TEN GUILTY WITCHES
In February 1692, in a secluded village in the isolated British American colony of Massachusetts, 9-year-old Betty Parris and her 11-year-old cousin Abigail Williams, began to behave [...]
BEHAVING BADLY O.S.
Last week, Australian man Jock Palfreeman was released from a Bulgarian prison after being incarcerated for 8 years and 11 months for the murder of a local [...]
THE VIOLENCE THEY SUFFER
Four men made headlines recently for chasing down a knife-wielding man in a crowded Sydney street and, armed only with milk crates and chairs, tackling him to [...]
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TAKING IT TO THE STREETS
We've all heard the news of protesters demonstrating in the streets of Hong Kong, decrying the proposed [...]
THE SHAME GAME
China has yet again cemented its reputation as the great 21st-century innovator by coming up with a [...]
NOT MUCH OF A BARGAIN
Once upon a time, if you did the crime you did the time. If not, you walked. [...]
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 [...]