‘Uphold the rule of law’: Law Society president’s plea to profession
The president of South Australia’s peak legal body has made a plea for fellow lawyers to uphold the rule of law in an increasingly destabilised world.
Law Society of South Australia President David Colovic has called on his fellow lawyers to uphold the rule of law, saying it was facing severe challenges due to the fraying of social cohesion.
“Lawyers play a big part in upholding the rule of law, which underpins how society is governed. The law is all about people being equal under the law and obeying the law,” he said.
“The rule of law is being increasingly challenged by the fraying of social cohesion in some areas, and we all know about the shocking public hostility we saw on the East Coast late last year.”
In an extensive sit-down interview with InDaily, Colovic also called on the state government to invest in crumbling court infrastructure, which he said was causing delays in justice.
“It might be surprising to some that most criminal trials in the Supreme Court effectively have to be run in the District Court in the Samuel Way building, which itself is in some areas crumbling, and what that means is that there’s pressure on the District Court for courtrooms itself,” he said.
“It’s not surprising that there are therefore delays in the adjudication of criminal trials in the District Court, and that’s not right because there are enough delays in what we do without having to experience further delay because there are insufficient facilities.
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“It’s not about having a fancy building – it’s about having facilities that lead to the proper dispensing of justice and for the community to have the benefit of.”
A government spokesperson said that “last financial year, the Government allocated a total of $20 million to undertake critical works and upgrades on essential courts infrastructure”.
“This was in addition to the $1.6 million allocated for building maintenance as part of the 2023-24 Mid Year Budget Review, and earlier funding of more than $42 million for upgrades to the Sir Samuel Way Building facade along with the Higher Courts Redevelopment Project,” she said.
Other priorities of Colovic’s one-year term were developing resources for lawyers to use AI ethically, navigating new anti-money laundering legislation, promoting and retaining lawyers in South Australia, and improving well-being in the legal profession.
He said lawyers used to primarily communicate by letters, but with the advent of email, clients and other lawyers expect an instantaneous response.
“If you’re a busy practitioner, what that means is that you’ve got more balls in the air all the time and that leads to tension and stress,” Colovic said.
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“That’s one of my headline priorities this year, to look at wellbeing and how we can help practitioners, because healthy, happy practitioners also make better lawyers.”
He thought AI could be a game-changer in areas such as document discovery, but that it needed to be used ethically.
“AI is a two-edged sword – if it’s properly harnessed, it can really help, but it can also be dangerous,” he said.
Another priority was keeping top talent in South Australia.
“We need to try and grow the profession and encourage our most talented young graduates to stay here, because I ascribe to the old mantle of, ‘A firm is only as good as its last intake’,” he said.
Colovic, who began his role as the Law Society’s 2026 president in January, has more than three decades of legal experience and is principal at LK Law, where he specialises in insolvency.
Key cases he’s been involved in include the collapse of Gloria Marshall weight-loss centres and the former national soccer league, while more recently, he was involved with insolvencies for Bedford Group and Western Hospital.
The Law Society is a voice for the legal profession, provides professional development and facilities for lawyers, responds to legal enquiries from the public and comments on proposed legislation, including being critical of aspects “in a very diplomatic way”.
“It’s rarely the case that our views are not either accepted or considered, and quite often things change as a result of the legislature being fed the more practical side of what they’re proposing,” Colovic said.
Asked about the recent appointment of South Australia’s first female chief justice, Laura Stein, Colovic said that “without exception, her appointment has been really warmly embraced”.
“She’ll be an even more chief justice than the last chief justice, who was very modern in his ways,” he said.
“She was an excellent practitioner, and I can say that the profession has a deep respect for her.”
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