The Specialist Accreditation Conference is one of the highlights of the CPD year. It offers advanced learning, delivered to experts by masters in their fields.

The Law Society of NSW’s CPD team has curated a stellar array of legal talent to present across all five streams at this year’s conference, to be held on Thursday, 28 August (in person at the International Convention Centre Sydney) and Friday, 29 August (live online).

The conference’s five streams will be Commercial Litigation, Family Law, Property Law, Personal Injury, and Elder Law, Wills & Estates. Serving or former judicial officers will feature in almost all these streams, with Scientia Professor of Psychology at UNSW Richard Bryant AC alongside eminent legal experts featured in the Personal Injury stream.

The Commercial Litigation stream will feature Supreme Court Justice (and Rhodes Scholar) the Hon. Scott Nixon, who will discuss recent notable decisions in corporations law. Former Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, the Hon. Kevin Lindgren AM KC, will join a panel to discuss the implications of the High Court’s judgment in Productivity Partners Pty Ltd v ACCC.

Within the Elder Law, Wills & Estates stream, the Hon. Philip Hallen SC, former Succession List Judge of the Supreme Court, will contribute to a panel discussion highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of using video evidence from elderly testators in assessing their testamentary capacity.

The Family Law stream brings together a distinguished panel including the Hon. Judge Kylie Beckhouse of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA), and former FCFCOA Trial Judge the Hon. Colin Forrest SC, along with the court’s Senior Judicial Registrar Anne-Marie Rice and former Senior Judicial Registrar Brett McGrath -our Immediate Past President.

For Property Law practitioners, Justice Ian Pike, Real Property List Judge of the Supreme Court, will present an overview of the List, the breadth of the cases that it hears, recent developments, expectations of practitioners, and advice on assisting the court and effectively representing clients.

In addition to the above, the program also includes an impressive line-up of silks, senior partners, and acknowledged pre-eminent leaders in their chosen fields offering advanced-level content tailored to experienced solicitors.

Importantly, the Property Law and Commercial Litigation streams will feature sessions on the Commonwealth Government’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism funding regime, which will apply to solicitors providing designated services from 1 July next year.

While the Specialist Accreditation Conference is designed for solicitors who are accredited specialists, it’s open to any experienced solicitor who wishes to obtain advanced learning in an area of interest or specialisation. The in-person event at the ICC provides an invaluable opportunity to network with colleagues.

I look forward to opening this important Conference in August.

Jennifer Ball, President, Law Society of NSW