Courts

Two Federal Court judges are stepping down before the compulsory retirement age, one of whom was elevated to the bench just two years ago.

A judge overseeing two class actions against Romeo’s has ditched what has become the commonplace hearing in weighing a settlement of the cases, but experts say approval applications in group proceedings should ideally be heard in open court.

A judge who has been an enthusiastic lab rat in the virtual hearing experiment forced on the country’s courts by the COVID-19 pandemic has expressed doubts that he is accurately reading witnessses giving remote evidence.

Judges of the NSW Supreme Court passed up their annual pay rise in 2020 as the court and the public made dramatic changes to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Federal Circuit Court judge has hit back at accusations he conducted “the grossest parody of a court hearing” when he unlawfully imprisoned a Queensland man for contempt of court, telling a trial “he is a human being [who] made a mistake”.

In the crucial early years of practice junior barristers have been deprived of vital learning opportunities as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns necessitating the move to online court hearings. The promised return to in-person proceedings is critical for the professional development of counsel just starting out, and equally critical for the Bar as a whole, says noted silk Rachel Doyle.

As the courts open up after 18 months of online hearings, junior barristers who were recently called to the bar may be apprehensive at the move to in-person appearances. Here, ten top silks share their wisdom with new barristers on how to be an effective advocate in court.

The Chief Justice of the Victorian Supreme Court has called on the legal profession to provide more opportunities for junior counsel to hone their oral advocacy skills by make submissions or examining witnesses during hearings.

A judge has admitted in a $2 million false imprisonment lawsuit against him that he had no power to sentence the owner of a Cairns tour company to 12 months in jail for contempt of court.

A silk and former Clayton Utz litigation partner who represented the directors of failed telco OneTel in a nearly decade-long ASIC case that ended in a defeat for the corporate regulator has been appointed a judge on the Federal Court.