12:00 AM | The Australian Tax Office could soon use stolen Swiss bank account data to identify Australians who it thinks might be evading taxes, according to a Brisbane taxation law specialist.
17 March 2010 | New and improved standards for graduate lawyers entering the work force may be good news for them, but insiders fear the new Legal Services Award means more pay, but less work. 2 comments
17 March 2010 | A new Bill introduced into Parliament today will enable the community to better scrutinise the actions of the Norfolk Island government and administration.
5 March 2010 | A Sydney law firm is intent on being prepared when the economy steps up again by ensuring its lower ranks are filled with lawyers.
17 February 2010 | New legislation will be introduced into the Victorian Parliament to require bars, pubs and clubs to serve free drinking water.
15 February 2010 | A new policy statement released by the peak body representing Australian lawyers aims to highlight a commitment by Australian lawyers to address Indigenous disadvantage in the practice of law.
11 February 2010 | It took a comic skit on the show Spicks and Specs for anyone to realise it, and the Federal Court to confirm it, but the Men at Work's song Down Under has taken its introductory flute riff from hit song derived from Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.
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10 February 2010 | A new reform package could exonerate directors from insolvency trading claims, among other things. Brisbane barrister David Topp writes
28 January 2010 | Western Australia has appointed a new Director of Public Prosecutions in barrister Joseph McGrath.
28 January 2010 | Companies are facing a flood of litigation over claims their emission of greenhouse gases have contributed to global warming.
21 January 2010 | Attorney-General, Robert McClelland has announced additional funding of $360,000 for community legal centres this year.
18 January 2010 | The new head of the body representing the Australian legal profession has made a bid to tie up all the loose strings around reforms to the profession this year.
15 December 2009 | The federal Attorney General today announced the appointment of a new president of the Australian Law Reform Commission.
14 December 2009 | New model laws will harmonise occupational health and safety in every state except Western Australia from 2012.
3 December 2009 | A taskforce charged with developing uniform legislation to regulate the Australian legal profession has today released three new discussion papers.
2 December 2009 | Rumours of a merger between Clifford Chance and law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques have again bubbled up, while the Australian firm maintains that no merger is imminent.
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.
25 November 2009 | Four out of the twenty-two barristers who applied for Senior Counsel positions in Western Australia have been successful.
24 November 2009 | Victorian lawyers have jumped on the newly announced review of the state's anti corruption bodies, saying the issue of "secretive power" needs to go under the microscope.
19 November 2009 | New laws, passed today, will ease confusion for litigators and give more power to the heads of the federal courts.
19 November 2009 | Katrina Sharman, in-house lawyer at Voiceless, the animal protection institute, says the animal farming institute is spinning the law in their favour.
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19 November 2009 | New anti-torture laws, introduced today, are a "landmark" move in the right direction, commentators say.
18 November 2009 | Proposed new stop and search laws being debated in Parliament would put Western Australia one step closer to a police state, says the state’s law society.
17 November 2009 | The Queensland Parliament passed laws last week referring its IR powers to Canberra, despite the Liberal National Party voting against the bill.
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.
11 November 2009 | Australia risks being stuck with an "antiquated regime" of maritime law that is inconsistent with its top trading partners, says a maritime lawyer.
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.
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.
5 November 2009 | Top law officers from around the world will descend upon Australia for the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting in 2011.
4 November 2009 | New workplace legislation has made social media communications between employers and employees more dangerous for employers, according to a leading workplace relations lawyer.
28 October 2009 | A criminal law barrister has taken the helm at the peak body representing Western Australian lawyers.
28 October 2009 | The country’s first legal officer has today introduced legislation designed to modernise personal insolvency laws.
27 October 2009 | Directors of companies may be at increased risk of being personally prosecuted under new draft work safety legislation, legal experts warn.
11:00 AM | Signs that the economy is on the road to recovery are filtering through to the legal market, with recruiters saying business is again pumping.
16 October 2009 | The media is vindicating the independence of the judiciary, according to the Chief Justice of Western Australia.
15 October 2009 | Lawyers say the current laws regarding judges' pensions may discriminate against judges' former spouses.
14 October 2009 | In a coup for Corrs Chambers Westgarth, a financial services expert has handed the firm an insider's view of Australia's future in that area.
13 October 2009 | A new chambers of barristers is set to launch in Victoria.
12 October 2009 | A new study has projected a 4.3 per cent slide in corporate spending on outside counsel next year, on top of this year's 10.8 per cent drop.
9 October 2009 | Two female lawyers are embroiled in a law firm sexual harassment case. 1 comment
6 October 2009 | A court decision has revealed the fine line between a lawyer acting without fear of favour on behalf of a client, and bringing the profession into disrepute.
6 October 2009 | Less than 12 months after opening the doors of its Newcastle office, Brisbane-based law firm McCullough Robertson has expanded its team of lawyers.
30 September 2009 | Freehills and Mallesons have worked on rare earths explorer Lynas Corporation's newly unveiled plan for a heavily discounted $450 million capital raising.
29 September 2009 | One mega firm to rule them all, and one major mid tier firm that will really be able to compete with the top tier, are very real threats to other firms in the Australian legal services industry.
29 September 2009 | The Federal Court has opened the door for legal action against collapsed US investment bank Lehman Brothers.
29 September 2009 | Roman Polanski's lawyers have vowed to fight his extradition from Switzerland 32 years after the film director committed statutory rape.
29 September 2009 | An intellectual property lawyer has been named the top woman lawyer in New South Wales private practice.
28 September 2009 | Two top-tier firms have advised the Victorian Government on its new transport legislation.
25 September 2009 | The country's highest court has announced it will open its doors on the weekend.
24 September 2009 | The Federal Attorney General has labelled the justice outcomes for Indigenous Australians "bleak".
23 September 2009 | A new survey has revealed a large proportion of job hunting lawyers are being creative with their resumes.
08:00 AM | Law firms are offering substantial discounts as work and clients remains scarce.
21 September 2009 | Guantanamo detainee Mamdouh Habib's lawyers have been have excluded from the legal proceedings by government lawyers, according to reports.
21 September 2009 | Kevin Rudd says he's not budging on his emissions trading legislation.
17 September 2009 | Websites in Oman are urging the government to loosen its control of the media and allow crime and corruption to be covered in the press.
16 September 2009 | The federal government imposed its full regulatory weight on Telstra yesterday and made real its threats to split the telecommunications industry giant.
14 September 2009 | The Victorian legal profession is the first state to have a policy on equitable briefing for Indigenous Australian lawyers.
11 September 2009 | A new survey has revealed just how unhappy lawyers working in the top tier are
8 September 2009 | The Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, Michael Black, has come under attack over Federal Court registry services in Tasmania.
3 September 2009 | The new risks climate change presents for the infrastructure industry will reshape its future and lead to an evolution in industry practice and contractual risk allocation, according to a construction and major projects partner.
3 September 2009 | A large law firm has absorbed a small boutique firm in new merger agreement.
31 August 2009 | Australian law schools, at least, are far from failing the profession, law lecturer Simon Rice says. 2 comments
25 August 2009 | Mid-tier Melbourne based law firm Kliger Partners makes a new appointment.
24 August 2009 | Lawyers and law firms need to take up the banner and demand more from law schools, which are failing the profession, Stephen Fairley writes
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17 August 2009 | Victorian property lawyers could soon be using more simplified and streamlined property laws, with a review of existing legislation underway.
17 August 2009 | Debates around judges and magistrates' ability to conduct discretionary sentencing in Western Australia will be thrown to the media today ahead of the proposed mandatory sentencing laws due to pass in Parliament this week.
3 August 2009 | A new law is seeing a number of private equity funds and banks showing interest in law firm investment.
3 August 2009 | Judges will have the power to lead mediation in civil cases under a proposed new law in Victoria.
31 July 2009 | The top tier has a new and passionate opposition, determined to "keep bowling it to them" in the market.
28 July 2009 | A disabled law graduate is taking the bar association to court so that she may sit the bar exams.
9 July 2009 | Rural and regional areas of Victoria faces a severe shortage of legal practitioners, according to a new study of the profession. 2 comments
9 July 2009 | Deacons Brisbane-based workplace relations partner Martin Osborne and senior associate Murray Procter discuss how good lawyers will address the commencement of the Fair Work Act 2009.
8 July 2009 | Bloggers. Love them or loath them, they are a 21st Century force to be reckoned with, and even the legal profession has its stars. 1 comment
12:00 AM | With the 31 August registration deadline for the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act fast approaching, Piper Alderman has warned of how a "large rump" of clients is still in the dark over how changes to emissions may affect their businesses.
12:00 AM | The best advice available to companies following the criminalisation of cartel conduct last week is to make sure they have their "houses in order".
18 June 2009 | Mallesons is the only Australian law firm to gain a place on the Hong Kong initial public offering by Lumena Resources Corp.
15 June 2009 | Law clerks are the latest lawyer group to feel the squeeze of the financial downturn as law firms refuse to pay the escalated rates of the recent past. 1 comment
15 June 2009 | An international anti-terrorism expert will lead a Law Institute of Victoria discussion this week in Melbourne.
12 June 2009 | An environmental lawyer from DLA Phillips Fox will be one of 300 selected participants at the Australia Asia Pacific summit on climate change
11 June 2009 | A scandal has hit the legal community after a lawyer and several judges were found guilty of fraud and bribery.
4 June 2009 | Some experts claim that specialisation at university is a bad idea for lawyers. 2 comments
12:00 AM | Laws to prevent the use of torture will be introduced this year by the Rudd Government, the federal Attorney-General said today.
12 May 2009 | LAWYERS may see increased litigation as the Department of Veterans Affairs gets heavy on the misuse of the word 'Anzac'.
7 May 2009 | About half of all law students now choose a different career field after graduation. They join a growing number of Australian students not pursuing careers in their educational field.
27 April 2009 | UAE laws now available in English; Linklaters forced to pay £5 in damages
17 April 2009 | Blake Dawson, Clayton Utz, and Freehills have joined forces in a bid solve the issue of confidentiality in sexual assault cases.
8 April 2009 | Despite rumours the firm would be making redundancies in addition to the current 89, The New Lawyer understands Blakes has just recruited a new partner in Shanghai.