Legal Aid NSW Criminal Law Division

“A practical guide to sentences in the Local Court” - a podcast which does exactly what the title says! This excellent informative conversation style podcast is between Robyn and Anna which unpacks what to do to prepare for a plea in mitigation in the Local Court. NOTE: There are several complimentary materials which it is highly recommended that you read before or whilst listening to this podcast. Here is the link Robyn and Anna have combined extensive experience in practising in solely in criminal law and are during this podcast they provide an insightful and excellent guide to what to do, say and prepare on behalf of your client. Robyn Fraser began her legal career with Legal Aid NSW in 2003, and since then has worked in various areas of criminal law practice including Inner City Local Courts, the Indictable Appeals Unit, Parramatta Drug Court, Northern Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), the Crown Solicitor’s Office (Inquiries team), and the Criminal Indictable Unit at Sydney Central.  Robyn is currently the Solicitor in Charge of the Newcastle Regional Office and is an Accredited Specialist in criminal law. Anna Pankhurst started her career as a Tipstaff to a Supreme Court Judge in 2010, then worked at Crown Solicitors Office in the Inquiries and Torts sections. Anna then worked for the Sydney ODPP, before working at the Redfern ALS office where she managed the SCB practice and then the (the Bidura now Sydney) Children’s court. In 2015 Anna moved to Newcastle and returned to the ODPP. In November 2019 she commenced at Coffs Harbour Legal Aid as the Senior Solicitor Crime Practice Manager.      

This Podcast is all about CHILD SEXUAL ASSAULT PILOT MATTERS: Practice, protocols, procedures and points of difference to other trial matters. This podcast covers all the practical information you need about these matters. Helen Shaw is a senior solicitor in Team 2 of the Criminal Indictable Section in head office at Legal Aid. Helen was admitted as a solicitor in 1998 and has practised predominantly in the area of criminal indictable matters in both private practice and at Legal Aid. Helen has instructed counsel in numerous “pilot” trial matters since their introduction at Sydney and Newcastle District Courts. Outside of law, Helen loves dabbling in foreign languages, travel (but Covid-19 has temporarily halted that passion), modern history, literature, food, sport, and genealogy.  

In this podcast, solicitors Tim Khoo and Diane Elston discuss the Child Protection Register, Child Protection Prohibition Orders and some of the findings of the LECC review, ‘Operation Tusket’ into the NSW Child Protection Register (CPR). Apart from a general overview of the legislative framework they discuss: Why it is important for all practitioners to have a baseline knowledge of the CPR How a person becomes a registrable person, and circumstances where practitioners can seek to avoid the registration of their clients, including the relatively new judicial discretion for children Understanding the definition of a ‘single incident’ how it relates to registration and reporting periods That ‘Operation Tusket’ revealed many errors made by the NSW Police in administering the CPR. The findings highlighted the need for practitioners to double check that their client has been registered appropriately and had their reporting period calculated accurately. They also discuss the practical measures to be taken if errors have been identified. What a Child Protection Prohibition Order is and how it is different from CPR registration Some practical tips for working with clients who are dealing with CPR issues The fact sheet referenced in the podcast is able to be found on Legal Aid NSW Intranet along with Tim’s paper and also Diane's paper. Tim Khoo is a Senior Solicitor at the Children’s Legal Service and is based in Parramatta. He has been working in the children’s criminal jurisdiction for many years and is an accredited Children’s Law Specialist. Diane Elston is a Solicitor in the High Risk Offenders Unit. She is an Accredited Criminal Law Specialist and joined Legal Aid in 2019.     

Did you know? Understanding mandatory visa cancellations This podcast will give you an understanding of mandatory visa cancellations under the Migration Act and how these powers can impact your clients.   Presented by Duy Pham and Stephanie Blaker, migration lawyers in the Government Law team at Legal Aid Sydney. This podcast explains what happens to visa holders post-sentencing, focusing on the mandatory cancellation provisions in s501(3A) of the Migration Act, and what to keep in mind when advising clients at all stages of the criminal proceedings, including when entering a plea and how this could affect the sentencing outcome. Note: This podcast provides a summary of the mandatory visa cancellation powers and is targeted at the area’s that are most relevant to crime lawyers – it is not a comprehensive explanation of the entire visa cancellation framework.  

This podcast aims to assist you in accurately identifying victims of domestic and family violence when they are listed as defendants on ADVOs, and what you can do for them once you have identified that they are a client that requires ongoing assistance from Legal Aid. Discussion topics include Legal Aid’s current policy and guidelines about grants in ADVO proceedings, the legislative definitions of family and domestic violence across both state and commonwealth legislation, and useful tips that you can implement to better the service provided to our disadvantaged clients at a duty level. This conversational style podcast is very informative, factual and also easy to follow. Presenters Mark Dickha is a Solicitor and the Crime Practice Manager at Blacktown Legal Aid Office. He has worked in many criminal law sections including ICLC, Indictable Appeals, Commonwealth Crime Unit and Supreme Court Bails. Soumaya Alaouie was admitted as a solicitor in 2014 and began her legal career in Private Practice, before coming to work at Legal Aid in 2017. Upon first coming into the organisation, she worked as a solicitor in the Domestic Violence Unit in August 2017 before making the transition to the Family Litigation Unit as a Grade I-III solicitor working out of the Blacktown Legal Aid Office in January 2018  

In this podcast, solicitors Caitlin Akthar and Ruth Carty discuss laws relating to sex offences. As well as an overview of common offences, they discuss reforms to the law including: the application of the law of consent to a broader range of offences – s61HE of the Crimes Act; the introduction of a defence of similar age – section 80AG of the Crimes Act; the discretion to declare a young offender is not to be included on the Child Protection Register (CPR) - 3C of the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act; and the jury warning explaining potential reasons for inconsistency in a complainant’s evidence - 293A of the Criminal Procedure Act The paper by Caitlin and Ruth, ‘Sexual Offences Against Adults and Children: A New Regime’ is available from: https://criminalcpd.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Sexual-Offences-Against-Adults-and-Children-A-New-Regime-Caitlin-Akthar-and-Ruth-Cary-October-2019.pdf.’ About the speakers: Caitlin Akthar is the Solicitor in Charge of the Indictable Appeals Unit at Legal Aid NSW. She has experience in the NSW Local, Children’s, District, and Supreme Courts; the Court of Criminal Appeal and the High Court of Australia. She is on the New South Wales Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee, and the New South Wales Law Society’s Children’s Issues Committee. Ruth Carty is a Criminal Law Solicitor and the Summary Court’s Manager at the Coffs Harbour office of Legal Aid NSW. She has been with Legal Aid NSW since 2015 and practices in the NSW Local, Children’s and District Courts.  

This is the first podcast in our Criminal Law Division series of podcasts titled "Did you know?" which will cover exciting new developments relevant to criminal lawyers. As part of emergency legislation introduced to respond to COVID-19, the NSW parliament introduced new laws allowing for pre-recorded evidence hearings for a range of witnesses. These hearings have significant implications for the way a criminal trial might unfold. This podcast is a conversation between Caitlin Akthar and Jonathon Paff, Indictable Solicitor at the Coffs Harbour Legal Aid office, about what the new laws mean for solicitors. They cover: what a pre-recorded evidence hearing would mean for your matter; how to tell whether a pre-recorded evidence hearing might be ordered in your matter; and what you can do if a pre-recorded evidence hearing is suggested. During the podcast, reference is made to a paper by Caitlin Akthar on this topic which is available here: https://www.publicdefenders.nsw.gov.au/Documents/covid-19-pre-recorded-evidence-hearings-15-4-20.pdf. About the speakers: Caitlin Akthar is the Solicitor in Charge of the Indictable Appeals Unit at Legal Aid NSW. She has experience in the NSW Local, Children’s, District, and Supreme Courts; the Court of Criminal Appeal and the High Court of Australia. She is on the New South Wales Law Society’s Criminal Law Committee, and the New South Wales Law Society’s Children’s Issues Committee. Jonathon Paff is an EAGP solicitor at the Coffs Harbour office of Legal Aid NSW. He has experience at Legal Aid and in private practice, in summary and indictable matters along the Mid-North and North Coasts of NSW.’ We are sure you will find this excellent podcast conversation both interesting and relevant to your practice of criminal law.

This podcast is part two of a two-part podcast series which covers a discussion about what psychologists and specifically what neuropsychologists do and their specialisation. It is a conversation between Will Tuckey, barrister and Dr Peter Ashkar, forensic psychologist and a clinical neuropsychologist, about when to engage psychologists, neuropsychologists and psychiatrists and the differences between them and whether they consider the same disorders in the context of criminal behaviour. Peter and Will discuss and answer questions around what neuropsychologists do and what are the major issues they deal with and why we would need an assessment for our clients? Various conditions clients could be diagnosed with and how they are assessed are considered, including brain injuries, dementia, memory loss, post traumatic amnesia, genetic conditions, and various developmental disabilities such as intellectual developmental disorder, foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and autism in the context of criminal behaviour. This very practical conversation will inform and guide you on how to approach clients who have issues which require neuropsychological assessment. This podcast is Part 2 of 2. We hope you find it informative and useful. Contributors biographies: Dr Peter Ashkar is one of Australia’s leading forensic psychologists and one of the few who is also trained as a clinical neuropsychologist. He spends much of his work life assessing criminal offenders who have developmental disorders, brain injuries, and other neurological conditions to understand the impact and relevance of these conditions on their offending behaviours. Will Tuckey is a Barrister practising in Sydney. He has previously worked for the Aboriginal Legal Service in far western NSW, Legal Aid NSW and the Director of Public Prosecutions. He holds a Master of Laws from Sydney University and First Class Honours in Law from Macquarie University along with a useless Bachelor of Arts in Ancient History. Will became an Accredited Criminal Law Specialist in 2013 as a solicitor. Will regularly appears for people with mental health issues in the criminal jurisdiction such as fitness, psychiatric defences and summary diversion. He is also a member of the Legal Aid Mental Health Advocacy Panel.   

This podcast is part one of a two-part podcast series which covers a discussion about what psychologists and specifically what neuropsychologists do and their specialisation. It is a conversation between Will Tuckey, barrister and Peter Ashkar, forensic psychologist and a clinical neuropsychologist, about when to engage psychologists, neuropsychologists and psychiatrists and the differences between them and whether they consider the same disorders in the context of criminal behaviour. Peter and Will discuss and answer questions around what neuropsychologists do and what are the major issues they deal with and why we would need an assessment for our clients? Various conditions clients could be diagnosed with and how they are assessed are considered, including brain injuries, dementia, memory loss, post traumatic amnesia, genetic conditions, and various developmental disabilities such as intellectual developmental disorder, foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and autism in the context of criminal behaviour. This very practical conversation will inform and guide you on how to approach clients who have issues which require neuropsychological assessment. This podcast is Part 1 of 2. Part 2 will be released one week after this podcast. We hope you find it informative and useful. Contributors biographies: Dr Peter Ashkar is one of Australia’s leading forensic psychologists and one of the few who is also trained as a clinical neuropsychologist. He spends much of his work life assessing criminal offenders who have developmental disorders, brain injuries, and other neurological conditions to understand the impact and relevance of these conditions on their offending behaviours. Will Tuckey is a Barrister practising in Sydney. He has previously worked for the Aboriginal Legal Service in far western NSW, Legal Aid NSW and the Director of Public Prosecutions. He holds a Master of Laws from Sydney University and First Class Honours in Law from Macquarie University along with a useless Bachelor of Arts in Ancient History. Will became an Accredited Criminal Law Specialist in 2013 as a solicitor. Will regularly appears for people with mental health issues in the criminal jurisdiction such as fitness, psychiatric defences and summary diversion. He is also a member of the Legal Aid Mental Health Advocacy Panel.   

Have you wondered how to best sort and arrange a brief of evidence in the most effective way to brief Counsel?….if so THIS PODCAST IS FOR YOU! You will hear an exchange of ideas and tips from Peter Pearsall Public Defender and Sophie Coulson, Legal Aid Indictable Solicitor. They discuss excellent suggestions for how to compose effective memos, to analyse evidence and how to best instruct Counsel in serious criminal matters. NOTE: During the Podcast reference is made to a paper by author Sarah Bayley however the paper is written by Emma Bayley which can be found here. The other article referred to in the Podcast is found here by Felicity Graham and Stephen Lawrence.    

In this episode, Gráinne Marsden, Legal Aid solicitor, and Dr Sally McSwiggan, Consultant Neuropsychologist, discuss Section 32 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 with a particular focus cognitive impairment and intellectual disability.  The episode broadly looks at issues including the expert, the client, best practice in briefing experts, how to get your application over the line, and what to do if your client is found ineligible.

This episode is the recording of an in-house seminar given by Professor Elizabeth Elliot AM FAHMS on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and the Law. Professor Elliott is a Distinguished Professor in Paediatrics and Child Health in Sydney University Medical School; Consultant Paediatrician, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (Westmead); a National Health and Medical Council of Australia (NHMRC) Practitioner Fellow; and Fellow of the Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. In this seminar, Professor Elliot provides an update on progress in addressing FASD in Australia and its relevance to the legal profession.

This paper, written by Barrister's Felicity Graham and Stephen Lawrence, discusses the following in relation to disclosure obligations in criminal maters: 1. Common law principles governing disclosure in criminal matters. 2. Legislation provisions and their different effects. 3. Various sources of policy, practice and procedure that operate in addition to common law and statute which also work to ensure appropriate disclosure occurs. 5. Various mechanisms available to accused persons to obtain or compel disclosure. 6. The approach of appellate courts when a failure of disclosure is raised on appeal against conviction. 7. The use of subpoenas as a mechanism to obtain relevant material in criminal proceedings.  

In this paper, solicitor Emma Bayley reviews the nature and scope of the disclosure obligations of the prosecution, for a better understanding by both prosecutors and defence.

In this episode Legal Aid Solicitor Kate Bleasel interviews Felicity Graham, Barrister at Black Chambers, about prosecution disclosure and non-disclosure in criminal matters. The associated papers are also available on this channel.

Aaron Tang, Senior Solicitor at Legal Aid NSW and Simon Healy, Barrister at Samuel Griffiths Chambers, present 2 comprehensive episodes on Social Media Evidence. In this Part Aaron and Simon address the following; 1: Police use of social media 2: Defence response 3: Admissibility.

Following on from Part 1 in the two series on Social Media Evidence, in this episode Aaron Tang and Simon Healy cover; 4: Identification 5: Defence use of social media.

In a 5 part series, the Early Appropriate Guilty Plea Implementation Team at Legal Aid NSW will take you through an explanation of the EAGP reforms. In these episodes, the team will refer you to the relevant legislation, operational aspects of the reform and tips for practioners on how to deal with EAGP matters. In this episode the team discusses the following: 1. The case for change; what led to the EAGP Reforms 2. An outline of the EAGP committal process 3. How the reforms apply to criminal matters 4. Antipipated court timeframes for new committal matters.

This is the 2nd episode in a 5 part series by the Early Appropriate Guilty Plea Implementation Team at Legal Aid NSW that takes you through an explanation of the EAGP reforms. In this episode the team discusses steps 1 and 2 of the new EAGP committal process: 1. Early Disclosure 2. Charge Certification.

This is the 3rd episode in a 5 part series by the Early Appropriate Guilty Plea Implementation Team at Legal Aid NSW that takes you through an explanation of the EAGP reforms. In this episode the team discusses steps 3 and 4 of the new EAGP committal process: 3. Case conferencing 4. Case conferencing certificates.

This is the 4th episode in a 5 part series by the Early Appropriate Guilty Plea Implementation Team at Legal Aid NSW that takes you through an explanation of the EAGP reforms. In this episode the team discusses committal procedures including: Witness hearings Fitness issues The process of committal for trial and sentence.

This is the final episode in a 5 part series by the Early Appropriate Guilty Plea Implementation Team at Legal Aid NSW that takes you through an explanation of the EAGP reforms. In this episode the team discusses the new statutory sentence discount scheme.

This episode is an interview between one of our senior solicitors, Helen Shaw, and Barrister Sharyn Hall. In it they discuss the Child Sexual Assault Pilot - what it is and how it operates in practice.

In this episode Troy Anderson, Public Defender, delivers a seminar on 'Cross examination; the art of asking simple questions in the right order'. Troy provides useful and relevant insights and tips for criminal lawyers that will undoubedly assist in cross examining witnesses.

This episode on the topic of bail is presented by Rose Khalilizadeh, Barrister at Forbes Chambers. Rose provides an overview of bail to assist with preparing an application on behalf of an accused. Rose breaks down the episode into 3 parts; 1. The basics of a bail application. 2. Recent developments in case law relating to bail. 3. Practical tips.

Dan Howard SC offers some practical insights into the ‘art of advocacy’ derived from his varied experiences as an advocate and advocacy teacher. Topics discussed include preparation and planning, organising your material, managing your resources and yourself, presenting your case in chief, dealing with expert evidence, and cross-examination. The emphasis of this seminar is on ‘being an advocate’ and the ‘technique’ of advocacy.

Sally McAtee and Aideen McGarrigle from our In-House Counsel Unit look at the particular ethical issues that arise for our lawyers in the context of provding advice, minor assistance, duty and outreach services. This session will assist you to identify ethical issues within the Legal Aid NSW environment, understand where to look for resources and assistance and help you to resolve ethical isues that arise in your practice.

As Director of Independent Forensic Services, Helen Roebuck is exposed to flaws in DNA evidence regularly. In this presentation Helen discusses the basics of DNA profiling, recent technical and procedural changes relating to the handling of Forensic Biology and DNA evidence, and gives an insight into what questions you should be asking when DNA evidence is relied upon in your case.  

Presented by Helen Shaw, Senior Solicitor in the Indictable Section at Central Sydney Office of Legal Aid, this episode discusses Special Hearings in the District and Supreme Courts and follows Helen's previous episode on Fitness Issues & Fitness Hearings in the District & Supreme Courts.

This episode, presented by Tom Quilter Public Defender, is about sentencing in drug supply cases and how the law has been affected by a recent 2017 CCA decsion of Parente, in which Tom was Junior Counsel.

Rob Hoyles and Daniel Covington from the 'Early Appropriate Guilty Plea Justice Reform Team' at Legal Aid, discuss the practicalities of the Justice Legislation Amendment (Committals and Guilty Pleas) Bill 2017.

Jeremy Styles, Senior Solicitor at the Aboriginal Legal Servce NSW/ACT discusses Lewis v Sergeant Rily [2017] NSWCA 272 where the Court of Appeal (Basten JA, White JA and Fagan JA in separate judgments) found that the District Court had a power to hear a rehearing appeal from a Forensic Procedure Order made by the Local Court.

This session is presented by Helen Shaw and focuses on issues that give rise to a question about a client's fitness. We look at the Presser Criteria, the procedures for fitness hearings, and the legislation that governs the procedures.