NSW Courts Articles

No Court for You! Facebook Litigant May Be Banned from Suing

The NSW Attorney-General has applied to have a Sydney man declared a ‘vexatious litigant’ after he launched numerous and repeated court actions against his neighbours, leaving them with tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills. Nader Mohareb is best known for legal action against his Scotland Island neighbour Matthew Palmer, who he sued for… Read more »

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US vs Australia Battle Over the Ugg Boot: Should Our Government Protect Its Aussie Identity?

What’s in a name? Plenty if you ask the two footwear companies engaged in a David vs Goliath legal battle over the name ‘Ugg’. One of the businesses heading to court in the United States is a small Sydney manufacturing company that has been making Ugg boots since the early 1990s. It’s opponent is giant… Read more »

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Fraud on the Rise in NSW

While most categories of crime in NSW have fallen, our state has experienced a significant rise in fraud cases. Statistics published by the NSW Bureau of Crime and Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) suggest that the total number of fraud offences in 2013 and 2014 was 98,647, up 7.5% on the previous 24 month period. Definition… Read more »

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Woman Steals Handbag After Convincing Judge of Her Good Character

Every now and again, a story turns up in the media you just couldn’t make up, no matter how hard you tried. This one involves an Illawarra woman who allegedly stole the prosecutor’s handbag from Wollongong District Courthouse, in full view of CCTV, only moments after she conducted an ‘award winning performance’ to convince the… Read more »

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Winning Difficult Bail Applications

A recent Commonwealth case has provided some guidance on meeting stringent bail tests in serious cases. The applicant, a 16-year-old boy known as ‘NK’, was charged under section 102.6 of the Criminal Code Act (Cwth) with ‘funding a terrorist organisation’; an offence which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment and triggers a “rebuttal… Read more »

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Legal Aid Struggling to Help Family Violence Victims

National Legal Aid Chair Suzan Cox QC believes new domestic violence figures highlight the importance of a strong legal aid service to help those unable to afford private legal representation, especially in family law cases. “The data shows that underfunded legal aid commissions are confronting high numbers of disintegrating low-income families who are wrestling with… Read more »

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Mandatory Pre-Trial Defence Disclosures: Removing Legal Protections

The Criminal Procedure Amendment (Mandatory Pre-trial Defence Disclosure) Bill was introduced by the NSW government in 2013, and passed by both houses of Parliament. It is embodied in Part 3, Division 3 of the Criminal Procedure Act (‘the Act’) which essentially requires the prosecution and defence in District or Supreme Court criminal trial proceedings to serve… Read more »

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