19 November 2018
On Thursday night the Society had the pleasure of giving a formal welcome to our newest judicial officers, Justice Chrissa Lukas-Karlsson and Magistrate Louise Taylor.
Justice Loukas-Karlsson was appointed in March this year, and has already proven herself a valuable addition to the bench. Among the many achievements in Her Honour’s career are three years in the Hague as Counsel before the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, serving as a Public Defender and then as a Crown Prosecutor in NSW, serving as an acting District Court Judge NSW, six years as a Judicial Member of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal in NSW, and serving as an executive member and Vice President of the NSW Bar Council.
Magistrate Taylor was appointed in August, leaving the position of Deputy CEO at ACT Legal Aid, where she is now sorely missed by her colleagues at that office. She has served as a specialist family violence prosecutor, has been a long-time Convenor of the Women’s Legal Centre ACT, an Associate of the Indigenous Law Centre at UNSW, and a member of the ACT Law Reform Advisory Council.
Between them, they bring many years of impressive experience to the ACT judiciary, in addition to their intellect, integrity, skill, compassion and efficiency. Our profession is well served by having them with us. As practitioners we should all have the greatest respect, admiration and gratitude for all our Judges and Magistrates of the ACT. Without their wisdom and dedication, we would be living in a very chaotic city.
Next week the Society will be appearing before the Legislative Assembly’s Standing Committee to express the Society’s concerns about the Chief Minister’s proposed legislation which would severely restrict compensation available to injured road users. Our focus will be largely on the vast number of mechanisms that would give insurers undue power to thwart natural justice and force injured road users to accept inadequate compensation. In this respect we note that Unions ACT are also conducting an advertising campaign opposing the legislation on these same grounds.
Chris Donohue President, ACT Law Society