Legal affairs correspondent
Sydney

ExclusiveMurphy claims are ‘bunkum’

Parramatta Children's Court

The allegations levelled at Lionel Murphy were “99 per cent bunkum”, according to one of his barristers, Charles Waterstreet.

REACTION‘Coward’s castle’ never option

Justice Lionel Murphy arrives in court. News Ltd pic. Undated.
F/L

Lionel Murphy’s legal team at his first criminal trial begged him not to give sworn evidence.

MURPHY FILESTalk of bribes, casino on tapes

NWN Library

Lionel Murphy was recorded discussing bribes paid to NSW police in connection with an illegal casino in Sydney.

exclusiveWhistle blown on gender pay gap

NEWS_SYD_UMPIRES

Women are blowing the whistle on ­unequal pay for umpires and ­referees.

Arrest over fire at Obeid-link centre

Supplied image of a woman being arrested and charged over fires at a reception centre linked to the Obeid family in Sydney, Thursday, September 7, 2017. The Bellevue Reception Centre in Bankstown was set alight in December 2016 and again in January, with significant damage caused and police last month laying charges against 33-year-old Omar Jamal Eddine. On Thursday, a 26-year-old woman was also arrested and charged with accessory after the fact and concealing a serious indictable offence. (AAP Image/NSW Police) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

A second person has been charged in relation to fires lit at a function centre linked to the family of Eddie Obeid.

Bikie faces deportation...again

Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton during Question Time in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, September 5, 2017. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

A notorious Tasmanian bikie who won a decisive High Court victory against Peter Dutton today is once again facing deportation.

Date set for SSM vote challenge

Swearing in of New Chief Justice Kiefel

The High Court will hear a challenge to Malcolm Turnbull’s $122 million postal vote on same-sex marriage next month.

Gang used fake firm to move cash

Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev briefs the media on the bank's full-year results in Sydney on August 9, 2017.  Australia's biggest bank, the Commonwealth, posted record annual profits on August 9, as its chief executive faces calls to resign in the wake of allegations the lender breached money laundering and terrorism financing laws. / AFP PHOTO / Saeed KHAN

Members of a criminal drug gang laundered $27.2m in cash at a suburban CBA branch over an 11-month period.

EXCLUSIVELegal centre funds dry up

Nassim Arrage - National Association of Community Legal Centres

The number of clients turned away from community legal centres has jumped more than 6 per cent over the past year.

ATMs stuffed with $130k in minutes

Supplied Money australian banks generic, withdrawal, westpac, nab, anz, commonwealth

It took Malaysian criminal Kha Weng Foong just 47 minutes to load $130,000 into CBA machines in Sydney.

CBA ignored alarm bells

Ian Narev

Staff at a Commonwealth Bank branch watched a man ‘upset’ an ATM by stuffing it with suspected counterfeit notes.

Bank’s tellers sounded alarm

Commonwealth Bank

Suburban Commonwealth Bank staff raised the alarm about the organisation’s ‘crazy’ lack of security­ measures.

In court over ‘sophisticated plot’

Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan speaks to the media at a press conference in Sydney on August 4, 2017.  A senior Islamic State commander directed a group of Australian men to build a bomb destined for an Etihad Airways flight out of Sydney, with a second poisonous gas plot also in the works, police alleged on August 4. / AFP PHOTO / Peter PARKS

Two Sydney men accused of preparing to unleash a terror attack on a passenger plane were denied bail yesterday.

TIMELINEKey details of alleged terror plot

Police search for evidence at a block of flats in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba on July 31, 2017, after counter-terrorism raids across the city on the weekend. Four men accused of plotting to bring down a plane planned to use poisonous gas or a crude bomb disguised as a meat mincer, reports said, with Australian officials calling preparations "advanced".  The men -- reportedly two Lebanese-Australian fathers and their sons -- were arrested in raids across Sydney on Saturday evening.  / AFP PHOTO / WILLIAM WEST

A senior IS member sent components for an explosive device to Australia from Turkey via air cargo, police allege.

Ex-ministers may face charges

Obeid

Three former state Labor ministers face possible criminal charges after a damning finding against them by NSW ICAC.

UPDATEDEx ministers corrupt over AWH

**FILE** A Monday, Nov. 5, 2012 file photo of Former State Labor MP Eddie Obeid leaves the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in Sydney. Obeid, 73, has been sentenced to a minimum three years in jail for misconduct in public office in 2007. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins) NO ARCHIVING

Tony Kelly, Ede Obeid and Joe Tripodi engaged in serious corrupt conduct over Australian Water Holdings, ICAC finds.

ICAC report on water firm

Whyalla

The NSW corruption watchdog will this morning release its long-awaited report into Australian Water Holdings.

exclusiveOffice states White & Case ambition

White & Case

White & Case openly seeks to be the best at what it does, and to have the premises to reflect that aspiration.

Lawyers reach out to HK peers

Association of Corporate Counsel managing director Tanya Khan

Australian in-house lawyers will soon have a greater opportunity to connect with their counterparts in Hong Kong.

exclusivePressure for contempt laws probe

Nick Xenophon Team Senator Nick Xenophon (left) and Justice Party Seator Derryn Hinch speak to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. It's taken several years and a double-dissolution election but the Senate has finally passed the Turnbull government's registered organisations bill after a late-night debate. Senators Xenophon and Hinch insisted they'd secured what could be the best whistleblower protections in the world in exchange for their support for the bill to establish a Registered Organisations Commission to oversee unions and their officials. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

An academic who had charge of two law reform commission reports into contempt of has backed calls for a Senate inquiry.

KWM turns to AI for client needs

KWM turns to AI for client needs

When clients contact KWM to ask whether a deal needs FIRB approval, it turns to a computer to generate a response.

Dying ‘wish’ voids split payout

Dying ‘wish’ voids split payout

A court has ruled claims by a mother seeking support that she was unable to support herself had ‘an air of unreality’.

Wife loses claim against rich ex

Wife loses claim against rich ex

A mother of two will get nothing in spousal maintenance from her multi-millionaire ex-husband after a High Court defeat.

exclusiveAboriginal legal aid pledge

Aboriginal legal aid pledge

Labor will today announce more than $20 million for cash-strapped Aboriginal legal services, reversing May budget cuts.

Litany of questions for coroner

Litany of questions for coroner

The Lindt Cafe siege inquest has raised questions about the handling of a number of key incidents during the standoff.

Tragedies shadow riding event

Tragedies shadow riding event

The number of riders taking part in this year’s Coonabarabran Expo are slightly down following recent tragedies.

Witness list cut to speed answers

Witness list cut to speed answers

NSW Coroner Michael Barnes has slashed the number of witnesses to testify at the Lindt Cafe siege inquest to speed up the report’s delivery.

Lindt inquest witness list slashed

Lindt inquest witness list slashed

Coroner slashes number of witnesses to Lindt Cafe siege despite pleas of family of slain cafe manager Tori Johnson.

Negotiators kept waiting on demands

Negotiators kept waiting on demands

In the final hour of the siege, negotiators were forced to wait to find out if they could accede to the gunman’s demands.

Cop’s hours with unknown device

Cop’s hours with unknown device

A police negotiator has told how she’d never used an acoustic device she was given on the night of the Sydney siege.