Julian Burnside


A barrister, much of whose career has been in the public eye ... Counsel to the rich and the deprived ... Flirting with politics ... Career change ... Retirement ... Relaxation and writing await ... On The Couch





Fresh blood for the NSW District Court ... Appointments >>
The Empire Strikes Back ... Uday Moloch anointed to “protect the English speaking world” … Latest word on “genocide” … Bring out the No-Doz – The Mad Monk scribbles for Substack … Church litigation – a new front to be tested by victims of predatory priests ... Read more >>
Know one, purl one ... Iron Lady of legal rectitude endorses Gageler ... The chief justice wants judges on the straight and narrow ... The cardboard cutout model of legislative supremacy ... The evils of judicial activism ... Procrustes on the dance floor with the Legislative-Judicial Foxtrot ... Read more >>
50th anniversary of the Dismissal ... Panel sessions ... November 11, 2025 ... Old Parliament House Canberra ... More >>
Berlusconi's dream world ... Revenge politics in Italy ... Independence of prosecutors under attack ... Constitutional assault ... The years of lead ... Investigations reopened into old murders ... High drama at Milan's Leoncavallo ... Rome correspondent Silvana Olivetti reports ... Read more >>
"I think very good. And by the way, right there, you see all the trucks, they just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get, as you know, for about 150 years, and it's going to be a beauty. It'll be an absolutely magnificent structure. And I just see all the trucks. We just started so it'll get done very nicely and it'll be one of the best anywhere in the world, actually. Thank you very much."
President Trump, asked by a reporter at the White House how he was holding up personally after the loss of his friend Charlie Kirk ... September 11, 2025 ... Read more flatulence ...
Schmoozing and betrayal ... Judge Water Softener rides into Integrityville mounted high on his horse ... Judicial review of corruption finding ... Intriguing submissions ... Unprecedented assistance to morals monitor ... The scale of the sub-rosa intrigue ... Plenty to think about ... Ginger Snatch reports ... Read more >>
The plague of amnesia ... Memory and its failures ... Remembering to forget things ... Failure to take account of remissions in sentencing ... Relevant memories of experienced and inexperience judges ... An experienced judge writes ... Justinian's Archive, November 12, 2004 ... Read more >>
There's another world beyond law and lawyering ... and here you can find it: reviews, wine notes, interviews, and unpacking the human condition.
Critics' Corner: reviews of books, films and TV by Worm, I. Box and Miss Lumière.
Déjà Vu: marvellous slices of history from Justinian's bulging archive.
I Once Met ... Prominent and unusual people encourtered by our readers and contributors.
JustyFlix: our film crew covers the most glittering events on the calendar.
On the Couch: where notable notables bear their souls.
Wendler on Wine: spectacular wine reviews, gargling and spitting from barrister Gabriel Wendler.
All our featurettes have escaped from inside the paywall.
A barrister, much of whose career has been in the public eye ... Counsel to the rich and the deprived ... Flirting with politics ... Career change ... Retirement ... Relaxation and writing await ... On The Couch
Christmas Island reopening for business ... The lives of detainees laid bare ... Australian policy at its most primitive ... Miss Lumière reviews Gabrielle Brady's film Island of the Hungry Ghosts ... Trauma counselling curtailed by the dead hand of Canberra ... How we make them suffer ... From phosphate to fear
April 18 to April 24 ... Experts poke holes in Turnbull's vacuous 457 visa reform ... Queensland's corruption watchdog investigates money from the Fadden Forum ... Dutton undeterred by fresh evidence on Manus Island shooting ... Chevron faces $340 million tax bill following Federal Court ruling ... Week@TheKnees with Sohini Mehta
February 28 to March 6 ... Human rights committee soft on tackling non-existent 18C problem ... "Recalcitrant" asylum seekers ... Uber's 'greyball' tactics… Abortion decriminalisation postponed in Qld ... Heyday for payday lender ... Former Freehills partners temporarily restrained from poaching ... Brandis' selective recall ... Week@TheKnees compiled by Sohini Mehta
Jay Williams is the barrister appearing for some of the asylum seekers on Manus Island ... He's been representing them before a court of inquiry into alleged human rights abuses ... Deported by the PNG government ... Further proceedings pending ... From Melbourne to the Sydney bar via Arnhem Land with Immanuel Kant in his back pocket ... Now he's on Justinian's couch