A Melbourne autumn

Sniping over OPP's handling of sex prosecutions ... Victoria's Charter of Rights set to be skewered ... Bernard Murphy's appointment to the FCA underscores courts' struggle over turf ... The Brottery finds a buyer ... Peach Melba blogs 

Autumn has arrived in Melbourne and 'tis the season that best becomes the fair city. The pale sun on Flinders Street Station and blushing foliage means it is time for the good burghers of Melbourne to don their winter coats in that characteristically Victorian hue of black.

Such sombre tones have given the city a funereal air, which reflects the mood in the legal precinct.

Rapke, the bell tolls for thee?

The beleaguered DPP Jeremy Rapke QC has been having a tough run of late, as your blogger has previously reported.

Rapke has faced even more difficulties in recent weeks, with chief prosecutor, Gavin Silbert SC, going for the jugular.

Silbert is none to happy with the OPP's handling of prosecutions for sexual assault crimes.

Rapke's stats are falling like the autumn leaves and it's not just Silbert who is voicing criticism. The Criminal Bar Association and other big wigs have joined the chorus, raising concerns that prosecutions were being pursued where the chances of conviction were too low, leading to greater numbers of convictions quashed on appeal or cases withdrawn before trial.

All this takes a heavy toll on victims, which doesn't look good for a Liberal government which ran on a Laura Norder platform. 

Rapke fired back in The Sunday Age.

The report into the troubles between the top brass at the OPP, authored by Frank Vincent QC is now in the hands of the government. Its release is more hotly anticipated than the sight of a certain royal wedding dress.

Robert Clark finally announces a review of the Charter

Victorian Attorney General Robert Clark made no bones in the past about his contempt for the Victorian Charter saying, "it runs the risk of delivering inappropriate outcomes [and is] not an effective tool for delivering rights".

I wonder what the purpose of the Charter is, if not precisely to deliver rights. However, Clark does not seem one for changing his mind.

Indeed, it recently emerged that Clark's hobbies include building miniature aircraft models and one of his favourite books is Lord of the Rings.

Once he had developed his passions, circa age seven, he sticks with them.

The review, under the baton of Charter sceptic Edward O'Donohue MLC (Lib), looks like a slash and burn operation.

With the new occupants of Spring Street, it's shaping up as a gloomy season ahead for rights' advocates.

The poacher has become the game keeper

Head honcho at Maurice Blackburn, Bernard Murphy, has been appointed to the Federal Court, the first Victorian solicitor to warm the Federal Court bench.

It's a move that has not been without controversy; but the Federal Court was steadfastly determined to add to its ranks a legal mind that over the last decade has been well-known and respected for work on large scale class actions.

This appointment has a context that might not be clear to all.

The Supreme Court of Victoria and the Federal Court are engaged in a stoush that makes the competition between Coles and Woolies look like child's play.

The FCA is keen to keep its title as jurisdiction of choice for mammoth litigation, with its docket system and judges unafraid of some robust case management.

The Supreme Court is struggling to catch up, only just cottoning on to the benefits of specialised dockets.

No doubt, the draftiness of a building that looks like something out of a Dickens' novel has not helped the situation, and despite repeated overtures to past and present governments, a 21st century HQ is still not on the horizon.

Jurisdiction shoppers have sought a better deal across the other side of William St.

Autumn, it seems, is also a season of sales.

Barbershop blues

Lastly, legal eagles who are still in the possession of lustrous locks may have noticed that a certain barbershop building has been sold.

In a long-anticipated and hardly unsurprising move, the Legal Services Commissioner has successfully applied to have Isaac Brott struck off the roll.

The building he owned (out the back of the Supreme Court) has been snapped up by an astute buyer.

The winter of Brott's discontent has arrived.