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21 March 2024
This is an insightful and highly practical seminar designed to assist practitioners get to grips with the upcoming amendments to the Bail Act 1977, which commence on 25 March 2024. The seminar will focus on the reforms contained in the Bail Amendment Act 2023 and their practical implications; addressing the impact the changes could have on your clients’ applications. Don’t miss this opportunity to keep on top of these key reforms which will affect all practitioners who work in this area.
21 March 2024
This session discusses sentence indications – how to prepare, present and run an application. What you need to explain to your client before applying for an indication and anticipating the risks of a prosecution appeal against sentence imposed after a sentence indication.
17 July 2023
This session explores recent developments in expert evidence, including lessons for criminal lawyers about becoming involved in briefing experts, and emerging topics such as gait analysis, footwear evidence, and the prejudice arising from particularly technical areas of scientific evidence.
The first statements by Australian businesses under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 have just been made publicly available.
What role does such reporting play in curbing modern slavery? What role do civil and criminal courts have? How do the criminal law and health and safety laws apply? And where next? … What initiatives from overseas might Australia draw from? Could there be a duty to conduct human rights due diligence?
In this CPD, the speakers will outline current and potential future legal developments in tackling modern slavery in Australia from both a civil and criminal law perspective, drawing upon their experiences in key cases in the United Kingdom.
Following the recent judgment in Brown v The Queen [2020] VSCA 212, Associate Professor Andrew Carroll and Dr Danny Sullivan discuss the forensic assessment of personality disorders and its relevance to sentencing.
In this CPD, Her Honour Judge Lawson outline the history and the context that led to the establishment of the Koori Court. Her Honour also explain how the modified virtual process is operating.
Nerita Waight, the CEO of Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, present on the Aboriginal Community Justice Reports Project.
This CPD covers some significant recent changes to Commonwealth sentencing, in particular, changes to parole, the general factors to be taken into account in sentencing, the vulnerable witness provisions and sentencing options for intellectually disabled offenders.
The session also canvas vast changes made in the area of Commonwealth child sex offences, including changes to bail and the introduction of a new mandatory minimum sentencing scheme.
Pamela Matthews has practiced independently as a Forensic Psychologist in the State and Federal Court system for the past 24 years.
In this CPD, she will focus on the diagnosis and treatment of sexual offenders. What is involved in assessing future risk? How predictive are the risk assessment tools? These questions and more will be answered.
Part 5A of the OHS Act – which creates the offence of workplace manslaughter – comes into force on 1 July 2020.
The new offence is based on common law manslaughter but does not adopt the common law test of gross negligence. It also sits in a framework of negligence offences in the OHS Act which will lead to some complexity in trials where there are multiple counts, multiple offenders or both. This session will outline the basics of the new offence, the policy behind it and the potential difficulties in its operation.
This CPD will explore the importance of effective preparation and advocacy when seeking leave to issue a subpoena and requesting release of documents. It will examine the common pitfalls and provide guidance on improving both oral and written submissions when making these applications.
The recent introduction of Evidence Amendment (Tendency and Coincidence) Bill 2020 (NSW) by the NSW Government, likely to be soon followed in Victoria, expressly and aggressively lowers further the threshold for admissibility of tendency evidence insofar as it relates to child sex offences.
Following on the heels of the High Court’s recent tendency rulings, the proposed legislation turns up the heat on the debate about whether that threshold has been lowered too far or doesn’t go far enough, whether this discrete aspect of evidence law should be fragmented, and amplifies the disconnect between modern tendency law and the underlying principles developed through more than a century of common law.
This seminar is presented by two experienced migration law practitioners who will discuss the interaction between the criminal law and the cancellation of a visa and deportation.
Since 1989 DNA evidence has been relied upon in Australian courts to secure convictions. In subsequent years there has been significant developments in the technology used to obtain DNA, from 9 to 21 loci and STRMix, and the application of DNA including the establishment of a national DNA database. Every step along the way has been the subject of legal challenge with a considerable body of case law being the result.
The future for practitioners is likely to see just as much development with an increasing reliance in prosecutions upon familial searching, the profiling of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosome DNA and forensic DNA phenotyping (FDP). This seminar will discuss these changes and explore future directions.
Touch screens, electronic jury books and interactive software are now key features of the conduct of criminal trial by the Office of Public Prosecution. This presentation will demonstrate the key features of this technology and how both Prosecutors and Defence can utilise these programs to…
Dr Durdle is a forensics expert who specialises in the recovery of DNA evidence from major crime scenes. Her thesis was on the common blowflies’ ability to move full DNA profiles between locations after ingesting human blood or semen, and has revolutionised certain aspects of forensic…
In the seminar, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Chief Judge of the County Court of Victoria, the Chief Magistrate of the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria and the President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal will each explore emerging practice areas, as well as highlighting those practice areas that are static or shrinking.
The seminar will discuss the following topics:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make up 2% of the Australian population, yet they make up 27% of the prison population. 34% of the female prison population are indigenous. The problem of over-representation is getting worse. The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) final report into this ‘national tragedy’ was tabled in Parliament on 28 March 2018, by the Attorney General, The Hon. George Brandis QC. The report makes 34 recommendations. This timely seminar will discuss the issue and ALRC’s suggested reforms.
In this seminar chaired by Dr Suzanne McNicol QC, our speaker Jason Harkess presents an explanation as to what qualifies as hearsay evidence under the Evidence Act 2008 and considers some more difficult hypothetical examples of hearsay evidence.
Holding a person criminally responsible for acts they didn’t do themselves pushes the boundaries of just punishment. The landmark case of R v Jogee saw the UK Supreme Court overturn 30 years of precedent on extended criminal liability.
Join Felicity Gerry QC, who led the defence team in Jogee, as she discusses the consequences of this judgment in Australia, Hong Kong, the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia.
The recent decision of DPP v Dalgliesh [2017] HCA 41 will have some effect on how plea hearings are conducted, in respect to current sentencing practices. This presentation will address what submissions a prosecutor may make regarding current sentencing practices in light of Dalgliesh and how defence counsel might respond.
This seminar discusses how Barristers can effectively communicate with Judges. The seminar is presented by Victorian County Court Judge Chettle. Judge Chettle advises advocates from his own experiences, both as a Judge and Barrister, the steps to take to create and maintain a positive relationship with a judge throughout a case.
Professor Olaf Drummer is Deputy Director (Academic Programs) at Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine and Professor and Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Monash University.
Courts routinely accepted Motherisk’s hair drug test results without challenge as evidence of parental substance abuse until a retired Judge’s independent review exposed mistakes in testing procedures, as the result of a successful appeal against conviction in the Canadian Bloomfield case.
In this Q&A Session on Sex Trials: Tactics and Strategies, Justin Hannebery discusses the increasing number of sexual offences heard before criminal courts, the factors which impact of the chances of conviction in these kinds of matters, the regular challenges facing the prosecutions in sex trials and the best approach the defence can take, including the best methods of cross-examination.
This CPD seminar discusses the changes to video conferencing with clients in custody. This seminar outlines the changes in legislation concerning video links from clients in custody and connecting them to the court system. The panel outlines The Justice Legislation (Evidence and Other Acts) Amendment Bill 2016 and discusses how these changes will affect not only the court system but both the client and their counsel.
This is a seminar given by Eugene Hyman, a former Judge in the Santa Clara County Superior Court and Santa Clara County Municipal Courts in California for 20 years. Mr. Hyman speaks on current issues of domestic violence and its treatment in the courts. There is, of course, much in common and much to learn from the American experience.
This CPD is a seminar given by Victorian County Court Judge David Parsons. Judge Parsons discusses his experience with expert reports and offers practical tips and advice for legal practitioners in their role of the production of admissible and relevant expert reports. His Honour also explains the requirements for the admissibility of expert reports.
This seminar is presented by The Honourable Judge Gaynor of the Victorian County Court. Her Honour gives a presentation on the sentencing principles applicable to the imposition of a Community Corrections Order, either alone or in combination with a term of imprisonment. Judge Gaynor discusses how barristers can best make submissions regarding CCOs when appearing in the County Court.
This CPD session highlights the assistance that forensic accountants and fraud investigators can provide to legal professionals, particularly in the investigation stages, and further in the analysis stages in fraud cases. Key areas covered in this CPD include: the costs & facts of fraud, bribery & corruption; cases studies; foreign bribery & corruption types of forensic accountants engagements; what forensic accountants and certified fraud examiners do, and compares the differences between auditing and forensic investigations.
This CPD is a seminar which discusses the Royal Commission Into Family Violence (March, 2016). His Honour, Chief Magistrate of Victoria, Peter Lauritsen discusses the submissions made by the Magistrates Court and Children’s Court to the Commission, the findings of the Commission, and the relevant recommendations of the Commission.