Victoria is the last jurisdiction where an offender can appeal a decision of the Magistrates’ Court to a court of intermediate appeal — here, the County Court — and the appeal is conducted as a rehearing (aka de novo appeal) rather than in the strict sense of an appeal which is a consideration of the correctness of the original decision. (If you’re really interested, you can read a bit about the history of de novo appeals in Victoria in the final report on De Novo Appeals to the County Court by the now-disbanded Law Reform Committee of the Victorian Parliament. The Committee made the point that although the Victorian legislation refers to a rehearing, appeals to the County Court in fact operate as de novo appeals, where whatever happened below is disregarded. I think of it like a game of snakes and ladders where all the pieces on the board go back to the start, or a game of chess where all the pieces are re-set. If you’re looking for judicial authority on the different types of appeal, see Eastman v The Queen (2000) 203 CLR 1, [130]. And the nature of Victoria’s de novo appeals was discussed in Candolim Pty Ltd v Garrett [2005] VSC 270, [30], but following the Court of Appeal’s decision in Fox v DPP (Vic) (2022) 66 VR 223, it might be that once a charge-sheet is amended in the Magistrates’ Court it’s treated as amended for any appeal before the County Court and the reasoning in Walters v Magistrates’ Court of Victoria [2015] VSC 88, [116]-[118] is no longer good law on that point.)

The Justice Legislation Amendment (Criminal Appeals) Act 2019 was to amend Criminal Procedure Act 2009 so that:

• s 254 provides that an appeal to the County Court required leave for an appeal against conviction following a guilty plea in the Magistrates’ Court or conviction when the offender did not appear in the Magistrates’ Court
• s 255A requires the appellant to file a summary of appeal notice within 28 days stating the grounds of appeal
• s 256 provides that the appeal is a rehearing based on the evidence before the Magistrates’ Court and any evidence received on appeal in accordance with s 265E, and having regard to the reasons of the Magistrates’ Court
• s 265E permits the appeal court to receive additional evidence if satisfied it is in the interests of justice to do so and, in the case of protected evidence (sexual and family violence offences), the evidence is substantially relevant to a fact in issue in the appeal.

The amendments would result in appeals from the Magistrates’ Court operating in a similar (but not exactly the same) manner to the procedure in NSW.

The explanatory memorandum to the Bill makes it clear that such appeals are intended to operate as rehearings, and not appeals de novo.

In NSW, the leading cases on its similar appeal provisions are Charara v The Queen (2006) 164 A Crim R 39; Gianoutsos v Glykis [2006] NSWCCA 137 and Attorney-General v DPP (NSW) [2015] NSWCA 218. They each refer to the High Court cases cited in the explanatory memorandum to the Victorian amending act, Fox v Percy (2003) 214 CLR 188 and Lacey v Attorney-General (Queensland) (2011) 242 CLR 573.

If these provisions do commence operation I reckon we’ll see some appeals on what is and is not “in the interests of justice”.

Some guidance will come from the legislation, with s 265E(2) providing:

• 265E Further Evidence
• …
• (2) In determining whether it is in the interests of justice to receive evidence under this section, the appellate court must have regard to—
  • (a) the probative value of the evidence; and
  • (b) the right of the appellant to fully present their appeal; and
  • (c) if the evidence was not given before the Magistrates’ Court in the summary hearing—
    • (i) whether the evidence was available at the time of the summary hearing; and
    • (ii) why the evidence was not given in the summary hearing; and
  • (d) if the evidence was given in that hearing—
    • (i) whether the recording of the giving of the evidence in that hearing, or any part of that recording, is unavailable; and
    • Note
    • If the whole of the recording of the evidence that was given before the Magistrates’ Court is unavailable, the appellate court has a separate power to receive evidence. See section 265D(2).
    • (ii) if the recording is available, whether there is any other reason why the evidence should be given again.

In NSW, the similar provisions are found in the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 Part 3. There, section 18 provides that appeals are a rehearing on the evidence given in the Local Court, except for when it is in the ‘interests of justice’ for a witness to testify at the appeal in accordance with section 19. The NSW legislation provides therefore that witnesses will not ordinarily be called on an appeal. The Victorian legislation does not in terms have the same restriction, but it does have the same ‘interests of justice’ test.

In NSW, the ‘interests of justice’ are primarily (but not solely) concerned with ensuring the accused receives a fair hearing: Chapman v Gentle (1987) 28 A Crim R 29, 32.

In Mickelberg v The Queen (No 3) (1992) 8 WAR 236, 251 – 252; 59 A Crim R 288, 302 – 303, the Supreme Court of WA held that the interests of justice in a particular criminal case are to ensure that a person who is accused of a crime is convicted if guilty and acquitted if innocent after receiving a fair trial, and extended also the public interest in the due administration of justice. If an issue was raised that might cast doubt on a verdict, it would likely be in the interests of justice to allow it to be explored.

And in Frutgniet v Attorney-General (NSW) (1997) 41 NSWLR 588, 604 – 605, Beazley JA canvassed several decisions on the interests of justice in the contest of deciding if an order should be made to transfer a prisoner interstate.

The explanatory memorandum explains the intended operation of the new provisions this way:

When determining the appeal the appellate court would be required to consider, for example, the transcript of the summary hearing, statements of witnesses that were in evidence before the Magistrates’ Court, and exhibits such as photographs of a crime scene, if that was the evidence before the Magistrates’ Court in the summary hearing.

While the appeal is based on the evidence given in the Magistrates’ Court, the grounds of appeal may include, for example, that the Magistrates’ Court made an error in admitting or excluding certain evidence. In these circumstances the appellate court may revisit the rulings made by the Magistrates’ Court and may determine that the Magistrates’ Court made an error in the admission or exclusion of evidence and, consequently, determine the appeal with or without having regard to that evidence, as the case may be.

The reasons of the Magistrates’ Court will ordinarily include an explanation about why the conviction was recorded in the original hearing. This may include comments or an assessment of the credibility and reliability of witnesses and their evidence. The appellate court is not obliged to accept the credibility and reliability findings of the Magistrates’ Court if, for example, the Magistrates’ Court has misused the advantage of seeing and hearing the witness, but neither should the appellate court attempt to speculate or decide the issues entirely afresh. Ultimately, the appellate court must determine whether there was sufficient evidence to support the conviction and give the judgment which in its opinion should have been given in the Magistrates’ Court.

This all sounds like appeals to the County Court would become much more similar to the present appeals to the Supreme Court, and will result in more work, not less, for magistrates and judges. The Court of Appeal suggested that might be so, in Makeham v Sheppard [2022] VSCA 242, [62], where Priest JA said:

When the changes to be effected by the Justice Legislation Amendment (Criminal Appeals) Act 2019 soon come into effect — one of the purposes in s 1(c)(i) of the Act being ‘to abolish de novo appeals against convictions recorded in summary proceedings and to provide instead for those appeals to be by way of rehearing’ — it may be expected that, all things being equal, magistrates will of necessity have to provide more detailed reasons for decision than they have generally been required to give in the past. That is because, once it comes into effect, the new s 256(1)(c) of the CPA will require the County Court to ‘determine the appeal by way of rehearing … having regard to the reasons of the Magistrates’ Court in the summary hearing’.

It would certainly mean that any lawyer worth their salt is going to be even more careful to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’, lest their failure to take a point prevents their client from taking an otherwise legitimate point of appeal in the event that becomes necessary.

The Justice Legislation Amendment (Criminal Appeals) Act 2019 s 2(3) provided that the amendments were to commence operation no later than 3 July 2021.

However, the Justice Legislation Amendment (System Enhancements and Other Matters) Act 2021 s 124 amended the amendment so that the original amendments were to commence no later than 1 January 2023. (Which is why I had noted in my calendar to look at this for the New Year!) The reason given for this was set out in the explanatory memorandum, saying:

Changing the forced commencement date supports the implementation of these reforms by providing additional time to prepare for commencement, in light of the impact of COVID-19 on the justice system.

And then the amended amendment was further amended by the Justice Legislation Amendment (Trial by Judge Alone and Other Matters) Act 2022 s 9 so that the original amendments are now to commence no later than 5 July 2025 (unless proclaimed to commence earlier). The explanatory memorandum doesn’t provide an explanation for the further delay, but a media release from the Attorney-General in February 2022 said:

The Bill will also delay the commencement of de novo appeal reforms given the current challenges facing the courts. This will allow time for the justice system to prepare for these important procedural changes which are designed to modernise appeals and reduce the burden on victims and witnesses.

I’m not confident the changes will reduce the burden on anyone, but in any event, it seems there’s a little more time until we find out!

          

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Brendan Murphy KC signed the Bar Roll in 1971, and took silk in 1999.

Many police, prosecutors, and judicial officers will know him, or at least know of his fearsome reputation, from the 51 years that followed his signing the Bar Roll.

I’m one of those who knew him and his reputation. I believe I’m the only one presently at the Bar (now that my mentor has left for higher office) who can lay claim to having been both cross-examined by Brendan, and who worked with him. I can say with all sincerity I absolutely far preferred the latter: the former was just simply terrifying. And he did it to me not once but twice, because the case went on appeal!

My opportunity to work with Murph was in the final age of his career, but probably the pinnacle of his time at the Bar was around the 1980s when he used to work a lot with Joe Gullaci and Graeme Hicks (both of whom became judges of the County Court), often defending police officers and fighting fiercely-contested trials, and it was then he really earned his reputation.

Later, he moved into drink-driving cases, and would regularly clash with police prosecutors in the Magistrates’ Court and (so rumour has it), even the occasional judicial officer.

In fact, there was no rumour about it: it was an absolute fact that Murph was fearless in acting for his clients, and he never took a backward step no matter what any Bench might say to him or about him. It was frankly inspiring and ever-so-slightly intimidating to see him in full flight, and an example to the rest of us when we might falter and doubt our clients’ cases.

Two other things made him special. The first was his innate knowledge of human nature and cunning. Most of us remember Irving Younger’s Ten Commandments of Cross Examination and his oft-quoted direction to never ask a question you don’t know the answer to. (Although, to be fair to Younger, he qualified his commandments as rules for new advocates to avoid disaster, but mere guidelines to be abandoned when circumstances required for experienced advocates.) Well, Murph regularly ignored that “commandment”, and the number of cases where he ferreted out a winning point from some question that appeared innocuous at best or damn foolhardy at worst, was just incredible.

And the second of those other things that made him special was his outrageous sense of humour. Although he worked hard (he was routinely at his Chambers at 6.00 AM) and believed fervently in meticulous preparation (something he impressed upon all his juniors), he always managed to make it fun. He never took himself too seriously, and enjoyed poking fun at anyone who did. In many a conference he would express himself in an earthy and direct way that shocked many clients who had a preconceived notion of what a Silk was like, and he wasn’t beyond a wry practical joke in Court. (I’ll tell only one example here: in a case in the Magistrates’ Court with a junior taller than he — which was, if I’m honest, most of them — the junior duly reported that he could see that the magistrate was not taking notes of much of the proceeding. The magistrate had been challenging Murph at points in the case, so at a later stage when things were fairly uneventful, Murph professed to not have made a note of some aspect of the evidence, and asked the magistrate to review her or his notes on that point to assist. After looking hurriedly through the papers on the bench before them, the magistrate “found” the relevant note and declared, “No Mr Murphy, your recollection is quite correct. Please continue.” And Murph was left alone apparently for the remainder of the hearing!)

There are so many more stories about Murph, and each of us who knew him will have our own to share. A handful of them were shared earlier this year by Geoffrey Steward when he spoke at the unveiling of a portrait of Mr Murphy that was commissioned by the Bar, so I’ll share that with you below as well as Murph’s response and his brief reflection on 50-odd years at Bar.

Brendan Murphy KC died 26 December 2022, aged 80. He finished 2022 as he started: still a member of Division A, Part 1 — Victorian Practising Counsel; still a much-admired colleague; and still a dear friend.

Farewell Murph.

           

There is now a huge number of automations and apps to help the modern advocate manage juggling the torrent of information we all manage. I thought I’d share some I use, especially as the current Reader’s course comes to a close.

A lot of the apps I mention are Apple specific. I’ll mention those which are available on Android and PC, but if I don’t, it means I don’t know of any equivalents.

Personal logging

Sleep

Hardly a revelation to mention how important it is to get enough sleep, but keeping track of it can be a reminder when we’re burning the candle at both ends.

AutoSleep: Watch Sleep Tracker ($9.99, App Store) →

Autosleep does what it says on the tin: tracks your sleep automatically. I reckon Autosleep visually presents the data far more legibly that Apple’s native sleep tracking built into its Health app.

Sleep++ is a popular alternative.

Weight & BMI

Once setup with your height, simply input your weight to calculate your BMI and log both weight and BMI in Apple’s Health app. Download here.

Use with Siri for voice control. (See here for how to use shortcuts.)

Location and travel

Logbook for car

Mileage Tracker App by TripLog (Free⁺, App Store) →

TripLog automatically logs your car trips, recording both your route and distance covered. Makes life very easy if you’re using the logbook method for claiming motor vehicle expenses (especially if you’re considered an itinerant worker travelling between multiple work sites). TripLog can be set to automatically start tracking when your phone connects to your car’s bluetooth, or when it detects movement in excess of 3 km/h. If more than one person uses the same car, it’s possible to setup individual users so you can distinguish between drivers.

Public transport

Citymapper (Free⁺, App Store) →

CityMapper plans and tracks public transport, and works across the world. Why use this rather than the local PTV app? Simply because once you know how it works, you know how to use it anywhere else in Australia and overseas.

Alternatives are Moovit, Transit, TripGo.

Parking

Cheap Parking (Free, App Store) →

Cheap parking finds cheap parking, as does Parkopedia.

PayStay (Free, App Store) →

EasyPark - Parking made easy (Free, App Store) →

For street parking, the days of scrabbling for coins in the centre console are gone. Instead, pay by your credit card for the precise time you require, and download PDF invoices for tax purposes. Common services in Victoria are PayStay and EasyPark.

Location logging & sharing

Pado (Free⁺, App Store) →

Setup geofences with Pado, and start and stop tracking your route when leaving those locations, like home and work. Great record of when you arrived and departed court.

A life-logging alternative is Arc App (linked with Swarm for location marking).

Life360: Find Family & Friends (Free⁺, App Store) →

Life360 is a bit like Apple’s FindMy, but works on Android as well as iPhone, and can allow for larger groups and with the choice to have shared group locations only for certain times and activities, and users can specify precise or approximate location sharing.

If trying to remember where you left your keys or wallet is sometimes a challenge, consider either the Tile bluetooth tracker, or Apple’s AirTags. Tile has different sized trackers (like a wallet-sized creditcard tracker for wallets and purses)

Travel & accommodation

TripIt: Travel Planner (Free⁺, App Store) →

TripIt automatically creates a travel itinerary from your booking emails, and provides you with directions from airport to car hire to hotel, and even notifies of you change of flight times and watches for those hard-to-get upgrade seats you’re hoping for.

AwardWallet: Track Rewards (Free⁺, App Store) →

AwardWallet tracks all your frequent flyer and loyalty programs, and alerts you of expiring points.

Dates and times

Meeting scheduler

CalendarHero is an AI scheduler. Save on email ping-pong and instead let artificial intelligence allow people to select a convenient time when your calendar is open. CalendarHero has the widest range of video integrations, including Webex, Zoom, MS Teams, Skype, and Google Meet, and works with Office 365, Google calendar and Apple Calendar.

Alternatives:

• Calendly
• Acuity Scheduling
• Calendar
• Doodle
• SavvyCal

Meeting links management

Meeter for Zoom, Teams & Co (Free⁺, App Store) →

Meeter collects all your online meeting links and places them in your menubar with a countdown to the next meeting, and a simple one-click-to-join button that launches the correct app and opens the meeting link. Works on Mac, PC, iPhone and iPad, and recognises links from Webex, MS Teams, Zoom, Facetime, Jit.si, Whereby, WhatsApp, Skype, and Telegram.

Hand Mirror (Free⁺, App Store) →

Handmirror is a menubar app (Mac only) that will launch a preview of whatever you use as a webcam, so you can check your image and background before you launch your video meeting!

Calendar

BusyCal: Calendar & Reminders (Free⁺, App Store) →

BusyCal is a significant improvement on Apple’s Calendar. I prefer it to Fantastical, which offers the same features (and additionally, a meeting scheduler) because it displays all my calendar groups in the side pane, where Fantastical requires delving into the settings to choose calendar groups.

There is nothing close in the PC world, and both apps leave Outlook calendar for dust.

While you’re at it, check out BusyMac’s BusyContacts for the Mac or Flexibit’s Cardhop for iOS , which are both a significant improvement on the basic Apple Contacts, and streets ahead of Outlook. They let you add in more than two email addresses for a contact — really, Outlook? — link contacts between work colleagues and assistants, note timezones, birthdays, anniversaries, prefixes, post-nominals, nicknames, public cryptographic keys, re-assign to different address books…all the things that make contacts helpful.

Task manager

Todoist: To-Do List & Calendar (Free⁺, App Store) →

ToDoIst is one of hundreds of Getting Things Done task managers. It’s frequently mentioned as one of the best because it’s available for PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and has an enormous range of integrations.

The thing a task-manager will do that your calendar won’t is present a single combined list of all tasks in a specific project — say, a client case stretching over several months — and allow you to set reminders for individual steps and links to emails, documents, webpages, multimedia and other references needed to complete the project. A good project manager will integrate with your calendar so that you can see tasks as well as upcoming events.

Alternatives are:

• TickTick
• Things 3 (Mac/iOS only)
• Trello

Time tracking

Timely Automatic Time Tracking (Free, App Store) →

Timely is a time tracker that sits in the background on your Mac or PC, logging websites, apps and emails you’re working on, avoiding the need to remember to start a timer for recording work done. It offers a geolocation integration with phones so you can record when you arrive at and leave courts or offices, and also integrates with your calendar and Todoist. Also works on iPhone, iPad and Android. Lots of tech sites recommend Toggl (with or without Timery) but that only works on Apple devices and (in my view) is not as set-and-forget as Timely.

I setup projects for client cases (using the format FAMILY NAME First Name court case #), and solicitors as clients, so I can track work and billing and run an unbilled item report each month to make sure I don’t miss anything.

Date calculation

Date T Calc ($1.99, App Store) →

Date T Calc can calculate numbers of days between dates, or give you the return date for something in the future or past. Need to figure PSD? This is the app for you. When does a 60-day time limit run out, when you’re already 10 days into it? Scroll back to your first day, set the interval, and there’s your result. Yes, you can ask Siri or Google or Alexa to do it…unless you’re at the Bar Table and someone important is waiting for the answer!

Time zones

‎Zones - Time Zone Conversion (Free⁺, App Store) →

Zones shows time zones you select, and you scroll the timeline to convert times between them. (Tip for criminal practitioners: add in the UTC or “Zulu” time zone for conversions to local time from police body-worn video.) Klok is an intriguing alternative.

Clocker (Free, App Store) →

On the Mac, try Clocker to show your chosen time zones in the menubar, or iStat Menus for a power option.

Finance

MoneyWiz 2026 Personal Finance (Free⁺, App Store) →

MoneyWiz tracks and consolidates finances across your accounts to give you a single overview of money in and out.

Bobby - Track subscriptions (Free⁺, App Store) →

You know how more and more apps and services are using a subscription model? And how it all adds up? Bobby let’s you figure out exactly how much it all adds up! Track all your recurring subscriptions, in the currency of your choice, and chose reminders ahead of renewals so you can decide to keep or cull. Subtrack is a good alternative.

Paperless practice

Receipts

Paperless scans, OCRs (optical character recognition) and stores PDFs of your receipts, warranties, and other documents, and allows tagging and sorting for easy reference. I’ve been using it for a decade, and it’s amazingly useful to be able to put my fingers on a receipt for something bought years ago, and to track all my receipts for tax time. (According to the ATO website both businesses and individuals can use digital records if they wish.)

Paperless is available for Mac and PC, and although it uses a database to sort and file documents, the files themselves are just ordinary PDFs accessible inside folders that you can access if you ever decide to leave Paperless.

You could use Evernote as an alternative, but it’s a lot more work to organise.

Scanning

Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners are well regarded for their reliability and ease of use. The ix400 is probably best for most folks unless you need to do lots of large scanning jobs.

The ix400 is a sheet-feed duplex (scan both sides of paper in one pass) scanner that takes up no more room than a small printer. Search for the best price in StaticICE, GetPrice or ShopBot: you should be able to pick one up for around $500-odd.

Scanner Pro - Scan Documents (Free⁺, App Store) →

For those occasions away from your desk, ScanSnap Pro does a really good job of scanning. (And is the best solution for tasks like scanning from books.) SwiftScan (formerly ScanBot) is a good but pricey alternative since it moved to monthly subscription.

Paperless tools

If you’re new to paperless digital tools, David Sparks’ Paperless Field Guide has clear but detailed explanations of all the major tools and apps.

Make sure you learn how to setup and use Word document template (.dotx) files, and while you’re there, check out the rest of resources available at Legal Office Guru.

There are many PDF programs to chose from, but similar to the way few programs do all that Office 365 does for Word and Excel, very few programs do everything that Adobe Acrobat DC does. Get the Pro version, or you’ll be unable to do things like OCR scans, bookmark, redact, or any of the other essential tasks for paperless practice.

And here’s the best way (IMHO) to setup Acrobat for easy use.

Remote access

And, if you need remote access to a PC, Mac, iPad or iPhone — say you need to get a file on your work computer from home — AnyDesk is a great solution.

Transcription

Transcribe meetings, interviews, voice memos using artificial intelligence. Works on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android. (Just don’t use it for remote court recordings, because, you know, Court Security Act and contempt.)

Alternatives are:

• Fireflies.ai
• Notes by Dubber
• Grain

Utilities

Passwords

1Password is for all your devices: computer; tablet; phone; and watch. Create unique passwords for every account or website; store two-factor or multi-factor authentication tokens, add credit cards for easy online purchases. This is the first app I install on every computer and every device I own.

AutoReply to calls

On an iPhone you can silence a call by tapping the power-button once, and divert it to voicemail by tapping the power-button twice.

But rather than leaving your caller wondering why you’re not answering, you can also use send a short message to your caller, straight from the lock screen.

To set it up, open the settings app, then scroll down to and select phone.

From there, choose respond with text, and either accept the default responses, or enter your own.

Then, when you receive a call (except for calls with caller ID blocked), press messages and chose the quick response you want to send!

Focus modes

iOS16 enhanced focus modes to allow for no one to contact you or everyone to contact you, and to create exceptions to that setting, as well as change the lock screen and widgets, and home screen, and even set it to change when launching specific apps, according to geolocation, or time.

Yoink

Yoink is a clipboard “shelf”. If you want drag a file from one folder, and just need to keep it available until you can open the destination folder or app, Yoink offers a place to place that file for just that moment. Available for Mac and also iOS.

Link openers

iPhone and iPad

Opener runs on iPhone and iPad and lets you choose the app where links open. Say you receive a message with a link from a newspaper website, and you have that app on your phone: opener will let you choose to open the link in that app, instead of a web-browser. It doesn’t sound very exciting, but one you have it, you’ll realise just how many times links try to open in something other than their corresponding app.

Mac

Bumpr ($4.99, App Store) →

Bumpr lets you choose where links open on a Mac. Choose each time, or set a preference for certain links to always open in a specified app. Choose which browser to open, or email client.

Alternatives:

• OpenIn
• Choosy (only for browsers, not email clients)

Alfred

Alfred is a launcher, clipboard and workflow manager. Mac only, think of it like spotlight on steroids. Invoke it and from your keyboard search for and launch any file, application, or media. Or search for a contact, and select an email or phone number for them, and then send the document you search for straight to them, or ring them using the unicall workflow. It takes a little bit of time to get the hang of it, but once you do, you will never go back. This is the second app (after 1Password) I install on every Mac I own.

Alternatives:

• Launchbar
• Raycast
• Wox (a Windows approximation)

Backup

If you store your digital work and life on a digital device, you must have a backup strategy. There are two types of digital devices: those that have failed, and those that are going to. If you decide to run any aspect of your work paperless, it’s critical you have a copy in the event of hardware failure to damage. What happens if your computer crashes? A fire melts your hard drive to slag? Fire sprinklers drown your disks? Your iPad is swiped at court?

Have a local backup:

• CarbonCopyCloner
• SuperDuper
• Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office

And have an off-site backup in case of local catastrophe:

• BackBlaze
• iDrive
• Arq

And, no, file sync services like DropBox or OneDrive are not a backup solution.

Bookmarks

Raindrop lets you sync and organise bookmarks across browser, and platforms. It has full-text search for those where-was-that-website-I-bookmarked moments, and creates a thumbnail for visual searching.

Alternatives:

• Anybox (Apple only)
• StartMe
• iCloud (Apple only, and Safari only)

Device backup and message extraction

Sometimes it’s handy to have a local backup of a device, especially to extract messages for use in court proceedings.

iMazing is my usual pick, works on PC and Mac, and allows me to wirelessly backup all my devices, and set a regular schedule for backups and deletion of old backups.

PhoneView is a good alternative (Apple only).

Both will only print Messages and WhatsApp chats for court use.

Alternatives:

• DecipherTools Facebook messenger export (PC & Mac)
• DecipherTools Instagram messages export (PC & Mac)
• DecipherTools Twit-DM twitter messages export (PC & Mac)

Window management

Move windows to exactly where you want them, set keyboard shortcuts for layouts, and even craft default layouts for different workflows.

Moom is my go-to. I have a keyboard shortcut ⌃+⌥+⌘+X (or CTRL + ALT + CMD + X) that moves my active video conference window to just under my webcam, and re-sizes it to the top and centre of the screen, so looking at video means I’m (nearly) looking at the webcam.
Alternatives:

• Magnet (Mac only)
• Swish (Mac only)
• BetterTouchTool (Mac only)
• Windows native (PC only)
• AquaSnap (PC Only)

Wrap up

Spending the time to choose from these tools will make your digital devices so much more useful and powerful. And they have the advantage of asking computers to do things they’re better at than us: tracking, recording, storing, and notifying us of information when and where we want it. The more of these tasks you can shift out of your head and into a computer, the less cognitive effort you have to devote to busywork and the more time you have for important work.

          

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Mathew Fox was charged with speeding, contrary to Road Safety Road Rules 2019 r 20(2), allegedly at Nar Nar Goon on the Princes Freeway between Interchange Road and Snell Road. Problem was, there is no Interchange Road in Nar Nar Goon!

The charge was dismissed by a magistrate, accepting that the charge didn’t specify the time the offence occurred, and incorrectly described a location that didn’t exist.

The DPP appealed, and the Supreme Court held the charge was valid.

Mr Fox sought leave to appeal that decision to the Court of Appeal, but was refused.

The argument centred around the operation of Criminal Procedure Act 2009 ss 6(3), 8, and Schedule 1, cl 1, which relevantly provide:

The Court of Appeal (at [6]) drew a distinction in the Act between:

• a charge-sheet — the document that sets out a charge, and
• a charge — the allegation of offending contained in the charge-sheet.

The Court then held at [52] & [54]:

Further, at [62], the Court held that the Criminal Procedure Act departs from the common law in a one important regard.

This set the scene for the next big change, at [66]:

So in the case of Matthew Fox’s speeding charge, although the charge might have failed to contain an essential element — the correct location of the alleged offending — the charge-sheet still sufficiently disclosed the nature of the offence, which was exceeding a speed limit.

The $64,000 question is how will courts know when an invalid charge nonetheless sufficiently discloses the nature of the offence and the charge-sheet might be capable of amendment! Like everything in the law, it depends. At [68], the court observed that s 8(4)(a) is broader and less demanding that Sch 1, cl 1, but still has limits protecting the accused from injustice and precluding the circumvention of a limitation period by the use of an amendment power.

          

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Since then, I’ve presented that information in various formats, and converted it into a PDF ideally suited for use on an iPad, with hyperlinks to recommended apps and websites.

I suggested a couple of months ago posting an updated version, and had a couple of tweets from folks who were interested in that.

So, I’ve finished revising it, and for those who’re interested, here’s the latest version. (Just click on the download button to view on your device.)

I think I’ve removed out-of-date links and apps, but let me know if you find anything odd!

And if you’re in a hurry, these are the main apps I find useful.

          

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