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 >> 


 

 

« Rob Hulls | Main | Steve Mark »
Monday
Aug192013

Which way to Parramatta? 

Supreme and Federal Court judges loathe to venture out of the eastern suburbs and north shore ... Law School trouble with the JD degree ... Terror appeal, CCA on red alert

THERE was a fetching story on ABC News earlier this month (Aug 7) about Supreme and Federal Court judges having an aversion to sitting at Parramatta.  

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been lavished on the Parramatta Justice Precinct - yet a NSW Supreme Court judge has not sat there for two years and the last time a Federal Court judge sat there was 20 years ago. 

It's outrageous, say the local scriveners, who have launched a campaign to get more Supremos to sit in the wild west of the city, which has a population of two million people (the size of South Australia). 

According to Garrie Gibson, spokesmodel for an outfit called Access to Justice for Western Sydney, most judges live in the eastern suburbs or the north shore, and don't like travelling to Parramatta. 

Chris Dunn from the local Law Society said the Federal Court building has 11 court rooms and only seven are used, but not by judges of the Federal Court. 

Bathurst CJ: thinking about it

Attorney General Greg Smif thinks sitting at Parramatta is a "good idea" but it's entirely a matter for chief justice Tom (Baffo) Bathurst. 

Baffo released a statement saying he'll think about it if anyone makes a proposal for judges to sit out west, "from time to time". 

*   *   *

PARRAMATTA is not the only place out of range for eastern suburbs and north shore dwellers. 

Apparently, practitioners and judges, who lecture part-time, are disinclined even to put a foot on the Parramatta Rd and take the trip as far as the Uni of Syd Law School. 

They can totter as far as the old law school building in Phillip Street, but that's it. 

The law school has got to do some quick thinking about its JD course, and needs all the academic help it can get. 

Unconfirmed tips from sources close to the faculty say that as many as 80 of the 240 Juris "Doctor" enrolees have dropped out at the end of the 2013 first semester.
 
These are eager-beavers who were shelling out $35,000 p.a. to do the three year course - and more for foreign students. 

It's an expensive pathway into a profession that these days is only employing a tiny fraction of the output from the degree shops. 

*   *   *

Lubyanka on red alert

PROBABLY the last time a Supreme Court judge sat at Parra was the big terror trial with Justice Anthony Whealy in the saddle. 

From today (Aug. 19) the CCA is hearing appeals from those convictions: Cheikho v R; Cheikho v R; Elomar v R; Hasabn v R; Jamal v R. 

The court is composed of Bathurst (Riverview), Hoeben (Riverview) and Beazley (Mt. St. Joseph Milperra). 

The Phillip St Lubyanka is in a heightened state of readiness. 

There is normal security in the foyer, but a second set of scanners have been installed on level 12. 

All mobile phone have to be switched off and left with security beefcakes, with the exception of those listed as accredited. 

Serried ranks of counsel are required for the appeal, which means there are only eight seats in the main courtroom for reptiles of the media. 

The courtroom opposite has been commandeered for the overflow. Reptiles sitting in the public gallery of the main court cannot use their mobile devices. 

The court's public information office is trying to keep the show on a tight leash. 

"All media enquiries regarding the case must come directly through the Public Information Officer. Chambers will not be available to respond to any media enquiries." 

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Editor Permission Required
You must have editing permission for this entry in order to post comments.