SEARCH
Justinian News

Time's Up for Naughty Nathan ... Recommendation that horrible NSW solicitor be derolled ... Misuse of online funding campaigns ... Spraying ripe and abusive language ... Trolling Robert Beech-Jones ... So unfit and improper as to be beyond reeducation ... Anthony Kanaan reports ... Read more >>

Politics Media Law Society

Perils of the Defamatorium ... Lovely Linda Reynolds’ “victory” leaves her underwater … Politics, sex, law, and money … Injuries galore … The art of Tottling … Where’s the serious harm? … Trust me … Jurisdictional backwater ... Read more >> 

Free Newsletter
Justinian Columnists

Act of gracelessness ... Kathleen Folbigg's miserable ex gratia payout ... Comparable awards in other miscarriage cases ... Weasel words from the NSW Premier ... Need for a proper system of compensation assessment ... Procrustes in a lather ... 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 actually never saw the President in any type of massage setting. I never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way. The President was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects ... Trump was always very cordial and very kind to me. And I just want to say that I find, I admire his extraordinary achievement in becoming the president now."

Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell interviewed by Trump's former lawyer Todd Blanche, now Deputy Attorney General ... July 25, 2025. Interviews released by DOJ, August 22, 2025 ... Read more flatulence ... 


Justinian Featurettes

Schmoozing and Betrayal ... Judge Water Softener rides into Integrityville mounted high on his horse ... Judicial review of corruption finding ... Unprecedented assistance to morals monitor ... Plenty to think about ... Court reporter Ginger Snatch files ... Read more >> 

 

 

Justinian's archive

The Tamil Times ... The corruption wars ... Blitzkrieg from The Australian's legal affairs man ... Campaigns to sink ICAC and 18C ... Battles lost in the trenches ... Where are they now? ... Extravagant fulminations ... From Justinian's Archive, April 8, 2017 ... Read more >> 


 

 

« An 'A' for a lay | Main | Leave application rejected »
Monday
Oct282013

Brief encounter  

The interplay between barrister and solicitor ... Did Junior Junior's female friend at the bar get a big brief because the solicitor fancied her? ... Surely it's her legal skills that are in demand?  

The relationship between solicitor and barrister ranges from symmetry to fraught, with lots of permutations in between.

On its good days, barristers and solicitors delight in each others company and engage in mutual appreciation of their respective legal talents and knowledge, producing the perfect opera that is a winning case.

On bad days, the ship in Aliens looks an attractive place into which to move your chambers.

I am always intrigued to hear stories of the subtle interplay between barrister and solicitor.  

Many relationships have stood the test of time, unpaid fees and sexual indiscretions. 

Others are a misplaced birthday email away from implosion.

Recently a baby barrister friend told me a disturbing story ...

She was briefed to provide some advice and drafting on a big matter by a very nice solicitor. 

The brief would take quite a while and so the two struck up a friendship over emails and conferences.

The solicitor lived in a different city, but would visit the barrister when he was in town and they would have lunch.

The relationship developed and, to the baby barrister's distress, the solicitor started sending her little tokens of appreciation - flowers here and wine there, and on one occasion a gourmet hamper for her birthday.

The barrister was not interested in pursuing anything other than a professional relationship and was unsure how she should handle the solicitor's looming birthday. 

Should she ignore it, send a present, a card? Ultimately, she thought a modest birthday email would be friendly, but suitably reserved. 

Around the same time, the two of them chanced upon each other in the street. 

The barrister was with her fiancé and after an awkward introduction, the solicitor hurried off to a "meeting". 

Within a few days our baby barrister received an email from her solicitor in the big matter. 

Her services would no longer be required and to please return the brief.

She was shocked as well as a little relieved that the unwanted attention would be finally over. 

She popped the brief in the DX.  It was the last she heard from him.

For a baby barrister, the loss of a substantial brief is cause to lock oneself in a darkened room with several bottles of vodka and not surface for a week. 

I'm pleased to report that she remained surprisingly unfazed and simply caught up with her friends for a pow wow at Lindt.  

How very Sigourney Weaver of her. 

Junior Junior reporting

References (1)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.
  • Response
    Brief encounter - Bloggers - Justinian: Australian legal magazine. News on lawyers and the law

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Member Account Required
You must have a member account on this website in order to post comments. Log in to your account to enable posting.