LAWYERS FROM across Australia and beyond will gather in the Gold Coast next year for a unique networking opportunity, organisers have announced.

LAWASIAdownunder2005 will be the highlight of next year’s legal conference calendar throughout Asia and the Pacific, chair of the conference organising committee Glenn Ferguson said.

This will be a chance for lawyers to discuss important legal issues, “in the development of the law and in the communication of ideas, concerns and views on existing and emerging legal issues”, Prime Minister John Howard said.

At LAWASIAdownunder2005, “I understand you will be talking about issues as diverse as criminal law, intellectual property, trade law, constitutional law and human rights,” Howard said.

“It is pleasing to see so many judges, lawyers and academics coming together from across the Asia-Pacific region to share their experiences and their expertise in these areas with their colleagues.”

High Court Chief Justice Murray Gleeson argued that such events are important because the judiciary draws strength from its close association with the legal profession.

“The independence of the judiciary is bound up with the independence of the profession, from whose ranks most judges are drawn,” Chief Justice Gleeson said.

“We attach great importance to fostering relations with judges and lawyers from Asia and the Pacific Region. We all have much to learn from one another. An occasion such as this provides an excellent opportunity for us all to expand our horizons.”

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The event will encompass the 19th Biennial LAWASIA Conference, the Law Council’s Legal Convention, the Queensland Law Society’s Law Symposium, the 11th Conference of the Chief Justices of Asia Pacific and the 13th Presidents of Law Associations meeting.

The Australian Standing Committee of Attorneys-General will also coincide with the event.

A registration brochure is available from the LAWASIAdownunder2005 conference website: www.lawasiadownunder.com