Lol at the government's position description for the vacancy.

Pegasus Scholar.

When the Oravida person has the moral high ground it’s time to go.

We did it! Well done, team!

If we need fight clubs at hospitals we’ll definitely circle back.

I would read the hell out of a piece where a Crown prosecutor sits down with the leads from an Agatha Christie country house murder and tries to cobble together enough admissible evidence to prosecute the case in court.

Monty Python's constitutional peasants but for the Law Society President.

I had to apply for permission to give evidence early in a trial because I was going on my honeymoon. He granted it (“Her honeymoon will be a seminal event in the life of Miss Franks”) but the defendant then fell over

Brewer J to leave the High Court and go be the new Inspector-General of Defence. Such a loss to the High Court. His judgments light on footnotes, direct, assertive. www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-...

Judicial independence means the CJ can't ban you from posting judgments on Decisions of Public Interest.

So the drag performer economic torts case against Brian Tamaki and Destiny Church supporters is going about as smoothly as you'd expect. nzlii.org/cgi-bin/down...

Unlike Andrew I *did* read it and now everything smells like pennies and burnt toast.

My long-held personal belief is legal writing peaked with Fred Rodell's Goodbye to Law Reviews, and it will never be surpassed (even though some legal writing has got better). That intro, though! www.refsmmat.com/files/goodby...

To the person who writes nasty messages to NZLII: fuck off.

A perfect example of the public good that is @nzlii.bsky.social (and, to a lesser extent, social media)! We see a great resource that would be a perfect fit for NZLII, a small targeted donation to support the scanning, and now it's there for everyone to use.

Groundless Kiwis.

Stent v Attorney-General [2025] NZHC 3185: a claim for breach of BORA and false imprisonment(!) by a holidaying couple "trapped" in Australia quarantine-free travel with was suspended during Delta outbreaks. Isac J assiduously footnoting all their holiday locations gives a hint of the outcome.

If (hopefully not when) this happens in New Zealand I am going to lose my shit.

What I want to know is how the Attorney-General gets any actual work done.

@nzlii.bsky.social: could I donate a sum to have these scanned and uploaded? Precursor reports to what became the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975.

Only in Dunedin do 20% of motorists have a chainsaw at hand when driving.

“My much less talented husband spent two weeks in the regions and all he brought back was a near-mint copy of Rishworth et al that he found in a secondhand book shop, and which he’s excited to take to his chambers.”

Personally I always had Judith Collins down as more of a "without prejudice save as to costs letter" person.

Really struggling to keep up on where the discourse is re KCs signing open letters.

MC rebrands as mc

Samuel Alito preparing to raise absolutely the craziest flag you've ever seen at his Long Beach Island compound.

My mum messaged me to tell me she has been appointed to the UK Supreme Court…

Bespoke statutory interpretation.

Poetry.

We're in an electronic courtroom which is mostly working well but the witness box doesn't have a monitor. So we asked the Ministry of Justice if we could have a screen for the witness and they sent us a physical screen for vulnerable witnesses who don't want to see the defendant.

Pre-ordered Hanna Wilberg's Administrative Law in Aotearoa New Zealand. Very excited to read it and really important it's been written. These years Joseph's text is venerable (complimentary) and venerable (derogatory). www.bloomsbury.com/au/administr...

A brief return to Auckland to recharge on Auckland things (traffic, false sense of superiority) and now back in the regions for another week of hearings.

I have taken legal advice and definitely the best way to purge my contempt is to double down.

I have been working quietly from an office in a courthouse this week and the judges’ PA gave me this jar of homemade lemon curd because I’ve been a “polite young man”.

Fine, you got me.

pro writing tip: always start the day by addressing a minor administrative task so that you’re in a bad mood when you begin your actual work

“How do you find the defendant: guilty or not guilty?” “Guilty.” “And is that the unanimous view of you all?” “Yes, your Honour. Eight of us aren’t going to stand for it and four us won’t take it sitting down.”

A rare trip behind the scenes in a regional courthouse today, including a jury room that only had eight chairs.

Can confirm. Looked at the KC appointments and thought that's pretty rich.

I think you should all read Payne v Thomas [2025] NZHC 2864 then be kind to someone on the other side today. It's tough out there.

Law is a strong and slow BORA-ing of hard boards.

*extremely Guy Ritchie movie voice* Little Hen wants its money.

Their petting weighed more than seven kilograms.

Now that I can no longer go on about wanting the new KCs list to be released, I am reverting to going on about wanting my CA judgment to be released.

George Carlin’s The 70,000 Words You Can’t Say On Television In Riyadh.

I somehow doubt this

An art column in LawTalk called Paul Wicks' Wall Picks.

I don’t think that geographic representation ought to be a thing with silk appointments but it is *wild* to me that the government and the Law Society couldn’t find one (1) person from the South Island.