The Adelaide Law School proudly sponsored this year’s National Young Lawyers Conference which was hosted by our very own Law Society of South Australia. Two of our students, Tim Porter and Amiela Cerone, were invited to attend as representatives of the Adelaide Law School, hearing from accomplished legal professionals throughout the day about being a better advocate, improving access to justice for all Australians, self-management, ethics and wellbeing and the importance of networking. Tim and Amiela found the conference to be an incredibly enriching experience as each and every one of the speakers provided great insight and knowledge about the legal profession. They particularly enjoyed the first speaker of the day, Honourable Justice Stanley, who spoke about being a better advocate and provided great insight into the relationships between lawyers and their clients, as well as what is expected from lawyers in court in terms or knowledge and conduct.  Carolyn Mitchell’s presentation on “Managing & Exceeding Expectations” was also very helpful, as it gave some useful advice as to how young lawyers can achieve professional success without sacrificing their mental health or personal relationships.

The conference was followed by the prestigious National Golden Gavel Competition and Dinner which was held in the Adelaide Convention Centre and hosted by the Chaser’s Julian Morrow. The National Golden Gavel is a competition where young lawyers from each state and territory fiercely battle for the Golden Gavel through their advocacy skills and comedic genius. The competitors displayed great originality, wit and used their legal knowledge to display humour that only young lawyers would find funny.

We would like to congratulate Olivia Ronan from the Australian Capital Territory for winning the competition. Olivia blew the judges away and had the whole crowd in tears with her speech on “Dropping briefs and lodging subpoenas- tips on dating a lawyer”.