Some of the most respected legal minds in NSW will gather at the ICC next week to share their expertise at the 2022 Specialist Accreditation Conference

President of the Law Society of NSW Joanne van der Plaat said the 2022 Specialist Accreditation Conference is an opportunity for solicitors who are experts in their fields to learn from an impressive list of speakers, including judges, academics, Senior Counsel and law firm partners.

“The Specialist Accreditation logo assures a solicitor’s client that they’ve engaged the services of an expert to find the solution to their legal problem,” Ms van der Plaat said.

“Solicitors attending this year’s Specialist Accreditation Conference will be learning from a group of the most eminently qualified speakers gathered for such an occasion. The opening address will be delivered by the President of NCAT Justice Lea Armstrong.”

This year’s conference is the first held in person since 2019. Day one will be held at Sydney’s International Conference Centre on 4 August with online sessions the following day on 5 August. Streams for this year’s conference are:

• Business Law;
• Criminal Law;
• Family Law;
• Personal Injury; and
• Property Law.

Hot topics include: Recent major changes to NSW stamp duty, Secret trials, Criminalising coercive control, A comparison of consent laws in Australia, An update from the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and a medico-legal panel on medical assessment in the CTP scheme. 

To gain Specialist Accreditation, a solicitor must apply to undergo a rigorous peer assessment program in their chosen area of law, to demonstrate they have a high level of expertise upon which their clients can rely for the most informed and reliable legal advice. There are more than 1,600 solicitors in NSW that have achieved Specialist Accreditation.

“Just as a medical general practitioner offers primary care for simple ailments and medical specialists attend to more complex health issues, some legal problems require extra knowledge and skill in a particular area of the law,” Ms van der Plaat said.

“The Specialist Accreditation Conference provides an opportunity for these expert solicitors to develop their skills and refine their knowledge in the company of their peers and benefit from the tremendous energy and dynamism that comes from bringing together leading practitioners.”

Conference attendees can register here. The conference program can be found here.