I only just caught up with the fact that the Court of Appeal has overturned Justice Gillard's decision in Kabourakis v Medical Board of Victoria [2005] VSC 493, the subject of an earlier post. See [2006] VSC 301.
VCAT's Vice President Harbison, sitting in the Legal Practice List for the first time I am aware [...]

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This post is like a case book(let) rather than a text. It sets out the raw materials which bear upon the question of who as between solicitor and client owns (in the sense of is entitled to the original of) what documents typically found in a solicitor's file. It is very long, and largely unsummarised: [...]

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It is well established in VCAT that when doctors and lawyers engage in professional activities in the course of their retainers, e.g. by giving advice, interviewing witnesses, and representing clients, they do not engage in trade or commerce: see for example Stagliano v Duke [2007] VCAT 1070, which I posted about here. Most Fair [...]

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The Ohio State Medical Association's Frivolous Lawsuit Committee defended 3 frivolous medical negligence suits against members and funded counterclaims by the defendant doctors against the plaintiff's solicitors for bringing hopeless claims. The doctors succeeded.

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Update, 24 June 2008: the Herald Sun today revealed the doctor's attempt to sell his Toorak home until the sale was restrained by police, and that Slater & Gordon are suing the Medical Board for damages on behalf of the doctor's victims.  Should be interesting.  People will be suing the Law Institute next for not [...]

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I am always astounded how many professionals make public comments about their clients. I cannot really understand why society allows lawyers to publish their memoirs. I read John Marsden's memoirs, and was not impressed by his comments about Ivan Milat. If I remember correctly, they suggested, or rekindled the suggestion in [...]

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I have a certain fondness for dentists behaving badly.  The illustration, stolen from Barista (a beautiful blog from Melbourne), is of a dental oxygen enema.  I understand that a Melbourne dentist was given a holiday for the rest of his life after losing his quixotic battle with the dentists' Bureau de Spank (see its recent [...]

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I was already a fan of the first edition of Judge Stephen Walmsley SC, Alister Abadee, and Ben Zipser's excellent Professional Liability in Australia, published by Thomson, and had been waiting for the new edition with interest. I got myself a copy the other day. It's good, and there are substantial additions since [...]

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My friend Jason Pizer had the launch of the third edition of his book this week, and I went along and enjoyed the company of VCAT's Acting President John Bowman, Deputy President Marilyn Harbison, and Justice Chris Maxwell, President of the Court of Appeal.  It's the VCAT equivalent of Williams, the looseleaf 'Bible' of [...]

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The Austin Hospital's library has put up a list of Australian blogs by and about doctors, and other medical new media resources. The only doctor blog featured here has been, from memory, that of "Flea", though he took his blog down hastily when the plaintiff worked out that he was the anonymous blogger of his [...]

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