The recent history of Browne v Dunn

Edit: For a recent example of an appellate court taking a grim view of a practitioner's failure to uphold their obligations, see the civil case of Baulch v Lyndoch Warnambool [2010] VSCA 30.AJA Byrne didn't mince words [at 23]:The conduct of defence counsel in this instance is to be condemned. It was not an inadvertent …

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Into the fray

Some time ago now we blogged about excessive judicial intervention during the running of a case. As we said at the time, it must sometimes be difficult to balance the desirability of properly understanding the evidence given (or simply to resist the urge to jump in and do something properly), as against the importance of …

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Director of Public Prosecutions v Finnegan [2011] TASCCA 3: proving a prior inconsistent statement

In DPP v Finnegan [2011] TASCCA 3 the Tasmanian Court of Criminal Appeal ruled the trial judge was wrong to refuse leave to the prosecution to cross-examine its own witness. Three men stood trial for assault. The Crown called a witness, Watkins, who had earlier pled guilty to his involvement. Watkins claimed no knowledge of …

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