in 2019, going on to serve as Chair of both the Professional Conduct and Audit Risk & Finance Committees, and as a member of the Litigation Law & Practice Committee. She was Junior Vice President in 2023, and Senior Vice President last year.
“There is no greater honour as a solicitor to be called upon to lead a profession that plays a central role in the proper functioning of our justice system,” Ms Ball said.
“I thank my predecessor Brett McGrath for his enormous contribution during his term last year. I look forward to continuing the important work of the Law Society through all its roles, including as a co-regulator of the profession, and a trusted voice to government on a broad range of policy issues that affect the whole community.”
A brief biography of Ms Ball’s professional life can be found here.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Damien Smith | Director, Media and Public Relations
The Law Society of New South Wales
M: +61 417 788 947 | E: [email protected]