An Aboriginal legal service, an abuser and … a second chance?

New NAAJA chair Hugh Woodbury.

Should the man who assaulted his pregnant partner get a second chance as the head of one of Australia’s largest legal services?

That was the question of the week after The Australian revealed the newly appointed North Australia Aboriginal Justice Agency chair, Hugh Woodbury,stood on his partner’s stomach, slammed her arm in a door and pushed her to the ground – all while she was carrying their third baby.

The embattled NAAJA, which handles the lion’s share of Aboriginal legal work in the Northern Territory, has recently lost dozens of staff and experienced a critical shortage in crime-ridden Alice Springs earlier this year, where services drew to a halt and vulnerable defendants were forced to represent themselves in court.

In his role, Woodbury oversees more than $20m a year in federal government funding, administered by the NT government through the National Legal Assistance Partnership.

The NAAJA board will tell you yes, Woodbury does deserve a second chance. In a statement, it said he is studying a degree in arts on a scholarship at the Australian National University and “through his role at NAAJA is dedicated to improving justice outcomes for Aboriginal people across the Territory”.

“Mr Woodbury undertook extensive family counselling following the incident and, with the ongoing support of his partner and extended family, he has worked hard to get his life on track,” they said.

“People who do the hard work to turn their lives around deserve a second chance.”

NT family violence minister Kate Worden would disagree. She told reporters it is “totally inappropriate that he is in that position as a leader for such a significant and important organisation”.

“I think there’s lots of opportunities for a second chance, get involved in a program and make that you’re passing on the knowledge and the growth that you’ve had as an individual, but leading a very important Indigenous organisation here in the Northern Territory is not the place for someone that has been a DV perpetrator,” she said.

NT Senator Jacinta Price, meanwhile, said there would be women marching in the streets if this situation had occurred at a non-Indigenous organisation.

“There would have been women crying out for the rights of other women,” she said.

For the moment, it looks like Woodbury is going to hold on to his job.

But whether this latest revelation, following a series of corruption allegations made against senior NAAJA staff, will impact its government funding is another question – one Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus failed to answer this week.

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Judges/prosecutors/barristers conference canned

Last month, Ipso Facto told you NSW judges, prosecutors and defence barristers were banding together for a joint presentation about “ethical issues” facing lawyers.

It came off the back of growing tensions in the state’s courtrooms, where judges accused chief prosecutor Sally Dowling and her office of running “meritless” sexual assault cases, that had no hope of a conviction.

But now it appears the event has been nixed. Emails sent to confused lawyers at the NSW Law Society and the NSW Bar Association earlier this week said the CPD session – due to be held on June 17 – had been “postponed” and included apologies for the “inconvenience”. It did not stipulate a new date.

While Huggett was due to address the event, Dowling was not scheduled to speak. Instead, her second in command, Helen Roberts SC, was listed to give a speech on behalf of the office.

Legal movements

Nine MinterEllison lawyers have been welcomed to the firm’s partnership. They include:

• Alex Skilling (environment & planning)
• Caitlin Ible (workplace)
• Carolina Dorman (technology)
• Chris Hey (projects, infrastructure & construction)
• David Barton (statutory compensation management)
• Dora Cosentino (insurance & corporate risk)
• Evan Goldman (dispute resolution)
• Jarryd Gray (environment & planning)
• Nicole Brown (capital solutions)

Lander & Rogers has appointed seven new partners. They include:

• Tessa Kelman and Chloe Rattray (family & relationships)
• Kelly Kandelaars, Eleanor Madden and Amanda Seguna (insurance)
• Paul Mayson (M&A)
• Bridget Shelton (employment)

Vanessa Gulesserian, Trevor Ho and Susannah Maclaren have been promoted to partner in the insurance group of Colin Biggers & Paisley. The firm has also appointed Bianca Hellwege (property & development) and Isabella Johnston (disputes & investigations)as special counsel, and promoted senior associates Lauren Flint (insurance), Patrick Robertson-smith (insurance), Justin Soh (insurance), Rosie Carnegie (corporate and commercial), Karell Schmitt-Virgo (employment & safety) and Sanaz Towhidi (restructuring & insolvency).

Ashurst has expanded its Perth office with the appointment of Richard Johnson and Kirsten Scott as partners. Johnson will join the firm as a restructuring and special situations group partner and Scott will join as an investigations partner in the employment team.

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