Pay shake-up looms for federal judges … Jeff Shaw fights for the freedom to take snaps outside prisons … Law firm persuades protestor to move off its footpath … “The Vibe” finds it’s way into Tasmanian jurisprudence … Clarrie Stevens shaves 40 percent off the bar ‘n’ grill’s professional misconduct costs ... more

Justice Robert French has been sworn-in as the new Chief Justice of Australia. Justinian was there with his camera crew to record the ancient and venerable High Court morning tea ceremony, where courtiers from around the nation assembled to pay obeisance to the new tribal chief ... more

Canberra hackette Polly Peck was on hand for the swearing-in of Justice Robert French as the High Court’s new CJ. She was shocked by the lack of a uniform ceremonial policy on wigs ... more

The NSW government’s plans to privatise the NSW electricity industry remain in a right old mess – according to Alex Mitchell, our man on the south side of Macquarie Street. How come the sale of the electricity retailers doesn’t require the approval of parliament? ... more

Lizzy gives a talk to young law students. She gently hints that life in the law is not all it’s cracked up to be. What she really wanted to say was, “Don’t waste your life” ... more

AFP commissioner Mick Keelty is hiding behind the skirts of Mother England’s police force. Much of the stuff he tells the Clarke inquiry is top secret has already seen the light of day. According to Haneef’s lawyer Keelty needs to come clean on some vital questions of police malfeasance ... more

Bit by bit the courts are upsetting the torture apple cart. The English High Court is the latest, ordering that evidence of the torture of a British resident be handed to his lawyers. Perfidious English and their damn common law ... more

Law & Society. Evan Whitton ploughs through the Hon Don Stewart’s memoir and has some nice things to say about the former plod, barrister, judge and royal commissioner ... more

“Backwards with Fairness.” NSW’s top IR judge misses his minister. “I want Della back,” declares distressed judge. State roundsperson Alex Mitchell files this report ... more

Famed journalist and author John Stubbs discovered that Cyril Henschke had an obsession about the Petrov affair. He offers this footnote to Gabriel Wendler’s recent column on the untimely demise of the man who made Hill of Grace ... more

Despite dotty local councils Britain today is a place in the sun – even though it has been raining constantly since June. The Poms are delirious about beating the Aussies at the Olympics. John Coates doesn’t help ... more

Here we go again. The 2008 list of applicants from New South Wales seeking to be silked. Plenty of the same old crew and a steady decline in the number of female contenders ... more

The Firm’s property group retreats to the Daintree, to drink, bond and do things with a whiteboard. Ideas flow about how to improve the Firm’s retention rate. Vicki Mole attends to the bar fridge in her room ... more

Could you lend me your wallet for a while? The trust account is both a sacred cow and a milch cow. Anyone who thinks trust accounts should be trusted probably believes, along with Homer Simpson, that wallet inspectors also exist ... more

Corporate plod attacks legal advice as ASIC takes its first action against a solicitor for “phoenix trading”. Is nothing sacred anymore? ... more

Anonymous witnesses and secret evidence not a problem for the Federal Court. The House of Lords takes a different view and says it is fundamental to the common law that the accused be able to confront their accusers. Stephen Keim looks at The Queen v Davis ... more

Little Glen stabs mum 57 times, but it’s not murder. Consternation follows the acne prescription killing … Jon White takes the mantle as the ACT’s top prosecutor ... more

The all-consuming nature of life at the bar sees Junior Junior dropping entirely out of the tax system. She is one barrister whose non-tax status seems to be legit ... more

The Salim Ahmed Hamdan verdict is in from Guantánamo Bay. Stephen Keim weighs the trial process and the interim rulings of the senior military judge on the case, Captain Keith Allred ... more

Callinan’s Japanese love scene mystery solved … Prof. George Williams covers all lamentable appointment oversights … Smoking airplane crashed into billable moments … Adrian Powles RIP … Defo in Van Diemen’s Land … The centre of the advocates immunity has just shifted … Nietzsche’s man at AG’s department ... more

Cyril Henschke, maker of the wonderful Hill of Grace wine, was shot while he slept in his bed. In one of South Australia’s most celebrated trials his wife Doris was acquitted of the murder. According to wine man and barrister Gabriel Wendler the verdict ushered in a fabulous year of generous grape yields and superb quality reds ... more