Break out the bunting at Villawood

Justice David Yates overturns federal government scheme to block access to justice ... He finds there is plenty of discretion for Federal Court registrars to waive filing fees for impecunious immigration detainees seeking judicial review ... Proceedings can be commenced without the fee ... Rachelle De Jager reports 

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Crime scenes

DPP locks his door ... Attorney General talks religion and the law ... New branding for barrister's top notch marmalade ... Revolving door for old newspaper lawyer ... The Bureau de Shoot ... Just how squeaky clean is News Ltd? ... Tony Meagher not strong on Basten JA's favourite subject 

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Silence is leaden

ACT damages verdict at least two-and-a-half years overdue ... No response from Canberra bar or Supremes to counsel's multiple notices under delayed judgment protocol ... Writ of mandamus heading to the High Court 

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That sinking feeling

Voyager victims ... Overcharging lawyer's fee agreement upheld ... Legal struggle with receiver and Legal Practice Board chews up $1.5 million in fees ... Receivership extended ... Appeals pending 

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Top End transgender research

New set of Darwin chambers represents "cessation of hostilities" ... Departures from William Forster Chambers ... Buffalo Bruce, our field agent in the Top End, reports that there's been a seismic shift at the Darwin bar 

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Miranda's youthful side

Taking the Fifth ... The slip-sliding principles that the US Supremes have applied to the politics of law enforcement ... Justice Anthony Kennedy breaks the deadlock on Miranda warnings, custody and interrogation of a 13-year old ... Stephen Keim reports 

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Lawyers bite back

Updated on Tuesday, August 2, 2011 by Justinian

Lawyers are returning to bite the Murdochs on their posteriors ... James Murdoch's pants are on fire ... Commons committee wants an explanation (a better one this time) ... Lawyers are off the leash   

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Consent required before barristers can gossip

ACT bar wants gossiping and rumour mongering about appointments to be stamped-out ... Undesirable for members to speculate about things ... It's bad for business 

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A hack's progress

News Ltd explains its policies on entrapment, surveillance and private investigators ... Instructive stuff ... The media world lurches off its axis as Rupert & Co are unable to manage the flood of arrests, resignations and on-going investigations .. Late night viewing as a Commons committee presses for answers 

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Immigration lore

Lawyers swarm all over and colonise areas of non-law ... Once an area has been lawyerised there is no turning back ... The hijacking of politics by the courts ... Women judges more compassionate than men in asylum cases? ... Tulkinghorn examines the creation of immigration "law" 

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Judgment time for Molongolo Supremes

Every unhappy court is unhappy in its own way ... ACT government and Supreme Court in long-running stand off ... Delays and despair ... No rush by CJ to welcome new appointment 

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Biffo at the bar

Refreshments get out of hand at Roddy Meagher's wake ... Assaults in the bar common room ... Jackson Pollock artworks on display as guests fall about ... Grief fuelled by liquor 

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Weapons of mass instruction

Registrar and sheriff stomp on barrister's plan to arm moppets with missiles ... Children's Court Book Project hits a snag ... Literature flung from Parramatta Children's Court 

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R.(I).P. Meagher

St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney chocker with mourners at Roddy Meagher's funeral mass ... Dyce raced through the eulogy, but everything else took a very long time ... I'm just a soul whose intentions are good ... Oh Lord don't let me be misunderstood ... Notes from the Pelladium 

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The media's adulterous relationship with justice

Keynote address in Adelaide by the editor of Justinian to the 21st biennial conference of District and County Court judges ... Journalists and judges have so much in common, so why is there such distrust?  

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The heir to Denning

"It was bluebell time in Kent." ... Only a few judges likely to score over 50 in the Flesch test ... Jackson LJ pens a masterly judgment in Epsom Derby case ... Leverhulme's London Calling 

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The post-legal society

Reinventing the Constitution ... New war crime propped up by discredited 1818 case ... Pentagon stacks military commission review court ... Rogue circuit court circumvents habeas for Guantanameros ... CIA homicides investigated by grand jury ... Our Man in Washington reports 

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Dear Fink

Chris Judd, Nick Maxwell and Matthew Boyd get out their laptops and send Justice Finkelstein tributes on the eve of his retirement from the Federal Court ... Melbourne's AFL culture recognises no boundaries

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Onwards and upwards for Pigs Arse

Spellbinding newspaper interview with the former lion of Melbourne, business, politics and football, John Elliott ... Barry Lane does his best to fill in some gaps in the story ... The prosecution over the Elders' bonds issue ... Water Wheel's insolvent trading ... The unhappy creditors ... A peep in the rear-view mirror 

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Hong Kong's housing bubble

Percy Lo-Kit Chan bemoans that living space is at an absolute premium in Hong Kong and vastly expensive ... Now there is a clamp down on "illegal structures" that will create even more of a squeeze ... Percy has some housing and tax advice for young Australian lawyers coming to HK for a stint

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