The Whitelocke "Parri Passu" defence back in business

The brouhaha over the Argentine sovereign debt litigation reminded me of some of my own finest work in front of the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals

Everyone at the Mosman Rower’s Club is talking about the Argentine Republic’s wildly entertaining court battle with its creditors. Argentina’s plucky attorney Jonathan Blackman Esq. delved into the T.B Whitelocke playbook and boldly submitted to the Court that his beloved Argentina would not voluntarily obey any order to pay the defaulted bondholders whenever it makes payments on restructured debt. Naturally the independently minded and flamboyantly passionate people of Argentina would consider this a violation of their sovereignty. To do otherwise would be to spit on the memory of Hugo Porta and the Libertador, José de San Martin.

In response to Mr Blackman’s argument (based largely on first principles of public international law and some obscure provisions of Andean Community of Nations’ Cartagena Agreement of 26 May 1969), U.S. Circuit Judge Reena Raggi asked:

“So the answer is you will not obey any order but the one you propose?”

Showing vision and nimble footwork worthy of any of the great Argentinean trequartistas, the ever-plucky Mr Blackman responded in emphatic terms “We would not voluntarily obey such an order.”

We all knew that was coming!

My dear friends Hernan Lorenzino, Argentina’s minister of economy, and Vice President Amado Boudou were, at the time, seated next to Blackman on the leather panelled counsel table as he addressed the bench and, knowing them as I do, they would have been rolling in the aisles.

I should mention that I have regularly enjoyed a Parilla, a glass or two of Malbec and an after dinner tango with Blackman, Lorenzino and Boudou as well as my other core Argentinean consigliore Sergio “Kun” Aguero, Gabriella Sabatini, Pope Francis I and firebrand former international rugby player Federico Mendez. Referring to ourselves as ‘Los Amigos para Siempre” we have been nigh on inseparable since an infamous and nationally televised celebrity capybara hunt organised by a charity sponsored by Sabatini in the early nineties.

Back to the hearing and Blackman went on to claim that a lower-court order obliging Argentina to pay the defaulted bonds whenever it makes payments on restructured debt would not only violate Argentina’s sovereignty but would threaten to trigger a new financial crisis and would quadruple the number of similar cases in New York federal court. It would, in short, clog up the entire US legal system with Argentinean Bond cases. Given the main purpose of the US court system is to create fodder for Law & Order episodes, Blackman submitted forcefully that this would make for fairly dry fare and could have dire ratings consequences for NBC.

Signing off in style, Blackman remarked “We’re representing a government and governments will not be told to do things that fundamentally violate their principles.”

Now we all know that this sovereignty mumbu jumbo is just a smokescreen to deflect the Court’s attention from the main issue. What is really at play is the uncertain meaning of the obscure ‘pari passu’ clause in the context of sovereign debt contracts.

The court has been alive to this problem since I pioneered both the use of the parri passu clause and then the strident criticism of its inherent ambiguities in an eerily similar dispute many years ago. That was, of course, when I was acting for the good people of the Chincha Islands (a humble archipelago close to the Peruvian town of Pisco – the home of the eponymous aphrodisiac) in their infamous Guano Bonds litigation.

It is a matter of public record that, in the earlier 1980s, the Chincha Islands issued millions of dollars worth of bearer bonds to retail investors in the South West United States backed only by its local guano deposits. When the first of the holders, a humble share cropper from New Mexico called Reynold if I recall, attempted to redeem his tranche of bonds (with a face value of no more than $1,000), the Chincha Islands promptly defaulted as the previously abundant supply of guano had, as it turned out, been thoroughly exhausted some forty years previous.

Instructed and summoned across the Pacific Ocean with all haste by the military junta that controlled the Chinchas at the time, I was able to resist against enforcement of an implied sovereign guarantee by arguing both limbs of the defence now in use by Blackman. In short, my argument was as follows:

1. the parri passu clause in any Chincha law document had to be read in light of the practice of skull binding that was widespread within the Paracas culture that thrived in the region around 300 BC; and
2. to require the Chincha government to pay the face value of the bonds would be the worst attack on Chincha sovereignty since Isabel II seized the islands in 1864.

Needless to say that the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals was wowed by my argument and though, ultimately unsuccessful, I received private congratulations from a slim majority of the Bench for my ingenuity and the quality craftsmanship of the paper mache skulls I tendered to demonstrate the long term implications of skull binding. My two-headed (though unbound) defence strategy is still taught in all law schools in South America (no doubt Blackman topped his class in this subject!).

We now wait to see whether the law has developed enough in the intervening years for the inherent rightness of this defence to be recognised by the Court. Mr Blackman will have my eternal thanks if he is able to put to bed the wrongs of the past. For the record the good people of the Chincha’s took the loss in the Guano Bonds matter in their stride and pressed on with appeal after appeal; the final outcome of which is still bogged down in the US legal system though it is said to be the subject of an upcoming episode of SVU.

Ask Bullstrode: How do I prepare for the apocalypse?

On the urging of the good people of Wollongong and Shell Harbour, I have re-enlivened my much loved advice column, featured in the Society Pages of the Illawarra Mercury in the 1980’s, entitled “Ask Bullstrode”. In its heyday, my column was the Blackstone’s commentaries of the self-help world, answering any and all questions posed by my readership on topics of importance to the people of the Illawarra, including relationship advice and, of course, statutory interpretation.

If you have any problem that you simply cannot resolve, like that of young Archibald set out below, please do not hesitate to write me at Level 8, Albert Bathurst Piddington Chambers, 177 Phillip Street Sydney 2000, or at bullstrodewhitelocke@hotmail.com

Dear Bullstrode,

My name is Archie Clifford and I am a graduate lawyer in private practice in Melbourne. Like many of my friends I am concerned about the impending apocalypse. As a man who was heavily involved in most of the major conflicts of the last century, how would you suggest I best prepare myself?

Best regards,

Archie



* * * * *



Dear Archie,

Thank you for your note and kind words.

I am on the public record as having long foretold the end of the world. I was first alerted to the Mayan apocalypse by perhaps the world’s leading authority on the source, Maya Angelou. Over a warm chai tea in the balmy surrounds French Guyana in the late 60’s Maya told me to rethink the way I had interpreted the writings of one of my intellectual heroes, William à Beckett, and once I did, my whole world view changed.

While known more broadly as the first Chief Justice of Victoria, à Beckett was also a knight bachelor and a doomsday prophet and "prepper" of incredible vision. His works, under the nom du plum 'Colonus', such as “The Siege of Dumbarton Castle”, the “Literary News” and most vividly, his magnificent treatise “Does the Discovery of Gold in Victoria Viewed in Relation to its Moral and Social Effects as Hitherto Developed Deserve to be Considered a National Blessing or a National Curse?” were, on further investigation, riddled with opaque references to the apocalypse, Mayan gold and the Robbie Deans’ forthcoming reign of terror as Wallaby coach that had somehow escaped my notice on a superficial reading.

Appreciating the subtext, it became clear why his writings were considered so frightening they were said to have sparked the Eureka uprising and caused Damien Martyn to spontaneously retire from test cricket. I have been warning of, and preparing for, the end of days ever since.

I must confess though, until now I did have just the tiniest slither of doubt, because part of me thought we had dodged the apocalypse bullet when John Howard rolled Paul Keating as Prime Minister. However, having seen a news program last night called “the Walking Dead” I now know with certainty that the apocalypse, as foretold by Colonus, has already struck America and is sweeping towards us as I write.

As such gentle Archie, you are sensible to ask me what to do, because time is most certainly of the essence. Obviously you will already have constructed a bunker, that goes without saying, but as far as provisioning goes, I would suggest the following:

a) obtain as many semi-automatic machine guns as you can get your hands on (obviously this will be easier for those who live near a naval base);

b) grab as many of your neighbours' dogs and cats as you can get your hands on. Such urban livestock will prove invaluable as food supplies dwindle; and

c) beg, borrow or steal at least 100 copies of Whitelocke: On Lawmanship. This book is both an invaluable road map for apocalyptic survival and likely to be the official currency in the future wasteland that was Australia. As with the one-eyed man in the land of the blind, the owner of many of my obscure legal texts will be king in the land where they are as good as a stack of cold, hard cash. If all copies have already been looted, my other works such as ‘Mary Sidney Herbert: A Winsome Spinster’, ‘The Separation of Canon and Common Law: Eight (8) Centuries of Legal Madness’ and ‘From Chaloner Chute to Sir Loveban Lislebone Long: A History of 16th and 17th Century Lawmen with Riotous Names’ will be of equivalent value.

Special Christmas Invitation to Treat: A free legal opinion with every copy of On Lawmanship sold and $10 to charity‏

Dearly beloved,

Christmas is a time to reflect upon the good health of family, friends and the application of the doctrine of laches to those who arrive late to the eating of the Christmas pudding.

2012 has been an interesting year, I have had many great victories, and many narrow defeats, but such is the hurly burly of a life in the law.

My triumphs have included:
a) Leading Rwanda to a seat on the UN Security Council. Many, many nights of hard drinking with Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Peter Hargitay, Don Cheadle and Zsa Zsa Gabor eventually paying rich dividends;
b) Using all my powers of persuasion through days of fire-side whispering, gentle cajoling, neuro-linguistic programming and dark journeys into the hypnopompic states of consciousness to allow Steve Hooker to overcome the yips and soar back into medal contention at the Golden League High Jump meet in Lausanne;
c) Applying my training as a cartographer and my profound knowledge of the Pacific (developed during my youth on Pitcairn island) to hide Sandy/Sable Island from Google Maps thereby laying the foundations for a prime location for a piratical lair or an offshore processing centre for refugees; and
d) Finally freeing the micro-fauna of the Galapagos from the scourge formerly known as'Lonesome George'. A poacher's worst nightmare, this pesky tortoise had eluded me for nigh on a decade before I discovered his love for the moving siren songs of the popular chanteuse 'Skrillex'.

My defeats, though few, continue to sting:
a) Narrowly missing out on the job as CEO of the National Rugby League due to my controversial belief in the existence of potentially up to 14 limbs in Masters v Cameron;
b) Advising one of my blue chip clients, EB Private Equity, on their ill-fated tilt at storied retailer David Jones; and
c) Narrowly missing out to Stephen Gageler on elevation to the High Court because of my inability to identify Cameron Smith, Wendell Sailor or Jonathan Thurston when quizzed on the topic by Dyson Heydon.

Special Invitation to Treat

In keeping with the spirit of season, I am prepared to extend an incredibly generous invitation to treat to my learned readership. For the month of December, with every copy of Whitelocke: On Lawmanship purchased in Australia*, I will throw in, for no further consideration, a hand written opinion on any topic vexing the purchaser. If you provide me with a précis of the facts in question (no longer than 150 characters) I will opine definitively and without qualification and such opinion will be able to be used as compelling evidence in any commercial dispute and will, in my view, be binding on lower level courts and administrative tribunals in almost all Commonwealth jurisdictions.

Donation to Charity

In a final gesture of Christmas inspired bounteousness, I will give $10 from every Book & Opinion package sold in Australia* in the lead up to Christmas to the Sydney Story Factory, a not-for-profit creative writing centre for young people in Redfern, Sydney. A truly worthy cause, made particularly timely by Russel Crowe’s impending departure from “the Burrow” and the consequential requirement for a plucky local to pick up the pen and take carriage of the Book of Feuds going forward. You can read more about the Sydney Story Factory at http://bit.ly/PC3y4o.

Merry Christmas,

Your Obt. Svt.,

Bullstrode Whitelocke

Farewell Richard Ponting

The forthcoming retirement of the great Richard Ponting makes one remember the departures of the legends of my era, men like Ronald Oxenham, Albert Ernst Victor Hartkopf, Pud Thurlow, Affie Harwood Jarvis and his bitter enemy, Black Jack Blackham the Prince of Wicketkeepers. All great men and great servants to the game and I will be thinking of all of them as I watch Richard take guard for the final time.

Of those legends of days gone by, Blackham was, in many respects the most like Ponting. A magnificent fielder and a captain of a surprisingly nervous disposition, he led Australia to many crushing defeats against the old enemy, giving Ponting the inspiration to do the same many years later. He was also one of the last great cricketers to sport a thick bushranger beard throughout his career, a legacy from his early work as a bank clerk, where beardedness was seen as a private reassurance to customers in those straightened financial times. I had hoped Ponting was going to revive this lost art of grooming when he debuted in Perth with a carefully cultivated goatee beard, a promising start indeed, but over the years the bristles faded from view. A tragedy and probably the only disappointing aspect of Ponting’s legacy.

Another of my favourite cricketers of the days of yore is, of course, Ted a'Beckett. a’Beckett, like me was both a celebrated all-round sportsman and a man of the law. Ted certainly had my measure inside the pickets (although I troubled him more than a few times with my delicately flighted googlies), but on the boards of the district court I towelled him up so often he once told me he’d rather be facing that moustachioed demon Fred Spofforth than copping another Whitelocke broadside before a disapproving judiciary. That was all part of the game back then, soften them up with ad hominem verbal short balls then york them with some obscure and persuasive inswinging Canadian jurisprudence. Great memories!!

But memories, like those cricketing legends past, have faded into the pages of Wisden and soon will the deeds of the great R.T. Ponting. Farewell Richard, to me you will always be that incredible wunderkind, blessed with footwork and a hunger I have not seen in a Tasmanian since Alexander Pearce.

Doing a runner from the Cab-Rank Principle

Recently, while haranguing my old sparring partner Kerry O’Brien about the increasing sexualisation of ABC’s formerly family orientated “Songs of Praise”, Kerry accused me of ‘playing the man, not the ball’. He pointed out that my criticism of the ABC and Songs of Praise was merely a politically correct way to pan the embarrassing aesthetic decline of Aled Jones and the team, a soft target for a populist rant if ever there was one. Not for the first time in the conversation, I remarked upon Kerry’s perspicacity and the fearsome orange glow of his head-hearth, which in days gone by would not doubt have served as an invaluable communication device between distant villages in times of Viking attack.

Mr Kerry O’Brien, a constant bulwark against Viking attack

Kerry was, however, as always, correct. I was like a politician, railing against ‘people smugglers’ instead of coming clean to the electorate and explaining that, in fact, they didn’t care at all about a couple of Indonesians making a dirty buck, but were kept awake at night by the fear that one day their coffee on Avenue Road, Mosman, would be served by someone whose ‘single origin’ was, like the coffee, from somewhere unpronounceable, causing them to make awkward jokes about long blacks and Arabica beans while backing out the door.

As one would expect for a man of my seniority and media appeal, this was not the first time that I had been rightly accused of this very vice. Now, dear reader, cast you mind back to the summer of ‘92 when I appeared on a special pilot edition of Q&A on a panel comprised of Sir Gustav Nostle, Hazem El Masri, Lee Lin Chin and Che Cokatoo Collins, to discuss multi-culturalism in the early nineties. As the show commenced I immediately launched into a lengthy retelling of the development of my famously successful tactic of demonising a group of individuals, already unpopular in the general public, in order to surreptitiously take shots at a political sacred cow. Of course I am referring to my famous campaign against taxi drivers in order to bring down the cab-rank principle!

Throughout history, the cab-rank principle has been the unspoken cormorant around the neck of barristers the world over. This is because an unfortunate (and, if I may be so bold as to suggest, unforeseen) bi-product of the cab-rank principle is that you find yourself having to act for literally anyone who finds their way to your door, regardless of how unpleasant their cause of action or personal hygiene! This absolute nightmare, which my glorious forebear Bulstrode (sic) Whitelocke fought so hard against in the 1600s, continues to haunt us today! Well it did, until I took matters into my own hands.

Bulstrode [sic] Whitelocke, a man of uncommon courage and benevolence

Throughout my career at the Bar I had spent many an idle Tuesday afternoon reflecting upon how I could tear down the anti-competitive nonsense of the cab-rank principle, without undermining my reputation in the community as a powerful advocate of social justice and “the little guy”*.

After considering this proverbial Scylla and Charybdis at length, it occurred to me that if I launched a vitriolic campaign against taxi drivers, I could create a situation whereby their passengers, the real cause of my discomfort, would simply not be able to avail themselves of my sought after legal acumen.

I started testing the public’s temperature to this position on my weekly talk-back radio appearances by letting it be known that taxi drivers are motivated by profit. These human traffickers were demanding payment for driving passengers to their desired destinations, often in amounts that would make Jonathan Sumption QC blush, most particularly when coming from the airport or when the taxi had been pre-booked!!

Understandably, the public didn’t like what it was hearing and the reassuring voice of Uncle Bulli was there to keep stoking the flames. Slowly but surely I ramped up my attacks until stopping cab-drivers and the ever-increasing arrival of their passengers all over Sydney became the most important and divisive political issue of the day. This masterful political strategy culminated in me using my influence in the NSW government to establish an offshore processing centre for taxi passengers on Pitcairn Island.

With stage one complete, the second phase of my inspired plan was to ride the wave of grassroots opposition to taxi drivers and their miserable human cargo by announcing that I would read my professional and ethical obligations under the cab-rank principle strictly. That is, that the cab-rank principle did not oblige me to take a brief unless my prospective client had literally arrived by taxi. Furthermore, I would only accept clients that arrived by means of a taxi that had been processed offshore and which originated from the regional cab-rank in Pitcairn. I then created a further (objectively fair but substantively unfair) criterion** by only receiving clients between 3 and 4pm and 3 and 4am – the time where no taxis in the world operate, not even water taxis from the South Pacific!

Looking for a taxi at 3pm in downtown Adelaide

In a matter of days I was able to rid myself of the burdensome nightmare that was the cab rank principle without ever having to say a bad word about the people for whom I was meant to act!

As you can imagine, this compelling tale took up the full hour of the show and thankfully neither Tony Jones nor any panellist (not even the usually effusive Ms Lin Chin) were able to get a word in edgewise. I then, naturally, exercised the privilege against self incrimination and refused to take any questions from the audience whom I feared to be filled with unsympathetic hipsters and Mark Latham.

This legendary performance allowed the ABC to receive funding for a full season of Q&A within only 27 years, a mere blink of the eye in the scheme of things. The ABC’s debt of gratitude to me remains, however, tragically unpaid.

* I had spent years as the President of the Senate Committee for Access to Justice during my time in parliament and I was, at the time, particularly eager not be seen to do anything that would impinge on my chances of being elevated to the High Court under the increasingly radical left-wing Labor Government of the day.

**My thanks to Emile Durkheim and Anatole France for that little pearler.

The Rent is Too Damn High

As a young man, like so many of my friends, I had an informal profit-à-prendre (in gross) over large tracts of land in Sydney, from which I took natural resources, wild game and briefs. After a time of this carefree existence I decided I needed to establish a more formal base for my burgeoning legal practice. It was this desire for a possessory interest in land that inspired me, in the late 1940s, to turn the first sod on the ground that later would become Albert Bathurst Piddington Chambers in Phillip Street. At the time, the standard rental arrangement with the James McGirr New South Wales State Government was that if you cleared any land south of Bridge Street you could rent it for 20 years for a literal peppercorn (being highly sought-after at the time for their laxative qualities).

As you can imagine, the gross margin my Practice ran at in those heady days of free rent and relentless lawsuits over Victoria’s controversial success in the 1947 Claxton Shield was the envy of legal practitioners the world over.

Unfortunately since that time, through a slow and pernicious creeping death of incremental hikes, the rent on my chambers has now reached astronomical proportions. These days I am literally living hand to mouth while my landlord grows fat off the fruits of my labour. This situation has become untenable and it is for that reason that I am pleased to announce I have engaged my dear friend and regular New York gubernatorial candidate James McMillan as the collective bargaining agent for the Barristers of Piddington Chambers to take up our noble cause against Barristers' Chambers Limited in our forthcoming rent review.

Law Society of NSW - Council Elections

Lawmen of New South Wales,

Commeth the hour, commeth the man. I am writing to you by electronic transmission to ask your support as I seek election for the Large Firm position at this year’s Law Society Council elections. This email is unrelated to any I may have previously sent to your in your capacity as a potential conduit of Nigerian financing opportunities. For the avoidance of doubt, those offers remain open.

At literally any moment now you will receive your ballot papers from the NSW Law Society. Here is what I will stand for when I am elected to the Law Society Council:

a) The wholesale repeal of CLERP 7, in all of its insidious guises.
b) The appointment of Wyatt Roy and Justin Bieber to the Juvenile Justice Sub-Committee of the Law Society of NSW.
c) Using the corporations power to overcome the High Court’s lamentable Octaviar decision.
d) Convening a citizens’ assembly to resolve once and for all whether there is a fifth category in Masters v Cameron.
e) Outlawing severability clauses.
f) Stopping jurisprudential waste and turning back the boats.

For those of you that are unaware of my many, many distinguished years as a Lawman, I have set out below a brief ‘snap shot’ of career highlights:

· Career victories against Sir Garfield Barwick: 2

· Golden Gavel winner, 1945

· Internationally renowned authority on the training and discipline of hounds

· Author of Whitelocke: On Lawmanship 3rd Edition and countless other learned texts, including ‘Mary Sidney Herbert: A Winsome Spinster’ and ‘The Separation of Canon and Common Law: Eight (8) Centuries of Legal Madness’

In short, I will bring erudition, accountability, dignity and a detailed knowledge of the training of hounds to the role of large Firm Member, which for too long has been dominated by the vested interests of solicitors who work for large firms.

If you agree that these ideas are right for our time, then please vote for me in the Law Society Council elections.

A faint heart never won a fair maiden. Be brave and vote.

Kind regards,

Bullstrode Whitelocke K.C.
Knight of the Thistle, Order of the Companions of Honour, Knight of the Hutt River Province, President of the Australian Chapter of the Stone Masons, 18 times Heraclitus Society Man of the Year, The Leverhulme Medal for the application of Heraclitus to Chemistry, The Royal Guelphic Order, Knight Grand Commander of The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, Kaisar-I-Hind Medal, Officer of the Order of Australia, Australian Antarctic Medal, Champion Shots Medal.
Albert Bathurst Piddington Chambers

Eden-Monaro Decides: My Seven Point Roadmap

After another day of dilly-dallying by our elected representatives, I have decided to take real action in order to establish a workable government for Australia. I have set out below my seven non-negotiable demands which must be complied with by either party hoping to garner my crucial* support to form government. You will also find these demands nailed to the door of all churches, post offices and public restrooms in Eden-Monaro.

TO JULIA GILLARD and TONY ABBOTT

Requests for information

1. I seek access, under the ‘caretaker conventions’, to advice from Secretary of Treasury Ken Henry as to the true whereabouts of Lord Lucan, Phar Lap and Harold Holt.

2. I seek urgent briefings on subjects yet to be determined from the following persons:

a. Kate Ellis;

b. Kerry O’Brien;

c. Harold Holt; and

d. The Lion of Bradfield – Dr Brendan Nelson.

3. I seek briefings from all other caretaker Ministers, Shadow Ministers, their next of kin and all their staffers to discuss their itineraries, broken down hour by hour, for the next three years. I estimate this briefing process will take the best part of those three years.

4. I seek advice as soon as possible on your plans to work with the Parliament chefs to both improve the quality and reduce the price of lasagna. I would also like advice on timelines and actions for disbanding the Federal system of government, increasing the number of private members bills related to Heraclitus and the rule in Hadley v Baxendale, outlawing 90 second statements (or any statements for that matter shorter than 50 minutes) and “sexing up” question time (I suggest silver screen heart-throbs Tony Jones or Billy Zane be appointed Speaker of the House as a matter of urgency).

5. I seek a commitment to explore all options from both sides in regard appointing me Prime Minister, and a willingness to at least explore all options to enable the United Australia Party, notwithstanding the fact we only have one elected** representative, to reach a majority of greater than 76. Included in these considerations must be advice on how to disband the House of Representatives (except for the seat of Eden-Monaro) and have the nation governed by a combination of the Senate and Krytocracy, and a proposed timetable for this to happen.

6. I seek a commitment in writing as soon as possible that if negotiations are to take place on how to form Government, that each of you will negotiate in good faith and with the interests of Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth as the only interest. In this same letter of comfort, I seek a written commitment that whoever forms majority Government will commit to a 99 year term, and for an explanation in writing in this same letter as to how this commitment to a 99 year term will be fulfilled, either by enabling legislation, force or other means.

7. I seek advice as soon as possible on a timetable and reform plan to increase political donations, repeal the un-constitutional “truth in advertising” reform, CLERP and the age limit for appointment to the High Court.


I will now be heading to my Daintree property to hunt Cassowary, a long-standing appointment with the Governor-General (unrelated to, but potentially useful in resolving , this political deadlock). I have agreed to be back in Canberra on Monday for my coronation.


*Assuming postal votes get me over the line in Eden-Monaro

** Assuming postal votes get me over the line in Eden-Monaro

Eden-Monaro Decides: Extract from Campaign Launch Address

Hello readership,

As many of you know, there is a good chance that, on behalf of the United Australia Party, I will take back the bellweather seat of Eden Monaro in the upcoming Federal election. Last night was an important step towards that goal – with a glittery and glamorous bang my campaign was officially launched at the Nelligen petrol station and broadcast live around the nation.

Many of you would already have heard the reportage of this momentous event on the wireless news services, so I will keep this posting brief. Set out below is an extract from my keynote address, highlighting a key policy of mine for this election ‘Real Action on recognising Queanbeyan as the beating political and economic heart of the nation’:

“…but enough now (for the time being) on the many, many similarities between sitting member for Eden Monaro Mike Kelly and Chairman Mao. It is probably now an appropriate time to point out the striking parallels between myself and the founding father of Eden-Monaro, the great Sir Austin Chapman. Like me, Sir Austin was born in the flamboyantly named hamlet of Bong Bong near Bowral and later became an accomplished saddler. It is a little known fact, and one that I do not widely publicise, that I regularly moonlight as the saddler for all Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s racing operations and am highly regarded for my ornate yet surprisingly comfortable Jump Saddles. Obviously both Sir Austin and I are also both recipients of the KCMG.

While our views on the overall benefits of federation diverge, a powerful convergence of Sir Austin’s and my political viewpoints is our passionately shared belief that the national capital should be as near to the Molonglo River as possible – long considered the gateway to the empire. However, unlike Sir Austin, I have never accepted the choice of Canberra as the national capital but rather continue to believe that nearby Queanbeyan, the de facto capital of both Eden-Monaro and Australia in anyone’s language, should be accorded that honour more formally. Queanbeyan has, in my view, everything needed to be the national capital: access to the crucial trade routes of the Molonglo, Queanbeyan and Murrumbidgee Rivers, fantastic cultural institutions: such as the Royal Hotel and Riverside Plaza as well as any number of celebrity residents including David and Terrence Campese, Joe Janiak and my life-long friend and drama pupil George Lazenby.

It is against that background that tonight I announce the third prong in my Eden-Monaro election promise trident. The first two prongs of our election campaign you know well: they are our widely discussed policies of ‘Real Action on bringing the 2042 Winter Olympics to Mount Selwyn’ and ‘Real Action on restocking the dwindling population of that most elegant of piscatorial delicacies, European Carp, in the waters in and around Eden-Monaro’. The third prong of our campaign, and no doubt the clincher for the various fence-sitting ‘undecideds’ in this electorate and the rest of the nation is thus: to have Queanbeyan installed as Australia’s capital city by no later than November 2010. The United Australia Party represents real action on recognising Queanbeyan as the beating political and economic heart of the nation.”

Eden-Monaro Decides: Campaign Update

As part of my campaign for the rustbelt seat of Eden-Monaro I will be broadcasting news from the electioneering coalface. Below is an extract from today’s Queanbeyan Tribune:

* * * * * * *
After our stories on sitting member Dr Mike Kelly (ALP), popular local traffic controller Frank Fragiacomo (Independent) and Ursula Bennett (Christian Democrat), we now turn to a non-resident celebrity candidate who is being parachuted into Eden-Monaro by the United Australia Party (which was hitherto considered disbanded since 1945) - Bullstrode Whitelocke K.C. a famous barrister and author.

QT: Mr Whitelocke, you’re regarded as a legend in the Australian Liberal Party for your service as a senator for the Northern Territory both in office and in opposition during the Menzies and Whitlam Governments, why then would you to run in a crucial bell-wether seat against a Liberal Party candidate?

BW: I had intended to run as an independent like my dear friend Kevin Rudd, but deep in the cockles of my heart, I have simply never recognised the dissolution of the United Australia Party and the formation of the Liberal Party. As such I had little choice but to run under the UAP banner. I know for a fact Stanley Bruce and Billy Hughes agree with my version of history and can now finally rest in peace. Secondly, it is routinely said that the party that wins Eden-Monaro will win government, that’s why the United Australia Party is putting forward its best candidate in this seat.

QT: So the United Australia Party has other candidates?

BW: Not at present but if we win government I imagine there will be a flight to quality.

QT: What do you say to local people who will argue a person who has never been to many parts of Eden-Monaro is poorly equipped to represent its people in parliament.

BW: Firstly I will rarely have to answer those questions as I do not and will not live in the electorate. Secondly there is no question I was a fine senator for the Northern Territory despite having never been further north in Australia than Palm Beach on Sydney’s outskirts. Thirdly, as a King’s Counsel, celebrated philosopher, twice nominated Spirit Man of the Nagoya Shrine and the current Chalker of the Cerne Abbass Giant, the profile and media attention I will bring to the electorate will be fantastic for local business and tourism (until of course, prospective tourists realise I live in Sydney). Think of the hype if I organised a game of field polo on Seifert Oval or delivered an impromptu recital of the Tenterfield Oration on the main street of Braidwood. This would be an incredible boon for the region.

[continues]

Bullstrode's Legal French Phrasebook: Dépeçage

Dépeçage means dismemberment, which is in turn derived from the verb dépecer, which means to carve up or to analyse in extraordinary detail.

This term is principally used in two (2) ways in a legal context:

1) As a description for every single oral and written submission every put by T Bullstrode Whitelocke KC. For example ‘Mr Whitelocke, I am not sure that a fourth day of surrejoinder is necessary for this directions hearing. To be frank, your ferocious depecage of the defendant’s proposed timetable, whilst showing admirable stamina, has left me longing for my 7oth birthday.’; and

2) To described the common law concept whereby different provisions within a single contract are expressed to be governed by different laws. I have used Dépeçage in this way extensively in all my drafting and find it leads to greatly enhanced outcomes for my clients.

I pioneered this concept when I drafted the ISDA standard documentation, which now regularly sees the ISDA Master Agreement governed by New York State Law while the credit support annexe is governed by English law.

After the success of this innovation I now use Dépeçage in all contracts as follows:

i) I typically use Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch to govern my recitals;

ii) I have been known to rely on Scots Law to govern the operative provisions, except, of course, for any clauses relating to the doctrine of marshalling, which I ensure are governed by the Napoleonic Civil Code, Delaware Law or Halakha;

iii) I will use non-legal laws, such as the law of diminishing returns or the Hicks-Marshall laws of derived demand, in sensitive or confidential contractual provisions (for example, in a particularly cheeky move I employed when negotiating Eddie Maguire’s employment contract with Channel Nine, I provided for various provisions to be governed by the laws of gravity); and

iv) for all boiler plate clauses (including governing law provisions), I will only apply Papuan Customary law.

I have also been known to hand annotate standard form contracts, including dry cleaning tickets and the large poster displaying the terms and conditions for entry to my local car parking station, to ensure that the consumer friendly laws of the Cayman Islands apply at all times.

As you can imagine, this is yet another of my legal innovations which has greatly enhanced and simplified contract law for businesses in Australia.

Cheerleading follows Pine-Baiting into the Dustbin

I have just got off the phone from my dear friend Judge Stefan Underhill who has recently delivered his opinion in the United States District Court, District of Connecticut matter Stephanie Biediger, Kayla Lawler, Erin Overdevest, Kristen Corinaldesi, and Logan Riker, individually and on behalf of all those similarly situated, and Robin Lamott Sparks, individually v. Quinnipiac University No. 3:09cv621 (SRU)*. I have given Stefan a ferocious haranguing but he is steadfastly refusing to change his manifestly flawed determination that Cheerleading is not a sport*.

In his opinion, Stefan said "Competitive cheer may, some time in the future, qualify as a sport under Title IX.......Today, however, the activity is still too underdeveloped and disorganized to be treated as offering genuine varsity athletic participation opportunities for students."

This criticism could equally be levelled against Ultimate Frisbee, Kabaddi or Australian Rules Football and is the type of short-sightedness that led to my preferred sport of pine-baiting being outlawed in Australia.

Pine-baiting became popular in New South Wales in the late 1830’s as a result of the difficulties for bear-baiting enthusiasts posed by Australia’s overwhelming lack of bears. Early European settlers experimented with baiting alternatives such as recidivist convicts and emus before realising that both Norfolk Island Pine and the rare Wollemi Pine provided wonderful sport.


Australia's most celebrated Pine-Baiter of the 1930s Norman "Splinters" Royan shows off his skills.

Pine-baiting was Australia’s most popular sport for the next 100 years until some meddling lefties in London challenged the validity of the practice in the UK High Court of Justice. Unfortunately, in the now infamous High Trees decision, Lord Denning put an end to Pine Baiting for many of the same reasons Judge Underhill has relied upon to derogate the gentle art of cheerleading. The one positive from this sorry episode was that in obiter in High Trees, Lord Denning accidentally invented the doctrine of Promissory Estoppel. Only time will tell if Judge Underhill’s decision in Volleyball v Cheerleading will have a similar impact on the future development of contract law.


* http://sbmblog.typepad.com/files/quinnipiac.pdf
** http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/sports/22sportsbriefs-titleix.html
*** Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd [1947] KB 130

Lesson of the Day

At a recent dinner with my lifelong friends Alby Mangels and real-tennis superstar Michael Chang, I was complemented on the vigour with which I attack any argument. I took this praise very seriously, as both these deeply respected and profoundly multicultural gentlemen are known the world over for unwavering commitment to their respective causes.

Upon further reflection, I came to the landing that my friends were indeed correct. Part of the reason for my enduring success is that I am never afraid to give even the haughtiest of opponents both barrels of the Bullstrode blunderbuss!

My magnificent argumentative ferocity is widely praised and has not gone unnoticed by the judiciary. For example, Mason P in FPM Constructions Pty Limited & v Australian Recreation Systems Pty Ltd & Anor [2004] NSWCA 318 remarked, with approval, that when faced with a trademark Whitelocke onslaught, my learned opponent had to resort to interacting “with studied courtesy and significant forbearance in all of the circumstances, notwithstanding a barrage of peremptory, patronising and downright offensive correspondence from the older practitioner”.

So friend, remember that if you aspire to be a great advocate, to do it properly you must leave nothing in the tank. No-one likes shandy.*



*Unless of course, it is only breakfast time. Nevertheless, the lesson stands.