What would you like to see delegates take away from your session upon its completion?


It’s not a didactic lecture—there’s an entertainment quality about it. But it has behind it some very signifi cant messages about dealing with people who are diffi cult—to alert practitioners to the existence of these disorders and assist them with some tips in recognising and dealing with them.


The title of your speech is ‘Not mad – but dangerous to know: dealing with personality disorder issues in family law.’ What does this title refer to? Are clients with personality disorders dangerous to know?


The issue is that these clients are not ‘mad’ in the psychiatric sense: they do not suff er from psychosis; they’re not schizophrenic; they don’t have manic depressive bi-polar aff ective disorder. They often, most of the time, don’t see themselves as the problem—other people tend to see them as having a problem. That’s the sort of characteristic of people with personality disorders: they think they’re fi ne but have a lot of diffi culty getting on in the world because other people identify they’re diffi cult to live with or be with.


They are not ‘mad’ but they are diffi cult to deal with.


What is the process for identifying and managing these personality types?


Lawyers will notice that they’re not the ordinary run-of-the-mill client and then it’s up to them to think ‘does this look like this or that?’ These clients are people that are generally diffi cult to deal with: they’re not straightforward; able to to give straightforward instructions; or able to give detailed, appropriate information on request. They are people that you run into trouble with. But once bitten, lawyers might be then able to say ‘A-ha! This looks like X.’


Most of these clients are not esoteric or obscure. They’re not arcane, obscure issues: they’re often in your face.


Why do you feel this is an important issue family lawyers in particular need to be aware of?


Because it can impede their running the case smoothly.


The personality disorder gets in the way of managing the case optimally because these people don’t behave in a way that is average and predictable. It’s not the case that’s diffi cult.


How did this issue come to your attention? Did you have members of the legal profession approaching you for advice on how to deal with clients affl icted with a personality disorder?


I think these issues, not infrequently, come up in conversation and when you’re a known psychologist people will tell you these tales of woe! Family lawyers are pretty sophisticated about dealing with diffi cult clients and they themselves say ‘There’s something odd here, what is going on? What is there you can do about this?’


In your experience, are there any sort of rules lawyers can employ when dealing with clients affl icted by these disorders?


No—I don’t think there are hard and fast rules for dealing with this game at all. It’s about managing this optimally; it’s about being aware of what is going on and attempting to manage it so that the outcome is ideal for your client. It’s also about ensuring the outcome doesn’t end with the lawyer being frustrated so they can know what they’re getting themselves into or be wiser about getting a good outcome for their client.


What topic will you be speaking on at the 15th National Family Law Conference?


The key point I’ll be making relates to the fundamental change in the relationship between men and women. The rising authority, independence and self-confi dence of women over a generation is leading to them making choices about relationships they would have never have made previously. There is a greater empowerment of women in relationships that is leading to relationship breakdowns that would not have occurred previously.


There is another aspect I will talk about and that is, from the Census, the number of women in Australian society that are married at the age of 15, 16, 17—there’s literally hundreds. These young women are most likely migrants of particular faiths or beliefs and my understanding is the age of consent is 16. How do we accept a marriage with a young woman aged 15 in Australian society—it’s almost like we turn a blind eye. We accept diff erent faiths and customs but what happens when those faiths and customs are at fundamental odds with Australian values? I suppose technically you could say they might be married in a biblical


I hope delegates will have also have an interesting, informative and enjoyable experience.


MR BERNARD SALT— DEMOGRAPHER, KPMG


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