Christian Porter’s so-called “star legal team” are starting to crumble with his barrister Sue Chrysanthou fighting to survive as Porter’s barrister and over the next week we will see in great detail what Porter’s lawyers have and haven’t been doing behind closed doors as the second court case to have Ms Chrysanthou removed is heard over 3 days starting on Monday the 24th of May.
Background – Key issues
- Christian Porter sued the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan for defamation on the 15th of March 2021 in the Federal Court of Australia which is being heard by Justice Jayne Jagot.
- Jo Dyer, who was a friend of Christian Porter’s alleged rape victim Katharine Thornton, filed an application on the 11th of May seeking an order to remove Porter’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, from acting for Mr Porter on the basis that she previously advised Ms Dyer in a separate matter. It was in court on the 12th of May and will be back in court for a hearing on the 24th, 25th and 26th of May. It will be broadcast live on the internet starting at 10.15am (Click here to watch on those days) and is before Justice Tom Thawley. The matter is known as Joanne Elizabeth Dyer v Sue Chrysanthou & Christian Porter NSD426/2021. (Click here to see on the Federal Court of Australia website)
- On the 14th of May the main case, which is the defamation case of Christian Porter v ABC, was adjourned until the 26th of May waiting for a decision to be made in the Jo Dyer v Sue Chrysanthou matter deciding whether or not Chrysanthou can continue as Porter’s barrister.
- Evidence has been filed which says that Christian Porter was aware of Sue Chrysanthou’s alleged conflict of interest since the 15th of March but he took no action to replace her.
Joanne Elizabeth Dyer v Sue Chrysanthou & Christian Porter NSD426/2021
In some of the evidence already uploaded to the court’s website, Sue Chrysanthou had 3 meetings with Jo Dyer. James Hooke the ex-boyfriend of Christian Porter’s alleged rape victim Katharine Thornton was also at one of those meetings. Jo Dyer’s lawyer says Dyer will be called as a witness for the ABC in the defamation case and I think there would also have to be a good chance that James Hooke will also be called as a witness.
Ms Chrysanthou claims she did not charge Dyer so therefore there was no client/lawyer relationship, and she is free to represent Porter as far as she is concerned.
There only has to be a perception of the possibility of bias and a judge should step down from hearing a matter to protect the reputation of the court and while Sue Chrysanthou is not a judge, she is representing Christian Porter who was the Attorney-General when the court case started and from what Ms Chrysanthou told the court on the 7th of May Porter likely has plans of returning to the Attorney-General role as I Tweeted below on the day:
Is Sue Chrysanthou lying? She had 3 meetings with Dyer but claims she has “no substantive memory”?
What Barrister would have 3 meetings with Jo Dyer over a legal issue yet claim less than six months later they have “no substantive memory” of what was discussed? Sue Chrysanthou has!
And then go work for what is in effect the other party to what was discussed (Porter) and claim they were not paid by Dyer so they can work for Porter. Sue Chrysanthou has!
It would only pass the pub test if it were after midnight on a Friday night and everyone was blind drunk at the local. Sue Chrysanthou is making a joke of the legal fraternity.
A lot of what is wrong about Porter’s legal team, including Sue Chrysanthou, was known long ago and I published an article on the 16th of March titled “Alleged rapist Christian Porter copies failed strategy of alleged paedophile Alan Jones by instituting frivolous defamation proceedings” which covers some of the problems.
Christian Porters legal team – Sue Chrysanthou SC, Rebekah Giles and Brett Walker SC
Rebekah Giles – Christian Porter’s lawyer
Porter’s whole legal team need investigating. I wrote an article on the 20th of March titled “Christian Porter’s lawyer, Rebekah Giles, said to her ex “You and (the woman) will be very happy as long as you keep your Viagra script current, keep flashing your cash and keep the cocaine coming”” and a follow-up article on the 8th of April titled “Christian Porter’s lawyer, Rebekah Giles, has corruptly used the law and tech company Google to hide her past. Will she do the same for Porter?“.
The SMH wrote an article about this matter only a few days ago referring to Porter’s lawyers as the “star legal team”. The 2 SMH journalists who wrote the article should be charged for false advertising. (Click here to read more) The way things are going Porter’s lawyers will be lucky to stay out of jail before the matter is heard.
Declaration – As I previously reported on the 12th of May:
Kangaroo Court of Australia publisher, Shane Dowling (me), has filed a Notice of Motion and supporting affidavit to intervene in the Christian Porter v ABC defamation matter currently afoot in the Federal Court of Australia. A screenshot of the online court file shows that below. If my Notice of Motion is successful, I will only be intervening to argue against Christian Porter’s application for suppression orders on part of the ABC’s defence. (Click here to read more)
Update 17/5/21: Because the main matter has been adjourned the judge has adjourned the Case Management Hearing for my Notice of Motion and it is now listed at 9:30am on Thursday 27 May 2021 and will be broadcast live on the internet on the link here: (Click here to watch at 9.30am on Thursday the 27-5-21) The date and time could change again at short notice so I will publish updates on my Twitter account here: https://twitter.com/Kangaroo_Court
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Categories: Attorney-General Christian Porter
I am practicing solicitor and teach legal ethics. The fact that no payment has been made to a lawyer has literally no bearing on whether there is a conflict. The conflict arises where there has been an exchange of privileged and/or confidential information between client or prospective client and the lawyer. Further, whether the lawyer has a memory of meetings or not is also immaterial. Across three meetings, there would have been detailed file notes created – or at least, there should have been. The question becomes whether the lawyer is lying or is negligent. Both are grounds for her removal.
I am not a legally trained person by any means but I would have thought that what Paul 2 expresses above (Thank You) is “sensibly true” based on nothing more than layman’s logic alone. I have over my lifetime, been a keen student of many fields of human endeavour, including that of the legal / “justice” system.
General Question Please: Was there any particular legal reason why the telecast of courtroom 3 was halted between the times of 12.03 and 14.03 today? and then later on again?
I used to manage a juvenile / youth program for an NGO, for recidivist offenders (car stealing) and would incorporate a visit to the public galleries of courts so that they could see their potential futures in MENS prison, if they chose to continue that behaviour. It scared the bejesus out of some of them.
I’ll stop now, sorry. Looking forward to tomorrow’s telecast. Thank You KCA
Just heard the news about Chrysanthou’s removal from the case. Well done Shane – congratulations!
Let’s see Porter go down the drain with Chrysanthou !