Law firms offer clients the best available cone of silence. It’s expensive, but the service also blocks out sight and smell. It’s even fireproof ... more

When lawyers “follow the fees” where does that lead our legal system? ... Tulkinghorn asks, should privately funded defence lawyers be required to tell victims of crime where the defence legal fees are coming from, and how much they are? ... more

Could you lend me your wallet for a while? The trust account is both a sacred cow and a milch cow. Anyone who thinks trust accounts should be trusted probably believes, along with Homer Simpson, that wallet inspectors also exist ... more

Providing cover for the “dirty” cases … Tulkinghorn teases apart the fiction of one of the bar’s prized ethical flourishes – the “cab rank” rule. Isn’t it about time it was scrapped? ... more

Trust Tulkinghorn not to be enthusiastic about Dr Cashman’s review of civil justice in Victoria. The report draws extensively on the UK Woolf “reforms” ... and what good have they produced? ... more

Canadian jurist urges judges to take control of cases away from lawyers … Maximising business in the criminal courts begs the question, “where do we draw the line on freeing people we know to be guilty”? ... more

Money from the proceeds of crime sets the criminal defence gravy train rolling ... more

“Lawyers and lawyering” is defined to mean whatever you want it to mean. In fact, most of the profession isn’t practising law at all. It doesn’t matter, as long as lawyers have a monopoly on whatever it is they do ... more

A Deal or No Deal system of sentencing criminals would be fairer than the present arrangement, where offenders simply pay to get the best deal ... more