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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 >>

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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 >> 

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Major victory for the media as public interest defence established in large and lengthy defamation case brought by orthopaedic surgeon ... Al Muderis v Nine Network, Fairfax and The Age ... Good journalism wins the day ... More >> 

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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 ... 


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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 >> 


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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 >> 


 

 

« Coin from the Crown | Main | Peter Duncan »
Saturday
Nov062010

Rachel Francois

Rachel Francois is a Sydney barrister, whose most recent notable appearance was in the Federal Court for Kristy Fraser-Kirk in her $37 million sexual harassment suit against David Jones and Mark McInnes ... With the settlement complete and the case withdrawn Ms Francois found time for a session on Justinian's couch
 
Rachel Francois' father is an ichthyologist and a former head of NSW Fisheries, who these days makes wine in the Hunter Valley. Her mother is a mathematician.
 
Rachel was selective in her schooling and attended North Sydney Girls High School and James Ruse Agricultural High School and later the University of New South Wales.
 
Early steps in her career took her to volunteer work at the NSW Disability Discrimination Legal Centre, the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre and Kingsford Legal Centre. 

After university she fetched-up in London ... and Freshfields.

She returned soon enough, to find herself working on a review for the government of NSW's home care service.

Then to Legal Aid for four years.

The dark side is usually irresistible, so it was almost inevitable that she would put in a couple of years at Clayton Utz before the bar called in February 2003.

Describe yourself in three words.
Determined, loyal, loud.


What are you currently reading
?
"American Caesars", by Nigel Hamilton.
 

What's your favourite film
?
Anything with Robert Downey Jr or Meryl Streep.

Who has been the most influential person in your life
?
My maternal grandfather. Among other things he taught me how to behave in polite society, so I always have the choice. 


What occupation would you like to have, if you hadn't become a lawyer
?
When I think of it, I'll do it.
 

What is your favourite piece of music
?
The Jupiter suite from the Planets by Holst.


What is your most recognised talent
?
Hmmn - probably causing trouble.


What is your greatest fear
?
That DJs will spike my Christmas hamper.
 

What words or phrases do you overuse?
The ones that ought not be printed. 


What is your greatest regret
?
Not getting to my dojo regularly to practice Aikido.


Whom do you envy and why
? 
I don’t envy other people but I would love to have the extraordinary talent of Chida Sensei (an 8th Dan Aikido master) – he’s like a Jedi Knight.
 

What is your most disturbing personal obsession?  
Depending on your perspective: either my desire for social justice or my abiding interest in military history.

What’s your most glamorous feature?
Like Katisha, my left shoulder blade.


If you were a foodstuff, what would you be
?
Lindt 70% dark chocolate.


What human traits do you most distrust
?
The desire to fit in.


What would you change about Australia
?
I would start with that part of the culture which revels in misogyny and enjoys a sense of sexual entitlement and not stop until we have community where we treat everyone as we ourselves wish to be treated.


Whom or what do you consider overrated
?
French wine (with the exception of Champagne).
 

On what occasions do you use a breath-freshener
?
Rarely.  I’m very good at brushing my teeth.


What would your epitaph say
?
I want to be cremated and scattered at Whale Beach - so not much (unless my mum is still alive). 


What comes into your mind when you shut your eyes and think of the word "law"
?
The enormous privilege of working with some of the most principled and compassionate members of the community.

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