Proceedings in a closely watched but largely uneventful civil case against a mid-sized logistics company were delayed by close to twenty minutes at the Supreme Court of Victoria on William Street yesterday, after counsel for the plaintiff returned from the lunch adjournment without their wig.
The barrister had reportedly stepped out during the break for a latte and a Mediterranean panini from a café near the court, a routine outing undertaken, by all accounts, hundreds of times without incident.
"They just walked back in and sort of patted their own head," said one court officer, who asked not to be named. "You could see the exact moment it registered."
A search of chambers, the robing room, and the café itself turned up nothing in the first ten minutes. The wig was eventually located inside the panini bag, having apparently been set down alongside the takeaway order and folded into the paper without anyone noticing.
"In my defence, it was a very full bag," the barrister reportedly told the bench upon resuming, to what one observer described as "restrained but audible relief" from both sides of the courtroom.
The case itself, concerning a contractual dispute over freight scheduling, continued without further incident, though several observers noted the barrister kept one hand near the wig for the remainder of the afternoon session.