The second Part of the Australian Law Journal for 2012 includes the usual interesting mix of articles and sections, with something to interest everyone. The articles cover such diverse topics as personal injury resulting from negligence, recent changes to the arbitral legislative regime in Australia, and asset lending with an improvident borrower. The sections range from the annual report of the New South Wales Judicial Commission, to indefeasibility and forged mortgages and from admiralty jurisdiction to the obligations of creditor to guarantor, plus much more.

The February 2012 issue of the Australian Tax Review includes three interesting articles covering different aspects of taxation law in Australia. The first article is by Chris Ohms and Karin Olesen and compares four Commonwealth jurisdictions in their handling of Interest payable on borrowed funds or on amounts owing. The second article comes from Sally Joseph and discusses the accessibility and application of the environmental protection provisions that provide a deduction for expenditure. The final article, by Hung Chu and Wayne Lonergan, discusses the valuation treatment of accommodation bonds and the confusion arising as a result.

The first issue of Online Currents for 2012 promises to be a treat with three articles and several sections to choose from. Matt Moore reviews a selection of the research literature on email to identify key lessons for effective organisational use, Glenda Browne discusses three recent conferences on editing, style and indexing that may be of use to information professionals and Jon Jermey reflects on Moodle, an open-source training package for educators. The sections include the usual interesting mix, with the brand new Web Watch exploring sites with useful content, thought-provoking ideas and opportunities for interaction appearing in the Journal for the first time.

The latest issue of the JJA includes four articles of interest. The first comes from Iain Ross and discusses the Tribunal Excellence Framework with particular reference to the VCAT. The second article, by Natalia Antolak-Saper, discusses the purpose, regularity and practice of judicially directed verdicts in Australia. The third article is from ME Rackemann and examines the increasing significance of expert opinion evidence. The final article is by H Douglas, J Hammill, EA Russell and W Hall, reports the results of a survey about judicial understanding of Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

The February issue of the Criminal Law Journal includes articles on international responses to infant abandonment, neonaticide and infanticide, the application of criminal defamation to inflammatory comments made on social networking sites and the possibility of racial discrimination for Indigenous people seeking bail. Also in this issue is an editorial on the rift between the judiciary and parliament over mandatory prison terms for people smugglers, a review of the High Court decisions in 2011 related to criminal matters and a Digest of Criminal Law Cases.

The first Part for Volume 28 of the Building and Construction Law Journal contains an article discussing the assessment of the measure of damages for building defects and a review of decisions since the Tabcorp case providing guidance on the position of the courts and building tribunals. There are also two cases reported: K & J Burns Electrical Pty Ltd v GRD Group (NT) Pty Ltd and John Holland Pty Ltd v Walz Marine Services Pty Ltd.

The February 2012 issue of C&SLJ includes articles on the avenues available to directors to protect themselves from liability for insolvent trading and the role and utility of opinions rendered by independent financial advisers for public takeovers in Singapore. The Company law section includes an empirical study of company securities trading policies. The Corporate finance section has Pt 2 of Omar Salah’s examination of the legal infrastructure of sukuk structures. Finally, the Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia section discusses insider dealing in Hong Kong.

The first Part of ADRJ for 2012 includes several articles of interest covering such diverse topics as pre-litigation mediation, the Australian approach to enforcing arbitration agreements, the facilitative process and evaluative processed of mediation, intimate partner violence and family dispute resolution, conflict resolution processes in the workplace, the ways in which mentalising might apply in mediation and the development and range of mediation available in Germany. There is also a Case notes section and a book review.

The February issue of ABLR contains an interesting mix of articles and sections covering a range of topics. The first article comes from Thanuja Rodrigo and discusses the Australian divergence from English law in matters restraining demands under on-demand guarantees. The second article by Nicholas Mavrakis and Michael Legg, examines the US Dodd-Frank whistleblower reforms and concerns regarding the bounty provisions.Also included are Banking and finance, Company law and securities and Competition law and market regulation sections.