Bar Practice Course 72

The 72^nd Bar Practice Course was held at the Bar Association of Queensland from 25 March — 2 April 2019. The course was attended by 16 Queensland practitioners and the Association is delighted to announce that all of these practitioners have joined the Bar with 12 Pupils joining the private Bar and four Pupils joining the employed Bar. The Association also supported the training of three officers from Papua New Guinea in this course.

The six week course comprising of oral advocacy, written advocacy, alternate dispute resolution and ethics would not be possible without the support of the 124 presenters from the profession who generously volunteered their time. For BPC72 this included 15 members of the Judiciary, three retired members of the Judiciary, 27 Queen’s Counsel, 70 junior barristers, 41 witnesses (including police officers, readers and university students), one solicitor, three librarians and five financial partners. The course involved 43 session, including six mock hearing and the Advocacy Intensive Weekend.

Gillian Shepherd, a Pupil on the course, has provided her reflections of the course and her first few months at the private Nar:

“BPC72 already feels well and truly in the rear view mirror, something I don’t think a single one of us would have said if you had asked us that at about Easter this year!

From the dizzying highs and lows of the Bar Practice Course to the real life transition to the private Bar or the employed Bar, our BPC72 cohort have maintained a strong connection in these first few months following graduation. It has been a lovely, connected group to touch base with to discuss the good times, as well as those times where you’ve tripped over your words simply announcing your own appearance…

We had an eclectic group of backgrounds in our course, from criminal to commercial and to family, even specialist tax, which of course has led to a wide variety of practice areas at the Bar. A handy collective source of knowledge for us to each to call on when required no doubt.

A heartfelt thank you on behalf of all Readers of the recent BPC72 course: to all of the many esteemed Judges, presenters, instructors, mentors and volunteers who gave so freely and graciously of their time, both during the course itself, and now in guiding us through the transitory first few months at the Bar.”

Bar Practice Course 73 is currently underway and will conclude on 3 October with a class size of 21 Pupils including three officers from PNG.

BPC72 Pupils (l-r)

Daniel Steiner, Tom Illisa, Jason Dudley, Troy Mileng, Justin Byrne, James Hughes, Chau Donnan, Sophie Gibson, Rachael Taylor, Deborah Ambuk, San-Joe Tan, Iris Gajic-Pavlica, Thomas Ritchie, Halley Robertson, Danielle Tay, Gillian Shepherd, William Prizeman, Gavin Webber, Gail Cowen (Course Administrator)

Absent: Robert Gallo, Brooke Gibson (Course Manager)