In a first for the Australian judiciary, the federal government announced Friday it is commencing an open hiring process for new judges, with public job advertisements seeking expressions of interest for appointments to the Federal Court of Australia and Federal Circuit and Family Court.
A Federal Court judge who recently ordered new pleadings in a copyright case against CoreLogic is the latest judge fed up with plaintiffs pleading innumerable alternatives that waste court resources, add to the length of trials and extend the wait time for judgments.
The Federal Court has come out in defence of one of its own, characterizing some media coverage of Justice Mordy Bromberg’s appointment to the Australian Law Reform Commission as “ill-informed”, in a statement strongly backed by lawyers and a leading judicial expert.
The NSW Supreme Court will welcome two prolific commercial silks to the bench, including a barrister known as an advocate for gender equality at the bar.
The Victorian government has elevated an Associate Justice who has overseen class actions and a senior counsel who assisted the Victorian royal commission into Crown Resorts to serve as judges on the Supreme Court of Victoria.
The Australian Federal Police will investigate concerns that restricted material produced during the criminal trial of accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann was leaked to select media outlets.
A judge from the Supreme Court of Victoria has been selected to lead the successor to the troubled Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which will be abolished following allegations the former government appointed political allies with no expertise.
The legal profession is mourning the death of long-serving barrister and former Federal Court judge David Jackson KC, hailed as a “giant of the Australian Bar”.
A silk who represented mining giant Wright Prospecting in long-running litigation over the Hope Downs mine has been appointed to the bench of the NSW Court of Appeal.
The Federal Court’s new Chief Justice Debra Mortimer will bring a sense of adventure to her role as top judge, which she foreshadowed will be approached holistically in a welcome ceremony before pre-eminent members of the legal community.