Dr LJ Maher (cis: she/her, 🌈, AuDHD, Quaintrelle)

As a used bookseller, this is maddening because every damn day I see appetite for strange books, old books, indie books, forgotten books. Readers are there. They love to explore the store & buy things they've never heard of.

Publishing's biggest problem is that they've forgotten how to sell books.

Also, let's discuss the claim from the client's representative that the legal practitioner is accepting donations to the client's defence: it's been a while since I studied trusts accounting, but that doesn't sound like a accepting funds that can be returned.
6/

#Auslaw

In addition, would these social media posts breach s18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975? For funsies is there anything in the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 about interfering with electoral materials?
5/

#Auslaw

5.1.2 is likely to a material degree to—
(i) be prejudicial to, or diminish the public confidence in, the administration of justice, or
(ii) bring the profession into disrepute.

4/
#Auslaw

5 Standard of conduct—dishonest or disreputable conduct
5.1 A solicitor must not engage in conduct, in the course of legal practice or otherwise, which—
5.1.1 demonstrates that the solicitor is not a fit and proper person to practise law, or

3/

#Auslaw

4 Other fundamental ethical duties
4.1 A solicitor must also—
4.1.4 avoid any compromise to their integrity and professional independence...

2/

#AusLaw

Lawyer for Neo-Nazi praised Hitler's Mein Kampf as 'brilliant book' Matthew Hopkins shared racist and antisemitic material from the Neo-Nazi group on social media and described Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf as a "brilliant book" to his followers.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...
Dear NSW Legal Services Commissioner, question re the Solicitors' Conduct Rules & the practitioner mentioned in the attached article:
1. Do the social media posts that the ABC has identified in this article breach the following provisions of the SCR?

1/
#AusLaw

Black Beauty, broken and rescued: 150 years of equine welfare The legacy of Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty reminds us: cruelty to any creature is everyone’s concern

Heritage Open Days 2025 are from 12 - 21 Sept.

The Anna Sewell House where Black Beauty's author was born is open to the public.
Jarrolds, the novel's publisher, is also offering a History Tour.

The book changed attitudes to horse welfare.

1 / 1 Letter in support of Meanjin’s future As members of the Publishing and Communications program’s staff at the University of Melbourne, we strongly support the continued existence of Meanjin Quarterly. From direct involvements with the journal during the past 25 years and more, we personally attest to the formative role Meanjin has played in the development of writers, editors and publishers, and an independent Australian cultural voice. The creative labour of thousands resonates deeply in the fabric of this cultural institution founded by Clem Christesen in Meanjin/Brisbane in 1940. We call on the University of Melbourne to recognise the rich and continuing social, political and literary value of Meanjin by ensuring its future. The journal is a living resource for our teaching, and vital to our students. Its publications fill our reading lists with ideas from the best minds of our time. It has uplifted many of our students through publication, internships, partnerships and employment, and its connection to the University is part of what makes our writing and editing programs valuable and comparable to other leading universities on the international stage. We believe the University’s enduring purpose of benefiting society compels it to take swift action to preserve the journal and sustain its continued publication, preferably within the University itself. At the very least, the University should do all it can, acting in good faith, to transfer the journal’s cultural and IP assets to another institution prepared to save it. Culturally, the University of Melbourne has benefited immensely from its support of the journal since 1945; the extinction of the journal would be its enduring loss but an even greater loss to the community the University serves. Signed by: Sybil Nolan Tim Coronel Matt Holden LJ Maher Fiannuala Morgan Sharon Mullins Beth Driscoll Claire Parnell Nicola Redhouse Hollen Singleton Bec Kavanagh

Re #MeanjinJournal, a letter from myself and some of my colleagues to The University of Melbourne. #Meanjin is such an important part of Australia's literary ecosystem and losing it would be culturally and industrially devastating. #AusLit #AustralianWriters #Publishing #Unimelb

How did my class on identifying audiences for digital content become a history lesson on Melbourne's Queer clubbing scene between 2000-2012?

I am thinking Angela Carter's The Passion of New Eve, Fay Weldon's The Lives and Loves of a She-Devil, Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods and Frankisstein, Frances Cha's If I Had Your Face, etc...

I am reading Replace Me by Amber Husain (2021, Peninsula Press) and 1) it is more prescient now than it was when it was published, good golly. 2) I love the term "fantasies of self-reconstruction" that she coins to describe Bulgakov's book The Heart of a Dog. Can y'all recommend similar reads?

Sorry! Chunky fingers. Was meant to be Ben Aaranovitch.

I am back in front of a lecture hall! I have no sleep, no caffeine and all the vyvanse. Buckle up for Legal Issues in Arts and Media #PUBL90014 #HowToPourTheTeaNotSpillIt #AcademicSelfie

It's been a while so here's the #AcademicSelfie. I am back at work & loving it. My classes for s2 are prepped. Dragon is in childcare, I got a lil nap, the midwinter sun is shining, there's a new @benaaronflynn.bsky.social book, I am off to meet a friend for lunch & do some work in a beer garden.

Picture of a white infant with dark brown hair in a Miffy the bunny onesie sitting on a purple blanket. The infant is looking down. At their hands and their face is partially obscured.

Thank you for coming to my play. If you made it this far, please find attached an updated on The Dragon/ reason for parental leave.

#Law #BookNerd

She is crawling, starting to sign (AusLan), and desperate to walk. The cats are affeared.

Photograph of copyright page of authors old 1st edition of Federal Constitutional Law: A Contemporary View dated 2001.

Then I decided to check which edition I actually have.

And my life as both a legal scholar and book historian comes full circle.

Anyway. IMHO this book is genuinely the most accessible take Australian Constitutional law, so buy it and/or borrow it from your library. /4

#Law #BookNerd

Picture of Thomson Reuters webpage selling 6th (2024) edition of Federal Constitutional Law: A contemporary view by Sarah Joseph and Melissa Castan

Thought, "hey I should probs spring for the new edition, undergrad was a long time ago and Constitutional law is slow but I may need a more "Contemporary View"."

Please note, I have taught constitutional law in the intervening years and I am not as funny as I think I am. /3

#Law #BookNerd

A copy of the book Federal Constitutional Law: A Contemporary View by S Joseph and M Castan.

I came across Old Trusty from my undergrad days and figured it's always a useful book to have around when I'm trying to explain what an "implied freedom of political speech" is to my publishing & editing (ie non-law) students. /2

#Law #BookNerd

Ping @profsarahj.bsky.social @drmcastan.bsky.social

Three piles of books on a table.

I am finally back at work post parental leave. I thought I should pull out books from the Home Library that I will need in the Office Library. /1

#Law #BookNerd

Stephen Bradbury winning gold but it’s Anthony Albanese

We have a crawler. #Dragon #MotherOfDragon

YouTube video by steffyweffy777 Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen

I am cleaning, looking after Dragon and listening to Triple J's Hottest 100 from 1998 and I hated it at the time but the Sunscreen Song has stood the test of time.
youtu.be/sTJ7AzBIJoI?...

#music #90s #nostalgia

I'm just a queer theory scholar begging sports journalists to consider what they have written before hitting publish

This new book by @uolpress.bsky.social is nothing short but a monumental achievement on Latin American #liberationtheology! Among the most interesting (English) surveys in recent years!
The chapter on Fals Borda by Díaz-Arévalo @sheffielduni.bsky.social is a gem.
Foreword by M. Zechmeister at UCA.

The Lost Medieval Library Found in a Romanian Church - Medievalists.net Hidden away for centuries in a Transylvanian church tower, a forgotten medieval library has come to light, revealing treasures as old as the 9th century. This extraordinary discovery of manuscripts, b...

The Lost Medieval Library Found in a Romanian Church

www.medievalists.net/2024/11/lost...

HT @michaelrnelson.bsky.social

Welcome Ceremony for Justice Bennett YouTube video by Federal Court of Australia

For those who are curious, you can watch a recording of the Welcome here: www.youtube.com/live/sPTxumZ... #AusLaw

Photograph of the author's baby daughter, Dragon (not her real name) and her Fairy Judge Mother, Elizabeth Bennett J. Her Honour is a white woman with a short brown bob and a smile that lights up a room. She is wearing a grey suit jacket and white pinstripe shirt. Dragon is a white baby with (some) brown hair and big dark eyes. Dragon is wearing a green knitted cardigan and staring at the camera like "Mothûr, what are you doing?" Photograph taken after the ceremonial sitting at the morning tea.

Yesterday I joyfully attended the ceremonial sitting for Elizabeth Bennett J at the Federal Court of Australia. Her Honour (that feels so weird) is one of my favourite people; she builds communities of love and mutual support, and integrity is at the core of her being. We are so proud of you, Liz.

All of this. My students (especially the business/commerce/STEM undergrads) are always surprised when I tell them the most valuable of my degrees (in terms of the degree that taught me things I use Every Day) was my Bach of Performing Arts (ie: not my law degree).

One of the things to know about edtech is that many, many people involved in it have no experience teaching, and particularly not at the grade level the intervention is designed to target. They’re tech guys who think tech is Very Hard and teaching is a skill-free avocation for ladies.