Barristers

The Full Court is set to weigh in on whether judges who make adverse findings on credibility during the liability phase of a hearing should recuse themselves from determining penalty, an issue which a judge has said may require a new court protocol.

Senator Linda Reynolds has given evidence about the fallout of media reporting about Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations, saying she experienced health problems from the stress and felt she could not defend herself in the public eye since it was a criminal matter.

A judge has granted Brittany Higgins’ bid to subpoena text messages Linda Reynolds exchanged with accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann’s senior counsel, while also granting the senator’s bid for communications related to a fundraising page for Higgins.

As the Fair Work Commission takes its plan to appoint an administrator to the construction division of the CFMEU to court, a judge has recused himself from hearing the case after acting against the union while at the bar. 

IP Australia has rejected an Italian cheese lobby’s bid to block an American cheese maker from using a trade mark containing the word ‘asiago’, saying there was “very little evidence” Australians were aware of the cheese at all.

The High Court has been asked to overturn a Full Court decision finding lawyers can take a cut from a class action settlement under a solicitors’ common fund order and to finally settle the question of whether the court has the power to issue common fund orders at all.

Senator Linda Reynolds has taken the stand in her defamation case against Brittany Higgins, telling a court on Tuesday she encouraged the former staffer to go to the police after her alleged rape by colleague Bruce Lehrmann because she was “not the right person” to conduct an investigation.  

Brittany Higgins’ counsel has argued that her former boss, Senator Linda Reynolds, mishandled her staffer’s allegation she was raped by colleague Bruce Lehrmann at Parliament House, saying she effectively told her to “go elsewhere”.

A judge has signed off on an agreed-to $5 million penalty against Noumi in ASIC proceedings for violating its continuous disclosure obligations and found the food company’s non-disclosures caused it shares to trade at an inflated price.

Now-defunct sushi chain Sushi Bay has been slapped with penalties totalling more than $15 million, with a court calling its long history of staff underpayments “calculated” and “audacious”.