Barristers ineligible for Federal Government JobKeeper allowance during coronavirus pandemic
Barristers are used to fighting for their clients in court, but thanks to the coronavirus and Victoria’s partial court shutdown they’re now the ones fighting for themselves.
Inner East
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Barristers forced out of work due to the partial court shutdown as a result of the coronavirus may not be eligible for the Federal Government’s JobKeeper allowance.
Applications opened earlier this week for the $1500 fortnightly lifeline payments aimed at keeping Australians in jobs and covering essential living costs for small businesses and employees affected by the lockdown.
But Vicbar chief executive Katherine Lorenz said barristers who worked for themselves and were essentially small businesses could lose out on the vital funding due to a technicality in the payment’s means test.
Employers at non-charitable organisations must prove their turnover dropped by at least 30 per cent since March 1 for their company and its workers to be eligible for the payment.
But Ms Lorenz said there was a months long lag between when a barrister represented a person at court and when they actually got paid.
This meant despite the delay of all non-urgent court trials since March and the heavily reduced caseload now passing through the court system, many barristers were still receiving payment for work completed late last year and would not feel the economic shock for months.
Despite this, the writing of what was to come was on the wall for many Vicbar members, she said, and the number of barristers accessing the Vicbar’s mental health and financial counselling services had jumped.
The broader community tended to think lawyers earned big bucks and could sustain the financial hit, but Ms Lorenz said that couldn’t be further from the truth for some barristers.
“First and foremost the impact has been on barristers’ ability to go to court. They’re sole traders and their income relies on them being able to attend court,” Ms Lorenz said.
“The bar is comprised of a broad range of people, not all barristers are high-earning people … they may earn less than Australians’ weekly average earnings.
Criminal barrister Elizabeth Ruddle said County Court jury trials, which were postponed in late March until at least next year, formed a “big chunk” of a criminal barrister’s work.
And while many barristers were still working hard to provide services to clients and ensure a fair and just legal process, Ms Ruddle said the pandemic would undoubtedly spell the end of some of her colleagues’ careers.
“Barristers do Children’s Court and criminal matters for the love of it … it’s not as highly remunerated (as other areas of law),” Ms Ruddle said.
“I think we’ll all try to scrape through as best we can, though we’re not all going to make it through to the other side.
“To have your small business ripped out from under you is a pretty scary experience and pretty stressful.”
Ms Lorenz said the Vicbar had scrapped next year’s membership fee to help ease some of the financial burden for its members.
But there were “only so many levers we can pull”, she said, and the Vicbar would continue to work with all levels of government as well as the ATO to ensure its members received access to the JobKeeper allowance and other support programs.
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Barristers may also be able to access rent relief on their chambers, she said, with the company that managed them, Barristers Chambers Limited, hoping to pass on the State Government’s commercial rent assistance package to tenants.
“My own view is we do have a bright future at the end of this, the court’s will reopen, they must reopen,” Ms Lorenz said.