A tale of two silkies
STARTING your professional life in western NSW is an incredible way to build the solidest of career foundations according to former Western Aboriginal Legal Service (WALS) lawyer Mark Dennis, who has just become a Senior Counsel (SC, or “Silk”).
In case the name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, Mark Dennis is often referred to by friends and colleagues by his nickname “Dark Menace”.
“My time out west has been the foundation of everything I have achieved, a country stint with the ALS is the best start a lawyer can ask for, I thoroughly recommend it,” Mr Dennis said.
It’s well known in the legal arena that junior lawyers starting out in WALS get so much thrown at them, in terms of the number of matters, that they either sink or learn to swim extraordinarily quickly.
“The heavy workload taught me that preparation is the key to everything,” he said.
“This line of work is 90 per cent grunt, 10 per cent ability – the lawyer with the biggest grunt wins. It also taught me that panic is not a constructive emotion, remain calm and make clinical decisions when conducting your case.”
Incredibly, his great mate Ertunc Ozen, who worked with him at the Dubbo WALS office, has won his title of SC at the same time.
Mr Ozen – known to associates as “Tunc” – agrees that the caseload and remote distances were a godsend for a young lawyer willing to put the hard yards in.
“My time at WALS not only provided me with the foundations of the discipline required to remain up to date with the law, but also dealing with clients, challenging situations and cases. Importantly it also taught me respect, and how to deal with people who had sometimes come from the most difficult and disadvantaged family backgrounds with sensitivity, and to be able to convey such matters to courts,” Mr Ozen said.
“My time at WALS is the foundation of my ability to provide high level representation in all my matters.
“I was also lucky enough to meet a significant number of Dubbo locals who were not lawyers. This not only kept me sane, but the relationships have survived the tyranny of distance and these people remain amongst my dearest friends (hello Tony, Trish, Jason, and Luke),” he said.
The journey to becoming a “Silk” is a tough one.
The appointment to senior counsel (“SC”, which replaced the old “QC” Queen’s Counsel) marks a barrister out as a leader at the Bar.
As a minimum, it signifies a very high degree of knowledge of the law, ethics, and advocacy ability.
It also signifies that the barrister is recognised as a leader – someone to whom other barristers will refer for advice and guidance on a wide range of legal and ethical considerations.
The application process is very detailed. Applicants are required to show how they meet the criteria set out by the Bar Council as essential for any SC. These include:
z Learning in the law
z Skill in the conduct of cases
z Integrity and honesty
z Independence (fundamental duty of candour to court)
z Disinterestedness (appearing for all and sundry, to ensure equality before the law) Diligence (work rate) Experience: o At trial and on appeal o Position of leadership in a specialist jurisdiction o Proof of knowledge within that area of specialisation – papers, seminars, etc o Experience in conducting cases against senior counsel for the other side o Considerable Experience in giving advice in specialist fields of law z Leadership at the Bar z Significant contribution to Australian society as a barrister
Applicants are also required to provide three references from senior members of the Bar attesting to their knowledge and opinion of the applicant’s abilities.
Usually, applicants would only consider applying for SC after many years’ experience within a particular field of law, and even then, only after they consider that they have distinguished themselves in those areas.
In addition to showing how they meet the above criteria, applicants must list all of the matters they have appeared in for at least the previous two years, listing the names of their opponent, the presiding judge (or judges for appeals), solicitor instructing, type of matter, jurisdiction and outcome.
Invariably, every Supreme Court Judge before whom an applicant has appeared is approached for their view, as are a large number of senior and junior barristers. Some 150 or so people are contacted for their views – so it is a very comprehensive process.
For Tunc, it was a hard start when moving from Sydney to the country – until he made the trip out to Dubbo he’d never been west of the Blue Mountains.
“When I first came to Dubbo I hated it, everything was totally foreign to me, however over time western NSW worked its magic on me, and both in my professional and personal life I saw the things that life in country NSW had to offer,” Mr Ozen said.
“We had an excellent and extremely committed team of solicitors and staff, in particular, I had the benefit of being trained in my early stages by Ms Christine Mendes who was also a young lawyer in Dubbo and is now a barrister in private practice at Albury, and the environment at WALS was one where we prided ourselves on our legal knowledge and dedication to the best possible representation for our clientele.
“By the end of my time at WALS, some four years later, I was reluctant to leave. In fact, I would not have left had my then partner have been able to move up from Sydney – whilst there is no doubt my caseload now involves only the most serious criminal matters, I still look back on my time at WALS as being the essential foundation that allows me to be able to handle them,” he said.
Mark Dennis appreciates the training and assistance he received from workmates out west, and now he enjoys passing that forward to young lawyers starting off their careers at WALS.
“I like to stay involved with training young solicitors,” Mr Dennis said.
“I like to give back something to an organisation that gave so much to me.”
Tunc is keen for his Dubbo mates to know he still holds the same values he consolidated when out this side of the mountains.
“Whilst there is a reputation that people apply for ‘Silk’ just to up their fees, this really is not true – for example, I am a Public Defender and the elevation to Senior Counsel will make precisely ‘zero dollars’ difference to my salary, the same as with Crown prosecutors,” Mr Ozen revealed.
“Whilst it is true that for those in private practice, Senior Counsel do charge more than junior counsel, this is a recognition of the higher level of service and reputation clients can expect to receive, as well as an indication the Silks are usually briefed in only the most serious and difficult matters and appeals.
“It should also be borne in mind that part of that fee reflects the long road to becoming a Silk – I started studying to become a lawyer in 1989, I graduated in 1995, then I had to undertake professional training to become accredited and I started work in 1996. So it’s taken just on 22 years to get to this point – my clients, and the clients of every SC, get the benefit of those many long years of study and experience,” he said.