Legal Aid NSW Criminal Law Division

By Legal Aid NSWGovernment

Legal Aid NSW Criminal Law Division episodes

September 21, 2020 CHILD SEXUAL ASSAULT PILOT MATTERS: Practice, protocols, procedures and points of difference to other trial matters
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.

38 min
September 07, 2020Child Protection Register and CPPO's Post LECC review
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.
41 min
August 06, 2020 Understanding Mandatory visa cancellations
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.

26 min
August 05, 2020 Defendants in ADVO: How to Identify a victim of Domestic and Family Violence and apply Legal Aid policy
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
34 min
June 24, 2020‘Sexual Offences Against Adults and Children: A New Regime’
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.
37 min
May 25, 2020Did you know? Navigating the new laws allowing for pre-recorded evidence in hearings
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.
27 min
May 06, 2020 What do neuropsychologists do and when should we engage them to prepare reports for criminal matters - Part 2
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.

52 min
April 28, 2020 What do neuropsychologists do and when should we engage them to prepare reports for criminal matters?
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.

57 min
December 18, 2019 Insightful ideas on how to effectively brief Counsel - tips from Sophie Coulson, Solicitor and Peter Pearsall, Public Defender
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.

47 min
May 16, 2019 Section 32 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 – A Neuropsychologist’s Perspective
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.
43 min