Other Community Services

The Legal Profession Act 2006 requires the Society to regulate for the professional benefit of the consumers of legal services. This regulatory service includes maintaining professional standards, protecting client and public monies, handling complaints about professional conduct and prosecuting disciplinary matters. Other statutory services provided by the Society to the community include the register of law firms and practitioners and grants for community legal purposes.

Listed below are other services provided by the Society to the community in general. The Society is not required by law to provide these services and does so in the public interest.

• The Legal Advice Bureau
• The ACT Pro-Bono Clearing House
• Prizes for Academic Excellence
  • ACT Law Society Prize for Contracts (ANU)
  • BC Meagher Prize for Commonwealth Constitutional Law (ANU)
  • Liz and Bill Allen Prize for most outstanding results in the GDLP (ANU)
  • ACT Law Society Prize for the Highest Achieving Student in Contract Law (UC)
  • ACT Law Society Prize for the Highest Achieving Student in Equity Law (UC)

In addition, the Society is generally the first port of call for anybody who believes they have a legal problem or who just seeks reassurance about the legal process. It is perhaps not surprising that in a jurisdiction as sophisticated as Canberra – which includes Queanbeyan, Yass and Bungendore – that the Society receives some 9'000 telephone calls from the public each year.

Unlike other industry and professional associations the Law Society does not focus its efforts on issues that are simply in the professional and commercial interests of its members. We scrutinize most legislation, sometimes at the invitation of government, and lobby for "good law". It is always our aim that legislation should fairly balance the principal forces in society and where possible looks after minor interests. We also strive to ensure that the Territory's laws are simple to understand and easy to comply with. We do this in the interests of the community in general and of course our members who, in the end, must explain those laws to their clients.