I sat in court the other day and listened to a gut wrenching, impassioned plea from a mother for her son. The raw emotion expressed by this woman moved everyone in the courtroom. This loving mother however was not pleading to the presiding magistrate to not send her son to gaol. This mother who’s love […]

I recently appeared for a client in suburban Sydney, on a drink driving charge. The client came from a geographical area of Sydney that is a considerable distance from where I normally practice and the matter was listed before one of the few local courts in Sydney in which I had never appeared before. Although […]

Just when you think you have heard it all whilst practicing criminal law for over 15 years, a story pops up to convince you otherwise. Now some people may, although I am sure most people would not, realise that you don’t actually have to strike someone, to be guilty of assaulting them. Merely placing them […]

As a criminal lawyer, one thing that I continually have to remind myself of is the apprehension of your clients when they attend court. Now some of that apprehension comes from the likely penalties the court may impose on them, but also much of the apprehension comes from the foreign environment that a courthouse is […]

Noone said that the job of a judge or magistrate was easy. Wait a second….people actually say that all the time. “These guys are way too soft,” scream the talkback callers and alternatively, “that sentence was completely unfair,” cry the civil libaterians. From my perspective, our judicial officers have a really tough job. Occasionally they […]