Looking at the backend

Advice from OIL sets off fiery questions from oily senator about the Malaysian Solution ... Meeting a dead-bat at the estimates committee ... What's happened to the federal courts Bill? ... Meanwhile, there's a quiet review into integrating the "backend" of federal courts and tribunals ... Polly Peck reports from Canberra 

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Rise of the refuseniks

Rumblings in Phillip Street ... Silk refusenicks run for council elections ... More detailed information to be supplied to failed applicants for silk ... Process could drag on into next month ... "Vote for change" 

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Comforting the comfortable

Analysing the US Supremes most recent term - plenty of goodies for big business, nothing for plaintiff lawyers ... Alien Tort Statute up for a workout ... Torture cases batted around the circuit courts ... Rendition victims lose final appeal ... Our Man in Washington reports 

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Secret justice

No public interest in what's interesting to the public ... Open justice takes a backseat as prevention of embarrassment trumps competing interests ... Rinehart ruling keeps family row under wraps for now ... Publication of slabs of interlocutory judgment in Styles v Clayton Utz off limits ... Clutz applied for a super-injunction to keep names under wraps 

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Montage of an Italian stallion

Styles v Clayton Utz ... Two judgments dealing with pleadings in the sex discrimination case against the large law shop ... Taunting photos ... Unfunny parodies ... Sexual tension ... Metro manwhoreishness 

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Adversarialism and the binary nature of the legal system

We have to thank parliament for the rich opportunities to litigate and appeal ... The fostering of disputation is a political mission ... The fertile pastures of taxation, sentencing and injury compo ... GST issues surrounding an Italian mini ciabatta ... Digressions from Barry Lane 

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The smell of burning silk

Updated on Thursday, October 13, 2011 by Justinian

The selection of silk in NSW is stymied ... David Smallbone makes progress ... Trying to get to grips with the accuracy and fairness of a secretive process ... Arab Spring comes to Phillip Street 

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Fish without bicycles

Female liberation Chinese style ... PRC Supremes say that if a wife brings nothing to a marriage, she gets nothing on the split-up ... As property prices soar, divorce booms ... Millions of young men with no home and no woman ... Trouble brewing ... Percy Lo-Kit Chan reports 

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The end of the Good Samaritan

China's new "value" system ... Self-interest reigns ... The government says aiding people in distress could cause problems ... Stand back, don't interfere ... Percy Lo-Kit Chan reports from Hong Kong 

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War on wig spitters

Non-lawyer abuses barrister's wig at Parramatta - bar draws up emergency plans ... Three years later, and still no date for Keddie disciplinary hearing ... Hughes and Rofe - senior silks sell their chambers ... Law firms doing pro bono refugee work prefer to fly under the radar 

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Capital capers

News from the bush capital ... ACT Law Society faces unprecedented vigorous three way presidential contest ... Justice Refshauge delivers 30-months reserved damages judgment after nudge from Justinian ... Latest from the Molonglo 

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Izzo pix taunt plaintiff

Exhibits in Styles v Clayton Utz released for publication by the NSW Supreme Court ... Pin-up boy Luis Izzo ... Allegation pix used to taunt and victimise plaintiff ... Life at big law 

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Crime Commission Standen still

The NSW Crime Commission in post-Standen mode ... Reviews, inquiries and (hidden) reports ... What next? ... Who can get a grip on the crime-busting outfit? 

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It's Ruddock's fault

It was Philip Ruddock's 2001 Tampa amendment to the Migration Act that opened the way for the High Court's decision on the Malaysia refugee swap deal ... Ironic isn't it? ... Gillard unfairly shafts French CJ ... The former Liberal Immigration Minister can now wear his Amnesty badge with pride ... Marcus Priest reports 

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The law of indefinite detention

Ten years after 9-11 ... Congressional resolution allows US courts to refuse habeas and to hold prisoners indefinitely without charge ... No evidence of wrongdoing required ... Stephen Keim's column 

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Flying pigs land at the trough

Large law firms prime candidates for deregulation ... The big corporate question: stay in-house or go external? ... Getting millions of dollars of legal work done for $150,000 ... Tulkinghorn thinks large law firms are less ethical than small ones 

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Tassie DPP liable for fat negligence award

DPP Tim Ellis will have to shoulder his portion of a $1 million damages award by the Van Diemen's Land full court ... Grossly expensive spat with former client of Clarke & Gee ... Teeth gnashed across the Map of Tasmania    

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Star dust

Vic Appeals throws Michael Brereton a lifeline ... Celebrity lawyer did not owe fiduciary duties to clients who lost money in his retirement village scheme ... No beneficial interest in money paid to solicitor ... No misappropriation involved with funds that vanished ... Legal fairy dust 

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Watch your steps

While the Commonwealth's "genuine steps" pre-litigation requirements had a healthy birth at the beginning of the month, NSW's "reasonable steps" were strangled before they drew breath ... NSW government calls sniffer dog off the DPP's patch ... Last days of lump-sum cash for victims of crime 

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No money in beer

Misfortunes in the pubs and hospitality caper ... Solicitor tossed off the jam roll ... No tax returns for 21 years ... Law Society and Legal Services Commissioner rapped for going soft on misconduct of prominent liquor licensing guru  

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