Justinian

The NSW bar wins a round in the six year struggle to get Stephen Archer struck off the roll. Court of Appeal overturns ADT orders for production of documents. Archer claims the bar knew about his tax and bankruptcy affairs, and did sweet FA ... more

Talk of splits in the cabinet over the new High Court Chief Justice, compromise candidates and scary alternatives. Still no decision ... more

What are the Charter of Rights naysayers on about? Existing legislative and entrenched rights haven’t managed to derail society. Yet these protections have proved more miss than hit. Stephen Keim surveys three recent decisions from the full Federal Court ... more

In two different cases the full Federal Court has dealt with ASIO and its obsession with secrecy in markedly different ways. One bench virtually rolled over to be tickled on the tummy by the chief spook. The other one stood its ground and said the court was not going to be a patsy for the state apparatus ... more

Articled clerk Vicki Mole has to take extraordinary measures to escape the glaring intensity of the Firm. It’s nice being a lawyer, but not for five days a week ... more

British Psychological Society calls for “witness experts” to sort out wobbly memories … Top UK firms get to grips with the recession with £1 billion plus revenues … Humiliating boss to fork up over breasts and pay jibes … Gordon Brown as the suggestible Heathcliff ... more

The death penalty has been found by the US Supreme Court, with a little help from the swinging justice, to be an excessive sentence for child rape. A consideration of the constitutionality of the death penalty in murder cases may not be far away. Stephen Keim SC examines the way the law is evolving ... more

Junior Junior, our freshly minted baby barrister, starts her blog with a cry of despair over finding chambers, work and money. Was a life at the bar such a fabulous idea after all? ... more

Sunk in a sea of caveats, a bankrupt purchaser and loads of litigation, two Perth musicians have lost their property and their livelihood. Jonathan Gadir investigates ... more

Evan Whitton covers the Pope’s visit and cruelly brings up some Vatican crimes … From October civil judges in Britain will have to dress up at home … Rugby quizz … And how come Labor hack Eddie McTiernan’s limpet view on “beyond reasonable doubt” still stands? ... more

Those with a prominent legal pedigree used to be carried by their firms. Now, as Lizzy Street discovered at her firm, having a well connected legal name might get you in the door, but it doesn’t guarantee survival ... more

Providing cover for the “dirty” cases … Tulkinghorn teases apart the fiction of one of the bar’s prized ethical flourishes – the “cab rank” rule. Isn’t it about time it was scrapped? ... more

No decision on CJ – logjam in Ruddy’s office … Ron Sackville’s new job … Kirbs and same sex super … Much ado in Van Diemen’s Land – wig crisis and jobs-for-favours investigation ... more

Senator Wild Bill Heffernan is at it again – making whacko allegations in the senate about Justice Michael Kirby, although this time he carefully didn’t name the judge ... more

Vicki Mole’s law firm knows how to welcome in the new financial year – with a themed gangster night. How appropriate ... more

Bar incandescent with fury over depiction of barristers in Beeb’s Criminal Justice ... An army of flatfooted “community police” take to the streets … Victory for the gangs as the House of Lords sinks growing trend for courts to allow “anonymous” witnesses ... more

Capricornia is in the crisp grip of spring, while the southern do-gooders huddle around their Emissions Trading Scheme-certified heaters. Buffalo Bruce from Darwin covers the antics of the usual northern suspects, including: Easter, Bushy, Superfish, Falstaff, Owl, Pirate and Kunstler ... more

There was a last minute scramble to rectify a gaping deficiency in Justice Wayne Haylen’s appointment as a deputy president of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal. So that the judge could hear disciplinary cases against lawyers, he had to be rescued with an emergency judicial elevation. Revised version ... more

Wine buff G.D. Wendler remembers modest Max Schubert and asks why we prefer to worship Grange Hermitage rather than just drink the stuff? ... more

Roger Fitch in Washington celebrates Independence Day with the latest talk on torture as Addington and Yoo front the House Judiciary Committee … No surprises in Roberts’ and Scalia’s dissents in the most recent habeas decision … The Bush-Cheney team have only 200 days left in which to wreak havoc ... more

The NSW Law Society wants lawyer advertising rules to be liberated, while keeping tight control of what constitutes “legal work”. As a recent Supreme Court judgment shows both restraints are locked in an awful embrace ... more

Once you look past the rheumy eyes, the outcrop of ear hair, and the thinning grey sweep-over, some of those desiccated barristers begin to look quite cute to young female solicitors who are cooped-up with them for days on end ... more

Justice Berna Collier goes down in a planning appeal against “overbearing” Hamilton Hill development. Sir Terence O’Rort contrasts this brutal decision with Her Honour’s sensitive treatment of a couple of “assistance animals” ... more

US Supreme Court has said the federal courts can have the bodies of the Guantánamo prisoners, and a lot more besides. The Boumediene decision further unravels the Bush administration’s carelessly stitched terrorism laws ... more

Sinking the slipper … The circularity of “reasonable doubt” ... And three procedural reforms guaranteed to improve public approbation for the law ... more

Vicki Mole finds open plan law firm architecture unattractive. It hinders attention to detail, analysis and clarity … but it’s perfect for yapping about Big Brother ... more

Leverhulme deflates earnest Guardian government job ads … debunks a consultant on “effective networking” ... and deconstructs a course for lawyers on how to ask clients for more work ... more

The Keddies overcharging investigation in The Sydney Morning Herald shoots a large hole in the the legal profession’s campaign for more compo for personal injury clients. The revelations are ammunition for those who say that personal injury litigation is often more about the lawyers than the injured ... more

The misery and woe are not over yet for former NSW crown prosecutor Patrick Power. Repellent material emerges in striking-off reasons. The NSW Court of Appeal inferred that Power tampered with the evidence and perverted the course of justice ... more

Trust Tulkinghorn not to be enthusiastic about Dr Cashman’s review of civil justice in Victoria. The report draws extensively on the UK Woolf “reforms” ... and what good have they produced? ... more

Supreme Court says habeas applies to Guantánamo prisoners and that the law that suspended it is unconstitutional … All eyes have been on the Pentagon remake of the long-running show 9/11 ... Same cast – different roles ... more

How come David Patten, acting Supremo and former leader of the NSW Liberals, has been given the job of inquiring into the conviction of political assassin Phuong Ngo? Alex Mitchell ponders some of the judge’s recent decisions ... more

The Bill Henson girlie photo drama set off a wave of legal advice and opinions. Now that the mist is clearing it’s time to check whether we’ve been enlightened by the “debate”. Our team at Critics’ Corner reviews the tangled mess that happens when art collides with law ... more

Some rather dangerous doctors have been let loose on the community. Recently we’ve had Reeves and Patel and in Britain there’s the notious Shipman case. The damage might have been averted earlier if there’d been an open national register of complaints and findings against medicos. Over to you Lillian ... more

Leverhulme is beside himself about the crazy onslaught of political correctness. He’s disturbed by developments Down Under and in the Old Dart. And Viscount Norwich bemoans the loss of important freedoms, like drink driving ... more

Poor defenceless Lizzy Street has the secretary from hell and there’s nothing she can do about it. Years ago Mrs Crankypants worked out the formula for a cushy life in a law firm … and she’s sticking to it ... more

Gageler bites Lord Eldon on the bum … Bar rules problem made to vanish … Defamation fallout – Mercedes Corby and Judy Davis … Caught by the catchwords … Where’s Tubby’s horse flu report? ... more

The governing body of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council will hold a special sitting in Legislative Assembly on Tuesday (June 10) to mark the 25th anniversary of the promulgation of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, but not everyone will be celebrating. Alex Mitchell explains why ... more

Whitton-at-Large. Out and about at the MCA and a slo-mo cartoon on “significant reactions” to the O.J. Simpson case … Does it matter that judges sleep during trials? For the most part, probably not. They are supposed to be “headpieces filled with straw” ... Sydney Pollack’s Three Days of the Condor is among the foremost of his many monuments ... more

Guantánamo unravelling … Bush admin sacks judge mid-trial for being too fair and independent … Canadian Supreme Court finds Gitmo process illegal … Administration planning election year war crimes spectacular … CIA station chief in Milan still on the run ... more

Melbourne law firm blogger Vicki Mole finds billing a mystery. Her adjustments are based on “ethical guesstimates”: Slow when walking in heels … Fast on the multi-tabbed browsing. Yet some things just don’t add up ... more

President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal Keith Mason delivers a well deserved clip on the ear to the “haughty” and “blinkered” High Court ... more

Should document retention policies extend to the Post-it note and other forms of smoke signals? The forensic experts are being called in to advise on how tiny disposable documents can be factored into data management systems. Kate Gibbs has drum ... more

Lizzy Street, our Sydney law firm blogger, appears before a beastly judge. Where’s the sisterhood when you need it? ... more

The murder conviction of Henry Keogh 13 years ago has become a celebrated cause in South Australia. Despite findings of flawed forensic evidence, Keogh has been unable to get his case reopened. Arrayed against him are political intransigence and unmoved appeal judges. Jonathan Gadir follows the twists and turns of the Keogh case ... more

Howls of indignation as old guard seethes over Cherie Blair QC’s Speaking for Myself. The Brits put on an impressive display of envy and snobbishness to greet the autobiography ... more

Just as things are warming up for insolvency practitioners they conjure a code of practice designed to stay the hand of the Fast Eddie’s of liquidation. Justice Bob Austin complains about “some uncomfortably long liquidations”. Kate Gibbs reports ... more

Too much disclosure is never enough on the High … Magistrate washes out potty mouth … Yarraside’s acting judges drama … “Judicial disengagement” explored … Punch out ... more

Guantánamo trials in crisis – legal adviser sacked for wanting torture evidence to be admitted and prosecutors quit in disgust over government meddling. Law of terror correspondent Roger Fitch reports ... more

A stressed Gladstone solicitor is done for professional misconduct, but thrown a merciful lifeline of rehabilitation by Daphnis and the kindly souls at the Bureau de Spank. Sir Terence O’Rort reports ... more

It’s not all misery and despair at Vicki Mole’s firm. There are a few things that make it worthwhile … like the biscuits ... more

Canadian jurist urges judges to take control of cases away from lawyers … Maximising business in the criminal courts begs the question, “where do we draw the line on freeing people we know to be guilty”? ... more

Florida billionaire Bill Koch is convinced that rare and fine wine dealer Hardy Rodenstock is a con man. He’s chasing Rodenstock through the US federal courts and in the process some big reputations could end up in the spittoon. Sydney barrister G.D. Wendler starts his regular wine column for Justinian ... more

Lavatory crisis at Solicitor General’s drinks in Hobart … What is a “Marsden”? ... Newspaper wastes acres of space on Justice Paul Guest … Patrick Power back in court … Grovel to barrister but not to journalist … (Justice) Emilios Kyrou calls the shots on sex with clients ... more

Unnecessary human misery is caused by the way law firms handle the pay question. When information about salaries starts to leak out, the despair is compounded. Sydney blogger Lizzy Street is on the front line of all the suffering. At least she has worked out that money is the root cause of happiness ... more

How come Bonaparte and Innocent 111 are rated lower than Blackstone, Madison and Marshall in the ranking of those who most influenced the law? ... Three New York coppers win the trifecta and get off shooting charges … We’re now more than six years into the Afghan loser ... more

Corrs Chambers Westgarth gains two new partners this week as it bolsters its corporate and litigation work. Kate Gibbs talks to Byron Koster and Simon Crawford ... more

Brakes applied to booming cottage industry for crippled clients … Claim that AWB’s bribery and money laundering depressed US wheat prices is dismissed … Plaintiff kings Melvyn Weiss and Dickie Scruggs head for the Big House … Pillsbury Flom reports ... more

Justinian TV takes you to the glittering Sydney opening night of Mark Tedeschi QC’s recent photographic exhibition, Legal Chameleons. Your editor says a few words about the NSW Senior Crown Prosecutor’s work as a shutterbug ... more

Solicitor’s email shows how the new “culture of doing law” has caught on in Brisvegas. Dangerous global life force in hot-headed missives ... more

Australian lawyers share their thoughts about the BlackBerry. One US firm has banned them from meetings because they were more distracting than helpful. Kate Gibbs found a Sydney law firm partner who thinks they’re ruining people’s (sex) lives ... more

Our Melbourne articled clerk is bone weary with disenchantment. She’s vulnerable and in danger of discovering the “attractions” of law firm incarceration ... more

Another round of fun looms in VicSilk fiesta … Court nannies tinkering with transcripts … Bold move to improve clients’ duty of care to solicitors … Row over whether “mates” get justice selection jobs … More CJ rumblings … Former Allens’ chairman takes floral award ... more

VicAppeals points to misguided attempt by in-house solicitor to drench expert’s report in privilege. Reminder: privilege should be decided by matters of substance, not form. Barry Lane reports ... more

Lizzy, blogging inside a huge law shop, endures the firm’s cocktails with clients. Sometimes bonding can be such a bad idea ... more

NSW barristers are as mad as hell and arent going to take it anymore. Missives are pouring into the Bar n Grill over the $700,000 red hole in the accounts and the proposed rules on cross-examinations. Do we submit to bailing out the bar association through increased taxes whilst ignoring the knife in our backs? asks criminal barrister John Doris. Here’s his spray ... more

Experienced Sydney criminal defence barrister Gabriel Wendler scorns the proposed new bar rules that seek to make overbearing cross-examinations a matter of misconduct. In a submission to the Bar Association he puts forward an idea for a different rule ... more

Moses the Lawgiver. Leverhulme trawls through the highs and lows of Lord Justice Alan Moses’ career. His must-read judgment this month in the Corner House (BAE) case is a powerful reminder of the importance of a gutsy judiciary ... more

A.J. Liebling was right – the press is asleep on the big stories affecting our freedoms … Bush lawyers looking for soft landings in the corporate sector – although Freddo still can’t find a job … Copyright violations by Pentagon in use of rap music to torture detainees ... more

NSW Bar n’ Grill faces $750,000 loss … Dramatic rise in membership fees … Treasurer resigns amid a flurry of accusations … New bar rules still causing much grief ... more

The High Court in Dwyer v Calco Timbers has put an end to a delightful jig. From here on, barring more meddling by parliament, VicAppeals has to review “serious injury” applications on their merits ... more

Nothing too bold from the Governance group at the 2020 Summit. Maybe an abundance of lawyers didn’t help. Gerard Henderson and cohorts turned up and there was more squabbling than big ideas. Still, it’s a nice change to have a government that welcomes ideas. Julian Burnside reports ... more

Where’s lawyer Joe Welch when you need him to put the vital question to the horrid Hillary Clinton? ... Prof Barton examines Judge Posner’s thesis on lawyers’ “self-interested cartel” ... A Bill of Rights sounds good, but … Burnside’s plan to stamp out public lying should include trial lawyers ... more

“Let the man have a drink,” cries Justice Chesty Chesterman as he removes the beverage restrictions on a former sex offender being harassed by wowser plods. It takes courage to overturn two of your own previous no drink orders. When Daphis goes to Government House in September, Sir Terence O’Rort’s money is on Chesty for CJ ... more

As far as the grieving parents are concerned juries have come up with the wrong version of the “truth” in the Dodi & Di and Kovco inquests … At least Mohamed Al Fayed is a hoot ... more

The NSW government’s recent mauling of the DPP Nicholas Cowdery was a warning shot to any public servant who sang out of tune. Now the dust has settled and an accommodation has been reached on the appointment of an outside director to the DPP’s office. Alex Mitchell reports ... more

Judicial selection nobbled in Tasmanian political payback … The Apple Isle awash in scandal as Attorney General flung from office for lies to parliament … Complicity of the Burst Saveloy … Toxic affairs in two Labor states – Tassie and NSW ... more

Quite quickly Vicki Mole, our Melbourne law firm blogger, has worked out that the female lawyers at her firm are either flagellators or she-men. You’ve got to have narcissism or aggression to bond with this lot ... more

Money from the proceeds of crime sets the criminal defence gravy train rolling ... more

Liz Street, blogging from the bowels of a Sydney law shop, turns out to have some disturbing voyeuristic tendencies … she gets her rocks off on a good return of subpoena ... more

Those whacko letters to Michael Kirby from the vicar of Bellevue Hill … And the “conversation” in the Banco court with journalist David Marr ... more

Fresh torture memo by Bush lawyer unearthed … Advice on legally immunising detainee interrogators proves to be invalid … Torture trip driven from the top down … Exciting new harsh techniques devised at “brainstorming sessions” ... more

The law admission authorities have agreed to strict new principles to apply to overseas lawyers wanting tickets to trade in Australia. There’s trouble over NSW’s “Jonathan Sumption” dispensation clause ... more

What to make of the John Punch case? Barrister found guilty of professional misconduct by Administrative Decisions Tribunal because he brought alibi evidence he knew to be untruthful. “Belief” and “knowledge” are the key concepts that in the ADT’s reasons lose their independence ... more

Sub-prime crisis brings on epic foul mouthed deposition outburst from mortgage flogger … Republican judges deaf to suspect’s unambiguous plea of the Fifth … Lawyer rating website upsets the lowly ranked but is protected by the First ... more

Outrage as European law chokes “inappropriate banter” in British pubs … Matron-in-Chief and deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman excites Willie Hague in her stab vest … The Lawyer lauds increase in women partners but only puts one woman on its awards panel ... more

The abolition of the slave trade was a development that bypassed modern corporate law firms. The “haitch-are” people still see humans as “resources”. Articled clerk Vicki Mole bonds with an HR staffer in the hope that knowledge is power ... more

The new rules to curb bullying barristers are a masterpiece of chicanery. A flourish, signifying nothing much. Barristers will still be able to pull any stunt they want during cross examination, only now they have a list of official excuses. At least Hatz and Katz are in agreement ... more

There’s lots of life yet in the interminable hearings grappling with the NSW Bar’s application to remove a former multiple bankrupt from the roll ... more

Considering that desirable female lawyers get paid five percent more than the so sos, Lizzy Street, fresh faced Sydney solicitor, agonises about how attractive is attractive enough ... more

Sydney silk wants indemnity costs from his former client over her failed application for the summary dismissal of his ultimately unsuccessful constructive trust case to prise out of her a lousy $35,000 in fees ... more

Libel, prejudice and smear – British reptiles live up to the finest traditions … Dave Cameron looking for more Tory ladies, while a blue bum-bum chap offers a hand to Labour ... more

More CJ speculation … VicAppeals bucks the trend and finds against lawyers’ cartel … Judges should pay for retrials arising from misdirections … Jury in the dark in Towle case … BBC series Law and Order released after 30-year suppression … Curtin was right about the sinking of the Sydney ... more

Three legal luminaries have flitted across the small screen this month. Charles Waterstreet, Geoffrey Robertson and Ian Callinan. Our TV critic I. Box reviews their performances ... more

As President Bush vetoes an anti-torture Bill the CIA pays liability insurance for its employees who face the prospect of lawsuits over their “harsh interrogation techniques” ... Further discredit for military commissions as the government is found to have doctored Guantánamo trial documents ... more

Malcolm McCusker’s disagreement over “findings” by the Comic Capers Commission will probably see Gorilla Grill merrily skipping from Rooster Cock’s charges. Everything is dandy at the Wild West zoo ... more

Melbourne articled clerk Vicki Mole blogs every fortnight for Justinian, keeping us abreast of her most minute thoughts as she plonks her Jimmy Choos on the up-escalator of a beautiful career ... more

Sub-prime melee gives ailing securities bar a much needed leg-up … Long-winded Exxon Valdez litigation sends many plaintiffs and lawyers to their graves ... A responsive chord stuck as Mike Huckabee equates gay love to bestiality … Class action legend Dickie Scruggs guilty of conspiring to bribe a judge. Pillsbury Flom reports ... more

Justinian is ceaselessly expanding its team of field-agents and contributors. Currently we’re searching for a couple of lawyers who can blog behind the iron curtain of their law firms ... more

The palsied NSW Opposition might land a few blows yet on Joe Tripodi and his shop soiled mates who get plum government jobs. ICAC whimped it, but the pong lingers. Alex Mitchell reports ... more

There is no cure for this disease – the ever spiralling law school fees. Even worse, the plans to cease the helpful open exam book crease… It must be spring, Leverhulme bursts into verse ... more

“Lawyers and lawyering” is defined to mean whatever you want it to mean. In fact, most of the profession isn’t practising law at all. It doesn’t matter, as long as lawyers have a monopoly on whatever it is they do ... more

Government’s legal advice eludes Soapy Brandis … Commissioner Kelpie insists that $7.5 million later Haneef is still under investigation … But, strangely, the top copper goes into bat for Stephen Keim … DFAT runs up legal costs of $346,000 trying to skewer Downer enemy Trent Smith ... more

Top End political contortions … Cadaver Cavanagh’s generous spirit hidden from the masses … Court of Appeal unmoved by Ramjet’s complaints about Judge Dredd … Bureau de Spank totters to the rescue … Euthanasia reprise ... more

The Greeks had a word for it – “kakistocracy”, or government by the worst elements in society. Alex Mitchell reviews the career of one of NSW’s kakistocrats, Joseph Guerino Tripodi ... more

If Gitmo closes what becomes of the inmates? Refoulement is the answer, i.e. even worse US prisons in Afghanistan … Lawyers who advised the administration on torture now under (soft) investigation … Bush lawyers at DoJ advising Iraqis on “justice and the rule of law” ... more

Tony Burke is the president of the Law Institute of Victoria. Sleek on the outside and underneath, he’s keen to share some information about his calves ... more

Einfeld trial goes to Supreme Court … Changing of the guard in Van Diemen’s Land … Accusations of ethical lapse by ethics centre … Sharing and caring at the NSW bar n’ grill … Outpost of Dow Jones empire latest not to review Murdoch sex and money tome ... more

Alex Mitchell brings news from the Rialto that an eminent member of the Faithful is to be sacrificed on the altar of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission ... more

Evan Whitton unbundles his thoughts about ennui on the High Court; British “values”; our great and powerful friends; the notion of jury “prejudice”; the ink stained world of journalism; and the now extinct P.P. McGuinness ... more

Barry Lane in Melbourne says the alarm about judicial activism being raised by the likes of Janet Albrechtsen is false. Much of the time elected politicians are begging unelected judges to “legislate” ... more

The duelling diaries of a star silk and a name-dropping socialite businessman … The horrendous Dixie murder case and the unhelpful Aussie coppers … Senior moments ... more

“Guantanamo Six” military commission trial is the opening shot in Republican election year strategy … Yet there’s a problem – most of the alleged “war crimes” occurred before there was a war … Administration’s torture definition finds its roots in health benefit policy ... more

What on earth has happened to John and Janette Howard? Their absence from the daily polity opens a wretched hole in our lives, which fortunately we are now able to fill. Justinian has secured the exclusive rights to publish instalments of Janette Howard’s carte blanche secret diary ... more

Sir Terence O’Rort is an old fashioned sort of Queenslander and of the view that if lawyers err there is no room for redemption. He’s got the Kilroy and Keim cases in his sclerotic sights ... more

He’s done 10 years and he’s off. Justice Lance Wright bows out as head of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission. Alex Mitchell pens a farewell ... more

Delegates could scarcely finish their sentences at the big Judicial College sentencing corroboree in Canberra … Plenty of eternal gratitude at recent ACT Supreme Court swearings-in … And a moist eyed send-off for Justice Terry Connolly ... more

The rump of Australian neo-cons warns us of the “evils of judicial activism” – and if anyone can sniff out this evil it’s newspaper pundit Janet Albrechtsen. Justice Robert French, from the Federal Court, defends the patch in this Justinian webcast of proceedings at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre’s recent constitutional knees-up ... more

Prison secretly taped lawyer-inmate conversations – Lord Robbo livid … Jonathan Sumption’s Dad dies … Fat Indian law firm heads to London … Cold case review brings out a change of colour ... more

The first woman judge of the NSW Supreme Court is on the couch ... more

“Hot-tubbing” of expert witnesses in NSW has been such a success in reducing costs and speeding-up civil cases that ways and means are to be explored of introducing judge-run concurrent evidence into criminal trials. From Ginger Snatch (judges’ associate) ... more

The Attorney General says the US can torture if it likes … The proposed American Freedom Agenda Act says the US can kidnap if it likes … Over at Guantanamo smart new portable court rooms have been installed … Pentagon bunglers mistakenly hand over “secret” evidence to the visiting press ... more

At law school they don’t teach the rule against borrowing short and investing long. Not to worry, the bear market has taught members of that special breed – the lawyer turned bizoid – a useful lesson ... more

A Deal or No Deal system of sentencing criminals would be fairer than the present arrangement, where offenders simply pay to get the best deal ... more

Senior Crown Prosecutor captures a collection of legal chameleons … Spiggsy lauds the Sydney litigation vortex – other states can drop dead … Television tribulations fired the soul of new Law Society president … Soapy Brandis thinks only Liberals value the rule of law … Fresh legal affairs man at the Financial Review ... Court productivity figures ... more

Allegation of murderous conspiracy raised by al-Fayed’s counsel at the Diana Inquest … A good moment to recall Sir Patrick Hastings’ cross-examination technique … Damages for the hurt feelings of lesbian lance bombardier overwhelm those for a legless one ... more

Few are spared as our esteemed columnist returns with barbs, swipes and japes: Debbie Kilroy … Barker’s submission in the Einfeld case … Neville Chamberlain and John Howard … President Soeharto … Spigs for CJ on High … And the sorry history of price-fixing penalties ... more

FOI details emerge on George Newhouse’s dodgy nomination for Wentworth. Anyway, what was he doing on the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal in the first place? ... more

Ms Katzmann’s driving ambition is to be on the bench of the rugby league judiciary. Instead, she’s ended up with second prize – President of the New South Wales Bar Association ... more

Hugh Ignatius Macken celebrates his arrival as the president of the Law Society of New South Wales by going couchant avec Justinian. We discover he’s a huntin’ n’ fishin’ sort of guy ... more

Great law is being made. While the Padilla v Yoo torture case is attracting much commentary, the Republican stacked DC Court of Appeals has come to the aid of the administration with a finding that “mistreatment” of enemy prisoners is legally acceptable. The court went one better and said that an enemy alien is not “a person” ... more

Attorney General summons the Priest … Tourette’s tirade in SA Supreme Court … Keane for CJ … Tubby wants the poor to give money to the rich … Dressing down for Mallesons’ all-nighters … Sackville shaves Archibald’s C7 bill ... more

Brokeback activities catching-on among Top End lawyers … Much shuffling of deckchairs … All the right people offended by Tubby Callinan’s tour de force speech at the Bar n’ Grill dinner ... more

Leverhulme in Ireland asks, who’s cleaning Poland? ... Law Society president opposes self-regulation of the profession … Mrs Tiger Woods awarded a five-star Irish grovel ... more

Bush’s legal regime continues to unravel as torture and black site prisons bring on more litigation … Meanwhile, the list of disaffected and departed Gitmo military lawyers continues to grow ... more

The advocates’ immunity has sprung some leaks. The holes must be plugged otherwise brave, but careless, litigators will be rooned ... more