In the course of our research at the Institute we frequently come across  interesting sources of information about legal issues that are helpful for teachers and students studying Legal Studies in Year 11 and 12, or other subjects about Government:

Courts

We’ve all been waiting for this and now it’s here: see all your favourite High Court justices and top silks in action on the High Court of Australia’s video feeds. We suggest watching the first 2 – 3 minutes of the recording to get an idea of the procedures of the court. This recording up to about 3 minutes catches the justices walking into the court, the Chief Justice making some directions, and an opening statement by one of the counsel before the court.

• High Court Audiovisual Feed has a range of proceedings that are recorded, usually uploaded a day or two after the hearing has occurred. Many of the cases on the Current Cases page also have recordings of hearings. Transcripts are available on Austlii.

• The NSW Supreme Court Twitter feed helps in obtaining links to new judgments and information form the court, also see NSW Case Law for the full judgments and to search for cases in other NSW Courts, some recent decisions of interest are:
  • A ruling dismissing a case in the NSWSC because the plaintiff refused to stop singing: N’Ge-Sala v State of New South Wales [2014] NSWSC 1567
  • The bail decision regarding former President of the Comancheros, Mick Hawi, R v Hawi [2014] NSWSC 837
  • Sentencing decision for a young offender found guilty of dangerous driving occasioning death: R v AA [2014] NSWDC 190

Newsletters, Legal Updates, and Law Reform

• The NSW Law Reform Commission Twitter feed provides interesting links to the current work of the commission and other bodies concerned with reviewing law in NSW. The Commission has recently completed projects on:
  • Criminal appeals (see the links to some legislation and case law at the bottom of the page – remember to read the CATCHWORDS first to get an idea about what the decision is about!)
  • Sentencing
  • People with cognitive and mental health impairments in the criminal justice system

• The Queensland Supreme Court Legal Updater is a weekly newsletter giving an overview of key cases, legislation and literature in that week, and also links to interesting articles and books about a range of topics that are often relevant to legal studies.

Legal Blogs

Opinions on High in the Melbourne University Law Schools blog on the High Court . It ranges from in depth academic analysis of High Court decisions too case notes on each case being heard by the High Court. Some great posts on recent decisions that deal with rule of law issues are:

• Tajjour Hawthorne and Forster Case Note : the challenge to the NSW Consorting Laws
• Sir Anthony Mason former Chief Justice of the High Court reflects on the work of judges
• Gary Slapper  is a legal columnist and Law Professor at New York University,  his Twitter feed is a great source of interesting and ‘weird’ cases from around the world that would be very engaging for students.
• Kate Galloway is a  Senior Lecturer at James Cook University and blogs about contemporary legal issues in Queensland and nationally.
• We too are one  is a great blog where students can access previous answers to basic legal questions and also ask their own. There are also very good posts about constitutional law in Australia.
• Tindall Gask Bentley are a South Australian law Firm has a blog about current legal issues in South Australia.

Media

• The Conversation has a variety of threads of articles on legal matters both domestically and internationally. It’s articles are very accessible for students and can be a good starting point for class discussion.

Video

• The Castan Centre for Human Rights Law has a new project of short videos called Have you got that Right, explaining Human Rights Law through various topical issues. They are very accessible for students and have resources for use in the classroom.
• After Salazar is a YouTube channel run by a Melbourne lawyer that has short videos explaining aspects of law and the legal system in Australia. Very informal in style but accurate and entertaining.