OZschwitz: Barrister goes to polls to change corrupt silk system

A SYDNEY barrister who has campaigned for reforms to the state's hierarchical silks system is taking his proposals to the polls as a candidate in the NSW Bar Council elections.

The system's main supporter, the Bar Association's president Anna Katzmann, SC, has won appointment to the Federal Court, leaving an as-yet-unknown successor to defend it.

Gregory Curtin, who took the rare step of publicly criticising the system, is one of 114 candidates who have nominated to represent the NSW Bar next year.

If successful, he would be one of 21 barristers controlling policies including the Senior Counsel protocol.

Also running are barristers John Agius, QC, counsel for the Wood royal commission and Cole inquiry; Alexander Street, SC,who successfully challenged the military justice system this year; former ICAC commissioner Ian Temby, QC; and Derek Hand, who represented the airport security whistleblower Allan Kessing.

Mr Curtin, a barrister of 20 years who missed out on silk three times, wrote to colleagues earlier this month saying he could prove selection committees in 2007 and 2008 had preferred applicants from their own chambers by five to one.

He called the system secretive, ''non-transparent, non-independent … open to invalid voting … and the acceptance of false accusations'', and has claimed ''100 per cent positive'' feedback from peers since.

But Ms Katzmann has said his comments were a slur on the highly regarded selection committee members.

The conferment of the SC title recognises barristers deemed outstanding by a selection committee of four and a 650-strong group of judges, barristers and solicitors. It has long been criticised as anti-competitive, elitist and nepotistic because it allows an elite group to charge fees up to $10,000 a day and is conducted largely behind closed doors.

A NSW government report a decade ago found the silks system may breach the Trade Practices Act, but an investigation by the competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, was abandoned after two years.

Ms Katzmann was selected from more than 200 applicants to sit on the Federal Court, along with David Yates, SC, and John Nicholas, SC, in Sydney. The appointments will quell angst among judges over unfilled positions on the bench.

LNK
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OZschwitz: Barrister goes to polls to change corrupt silk system PgkowJT

OZschwitz: Barrister goes to polls to change corrupt silk system PgkowJT

OZschwitz: Barrister goes to polls to change corrupt silk system

OZschwitz: Barrister goes to polls to change corrupt silk system

Anarcho-Capitalist Categorical Imperatives

Via AnCaps: Law & Enforced Unnatural Order