He’s one of Sydney’s most well-known criminal barristers, but this won’t spare him from the wrath of court. Charles Waterstreet, best known amongst laypersons as the inspiration behind the ‘brilliant but self-destructive’ barrister Cleaver Greene in the ABC hit series Rake, has been referred to the Registrar of the Supreme Court for investigation after he… Read more »
How would you feel if your upcoming criminal case could be dealt with, at least in part, online, without you having to step foot inside a courthouse? Not only can going to court be a confronting and stressful experience, it can also be very time consuming. You or your lawyer may only be in front… Read more »
Would you rather be tried by a judge or a jury? Whether or not juries have a place in the modern judicial system is a debate that has been going on for many years. For centuries, the right to jury trial has been fiercely guarded as a mechanism that guarantees a fair and unbiased hearing… Read more »
The law is supposed to reflect current social attitudes and values – but the Australian justice system appears to be moving backwards in some areas rather than forwards. Unlike most developed countries, which have aligned their laws with an increased acceptance of gay marriage, the Australian legal system appears to be increasingly out of touch… Read more »
Margaret Elizabeth Flack, a 55-year-old widow living in Glebe, Sydney was astonished when police searched her home and found a briefcase containing almost half a million dollars in cash. She wasn’t aware of its existence, and police couldn’t find the true owner. Both the authorities and Mrs Flack believed it was theirs! But who got… Read more »
Fighting your way through the Family Court is a stressful ordeal for any person – but for some, the pressure is just too much – so much that they feel compelled to take the law into their own hands. Leonard John Warwick was arrested yesterday in relation to a series of attacks on high-profile Family… Read more »
If you have ever been charged with an offence, one of the biggest decisions you will have to make is whether to plead guilty or not guilty. While this is a big decision for you, the criminal justice system relies upon the vast majority of people pleading guilty in order to function efficiently. Indeed, if… Read more »
Have you ever needed to fill in a statutory declaration, or get a certified copy of an original document? Chances are most of us have come across a Justice of the Peace (‘JP’) at some point in our lives, but what exactly does a JP do? The main functions of JPs are: 1. To witness… Read more »
The complainant is the alleged victim in an offence. Contrary to popular belief, complainants do not ‘press charges’, they are not the ones ‘taking the matter to court’ and it is not ‘their case’. Rather, it is a prosecuting body such as police or the Crown that ‘presses charges’, and who is in charge of… Read more »
People appeal cases for a variety of reasons, but appealing because your trial judge fell asleep certainly doesn’t rank amongst the most common of them. Yet this is precisely what happened to Rafael Cesan and Ruben Mas Rivadavia After a 17-day jury trial, both were found guilty of importing ecstasy into Australia. Cesan was sentenced… Read more »
