Search
This area does not yet contain any content.
Justinian News

Potty Mouth Solicitor Dispatched ... NSW Court of Appeal takes dim view of solicitor who laced his correspondence with disrespectful insults ... Insufficiently professional ... Arrived from Greece with only his underpants ... No contrition ... Anthony Kanaan files ... Read more >>

Politics Media Law Society


The End Of The Affair ... Lord Moloch’s bid for more Fox News fans … The Wall Street Journal rallies the MAGA base …Will the old rogue abandon his journalists? … Is “bawdy” the right word here? … The Deep State plumbs the depths … John and Stanley Roth’s generosity to loving causes ... Read on >> 

Free Newsletter
Justinian Columnists

Suing for defamation - it's such a good idea ...Federal Court of Australia ... Sydney barrister loses bid for extension of time to bring appeal over decision allowing Giles George to intervene to seek an equitable lien over costs ... Falling out between barrister and firm after successful defamation action ... No error or procedural unfairness ... From Stephen Murray at the Gazette of Law & Journalism ... Read more >> 

Blow the whistle

 

News snips ...


Major victory for the media as public interest defence established in large and lengthy defamation case brought by orthopaedic surgeon ... Al Muderis v Nine Network, Fairfax and The Age ... Good journalism wins the day ... More >> 

Justinian's Bloggers

Postcard from London ... Summertime - And the living' is easy ... Votes for 16-year olds ... Paralegal's theft by pen ... Spy helping British intelligence from his job at Border Force ... Super-injunction comes out of the shadows ... Feed them strawberries and cream ... Floyd Alexander-Hunt files from Blighty ... Read more >> 

"I've stopped six wars in the last - I'm averaging about a war a month. But the last three were very close together. India and Pakistan, and a lot of them. Congo was just and Rwanda was just done, but you probably know I won't go into it very much, because I don't know the final numbers yet. I don't know. Numerous people were killed, and I was dealing with two countries that we get along with very well, very different countries from certain standpoints. They've been fighting for 500 years, intermittently, and we solved that war. You probably saw it just came out over the wire, so we solved it ..."

President Donald Trump at a meeting in Scotland with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer ... July 28, 2025 ... Read more flatulence ... 


Justinian Featurettes

Home Duties ... The dumping of Attorney General Mark Dreyfus ... Behind the scenes ... Bastardry among the brothers ... Unfinished business ... Family law, privacy ... Considerable policy and legislative results ... Here's Michelle Rowland as AG ... What are her priors? ... Polly Peck reports from the Gallery ... Read more >> 


Justinian's archive

Abolish silks ... Sydney SC writes to the editor calling for abolition of the silk system ... Appointments are anachronistic ... It's not a matter of ability, only notability ... Secret blackballing ... "Corrupt" process ... Confessions from an insider who played the game ... From Justinian's Archive, October 24, 2002 ... Read more >> 


 

 

« Hart breaker | Main | Unvarnished pollies »
Wednesday
Jun012011

Changing the guard

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

The guard quietly changed at the NSW Supremes. Out with the old ... In with the old.

The accompanying flattery was weightier than the woolly Santa suits.

Jim Allsop said that Spigelman possessed:

"courage and boldness ... a huge intelligence ... an enormous capacity for clarity and pungency ... a deep sense of justice ... a consummate political skill."

To cap it off:

"You stand as one of the best judges ever to have served this nation. I use no hyperbole here."

And ...

"Australia is an immeasurably better place for your work as a judge, as a leader of this court and as a public intellectual."

Spigs - about the join the other feather dusters (photo Kate Geraghty / Fairfax Media)

Attorney General Gregory Eugene Smif and president of the local Law 'n' Order Society Stuart Westgarth also laid it on with trowels.

See Westgarth's offering.

Someone even claimed that Spigs had improved the efficiency of the court and cut costs for litigants. This is not something that litigants have noticed to any marked degree and, as for "efficiency", it's not a word that has filtered down to the registry on level five.

In his speech Spigs said Attorneys General came and went, but throughout his 13 years as Chief Justice, Laurie Glanfield remained as head of the Attorney General's Department.

"He was first appointed head of a government department under the Greiner government and his survival skills are comparable to those of Talleyrand. My dealings with him were always positive and purposeful. He also performed a very useful function for me. I could blame him for everything I did not want to do."

Then it was Tom Bathurst's turn.

His own speech was modest, saying he was daunted by the task that lies ahead; that he had big shoes to fill; and that he was a hopeless solicitor and the most helpful thing he did for that branch of the profession was to leave it.

He touched all the buttons that are expected to be touched on these occasions: a national legal profession cannot be achieved at the risk of its independence; there should not be too many documents tendered in litigation; and that courts should welcome media scrutiny (but only so the public better understands the functions of the courts and how they operate).

On costs he was suitably opaque:

"The costs of litigation are an ongoing problem. This, of course, in part due [sic] to the labour intensive nature of the process and, to some extent unavoidable

However, we should be vigilant to ensure that access to the courts is not restricted to the very wealthy or or the limited group of people who are entitled to legal aid ..."

Bathurst: touched the buttons (photo Kate Geraghty / Fairfax Media)

Other speakers, including Westgarth, reassured the gathering that "the court is in good hands" and that Spigelman has left the show in "good shape".

This is the housekeeping seal of approval - everything is as it should be, so don't change the product.

These occasions are eerily reminiscent of lavish ceremonies staged by cults, like the Masons or the Aztecs.

The installation of a new Grand Poo Bah is a wonderful opportunity to get into the headdress, put a bone in the nose and make reassuring bonding noises that everything is as it should be.

Attorney General Smith: bonding at Bathurst's swearing-in (photo Justin Lloyd / Daily Telegraph pool pic)

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Editor Permission Required
You must have editing permission for this entry in order to post comments.