When I started as a barrister, over 20 years ago, I typically worked late each night and weekends. A few years into my practice, I realised I hadn’t taken a holiday in over two years. There always seemed to be something urgent to prepare for, even over the long Christmas holidays. I got to...Read More

Australian citizens are at risk of being prosecuted under Australian law if they commit, or are complicit in crimes being perpetrated by the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza.  Since the commencement of the Gaza war, when the Israeli government issued an order to 360,000 military reservists to engage in the onslaught of Gaza, multiple dual...Read More

Matthew Brady KC of Higgins Chambers hosted a lunch in chambers this week for the Chief Justices of Queensland and Nauru.  Matthew sits as a part-time judge of the Supreme Court of Nauru.Read More

While it is not a court of law where the ethical and sometimes legal obligation of expert witnesses is to declare potential or actual conflicts of interest so that their evidence can be placed in context, the Nine Newspapers use of a panel of ‘experts’ to publish an extraordinary series of articles arguing Australia must...Read More

A seminar paper available at this link aimed to answer a frequently asked question: “We don’t have the death penalty in Australia. Why is the death penalty relevant to me?” One answer to the question is that Australians travel overseas. Australians do silly things including when they are overseas. One day, someone you know may...Read More

The Australian Law Reform Commission’s report, Without Fear or Favour: Judicial Impartiality and the Law on Bias, tabled in federal parliament on 2 August makes some important recommendations on appointments of judicial officers and the importance of diversity in that process, which should be road tested in the context of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT)...Read More

The paper available at this link discusses the following recent decisions on contract law: Dyco Hotels Pty Ltd & Ors v Laundy Hotels (Quarry) Pty Ltd [2021] NSWCA 332 (Dyco) Carter v Mehmet [2021] NSWCA 286 CFMMEU v Personnel Contracting Pty Ltd [2022] HCA 1 ZG Operations Australia Pty ltd v Jamsek [2022] HCA 2...Read More

Dyco Hotels Pty Ltd & Ors v Laundy Hotels (Quarry) Pty Ltd [2021] NSWCA 332 (Dyco) – Case Review 1. This is one of those cases where four judges considered the issues, they split 2:2 on the result, and the trial decision was reversed on appeal. The equal number of judges on either side of...Read More

Can a creditor with a debt which would not be provable in a bankruptcy nonetheless present a creditor’s petition based on a failure to pay that non-provable debt? The Federal Court of Australia squarely considered this question for the first time in Australian Securities and Investment Commission v King [2021] FCA 1610, a decision of...Read More

The High Court’s recent decision in Sunland Group Limited v Gold Coast City Council [2021] HCA 35 (Sunland), delivered on 10 November 2021, has important implications for the interpretation of statutory approvals under a wide range of legislation, including approvals under planning laws. In Sunland, Stewart J (with whom Kiefel CJ, Keane and Gleeson JJ...Read More