Justinian’s review of lawyers and the law for 2022 … A strangely memorable yet forgettable year … Few, if any, elephant stamps … Frantic activity by the new attorney general … News from the Foreign Desk … Law ‘n Order … Misconduct … The works, from Max Shanahan 

Tasmania’s Justice Greg Geason was “counselled” for a nightclub pash with his associate, who headed to Equal Opportunity Tasmania after being “unilaterally ousted” from the court after the relationship came to light. 

To add to the tempestuous atmosphere south of the 40th parallel, Victorian silk Peter Jopling channeled his best Caliban to rain down fury on a covid-hit restaurant after his planned “birthday treat” was cancelled. 

“I cannot believe your lack of endeavour … How would you have coped in world war … I will never darken your door again and will inform all of my friends and acquaintances … Of which there are many.”

Happily, Vic’s Bar ‘n’ Grill announced it had come to a “productive working relationship” with the Law Council of Australia – a nice change from earlier accusations about misleading and selective information to members. 

Unhappily, “productive working” are not words that can be applied to the Victorian Bar’s readers’ course and exam. 

Elsewhere, Judge Sandy Street treated readers to a steady diet of overturned judgments and “egregious departures from the role of a judge”. The scion and his Queensland counterpart Salvatore Vasta – who found himself on the other side of the bench, sued for misconduct – will both be keeping a keen eye on developments relating to the government’s mooted Federal Judicial Commission, following recommendations from the ALRC.  

On the other hand, Sal did his best to explore the outer reaches of the patois in the Boggo Road Fair Work case. 

It would be unfair to limit the judiciary’s missteps to those two alone. Their Honours Jenni Hill, Hilary Penfold, Stephen Southwood and Peter Vickery each found themselves, for various infractions, in the unseemly position of featuring in Justinian. 

It wasn’t all bad! March saw Andrew Bell and Helen Bowskill appointed Chief Justices of their respective states, while Justice Jagot got High, and incremental moves were made towards the improvement of diversity on the bench. 

The High Court’s annual report contained nuggets of enlightenment, including its hefty expenditure on “workplace issues”. 

In additional to the judicial commission, it has been a busy few months for new Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. Reviews of secrecy provisions, national security laws and whistleblower protections have passed across his desk. 

Preparations for the referendum on The Voice continue, as do those for the establishment of a federal anti-corruption commission – with its curtailed ambit for public hearings. Most intriguing was his decision to blow up the AAT. Few will give it a fond farewell. Justinian was hot on the story – detailing the depth of politicisation after Michaelia Cash’s last ditch appointing spree, outing cut-and-paste jobs and debilitating delays. 

Justinian went international to find greener pastures in more enlightened legal lands. It wasn’t to be. Putin’s justice system got a going over, as did the dubious connections of London firms with since-sanctioned oligarchs. On the other side, Max Shanahan took a look at Ukraine’s wartime courts, as they adapt to vastly different legal circumstances, and Hugh Vuillier examined the legal controversy surrounding the fall of Imran Khan and the ongoing troubles of Hungarian judges. 

And not to forgot the usurpation of the judicial function by the government of Kiribati.  

Elsewhere, the UK’s criminal bar hung up its wigs and walked out on strike, as did defence staff at the ICC, and two British judges jumped from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal leaving the remaining judges (including Messrs Gleeson, Gummow and French) in an interesting position. 

International law received a decidedly mixed reception when it landed on our distant shores. The South Australian DPP committed a memorable and monumental cock-up when they breached German sovereignty in the doomed – and somewhat questionable – prosecution of a public official. 

UN torture inspectors received a dose of good old-fashioned law n’ order politics when they were denied the ability to carry out their mandate under the Torture Convention, and the Human Rights Commission was placed on notice over poor appointments and funding uncertainty. 

Speaking of, it was a red-letter year for law n’ order politics. Premier Perrottet channeled a certain youthful guise to prohibit protesting on roads and began rounding up and locking away environmentalists. Such was his success that Victoria and Tasmania followed suit, criminalising, among other things, climbing trees. 

Perrottet’s alma mater continued to churn out terrifying characters. A Young Liberals’ outrage at a criminal law exam, and a heartwarming stoush between egotists young and old confirmed that Justinian will have a future for many years to come. 

In Sydney’s Street of Shame, the Law Society sought to push through constitutional changes that Theodora saw as “the defenestration of pesky bodies from the boondocks“. When it wasn’t sending councillors on business-class junkets to Chicago and promoting partisan AGM advertising, the Law Society was kept busy dispensing punishment to a steady stream of naughty lawyers. 

Brody Clarke – the Atanaskovic Hartnell “hot shot” who defrauded Bruce Gordon – received his defenestration post-incarceration in April. Barbara Green was another jailbird struck out, this time by trust fund irregularities, while the temptations of the trust fund also proved too much for Sesilia Terepo, whose registration was saved by a Law Society error. 

The Bar Council had it in for Michael Rollinson, who was hit with a suspended sentence for practicing without a ticket. 

Over at the firms, “Law Firm of the Year” Corrs earnt a telling off for “grossly unsatisfactory” conduct in misrepresenting the authorship of an “independent” expert opinion on Chinese e-commerce. The real author? None other than Corrs’ own junior lawyer, ok’d by partner David Fixler. The law firms offers handy remuneration for this kind of “top tier” work, with Henry Chen detailing salaries of $100k plus for fresh-faced graduates at local law shops.