Einfeld-era siren appears in the courts … Law Reform Commission now exists in name only, as bureaucrats move in … It’s Boston or bust as Australian briefs prepare for US jamboree … Scramble to procure dead tax silk’s live briefs 

Marie Christos, pin-up girl from the Marcus Einfeld perjury era, has popped out of the woodwork and filed an action in the NSW Supremes seeking a chunk of a deceased estate. 

Details are sketchy, but it seems she’s claiming that money was promised to her, with regular payments to be made by an estate. 

“I am unable to speak to the press as I have a lawyer, a junior barrister and a silk acting for me on a no win/no fee basis.”

If her claim is successful it might leave charitable beneficiaries and a few financially skint relatives feeling a bit hard done by. 

Marie was the former squeeze of solicitor Michael Ryan, who acted for Marcus The Mensch in relation to his motoring troubles. 

After the breakup with Ryan she rifled through the solicitor’s garbage bin finding various versions of a draft affidavit prepared for the Mensch, which eventually found their way into the media.  

Marie (or Mirka) has had an interesting career path that involved working as a secretary for Anna Katzmann, now HH Justice Katzmann of the Feds, and a service provider at a Balgowlah brothel – but, not at the same time. 

One of the Murdoch tissues described her as a “spurned prostitute”. 

It’s curtains for the NSW Law Reform Commission – at least as we understand an independent law reference and research organisation to be. 

The mandarins from the strategy and policy branch of the NSW Dept of Justice have decided that the NSW LRC will not have its own dedicated staff. 

Instead, the department will allocate an executive officer and three of its own  staff to “service” the LRC. The same four will also be allocated to staff the Sentencing Council and the domestic violence death review team. 

Extra people for law reform references will be brought in “as required”. 

As we reported recently, there has been no full-time chairman of the commission since Jim Wood retired over a year ago. Nor has there any any full time commissioners for the last 12 months. 

As a fig-leaf remedy to keep the commission vaguely operative, in name only, Peter Johnston was recently appointed “deputy chairman” – a rather odd title, since there is no chairman who has to be deputised. 

All five of the existing LRC staff are seeking jobs elsewhere, and have been advised to do so by the department. 

There is now no geographic association between the commission and the departmental staff. There will be no dedicated professional staff who can continuously work on references. There is an end to the supportive collegiality of commissioners and professional staff and no sense that the staff are working for the commission, as opposed to working for the government. 

The commission, as a self-contained functioning entity, dedicated to independent investigation into legal policy issues, is finished. 

All this has been slipped through while NSW’s politicians have their backs turned, concentrating on getting elected. 

It’s a rotten turn of events and the legal profession should be shouting from the rooftops. 

Here’s the power point gobbledegook about what the department’s “strategy and policy” branch is on about. 

Survival of the Fittest – it has nothing to do with marathon running or cage fighting, although for barristers there is an understandable connection. 

Rather, it’s the title of part of the Australian Bar Association’s July knees-up in the US of A. 

The first leg is to be held in Washington DC, in time for a rooftop party on Independence Day where briefs “are welcome to add some red, white and blue to their [smart casual] outfits”. 

Snaps, please. 

The not to be missed elements of the junket include tours of the US Capitol, National Archives and Library of Congress. 

This will be held in the Oval Room at the Fairmont Copley Plaza. 

The Boston section of the jamboree has tours of the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse and the John Adams Courthouse, with social highlights covering a reception at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and tours of Harvard Law School, the Freedom Trail, and a Gala Dinner. 

The trail aims to preserve the story of the American Revolution and the ideals of freedom of speech, religion, government and self-determination.

Here’s hoping the briefs bring back some of these exciting ideas to the wide brown land. 

London tax silk Stephen Brandon died unexpectedly late last month. 

He was the head of Tax Chambers at 15 Old Square, Lincolns Inn. His career at the revenue bar stretched from the Ugandan Tax Tribunal to the House of Lords.  

He was enormously busy and, as they say in horse racing parlance, he had a book full of rides. 

“Anyone wishing to discuss Stephen’s death or professional issues arising from it should contact chambers senior clerk, Tony Hall.” 

Does this translate to suggest there might be an unseemly scramble to get his work? My field agents in London tell me it does.