Bullies, bastards and the land of the fair go
While studying at the 爆料王 teaches you how the law should be, a stint at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) teaches you how it really is.聽
Mike Butler and students during the course at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
The great irony of the practice of law is that it can be as lawless as a schoolyard brawl. The reality is that the law isn鈥檛 a level playing field that provides a fair go for all. It鈥檚 where the weak, vulnerable, unpopular or poor risk being singled out and mauled by the bullies of the jurisprudential schoolyard.聽
PIAC is the confident kid that comes out of nowhere to step in for the weaker one who is about to have the snot knocked out of them. It鈥檚 that kid you don鈥檛 actually know 鈥� all you really know is that they鈥檙e right there for the sole reason that it鈥檚 the right thing to do.聽
If you鈥檝e ever been bullied you鈥檒l know it isn鈥檛 about winning or losing, it鈥檚 about feeling helpless and having your dignity destroyed. This may sound a little oblique, especially if you鈥檝e never felt that pit-of-your-guts fear of sitting in the dock of a court room or being steamrolled by a corporation or government department coming after you or your family. But coming from disadvantage, trust me, this is how it feels.
The common thread through what I鈥檝e done and seen during my time at PIAC has been about giving strength to the weak.聽
That鈥檚 meant going to court with the Homeless Persons鈥� Legal Service solicitor advocate to watch him stand up for the homeless man the police intend to lock up for reacting to unnecessary provocation and harassment.聽
It has meant learning how PIAC is fighting back on behalf of every electricity consumer against the juggernaut electricity network businesses that have run roughshod over power prices for more than a decade now.
It鈥檚 meant watching the blind man being led into a conference room by a PIAC solicitor while I was chained to a desk researching facts on unfair dismissal, unlawful arrests and sexual assault. I can鈥檛 tell you what the blind man was there for but I know what I saw: a vulnerable person being given the dignity of legal representation.聽
It also meant being part of the process of investigating a judge who gave short shrift to a disadvantaged couple trying to assert their rights against a major private healthcare provider.聽
While I cannot give details of the case, my involvement in applying the principles of administrative law and participating in conference calls with senior counsel was deeply satisfying.聽
Will the client win? Will they even risk pursuing it? It鈥檚 not for me to tell. But what I can say is that without PIAC鈥檚 help, these clients would not have an ice cube鈥檚 hope in hell of even entertaining the option of taking on people or companies massively richer and more powerful than themselves.聽
That鈥檚 what PIAC has shown me: that the law doesn鈥檛 have to be how it is, but how it should be 鈥� a fair go for all.
