The ins and outs of the NSW bar council ballot ... Thumbs down for a few old stayers ... Inner sanctum remains solid
THAT was an interesting unsurprising outcome for the NSW bar council ballot.
Noel Hutley SC arrives as a new boy among the five senior counsel with the most votes.
Other freshers on the 2013 council are Michelle McMahon and the Bunteresque John Hyde Page in the under-five-year category, then Arthur Moses SC, Andrew Stone and Sophie Callan in the open field of contenders.
Those councillors who failed to be re-elected are Peter Hamill SC, Chrissa Loukas SC, Kylie Nomchong SC and silk-reform campaigner David Smallbone.
Philip Boulton SC will become the president and the rest of the executive is destined to move up a notch: Jane Needham SC to senior vice, Ian Temby QC to junior vice and maybe Tim Game SC or Hutley to treasurer.
The formal election of the executive by the council will take place late next week.
It really amounts to only one tiny drop of "new" blood on the inner-sanctum, so we can expect more of the same - except that Boulton will be a more visible president of the bar than the outgoing Bernie Coles, who, when it came to the public stage, was shy and retiring.
There are some big policies to be crunched in 2013, including the myriad of issues identified in the strategic plan, an improved silks selection system and finding ways for the bulk of barristers to survive.
Word on the street is that Smallbone has not given up his struggle for silk reform and is working on a trade practices case to crack open the selection system.
Hyde Page did well to score 136 votes in the baby barrister category. Maybe his missive to members suggesting that barristers' incorporate to save tax struck a chord with the needy and the hungry.
He has also expressed in the past a desire to get rosettes restored to the gowns of silks, à la YarraBar.
An overdue initiative.
See also, Vote early, vote often
Justinian