By Michael Douglas, Editor-at-Large
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the new and improved version of Brief.
Some might call this website ‘Brief online’. That name recognises the 41-year history of the journal of the Law Society of Western Australia, originally published in analogue format only. Legend has it that lawyers had the indignity of fingering that version of Brief with their own uncalloused fingers, at great papercut risk. Or so the legend goes. Those tales are of a pre-pandemic golden age; a time when journalists were believed, and law firm partnerships came before you turned 30. The long-long ago.
But times are changing. Digital is the default. ‘Brief online’ sounds tautological to millennial ears.
Last week, Ozzy Osborne died. And Hulk Hogan. Basically, half my culture. But not the law part. The law rolls on, continuing to mediate continuity and change. And so does this iteration of Brief.
The new Brief would not exist without the impressive efforts of staff of the Law Society, especially Claire Chaffey, your inaugural Managing Editor. Claire is supported by Tiffany Cosby, Digital Communications and Marketing Officer and the long-term ringmaster of the Brief Editorial Committee; Rebecca Nguyen, Graphic Designer; and Kate Wellington, our Law Society CEO. Thank you, Claire and team, for all of your efforts in making this happen.
My hope for the new Brief is that it is readable and actually read. To that end, if you’re reading this and have an idea for content, please reach out to us: see the ‘About Us’ page in the footer for information on how to contribute.
For my part, I would like to read a version of Brief that is spicier than the versions of old. Content I would like to read, in respect of which I encourage your submissions:
- ‘Transactional lawyers are not real lawyers’: for and against;
- ‘The LPB issued my practising certificate in a timely manner’, and other lawyerly fairy tales;
- A normative critique of the cab-rank rule;
- An explainer re. which international law violations WA lawyers are allowed to be upset about (or otherwise) without being socially outcast;
- ‘Friday beers don’t count’— a manifesto.
For complaints, compliments or other correspondence, please reach out to me directly IN ALL CAPS.
