Dr Christopher Ward SC was honoured to represent the Kingdom of Spain, leading Philip Santucci and instructed by K & L Gates, in the High Court in Kingdom of Spain v Infrastructure Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l [2023] HCA 11. The case has clarified important questions of sovereign immunity and the status of ICSID Awards in Australia. The transcript can be viewed here.
Best Lawyers Recognition 2024
6 St James Hall would like to congratulate Jennifer Mee, Michael Seck and Liam Meagher for their recent recognition by Best Lawyers.
Jennifer Mee and Michael Seck were recognised as 2024 Best Lawyers and Liam Meagher was recognised as One to Watch.
Congratulations!
Maurice Baroni joins 6 St James Hall Chambers
6 St James Hall Chambers welcomes Maurice Baroni as a full member of our chambers. Maurice has a broad practice, with particular expertise in industrial relations and employment matters. He is also experienced in work health and safety law, general commercial disputes, equity and corporations matters, shareholder disputes, and consumer law.
Welcome, Maurice Baroni!
Australian Jessup Moot Competition
6 St James Hall International Law Practice Group was proud to be a major sponsor to the Australian Jessup Moot competition held in Canberra. Congratulations and best wishes in Washington to champions Macquarie, runner up Bond and Plate Final winner Queensland.
DR KATHERINE FALLAH JOINS 6 ST JAMES HALL CHAMBERS
6 St James Hall Chambers welcomes Dr Katherine Fallah as a full member of our chambers. Katherine has a practice in international law, human rights and discrimination, public law, inquests and inquiries and appellate criminal law.
new Data Protection and Privacy practice group
Six St James Hall is pleased to announce the formation of our Data Protection and Privacy practice group. Many of our members have expertise in privacy law and data security issues arising in a range of litigious and commercial contexts. We are well placed to assist any client with whole of business compliance advice, regulatory matters, class actions, inquiries, or individual disputes.
Over the coming months we will be publishing regularly and holding CPD events, to assist clients and solicitors to remain up to speed on the latest developments in this fast-moving area.
Our barristers practising in this area include:
Yvonne Truong
SENIOR COUNSEL APPOINTMENT 2022
Six St James’ Hall Chambers are delighted to congratulate David Rayment SC upon his appointment as Senior Counsel in the State of New South Wales. David Rayment SC has practised as a barrister since 2004, and has significant experience in commercial, equity, financial and corporate disputes at the highest levels. He has been a member of the New South Wales Bar Council for many years and his appointment is richly deserved. Six St James’ Hall is a leading set of Chambers with 33 barristers including 5 silks, working in commercial, equity, international law and employment and industrial matters.
issues involving the application of autonomous sanctions to Russia and certain activities in Russia
Dr Christopher Ward SC spoke with Danielle Kroon and Damian Sturzaker of Marque Lawyers at an International Law Association speech on issues involving the application of autonomous sanctions to Russia and certain activities in Russia.
Please click here to view and listen to the speech.
Control of Government Information in Legal Proceedings
Michael Rennie has updated his 2017 paper on this topic to incorporate recent developments, particularly in the law of legitimate forensic purpose and legislative reform. The paper seeks to demystify the legal issues and tradecraft behind managing government secrets in Court. The result is a comprehensive introduction to non-publication orders, public interest immunity and legitimate forensic purpose.
Michael’s paper can be found here.
Prosecution of Mr Bernard Collaery withdrawn
Dr Christopher Ward SC has represented Mr Bernard Collaery in national security proceedings since 2018. The case has involved numerous applications to the ACT Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Court. The prosecution of Mr Collaery was withdrawn by the Attorney-General on 7 July 2022. Dr Ward SC describes the result as very pleasing and in the interests of justice and Australia's international relations. Dr Ward acted for Mr Collaery pro bono.
Further information can be found here.
Ukraine and Russia: A summary of international legal issues
Dr Christopher Ward SC has written a note on the international legal issues relating to the current situation in Ukraine.
The note can be found here.
CHALLENGING the VACCINE MANDATE - APPEAL WIN FOR POLICE AND AMBULANCE OFFICERS
Dr Christopher Ward SC with Mr Philip Santucci has successfully represented a group of Queensland ambulance, police and nursing employees in an appeal before the Queensland Court of Appeal which found that jurisdiction to hear administrative law challenges to covid-19 mandatory vaccination policies should be heard by the Queensland Supreme Court and not the Industrial Commission. The substantive issues will be considered by the Supreme Court in early 2022.
MR bernard collaery WINS APPEAL
The ACT Court of Appeal today unanimously upheld the appeal of Mr Bernard Collaery against a decision that certain material relating to national security not be discussed in open Court in the course of criminal proceedings related to international negotiations between Australia and Timor Leste. The Court of Appeal strongly emphasised the significance of the principle of open justice and its rationale.
Mr Collaery is represented by 6 St James Hall Senior Counsel Christopher Ward SC with Philip Boulten SC and Bret Walker SC, instructed by Gilbert & Tobin.
Judgement handed down on secrecy in Bernard Collaery prosecution - Lawyers Weekly
Richard Reynolds joins 6 St James Hall Chambers
6 St James Hall Chambers would like to welcome Richard Reynolds. With over a decade of experience at the Bar of England and Wales, Richard specialises in Migration Law, Human Rights and Public International Law, as well as Administrative and Public Law, Environmental Law and Inquests.
Welcome Richard Reynolds!
Congratulations Madeleine Bridgett
6 St James Hall would like to congratulate Madeleine Bridgett on her recent appointment by the Attorney General as Counsel Assisting for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was established in July of this year to inquire into a number of matters including systemic issues and any common themes among defence and veteran deaths by suicide, or defence members and veterans who have other lived experience of suicide behaviour or risk factors.
The terms of reference can be found here:
Stories from Australia's leading human rights advocates
6 St James Hall Counsel Madeleine Bridgett will be moderating this Australian Lawyers Human Rights webinar event with three of Australia's leading human rights advocates The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, Kate Eastman AM SC and Julian Burnside AO QC sharing experiences of their journey as human rights advocates.
The webinar will be held on 2 September 6:00 PM.
For further information and how to register, please click here.
WorkPac v Rossato: the potential implications
Ian Neil SC of 6 St James Hall Chambers will be co-presenting a second webinar with David Chin SC of 5 Wentworth and Christopher Parkin of 5 Wentworth on WorkPac v Rossato: the potential implications. The webinar will be chaired by Sally Moten, Partner, Workplace Relations & Safety, Lander & Rogers and hosted by The Commercial Law Association of Australia on 26 August 2021 from 5:00pm to 6:00pm.
Please click here to register.
Jabbcorp (NSW) Pty Ltd v Strathfield Golf Club
6 St James Hall Counsel, David Rayment with Andrew Smorchevsky defend Strathfield Golf Club in a 4-day trial against Jabbcorp (NSW) Pty Ltd. The case centred around whether additional money was owed to Jabbcorp beyond the contract sum for certain variations completed. In a matter of construction, the primary and appeal judges of the NSW Supreme court found the variations did not constitute ‘excluded works’ under the contract. This meant the price of the variations would be included in the contract price and not owed as an additional payment to Jabbcorp.
Reasons for the decision can be found here.
Alexakis v Wan [2021] NSWCA 172
A contract for the sale of land in Sydney required the purchaser to pay the deposit in two instalments, the first on exchange and the second “on the 4th month after the contract date”. The purchaser paid the first instalment on time but the second a few days late. The vendor’s subsequent attempt to terminate the contract for breach was met by a specific performance claim by the purchaser. 6 St James Hall Counsel, David Rayment with Andrew Smorchevsky represented the vendor in the appeal. The NSW Supreme Court upheld the decision of the primary judge and found in favour of the respondent vendors, positing the purchaser’s payment was to be considered late under the contract and allowed for termination.
Reasons for the decision can be found here.
The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report - 'Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis’
Article by Madeleine Bridgett, Barrister, 6 St James Hall chambers
On 9 August 2021 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body responsible for assessing the science related to climate change, published its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis.
The report provides new estimates of the current state of the climate, how it is changing, and the role of human influence. These new estimates have been made possible by bringing together the latest advances in climate science, including “new climate model simulations, new analyses, and methods combining multiple lines of evidence” leading to the “improved understanding of human influence on a wider range of climate variables, including weather and climate extremes.”[1]
Global warming remains an issue. The report finds that “unless there are immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5°C or even 2°C will be beyond reach”.[2] Whilst global warming remains one of the greatest challenges brought about by climate change, there are others of concern, including the intensifying of water cycles bringing about more floods and droughts, the rising sea levels in coastal areas, the amplification of permafrost thawing and the loss of seasonal snow cover, and changes to the ocean affecting both the ocean ecosystems and humans who rely on them.
Addressing the drivers of climate change, the report has found that Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) are very likely the main driver of “tropospheric warming since 1979”, and it is “extremely likely that human-caused stratospheric ozone depletion was the main driver of cooling of the lower stratosphere between 1979 and the mid-1990s” due to increased aerosol concentrations.[3] The scale of recent changes is most concerning with atmospheric CO2 concentrations higher than at any time in at least 2 million years, global surface temperature having increased faster since 1970 than in any other 50-year period over at least the last 2000 years, the annual average Arctic sea ice area reaching its lowest level since at least 1850, and global mean sea level having risen faster since 1900 than over any preceding century in at least the last 3000 years.[4]
Concluding that “human influence has warmed the climate at a rate that is unprecedented in at least the last 2000 years”, this report provides an important and much needed contribution to the evidence and science on climate change. The report affirms the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report finding that “there is a near-linear relationship between cumulative anthropogenic CO2 emissions and the global warming they cause. Each 1000 GtCO2 of cumulative CO2 emissions is assessed to likely cause a 0.27°C to 0.63°C increase in global surface temperature with a best estimate of 0.45°C.”[5] However, reducing CO2 emissions alone is not enough to reduce the negative impacts of climate change. Combined efforts of targeted reductions of air pollutant emissions as well as GHGs emissions are likely to produce greater benefits including air quality improvements and a reduction in global warming, which in turn will have positive effects on both the climate and on health. For this to happen, there is much to be done.
As Valérie Masson-Delmotte, the IPCC Working Group I Co-Chair, states:
This report is a reality check. We now have a much clearer picture of the past, present and future climate, which is essential for understanding where we are headed, what can be done, and how we can prepare.
The full report can be found here.
[1] IPCC, Sixth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, SPM-5, viewed on 10 August 2021, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Full_Report.pdf
[2] https://www.ipcc.ch/2021/08/09/ar6-wg1-20210809-pr/
[3] Ibid, SPM-6.
[4] Ibid, SPM-9.
[5] Ibid, SPM-36.