The commercial mediator believes lawyers deserve a mihi for taking on tough but necessary work
For Mark Kelly, lawyers are brave in that they take on tough but necessary work for society’s sake. The Bankside Chambers commercial mediator considers the collegiality and the compassion in the legal profession to be “a wonderful thing”, and lauds the profession for its focus on pro bono work.
In the second part of this interview, Kelly shares what he considers to be the core of law – and a stage diving story from his uni days.
How would you describe the core of law to the next generation of lawyers?
Helping people with real-life challenges, hard work if done well, sometimes stressful, sometimes hilarious, principled, compromised, a pleasure and a privilege. I think that about covers it.
What should the profession focus more on?
Lawyers are true multi-taskers, and the law is endlessly multi-facetted, so there are lots of good answers to that question. But my plug would be for us to be kinder to, and prouder of, ourselves. The collegiality, and compassion, in the legal profession is a wonderful thing. I suspect that lawyers do more pro bono work than most other professions. And lawyers are often very courageous, taking on difficult, sometimes unpopular, work, that is important to our society, and the freedoms we hold dear. Lawyers deserve a mihi for all the good they do.
What challenges are particularly pressing in the country’s legal industry?
Access to justice, across the board. We have some great law, incredible judges, and terrific lawyers. But much of it is out of reach for most.
What are your thoughts on new technology and its impact on the legal profession?
My young adult kids would find it very funny that I should be asked this question. So would our IT guy. But I’ll give it a crack. There is a lot that is good about new technology. Improved access to information, and ease of communication, can make the law more accessible for all.
In my world, the opportunity to mediate online has created new opportunities. It enables greater flexibility, can reduce carbon use, and has a democratising aspect (a more comfortable dynamic for lay participants, harder for difficult people to be difficult). But obviously new technology comes with downsides too. I wonder if younger lawyers are as familiar with the benefits of “picking up the phone”. And perhaps there is a risk for us all that, the less we deal with people “IRL”, the less skilled we are at it. How to best harness AI, and protect all from its misuse, is the obvious greatest next challenge.
What are you looking forward to the most in the coming year?
My sense, and hope, is that the recent worldwide trends towards authoritarianism and isolationism, and against the rule of law, will lose impetus in the coming year. I am looking forward to that a great deal. (It is important for mediators to be positive, no matter how gloomy the ostensible outlook might be!)
If you could relive one day in your life, which day would it be and why?
There was a night in the late 80s, when I was a uni student, and I went to a concert at the Power Station with a great mate of mine, Benny. We got up to do stage dives. As you did in those days. I’m pretty small, and the crowd caught my dive no problem. But Benny was quite a large fella, and the crowd parted sharply as he sailed through the air. It’d be nice to go back to that day and catch Benny’s dive on video.
