Piddington in 2021
The Hon John Chaney SC, Chair of The Piddington Society, on our 2021
Dear colleagues and friends,
I am writing to update you on the activities of The Piddington Society in 2021.
It has been a big year for us, as it has for everyone. Both successes and challenges have taught us a lot.
In this year where collegiality could have been tested, Piddington has been heartened by your support for us and inspired by how the profession worked together. Each decision we make at Piddington is done with consideration of what the profession wants and needs, and how these advance our Objects. In 2021 we have never been more thankful for your support and goodwill.
Some of our highlights include:
- Hosting more than 30 public activities with more than 1900 attendees, a significant increase on previous years;
- Having 30 new lawyers complete Piddington PLT who have either been admitted or are on track to be;
- Contributing more than $40,000 to the community legal sector and access to justice;
- Having to double the capacity of our ball to accommodate demand;
- Establishing new CPD programs and activities; and,
- Working with dozens of you to plan and deliver what the profession wants and needs.
While we are proud of those statistics, Piddington has always been more than numbers.
We constantly hear from the profession that what we do is practical, engaging and fun. Our focus is on how we can best support the profession, and we can only do that with the feedback loop you provide us.
Part of the development of Piddington is that we are becoming better planned and organised in what we do. I am pleased to advise you that of our calendar of CPD activities for January-March 2022 and that the remainder of our year has been planned, with the flexibility and open-mindedness to add in activities when unique and interesting opportunities arise.
Our growing library of online CPD sessions is being constantly updated and is available on our website for those who wish to see them, which you can access here.
Collegiality has been an important focus for us in 2021. Nick Malone, as our Convenor, has ensured we promote good relations across the profession throughout all that we do, and Alana Kildea worked hard to organise a hugely successful and sell-out ball that the profession relished.
As our 2021 Piddington PLT grads were being admitted we were assessing applications for our 2022 cohort and finding places for them to complete their hours required for admission. We are proud of Piddington PLT and what it provides to grads and the profession alike. The course is delivered almost exclusively by practitioners and we are confident that of the skills our grads are developing to enter the profession with. Nicholas van Hattem and his team do great work for the future of our profession.
Because of your support and contributions the Piddington Justice Fund and Kaartidjin, our First Nations Legal Education Fund, have been able to make contributions to the community legal sector and First Nations law and pre-law students to support their education. You can read about our contributions here and here. We will be making further contributions from these in the coming months and will update you when that occurs.
These projects and our other contributions to access to justice can only exist because of your support.
Chairing the Committee of The Piddington Society is a great joy. The members of the Committee embrace their responsibilities and want to get their hands dirty with hard work. I thank Shaban Azad, Anna Courtman, Tom de Bes, Catriona Macleod, Rhys Meakins, Briannen Morrow, Nicholas van Hattem and Sophie van Hattem for their contributions this year.
The undertakings of Piddington are supported by the hard work of our small group of staff who cover administrative and programming across all our activities. Each of them works hard and embody the essence of Piddington strives to be.
Much of this is enabled by our sponsors, both single-event and year-long. They are an essential part of our organisation, and we thank Pitcher Partners and Shadforth Financial Group, specifically Daniel Bredenkamp and John Rowbottam, for their support.
Our 2021 was big, in 2022 we plan to build on this momentum.
Thank you for your support in 2021. Stay safe over the summer and we look forward to seeing you in 2022.
Yours sincerely,
The Hon John Chaney SC
Chair, The Piddington Society
