Lawyers in our house?

[Biffo]

Do we have a lawyer among our members who might be able to provide a little help to a mate of mine? The mate has been held in detention in Jakarta for 16 months awaiting extradition to NSW. A few of us who are helping him out are having difficulty getting legal representation for him in Sydney, which he very badly needs.

The offence is not all that serious and it seems to us that he would have been sentenced to less than that by a NSW court.

Anyone able to help?

 

[Scarfman]

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A few lawyers around, I'm sure, but maybe there is a directory of lawyers that might be useful? I would have thought that you'd need an Indonesian lawyer, though.

 

[Pfitzy]

You don't need a lawyer, you just need to bribe a heap of people.

 

[Biffo]

Thanks, NTA and Scarfie. You both have made good points. He could have been out from the beginning for USD 30,000 - he just didn't have it.

The three blokes supporting him (indcluding me) and the bloke himself have had very good assistance from Indonesian lawyers. The problem has, however, always been that the Indonesian authorities are holding him on behalf of the Australian Government. The Oz authorities haven't completed the paper work and court procedures to get him extradited. Hence the need for action in Australian courts.

 

[Pfitzy]

Fucking red tape. We waste all this time trying to pin down pissant little drug dealers and traffic offenders while the real shit gets away.

Hope its not too much longer Biff.

 

[Thomond78]

What's the status with mandamus there directing the NSW authorities to piss or get off the pot? Prohibition of the trial in NSW on the grounds of delay prejudicing the defence?

From my - I admit, relatively limited - acquaintance with the Aussie Bar, there's a decent enough pro bono scene there. Might be worth talking to the NSW Bar Council, seeing what that could shake out.

 

[Biffo]

Thanks, Thommo. We have tried to get legal aid from NSW. The answer has been that he is not eligible for legal aid until he arrives within the state of NSW. James Heller would have been proud of that interpretation.

I just had a quick google of mandamus. Seems promising. We shall look further at that.

I will be in Australia in February and will then somehow get him legal representation. I will also go the administrative route by using my contacts to get a talk with a responsible official of the Attorney General's Department where I will suggest that the solution is for him simply to drop the charges.

Problem will be finding someone "responsible". Modern governments go to extraordinary lengths to avoid responsibility being sheetable to anyone.

The three of us who are helping him out are all in occupations where we must maintain low profiles on political and legal matters. Our guess is that we must get a lawyer in Sydney to move things along - yep, shit or get off the pot.

 

[Spook]

Biff, my brother is a solictor in Canberra. PM me the details and I'll email him.