2025 President's Message - Marissa Mackie

I am honoured to serve as the 80th President of the Law Society of South Australia. The Society has a proud history of supporting the legal profession and standing up for the rule of law. I am committed to continuing the legacy of my predecessors and helping the profession deal with long-standing and emerging challenges facing the legal sector. The judicial system is the third branch of government that must operate independently to the Parliament and the Executive in order to administer justice effectively and to act as a safeguard against excessive use of State power. For the judicial system to effectively serve the community and adhere to fundamental legal principles, it must be adequately resourced and have the confidence of the public it serves. By extension, the public must have confidence in the legal profession that works within this system.

I intend to showcase the vital work that lawyers do to enhance access to justice, promote equality before the law, and protect the legal rights of individuals and groups – especially when up against far more powerful entities.

I also plan to help inform and educate the community about important legal issues and how the justice system works. The public deserves to be well-informed about how the legal system operates, and this in turn will go some way towards instilling public confidence in the profession. 

Improving culture

Through legislation, regulation, rules of procedure, and mandatory professional development, the legal profession is rightly held to a particularly high standard of conduct.

Unfortunately, a small cohort of the profession has fallen below these standards, and it is imperative that the profession mobilises to extinguish bullying, discrimination and harassment within its ranks.

The Equal Opportunity Commission’s report into harassment in the legal profession is expected to be released shortly, and the profession will have to confront and respond to the findings in the report.

It is clear that bullying, discrimination and harassment are still significant issues in the profession, and it is one of my absolute top priorities to tackle this problem head on.

The Society has implemented a number of important measures to drive cultural change in the profession. I firmly believe that the culture is changing for the better, but we need to do even more to ensure that all workplaces are safe and inclusive, ensure that those who speak out about mistreatment are given the support they need, and to ensure toxic behaviours are exposed and dealt with.

Once the EOC report is released, the Law Society will provide a comprehensive response and will outline its plans to build on its existing initiatives to address this unacceptable scourge.

As immediate past president of the Women Lawyers Association who has long advocated for equality and diversity in the profession, I am energised about the opportunity to advocate for a profession that reflects the community it serves, and especially look forward to encouraging senior members of the profession (men and women alike) to be champions for equality and diversity, not only for gender equality but more broadly, including by continuing the work of immediate past president, Alex Lazarevich and the Aboriginal Law Students Mentoring Program, in implementing a GDLP scholarship and paid placement opportunities for Aboriginal law students to increase the number of Aboriginal practitioners in the profession.

Access to justice

There has long been a chronic shortage of legal aid and legal assistance services, created by a lack of funding from successive Governments at State and Federal Level.

The long-awaited review into the National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP), prepared by Dr Warren Mundy, lays bare the barriers that vulnerable people face in accessing legal services, and makes a raft of recommendations to strengthen the legal assistance sector. The Federal Government has confirmed an additional $800 million over five years to the National Access to Justice Partnership (which replaces the NLAP), but this falls well short of the funding that has been recommended. With many Australians doing it tough amidst a cost-of-living crisis, more vulnerable people will need legal services and not have the means to pay for it.

The Society has an important role in advancing access to justice. One of my main objectives in 2025 is to fight for greater investment in our legal assistance services, which includes the Legal Services Commission, Community Legal Centres and Aboriginal legal services. The Society will continue to support the Law Council in its efforts to lobby the Federal Government for sufficient funding, but it is important that we continue to make the case for the State Government to contribute its fair share of funding, particularly for legal matters that fall under State legislation.

Pro bono services

The legal profession can play an important role in providing access to justice to vulnerable people. South Australian lawyers already contribute a great deal of pro bono legal services, but I intend to look at ways to encourage practitioners to further increase their pro bono activities. While I strongly believe that law firms should be seeking ways to provide pro bono services to those who would otherwise not be able to afford legal services, the Government ultimately has responsibility for ensuring access to justice, and I look forward to constructive dialogue with the Government on how the access to justice gap can be narrowed.

Supporting practitioners

One of the Society’s most important roles is to provide practitioners with support in relation to a variety of matters. This year, I am especially focused on promoting and enhancing our wellbeing support to members and guiding the profession through significant changes impacting the legal profession. These are the two issues that Members want the Society to focus on most, according to the Society’s most recent Member satisfaction survey.

One of the most significant changes is the expansion of the anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing regime to legal practitioners. These laws, which passed in December 2024 and are likely to come into effect mid-2026, will require practitioners who provide “designated services” to comply with several reporting obligations. This will add a significant administrative burden to a number of practices, and the Society is committed to helping practitioners be as prepared as they can be for the new regime.

The Society has developed an Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Resource Knowledge Centre which includes general information about the new laws and guidance notes from the Law Council of Australia.

The Society is planning a number of educational sessions and additional resources to support practitioners meeting their reporting obligations, including at the Law Society Forum in February 2025.

The legal profession has also had to confront the rise and pervasiveness of artificial intelligence. The use of artificial intelligence in the legal profession can provide immense benefits, but also carries great risks. The Society has an important role to play in evaluating the risks and opportunities of AI and providing resources to guide the profession in relation to the adoption of AI technology.

Wellbeing in the profession

Whilst our profession has come a long way in recognising and promoting wellbeing, there is still much work to be done. The wellbeing survey conducted by the Society in 2021 indicated the four key reasons why practitioners struggle with mental health:

• Excessive workloads;
• Billing pressures;
• Unsupportive workplace culture; and
• Perfectionism and competition.

We need to continue to find opportunities and solutions to reduce instances of burnout in the profession, provide support to practitioners and practices to promote work-life balance, promote physical and mental wellbeing and tackle the stigma of mental health issues.

We need to further examine the mindset that many practitioners adopt to deal with the adversarial, sometimes combative and occasionally traumatic nature of legal practice, in order to more effectively provide support and the strategies to alleviate the psychological toll that such a demanding occupation can take.

I am passionate about increasing opportunities for lawyers to support each other.

We are a small profession in South Australia but we are a close one.

The Society has been instrumental in providing opportunities to connect, including through mentoring programs and networking initiatives such as the small practice coffee catch ups.

I look forward to finding more ways to encourage this during 2025, particularly for those lawyers who feel disconnected from the profession for reasons such as geographical location, level of experience, practice area, gender, disability and race. I also look forward to creating more opportunities for our members to connect with members of other professional bodies, the first of which will take place early in the year with the return of the endeared Mullighan Mug Cricket Match between barristers and solicitors.

I especially want to enhance connectivity for students who, given study has shifted to a more virtual approach, do not get the same opportunities to engage with their peers as we used to. And it is incumbent on us to engage with them at the earliest opportunity.

I have personally been blessed by our collegiate nature and the mentoring and support networks that I have formed over my career. One thing I value most about our profession, and want to promote more, is that we are here to support each other.

About Marissa Mackie

Marissa is a Principal solicitor and counsel in the commercial and tax team at Norman Waterhouse who specialises in taxation, banking and finance, bankruptcy and corporate insolvency, administrative law and regulatory litigation.

She is also a sessional member at the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and teaches Banking and Finance Law and Corporate and Commercial Practice as part of the Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice run by the University of Adelaide and Law Society.

Marissa is Immediate past president of the Women Lawyers Association of South Australia and sits on a number of committees of the Society.

She has been a Member of the Society since 2008, a Member of Council since 2018, and a member on executive since 2021.

Outside of the law, Marissa enjoys spending time with her family, running (albeit not as frequently as she would like) and travelling.