Dear Fink


Chris Judd, Nick Maxwell and Matthew Boyd get out their laptops and send Justice Finkelstein tributes on the eve of his retirement from the Federal Court ... Melbourne's AFL culture recognises no boundaries

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 >>
Chris Judd, Nick Maxwell and Matthew Boyd get out their laptops and send Justice Finkelstein tributes on the eve of his retirement from the Federal Court ... Melbourne's AFL culture recognises no boundaries
Spellbinding newspaper interview with the former lion of Melbourne, business, politics and football, John Elliott ... Barry Lane does his best to fill in some gaps in the story ... The prosecution over the Elders' bonds issue ... Water Wheel's insolvent trading ... The unhappy creditors ... A peep in the rear-view mirror
Percy Lo-Kit Chan bemoans that living space is at an absolute premium in Hong Kong and vastly expensive ... Now there is a clamp down on "illegal structures" that will create even more of a squeeze ... Percy has some housing and tax advice for young Australian lawyers coming to HK for a stint
ACT Supremes still drowsy ... AG Smith singing at Silverwater ... Queen's gongs for lawyers ... Littlemore's new hero - "ugly, irascible, intolerant, clever" ... Clutz' document retention policy thriving ... Minimalist welcome from the bar for Ashley Black ... The Rudds turn up at Spigs last admission ceremony
Legal complexity and reasonable fees: can they co-exist? ... Tulkinghorn examines the notion that in order for trials to be fair, they have to be complicated ... When you hear lawyers and legislators proclaiming the virtues of plain English and simplification - don't believe them
Rule of law in Hong Kong rudely shaken ... Sovereign debt case sent by Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal to National People's Congress for resolution ... Legal system on the mainland still an adjunct of the government ... Percy Lo-Kit Chan reports
Lawyer hollows out Voyager compo awards ... Receiver's costs balloon as Vic Supremes and LSB chew-up victims' proceeds ... Tom Westbrook reports on the latest twists in the David Forster case
Saga of the struck-off Townsville solicitor ... Client sold to Trilby Misso, who smartly dumps and overcharges the hapless punter ... Press releases fly as law chain sent to the stipes for investigation ... "Because we care" ... Sir Terence O'Rort reports
A few bars of Danny Boy from the attorney general would be a treat for the Anglo lawyers brekka ... Sharp right turn for law and justice policies in NSW ... Greg Smith over-eggs his mandatory sentencing rhetoric ... Polly Peck reports
Star of TV documentary in disciplinary drama of her own ... Bar council's complaint against criminal defence barrister's "clumsy and ambiguous" email to colleagues dismissed by ADT ... Costs awarded for double jeopardy and oppression
Barrister with innovative drink-driving practice struck from the jam roll after impressive list of priors ... Lapses going back to 2006 finally catch-up with forum shopper
The Queens Square Lubyanka saw a beefy turnout and a smooth transition as the orb and sceptre were passed from Spigelman to Bathurst ... The lack of fine oratory was compensated for by lavish basting ... Picture gallery
Lord Chancellor's grief over rape law reform ... Boris Johnson on Aristotle, Marilyn Monroe, Scarlett Johansson and Mrs Johnson ... Leverhulme in London on a couple of pollies who tell it like it is
Updated on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 by
Justinian
Path cleared should Nicholas Cowdery want to become a judge ... Chief Magistrate wins pension jackpot ... Tiny amendments with big consequences ... Judges' associate Ginger Snatch reports
What, not more selective reporting by The Australian ... This time the economics editor extols the virtues of private prison operator Serco ... Cherry picking prisoners can result in glowing outcomes ... Barry Lane in Melbourne asks, why should the state pay for a private operator to make a profit, when the taxpayer has to pick-up all the tab?
New constitutional reform unit at Uni of Sydney ... Indigenous recognition, the role of state governments, and local government all on the agenda ... Constitutional trogs Bob Carr and George Brandis part of the launch line-up ... Our man with a notebook was there for the ribbon-cutting
Judicial blindfold firmly in place when Vic Appeals fiddled with the sentence of expelled Hells Angel ... When is a prior conviction not a prior conviction? ... Barry Lane investigates
Update ... Baffo bounds onto centre court ... Despite the plaudits, Tom Bathurst remains a mystery man ... An able barrister without much on the record ... The right noises about "access to justice", but who thinks anything interesting will happen? ... Some morsels about NSW's incoming chief justice
It's winter and the NSW bar 'n' grill gets out the knitting needles and balls of wool for a good old knitathon ... Brian Tamberlin, the O'Barrell government's power man, will provide a welcome boost to the Lawyers Full-Employment Act ... Solicitors who forge documents - it's worth the punt
Leverhulme in London ... At the wedding ... Remembering Gilbert Gray QC ... And Andrew Marr's superinjunction - when journalists muzzle the media