Bell CJ on PLT

Daily wrap  

• Bruce Lehrmann's defence applies for messages allegedly sent to rape complainant by Network Ten lawyer in defamation case - ABC News
   

• ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle spared convictions, jail sentence - ABC News
   

  • Human Rights Law Centre criticises Government after sentencing of ATO whistleblower - Law Society Journal
     

• South Australian MP Troy Bell steps down after losing appeal against verdict for fraud and theft offending - ABC News
   

  • BELL v THE KING [2025] SASCA 97 (28 August 2025)
     

• Controversial domestic violence laws pass Queensland parliament as experts warn they could be weaponised against victims | Queensland politics | The Guardian
   

• Kumanjayi White's family sues NT government over 'terrifying' death in custody - ABC News
   

• Matt Wright jury begins deliberations after weeks of evidence in NT Supreme Court trial - ABC News
   

• Ozempic side effects may have caused grandmother to stab family members, court hears - ABC News
   

• Sef Gonzales wins right to appeal life sentence over murders of his family - ABC News

  Triple murderer Sef Gonzales has won the right to appeal his life sentence two decades after being jailed for killing his family.
   

  • Application by Sef Gonzales pursuant to s 78 Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (NSW) (No 6) [2025] NSWSC 555 (20 August 2025)
     

• Transgender soccer player Riley Dennis wins legal case in Sydney court - ABC News
   

• Fair Work warns against reliance on AI for claims [The Australian paywall]

  The workplace tribunal has dismissed a worker’s claim that relied on ChatGPT for legal advice as being ‘hopeless and unnecessarily wasting the resources of the commission’.
   

  • Mr Branden Deysel v Electra Lift Co. [2025] FWC 2289 (8 August 2025)
     

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Editor’s picks

• Cut legal training from three months to three weeks: NSW chief justice [AFR paywall]

  The current mandatory training course for entry to the legal profession has been criticised for its prohibitive cost and poor quality of tuition.
   

  • An update to the profession on the review and reform of Practical Legal Training
     

• ‘Inconsequential’ texts, leaked letters and expensive clothes: five takeaways from the Higgins v Reynolds defamation ruling | Defamation law (Australia) | The Guardian
   

  • A court has found Brittany Higgins defamed Linda Reynolds. Here’s why
     

  • Linda Reynolds wins defamation case against Brittany Higgins, but can either move on? - ABC News
     

• Why were so many Victorian Acts passed in 1958? - Hamish Williamson
   

• Today’s FCAFC livestream - VID1258/2024 Aljazeera International (Malaysia) SDN. BHD. & Ors v To Hun - YouTube
   

• The right to get it wrong [Capital Brief paywall]

  Media lawyers' new public interest defence for defamation "has legs", and the "serious harm" might have helped Brittany Higgins.
   

• Daze in Court - The Bank of Mum and Dad – loans, gifts and Wilburys –Think Foley's – Apple Podcasts

  In this Daze in Court episode, Foley's List barristers Rohan Hoult, Amy Yu, and Partner Tim Gough from Kennedy Partners explore the growing reliance on the “Bank of Mum and Dad” in today’s property market.

  They cover resulting trusts, loan agreements, and the presumption of advancement, highlighting what practitioners need to know when advising clients.
   

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