A delegate of John Britton, Queensland's Legal Services Commissioner, has declined to lay disciplinary charges against Dr Haneef's lawyer, Stephen Keim QC, despite finding a clear breach of a rule of professional conduct, and that — to my astonishment — Mr Keim gave his client's record of interview to The Australian without having sought Dr [...]

[Read more →]

The Sydney Morning Herald reports plans by the NSW Attorney General to cap fees proportionately to the amount at stake. The article is a bit light on what that means exactly, but the Law Society of NSW President purported to welcome the changes.

[Read more →]

Update, 12 February 2008: Apparently there's a lawyers' phones bugging scandal over in England.  Sounds like a fairly substantial problem to me.  I'll keep you posted, if I ever find the time.
Original post: Here's a pithy little article in The Times about 3 English lawyers' liability cases. Well worth the small effort to read it, [...]

[Read more →]

Senior Member Howell's decision in Crawford v Kennedy [2008] VCAT 5 begins:
'Mr. Gilbert Crawford was a defendant in proceedings to be heard in the Magistrates’ Court on 29 March 2006. He was impressed by [the late] Mr. Peter [H] QC when he saw Mr. [H] on a television programme. Mr. Crawford went to [...]

[Read more →]

'Your Honours, counsel, my name is Gerry Hall and I am the attorney representing Lyndell Howard, the defendant in this case.  You know, I got up early this morning and I reviewed the trial court pleadings, and the motions we had filed there in the trial court, the transcripts of some of the testimony.  I [...]

[Read more →]

Update, February 2008: the rate has increased from 8.75% to 9%.  For more, see this post.
Original post: Since 6 December 2007, the maximum interest chargeable on bills has dropped from 12% (the penalty interest rate) to 8.75% (the Reserve Bank Target Rate +2%), and the period of non-payment after which you can begin charging [...]

[Read more →]

Update, 8 February 2008: from 5 February, the rate has been increased to 7%, so on bills from then on, interest at the rate of 9% per annum may be claimed so long as the bill states that that is the rate which will accrue. Remember, interest accrues on post-4 February bills at 9% and [...]

[Read more →]

Happy new year, readers. 2007 was a big one for me, and it seems that lots of interesting things happened. So I made a list.
The Bar: My senior mentor, Peter Riordan SC, was elected Chairman of the Bar Council. Peter Hayes QC died, and the Ethics Committee took Peter Faris to task for commenting to [...]

[Read more →]