Evidence

• Concerns over police reliance on phone data extraction technology

  17th Feb 2022

  Defences could be mounted based on possible security faults in the technology used by police to extract data from mobile phones, challenging convictions that rely on this data as evidence, writes John Gooley – a lawyer with many years' experience in federal law enforcement and intelligence. 

• Can a dying declaration be admitted into evidence?

  28th Oct 2021

  Peter Schmidt looks at several authority cases and discusses the circumstances in which dying declarations may be admitted into evidence. He provides a summary of the criteria for admission including issues with proving that the declarant was a competent witness. Peter concludes that the following principles would be more appropriate: immediacy, spontaneity, holism and lack of opportunity for contrivance.

• Barristers Beware! Who is liable for your fee?

  23rd May 2019

  Decisions of the Supreme Court of Victoria in the past few months highlight the need for barristers to be aware of the small steps that can enable the litigating client, as opposed to their instructing solicitor, to be liable for their fees.

• Expert evidence: Traffic accident reconstruction reports and physical observations

  16th Oct 2018

  David Cormack discusses the decision and reasoning in the recent case of Brown v Daniels & Anor [2018] QSC 209.

• Personal injury claims assisted by disruptive technology

  4th Oct 2018

  An exploration of an innovative new software – now available to personal injury lawyers in Australia – that converts 2D MRI scans to accurate 3D models. 

• Emojis in litigation: Adding unpredictability and ambiguity to electronic communications

  14th Jun 2018

  An exploration of the prevalence of emojis in modern electronic communications, and the increased legal analysis of what these emojis are intended to mean and/or imply.

• Can confidential medical records be subpoenaed in sexual assault claims?

  31st May 2018

  Angela Sdrinis discusses a recent Victorian case that will be of particular interest to abuse lawyers, exploring the question of whether medical records which contain confidential communications can be subpoenaed in matters of sexual assault.