Acquittal 9% more likely for a judge alone trial

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Daily wrap  

• Judge offers clue of where Lehrmann case is headed [The Australian paywall]

  “As a decision in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case looms, lawyers are poring over a question the judge sent to the parties after Lisa Wilkinson’s court victory against Ten.”
   

  • Submissions on the Online File indicate on 20 February 2024 Justice Lee requested submissions on the following question (among other things) - “In the event the defences fail but no damages, or nominal damages, or contemptuous damages are determined to be the appropriate award, but the Court also reaches the conclusion that there had been conduct on the part of one or both of the respondents which was sufficiently improper to amount to an aggravating circumstance, given the compensatory nature of aggravated damages, what would be the principled position required to be adopted by the Court? And is this a case where it is necessary to distinguish between an award of ordinary compensatory damages (actual or nominal) and any aggravated damages?”
     

• Contempt proceedings to be instituted against “Feminism Debunked” YouTuber - Lehrmann v Network Ten and Ors - Orders 11 March 2024
   

• ABC lawyer claims Antoinette Lattouf ‘prone to exaggeration’ in unfair dismissal case | Australian Broadcasting Corporation | The Guardian
   

  • ABC denies complaints from public behind Antoinette Lattouf being taken off air, Fair Work Commission told - ABC News
     

• New salvo fired in battle between judges and state’s top prosecutor [SMH payawall]

  Legal figures say the worsening tensions between the Director of Public Prosecutions and the state’s judiciary are now toxic and unsustainable.
   

• Councils fear CEOs could be charged with industrial manslaughter over volunteer firefighter deaths - ABC News
   

• Pilots take Qantas to court over ‘unpaid allowance’ [The Australian paywall]

  Qantas has been taken to court by 270 of its pilots for allegedly failing to pay a training allowance they claim they’re owed dating back over six years.
   

• Innocent man wins defamation suit over Facebook post saying he killed ex-Rebels boss Nick Martin
   

Editor’s picks

• The effect of judge-alone trials on criminal justice outcomes - NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research

  “We estimated that compared to jury trials, judge-alone trials are associated on average with a statistically significant nine percentage point increase in the probability of acquittal and a shorter prison sentence by 7.6 months”
   

• Victoria’s first female Queen’s Counsel, Joan Rosanove (Lazarus) (1913) – Ballarat Clarendon College
   

• Labor wants to make ‘doxing’ a crime but how would the proposed laws work? | Law (Australia) | The Guardian
   

• The Public Defenders of NSW - An Essential Arm of the Administration of Justice - Public Defenders Criminal Law Conference 9 March 2024 The Hon. A S Bell Chief Justice of New South Wales
   

• Existing frameworks are key to AI regulation - Law Society Journal
   

  • New AI tech regulation doesn’t need a new wheel | The Law Society of NSW
     

• Speaking the right language - Law Society Journal

  “Almost one in three Australians were born abroad, and one in five speak a language other than English at home. What does the ability to speak additional languages add to a legal career?”
   

• NSWSC media release - Retirement of Justice Simpson

  “Taking into account her service as an Acting Judge of Appeal since 2018, Justice Simpson will retire as the third longest serving judge in the Supreme Court’s 200 year history – a remarkable contribution by any measure. She was only the second woman ever appointed to the Court, following the Hon. Justice Jane Mathews AO, and the first woman to be appointed straight from the Bar.”
   

  • A lives stream of Simpson J’s final sitting will be available here from 9:15 AEDT - Final sitting of the Hon. Justice Carolyn Simpson AO - YouTube
     

• 2024 Selden Society lecture—Dr Raymond Evans on The rigours of truth-telling: Sir Samuel Griffith - YouTube
   

• Former High Court Justice to present inaugural lecture – Proctor

  Former High Court Justice Patrick Keane KC will present an inaugural lecture titled Christian Inspiration and Constitutional Insights on 21 March 2024.
   

• Symposium looks at AI potential – Proctor

  Chief Justice Bowskill spoke of the potential of Artificial Intelligence at the sold-out QLS Symposium on Friday.
   

• Judicial Commission of Victoria - Statement in Relation to Complaint Outcome - Justice Lex Lasry - 4 March 2024

   

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