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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Richard Ackland

Richard Ackland publishes the law journals Justinian and Gazette of Law and Journalism. He is a Gold Walkley winner and a former host of Media Watch and Radio National's Late Night Live. He has written on law and lawyers for 40 years. He is a graduate in economics and law and has been admitted as a legal practitioner to the supreme court of NSW.

April 2024

  • Bruce Lehrmann (centre) departs the Federal Court of Australia

    It took a well-equipped, forensic judge to unstitch Lehrmann – and hand the media a rare win

    Richard Ackland
  • Bruce Lehrmann

    With all the excitement of the Auerbach hearing, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s going on

    Richard Ackland

December 2023

  • Bruce Lehrmann

    Seven paying Bruce Lehrmann’s rent exposes the ethical slippery slope of Chequebook Land

    Richard Ackland
    Exclusive rights to tabloid TV interviews are hammered out behind closed doors, leaving the public in the dark

September 2023

  • Justice statue

    The fallout from a recent case has federal circuit judges nervous – but legislating to protect them may be a step too far

    Richard Ackland
    The judiciary is already near unaccountable, so how wise is it to rush into extending immunity to cover the facts associated with Salvatore Vasta’s performance?

August 2023

  • Former Queensland judge Walter Sofronoff speaks to media during a press conference in Brisbane.

    The Higgins-Lehrmann case has become a lawyers’ feast. Can we expect more litigation?

    Richard Ackland
  • ACT Director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold.

    It’s important to get a grip: we haven’t actually seen Walter Sofronoff’s report yet

    Richard Ackland

June 2023

  • A supplied screengrab taken from and ABC News tv interview featuring Melbourne lawyer Nicola Gobbo, who has been revealed as Lawyer X. A police informant during during Melbourne's gangland wars. Ms Gobbo was first recruited in 1995 and worked with police until 2009, with drug lord Tony Mokbel and gangland figure Carl Williams among her client. (AAP Image/Supplied by ABC NEWS) NO ARCHIVING

    Should Victoria’s DPP have laid charges over Lawyer X scandal?

    Richard Ackland
    Even if the state’s top prosecutor thinks evidence may not be optimal for conviction, she would have a duty to hand this to a jury
  • A screen grab from video footage showing Kathleen Folbigg

    Will Kathleen Folbigg be compensated for 20 years in prison after her wrongful conviction?

    Richard Ackland
    The case of a woman wrongfully jailed for murdering her four children highlights the dire need for reform in how compensation is calculated
  • Bruce Lehrmann

    Bruce Lehrmann tells his side of the story in a TV interview – so why did he decline to in court?

    Richard Ackland
    Had he been cross-examined at the trial, the questions would likely have been more rigorous than those asked on Seven’s Spotlight program

December 2022

  • Lachlan Murdoch, co-chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Corp

    What sort of country are we? That’s the question implicit in Lachlan Murdoch v Crikey

    Richard Ackland
    For Australian media, this case is important – it asks whether anyone is free to publish in the public interest a hyperbolic remark about a wealthy media baron

October 2022

  • A 'law courts' sign in an Australian court building window

    Australia’s legal system leaves juries stranded in a time warp – the world has moved on

    Richard Ackland
    Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial has highlighted the fragility of juries as courts ineffectively try to eliminate the risk of pre-judgment

September 2022

  • Journalist Hedley Thomas (C) along with Greg Simms (C, rear) the brother of Lynette Dawson, and his wife Merilyn (C-R), address the media outside the Supreme Court of New South Wales

    The Teacher’s Pet podcast likely turbocharged the wheels of justice, but judges don’t approve

    Richard Ackland
    There were teams of investigating police looking at the Dawson case from at least 2015. If anything, it appears the media were responsible for applying a bit of gas

August 2022

  • Lachlan Murdoch

    Lachlan Murdoch v Crikey may turn out to be a misconceived adventure in reputation repair

    Richard Ackland
    The defamation case could produce hitherto unknown information about the operations of Fox News that, at the least, prove embarrassing

May 2022

  • Peter Dutton

    Dutton’s campaign to sue detractors failed to factor in vagaries of defamation law

    Richard Ackland
    The Liberal minister may not have liked the rude things people posted about him on Twitter, but in defamation fools rush in where angels fear to tread

March 2022

  • A gavel and block on a judge's bench

    Jurors who sat in the Zachary Rolfe murder trial might now feel cheated – that’s understandable

    Richard Ackland
    In criminal trials, the information that is excluded from a jury can be just as important as the information they get to see and hear

March 2021

  • parliament house

    Without an inquiry, Scott Morrison's ministerial standards don't amount to a hill of beans

    Richard Ackland
    For the government to try to sweep allegations of rape against a cabinet minister under the carpet of ‘process’ misconceives what is at stake

October 2020

  • Gladys Berejiklian

    NSW would be a more unsavoury place without Icac. We need a real federal anti-corruption body

    Richard Ackland
    This episode involving Gladys Berejiklian is a reminder of the disinfecting sunlight Icac is capable of shining

April 2020

  • Barristers are seen outside, Supreme Court in Brisbane, October 2019.

    ‘Lines dropped out, witnesses didn’t know where to go’: justice in times of coronavirus

    Richard Ackland
  • Silhouette of two men outside

    The court case Australians are not allowed to know about: how national security is being used to bully citizens

    Richard Ackland

January 2020

  • The NSW attorney general, Mark Speakman, during question time in the legislative assembly at NSW Parliament House

    Mark Speakman SC: meet the man leading the charge to update Australia’s lopsided defamation laws

    Richard Ackland
    The current regime is a feast for lawyers and a casino where the odds are stacked against defendant news publishers
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