Chief Justice Robert French AC has inflamed the debate about the billable hour at a Law Society of NSW function last night in Sydney, according to reports from the ABC.

Justice French told the audience at the annual President’s Medal Awards that in his 38-year legal career, things had changed substantially in relation to billing. "I am old enough to remember a time when lawyers did not fill out timesheets," he said.

It is understood that CJ French acknowledged there are aspects of litigation that are inescapably labour-intensive, but said time costing for lawyers has gone far beyond the status of a management tool. He said the billable hour had become "an encumbrance on professionalism, placing a premium on inefficiency" and welcomed debate to look at alternatives.

At the function the President's Medal was awarded to family law practitioner Glenn Thompson, a partner at Newnhams Solicitors in Sydney. Thompson is acknowledged in Australia as one of the pre-eminent practitioners and contributors towards family law in Australia. “Glenn has made an outstanding personal and professional contribution to family law in NSW and Australia, in particular his work to make cases involving children less adversarial,” said president of the Law Society of NSW, Mary Macken.

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