• Substantive law

This course is designed for all lawyers wishing to refresh their contract law knowledge.

Learning Outcomes: 

This one hour course is designed to make sure you are aware of:

• Terms implied by common Law (Part A)
• Terms implied by Statute (Part B)
• Illegal, void and unfair terms (Part C)
• The penalty doctrine (Part D)

An update on corporate law: Director's and Officer's duties.

This pre-recorded webinar was originally presented as part of Specialist Accreditation Week 2020

Police questioning is happening in laneways, homes and in hospital beds. With the rollout of new technology, police are now frequently questioning people at the scene of their arrest using body worn video. 

These persons may be orally cautioned but this does not go so far as to “provide for the rights of a person so detained” in accordance with the objects of Part 9 of LEPRA. 

Persons interviewed this way are not afforded the opportunity to receive legal advice prior to questioning. The Custody Notification System for Indigenous persons is not utilised. Part 9 rights are vitiated by this policing technique. 

Practitioners are confronted with the admissibility of evidence gathered in this way. The prevalence of this technique and its use in domestic violence offences are matters of professional concern. 

This presentation will explore whether this evidence should and can be the subject of objection and how to go about making objections.

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This pre-recorded webinar was originally presented as part of Specialist Accreditation Week 2020

This session will explore developments in advocacy and the administration of justice from both a pre and post COVID-19 pandemic perspective.  

It will examine the policy and operational context of the criminal justice system in NSW pre COVID-19.  Specifically, it will outline how the business of the District Court and the Local Court, and the prison population have been effected by the drivers of the sustained growth in the number of matters brought before the courts, the District Court backlog initiatives, and the raft of legislative reform including the EAGP, sentencing and parole, high risk offender, and Table offence reforms. It will consider how some legislative reform operates disproportionately against the most disadvantaged people in our community.  

The session will then examine the criminal justice system in NSW post COVID-19.  It will look at the safety measures that have had an impact on advocacy in the criminal courts, as well as legislative changes, and consider how they might affect the criminal justice system in NSW into the future.  

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This pre-recorded webinar was originally presented as part of Specialist Accreditation Week 2020

This session gives an overview of the operations of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) including structure, workflow and workload. The session explores some of the challenges faced by the ODPP including the impact of legislative reform and this risk of vicarious trauma to their staff. Some examples of the work being done to meet these challenges are highlighted. This leads to a discussion around the role of the Prosecutor, the Prosecution Guidelines and how they translate into day to day operations. There are also insights into dealing with the ODPP productively and effectively.

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This pre-recorded webinar was originally presented as part of Specialist Accreditation Week 2020

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT 

Viewers are advised that this content contains graphic details that some may find distressing, including references to sexual offences, child exploitation offences/material/abuse and violence . Please use your discretion before proceeding. If you have experienced sexual assault, domestic or family violence and require assistance, please contact 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) to speak with a counsellor from the National Sexual Assault and Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service. 

If you are in distress, the Solicitor Outreach Service (1800 592 296) and Lifeline (13 11 14) offer 24/7 counselling support. If you are concerned for your safety or that of someone else, please contact the Police or call 000 for emergency assistance. 

In this session, barrister Will Tuckey will examine nuances of sexual assault offences. Topics covered will include the application of ss 32 and 33 in relation to mental illness, sentencing factors including in the case of historical offences, risk assessments, child protection prohibition orders and high risk offenders, and available treatments for clients both in custody and in the community.

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This pre-recorded webinar was originally presented as part of Specialist Accreditation Week 2020

Tendency evidence is a well-known but complicated area of law. It’s use at common law and in accordance with the Evidence Act has been the subject of much case law and a point of contention between different jurisdictions and even different judges. The Evidence Amendment (Tendency and Coincidence) Bill 2020, which commenced on 1 May 2020, recently changed the application and admissibility standards of tendency evidence, especially in child sexual offence cases.  This presentation delves into the origins and application of the tendency provisions in the Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) and examines the recent changes and new provisions introduced by the 2020 Bill.

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This session will explore the scope and nature of the prosecutor’s duty of disclosure in criminal proceedings including:

• Comparing and contrasting the duty owed in summary proceedings and on indictment.
• The extent of what material must be disclosed.
• Who should carry out the disclosure function and what if they don’t personally possess or know about relevant material.
• The fallacy of the investigating police/prosecutor distinction.
• Whether any onus falls on the defence to otherwise obtain the material.
• What happens if a breach of disclosure is revealed, including after conviction.
• How the accused can effectively enforce the duty through various avenues.
• The importance of defence lawyers guarding against perpetuating an entrenched culture of non-disclosure by the prosecution.
• Practical tips for securing disclosure.

• Early simplified prosecution disclosure 
  
• DPP charge certification 
  
• Abolition of Magistrates power to discharge at committal 
  
• Fixed discounts for pleas of guilty
  

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

Viewers are advised that this content contains graphic details that some  may find distressing, including references to child abuse, sexual abuse, violence and suicide. 

Please use your discretion before proceeding. 

If you have experienced sexual assault, domestic or family violence and require assistance, please contact 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) to speak with a counsellor from the National Sexual Assault and Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service. 

If you are in distress, the Solicitor Outreach Service (1800 592 296) and Lifeline (13 11 14) offer 24/7 counselling support. If you are concerned for your safety or that of someone else, please contact the Police or call 000 for emergency assistance.

The Dean Waters murder trial in 1997 was a truly extraordinary case which resulted in the acquittal of Waters to the charges of murder and manslaughter, notwithstanding that, in admitting to the shooting of the deceased, he told police and gave evidence that he was following the commands of his father.

For an act to be criminal, the act must be voluntary: Woolmington v Director of Public Prosecutions [1935] A.C. 462; Bratty v Attorney-General Or Northern Island [1963] A.C. 386 (approved by the High Court in Ryan v the Queen 121 C.L.R. 205 [at pp214 and 215].

The converse is that, even if the accused had earlier formed an intent to commit the particular crime but subsequently, developed a mental state, for example, a dissociated state of the mind, such that, his or her actions were involuntary or unwilled, then the accused may be entitled to an outright or qualified acquittal. 

That may be the result, notwithstanding the common law [rebuttable] presumption that the act of the person is ‘willed’.

A careful analysis of the law of involuntariness will assist you in applying it to the alleged commission of any offence.