Subscribe to our blog and enjoy observations on life and the law.
Online form provided by Vision6
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 – Franchising Agreements And Breach Of Contract
Last month the Nyst Legal commercial litigation team spent nearly two weeks in the Federal Court in Melbourne, ...
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, a young woman was ...
The Bloody Insult
Not everything's about money.One of my favourite Australian films of all time is Ken Hannan’s classic 1975 drama ...
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 month ...
Party Time – Regulating The Party House
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the suburbs…
Earlier this year, eight years after he made national ...
Vernon’s Music Award
Nyst Legal trainee lawyer Jonny Nyst, did the Gold Coast proud last night with a first-place gong at the ...
Dalliance Discounts – De Facto Provisions Of The Family Law Act
If you're thinking of sharing your bed with someone sometime soon, it might be best to stop and think about ...
Ruffled Eagle Feathers
A clash of Queensland judicial personalities flared earlier this week, with the Courier Mail newspaper reporting ...
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 – Stop Domestic Violence
It’s high time for good men to stand up and do something about domestic violence. Last year domestic violence was ...
Vive l’humanité
As distressing as last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris proved to be, they were not the first, and certainly not ...
Showtime
Talk about art imitating life imitating art imitating life.
In the 2002 American action-comedy movie Showtime two ...
Open Justice – Racial Inequality, Video Evidence And Probable Cause
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 effect of pre-trial ...
Ten Years On
10 years ago today, on 27 November 2004, the indigenous community of Palm Island erupted. The islanders had just ...
Supreme Court Rules Incentive Clawbacks Unenforceable
What goes up must come down, and vice versa. In a town that’s seen more than its share of booms and busts, ...
Lest We Forget
Today marks the 96th anniversary of the end of World War I. In four short years that conflict resulted in an ...
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
Picture: Dylan Nolte
Source: Unsplash In a recent matrimonial property dispute case, the Full Bench of the Family ...
Big Things Grow
From little things big things grow. How true it is.
I was filled with an enormous sense of pride recently when I ...
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 has a soft spot ...
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 Legal Director ...
No Surprise In Pistorius Verdict
Notwithstanding all the hoopla being currently kicked up in the public press, I expect the verdict hardly raised ...
Satts Tells It All In Glory
Yesterday I joined South Sydney faithful at the old Redfern Town Hall in Sydney for the launch of Glory, Glory, ...
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 passed away at his home ...
Need For Restraint
Earlier this week I was sitting in the public gallery of a Magistrates Court on the Sunshine Coast waiting for my ...
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 the human ...
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 here ...
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. What a ...
Why Higher Residential Density Makes Sound Socio-Economic Sense
Picture: Dmitry Osipenko
Source: UnsplashEstablished in 2008, the Grattan Institute is a Melbourne-based public ...
Bugging Coffins?! Has It Really Come To This?
Picture: Rhodi Lopez
Source: UnsplashYears ago I was involved in a major Australian Federal Police investigation ...
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 grievous bodily ...