Inbrief

New members of the Bar Association

At meetings of Bar Council in April, the persons listed below were accepted as members of the New South Wales Bar Association.

Speeches to note: Science and Judicial Proceedings

On 2 May 2009 Chief Justice Robert French delivered an address before the Medico Legal Society of Victoria, under the title "Science and Judicial Proceedings - Seventy-Six Years On". Download and...

Recent decisions of the House of Lords

The following two opinions of the lords of appeal are available on the House of Lords web site:�

Secretary of State for Justice (Respondent) v James (FC) (Appellant) (formerly Walker and...

Bar Council business for April

Governance

Matters reported elsewhere in In Brief are omitted from this summary of Bar Council business. Bar Council regularly considers requests by the attorney general, the courts and other...

New South Wales Government introduces legislation targeting declared organisations

The _Criminal Organisations Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 was introduced into the Legislative Assembly today. The object of this bill, as provided by the explanatory notes, is to amend various Acts...

New protocol for judicial appointments in the Apple Isle

The Government of Tasmania has released a new protocol for judicial appointments, which includes local and national advertisement of vacancies except in exceptional circumstances;assessment of...

NSW Government calls for submissions on open government initiative

Premier Nathan Rees has tabled in parliament three exposure draft bills intended to reform this state's freedom of information laws. The government invites interested persons to provide written...

Law Council supports streamlining of federal courts

The Law Council has welcomed the Commonwealth attorney-general’s announcement that the federal court system will be restructured so that all family law matters will be consolidated and heard...

New police powers to disperse drunken groups

The New South Wales Government will introduce legislation empowering police to disperse groups of people who are "noticeably affected", instead of "seriously affected", by alcohol or drugs and are...

Law Council lodges submission to the National Consultation on Human Rights

The Law Council today lodged its submission to the Australian Government’s National Consultation on Human Rights, calling for the adoption of a Charter of Human Rights at the federal level. Law...

New South Wales Government to introduce yet more bikie legislation

The NSW Government has announced today that it will introduce another round of legislation targeting motorcycle gangs. It will create a new class of search warrant to make it easier for police to...

Criminal Case Conferencing Trial Amendment (Extension) Regulation 2009 (NSW)

The Criminal Case Conferencing Trial Amendment (Extension) Regulation 2009 (NSW) has been published on the NSW Legislation web site. The object of this Regulation is to amend the Criminal Case...

Invitation to Law Week breakfast discussion on the law and the media

Members are invited to the City of Sydney's Law Week breakfast on Monday, 11 May 2009 at 7.30-9.00am at the City Tattersalls Club, 194-204 Pitt Street. Take part in a discussion about the...

Notification of UCPR Rule change and protection provided by court referral

The Supreme Court ADR Committee has issued a reminder in respect of a change to Uniform Civil Procedure Rule (UCPR) 20.7 and protection provided by the referral of matters to mediation pursuant to...

Federal Magistrates Court out of time

Commonwealth Attorney-General Robert McClelland has announced a major restructure of Federal Courts system by: merging the Federal Magistrates Court into the Family Court and Federal Court;...

President's speech delivered at the swearing in of Pepper J

A ceremonial sitting for the swearing in of Rachel Pepper as a judge of the Land and Environment Court was held on Friday, 1 May 2009 in the Banco Court, Queens Square. President Anna Katzmann SC...

Cases selected for reporting in FCR by V Kline

Following are the cases selected by V Kline for reporting in FCR: _ G & M Nicholas Pty Ltd v Minister for Finance and Deregulation_ [2009] FCA 121 Ranallo v Australian Community Pharmacy Authority...

Latest case notes from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner

Australian Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis has published six new case notes:

A v Medical Practitioner [2009] PrivCmrA 1: Collection of personal information and access to personal information....

Quills to keyboards: the changing form of judgments

To mark ten years of publishing judgments electronically on NSW Caselaw, a free Law Week event has been organised at the Supreme Court of NSW for Thursday, 14 May 2009 at 5.00pm with presenters...

New procedures to streamline criminal trials

New South Wales Attorney General John Hatzistergos has announced plans for major reforms to criminal trials, in an effort to reduce delays. Mr Hatzistergos said one measure would give the court the...

New appointment to the Local Court

New South Wales Attorney General John Hatzistergos today announced the appointment of Elizabeth Ryan to the bench of the Local Court. Ms Ryan is senior assistant director of the Tax and Economic...

Position vacant: NSWLR verifier – casual/part-time

The Council of Law Reporting is looking for a verifier to assist in the preparation of reportable judgments for publication in the NSWLR. Responsibilities include: checking the accuracy of all...

Resolution and Resilience: ADR in the Global Recession, 29 – 31 May 2009, Melbourne Sofitel

(ADVERTISEMENT) As Australasia’s pre-eminent ADR event, the conference will focus on dispute resolution in the current economic downturn and� how ADR professionals can best meet the needs...

Changing of the guard on Bar Council and the Executive

Following her appointment to the Land and Environment Court, Rachel Pepper has resigned from the Bar Council and from her position as secretary of the Bar Association. Paresh Khandhar has replaced...

Appointment of acting judge in the Supreme Court

The governor-in-council has approved of the reappointment of the Honourable Justice Schmidt to act as a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales for the period commencing on** 2 May 2009 and...