Just Chat

Send us Fan Mail The start of the pandemic brought rapidly changing and confusing regulations. Jahan saw a gap that needed to be filled and decided to make daily videos explaining the updates to the everyday person. This gave birth to the "TikTok lawyer”, who garnered a following of over 350K and was featured in a Netflix documentary. He discusses the importance of social media for solicitors...

Send us Fan Mail Before she passes the baton of the Law Society Presidency, Cassandra Banks sits with Amy Dale to talk about her experience as the President, her proudest achievements, how to overcome the fear of speaking in public, and her message to the next president, Brett McGrath. Sponsored by NobleOak . 

Send us Fan Mail Speaking on the eve of his retirement, Justice Steven Rares shares what it's been like to spend 17 years on the Federal Court of Australia. He also speaks about his interest in defamation law and the high profile cases he has worked on, plus what's driven him personally in law. Sponsored by NobleOak . 

Send us Fan Mail With two weeks to go before the referendum on the Voice to Parliament, Amy Dale talks with activist, community leader, and signatory of the Uluru Statement From The Heart, Thomas Mayo about the referendum, the elders who have inspired him and how he fights back against trolling and misinformation. Supported by NobleOak .

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling chats about the best advice she has received as a legal practitioner, what justice means to her and her 'must watch' tv and movie recommendations.  Supported by NobleOak.

Send us Fan Mail The 2022 winner of the Law Society's President's Medal, Nicholas Stewart, returns to Just Chat to discuss the cases and causes close to his heart, the aftermath of his win and recent trips to the cinema. Episode supported by NobleOak . 

Send us Fan Mail Andrew Tiedt has regularly helped LSJ in articles about Criminal Law. Now he sits down with Francisco Silva to talk about his journey into the profession, his thoughts about the jury system, and the moral conundrums of a criminal lawyer. Episode supported by NobleOak . 

Send us Fan Mail Dom Knight was studying law when he founded The Chaser with a group of friends. In this episode of Just Chat, he talks with Floyd Alexander-Hunt about his career with the satirical group, from how it runs as a business to how he almost got arrested. Supported by NobleOak

Send us Fan Mail James Allsop was Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia for 10 years. One month after leaving the role, he talks about how technology is changing the court system, his work in native title cases, and his proudest moments. Supported by NobleOak .

Send us Fan Mail For this week, Just Chat becomes Just Yarn. Trent Wallace now lives in Brisbane, but his journey in law went from his community in the Central Coast, to the legal centres in Sydney. He sits down with Francisco Silva for a yarn on his experience as a queer First Nations man, and the importance of pro-bono work. Supported by NobleOak

Send us Fan Mail For the first episode of 2023, Keely McDonough sits down with NSW Supreme Court Justice Dina Yehia for a discussion about the moments that have shaped her career and how to make the profession more inclusive. Supported by NobleOak . 

Send us Fan Mail For our final episode of 2022, Keely McDonough speaks to the Law Society's outgoing president, Joanne van der Plaat. Joanne reflects on navigating the profession out of COVID, the toll of natural disasters and a year of advocacy on many fronts. This episode is supported by NobleOak

Send us Fan Mail Playwriter Suzie Miller worked as a lawyer in King's Cross when she got the calling to write a play about the stories she was living. Since then, her career has skyrocketed commercially and critically. As her play Prima Facie is about to start a Broadway run, Suzie releases her one-woman show about Ruth Bader Ginsberg, RBG: Of Many, One, currently playing at the Sydney Theatr...

Send us Fan Mail Bill Browder is a financier turned political activist, dubbed a chief enemy of Vladimir Putin. Dialling in from London, he tells Amy Dale about how the murder of his lawyer inspired a global campaign for Magnitsky laws. ​

Send us Fan Mail The Murugappan family became the face of Australia's tough asylum-seeker policies. Their lawyer Carina Ford dials in to talk about the family's return to Biloela, the unspoken trauma of immigrants, and the policies needed to support refugees.

Send us Fan Mail Access to justice is at the heart of everything Rick Welsh does. The proud Murrawarri man is the coordinator of The Shed, an Aboriginal suicide prevention service based in Western Sydney, and speaks candidly to Keely McDonough about improving the Indigenous community’s relationship with the legal system.

Send us Fan Mail Award-winning business owner and CEO Courtney Bowie is doing her part to create a world where law firms focus more on tackling gender discrimination, innovation and mental health than billable hours. Supported by Unisearch .

Send us Fan Mail Diana Reid was starting her legal career when the pandemic drove her to tick off a new bucket list item: write a book. Diana tells Amy Dale about the resulting bestseller and the letters exchanged with a legendary Australian author. Supported by Unisearch .

Send us Fan Mail From murderers and rapists to hitmen and gangsters, Criminal Psychologist Tim Watson-Munro has come face to face with some of the most violent individuals around Australia and the world. Tim sits down with Keely McDonough to discuss his colourful career, his unique perspective of the justice system and how he worked his way up from rock bottom. Supported by Unisearch .

Send us Fan Mail Rachael Wallbank has been at the forefront of the cases that have shaped the law for transgender rights in Australia. As she approaches retirement, 30 years sober and 27 years as an affirmed female, Rachael reveals her path to happiness and why the profession must embrace difference. Supported by Unisearch .

Send us Fan Mail Thomas Russell is one of the state’s leading business lawyers – but he drives an Uber in his spare time and thinks you should too. Thomas sits down with LSJ to discuss the legal jargon he loves to hate, why he debates strangers on Facebook, how his first day in a courtroom shaped his career today, and why he is proud to be part of the Law Society’s new campaign, Lawfully Explained...

Send us Fan Mail We return for our final interview of the year and a chance to hear from Juliana Warner, Law Society's outgoing president. Juliana started her presidency with very defined plans for the profession, but the longest state lockdown ever recorded forced her to adapt her ideas to the ever-changing reality we were all experiencing. Amy Dale sits down with Juliana and discusses the h...

Send us Fan Mail Amani Haydar is a lawyer, artist, advocate and mother who has just released her first book, The Mother Wound: detailing the aftermath of the murder of her mother by her husband, Amani’s father in 2015. Amani tells Amy Dale about returning to her darkest days to pen the memoir and where she stands in the debate about criminalising coercive control.

Send us Fan Mail Legal Aid CEO and proud Wiradjuri man Brendan Thomas sits down with Amy Dale to talk about his decades of work improving the criminal justice system, what this year's NAIDOC theme means to him and why Aboriginal history should be visible on the streets of Sydney

Send us Fan Mail Lawyer, author and advocate Bri Lee sits down with Amy Dale to discuss her new book Who Gets To Be Smart, her response to the NSW Government’s proposed consent law changes and why she leaves the room when The Simpsons is on. Who Gets To Be Smart can be purchased here: https://www.booktopia.com.au/who-gets-to-be-smart-bri-lee/book/9781760879808.html