Suppression and non-publication
The principle lawyer of Sheybani holds a Ph.D. in this area of the law and has in the past acted in a number of complex matters where suppression and non-publication orders were sought and successfully granted on behalf of the firm’s clients. Sheybani specialises particularly in obtaining suppression and non-publication of court documents and law reports, prior to publication and dissemination on the internet.
Additionally, we understand that everyone is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. However, there are circumstances where the open court rule, pursuant to the principal of open justice, is upheld in the interest of the administration of justice. To that end, following publication of judicial decisions on the internet the individual may have his or her privacy breached with the potential of attracting serious harm (physical, verbal or economical) or some other form of serious prejudge by their peers or members of the public now or at some point in the near future. Problems are also exacerbated when for instance at the conclusion of a court hearing, the court finds the individual innocent of the alleged offence. In such circumstances, the harms mentioned above may have short to long-term impacts on the individual. In order to avoid this, our clients may seek our services in obtaining orders to suppress and restrain the publication of sensitive and or private information via law reports capable of attracting harm to them following their publication on the internet. Sheybani sees this area of the law as becoming one of the fastest growth areas in the legal sector. The highest profile case regarding this area of the law involved Ms Gina Rinehart, in Rinehart v Welker [2011] NSWCA 425 (21 December 2011).