Steve Mark

Influenced by Doris Lessing  and John Lee Hooker ... Proselytizer for the "globalisation of ethics" ... Closely identified with blancmange ... Steve Mark, the lawyer who wanted to stay out of jail, joins us on Justinian's couch  

Steve Mark: worried about Australia's beer and wine exports

Steve Mark is the outgoing NSW Legal Services Commissioner, a job he has held for 19 years. 

Prior to that he was President of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board for six years.

His career was grounded by stints as a law lecturer, solicitor in Australia and England, landscape gardener, film producer, taxi driver, lumberjack and restaurateur. 

As the legal profession regulator for Australia's largest jurisdiction he has collected a few baubles along the way, as well as fulfilling some socially useful functions.

He's a member of the council of International House at the University of Sydney and he serves on the School of Law Advisory Board at the University of New England.  

Mark is a director of Midnight Basketball, which runs competitions for at risk street kids. 

He's also registrar of an outfit called the Australasian Register of Security Professionals, which sets "competencies and criteria" for people who manage security functions of large and sensitive corporations and government agencies. 

That's all very nice. However, Mark's tenure at the OLSC has been accompanied by contention and criticism. 

Disgruntled clients have protested on his doorstep that he hasn't done enough to rid the legal profession of shonks. 

In an earlier interview with Justinian he defended his record and explained that some of the instances that appears to have been failures, notably the Keddies' case, are in fact triumphs. 

Steve Mark is starting a consultancy called Creative Consequences, which will provide advice to the very lawyers who might otherwise come to a sticky end at the hands of the Bureau de Spank. 

We've lashed him to Justinian's couch, where he's doing his best with our searing questions ... 

Describe yourself in three words.

Optimistic, interested, passionate.

What are you currently reading? 

"Ideas: A History from Fire to Freud", by Peter Watson; "American Gods", by Neil Gaiman; "The World Until Yesterday", by Jared Diamond.

What's your favourite film?

"2001: A Space Odyssey."

Who has been the most influential person in your life? 

Doris Lessing.

What is your favourite piece of music?

"Crawling King Snake" by John Lee Hooker. 

What is in your refrigerator? 

Cold Air. 

What is your favourite website?

Urban Dictionary. 

What do you recommend as a hangover cure?

Another hangover. 

What words or phrases do you overuse?

"The globalisation of ethics ... You've got to be kidding ... There are three issues." 

Was there an important opportunity that you didn't take?

Failing to get a liquor licence for a nightclub I ran in Queensland. 

Why did you want to be a lawyer? 

To stay out of jail.

What moment represents the depths of your despair. 

When my Harley doesn't start.

What has been your most glorious triumph? 

Third place in the high hurdles at Piedmont High School in California.

What's your most glamorous feature?

My bike.

If you were a foodstuff, what would you be?

Blancmange.  

What human quality do you most distrust?

Distrustfulness. 

What would you change about Australia?

The cultural cringe.

Whom or what do you consider overrated?

Australia's beer and wine exports (as distinct from what we get to drink ourselves).

What would your epitaph say?

Bullshit works.

What comes into your mind when you shut your eyes and think of the word "law"? 

Atticus Finch.