Piddington in 2024

A letter from our Chair, the Hon Ken Martin KC.

Dear friends and colleagues,

I am writing to keep you informed of the work of The Piddington Society during 2024.

As we approach the end of another busy year, we have been thinking a lot about where we want to go and achieve in the next decade. Piddington has already achieved a lot and we remain ambitious to achieve our core aims, which remain unchanged. To that end, Conrad and I visited South ​Australia, ​the Australian Capital Territory, and the Northern Territory in October, seeking to introduce Piddington to these jurisdictions, make some friends there and essentially see if we could help there as well. For instance, many of our first-rate local CPD products carry a national utility. We were warmly received in all these jurisdictions.​ Amongst other outcomes of this tour, we are beginning to plan for a conference in Darwin in August 2025.

Many of you will know that the net proceeds from Piddington’s activities go toward local access to justice projects. These are: the Piddington PLT Fund, which supports the CLCs that host Piddington PLT graduates to complete their hours required for admission; the Piddington Justice Fund for CLCs, to cover costs that they otherwise cannot meet; and, Kaartdijin, our First Nations Legal Education Fund. We also fund the Christine Wheeler Scholarship and John Chaney Award for new law graduates or law students. Annually we are able to make contributions of more than $50,000 to the community through these projects.

I am pleased to let you know that Piddington is ending 2024 in a strong position. As a not-for-profit, strength in our operations and financials is essential in meeting the needs of the communities, we seek to support, and we can only do with your support and engagement.

The magic of Piddington – mixing the core goals of professional development, collegiality and advancing justice – is on show at all our conferences and short courses, but our standalone collegiality and professional development sessions achieve this as well. When you go to a professional session (be that for Piddington PLT or CPD) our mission is to ensure you are met by warm and supportive colleagues. When you go to a collegiality event you will get the opportunity to meet people spread across the profession, from judges to law students and recent graduates.

No part of Piddington can exist without the other. Collegiality, professional development and access to justice, for us, are inextricably linked.

Apart from the visit to SA, the ACT and the NT, some other highlights of 2024 include:

• Hosting 37 events with over 1600 attendees with over 100 speakers and presenters.
• Shepherding 29 law graduates to complete their Piddington PLT and who are either now admitted as lawyers or very soon will be. If you know a new law graduate looking to complete PLT in 2025, please encourage them to consider Piddington PLT here.
• Reaccreditation of Piddington PLT as a provider of practical legal training, per the Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 2015.
• The creation of Piddington Dispatch, our regular job notification service for the profession.
• The establishment of the Piddington Legal Assistance Clinic, of which details for the profession will follow in 2025.
• Building our online presence, now easily reaching more than 15,000 people through our channels.

Piddington could not operate without the high stock of goodwill that has been and continues to be delivered to it selflessly from right across the WA legal profession. This gift is something for which we are perpetually grateful and will never take for granted.

May I express a sincere thanks to everyone who has presented to Piddington PLT or at a CPD session or performed at Jammin’ for Justice over the past year. There is a debt of thanks owed to a great many. But may I mention, Shaban Azad, Nikita Barsby, Anton Conti, Lea Hiltenkamp, Aparna Jeyasekara, Nick Malone, Rachel Oakeley, Kate Offer, Chris Pearce, Carla Vinciullo and Anna Young as well as our friends at the Association of Corporate Counsel Australia and the Industrial Relations Society of WA, who have all made very significant contributions. Adam Ebell continues to make a priceless contribution across our programs year after year.

We are also uniquely privileged to have enjoyed the invaluable support of the judiciary at every level in our work. Their contribution to us, over and above their very demanding day jobs, is deeply appreciated. We sincerely thank all those who support our work so generously and especially the heads of jurisdiction for allowing and encouraging this precious engagement.

We again thank Lucy Clark and Grace Ritter who put in extraordinary efforts to host another successful Bali Conference in 2024.

They are back again for 2025, but this time at an exciting new venue whilst maintaining the same positive and inclusive Bali vibes loved by so many. We are pleased to be hosting speakers including the Hon Justice Michael Grant (Chief Justice of the Northern Territory), the Hon Justice Peter Quinlan (Chief Justice of Western Australia) and the Hon Justice Katrina Banks-Smith (Federal Court of Australia) at the Conference. Further details about the June 2025 Bali Conference are available here.

Piddington’s first three months of 2025 have already taken firm shape, with details available through our website here.

Having had the honour of being the chair of Piddington for almost 18 months now, it is always rewarding now to hear unsolicited feedback from the profession that what we deliver is practical, engaging and fun. That feedback is great. But to stay relevant we must strive to be better each year. Our focus is firmly on how we can best support the profession, and we can better accomplish that with the help of the feedback loop you provide us.

The work that Piddington does, in delivering its educative and training programs, through to making contributions to access to justice, can only be achieved with your ongoing support, engagement and ideas. Please let us know what you like and what we can do better.

We were enabled once more in meeting our goals by wonderful sponsors. We acknowledge Blackwall Legal, Cullen Macleod Lawyers, Pascoe Legal, Pragma Lawyers, Stephen Browne Personal Injury Lawyers and Tehan Legal for their financial support and thank them sincerely for that.

Piddington as you know is managed by an energetic Committee who embrace wide responsibilities and get their hands dirty with hard work. I sincerely thank Shaban Azad, Thomas de Bes, Catriona Macleod, Briannen Morrow, Monty Purich, Zoe Thornton, and Nicholas van Hattem for their contributions across 2024. We will have an expanded Committee in 2025 with some fresh faces, which we will announce early in the new year.

What I have just canvassed in general is just a taste of what Piddington did across 2024. It is our loyal staff who quietly and conscientiously get on with the work of administering the organisation and implementing our many programs. I wish to sincerely thank – Stephanie Anile, Conrad Liveris, Gina Petit, Lucette Quinlan, Elisha Rose and Mark Singco, as well as all our ad hoc contractors – who calmly and competently do so much to keep the ship afloat and deliver so much to the profession. Your efforts are integral to creating the alchemy for which Piddington events are now renowned.

Thank you to everyone for your support in 2024. I look forward to nurturing and building on all this momentum in 2025.

Stay safe over the summer, hit the refresh button if you can with those you care about and look after each other. We look forward to seeing you all again fresh and fit for a bumper 2025.

Yours sincerely,

The Hon Ken Martin KC

Chair, The Piddington Society