The Asian Australian Lawyers -Association, which has expanded rapidly since its foundation two years ago, has adopted former High Court judge Michael Kirby as its patron.
Mr Kirby, in accepting the invitation, said he was "shocked and surprised" by the under-representation of lawyers of Asian ethnic background as revealed by research done for the association. 
The survey showed that Asian Australians account for 9.6 per cent of the total population but only 3.1 per cent of the partners in law firms, 1.6 per cent of barristers, and just 0.8 per cent of judges.
Of 6160 barristers in the country, 94 are Asian Australians, of whom 87 are junior counsel and just seven senior counsel. There are six large law firms and 44 medium-sized firms with no Asian Australian partners.
Mr Kirby was invited to be patron after he launched the association's NSW branch - its second, after its Victorian branch.
"It is time for Asian Australians to fight for their dignity and rights. Nothing happens in our world unless people stand up for themselves," he said at the launch.
"Law is not an ordinary profession. Law is about the values that inform what we do, how we do it and outcomes." Therefore, he said, "it's more important in law to reflect the diversity of values than it is in just about anywhere else because law is about power, and if values affect the exercise of power, it is very, very important that the diversity of values and the experience of backgrounds should be reflected." The association's national president Reynah Tang said: "Mr Kirby has long been an outspoken and passionate champion of diversity in the legal profession and society more generally, so it is only fitting that he becomes our inaugural patron as we seek to promote greater cultural diversity in the law." Mr Tang, who is a tax lawyer and a partner with Johnson Winter & Slattery, noted that Britain had appointed the first Asian woman to its High Court - reinforcing his disappointment "to see that the recent round of senior counsel appointments has again failed to reflect the increasing cultural diversity in the Australian legal profession".
The association, whose members' backgrounds range from 10 Asian countries, is sponsored by Baker & McKenzie.The first president of the NSW branch is Kingsley Liu.