Ceremonial - QCs-SCs

[2007] HCATrans 4

[2007] HCATrans 004

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

ANNOUNCEMENT OF APPOINTMENTS

OF

QUEEN’S COUNSEL AND SENIOR COUNSEL

Coram:   GLEESON CJ

GUMMOW J
KIRBY J
HAYNE J
CALLINAN J
HEYDON J
CRENNAN J

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT CANBERRA ON MONDAY, 29 JANUARY 2007, AT 3.30 PM

The following Queen’s Counsel and Senior Counsel were present in Court:

Mr D.F. Jackson AM QC

Dr D.M.J. Bennett AO QC, Solicitor-General for the Commonwealth of Australia

Mr T.I. Pauling QC, Solicitor-General for the Northern Territory

Mr M.J. Slattery QC, President of the New South Wales Bar Association

Mr B.W. Walker SC

Mr A.W. Street SC

Mr M.W. Shand QC, President of the Victorian Bar

Mr G.C. Martin SC, President of the Australian Bar Association

Mr S.P. Estcourt QC, President-Elect of the Australian Bar Association

Mr R.C. Refshauge SC, ACT Director of Public Prosecutions

Mr A.M. Daubney SC, President of the Bar Association of Queensland

Mr B.A. Meagher SC, President of the Australian Capital Territory Bar Association

Ms S.J. Maharaj QC

Mr M.J. King SC

Mr D.G. Dalton SC

Ms E.A. Wilkins SC

Ms L. Flannery SC

Mr I.M. Neil SC

Mr G.J. Nell SC

Ms K.J. Howard SC

Mr A.E. Galasso SC

Mr N. Perram SC

Mr R.L. Hamilton SC

Mr A.S. Bell SC

Mr R.G. McHugh SC

Mr M.J. Leeming SC

Ms W.L. Pack SC

Mr G.H. Brandis SC

Mr G.P. Long SC

Mr B.J. Clarke SC

Ms L.J. Clare SC

Mr D.P. O’Gorman SC

Mr D.R.M. Murphy SC

Mr J.D. Henry SC

Ms K.A. McMillan SC

Mr A.W. Moynihan SC

Mr J.D. Montgomery SC

Mr R.H. Smith SC

Mr I.D. Martindale SC

Mr T.J. Margetts SC

Mr A.J. Kelly SC

Mr J.A. Dixon SC

Mr M.A. Gamble SC

Mr M.N. Connock SC

Mr P.M. Taft SC

Mr C.M. Caleo SC

GLEESON CJ:   Mr Martin, representing the President of the South Australian Bar Association.

MR MARTIN:   May it please the Court, I inform the Court that the following member of the Bar here present has been appointed as Queen’s Counsel for the State of South Australia.

She is:

Sashi Jass Maharaj who ranks in seniority after Maurine Teresa Pyke

GLEESON CJ:   Thank you, Mr Martin.  Mr Slattery, President of the New South Wales Bar Association.

MR SLATTERY:   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 New South Wales:

They are:

Michael John King who appears in the Bar list next after Richard Cobden

David Garrett Dalton who appears in the Bar list next after Christopher Michael Simpson

Elizabeth Ann Wilkins who appears in the Bar list next after David Garrett Dalton

Leonie Flannery who appears in the Bar list next after Elizabeth Ann Wilkins

Ian Malcolm Neil who appears in the Bar list next after Leonie Flannery

Gregory John Nell who appears in the Bar list next after Geoffrey John Bellew

Katrina Jane Howard who appears in the Bar list next after Robert Thomas Beech‑Jones

Adrian Erminio Galasso who appears in the Bar list next after Katrina Jane Howard

Nye Perram who appears in the Bar list next after Adrian Erminio Galasso

Roger Lyne Hamilton who appears in the Bar list next after Nye Perram

Andrew Scott Bell who appears in the Bar list next after Roger Lyne Hamilton

Richard Goffet McHugh who appears in the Bar list next after Andrew Scott Bell

Mark James Leeming who appears in the Bar list next after Richard Goffet McHugh

GLEESON CJ:   Thank you, Mr Slattery.  Mr Daubney, President of the Bar Association of Queensland.

MR DAUBNEY:   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 Queensland.

They are:

Wendy Lavender Pack who ranks in seniority after Peter John Dunning

George Henry Brandis who ranks in seniority after Wendy Lavender Pack

Gary Patrick Long who ranks in seniority after George Henry Brandis

Bernard James Clarke who ranks in seniority after Gary Patrick Long

Leanne Joy Clare who ranks in seniority after Glenn Charles Newton

Daniel Paul O’Gorman who ranks in seniority after Leanne Joy Clare

Douglas Robert Murtagh Murphy who ranks in seniority after Daniel Paul O’Gorman

James Dawson Henry who ranks in seniority after Douglas Robert Murtagh Murphy

Kathryn Ann McMillan who ranks in seniority after James Dawson Henry

Anthony William Moynihan who ranks in seniority after Richard Ian Mitford Lilley

GLEESON CJ:   Thank you, Mr Daubney.  Mr Shand, Chairman of the Victorian Bar.

MR SHAND:   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 Victoria.

They are:

James Damien Montgomery who ranks in seniority after Michael William Thompson

Richard Hunter Smith who ranks in seniority after James Damien Montgomery

Ian Douglas Martindale who ranks in seniority after Andrew Konstantine Panna

Timothy John Margetts who ranks in seniority after Ian Douglas Martindale

Anthony John Kelly who ranks in seniority after Timothy John Margetts

Jane Alison Dixon who ranks in seniority after James Harold Mighell

Mark Andrew Gamble who ranks in seniority after Jane Alison Dixon

Matthew Neil Connock who ranks in seniority after Iain Ronald Jones

Philip Mark Taft who ranks in seniority after Matthew Neil Connock

Christopher Mark Caleo who ranks in seniority after Philip Mark Taft

GLEESON CJ:   Thank you, Mr Shand.  Mr Jackson, do you move?  Mr Solicitor‑General for the Commonwealth, do you move?  Mr Solicitor‑General for the Northern Territory, do you move?  Mr Slattery, do you move?  Mr Walker, do you move?  Mr Shand, do you move?  Mr Martin, do you move?  Mr Estcourt, do you move?  Mr Refshauge, do you move?  Mr Daubney, do you move?  Mr Meagher, do you move?  Are there any other motions at the Bar?

On behalf of all the members of the Court, I congratulate the newly appointed Senior Counsel.  Your appointments are a public recognition of your professional eminence.

We are delighted to be joined on the Bench this afternoon by former Chief Justice Sir Gerard Brennan.  A member of his family is among the recently appointed Senior Counsel for Queensland.

Until fairly recently, Senior Counsel was a term used in Australia to describe barristers who had been appointed by government to the rank of King’s Counsel or Queen’s Counsel.  At the end of the 19th century, the office of King’s Counsel or Queen’s Counsel was described in a leading case as an office of the Crown and “a mark of recognition by the sovereign of the professional eminence of counsel upon whom it is conferred”.  In the United Kingdom and Australia and many parts of the British Commonwealth it remains a formal status of eminence amongst lawyers; primarily amongst barristers.  Until recently the appointments were made by governments acting in the name of the monarch.  That has changed.

In recent years, executive governments in Australia have relinquished the power to appoint Senior Counsel, in some cases to the Chief Justice, and in some cases to the Bar.  The rank of Queen’s Counsel was not abolished.  It was not conferred by future governments, but the rank is retained by those upon whom it had already been conferred.  Of course, the profession or the judiciary cannot appoint people to offices under the Crown.  The title of Senior Counsel is now conferred on those identified by the Chief Justice or the Bar as the appropriate recipients by reason of their eminence.  The profession competes internationally as well as nationally, and in that competition it is important that Australian advocates may still attain the same professional status as their counterparts in other places in the British Commonwealth.

It has been customary for Senior Counsel to make formal announcements of their appointment to the Supreme Court of the State or Territory in which they have their principal practice.  Making such announcements in this Court at the commencement of law term came about with the development of a national bar.  As in most federations, the Australian legal profession is organised and administered primarily on a State basis, but arrangements for reciprocity of admission and recognition of status, combined with a high degree of mobility between jurisdictions, mean that the Australian Bar has now become a national institution.

In no Australian jurisdiction has appointment as Senior Counsel ever been regarded as something to which a barrister is entitled simply by reason of long service.  Persistence often leads to success, but not always.  As any good advocate knows, inappropriate persistence may lead to disaster.  At all events appointment as Senior Counsel is not intended as a reward for tenacity.  It is a recognition of the professional standing of those whose learning, skill and ability have come to be regarded by the relevant appointing authority as warranting such a distinction.  The appointment carries with it responsibilities as well as privileges.  You now occupy a position of leadership in your profession, and your conduct will be taken as an example by others.  Solicitors, members of the public and courts will place special reliance on your ability and, as a rule, the work that you will be given to do, and the cases that you will conduct, will be more onerous.

Most of you in Court today, and all of us here on the Bench, have travelled to be here.  Some of you have travelled a long way.  Coming to the nation’s capital and seat of government to make, or attend, these formal annual events itself signifies the national character of the legal profession. 

The occasion marks something else that is equally important.  It signifies the relationship between Bench and Bar, which is part of our legal and constitutional inheritance.  You have all been admitted to practice as officers of a State or Territory Supreme Court.  By virtue of that admission federal legislation entitles you to practice in federal courts.  In whatever courts you appear, State or Federal, your overriding duty as advocates is to the court.  The courts depend for their capacity to administer justice upon your skill and integrity.

In our legal system, most judges are appointed from the ranks of experienced legal practitioners.  The professional strength and independence of spirit of the Bar sustains the strength and independence of the judiciary.

You have now reached a milestone in your professional careers.  You are faced with new challenges and new opportunities.  Some of you have been accompanied on this occasion by members of your family and friends.  The Court is delighted to welcome their participation in this occasion.  I trust that each of you will find personal and professional satisfaction in your new rank.  Thank you for the courtesy you have shown in informing the Court of your appointments.

AT 3.45 PM THE COURT ADJOURNED