Wollongong solicitor Aaron Kernaghan has taken a swipe at new laws that effectively "roll back" a person's right to silence, creating more work for solicitors, academics and law students.
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The Evidence of Silence legislation was passed in Parliament last week, allowing juries to draw a negative inference if an accused wants to divulge information during a trial that they did not initially provide to police.
Mr Kernaghan said the reforms, introduced to assist police in the fight against organised crime, were unacceptable.
"It's created a situation where the right to silence is still on the books but it can now be used against people; it's really creating a risk of prejudice," he said.
"It's basically saying if people decide not to tell police their defence, then the [Crown] will later convince the jury you either don't have one or you've made it up later on."
Mr Kernaghan believed the laws would do little to encourage criminals to talk but would disadvantage co-operative witnesses.
"It will have the biggest effect on people who are typically obedient and respect authority," he said.
"They're told that if they fail to mention something, it can be used against them, so they will co-operate, even if it's not in their interests to do so. You then have a situation where a witness may find themselves [in trouble] simply by virtue of what they've said. It's outrageous."
Defence lawyers would bear the brunt of the reforms, being forced to provide off-the-cuff advice.
"It means clients need to know the time to get a lawyer is not when the matter goes to court but when the police car turns up outside their house or an officer suggests they assist with their inquiry," Mr Kernaghan said.
"Lawyers are conservative, they don't like giving far-reaching advice, they want it to be precise - [these laws] require them to have a crystal ball and give advice without seeing the evidence or knowing the charges."
Mr Kernaghan believed law courses would also need to be tailored to address the reforms.
Legislation was also passed forcing both sides to follow requirements for disclosure of pre-trial material.
Mr Kernaghan said the law was a thinly veiled attempt to help inexperienced prosecutors fix their cases.
"We have always approached trials with the basic proposition that if the [Crown] brings the charge, they have to prove it. Now the defence is being asked to disclose what issues they take with the Crown case before a trial starts.
"It's ludicrous," he said.
