"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." - William Shakespeare, Henry VI , Act IV, Scene II.

Lawyers are easy to hate. Defence lawyers in particular. Often stereotyped as misconstruing the truth in order to get their clients off on a technicality or loophole, they have a tough job.

But in reality they play a crucial role in the justice system. A constitutional democracy is founded upon several principles, but one of the most profound is that everyone is presumed innocent until proven... READ MORE

Here's an intellectual exercise for you: What common theme runs through the following series of recent events in the United States?

On November 5, 2009, US Army Major Nadil Hassan opens fire at a military base on Fort Hood, Texas and kills 13 people. Before he begins shooting, witnesses hear him shouting "Allahu Akhbar!" - "God is Great", in Arabic. Investigators also discover emails between Hassan and a known Islamic radical pre-dating the murders.

On Christmas Day, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab ... READ MORE

Shortly after he was sworn in as America's 44th President, Barack Obama visited the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to see the United States' Constitution , Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights . He did so, he stated , because the debate on national security issues required everyone to remember an "enduring truth" - that the "values and ideals in those documents are not simply words... they are the bedrock of our liberty and our security."'

Two recent cases involving the... READ MORE