Political speech blooms


High Court breathes fresh life into implied right of political speech ... Robert French's court opens intriguing new possibilities ... Stephen Keim and Mary Ayad examine Aid/Watch v Commissioner of Taxation
Criminal Code Amendment (State Sponsors of Terrorism) Bill 2025 ... Interacting with deemed state entities could land you in pokey ... Another layer of counter-terror law to make us all feel safer ... More >>
My Role in Gough's Downfall ... Reporter-at-Large … Scoops that flushed out the deceit behind the Dismissal … Big anniversary chinwag in Canberra on November 11 … The combined forces of Kerr, Ellicott and cousin Garfield … Constitutional manipulation … Maurice Byers to the rescue ... Read more >>
Knit one, purl one ... Iron Lady of legal rectitude endorses Gageler ... The chief justice wants judges on the straight and narrow ... The cardboard cutout model of legislative supremacy ... The evils of judicial activism ... Procrustes on the dance floor with the Legislative-Judicial Foxtrot ... Read more >>
Pay packets for top brass at the Federal Courts ... A stonking $5 million all up ... See more >>
Berlusconi's dream world ... Revenge politics in Italy ... Independence of prosecutors under attack ... Constitutional assault ... The years of lead ... Investigations reopened into old murders ... High drama at Milan's Leoncavallo ... Rome correspondent Silvana Olivetti reports ... Read more >>
"If we’re only picking people who have got completely lily-white records then we’ll be missing out on a lot of people that can contribute to public life."
NSW Premier Chris Minns, endorsing Mal Lanyon, his pick for Police Commissioner, whose contributions to public life include shouting drunken obscenities at a paramedic who came to his aid, and commandeering a police launch for private entertainment on New Year's eve ... Read more flatulence ...
Schmoozing and betrayal ... Judge Water Softener rides into Integrityville mounted high on his horse ... Judicial review of corruption finding ... Intriguing submissions ... Unprecedented assistance to morals monitor ... The scale of the sub-rosa intrigue ... Plenty to think about ... Ginger Snatch reports ... Read more >>
News Desk Special ... Angelic death notices from the bar ... Soapy slips on FOI changes ... Unusual interlocutory costs order for Chris Dale ... Judge ticks off Abbott in letters' page ... Knock About's festive salute to the coppers ... January 19, 2015 ... Read more >>
High Court breathes fresh life into implied right of political speech ... Robert French's court opens intriguing new possibilities ... Stephen Keim and Mary Ayad examine Aid/Watch v Commissioner of Taxation
The Kafkaesque world of case flow management ... Surviving the Intervention Notice pantomime ... Case management judge skewered by Qld CA ... Sir Terence O'Rort reporting from Brisvegas
UPDATE ... Bret Walker disagrees with Crown Solicitor's advice ... Power of parliamentary committee to summon witnesses while parliament is prorogued ... Gentrader inquiry to proceed ... Heaps of opinions on Parliament v Executive
Barrister wants to know how many crates of champers can fit in a Ferrari? ... Chris Mullin's A View from the Foothills ... Official government liars ... Lyndon Johnson thought Australia was a "shirt tail frill" ... Blair exposed as another frill ... Evan Whitton at large
Riparian torrent soaks the golden triangle ... Firms in Brisvegas retreat to the Sofitel, the cellar door at Clovely Wines or dry digs interstate ... Sir Terence O'Rort surfaces
Stitching-up Assange ... Ninth anniversary of Guantánamo ... More Gitmo-related cases head for the Supreme Court ... Trying to fathom the meaning of "material support" ... Not all terrorist organisations are opposed by Republicans ... Washing Dick Cheney's dirty linen ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington
Big Brisbane law shops hoping to dry out soon ... Water laps Eagle Street ... Some firms stumping-up significant dollars for flood relief ... Timesheets can be downloaded at home ... Plenty of legal work to come ... Tom Westbrook reports
Economics and criminal defence lawyering ... The creation of a GETGO system ... Ethical rules and the twiddly bits ... Prosecutors are meant to stand still, while the other side does all the shooting ... How do I know whether I am guilty or not until I have seen the evidence? (Irish joke)
The Rule of Law Institute monitors and lobbies about the powers of ASIC ... It's patron is J.J. Spigelman ... Institute delighted with NSW CA's James Hardie decision ... Law & Development Institute wants the law to help poor countries economically ... Then there's the Australian Academy of Law ... What's happened to the AAL? ... Tom Westbrook investigates
Feminists fight the Budget in court, and lose ... Freezing weather turns people beastly ... Protesting students have never had it so good ... Aussies, The Ashes and racism ... Leverhulme's London Calling
WikiLeaks' cables reveal US skulduggery in protecting the CIA ... Time runs out for torture prosecutions ... Frightening Republicans capture key House committees ... Industries own the regulators ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington
The independent legal profession at work ... Large law firms push through flawed conduct rules for solicitors ... Special provisions for conflicts of interest and referral fees ... "Informed consent" downgraded
Victorian prosecutor Carolyn Burnside birched by the Court of Appeal ... Failure to disclose evidence helpful to the defence ... Miscarriage of justice ... Defence team alerted to earlier case by DPP just before appeal hearing ... Tom Westbrook investigates
Jarndyce lives ... Judges admit sophistry is a snack - yet the consequences are expensive ... Illicit carnal congress that has lasted for 844 years ... NSW coppers want right to silence modified ... What official inquiries need are the services of competent reporters ... Evan Whitton at large
Shoot that lamb chop ... How not to run a trial with a self-represented accused ... Closed court for dishonest lawyer ... Theodora explores the map of Tasmania
The era of open media and leaks of state secrets confronts courts and governments ... No solution in sight ... Barry Lane says its best to lie back and surrender
Poms are delighted the Euro's in trouble ... A rumpled Lord Chancellor gets stuck into legal aid and prisons ... Kenneth Clarke says there's no direct connection between an increased prison population and falling crime rates ... Not bad for a Tory ... Leverhulme files from Blighty
A Republican majority in the House likely to end in usual bout of resentment for the GOP ... Election threw up a few crooks and charlatans ... An American soldier can shoot in the battlefield, but it's a war crime if someone shoots back ... Review into whether charges against David Hicks were defective ... Wheels fell off Ghailani trial in Manhattan because the CIA tortured the accused ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington
Cigarette smoking, champagne swigging Mary Gaudron brought much needed gusto and bluntness to the phlegmatic males who inhabited the High Court ... Sir Anthony Mason was one of those males and this week he launched a biography of Gaudron by the Canberra lawyer Pamela Burton - From Moree to Mabo ... Theodora reports