An intense Wednesday

Hi everyone,

It's been another day of very intense work.  I was going flat out to have a couple of fairly complex files ready for case review today, and also conducting negotiations at the Magistrates Court by remote control (well, specifically by phone).  It all had a happy ending.  I did well in the case reviews.  A few details missing but nothing disastrous.  I can win this!  The matter at court settled at the limit of our instructions but not so high as to mess up our KPIs.  And another matter resolved after some negotiations away from the Court today as well.  So, I got the results sheets in so the outcomes can go on the figures for February.  If I've got the numbers right, I should have billed somewhere between $30K-$40K for this month.  I think I can equal that for March too with luck.

Little else to note.  I took some suits for dry cleaning and also made it a late night at the office (again).  This should be the last one for a bit.  The novelty of eating frozen or canned groceries heated in the microwave every night is losing its novelty, and I'm really looking forward to a tuna bake I've promised myself for tomorrow night, work permitting.

I'm sorry I don't have anything more profound to add.  I've genuinely been too busy to keep more than half an eye on the news, although I notice that the matter of Gabe Watson in Alabama resulted in his acquittal.  I'm not sure what to make of that.  The conviction for manslaughter in Queensland he received here seems to me like the only outcome that could have resulted, even if the Queensland DPP had proceeded with a charge of murder (See R v Stone & Dobinson; R v Instan).  Notwithstanding the insurance arrangements he might have pressed his wife to enter, I'm not sure I see that this is evidence that he intended or thought it was probable he'd kill or cripple her and in doing so brought about her death (R v Crabbe).  On the other hand, I'm reluctant to assume that the prosecutors in Alabama were pressing ahead with a prosecution they believed lacked merit, notwithstanding the politics of it all.  Presumably the Ala. laws of evidence and relating to murder made a conviction a plausible prospect.

OK, it's after midnight and bedtime.

See you tomorrow.