Join 2023 President of the Law Society, Cassandra Banks, who will moderate a diverse and expert panel on how the legal system affects children and how lawyers and the legal profession may best work with children.  Children are subject to civil and criminal laws that have been developed to address their welfare needs, community protection and contractual relationships. Children can be held responsible for a crime from the age of ten yet they may not be asked to contribute to care plans or to provide informed consent when entering contracts. Their conduct, their parental orders and their disputes must be negotiated by lawyers through dispute resolution or in court.

This session will look at how lawyers may work to better protect children and the positive actions they may take when working with children. The specific needs of indigenous children within our legal system will be discussed, including consequences of the crossover between care and criminalisation. More widely, the need for lawyers and legal systems to intervene earlier to prevent distress, injury and trauma and where NSW sits within an international approach to issues between children and the law.