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 ...


This area does not yet contain any content.
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 >> 


 

 

« Brisbane notebook | Main | Frontline reports »
Friday
Aug012014

Picking a small bone

Barrister's silk application arrives 12 minutes after deadline ... Told by bar executive director that it will not be considered ... No "special circumstances" ... Correspondence ... Lawyers at ten paces  

David Smallbone, a "history of frustration"

SYDNEY barrister David Smallbone was 12 minutes late in lodging his ninth application for silk. 

Bar executive director Philip Selth returned his application and said it would not be considered as it was not accompanied by an explanation of the "special circumstances" that caused it to arrive after deadline. 

The thwarted brief is consulting his lawyers. 

After receiving Selth's knock-back on July 28 Smallbone wrote to the president and councillors of the bar association requesting his application be accepted under clause 17 of the silk selection protocol.  

He explained that he was in court till about three o'clock on the day of the deadline (5pm, July 25) and was "perforce required to settle the details of my application in a great rush. This led to the application being hand delivered 12 minutes late". 

Selth wrote back next day saying that Smallbone had not provided any special circumstances, so tough luck. 

"I note that another late application will also not be considered. The deadline was widely advertised to the bar. The fact that this is apparently your ninth application and that you say there is a 'history of frustration' does not justify you receiving more favourable consideration than other applicants." 

By letter dated July 29 Smallbone asked Selth to advise who instructed him not to accept his application. 

By another letter the same day, Smallbone re-submitted his application, insisting that it be referred to the bar council for urgent consideration. 

He added: "You will be hearing soon from my solicitor." 

The most recent missive from Selth was on July 30. 

"As I advised yesterday, clause 17 of the senior counsel protocol refers specifically to the president having the discretion as to whether late applications should be considered. This is not a matter for the bar council ... I return your application." 

In 2011 Smallbone succeeded in a Federal Court application to have the bar provide silk applicants with the comments made about them by the members of the consultation group, as long as the names of individuals were redacted.  

Importantly, Smallbone also won a stay of the bar's decision about his application until he had an opportunity to respond to the comments. 

Nonetheless to say, he remained in the salon de refuses. 

His contention now is that the bar council has ultimate responsibility over the process, despite the delegation of its power in this instance to the president and a silk selection committee. 

You can read the action-packed correspondence here ...  

Selth to Smallbone, July 28

Smallbone to president and councillors, July 28 

Selth to Smallbone, July 29

Smallbone to Selth #1, July 29

Smallbone to Selth #2, July 29 

Selth to Smallbone, July 30 

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.