Some days I work really hard at the law. But not today. The manuscript for my new book is with the publishers. Instead of working at the law today, and since it was sunny for a change, I

• mowed the lawns;
• pulled some weeds;
• planted out some elaeagnus, which has been coming on in small pots in the greenhouse;
• planted out some myoporum. Ditto;
• cleared the blocked drainage line from the greenhouse, using the water pressure blowback method;
• restored a section of swale;
• restaked the cage around the magnolia;
• ordered some steel for the new studio;
• trimmed the wisteria (new buds now coming through), and retrained it a bit around the straining wires on the pergola;
• took some wisteria cuttings, and planted them in small pots in the greenhouse (probably a bit early in the year, but hey ho, you never know);
• fixed one of the garden benches (glued and clamped, then inserted some dowels);
• rescued a baby rabbit from the cat.  This might have been the best bit of the day. I know rabbits are said to be a pest.  But this little one was a sweetie. I locked the cat indoors, put on some gloves so as not to make the rabbit smell of human, and carried her (the rabbit, not the cat) in my hands to near where I reckon the burrow is (under the dam wall). She looked up at me as if to say, “Will this be OK?”.  I said yes. When I put her down, she paused for a moment, then hopped off.

If the law demands, I will do law tomorrow. Otherwise I plan to fix the irrigation leak next to the croquet law, spray the lawns to control broadleaf weeds and start learning how to apply American cherry veneer (for a plinth for my Quad 77; the big thing is how to do the staining of the MDF substrate in conjunction with the corner routing). Oh, and I should post some stuff about the Security of Payment reforms. Yeah, yeah.

Until Covid, I used regularly to fly around the country, and sometimes overseas, in order to appear in court, or arbitrations, or for dispute review board meetings, or mediations, or to speak at conferences.  In the last few months, I have not left South Australia at all.

Remote hearings, appearing by audiovisual link, have proved to be more effective than might have been expected, and for hearings that are largely administrative – directions hearings and the like – remote appearances are probably here to stay.  But where there is an argument to be had, they are not as effective as where counsel appears in person.

I am due to appear in the High Court shortly, on a special leave application.  The court has written to the parties to say: Continue reading →