Boondocks bulletin

Updated on Wednesday, December 17, 2014 by Justinian

Update ... Aussie bloke revving around Fernberg ... No Banco farewell for John Muir ... London clerk fetches-up at Doyle Chambers ... Government Gazette issues grovel to Supreme Court judges ... Also, latest from The Map ... The Ellis' case gets political ... Lawyer pinged for lifting cash ... Tribunal in strife over PDF practice direction 

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"We have priced ourselves into oblivion"

Productivity Commission's report on improving access to justice ... Lawyers are like mechanics ... The power of selling "credence goods" ... Large number of recommendations to give greater choice to consumers, to improve the court system and to enhance community legal centres ... Nina Ubaldi combs through the report and locates the juicy bits 

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Fakery and deception

Who would have thought there would be dodgy behaviour in the art establishment? ... Barrister Louise McBride bought a dud Albert Tucker and Christie's did nothing about it ... It's raining fakes ... Traditional art market cover-ups exposed ... Kate Lilly reports 

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Stinging Nettle among the thistles

Geoffrey Nettle, hero of Yarraside, goes to the High Court ... Government turns tame ... Soapy's soft spot ... Big chance for Marty Pakula ... Rustling through the archives ... Judges' associate Ginger Snatch reports 

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Closing time at the bar n' grill

Grasping for silk ... A deadline is a deadline, except when the bar president extends it ... NSW barrister 12 minutes late with his silk application ... Bar not obliged to consider any application for silk ... Inner and outer bars ... No stigma in not being a silk ... Kate Lilly reports 

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NSW terror powers rarely used

Heightened terror alert, but the Ombudsman finds that preventative detention powers were never used between 2011 and 2013 ... Covert search warrant powers rarely used ... Crime Commission says it doesn't want covert search powers ... Improvements urged ... Nina Ubaldi reports  

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It's raining on Yarraside's silks parade

The future of Vic Bar's two-step QC scheme is riding on the outcome of Saturday's election ... Ambition to switch from SC to QC likely to be thwarted if Labor is returned to government ... Intriguing possibilities 

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Bathurst CJ - questions and answers

Interview with NSW chief justice Tom Bathurst ... A glass of water for the shock jocks ... CJ's thoughts about QCs and SCs, a tort for serious invasions of privacy, a Bill of Rights and electronic courts ... Addressing the costs of litigation ... Judicial diversity ... Confidence in the judiciary 

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Carmody watch

Brisbane field agents keep an eye on the work of the learned Chief Justice of Queensland ... Knock About's sentencing error ... Blunders in contract land ... No complaints from lawyers, who are kept furiously busy with stay applications 

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Shake, rattle and roll

Rose Bay real estate ... Brilliant suggestions for the High Court ... ICAC's special memories ... WCC appointment ... Knock About's liberal sprinkling of Gemmellisms

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Cunneen - latest round

Margaret Cunneen's appeal ... "Is it a public flogging? Is it a show trial?" ... Court of Appeal reserves on whether ICAC can proceed to investigate deputy senior crown prosecutor for allegedly perverting the course of justice ... Nina Ubaldi reports from ringside 

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Letter from the Map

Ellis hanging on for pre-Christmas appeal decision ... Law Society misses out on seminar bonanza ... Solicitor involved in toilet scuffle now on trial for tickling the till ... The Map of Tasmania 

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Bar council royalists collapse

Updated on Sunday, November 16, 2014 by Justinian

Royalist faction fails to consolidate electoral gains ... Fracture and isolation ... Wiser heads prevail as youngsters fail the chook raffle test ... Meanwhile, QCs saddle-up at VicBar 

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Excuses, excuses

Nifty Legal Aid scam sees WA solicitor thrown off the jam roll ... Sneaky website directed legal aid applicants straight to Perth law shop ... Also, Queensland solicitor survives a failure to declare income to the ATO and Centrelink ... Kate Lilly reports 

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Dire consequences

The fallout from the Supreme Court's "money talks" theory of participatory democracy ... US Supremes give green light to states' marriage equality laws ... Prosecuting a non-war crime with no connection to the US ... Senate report on CIA torture soon to be buried ... Useful revelations from presidential libraries ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington 

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No breach of the fortress

Calls for ICAC to be closed down or for its hearings it be held in secret found no support in the NSW Supreme Court ... The anti-corruption body is looking stronger than ever ... Round One in Cunneen v ICAC 

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Visigoths invade the temple

Inner sanctum woes ... Turmoil in the street of shame ... Tricoteuse at the guillotine ... Disquiet over NSW bar election outcome ... Bar-Bar 

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Cunneen v ICAC - hold tight

Judge says he'll deliver judgment on Monday ... Declarations sought by crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen that ICAC is acting beyond power ... Corruption commission agrees to delay public hearing into allegations till Tuesday

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Silent investor

NSW bar mum about its money ... Has it got ethical investments? ... Men are not necessary as Law Society elections send city solicitors into the reject bin ... Warnings for NT barristers not to be "cowards" prompts snippy reactions 

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Rise of the bunyip silks

NSW bar elections sees pro-QC ticket romp home to take a majority on the council ... Bloodbath pending on the executive ... Members rally around pro-QC Cunneen ... Future looks uncertain as vanity triumphs 

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