Loose in the USA

Stitching-up Assange ... Ninth anniversary of Guantánamo ... More Gitmo-related cases head for the Supreme Court ... Trying to fathom the meaning of "material support" ... Not all terrorist organisations are opposed by Republicans ... Washing Dick Cheney's dirty linen ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington

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Lawyers underwater

Big Brisbane law shops hoping to dry out soon ... Water laps Eagle Street ... Some firms stumping-up significant dollars for flood relief ... Timesheets can be downloaded at home ... Plenty of legal work to come ... Tom Westbrook reports

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Protection of the guilty

Economics and criminal defence lawyering ... The creation of a GETGO system ... Ethical rules and the twiddly bits ... Prosecutors are meant to stand still, while the other side does all the shooting ... How do I know whether I am guilty or not until I have seen the evidence? (Irish joke)

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The Institutes

The Rule of Law Institute monitors and lobbies about the powers of ASIC ... It's patron is J.J. Spigelman ... Institute delighted with NSW CA's James Hardie decision ... Law & Development Institute wants the law to help poor countries economically ... Then there's the Australian Academy of Law ... What's happened to the AAL? ... Tom Westbrook investigates

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What are courts for?

Feminists fight the Budget in court, and lose ... Freezing weather turns people beastly ... Protesting students have never had it so good ... Aussies, The Ashes and racism ... Leverhulme's London Calling  

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We are all waterboarders now

WikiLeaks' cables reveal US skulduggery in protecting the CIA ... Time runs out for torture prosecutions ... Frightening Republicans capture key House committees ... Industries own the regulators ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington

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Ethical lapse in conduct rules

The independent legal profession at work ... Large law firms push through flawed conduct rules for solicitors ... Special provisions for conflicts of interest and referral fees ... "Informed consent" downgraded

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Prosecutor breaches duty

Victorian prosecutor Carolyn Burnside birched by the Court of Appeal ... Failure to disclose evidence helpful to the defence ... Miscarriage of justice ... Defence team alerted to earlier case by DPP just before appeal hearing ... Tom Westbrook investigates

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Oh no. The Rolls Royce of legal systems

Jarndyce lives ... Judges admit sophistry is a snack - yet the consequences are expensive ... Illicit carnal congress that has lasted for 844 years ... NSW coppers want right to silence modified ... What official inquiries need are the services of competent reporters ... Evan Whitton at large

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Significant developments in Taswegia

Shoot that lamb chop ... How not to run a trial with a self-represented accused ... Closed court for dishonest lawyer ... Theodora explores the map of Tasmania

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Twittering juries

The era of open media and leaks of state secrets confronts courts and governments ... No solution in sight ... Barry Lane says its best to lie back and surrender

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And the vegetables?

Poms are delighted the Euro's in trouble ... A rumpled Lord Chancellor gets stuck into legal aid and prisons ... Kenneth Clarke says there's no direct connection between an increased prison population and falling crime rates ... Not bad for a Tory ... Leverhulme files from Blighty

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Congressional fallout

A Republican majority in the House likely to end in usual bout of resentment for the GOP ... Election threw up a few crooks and charlatans ... An American soldier can shoot in the battlefield, but it's a war crime if someone shoots back ... Review into whether charges against David Hicks were defective ... Wheels fell off Ghailani trial in Manhattan because the CIA tortured the accused ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington

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I Spry

Ian Spry's application to rejoin Victorian bar has been met with a lengthy "please explain" ... Bar Council concerned about allegations of inappropriate behaviour ... Money to burn

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Bloody Mary

Cigarette smoking, champagne swigging Mary Gaudron brought much needed gusto and bluntness to the phlegmatic males who inhabited the High Court ... Sir Anthony Mason was one of those males and this week he launched a biography of Gaudron by the Canberra lawyer Pamela Burton - From Moree to Mabo ... Theodora reports 

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Making the law fit

J.J. Spigelman says it's easy for judges to make the law fit the result they want ... Plenty of froufrou can be conjured to enhance the judicial image ... Tulkinghorn opines on the secret lives of judges ... The curtain opens for a minute

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Clutz case done in Styles

Mediation to commence in the sexual harassment case brought by solicitor Bridgette Styles against the big law shop Clayton Utz

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Departing judge flings CJ into Rich Hill horse manure

Justice Bill Wilson saved himself and the NZ judiciary further embarrassment when last month he resigned from the Supreme Court ... On the way out he dumped the country's chief justice Dame Sian Elias in the horse merde

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Mrs Kissel stirs debate on foreign barristers

Murder by milkshake ... Foreign counsel to the fore in retrial of rich banker's wife for murder of control freak husband ... Overseas barristers can help develop the local bar - but only in moderation ... Percy Lo-Kit Chan reports from Hong Kong

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Leverhulme at Chatsworth

Health & safety music hall jokes under review ... "Ginger Rodent" insult from former equality priestess ... Lady Dorothy's mother ... Holed-up in the Hunting Tower at Chatsworth ... London Calling

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