I acted for a lady who had a series of drink driving charges and other associated charges including negligent driving and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident . Both lots of charges arose out of events that occurred about a week apart. The lady, who I will call Miss Chelmsford for the purposes of this case study, had a terrible drinking problem, and was in serious trouble facing the possibility of jail time as well as the loss of her licence for a significant period of time, as well as large fines, not helped by the repetitive nature…

I have appeared in many hundreds of drink-driving cases. Without exaggeration, every case is interesting, and has left me with a tinge of sadness for the client and their family. Often there are extenuating circumstances when a client is unaware of issues arising in their lifestyle, which causes them to self medicate and drink. Often they are unaware that something is wrong in their life, and they simply cannot put their finger on it and identify it and seek treatment. Families are under great pressure to perform. Pressure to avail their children of every opportunity of advancement, education joy and…

The Drivers Prayer Every drink driver that has been charged with an offence says a prayer to the magistrate, called “the drink drivers prayer”, which goes something like this: “Your Honour please be gentle – give me a section 10.Your Honour please understands that I will never reoffend and that I have learnt my lesson. Your Honour as I have now learnt my lesson please do not take my licence away, as I now realised how important my licence is to every aspect of my life and my family and the consequences are drastic and severe and have many layers…

Unfortunately common sense does not prevail in all personal injury claims. Here are a few cases of note: the Wynyard Escalators, the Casuarina Cliff Tops, the Bondi Beach Cases and Shopping Slip and Falls injuries. The Wynyard Escalators My client tripped and fell down the old wooden escalators. At the bottom of the escalator there were combs to stop rubbish being deposited in the engine that drives the escalator. The combs sweep the rubbish from the escalator, not into the internal workings of the escalator. The combs were adjustably up or down. Unfortunately my client’s fingers of one hand passed…