Ceremonial - Announcement of Appointment of Senior Counsel - Canberra

[2014] HCATrans 5

[2014] HCATrans 005

H I G H   C O U R T   O F   A U S T R A L I A

CEREMONIAL SITTING

ON THE OCCASION

OF

THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF APPOINTMENT

OF

SENIOR COUNSEL

Coram:          FRENCH CJ

HAYNE J
CRENNAN J
BELL J
GAGELER J
KEANE J

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT CANBERRA ON MONDAY, 3 FEBRUARY 2014, AT 3.29 PM

The following Queen’s Counsel, Senior Counsel and counsel were seated at the Bar table:

Mr D.F. Jackson QC

Mr D.M.J. Bennett QC

Mr M. Colbran QC, President of the Law Council of Australia and President of the Australian Bar Association

Mr P. Boulten SC, President of the New South Wales Bar Association

Ms F. McLeod SC, Secretary of the Australian Bar Association

Mr P. Davis SC, President of the Bar Association of Queensland

Mr M. Livesey QC, Immediate Past President of the South Australian Bar Association

Mr L. Sealy SC, Solicitor‑General of Tasmania

Mr G. Stretton SC, President of the Australian Capital Territory Bar Association

Mr P. Quinlan SC, President of the Western Australia Bar Association

Mr W. Alstergren SC, Chairman of the Victorian Bar Council

Ms R. Martin, Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Bar Association

FRENCH CJ:   The Solicitor‑General for Tasmania.

MR SEALY:   May it please the Court, I inform the Court that the following member of the Bar here present has been appointed as Senior Counsel in the State of Tasmania. 

He is:

Bruce Robert McTaggart who ranks in seniority after Kenneth Eric Read

FRENCH CJ:   Thank you, Mr Sealy.  Mr Stretton, President of the Australian Capital Territory Bar Association.

MR STRETTON:   May it please the Court, I inform the Court that the following member of the Bar here present has been appointed as Senior Counsel in the Australian Capital Territory. 

He is:

Peter John Fawckner Garrisson who ranks in seniority after Stuart Hearne Pilkinton

FRENCH CJ:   Thank you, Mr Stretton.  Mr Livesey, representing the South Australian Bar Association.

MR LIVESEY:   May it please the Court, I am pleased to inform the Court that the following members of the Bar here present have been appointed as Senior Counsel for the State of South Australia. 

They are:

Thomas William Cox who ranks in seniority after Samuel John Doyle

Mark Andrew Norman who ranks in seniority after Thomas William Cox

FRENCH CJ:   Thank you, Mr Livesey.  Mr Boulten, President of the New South Wales Bar Association.

MR BOULTEN:   May the Court please, I inform the Court that the following members of the Bar here present have been appointed as Senior Counsel in the State of New South Wales.

They are:

Raoul David Wilson who ranks in seniority after Jacqueline Sarah Gleeson

Nicholas Andrew Nicholls who ranks in seniority after Ian Roy Coleman

Terrence Michael Lynch who ranks in seniority after Nicholas Andrew Nicholls

Mark Jeffrey Steele who ranks in seniority after Julia Ann Baly

Ian James Hemmings who ranks in seniority after Mark Jeffrey Steele

Peter Ralph Cummings who ranks in seniority after Ian James Hemmings

Sally Christina Dowling who ranks in seniority after Peter Ralph Cummings

Michelle Ailsa Clare Painter who ranks in seniority after Sally Christina Dowling

Matthew Saxon White who ranks in seniority after Marcus Robert Pesman

Jeremy Richard Clarke who ranks in seniority after Matthew Saxon White

Thomas Gregory Howard who ranks in seniority after Helen McLeod Wilson

Anthony Stephen McGrath who ranks in seniority after Thomas Gregory Howard

Penelope Margot Wass who ranks in seniority after Anthony Stephen McGrath

Nicholas Joseph Beaumont who ranks in seniority after Penelope Margot Wass

Garry Kenneth James Rich who ranks in seniority after Nicholas Joseph Beaumont

Michael Shaun Henry who ranks in seniority after Garry Kenneth James Rich

Rashelle Leah Seiden who ranks in seniority after Michael Shaun Henry

Margaret Nita Allars who ranks in seniority after Rashelle Leah Seiden

James Oleg Hmelnitsky who ranks in seniority after Margaret Nita Allars

If the Court pleases.

FRENCH CJ:   Thank you, Mr Boulten.  Mr Davis, President of the Bar Association of Queensland.

MR DAVIS:   May it please the Court, I inform the Court that the following members of the Bar here present have been appointed as Queen’s Counsel in and for the State of Queensland.

They are:

Timothy Matthews who ranks in seniority after Philip Andrew Looney

Peter Alan Hastie who ranks in seniority after Timothy Matthews

Mark David Martin who ranks in seniority after Peter Alan Hastie

Manuel Michael Varitimos who ranks in seniority after Mark David Martin

Catherine Elena Carew who ranks in seniority after Soraya Mary Ryan

Rebecca Mary Treston who ranks in seniority after Catherine Elena Carew

Mark Louis Robertson who ranks in seniority after Rebecca Mary Treston

Damien Peter O’Brien who ranks in seniority after Mark Louis Robertson

Thomas Joseph Bradley who ranks in seniority after Helen Patricia Bowskill

Adam Michael Pomerenke who ranks in seniority after Thomas Joseph Bradley

If it please the Court.

FRENCH CJ:   Thank you, Mr Davis.  Mr Alstergren, Chairman of the Victorian Bar Council.

MR ALSTERGREN:   May it please the Court, I inform the Court that the following members of the Bar here present have been appointed as Senior Counsel in and for the State of Victoria.

They are:

Brent Maxwell Young who ranks in seniority after Saul Conrad Holt

Diana Mary Harding who ranks in seniority after Brent Maxwell Young

Andrew John Maryniak who ranks in seniority after Diana Mary Harding

David Paul Gilbertson who ranks in seniority after Andrew John Maryniak

Gregory Peter Harris who ranks in seniority after David Paul Gilbertson

Michael Sumner Osborne who ranks in seniority after Gregory Peter Harris

Stephen John Sharpley who ranks in seniority after Michael Sumner Osborne

Melinda Jane Richards who ranks in seniority after Stephen John Sharpley

Geoffrey Rowan Dickson who ranks in seniority after Melinda Jane Richards

Richard Hugo Muecke Attiwill who ranks in seniority after Geoffrey Rowan Dickson

Roisin Niambh Annesley who ranks in seniority after Richard Hugo Muecke Attiwill

Jonathon Peter Moore who ranks in seniority after Roisin Niambh Annesley

Susan Margaret Brennan who ranks in seniority after Jonathon Peter Moore

Jason David Pizer who ranks in seniority after Susan Margaret Brennan

Nicholas James Tweedie who ranks in seniority after Jason David Pizer

May it please the Court.

FRENCH CJ:   Thank you, Mr Alstergren.Mr Quinlan, President of the Western Australian Bar Association.

MR QUINLAN:   May it please the Court, I inform the Court that the following members of the Bar here present have been appointed as Senior Counsel for the State of Western Australia.

They are:

Karen Josephine Farley who ranks in seniority after Joshua Andrew Thomson

Katrina Frances Banks‑Smith who ranks in seniority after Karen Josephine Farley

Marcus Nathan Solomon who ranks in seniority after Katrina Frances Banks‑Smith

John Cameron Vaughan who ranks in seniority after Marcus Nathan Solomon

Linda Petrusa who ranks in seniority after John Cameron Vaughan

May it please the Court.

FRENCH CJ:   Thank you, Mr Quinlan.  I call on counsel at the Bar table generally for motions.  I acknowledge the representatives of the Bar Associations of the States and Territories, the President and Secretary of the Australian Bar Association and the presence at the Bar table of other Senior Counsel, Mr Jackson and Mr Bennett.  I also acknowledge the presence in Court of the Honourable Chief Justice Allsop, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia.

The Court welcomes the family and friends of those whose appointments have just been announced.  The level of professional commitment that is necessary in order to attain the rank of Senior Counsel and Queen’s Counsel is sustained in many, if not most, cases only with the support of family and friends.  Your presence is testament to that support.

On behalf of the members of the Court I congratulate the new Senior Counsel and Queen’s Counsel.  Your attendance from the various States and Territories of Australia in the national capital before the High Court of Australia evidences the reality that you are part of a national legal profession and that you practise in the courts of a national judicial system.

There is, of course, as befits a federation, more than one view about how the national legal system should be organised.  There is also diversity in the mode and appointment of senior counsel which, according to context, I will use generically with lower‑case lettering.  That diversity is reflected in the presence today of newly appointed Queen’s Counsel from Queensland.

It is a common feature of all your appointments, whether they attract the post nominals “SC” or “QC” that you have the confidence of the legal profession and that you meet the requirements of integrity and independence which, together with a high degree of professional excellence, should mark you as exemplars and leaders in the profession.

The institution of senior counsel has, like many things in the law, a long and rather untidy history.  Before King’s and Queen’s Counsel emerged in England, the upper reaches of the legal profession had been dominated by Serjeants at Law for hundreds of years.  However, the position of the Serjeants in the legal hierarchy and their dominance did not protect them from the historical forces of change.  What was, as J.M. Bennett wrote in the Australian Law Journal in 1978 “once [the] most powerful limb of the legal profession [was] at length carried wholly into extinction”.  It is useful to recall that history, not with any foreboding that your recent appointments will shortly be extinguished, but to remember that the law, the legal profession and legal institutions have always been, and continue to be, subject to domestic and global forces of change. 

At a domestic level the seemingly intractable gap in Australia between the need for affordable and timely access to justice and our capacity to meet that need invites ongoing examination and re‑examination of all aspects of the justice system.  Closely connected to that problem is the now well‑entrenched realisation that the time and the resources available to courts and litigants are finite.  That reality requires counsel, and particularly senior counsel, to make judgments about what is important and what is merely time wasting in the preparation for and conduct of litigation.  A necessary attribute of any good advocate is the ability to distinguish the wood from the trees.

Counsel such as yourselves, who have been picked out for your qualities of excellence and integrity as leaders and exemplars for the profession, have a special responsibility in the way that you conduct your practices and, more generally, to contribute to the development of practical measures to reduce cost and delay and to make the most efficient use of finite public and private resources.

Another source of pressure for change which bears on the Bar today is the increasingly global character of legal service delivery.  International law, transnational model laws, transnational litigation and internationally recognised models for transactional documents impinge increasingly on our domestic legal system.  Not unrelated to that intersection, there are opportunities for the delivery of advisory and advocacy services in commercial centres in our region.  It is important that the Australian Bar take advantage of those opportunities.  This is an area in which the Australian Bar Association, perhaps in conjunction with the Law Council of Australia, can explore ways of enhancing the Australian Bar’s profile and engagement in the countries of our region.

The honour conferred upon each of the newly appointed silk brings with it special responsibilities.  The most immediate of them lies in the advice you offer and the advocacy you provide for your clients.  They may be people in personal crisis with a legal dimension which could affect their economic welfare, their reputations or their liberty.  They may be firms, corporations, public authorities or governments seeking advice and representation in connection with transactions to be entered into or transactions which have gone wrong.  They may be seeking advice about the exercise of regulatory powers or the interpretation and validity of laws and regulations.

The client profiles of your different practices may change as your practices evolve.  Each client, however large or small, is entitled to the same standard of care, commitment, integrity and independence. 

What you do as advocates in court also has a public dimension.  If done to the high standard which your office requires it is not just a demonstration of your capacity and skill, it is a demonstration of the working of the rule of law which is an essential part of our societal infrastructure.  The public dimension of your calling is also demonstrated when you provide your services to those who cannot afford legal representation and who cannot be assisted by the limited resources of the legal aid system, or at least not to the extent necessary to do justice to their case.  There is a very powerful signal sent to the wider community about the Bar and its values when senior counsel offer their services in such cases.

The office of senior counsel, whether so designated or designated as Queen’s Counsel, has a long and honourable history, of which you are now part.  On behalf of the Court I again congratulate you on your appointments and wish you well in your continuing careers at the Bar.

The Court will adjourn until 10.15 tomorrow.

AT 3.45 PM THE COURT ADJOURNED