FLAC News

Some Recommended Reading

Those interesting in substantive legal reform ...
should find the following books of much interest

 

LAWYERS OR GRAVE ROBBERS?
by Diarmuid Hannigan    (www.lawyersorgraverobbers.com)

Diarmuid Hannigan a well-known Melbourne business man has awards for export achievement and innovative business practice. Born in Africa, Diarmuid shares in the dream of all who have come to this country - of a fair society that gives a fair go. Imagine his horror when everyday family matters turn into a nightmare of Privilege - yes, with a capital P. Read his story of an encounter with the Australian legal system and share his nightmare. It could happen to you..

Diarmuid Hannigan - not exactly your average client – scrutinises the conduct of a self-serving lawyer who is neither fair nor reasonable.In doing so the author reveals a profession that shuns transparency and accountability then calls upon his engineering qualifications and business experience to show a better way.
Flac (For Legally Abused Citizens)

A lawyer in charge of an estate uses apparently lawful obstructionism to deny beneficiaries their inheritance, so creating a situation which results in a costly and unnecessary dispute. The family suffers and the lawyers fees deplete the value of the estate. Lawyers or Grave Robbers? exposes fundamental flaws in the legal system and questions prevailing legal ethics.
Peter Andrew (Legal System Reform Advocate)

"...many legal outcomes can be explained, and future cases predicted, by asking a very simple question: is there a plausible legal result in this case that will significantly affect the interests of the legal profession (positively or negatively)? If so, the case will be decided in the way that offers the best result for the legal profession."
Associate Professor Benjamin Barton. University ofTennesee College of
Law (Alabama Law Review, December 2007)

First published 1998
ISBN 0 646 34887 6
Available worldwide from:
www.ewhitton.com
and distributed in Australia
by Tower books
19 Rodborough Road
Frenches Forest NSW 2086
Phone 02 9975 5566
Fax 02 99755 5599 

'THE CARTEL'
by Evan Whitton

In this remarkably well-researched work, Evan Whitton, lecturer in journalism at Queensland University, author and one of Australia's leading investigative journalists draws upon history and contemporary issues to challenge the adversary system of justice and the self-serving profession in whose interests it was created.

In doing so, Whitton uses humour, incisive observation and a no-holds-barred approach in his disembowelment of a fraternity that for the most part serves the rich and those with the appropriate social connections.

In "The Cartel" the author has given us what is probably the most significant contribution towards understanding the failures and corruption within civil and criminal jurisdictions. And because lawyers dominate the legal and political process it inevitably brings into question the quality of our democracy or if indeed it exists at all.

Published 1998
Available from
Brett S. Dawson
EMail: bsdawson@bigpond
Fax: 07 5442 2373 

'THE EVIL DEEDS OF THE RATBAG PROFESSION'
by Brett Dawson

An outstanding and uncompromising insider's evaluation of the criminal justice system:

In highlighting the gulf between the law and justice Brett Dawson calls upon 30 years experience as a prosecutor, defence lawyer, property lawyer, civil litigation lawyer, professional trainer of law graduates and law lecturer.

Dawson, like Whitton, uses court decisions and court practices from all over the English speaking world to demonstrate that because the legal process is not about seeking the truth it is fundamentally flawed. Defence lawyers can hide the truth under "legal professional privilege", vilify victims and get away with lying to compliant judges. Dawson analyses what has gone wrong and why. The profession is constantly telling us that with all its faults we have the best system of justice, a state of affairs hard to validate when compared to the European model or measured against the disturbing facts arraigned before us by Evan Whitton and Brett Dawson.

Published 1994
by Random House Australia
ISBN 0 09 182880 5

TRIAL BY VOODOO; how the Law defeats justice and democracy.
by Evan Whitton

The premise of this book is quite simple: Our legal system does not provide us with justice and true democracy because it does not set out to establish the truth, and punish the guilty. The heart of the problem is that the system refuses to accept that judges and juries are able to cope with the direct truth - or the reporting of it by journalists.

In Trial by Voodoo, Evan Whitton draws on years of reporting law, crime, corruption - and our whole apparatus of power - to describe what really happens in our legal system: trials, judicial investigations, Royal Commissions, etc. And he brings to life the history and great characters (on both sides of the process) and shows how they, at varying times, make the system work for them.

Evan Whitton makes a powerful case for a greater openness in legal procedure - and free and open reporting by journalists. In the words of Justice Felix Frankfurter of the United States Supreme Court: "One of the demands of a democratic society is that the public should know what goes on in courts by being told by the press what happens there, to the end that the public may judge whether our system of justice is fair and right."

For worthwhile change to occur it is important to first know what is wrong. Evan Whitton, Brett Dawson, and Diarmuid Hannigan have courageously shown the way.