TAKING IT TO THE STREETS
We've all heard the news of protesters demonstrating in the streets of Hong Kong, decrying the proposed amendments to that city's extradition laws with China. We've seen [...]
THE SHAME GAME
China has yet again cemented its reputation as the great 21st-century innovator by coming up with a novel new way of convincing its citizens to honour their [...]
NOT MUCH OF A BARGAIN
Once upon a time, if you did the crime you did the time. If not, you walked. Nowadays, it can be somewhat more complicated. The practice of [...]
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PREDICTIVE POLICING
Robot judges in Estonia? American AI sentencing criminals to prison? Computers predicting crimes before they even happen? [...]
SECRET X FILES
This week Sky News aired the explosive documentary “Lawyer X: The Untold Story”, recounting the sorry tale [...]
A TRUE GENTLEMAN
I was very saddened to hear this week of the passing of Rick Carter, the great Australian [...]
IN DEFENCE OF THE DEFENCE
This week the Queensland opposition launched a robust attack on a centuries-old criminal law defence. The 'mistake [...]
HIGH TIME FOR REFORM?
A common submission by Queensland defence lawyers representing drug-driving offenders goes something like this: “My client had [...]
HARD CASES
Lawyers have this thing they sometimes like to say. “Hard cases make bad law.” It’s true. About [...]
JUSTICE DENIED
Between January 2013 and December 2017, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard [...]
MIGRATION BALANCE
Migration continues to feature as a red hot topic for debate on the Australian political landscape, particularly [...]
MEA CULPA
They say confession is good for the soul. That may be so, but sometimes it seems there's [...]
FOOL ME ONCE
There is a Japanese proverb that goes along the lines of “We’re fools whether we dance or [...]
OLD SCHOOL INJUSTICE
A generation ago, corporal punishment at school was commonplace. Canings and strappings that would now turn school mums [...]
POLITICS, SEX AND RELIGION
It’s often said one should never discuss politics, sex or religion at a dinner party. The latest [...]
TRIAL BY FYRE
A brand new Netflix documentary doing the rounds right now has sparked a maelstrom of controversy around [...]
A CURE FOR THE COMMON SCOLD
The wheels of Justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine. One of the biggest movies of 1967 [...]
PRE-NUPTIAL BLISS
The latest news about Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon and Forbes Rich List’s wealthiest [...]
ENTERTAINMENT -v- EVIDENCE
The concept of an impartial jury is central to the operation of our criminal justice system. For [...]
A TOUGH JOB
Before you can become a plumber or a carpenter you have to undertake years of technical training, [...]
A VERY GOOD START
The late great Nelson Mandela served 27 years in prison for his opposition to the apartheid system [...]
IN THE COMPANY OF HEROES
On 11 November 1918, at the French town of Compiegne, high-ranking officers of the Entente, the coalition [...]
A MEAL EATEN COLD
The Italians say Revenge is a meal that’s best eaten cold. I guess Jimmy Bulger would have [...]
THE PHANTOM OF YOUTH
They say youth is wasted on the young. But it may not always be so. Around one [...]
THE IRE OF THE BEHOLDER
Like beauty itself, art is undoubtedly very much in the eye of the beholder. A couple of [...]
LEAVE STRESS
Recent legislative changes in New Zealand introducing 10 days paid leave for victims of domestic violence, are [...]
BIG BUCKS -v- THE DREADED SELF-LITIGANT
Those more cynical than I have been sometimes known to quip that "Justice favours the well-heeled". It [...]
A CERTAIN UNCERTAINTY
It has long been accepted that the element of certainty is essential to the rule of law. [...]
THE THIN BLUE LINE
Everyone who’s ever punt-kicked a Sherrin has chimed in to have their say on the recent brew-ha-ha [...]
THE ROAD AHEAD
By the time the ambulance arrived the young man in the front passenger seat was already dangerously [...]
RESTING PEACEFULLY
Unfortunately, sooner or later we all have to turn our minds to the prospect of shuffling off [...]
DEPUTY DOG
With the festival season back in full swing, plenty of music lovers are sure to find themselves [...]
SPERM AND EGGS
The Six Degrees of Separation being what they are, you almost certainly know someone, or someone who [...]
RAT RACERS
Remember the old joke about lawyers and rats? In case you don't, here's how it goes – [...]
ONE SIZE FITS ALL?
Somebody please tell me - when are the politicians going to learn? Justice just isn't a one-size-fits-all [...]
WHO’S PAYING FOR MY BUS FARE?
Society's more forgettable characters sometimes prove to be life's most memorable ones. About twenty years ago I [...]
FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY
We all like to be kept in the manner to which we are accustomed. Under the Family [...]
STORMY CLOUDS
Anyone who has been following US domestic politics over the past 12 months will be aware of [...]
THE BEST AND WORST
The 19th century French novelist Gustave Flaubert was a stickler for style. His scrupulous devotion to literary [...]
SO FAR, SO GOOD
The sad reality of the uncertain times in which we live is that any major public event [...]
AN UNCOMMON COMMODITY
Without doubt, self-preservation is the most powerful and compelling of all human instincts. The will to survive [...]
ME TRUE
They say the truth will set you free. But when it comes to defamation, I wouldn't count [...]
BOOM BUSINESS FOR LAWYERS
A lot of criminal and family lawyers are these days complaining that a big chunk of their [...]
UBER CRITICAL
As the bartender gave me the nod for last drinks, I reached for my mobile. It was [...]
CELEBRATION
On the weekend our parks were full of Australia Day revellers. Most, I expect, were celebrating their [...]
THE FAME GAME
Way back in 1968, Andrew Warhola, better known as the iconic American artist, director and film producer [...]
MASSIVE FEET
As usual, this week the big news is breaking first right here on the Nyst Legal blog. [...]
TWENTIETH CENTURY HERO
The 1953 Morris Minor utility was small by any standard. Its cabin was barely big enough for [...]
INTOXICATED PEOPLE
This week I learned some stuff about intoxicated people. Given the popular national penchant for a cold [...]
HARVEY-WORLD TROUBLES
The nasty news, gossip and scandal that started with Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein has grown into a [...]
THE MAN IN THE ARENA
When I first started doing trial work as a young lawyer I was constantly surprised and intrigued [...]
THE BEST-LAID PLANS
The weather’s already started to heat up, and summer’s on its way. Woo-hoo! That means cocktails, beers [...]
SEPARATION AND AN IKEA FUTURE
Marriage breakdown can be tough. Even when separating parties are more than pleased to wave their erstwhile [...]
JUDGEMENT DAY
The other night I had the craziest dream. Remember Haley Joel Osment? He's that cute-but-oh-so-creepy little weird [...]
THE GREAT DISSENTER
“I am the result of a loving upbringing in a peaceful country, with wonderful parents and siblings, [...]
REDEMPTION ROAD
There is no more powerful human narrative than the story of redemption, the assurance that no matter [...]
THE EXECUTOR AND THE PRODIGAL SON
By all accounts the recently deceased was a pretty cranky old dude. Even his life-long best friend, [...]
HOW SWEET IT IS
As a longtime lover of the ‘Sweet Science’, I felt a secret sense of satisfaction in watching [...]
SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS
It's funny the way things seem to go on swings and roundabouts. In 1945 the troops returned [...]
THE RULE OF LAW
In a time of increasingly vigorous criticism of some of our court processes, many were taken aback [...]
WINNERS AND LOSERS
The thrill of the punt is not for everyone. It can be a tough game. To the [...]
REASONABLE CONDUCT
The threat last week by One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts to report Fairfax Media journalists to police [...]
SIFTING THROUGH THE DROSS
The Roman Catholic Cardinal George Pell has retained a brilliant USSR-born, Jewish lawyer to defend him. Melbourne-based [...]
DOLI INCAPAX
Youngest offender ever charged with murder In the early hours of the morning following Australia Day last [...]
THE BIRDS IS COMING
I read a news story just the other day about a self-declared “grammar vigilante” who reportedly prowls [...]
FEUD
Some court cases concern life and liberty, some are about money and manipulation, and others grubby politics [...]
A FOREIGN LAND
The sentencing this week in China of three Australian employees of James Packer’s Crown Resorts brings into [...]
ON THE EDGE
I was contemplating suicide this week. Not personally contemplating the actual deed mind you - in fact, [...]
CITIZEN JOHN AND THE GENIE
There’s a common misconception in some circles that only criminals, miscreants and ne’er-do-wells attract the attention of [...]
PAROLE ON TRIAL
The Prime Minister’s call for an overhaul of state parole laws in the wake of this week's [...]
FIXATED FOLK
This week I learned something kind of crazy that I never knew before.A gentleman came to my [...]
Nyst Legal Establishes a Brisbane Presence
Nyst Legal is recognised as one of Queensland’s leading criminal and regulatory law firms.Whilst we have been [...]
THE BETTER PART OF US
The 1959 German film Die Bruecke by director Bernhard Wiki is set in the final days of [...]
A SMALL, SMALL WORLD
On June 28, 1963, the then-President of the United States of America, the late great John Fitzgerald [...]
TRUE BELIEVERS
Legalising medicinal cannabis in Australia, the debate rages on. “Cannabis sativa is the greatest wonder-drug ever known [...]
TRIAL BY INTERNET
How does the criminal justice system cope with the information revolution of the Internet? In the first [...]
MORE ROBUST TIMES
For many the recent retrospective by Brisbane’s Courier Mail newspaper, celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the [...]
BETWEEN MAN AND MYTH
There is so often a deep, unpassable chasm between man and myth. The late James Rieher Snuka, [...]
WELCOME TO OCEANIA
We live in an everchanging world. Early in 2016, it was announced by the British government that [...]
FAIR GO AUSTRALIA
What goes around always seems to come around again. In February 1862 a familiar advertisement appeared in [...]
TAKING A BACKSEAT
In the old days good girls were told to stay out of the back seat of cars. [...]
DOG DAY AFTERNOON
Over the break I dropped in for a day of musical mayhem at the annual Falls Music [...]
SANTA BAN
It seems like people can always find something to fight about, even at Christmas time. I guess [...]
THE GENTEEL SILENCE
The complaint this week from would-be patrons of a popular Adelaide hotel that they were refused entry [...]
SELECTIVE AMNESIA
Remember that awesome pub-crawl you went on in first year uni, the one organised by your student [...]
THE MAN ON THE CLAPHAM OMNIBUS
Lawyers are well acquainted with the Reasonable Man. After all, he’s each and every one of us, [...]
SCHOOLIES, LOCKOUT LAWS AND JELLY SHOTS
With Schoolies 2016 and the Christmas silly season soon upon us, licensed premises owners, staff and patrons [...]
THE EDUCATION OF AMASA
The Bible tells us that the sinner Saul was struck down on the road to Damascus. In [...]
RACY BEHAVIOUR
This weekend’s Castrol Gold Coast 600 is yet another reminder that some people just seem to be [...]
SEND IN THE CLOWNS
The circus is in town. A crazy new phenomenon is sweeping across the US, Europe, and now [...]
ATTACK OF THE DRONES
With the currently almost endemic proliferation in Australian society of audio- and video-recording mobile phones, and the [...]
BRINGING UP BABY
When couples are separating, and negotiating who gets what from the joint property pool, pets (most frequently [...]
STOOL PIGEONS & G MEN
G men love stoolies. It’s a fact of life. Over the centuries, the one thing that has [...]
BIG MONEY BARNEYS
Big-time prize fighting has always walked hand in hand with big money litigation. It’s a world of [...]
NRL MATCH FIXING INVESTIGATION
Today’s news that six NRL stars will be interrogated over alleged match fixing, and face jail if [...]
THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF TELEMARKETING
In Australia we have some of the strictest telemarketing laws in the world and we need to. [...]
BOOM TOWN
When I was a kid my brothers and I used to watch those corny old black-and-white midday [...]
CITY OF DREAMS
When I was a young girl growing up in Brazil, I would often visit family and friends [...]
WIDENING THE DOOR ON BCIPA
A recent decision handed down in the Brisbane Magistrates Court could have far reaching effects for building [...]
A MATTER OF RESTRAINT
Today’s news out of the Broncos Rugby League headquarters about an alleged “drunken incident” involving star centre [...]
PRIVACY TALK
With Census Night just around the corner everyone is suddenly talking about Privacy. And so they should [...]
CAN POLICE JUST RANDOMLY STOP AND SEARCH ME?
At festivals like Splendour in the Grass and Greazefest, music lovers have become accustomed to seeing police [...]
TRIAL OF THE CENTURY
I was blown away by the latest ESPN ‘30 for 30’ documentary, ‘O.J.: Made in America’. Like [...]
HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR CREDIT STATUS LATELY?!
Have you checked your credit status lately? Chances are you’ve never heard of organisations like VEDA, Dunn [...]
THE CANDYMAN CAN
Our perhaps most flamboyant and controversial client, the Gold Coast’s own Candyman, tobacco franchising supremo Mr Travers [...]
TROLLS BEWARE
The Australian justice system has at last stomped decisively into the 21st century, striking out at online [...]
THE WINDS OF CHANGE
What goes around comes around, I guess. My wife and I spent this week visiting our youngest [...]
ALI RIP
Over the weekend, a great hero passed away. Muhammad Ali was not just a giant of the [...]
AMERICAN PIE
Something crazy is happening in America right now. Crazy, and eerily familiar. As the left and right [...]
FAIR ENOUGH
"That’s not fair.” My client’s assessment was spot-on, and more than a little ironic, given he was [...]
SEX AND THE SLEEPY
Life is a risky undertaking that involves an endless series of perilous decisions. Some turn out triumphant, [...]
CRACKING THE EGG
We work all our lives to create a nest-egg that will hopefully sustain us comfortably in our [...]
BETWEEN MAIN AND DESSERT
“So what did you think of the Baden-Clay decision?” It was the question I’d been dreading all [...]
SADLY, A GROWTH INDUSTRY
In the mid-1960’s around 10% of all Australian marriages ended in divorce. According to the Australian Institute [...]
SCARY STORIES
This summer many of us became budding couch detectives and expert criminologists, all from the air-conditioned comfort [...]
BIG DOG SAYS “GOODNIGHT”
The hottest of hot topics in this state for the past couple of weeks has been the [...]
OCEAN ROAD MAGAZINE 2016 SUMMER ISSUE
I am thrilled to see that the current 2016 Summer Issue of the prominent lifestyle publication Ocean [...]
STOLEN CHILDREN
Family law disputes often involve haggling over tens or hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of property, [...]
DOGS AND SMALL CHILDREN
The old show business adage warns you should never work with animals or children. They’re unruly, unpredictable, [...]
INTRODUCING GISELE REID
Next Monday, when Nyst Legal officially re-opens its doors for 2016, we will have the pleasure of [...]
FOR THE RECORD…
Last week the press had a field day taking pot-shots at Southport magistrate Bernadette Callaghan for ordering [...]
THE HERO OF PALMYRA
The armed militants of Daesh, pillaging and plundering their way across the Middle East, proclaim themselves heroes of [...]
NEW FIX FOR SERIAL JUNKIES
If you're hooked, as I am, on the phenomenally popular podcast, Serial, crank up those earphones and [...]
WOULD YOU BELIEVE…
Criminal defence lawyers often deal with desperate people - desperate to clear their name, desperate to establish their [...]
“KELLY” MACGROARTY RIP
This week saw the passing of my very dear friend and mentor Kelly Macgroarty, one of Queensland’s [...]
SWEET LITTLE FISH
Little fish are sweet. High profile defamation actions and messy murder trials may make for big headlines, [...]
TAKING ON THE STATE
Experienced lawyers will tell you, you can’t really call yourself a litigator until you’ve won the unwinnable [...]
FROM LITTLE THINGS
Last week ‘New York’s Finest’ were reaching for their Smartphones, posting happy snaps of panhandlers begging on [...]
A FINE COMMERCIAL LINE
Last month the Nyst Legal commercial litigation team spent nearly two weeks in the Federal Court in [...]
POLICY OR POLITICS?
Last week the Supreme Court ordered the Queensland Parole Board to pay convicted bank robber Brenden Abbott’s [...]
CSI WASHINGTON DC
So you think that all CSI stuff is pretty impressive, huh? Think again. On February 24, 1981, [...]
THE BLOODY INSULT
Not everything's about money. One of my favourite Australian films of all time is Ken Hannan’s classic [...]
A VERY BIG CALL
I was surprised to read this week former Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock's comment that it is unlikely [...]
THE RUMBLE OF TURBULENT TIMES
Well, the final figures are in, and it's official - the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. prize-fight last [...]
PARTY TIME
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the suburbs… Earlier this year, eight [...]
VERNONS MUSIC AWARD
Nyst Legal trainee lawyer Jonny Nyst, did the Gold Coast proud last night with a first-place gong [...]
DALLIANCE DISCOUNTS
If you're thinking of sharing your bed with someone sometime soon, it might be best to stop and [...]
RUFFLED EAGLE FEATHERS
A clash of Queensland judicial personalities flared earlier this week, with the Courier Mail newspaper reporting on [...]
A CRISIS OF CREDIBILITY
Sadly, there is a growing sense of inevitability surrounding impending execution of Bali Nine members Andrew Chan [...]
A CALL TO ALL GOOD MEN
It’s high time for good men to stand up and do something about domestic violence. Last year domestic [...]
Vive l’humanité
As distressing as last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris proved to be, they were not the first, [...]
SHOWTIME
Talk about art imitating life imitating art imitating life. In the 2002 American action-comedy movie Showtime two odd-couple cops [...]
Open Justice
Questions about racial inequality continue to simmer in the United States following last week's decision of a [...]
THE UNDERBELLY ISSUE
A couple of years back, at the International Criminal Law Congress, I delivered a paper on the [...]
TEN YEARS ON
10 years ago today, on 27 November 2004, the indigenous community of Palm Island erupted. The islanders [...]
Supreme Court Rules Incentive Clawbacks Unenforceable
What goes up must come down, and vice versa. In a town that’s seen more than its [...]
LEST WE FORGET
Today marks the 96th anniversary of the end of World War I. In four short years that conflict [...]
EXACTLY WHAT THEY TAKE
Frank Darabont’s 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption is an enduring classic of American cinema. Based on the [...]
TO HAVE AND TO HOLD
They say money can't buy happiness, but most of us are willing to give it a shot. [...]
BIG THINGS GROW
From little things big things grow. How true it is. I was filled with an enormous sense [...]
SO LONG MAGGIE AND DAVE, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISSION
I guess just about everybody who's ever had anything much to do with the Australian film industry [...]
CARLY NYST ADDRESSES UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
On Friday last week my dear daughter Carly Nyst, a UK-based Australian lawyer who is currently the [...]
NO SURPRISE IN PISTORIUS VERDICT
Notwithstanding all the hoopla being currently kicked up in the public press, I expect the verdict hardly [...]
SATTS TELLS IT ALL IN GLORY DETAIL
Yesterday I joined South Sydney faithful at the old Redfern Town Hall in Sydney for the launch [...]
CEDRIC HAMPSON, ONE OF GOD’S OWN GENTLEMEN. RIP.
When I received a call last night to hear my old friend and mentor Cedric Hampson QC had [...]
NEED FOR RESTRAINT
Earlier this week I was sitting in the public gallery of a Magistrates Court on the Sunshine [...]
BREAKING THE CYCLE
Violence begets violence. We’ve all become accustomed to television images of US police responding to even the [...]
HEAVEN FORBID, MAYBE EVEN YOU AND ME
Last week I was invited by Amnesty International to join a panel of criminal justice experts discussing [...]
ANIMAL RIGHTS, OR JUST PLAIN MONKEY BUSINESS?
As a novelist and film-maker, and advisor to a singer-songwriter son heavily involved in the music industry [...]
BACK TO THE FUTURE – SOUTHPORT NAMED THE ‘NEW’ CBD
It's great to see Southport officially recognised by the State Government as the Gold Coast's ‘new’ CBD. [...]
WHY HIGHER RESIDENTIAL DENSITY MAKES SOUND SOCIO-ECONOMIC SENSE
Established in 2008, the Grattan Institute is a Melbourne-based public policy think tank which focuses on the [...]
BUGGING COFFINS?! HAS IT REALLY COME TO THIS?
Years ago I was involved in a major Australian Federal Police investigation into a high-profile union administrator [...]
WHEN ARE YOUNG COPS GOING TO BE TAUGHT CHOKER HOLDS ARE LETHAL?
About 20 years ago I acted for a young police officer who was charged with assault occasioning [...]
STAY OFF SOCIAL MEDIA AND OUT OF THE FAMILY COURT?
Over the past several years anecdotal experience in the our family law practice has had some at [...]
BROTHER FOR BROTHER
We choose our friends. We don’t choose our family. But family is family, for better or for [...]
WATCH PHONES TAKING US BACK TO THE FUTURE.
When I was a kid every afternoon after school my brothers and I used to love watching [...]
PRE-NUPTIAL AGREEMENTS NOW CENSORING SOCIAL MEDIA. OKAY, WHY NOT?
These days the ambit of Pre-Nuptial Agreements is extensive, in some cases even regulating partners’ behaviour and [...]
HOT MUGSHOT GUY – ARE WE SERIOUSLY LOSING IT?
The story that went viral last week about the so-called "hot mugshot guy" Jeremy Meeks raises some [...]
RESISTANCE TO CRUISE SHIP TERMINAL – SOUND POLICY OR JUST NOSTALGIA?
I see Councillor Susie Douglas is leading the charge with the Gold Coast Community Alliance to fight [...]
IS THE CHIEF JUSTICE DEBATE ABOUT CARMODY?
I read with great interest the newspaper report on comments made by Court of Appeal Justice John [...]
WHAT SORT OF PEOPLE DO WE WANT AS OUR JUDGES?
Opinions differ as to how we should select our judicial officers. Inevitably, ambitions, politics and prejudice play [...]