Where’s Virginia? … 100% of new Tasmanian silks are women … Notes from The Map … Coroners can’t cope … Street talk … Solicitor spanked and thanked
Accompanying the invitation was a long list of vanished old girls, those with whom the school has lost contact. Did anyone know the whereabouts of these souls so they could be brought back into the flock?
Included in the missing persons’ list was the name Virginia Bell who, according to Wikipedia and other entries, was educated at SCEGGS Darlinghurst.
It’s some achievement to be at the top of the law’s greasy pole while at the same time invisible to old playground pals.
Reunion attendees are asked to list 10 memorable things they have done in their life.
At the end of last month the phone didn’t stop ringing in the chambers of Tasmanian barristers Sandra Taglieri and Linda Mason.
They had just been appointed senior counsel by chief justice Alan Blow and congratulations were pouring in.
They are the only people appointed senior counsel in the bewitched island paradise this year, which means 100 percent of the new silks are women.
Sandra, from Derwent & Tamar Chambers, being the more senior of the two, is the first woman at the independent bar n’ grill to be made a senior counsel.
Linda is the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in Tasmania, and the first women to hold that position.
Some of the hoary red wine and cheese brigade at the bar were snorting through their nostril hairs at this turn of events.
While in these parts, the rumour from around Malthouse Chambers in Hobart is that there have been discussions among briefs about whether they should instal a gun safe.
This could be a response to the possibility of terrorist attacks on the chambers, or dangers posed by marauding clients, or even the need to be fully armed against unstable professional colleagues.
It’s a wild and unpredictable place, as the recent storms attest.
A torrent of water poured through the University of Tasmania law school library and this was the result.
If there are further developments on the gun front please let Theodora though our blow-the-whistle function.
In NSW we find a disturbing trend. The number of reported deaths increases year on year, yet the number of coronial inquests decreases.
It seems the explanation is that the coroners are under-resourced and over-whelmed.
The number of inquests from 2011-2017:
2011 – 290
2012 – 148
2013 – 142
2014 – 140
2015 – 150
2016 – 120
2017 – 84
The number of reported deaths 2011-2017:
2011 – 5694
2012 – 5369
2013 – 5340
2014 – 5610
2015 – 5766
2016 – 5960
2017 – 6602
This is obviously bad news for families who want to know what has happened and it misses the chance of a coroner making recommendations for reform.
There was a question on notice from Lynch to the attorney general Mark Speakman about delays in holding inquests:
“What steps will you take to overcome the considerable concern identified by the Chief Commissioner of the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission at the delay in coronial hearings in New South Wales?”
“I am advised – inquests under section 23 of the Coroners Act 2009 relating to a critical incident can be complex and must be fully investigated.”
The possibilities are various, but you know what the bar is like – speculation is never a distant prospect.
There were murmurings when scurrying briefs in Phillip Street spotted a barrister about to appear in a Full Federal Court Appeal talking closely that very morning with a judge who was sitting on the appeal.
It was so public that it must have been a close encounter about the weather.
Rural solicitor John Paul Thompson gave an undertaking to the Law Society in 2012 that he would complete the next practice management course.
Despite numerous reminders the undertaking disappeared off Thommo’s radar and he didn’t actually complete the course until July 2017.
There were extenuating circumstances. Thompson lives in the bush, and practice management courses are only offered in Sydney. As NCAT also found, “there were financial difficulties confronting him which rendered it difficult to make time to attend and to travel to Sydney”.
Nonetheless, the tribunal noted that an undertaking is an undertaking.
“So much of litigation and commerce between solicitors depends upon oral and written undertakings being honoured. The failure to honour an undertaking is, in our view, professional misconduct …”
With Thompson admitting to the Law Society’s complaint in its entirety and appearing contrite, the tribunal decided that “this case is at the lower end of the scale” and the poor fellow only deserved a reprimand.
Tribunal member Elayne Hayes even thanked Thommo for turning up.
“I would like to thank you for appearing today. Sometimes the actual applicant does not appear and just relies on a solicitor. We appreciate the fact that you have actually travelled to Sydney to participate in these hearings.”