2022-23 Criminal Law CPD Series:

Ethical Practice for Junior Criminal Law Barristers

Ethics and Professional Responsibility
CPD Points: 1.5

About

Coming to the Bar is a significant step in the career of any lawyer. For junior counsel intending to practise in criminal law, the ethical and moral obligations are significant. Factors like direct briefs, invoicing, barristers’ rules, duty to the court and professional conduct are all matters you are required to manage on your own. This is often a shift for those that have practised under the guidance of a principal or in government agencies. This presentation will examine that transition to the NSW Bar, considering the viewpoints and perspectives of junior counsel. It will animate some of the best-practice features of maintaining an ethical and professional practice, and ways that that model of practice can be leveraged to ensure success. This presentation will assist legal practitioners considering a career at the NSW Bar, solicitors who brief barristers and play a role in the discharge of their ethical obligations, and junior barristers recently called to the Bar.

Presenter

Talitha Hennessy is an experienced criminal lawyer having appeared for both the defense and prosecution. Before her admission to the NSW Bar in 2017, she was an Associate to Justice Cohen at the Family Court in Sydney. Talitha has also worked as a solicitor for the Aboriginal Legal Service in Dubbo, appearing in over 100 hearings in the Children’s Court and Local Court throughout Central Western NSW, as well as in numerous severity and conviction appeals and sentence matters in the District Court. Talitha also worked as solicitor at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW), where she regularly appeared on behalf of the Crown in summary hearings in the Local Court and also appeared for the Crown as an advocate in a number of District Court trials. In addition, Talitha has prepared and instructed in murder trials and other complex matters. She has also appeared in Family Law applications in the Federal Circuit Court, and in Care and Protection matters in the Children’s Court.