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Michaela Whitbourn

Michaela Whitbourn

Michaela Whitbourn is a legal affairs reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.

Teal MPs including Zali Steggall have called for a royal commission into domestic and family violence.

Domestic violence royal commission ‘should examine family law system’

Teal MPs are calling for action amid warnings that perpetrators are weaponising the family court system and “deliberately driving up the other side’s legal costs”.

  • Michaela Whitbourn

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Parents are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in protracted family law fights.

‘I will work until the day I die’: The crippling cost of family law fights

Eloise was forced to flee a husband who subjected her and their children to a “daily regime of coercive control”. The legal bills were crushing.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
Keith and Di Blessing both underwent emergency surgery on Thursday.

Keith Blessing shot an alleged home invader. How far are you allowed to go in self-defence?

A violent home invasion in a rural NSW community has brought renewed attention to the law of self-defence.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
NSW Police - generic image

NSW police officer accused of sexually assaulting, choking ex-wife

A Sydney court heard the officer allegedly told a child who called Triple Zero during one incident: “I will lose my job if you do that.”

  • Michaela Whitbourn and Riley Walter
The decision confirms that customers can be held liable for sexually harassing workers.

The sexual harassment case that left a customer with a hefty damages bill

This court decision has major implications for employees in public-facing workplaces, including retail, hospitality and health.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
Claire* said an ICL helped her have a voice as a child in her parents’ custody battle.

Claire had a ‘voice’ in her parents’ court fight. Many kids will miss out

Taxpayer-funded independent children’s lawyers, appointed to act in their best interests in family law cases, are being cut back after the federal budget.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
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The agreement was struck at Top Ryde Shopping Centre.

How a handshake deal between friends at a Sydney shopping centre delivered one $8m

The two men made an inheritance pact that would be fought over in court more than a decade later.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
Roxanne Tickle in Sydney on Friday.

Damages doubled after trans woman’s landmark discrimination win

Roxanne Tickle took the founder of women-only social media app Giggle for Girls to court after she was blocked from using the platform.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
Peter V’landys is suing racing news website The Thoroughbred Report and its managing director, Vicky Leonard.

‘A fair degree of heat’: Peter V’landys claims early win in fiery defamation battle

The long-time Racing NSW chief executive and chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission is suing a racing news website for defamation.

  • Michaela Whitbourn
Keli Lane leaves court during her trial in 2010.

Keli Lane seeks use of prison diaries in lawsuit against NSW

Lane was convicted in 2010 of murdering her two-day-old daughter, Tegan, in Sydney in 1996. She is suing the state over her treatment in prison.

  • Michaela Whitbourn