The NSW bar has complained about attacks on character referees for a convicted rapist … Minister condemns references as “appalling” … A rerun of the Patrick Power case … Contempt … Sticking-up for the offender versus sticking-up for the victim 

DPP in search of a “dynamic and realistic” direction … Rude signage upset crowns … Morgan Ryan sues over He Who Must Be Obeid … The “Little Mate”, aged 95, wants an expedited hearing  

Desperately needed new court complex for Adelaide scrapped in favour of bread and circuses … PPP for justice not delivering value for money … Judges and lawyers labour in Dickensian shame

Gabrielle Upton is the new attorney general for NSW … A well pressed and well ordered product of the Brigidine nuns … Backed by some big guns in the Liberal Party her rise in politics has been swift … Alex Mitchell traces her journey through corporate law, investment banking, New York, and ultimately to the frontbench of the bearpit 

NT Supreme Court hands down judgment in which the president of the NT bar association is accused of sanctioning false statements to a commission of inquiry … Politics Darwin style … Tactics backfire badly in an attempt to ignore political inquiry into former government  

The Poet and the Beast … Incendiary speech from well-respected retiring Queensland Supreme Court judge … Banana Benders in a legal lather … Chief Justice tried to meddle in appointment to Court of Disputed Returns while the government hung in the balance … Former bar president accuses BAQ of failure to stand-up for the judges … Where will it all end? 

Law student attempts to extort payment of outrageous “fantasy” invoice from client … Privileged documents supplied to the ATO … $30 million assessment set aside because of misuse of client privilege … In Melbourne, VCAT suspends the suspension of a local solicitor who was 11 years behind with his tax stuff … Emilie Lentz reports 

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