LAWASIA Annual Conference 2025: Responding to the Challenges Facing the Legal Profession in 2025
Speech delivered by Law Council of Australia President-elect, Tania Wolff, at the LAWASIA Annual Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, 16 October 2025.
"Good afternoon.
It’s a pleasure to be here today, and to join this impressive panel moderated by Judge Humphries.
An independent legal profession and a well-functioning justice system are the bedrock of a free and fair society. As lawyers, we play a vital role in supporting individuals and organisations — through dispute resolution, access to remedy, and social change.
Our work also extends far beyond the courtroom: we help shape public policy, build community trust, and uphold social cohesion.
As a bridge between lawmakers and the communities to whom those laws apply, we are deeply affected when confidence in institutions falters — and when the pace of change outstrips our ability to adapt.
The profession, our profession, long defined by diligence and excellence, is now also defined by the expectation of constant connectivity, instant response, and unrelenting demand.
Today, I want to reflect on three interconnected challenges facing us in 2025.
The first challenge is deeply human
A few months ago, a young lawyer I know — bright, idealistic, only a few years out — told me she was leaving the profession.
She said, “I really like the law… but I can’t do it like this anymore.”
It wasn’t the work itself, but the way we now work: the emails that never stop, the boundaries that no longer hold, the sense of never being finished.
Her story isn’t unusual. It reflects a deeper truth — that the strength of our legal institutions depends not only on the quality of our laws but on the wellbeing of those who uphold them.
Technology, for all its efficiency, has extended the working day into every corner of our lives and stripped away our recovery time. Burnout and attrition are no longer exceptions — they are the features of too many professional lives.
If we are serious about the future of law, wellbeing cannot remain a footnote or a Friday webinar topic. It must be a priority of professional sustainability — creating structures that reward reflection as well as productivity, mentorship as well as output, and reminding us that our humanity is not an obstacle to good lawyering, but the very foundation of it."
Read the full speech in the PDF link below.
Last Updated on 20/10/2025