16 February 2010 | The Attorney-General has acknowledged the sentences imposed by the NSW Supreme Court in the trial of five individuals convicted of terrorism offenses.
4 February 2010 | One of the country's top judges, NSW Chief Justice James Spigelman, this week used an address at the opening of the state's law term to issue a call to arms for the nation's judicial system. 1 comment
3 February 2010 | The federal opposition has drawn a line in the sand on the idea of a national judiciary, saying the idea if "profoundly antifederal" that would be dominated by the Commonwealth.
28 January 2010 | Western Australia has appointed a new Director of Public Prosecutions in barrister Joseph McGrath.
21 January 2010 | Attorney-General, Robert McClelland has announced additional funding of $360,000 for community legal centres this year.
12 January 2010 | Michael McGarvie will replace Victoria Marles as Victoria's new Legal Services Commissioner.
12 January 2010 | The country's first legal officer has made a bid to ensure Australia's policy of opposition to the death penalty is reflected in law enforcement cooperation with other countries.
15 December 2009 | The federal Attorney General today announced the appointment of a new president of the Australian Law Reform Commission.
3 December 2009 | A taskforce charged with developing uniform legislation to regulate the Australian legal profession has today released three new discussion papers.
27 November 2009 | Older people may have better access to legal services if the federal government’s plans for older people in the law, tabled yesterday in Parliament, are successful.
26 November 2009 | Australia is set to become a global leader in international arbitration after Attorney General Robert McClelland yesterday tabled legislative amendments in Parliament.
19 November 2009 | New anti-torture laws, introduced today, are a "landmark" move in the right direction, commentators say.
17 November 2009 | Lawyers in Western Australia are furious over news that a 12 year old boy was held in detention after receiving a stolen chocolate worth 70 cents. 2 comments
12 November 2009 | The sometimes derided "ambulance chasers" of the legal profession have become the centre of a national consultation between government and lawyers.
12 November 2009 | The top legal officers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, England and Wales and the United States met in London last week to tackle various common crime-related and legal issues.
10 November 2009 | A new framework aimed at tackling Indigenous disadvantage in law and justice has been developed by commonwealth and state and territory governments.
10 November 2009 | Australia's top legal officers have agreed to push for new legislation that will ease the over-litigious nature of arbitration.
9 November 2009 | Lawyers need to be spared the burden of government interference in professional conduct and regulation, the profession itself claims.
9 November 2009 | The federal Attorney General has flown to London to meet four of his international counterparts. Together they will try and solve various common legal issues.
6 November 2009 | Lawyers are largely unaware of the process of dispute resolution, and are foiling appropriate resolution of cases as they push them through the court system.
5 November 2009 | Top law officers from around the world will descend upon Australia for the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting in 2011.
3 November 2009 | Lawyers in Western Australia have reacted to a new report revealing a decline in legal aid funding.
28 October 2009 | The country’s first legal officer has today introduced legislation designed to modernise personal insolvency laws.
26 October 2009 | Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, has met with the Chief Justice of the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq and Chief of the Higher Juridical Council of Iraq.
21 October 2009 | External lawyers have been paid many million by the Attorney General's Department in the past year, a new report reveals.
20 October 2009 | Trying to beat ever-advancing technology to the mark it a major feat, but it's one the Western Australian government is working towards with new legislation around identity crime.
13 October 2009 | Five barristers have been nominated as the best and brightest in the Victorian profession, and lifted to the ranks of the state's top court.
8 October 2009 | The peak body representing Australian lawyers has welcomed today's release of the National Human Rights Consultation report, which recommends the adoption of a Human Rights Act.
29 September 2009 | An intellectual property lawyer has been named the top woman lawyer in New South Wales private practice.
25 September 2009 | A recent and expensive case has highlighted the power of WorkCover, South Australia, to prosecute at will, riling the state's shadow Attorney General and its highest court.
24 September 2009 | The Federal Attorney General has labelled the justice outcomes for Indigenous Australians "bleak".
23 September 2009 | South Australia's Attorney-General has criticised the use of private practice lawyer firms for WorkCover cases.
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21 September 2009 | The peak body representing Australian legal professionals has attacked the federal Attorney-General for pandering to popular stereotypes about lawyers.
17 September 2009 | Top legal eagles are today weighing in on how to regulate the legal profession
7 September 2009 | Five major Australian firms are on the brink of announcing their own support services for young graduate staff and law students.
3 September 2009 | DLA Phillips Fox partner Anthony Willis speaks to Kate Gibbs about his work as a Government law firm partner in a changing economy and political world.
28 August 2009 | The open warfare between the Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, and the DPP is unprecedented...
26 August 2009 | The Attorney General has shot angry fire over claims NSW's best prosecutors were learning how to shoot at an expensive conference as courts were underfunded and understaffed.
21 August 2009 | The nation's first legal officer has welcomed the passage of legislation to support the streamlined delivery of law and justice services across jurisdictional boundaries.
18 August 2009 | Lawyers will be able to argue their cases with the click of a mouse after a new court initiative announced by the NSW state government this week.
13 August 2009 | The country's first legal officer has moved to soften Australia's counter-terrorism laws, just a week after police raided a cell of suspected terrorists in Melbourne.
28 July 2009 | The justice system needs a hospital-like triage function that will help users navigate a "bewildering array of disparate institutions", the country's first legal officer said yesterday.
3 July 2009 | The Attorney-General has launched the International Pro Bono Advisory Group in a drive to promote international pro bono work by Australia’s legal profession.
19 June 2009 | Sydney barrister David Davies SC, has been appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
19 June 2009 | The Australian Law Reform Commission yesterday recommended a comprehensive overhaul of the country's secrecy laws.
11 June 2009 | The country's first legal officer has defended the Federal Government's decision to merge general law magistrates into the Federal Court.
22 May 2009 | Laws to prevent the use of torture will be introduced this year by the Rudd Government, the federal Attorney-General said today.
20 May 2009 | THE Chief Justice of Australia's highest court has delivered a timely speech about the challenges of court funding.
11 May 2009 | The Federal Government has announced more than $20 million in additional one-off funding for legal assistance programs.
5 May 2009 | The Federal Magistrates Court is going to be scrapped as part of a federal government bid to make the court system more affordable for users.
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4 May 2009 | New South Wales judges will be able to impose a tight rein on lawyers and force intensive pre-trial conferences following the release of a landmark report from within the senior ranks of the justice system.
30 April 2009 | TODAY the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has agreed on a plan to achieve national regulation of the Australian legal profession.
29 April 2009 | New site for Lavan Legal; New WA District Court judge
22 April 2009 | Lawyers battle over people's right to choose counsel; Washington judge in prostitute trouble
16 April 2009 | Victoria's Attorney-General has broken ranks with his interstate colleagues over how to tackle the problem of the nation's outlaw bikie gangs.
16 April 2009 | Fifteen years late, the Western Australian Government and the Yawuru people have reached an agreement to resolve native title and heritage issues in Broome.
16 April 2009 | Attorney-General Rob Hulls has called for a national framework for formalised human rights protection, and urged the federal Government to adopt a national model similar to the Victorian Charter.
6 April 2009 | A-G McClelland has asked the ALRC to review Royal Commissions' power.
3 April 2009 | THE peak body representing lawyers in Queensland has asked not to be left out of consultations over the creation of new laws targeting bikie gangs.
31 March 2009 | Barrister Jennifer Davies SC was today appointed as a new judge on the Victorian Supreme Court.
20 February 2009 | As ongoing dialogue around the details of a national legal profession continues to frustrate the national Attorney-General, the roles of the Law Council and the state attorneys is debated in our national newspapers.