Inbrief

New fees for civil litigants in the Supreme Court

As part of today's mini-budget, the�NSW Government has announced that it will increase fees for civil litigants who use the NSW Supreme Court.�Attorney General John Hatzistergos has...

NSW mini-budget provides for more lawyers at ODPP

Attorney-General John Hatzistergos has announced that today's mini-budget provides funding for an extra 14 lawyers for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Learn more>

11 November 2008... Read more >

Conference to focus on justice for all

Law Council President Ross Ray QC and NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos will open the Access to Justice conference this **Friday,�14 November. **Guests of note will include Commonwealth...

SCAG agrees on national register of suppression orders

The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General, meeting today in Brisbane, have agreed to develop a national electronic register of suppression orders. Learn more>

10 November 2008

2009 Bar Council Election and Annual General Meeting

Voting for the 2009 Bar Council closes at 1.00pm on this Friday, 14 November 2008.� If you have not voted please return your ballot papers as soon as possible. The Annual General Meeting will be...

AustLII presents FREE online legal research seminar

AustLII has organised a training programme for online legal research, which�aims to assist users to obtain the maximum benefits from AustLII, WorldLII, and other Internet legal research tools....

Bar Library hours over Christmas

The Bar Library will be closed from 12 noon Friday, 19 December 2008 to Friday 9 January 2009 inclusive. The�library�will be open from 10.00am to 4.00pm from Monday, 12 January 2009 to...

Well off criminals in the UK may have to pay for their public defence

Faced with a staggering legal aid bill of more than two billion pounds, and 117,000 legally aided defendants in Crown Court each year,��the Ministry of Justice in the UK has...

SCAG drafting a Model Bill on spent convictions

The Standing Committee of Attorneys-General is working on a uniform spent convictions scheme, which provides that certain convictions do not generally need to be disclosed after the offender...

New WorkCover Guidelines gazetted today

The WorkCover Guidelines for the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment,�known as the “WorkCover Guides”, have been gazetted today, Friday 7 November. These guidelines�are issued...

SCAG releases discussion paper on non-consensual DNA testing

The Model Criminal Law Officers' Committee of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General has released a discussion paper, entitled Non-consensual Genetic Testing.�The closing date for comments...

Great Bar Boat Race 2008: change of date

The date�for the** 2008 Great Bar Boat Race�has been changed** to Monday,�22 December. The registration form will be sent via In Brief later this week.

10�November 2008

Barristers prefer pro bono

The National Pro Bono Resource Centre has released the findings of a survey,�which looked at the pro bono practice of 355 barristers from all states and territories, covering a range of practice...

Launch of Macquarie Law School's new Master of Laws in Legal History

Members are invited to�a keynote address on Thursday, 20 November by visiting Emeritus Professor John McLaren (Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, British Columbia) on the subject "Dewigged,...

New Supreme Court Rule amendments

On Monday, 3 November 2008 the Supreme Court Rule Committee approved the following amendments to the Supreme Court Rules 1970, and the Service and Execution of Process Act (Courts other than the...

Cases selected for reporting in FCR by V Kline

The following five�cases will be published in a forthcoming volume of FCR:

SZKNX v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship [2008] FCAFC 176�� Toohey v Tax Agent's Board of Victoria...

US election results live in the Bar Common Room

Continuous coverage of counting in the US elections will be available via the big screen projector in the Bar Common Room today, beginning around 2.30pm and finishing at 5.00pm. All members are...

Quasi Trusts - an address by the Hon Justice Young

The Society of Trustee and Estate Practitioners invite members to a lecture by the Hon Justice Peter Young AO on "Quasi Trusts", to be held on Thursday, 13 November 2008 at 5.30 in Banco Court.�...

Increase in interest on unpaid legal costs

At its meeting on 4 May 2010, the Reserve Bank Board decided to increase the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.50%, effective 5 May 2010. Accordingly the rate of interest on unpaid legal costs,...

Don't forget to cast your vote for the election of the 2009 Bar Council

Ballot papers for the election of the 2009 Bar Council have been mailed to all those eligible to vote. Any member who has not received their ballot paper and who wishes to cast a vote should contact...

Casual markers for UNE administrative law exams

Dr Eric Ghosh, the coordinator of administrative law at the University New England�is looking to hire�readers or barristers in their first year at the bar�as casual markers for the...

Reminder: Law Council to host free ADR seminar in Sydney

The Law Council’s Standing Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution and The European Focus Group will co-host a seminar in Sydney on 13 November 2008 from 2:30pm.�This free seminar will...

Cross-border insolvency administrative arrangements in the Federal Court

The NSW District Registry of the Federal Court of Australia has issued the Notice to Practitioners - Corporations Matters (Administrative Arrangements).�This Notice outlines the procedures for...

Votes and proceedings in the House of Representatives, 1901-

The Parliamentary Library�recently�announced that the�House of Representatives has loaded the complete set of its Votes and Proceedings, 1901- on the Australian Parliament's web site....

Webwatch: Initiatives and referenda in the forthcoming US elections

Amidst the festival of democracy that is the US presidential election, an often overlooked electoral contest occurs in the form of initiatives and referenda for�state constitutional and...