Writing
Articles I have published since December 2025, grouped by subject. Each link opens the article on this site; where it first appeared is noted at the top of each page.
Legal technology and the profession
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AI chat logs, privilege and discovery: nine 2026 decisions and what they mean in NSW
Between January and June 2026, nine United States courts ruled on whether a litigant's AI conversations can be discovered, subpoenaed or read in evidence. None binds an Australian court.
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Your client's chatbot transcript is discoverable. That is the least of it.
Five predictions for New South Wales practice over the next two years, with the evidence for each and the best argument against. The author discloses a commercial interest in legal AI.
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What r/legaltech is saying about...well, 'Legal Tech'
I was an avid 'redditor' once. The appeal faded around the thousandth argument with an anonymous 19-year-old who'd just discovered he was right about everything.
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Stop asking AI for cases. Start asking it to do the grunt work.
Ask a lawyer what AI is for and most will say "research". It is the one task the technology is worst at, and the reason many firms have tried it, come away disappointed, and quietly stopped.
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How I run a law firm with a tool made for software developers
I run a small law firm in Sydney, Jake McKinley. About twelve months ago I started using Claude Code, a tool made for software developers, to do legal work. On paper that makes no sense. In practice it became something I rely on most days.
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I tested the 'Scratching the Surface' methodology on 200 Australian family law judgments. Here is what I found.
Last week Right to Equality published Scratching the Surface: Victim-Blaming and Bias in Family Court Judgments (Hayton, Quinlan and Sayer, June 2026).
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Five things the profession believes about AI and small firms. The data disagrees.
Most of the NSW profession is sole and small. Most of what gets said about AI and small firms is wrong. Here is what the Australian numbers actually show.
Courts and practice
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Briefing the expert: what the judges actually say
Every litigator who briefs experts has had the experience of opening a draft report and feeling a quiet drop in the stomach. The opinion is fine but the reasoning is gone. Or the assumptions are wrong.
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Preparation is short. Publication is permanent. Appearing before Slattery J.
Slattery J has sat in the Equity Division of the Supreme Court of NSW since 2009. His published judgments deal mostly with probate, succession, family provision, caveats and trusts. He is also one of the court's most frequent Duty Judges.
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Appearing before Justice Michael Meek in the Equity Division: what solicitors should know
Michael Meek J was appointed to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in late 2022 after more than two decades at the equity bar. 138 published judgments since. No decision overturned on appeal. Several already cited as authority by the Court of Appeal.
Prosecutors, courts and the separation of powers
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What is a prosecutor for?
On 7 July, a committee of the NSW Legislative Council reported on how the name of a seventeen-year-old Aboriginal boy, sentenced in the District Court at Taree in October 2024, reached Sydney talkback radio within a fortnight.
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The Complaining Prosecutor
In October 2024, a 17-year-old Aboriginal defendant from Taree appeared before District Court Judge Penelope Wass SC DCJ via video link. She permitted him to deliver an Acknowledgement of Country before his sentencing. She then imposed the maximum penalty.
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We're Different. And If You Don't Understand the Separation of Powers, You Don't Know Jill
Fifty-two percent of lawyers report burnout. Lawyers aged 26-35 experience the highest levels. SafeWork NSW classifies law as a high-risk profession for fatigue—the same category as emergency services and fly-in, fly-out workers.
The profession
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NATIONAL MASTHEAD CONFIRMS IT WILL KEEP WRITING ABOUT BARRISTERS UNTIL ONE OF THEM ENJOYS IT
The Australian Financial Review has today published its sixth piece in fourteen days about a hundred barristers who did not ask to be written about, in what the paper calls an "open secret" and everyone else calls a paywall.
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Young Lawyers: Nobody Is Going to Build It for You
For your entire life up to this point, someone has structured your development for you. School had a curriculum. University had a degree plan. PLT had modules and assessments.
Public law, speech and social cohesion
Longer pieces published on dirt.pub.
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The Most Important Protest Rights Judgment in Australian Legal History
The NSW Court of Appeal has heard argument in Jarrett v State of New South Wales. The question: does a Public Assembly Restriction Declaration — a blanket protest ban across Greater Sydney — breach the implied constitutional freedom of political communication?
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Interim Submission to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion
This submission identifies the specific, documented system failures that allowed the Bondi attack to occur, and proposes the specific reforms capable of preventing the next one.
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The Repost That Broke Australian Law
The CEO of the Zionist Federation is suing Mary Kostakidis — the woman who taught a generation of Australians about the world — for pressing retweet. The case is Cassuto v Kostakidis. Here is everything you need to know.
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The Lawyers Who Lost to Lattouf
In December 2023, 156 lawyers organised a WhatsApp campaign to have journalist Antoinette Lattouf fired from the ABC. The Federal Court found the termination unlawful. This is what each of them did.
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Email to the ABC: "Bondi: Path to Terror — a missed opportunity"
Ten months, the full resources of the ABC, and they produced a repackaged episode and a school friend who called Naveed Akram 'quiet.' A critique of Four Corners' investigation into the Bondi attack.
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Antisemitism in Australia: What the Data Shows and What It Doesn't
A 316% increase in antisemitic incidents. Physical assaults up 491%. The numbers are stark. The methodology deserves scrutiny. An examination of how Australia counts antisemitism and what the categories actually measure.