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As more legal practitioners seek out mental healthcare, an NSW barrister association asked a court whether its funding rules allowed it to cover its members’ use of a professional counselling service.
The management committee of the Barristers’ Benevolent Association of NSW sought advice from the Supreme Court as to whether the rules by which it is governed would allow it to fund the counselling service BarCare for its members and their families.
In determining that it could, Justice James Hmelnitsky said the provision of the association’s assistance to treat mental ill health among barristers and their dependents was “for the benefit of the community or a section of the community in the relevant sense”.
The association was established to provide assistance to members of the NSW Bar and their dependents who are in “necessitous and deserving circumstances”. According to the Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, this includes counselling and financial aid.
The critical question before the court was whether a person in need of mental healthcare of the kind provided by BarCare could be considered “necessitous”, as set out in the association’s rules.
While Justice Hmelnitsky considered mental healthcare to be covered under “necessitous and deserving”, he also had to be satisfied the service was for the benefit of the public.
In coming to his decision, Justice Hmelnitsky noted BarCare had the potential to benefit a “much wider section of the public” than those who are members at the Bar and their family members.
“Barristers in NSW have a unique and important role in advocating for the rights of people in the community, including some of the most vulnerable. They have a central role in the administration of justice.
“Improving the mental wellbeing of the NSW Bar and their families may well have positive consequences for the wider community who interact with the justice system and who may have occasion to access the service of those barristers,” Justice Hmelnitsky said.
According to the NSW Bar Association’s 2023–24 annual report, published last October, the number of its members who accessed BarCare jumped from 98 in the 2022–23 reporting year to 102.
A large number of those who accessed the service reportedly suffered mental health strain as a result of relationship difficulties, bullying and harassment, vicarious trauma and depression.
The Bar’s immediate past president, Dr Ruth Higgins, who also sits on the Barristers’ Benevolent Association’s committee of management, said the Bar is committed to creating a “healthier, more supportive and more sustainable work culture”.
The application: Re Application of the Members of the Management Committee of the Barristers’ Benevolent Association of New South Wales [2025] NSWSC 644 (20 June 2025)
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
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