The costs of getting it wrong

On Wednesday Lawyers Weekly carried the story of a NSW Local Court civil case where Magistrate Daphne Kok reportedly took the parties to task over their failure to resolve the issues in dispute.Apparently the legal costs of the case are far in excess of the $30,000 original claim. They were more than $100,000 before the …

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Defining a successful defendant

Section 131 of the Magistrates' Court Act 1989 gives magistrates the power to award costs in summary criminal proceedings. The section confers a general discretion. Though there's nothing written there about an accused having to be acquitted before a discretion to award costs exists, an accused will usually need to be considered a successful defendant …

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Costs in the Federal Magistrates Court

It seems that news of the closure of the Federal Magistrates Court might be premature. From recent media reports, some federal magistrates are unhappy about plans to integrate their court into the Family and Federal Courts. Given their tenured positions, it would appear that if they refuse to join another court it would be constitutionally …

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