Jennifer Ball emphasised the importance of supporting their mental health and wellbeing
Incumbent NSW Law Society President Jennifer Ball has focused on solicitors in her President’s Priorities for 2025.
Ball officially succeeded Brett McGrath in the role on 1 January. Prior to her appointment, she held key roles at the Law Society, including being part of the Council of the Law Society in 2019. She proceeded to chair the professional conduct and audit risk and finance committees.
In 2023, she was elected junior vice president. Last year, she was named senior vice president.
“There is no greater honour as a solicitor to be called upon to lead a profession that plays a central role in the proper functioning of our justice system”, Ball said. “I look forward to continuing the important work of the Law Society through all its roles, including as a co-regulator of the profession”.
Ball outlined the following four priorities at the Law Society’s Opening of Law Term Dinner:
“More light should fall on lawyers’ service through pro bono work, a revered tradition of the legal profession. In the last financial year, Australian lawyers performed almost 800,000 pro-bono hours. That’s just shy of 20,000 working weeks provided free of charge, on matters ranging from crime and family law to helping non-profit organisations”, Ball explained.
With the expansion of the AML/CTF regime to cover many solicitor-provided services, she said that the organisation would update its resources with each newly introduced rule in the new scheme.
“Public confidence in the justice system requires a legal profession that’s duty bound to ethical obligations, so solicitors recognise the need to starve organised crime and terror groups of money and resources”, Ball said. “However, compliance costs related to the new AML/CTF scheme will be a significant challenge for many small practices, potentially creating an access to justice problem, especially in regional communities”.
She also highlighted the importance of supporting legal practitioners through all stages of a legal career, from law school to retirement, through CPD programs and training for early career lawyers.
“This principle applies not just across all careers stages, but also all practice sectors. Whether practicing as a suburban sole solicitor, at a practice on a country town main street, a community legal centre, government department, or on the top floor of a national firm, every solicitor deserves the learning opportunities to help them function at their best”, Ball said.
She pointed out that she was the fourth straight Law Society president to push for mental health support for lawyers, given that they worked in “one of the most stressful occupations in the community”. She explained that at present, mental health experts lead regular workshops and free 24/7 crisis counselling is being offered to all NSW solicitors.
Ball said that her 2025 President’s Charity was Stillbirth Foundation Australia.
“Every day in Australia, six babies are stillborn, a statistic that hasn’t changed since my precious and sweet boy Elliot was stillborn 21 years ago. It is such an enduring loss. Instead of taking home a newborn child, they take home a lifetime of questions and pain”, she said.
