Lawyer Robots: better, faster, and cheaper
The advancement and sophistication of technology has generated contentious debate about whether robots can displace the jobs of humans. The legal system has a long history of tradition and change often occurs at a slower pace in such institutions. To modernise our current legal system, there have been ongoing efforts to incorporate enhanced technologies such […]
Case Study – A Very Average Unpredictable Day at Burwood Local Court
Our newest addition to our criminal defence team here in Sydney, Emily Wood-Ward, had a challenging start to her sentencing hearing at Burwood Local Court. The client was an older man charged with one count of intimidation with intent to cause fear of physical or mental harm pursuant to section 13 Crimes (Domestic and Personal […]
Child Abuse Material Under The Crimes Act 1900
In 2020 alone, more than 200 Australian’s have collectively paid more than $1.3 million to watch live videos of child sexual abuse activities from the Philippines alone. The Australian Institute of Criminology identified and matched the transactions from accounts in Australian to people arrested for child sexual abuse profiteering. What Are The Legal Penalties For […]
Be Careful Who You Work For
Buried in the Commonwealth Criminal Code is the lesser-known offence of “Dishonestly cause a risk of loss to a Commonwealth entity”. The maximum penalty on indictment is a massive 10 years’ imprisonment (Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) s 135.4(5)). Let’s recap what the offence involves here: a risk of loss. There’s no need to […]
Criminal defence of visa holders, and the integrated representation of client matters
Criminal defence lawyers strive to achieve justice and fairness for their clients every day. Many clients have additional adverse outcomes likely to occur after a conviction. But, for some clients receiving convictions and sentences, their outcomes are often more than financial or occupational. For low-level recidivist Australian citizens, it can often unfortunately simply be a […]
Protecting Good Samaritans: Legal exemptions for the well intentioned
There are many references to the Bible in English law. The principle of the “Good Samaritan” is one of the most famous. It refers to a parable told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 10:25-37). The parable recounts the story of a traveller who was robbed, beaten, and left half-dead on the side […]
On-the-spot fines for drug possession in NSW
The ability of police to issue an on-the-spot fine for drug possession in New South Wales has been in place since early 2019. There are many advantages to receiving an on-the-spot fine as opposed to a court attendance for a drug possession offence. However, the ability for the police to hand out a court attendance […]
Retrovirus: Retroactive change to HIV law changes little-A case study of Aubrey v The Queen
The law in Australia, as in other common law countries, comes from two sources: legislation enacted by parliament and the common law of decisions made by superior courts. What happens when laws passed by a parliament and a case decision are in conflict is that the statute prevails, an important democratic supremacy of parliament. But […]
Breaking the chains: Queensland’s move toward decriminalising sex workers
In Queensland, the sex work industry is pointed on the edge of a ground-breaking transformation as the government contemplates the implementation of the Queensland Law Reform Commission’s recommendations. These proposed changes, which include decriminalising sex work, revising advertising regulations, and providing anti-discrimination protections, have the potential to significantly improve the lives of sex workers and […]
AI is taking over the world and defaming us in the process
If you haven’t heard of ChatGPT then you are living under a rock. This artificial intelligence chatbot has taken the world by storm and is being experimented with by millions of users. Developed by OpenAI, ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool that is conducted by AI technology and trained to have human-like conversations. By […]
