Bruce Lehrmann would be mad to appeal the Federal Court's decision against him, and he wouldn't have a leg to stand on if he did.
So says Emerita Professor Margaret Thornton, who watched the handing down of Justice Michael Lee's findings in the case of Bruce Lehrmann v Network Ten and Others with great interest on Monday.
The widely respected socio-legal and feminist scholar at the Australian National University said it would be almost impossible to craft a credible appeal against such a careful and excoriating judgement.
"Already, there have been so many iterations and twists and turns in this case, so I think it'd be very hard to unravel it, and what would be the basis of the appeal?" she said.
"I don't think Bruce Lehrmann would really want to be touching it with a bargepole. Although one might have thought that even before he'd instituted this latest action."
She said it would be "theoretically possible" - but very unlikely - for Brittany Higgins to now sue Lehrmann for damages, although given she had already received a settlement from the Commonwealth, it would be "bizarre" for her to request more.
"But you can't rule anything out completely," Professor Thornton said of this already highly unusual case.
That said, Lehrmann is one of many when it comes to men suing for defamation.
Professor Thornton, who has published extensively in the area of discrimination and the law, has taken a keen interested in the case early on, when Brittany Higgins first aired allegations against Lehrmann on Channel 10's The Project.
And what transpired, she said, lived up to what we know about defamation cases - that they are expensive, lengthy and very hard to win. And they are almost all brought by men.
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"Defamation is notorious, because it's a very expensive action, and it's something that tends to be brought by men, not by women, which is another curious element," she said.
"I don't know precisely [why], but I could sort of hazard a guess. It's because men are the ones who have reputations in the public sphere.
"And furthermore, they claim an entitlement to the public sphere, to ownership to reputation, and good reputation.
"Whereas, because women were traditionally consigned to the private sphere and anonymity, it's much harder... for women to establish that they have these pretty eminent reputations amongst their peers.
"I haven't looked specifically, but I know it's about 80 to 20."
Meanwhile, she said, while Justice Lee's judgement may well be a master class in careful and forensic unpicking of a complicated case filled with insalubrious characters, it would not be useful as a study tool for future lawyers. "It's actually taken on a life of its own ... I mean, what would be the focus?" she said.
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Sally Pryor
As features editor at The Canberra Times, I love telling people things they didn't know - or even things they've always known - about the city we live in.
As features editor at The Canberra Times, I love telling people things they didn't know - or even things they've always known - about the city we live in.
