Family Law: CPD Core Competency Areas
We have laid out the key core competency areas you can focus on to square away your CPD points for the year with practical sessions specially curated for family law practitioners. You will gain skills to make you a more successful family lawyer in 2022 and beyond. Examine appeals in-depth. Consider your ethical obligations in many different circumstances, including how to deal with judicial bullying. Plus hear an informative panel session addressing how to manage difficult family law clients. 223W10
Register your interest now!
Description
Attend and earn 3 CPD points including:
1 point in Competency Area 1: Practice Management
1 point in Competency Area 2: Professional Skills
1 point in Competency Area 3: Ethics & Professional Responsibility
This program is applicable to practitioners from all States & Territories
Chair: Siobhan Vincent, Director, Siobhan Vincent and Associates
Competency Area 2: Professional Skills
2.00pm to 3.00pm Family Law Appeals: How to Conduct Appeals from Family Court of WA
Presented by John Hedges SC, Francis Burt Chambers
Competency Area 3: Ethics & Professional Responsibility
3.00pm to 4.00pm People Behaving Badly: Ethical Issues in a World of Strict Instructions, Recusal, and Judicial Bullying
There have been a few very interesting cases about recusal, the ethical obligations of lawyers in many different circumstances and the issue of how to deal with judicial bullying. Together explore issues as:
- Ethical issues for lawyers: recent cases
- Should a recusal application be made? If so, when and how?
- The test for a recusal application
- How to deal with judicial bullying. Is there any recourse?
- Ethical issues for lawyers: recent cases
Presented by Marty Kavanagh, Principal, Kavanagh Family Lawyers
4.00pm to 4.15pm Afternoon Tea
Competency Area 1: Practice Management
4.15pm to 5.15pm PRACTICAL PANEL GUIDANCE: How to Manage Difficult Clients in your Practice: A Panel Discussion
- How to maintain and improve relationships with clients in your practice
- Dealing and managing self-represented litigants and pro bono clients
- What can you implement that will ensure you and your staff have the resilience to withstand the vicarious trauma of a family law practice? Some tips and strategies
- The importance of not becoming emotionally invested in your client’s case
- Awareness of your ethical and legal obligations when making the decision to stop acting for a client
Facilitator:
Siobhan Vincent, Director, Siobhan Vincent and Associates
Panellists:
Trevor O’Sullivan, Special Counsel, O’Sullivan Davies; Accredited Specialist in Family Law
Denby Kerr, Director, Kerr Fels
Stacey Wellings, Director, Carr & Co Divorce & Family Lawyers
Elizabeth Hynes, Director, DCH Legal
Presenters
John Hedges SC
John Hedges graduated from the University of Western Australia with law degrees in 1980 and was admitted to practise in Western Australia in 1981. John has practised as a barrister at Francis Burt Chambers since 1993, primarily in the area of family law. He has also acted as a prosecutor for the Director of Public Prosecutions for Western Australia. He has been the Convenor of the Professional Standards Committee for the Anglican Archbishop's Panel of Advice on Complaints Against Clergy and Church Workers since 1999. He was a member of the Professional Standards Committee for the Medical Board of Western Australia from 2006 to 2008 and served as a Councillor on the city of Fremantle between 1993 and 1997. John's recreational activities include cycling, trekking, art and classical music.
Marty Kavanagh
Marty Kavanagh is the Principal of Kavanagh Lawyers. Over the years Marty has gained significant experience and interest in Restraining orders; adoption; surrogacy; parental rights and presumptions of parentage; and family law issues relating to the LGBTIQ community. From 2012 to 2017 Marty wrote the WA restraining orders commentary for Thompson Reuters. In 2018, Marty was one of the lawyers who assisted GayDads WA in their legal submissions to the government's review of the Surrogacy Act 2008. Marty is also the Honorary Consul of Ireland to Western Australia. Just to prove that life isn’t always about backing winners, Marty is a keen Fremantle Dockers fan. Marty tutored in Ethics at Curtin University for several years
Trevor O’Sullivan
Trevor is an NMAS accredited Mediator. Trevor is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and a member of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia and a past member of the Council of the Family Law Practitioners' Association of WA having previously held a number of positions including President and Secretary. Trevor became an accredited Family Law Specialist in 1992 and chairs the Law Society' of Western Australia's Accreditation Committee. He is Chairman of the WAFL Tribunal. Trevor is a past Chair of the Council of Wesley College.
Elizabeth Hynes
Elizabeth Hynes has worked exclusively in family law since 1989. Elizabeth is an Accredited Family Law Specialist and received a commendation for excellence in her Accreditation exams. She has served on the Council of the Family Law Practitioners' Association, edited the FLPA magazine and was a convener of the Law Ref sub committee. She is the founding president and current vice president of Collaborative Professionals Western Australia, and is a nationally accredited mediator. Elizabeth is also a member of t Family Law Practitioners' Association and the Law Society of Western Australia. Elizabeth acts in all areas of Family Law, with particular emphasis on, and experience in, high net worth and/or complex property settlements, both in litigation and out of court.
Denby Kerr
Denby Kerr is an Accredited Family Law Specialist and has appeared in proceedings in the Family Court of Western Australia, the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of Western Australia, and the High Court of Australia. She has been listed as a Leading Family Lawyer in the Doyle’s Guide ranking Australia’s best lawyers (2019) and recommended for her work with High Value & Complex Property Matters. Denby has worked on high profile cases concerning both property and parenting matters, in a number of jurisdictions. Denby is a member of the Law Society of Western Australia, the Family Law Practitioners Association (‘FLPA’) and Family Law Section.
Stacey Wellings
Stacey Wellings has undergraduate degrees in Law and Arts (majoring in politics) graduating from Notre Dame University in 2010 and then being admitted to practice in July 2011. She has been at Carr & Co in various capacities since 2009 before becoming a Director in July 2017. Stacey practices in all areas of family law, however, she has a particular interest in complex financial matters involving multiple corporate and trust structures and/or accounting and taxation issues. Stacey is recommended in the leading family law category and recommended in the high-value and complex matter category of Doyles list of leading family lawyers in Western Australia 2019.
Venue
Parmelia Hilton
Level 1, Meeting Room, 14 Mill Street
Perth 6000
WA
Australia
Directions
Nearby Public Transport:
Train Stations - The Esplanade Station
Bus Interchange - St Georges Terrace Cloisters Green
Parking information
Parmilia Hilton - Valet Parking only - Click here to view rates.
Convention Centre - 100 metres from Parmelia Hilton. Click here to view rates.