Tag: lawyer
  • Criminal Law, Jordan Roles

Locking up kids and other quick ways to get votes in an election year

Holistically, the hope is that many of the root causes of youth crime may be adequately addressed by the proposed programs and funding.
  • Heidi Le Masurier, Technology

Reality Remix

In a world where technology is rapidly evolving, one area remains a hot topic of conversation on the tip of everyone’s tongue. AI Technology is constantly presenting new developments and challenges to every day life. But is it now becoming more problematic than we can comfortably handle? Taylor Swift recently made a sensational splash on […]

  • Brendan Nyst, Technology

Will robots eventually replace lawyers?

Good question. It should come as no surprise to hear that many lawyers – and business people in general – are already accessing some level of AI as a useful tool to help them maximise their efficiency and effectiveness in delivering services to their clientele. But, at the moment, we’re all just taking our first […]

  • Chris Nyst, Opinion, Politics, Privacy

A Right To Know

Don’t you sometimes miss the good, old-fashioned Moral High Ground? As a post-war baby, the world I was born into seemed a brave and righteous one. Our fathers had just fought and died to free us all from fascism and oppression. The world had paid a terrible price, but it was all worth it.  In the end we won, and the Bad Guys lost.
  • Criminal Law, Jonathan Nyst

Youthful Exuberance

School’s out! So hold onto your hats, folks, it's on again. As thousands of school-leavers descend upon Surfers Paradise for the annual ritual of revelry that has become known as Schoolies Week, thousands more parents hold their collective breath in dread and anticipation. The institutional shackles have been broken and cast aside, leaving only the unbridled celebratory passion of youth.
  • Traffic Law

Driver Lock-Out Laws

Over the next 24 months or so, the State government looks set to roll out various amendments to our traffic laws which will have a significant effect on penalties meted out to drink drivers on our roads. On 12 September this year, the Queensland Parliament assented to the Transport Legislation (Road Safety and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2019, which introduces substantial changes to a swathe of traffic regulation legislation. Amongst the more notable changes are provisions regarding the mandatory use of interlock devices for those convicted of any drink driving offence.
  • Chris Nyst, Criminal Law

Hard Cases

Lawyers have this thing they sometimes like to say. “Hard cases make bad law.” It’s true. About thirty years ago I got the job to represent a nice, sweet, softly-spoken lady who stabbed her husband 87 times with a serrated kitchen knife. Not surprisingly he ended up dead as a doornail.
  • Litigation

Justice Denied

Between January 2013 and December 2017, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard evidence revealing that for generations many of our educational and other institutions presided over the systemic abuse of countless defenceless children. Tragically, most of those children, racked with shame, guilt and self-doubt, kept that abuse hidden from sight in deep, dark and destructive secrecy for decades. Some never whispered a word.
  • Criminal Law, Litigation, Politics

Old School Injustice

A generation ago, corporal punishment at school was commonplace. Canings and strappings that would now turn school mums like me apoplectic were once considered a routine and acceptable means of enforcing discipline and taming the unruly child.
  • Alex Somers, Criminal Law, International, Litigation

Trial By Fyre

A brand new Netflix documentary doing the rounds right now has sparked a maelstrom of controversy around the ethical and legal culpability of “social media influencers” in advertising and promoting business brands for profit. The disaster-doco “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” tells the sorry story of the exploits of Billy McFarland, the mastermind behind the failed 2017 “luxury music festival” FYRE.
  • Human Rights, Jonathan Nyst, Politics

A Very Good Start

The late great Nelson Mandela served 27 years in prison for his opposition to the apartheid system of racial segregation in South Africa. When he was finally released from custody in 1990, he famously said "To deny a person their human rights is to challenge their very humanity."
  • Brendan Nyst, Dispute Resolution, Litigation

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 is undoubtedly true. Whilst money may not buy happiness, it can certainly deliver lots of lawyering, and in the cutthroat world of commercial litigation, he with the deepest pockets is often very likely to be at a distinct advantage. Of course, in the modern world, that's true of any competitive environment, from sport to industry to military conflict. The bigger the bucks, the bigger the bang.