The heir to Denning
Leverhulme •
Monday, July 4, 2011 "It was bluebell time in Kent." ... Only a few judges likely to score over 50 in the Flesch test ... Jackson LJ pens a masterly judgment in Epsom Derby case ... Leverhulme's London Calling

Criminal Code Amendment (State Sponsors of Terrorism) Bill 2025 ... Interacting with deemed state entities could land you in pokey ... Another layer of counter-terror law to make us all feel safer ... More >>
My Role in Gough's Downfall ... Reporter-at-Large … Scoops that flushed out the deceit behind the Dismissal … Big anniversary chinwag in Canberra on November 11 … The combined forces of Kerr, Ellicott and cousin Garfield … Constitutional manipulation … Maurice Byers to the rescue ... Read more >>

Knit 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 >>
Pay packets for top brass at the Federal Courts ... A stonking $5 million all up ... See 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 >>
"If we’re only picking people who have got completely lily-white records then we’ll be missing out on a lot of people that can contribute to public life."
NSW Premier Chris Minns, endorsing Mal Lanyon, his pick for Police Commissioner, whose contributions to public life include shouting drunken obscenities at a paramedic who came to his aid, and commandeering a police launch for private entertainment on New Year's eve ... 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 >>
News Desk Special ... Angelic death notices from the bar ... Soapy slips on FOI changes ... Unusual interlocutory costs order for Chris Dale ... Judge ticks off Abbott in letters' page ... Knock About's festive salute to the coppers ... January 19, 2015 ... Read more >>
Justinian's archive
Leverhulme •
Monday, July 4, 2011 "It was bluebell time in Kent." ... Only a few judges likely to score over 50 in the Flesch test ... Jackson LJ pens a masterly judgment in Epsom Derby case ... Leverhulme's London Calling
Roger Fitch Esq •
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 Reinventing the Constitution ... New war crime propped up by discredited 1818 case ... Pentagon stacks military commission review court ... Rogue circuit court circumvents habeas for Guantanameros ... CIA homicides investigated by grand jury ... Our Man in Washington reports
Guantanamo,
Habeas,
War crimes,
material support
Judges •
Friday, June 24, 2011 Chris Judd, Nick Maxwell and Matthew Boyd get out their laptops and send Justice Finkelstein tributes on the eve of his retirement from the Federal Court ... Melbourne's AFL culture recognises no boundaries
Ray Finkelstein
Barry Lane •
Thursday, June 23, 2011 Spellbinding newspaper interview with the former lion of Melbourne, business, politics and football, John Elliott ... Barry Lane does his best to fill in some gaps in the story ... The prosecution over the Elders' bonds issue ... Water Wheel's insolvent trading ... The unhappy creditors ... A peep in the rear-view mirror
Elders,
John Elliott,
Water Wheel
Percy Lo-Kit Chan •
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Percy Lo-Kit Chan bemoans that living space is at an absolute premium in Hong Kong and vastly expensive ... Now there is a clamp down on "illegal structures" that will create even more of a squeeze ... Percy has some housing and tax advice for young Australian lawyers coming to HK for a stint
Hong Kong property
Goings On ... •
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 ACT Supremes still drowsy ... AG Smith singing at Silverwater ... Queen's gongs for lawyers ... Littlemore's new hero - "ugly, irascible, intolerant, clever" ... Clutz' document retention policy thriving ... Minimalist welcome from the bar for Ashley Black ... The Rudds turn up at Spigs last admission ceremony
Tulkinghorn •
Monday, June 13, 2011 Legal complexity and reasonable fees: can they co-exist? ... Tulkinghorn examines the notion that in order for trials to be fair, they have to be complicated ... When you hear lawyers and legislators proclaiming the virtues of plain English and simplification - don't believe them
Complexity,
Plain English
Percy Lo-Kit Chan •
Monday, June 13, 2011 Rule of law in Hong Kong rudely shaken ... Sovereign debt case sent by Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal to National People's Congress for resolution ... Legal system on the mainland still an adjunct of the government ... Percy Lo-Kit Chan reports
Rule of law
Court in the Act •
Friday, June 10, 2011 Lawyer hollows out Voyager compo awards ... Receiver's costs balloon as Vic Supremes and LSB chew-up victims' proceeds ... Tom Westbrook reports on the latest twists in the David Forster case
David Forster,
HMAS Voyager
Sir Terence O'Rort •
Thursday, June 9, 2011 Saga of the struck-off Townsville solicitor ... Client sold to Trilby Misso, who smartly dumps and overcharges the hapless punter ... Press releases fly as law chain sent to the stipes for investigation ... "Because we care" ... Sir Terence O'Rort reports
Trilby Misso
Polly Peck •
Wednesday, June 8, 2011 A few bars of Danny Boy from the attorney general would be a treat for the Anglo lawyers brekka ... Sharp right turn for law and justice policies in NSW ... Greg Smith over-eggs his mandatory sentencing rhetoric ... Polly Peck reports
Greg Smith,
Law & Justice,
Mandatory sentencing
Hellfire Club •
Friday, June 3, 2011 Star of TV documentary in disciplinary drama of her own ... Bar council's complaint against criminal defence barrister's "clumsy and ambiguous" email to colleagues dismissed by ADT ... Costs awarded for double jeopardy and oppression
Jehane Ghabrial,
On Trial
Hellfire Club •
Friday, June 3, 2011 Barrister with innovative drink-driving practice struck from the jam roll after impressive list of priors ... Lapses going back to 2006 finally catch-up with forum shopper
Professional misconduct
Judges •
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 The Queens Square Lubyanka saw a beefy turnout and a smooth transition as the orb and sceptre were passed from Spigelman to Bathurst ... The lack of fine oratory was compensated for by lavish basting ... Picture gallery
Bathurst CJ,
Spigelman CJ
Leverhulme •
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 Lord Chancellor's grief over rape law reform ... Boris Johnson on Aristotle, Marilyn Monroe, Scarlett Johansson and Mrs Johnson ... Leverhulme in London on a couple of pollies who tell it like it is
Boris Johnson,
Kenneth Clarke,
Russ Hinze
Judges •
Monday, May 30, 2011
Updated on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 by
Justinian
Path cleared should Nicholas Cowdery want to become a judge ... Chief Magistrate wins pension jackpot ... Tiny amendments with big consequences ... Judges' associate Ginger Snatch reports
Graeme Henson,
Nicholas Cowdery
Barry Lane •
Thursday, May 26, 2011 What, not more selective reporting by The Australian ... This time the economics editor extols the virtues of private prison operator Serco ... Cherry picking prisoners can result in glowing outcomes ... Barry Lane in Melbourne asks, why should the state pay for a private operator to make a profit, when the taxpayer has to pick-up all the tab?
Private prisons,
Serco,
The Australian
Roger Fitch Esq •
Saturday, May 21, 2011 Navy SEALs insensitive about court protocol ... Disney moves quickly ... Debate still raging about Osama and the rule of law ... "High Value Detainees ... Unprivileged Belligerents ... Enemy Combatants" and other odd creatures from the make-it-up-as-you-go-along Law of War ... Roger Fitch from the front line in Washington
City Desk •
Friday, May 20, 2011 New constitutional reform unit at Uni of Sydney ... Indigenous recognition, the role of state governments, and local government all on the agenda ... Constitutional trogs Bob Carr and George Brandis part of the launch line-up ... Our man with a notebook was there for the ribbon-cutting
Barry Lane •
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 Judicial blindfold firmly in place when Vic Appeals fiddled with the sentence of expelled Hells Angel ... When is a prior conviction not a prior conviction? ... Barry Lane investigates