Justice Mortimer of the Federal Court of Australia today handed down a 359 page judgment concluding that Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum Inc (“Friends”) had proved its pleaded case in litigation under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) (“the EPBC Act”) against VicForests, the Victorian government agency entrusted with the management of Victoria’s...Read More

A 92 page report on Legal Perspectives on solitary confinement in Queensland has been launched by Prisoners Legal Service and the University of Queensland Law School. The report’s lead writers are Professor Tamara Walsh of the Law School and Helen Blaber of Prisoners Legal service. They were assisted in the writing by Claudia Smith, Lucy...Read More

This is the second of two posts aiming to help Australian lawyers seeking admission to practice as foreign lawyers in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The first post provided an overview of the PNG legal system and its links to Australia. This (second) post provides resources for Australian lawyers sitting the PNG foreign lawyer exams. As...Read More

This is the first of two posts aiming to help Australian lawyers seeking admission to practice as foreign lawyers in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The first post provides an overview of the PNG legal system and its links to Australia. The second post provides resources for Australian lawyers sitting the PNG foreign lawyer exams. This...Read More

Higgins Chambers expresses its congratulations to Greg Barns for being announced, this week, as one the four new senior counsel for the State of Tasmania. As well as being a highly respected barrister who has appeared in some of the longest and most difficult criminal cases in recent history, Greg is a frequent contributor to...Read More

Simon Cleary conducts a busy practice at the Queensland Bar. He is also a busy family man doing his fair share, with his wife, Alisa, of raising his two active and enthusiastic sons, Dominic and Liam to all three of whom The War Artist is dedicated. Rather, incredibly, Simon has just published The War Artist,...Read More

When you’re doing a contract law update one of the most difficult things is to decide which cases to review. Sometimes cases select themselves. The High Court case of Mann v Paterson Constructions Pty Ltd [2019] HCA 32 was one such case. The Victorian Court of Appeal had upheld a claim for restitution far in...Read More

You’ll Never Walk Alone: Thoughts on the Ups and Downs of engaging in Socially Constructive Legal Work: notes for a talk at the launch of the University of Queensland Law School Pro Bono Centre’s Indigenous Deaths in Custody Database at the TC Beirne School of Law on 1 August 2018. Introduction I have decided to...Read More

The Court of Appeal’s decision in Bell v Brisbane City Council [2018] QCA 084 (Sofronoff P and Philippides and McMurdo JJA), delivered 4 May 2018, is a very significant appeal for planning law in Queensland which emphasises the importance of development complying with the planning scheme. The appeal concerned a large development at Toowong, an inner-city suburb of Brisbane...Read More

Advocacy is almost a secret art. It is one of those skills about which a teacher can say many things. But none of those things that are said about advocacy tells you how to be an advocate. The paper available at this link tells of the importance of advocacy when initiating and conducting an appeal....Read More