It all happened 22 years ago

Goings on ... What was life like in 2000 ... Theodora ... Déjà Vu ... From Justinian's archive, December 15, 2000 ... John Marsden ... SCs in Victoria ... NT's silk selection process ... Self regulation is not the same as regulation ... Corrs blimey ... Harts & Flowers 

A gentleman's gentleman 

Glad to see the cash strapped John Marsden still had a few shekels to hire his own Jeeves. 

An advertisement last week in Granny Herald spelt out the requirements for the position of "Butler/Housekeeper".  

"The applicant's duties will be to look after a single male person who has extensive business commitments, spends little time in the home, although does extensively entertain both personally and through the business ... Full board and separate accommodation is provided." 

One can detect the famous clunky composition style of J. Marsden, senior partner. 

No mention about care of the ducks and donkeys out the back, but washing the great litigant's smalls would be a particular joy.

Applications to PO Box 291, Campbelltown. 

Squeak of new nylons in Melbourne 

The Vic Bar and Grill sees its first batch of nylons announced by Attorney General Rob "Fuckin" Hulls. 

Hullsy also invited QCs to change their post-nominals to SC "through a formal process to be developed in conjunction with the Supreme Court's Chief Justice". Fat chance, that one. 

Worse still, the Attorney General says he is "keen to encourage Senior Counsel applications from a broad variety of legal and cultural backgrounds, to reflect the diversity of the Victorian community". 

The fresh nylons are: Howie, Horgan, Punshon, P.H. Clark, Jordan, Hicks, Lacava, Croft, McMillan, Brown, Foxcroft, Nikou, Symon, Crennan, O'Bryan and Batrouney. Four girls, 12 boys. 

Oddly enough the system of appointment remains unchanged. Worthies apply to the Chief Justice each August. Phillips CJ walks around the back streets, lonely as a cloud, mulls and then recommends to the Attorney General. Fuckin' then recommends the list to the Cabinet who recommends it to the Executive Council. 

So the principles by which anyone is anointed remain shrouded in mystery. 

Various souls perplexed at the methodology are preparing a new protocol whose purpose would be to apply a set of well-respected criteria to the applicants. 

Why Fuckin' wanted to change the style without altering the method of selection is queer. 

Tippett tipped off Darwin list 

In Darwin, the grubby little regime of Colonel Burke has knocked back the Chief Justice's recommendation that Jon Tippett be appointed silk. 

Tippett has been at the Darwin bar for 22 years, founded the famous NT Criminal Lawyers Association, and is currently President of the NT Law Society. He is well overdue to be gonged. 

However, he is a vociferous critic of mandatory sentencing and has rubbed the Colonel up the wrong way. 

Burke explained how it all works in steamy Darwin: "When it comes to the appointment of QCs, the practice is that the administrator and executive council appoints new QCs. The deliberations of the executive council, like all those types of discussions, are privy to that group and that's the end of it." 

Tippett's prospects were not assisted by his outburst in 1997 against Chief Minister Shane Stone for appointing himself a QC. 

The awful Stone did this without reference to the Chief Justice. 

That's how thing work in the kingdom of the Great Burke. 

Kiss me, Kate 

No stuffing around from Kate Hamond, the Legal Ombudsman in Victoria. Self-regulation is "self interest", she says in her annual report. 

She gave the co-regulatory system a terrible birching. Her attack was mainly directed at the Law Institute (Victorian Lawyers RPA): it cannot meet "the basic benchmarks of independence and fairness"; its "unsatisfactory" practice rules are "an issue of grave concern"; the protection of the public has diminished since their introduction; there are "serious shortcomings in standards of accountability, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness in their complaint handling procedures; recommendations have been met "by an obstinate and defiant attitude"; blah, blah blah. 

It's pretty clear that Kate thinks the co-regulatory approach should be scrapped. 

Now, by way of contrast, came the annual report last week of the NSW Legal Services Commissioner, Steve Mark. 

Steve couldn't have been sweeter. Most aspects of his work were going swimmingly and his co-regulators could not be more gorgeous:  

"All in all, this has been another exciting and very productive year for the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner… I would also like to thank the staff of the Law Society and the Bar Association for their support and excellence in the service that they have provided to the profession and the community in this reporting year." 

Schmooch, schmooch. 

Anyway, judging from the preliminary bumph put out by the NSW Law Reform Commission and the Crown Counsel in Victoria (both outfits are carrying out investigations on how to improve the system) nothing terribly exciting, bold, imaginative and fresh is likely to flow from their work. 

After all, there are a limited range of options when it comes to applying a bit of discipline and bondage. It's either done in-club, by outside professionals or a bit of both. 

The way things are going, it's more than likely Kate Hamond will be banging away in the same furious style next year. 

Dick decent gets his paw caught in the cookie jar

What on earth is going on in the fabulous Sunshine State? Poor old Corrs in Brissy took a nasty turn when one of its property gurus James O'Callaghan disappeared with $750,000 of clients' money. 

I'm told that Corrs corner-men John Story and Ross Mortimer had to go out and tell O'Callaghan's wife, Kerry, what had happened. Seven years earlier she had also been a partner at the old Chambers McNab. 

Corrs put out a press release saying how beastly the situation was, the money would be paid back to the clients with interest and the accountants have been called in to go over the books. Let's hope the partners don't have the same dreadful trouble with their insurers that Allens experienced. 

It appears that O'Callaghan had devised a cute little scheme using a dummy company to overcharge clients for disbursements, and creamed the difference for himself. It had been going on for five years and was only discovered when the firm's GST systems cranked into action. Where the money went is not clear - the horses, mistresses, flash living? 

No one can believe it. O'Callaghan was so upright that his nickname was "Dick Decent". Recently he and his wife sold the family home and bought a block of land to build on. In the interim they rented. 

O'Callaghan acted for the likes of AMP, Stockland and Jennings. 

One story that floated around the Brisbane River is that when the Corrs-Mallesons merger was being mooted, O'Callaghan was rumoured to be surplus to requirements at Mallesons. Maybe, the extra income from inflated disbursements was created as a pension plan. 

The Queensland Law Society got around to cancelling O'Callaghan's practising certificate, but there was not a peep more out of anyone. 

Rolling in the Meadows 

Joyfully surfing through the Queensland Law Society web site, I make a strange discovery. Michael Meadows is serving on the QLS "professional standards committee". 

This is surely not the same Michael Meadows (right), chairman of Flower & Hart, about whom the Federal Court's Justice Goldberg said in the case of White Industries v Flower & Hart:  

"Mr Meadows was anxious, on the advice of Mr Callinan, to strike the first blow, get on the front foot and be the plaintiff in the impending action… Mr Meadows not only believed that Caboolture Park (Herscu) had a hopeless case, but was prepared to institute the proceeding for an ulterior purpose, that is a purpose unrelated to the vindication of a right claimed by his client." 

And…  

"In short, Flower & Hart instituted proceedings on behalf of its client alleging fraud when there was no factual basis for that allegation and in respect of a cause of action which it believed could not be won." 

And more…  

"Mr Meadows cannot shelter behind the advice obtained from Mr Callinan. He was obliged to exercise his own mind as to whether the proceedings, as instituted, should be instituted." 

And one more bit:  

"The proceedings which Flower & Hart instituted and the purpose for which it was instituted was an abuse of process and oppressive conduct on its part … and resulted in Flower & Hart breaching the duty it owed to the court." 

Just the sort of steady hand you need on the tiller of professional standards at the Bananaland "Law" Society.