Ceremonial - Welcome to Gordon J - Sydney

[2015] HCATrans 172

[2015] HCATrans 172

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

SPECIAL SITTING

WELCOME TO

THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE MICHELLE GORDON

AT

SYDNEY

ON

FRIDAY, 7 AUGUST 2015, AT 9.13 AM

GORDON J

Speakers:

Ms J. Needham, SC, President of the Bar Association of New South Wales

Mr G. Ulman, Senior Vice President of the Law Society of New South Wales

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

GORDON J:   Ms Needham.

MS J. NEEDHAM, SC:   May it please the Court.

Justice Gordon, two months have passed since a ceremonial sitting of the High Court in Canberra, where you received many bouquets for your achievements as a solicitor, a leading tax counsel, and a judge of the Federal Court.  I am here to deliver some more.  Given your Honour’s reputation for efficiency, and the fact that you have heard it all before, I think I should be brief.

On behalf of the New South Wales Bar, I extend a warm welcome to your Honour at your first sitting as a High Court Judge in the Sydney Registry.  Queens Square, where we are gathered, is situated on the traditional land of the Cadigal people, to whom I pay my respects.

The last such welcome I delivered was for the Honourable Justice Nettle, with whom you read at the Victorian Bar in 1992.  From that well‑chosen starting point, and by dint of your understanding of the law, and an enormous capacity for hard work, your Honour became one of the nation’s leading commercial and tax counsel.

Your Honour took silk after the comparatively short span of 11 years, and was appointed to the Federal Court in 2007.  Since then, you have become more familiar with members of the New South Wales Bar, and they with you.

Some counsel speak of “Gordonisation”, which is defined as “experiencing ‘shock and awe’”, particularly when being instructed in the “Melbourne way” of interpreting the law of evidence.  But all agree that your Honour has an extraordinary ability to grasp the essential points of complex cases and to resolve them with dispatch.

One of the Bar Association’s representatives on the Federal Court’s User Committee insisted I mention that your Honour was the impetus behind the joint Law Council/Federal Court Case Management Handbook.  It was, he said, a reflection of your ethos of quick, inexpensive and efficient resolution of proceedings before the Federal Court.  Another cited your Honour’s management of the tax list in the Federal Court’s Melbourne Registry, which you ran with “vigour and dynamism”.

In several cases, your Honour has sat as a member of the Full Federal Court here in Sydney.  Among the more significant appeals were Cash Converters v Gray, ABN AMRO Bank v Bathurst Regional Council and Federal Commissioner of Taxation v Wentworth District Capital.

Your Honour spoke at this year’s Victorian Bar dinner of the importance of those in positions of privilege using that privilege to create opportunities for others.  Your tutor, Justice Nettle, and your leaders at the Bar did that for you, you said, and your Honour’s leadership has created opportunity for others.  That speech was a reminder of one person’s ability to create change through individual action.  Even more impressively, it was delivered without notes.

Justice Gordon, it is a particular honour for me to welcome the fifth woman to have been appointed to the Bench of the nation’s highest Court.  The New South Wales Bar congratulates you, and warmly welcomes you to Sydney.  May it please the Court.

GORDON J:   Thank you, Ms Needham.  Mr Ulman.

MR G. ULMAN:   May it please the Court.

It is a privilege for me to appear today on behalf of the Law Society of New South Wales and the solicitors of this State to welcome your Honour to your first sitting of the High Court of Australia in Sydney.

The High Court has not only carved out its own legal history, but in the process has helped define the values of this nation and the fabric of our society.  The Judges who sit on the High Court represent some of our finest legal minds.  They are of the highest calibre in terms of their intellect, expertise and judicial temperament.

Your Honour has enjoyed a stellar career.  Having completed your articles at Robinson Cox in Western Australia, the Victorians lured you across the Nullarbor where you rose to senior associate at Arthur Robinson and Hedderwicks, now Allens.  You were then called to the Bar in 1992, where you continued to hone your skills and experience, particularly in the area of commercial, taxation and public law.  Such was your reputation that you rose to senior counsel in 2003, and in 2007 became a judge of the Federal Court of Australia.

As a judge of the Federal Court, you were known for your hard work and for taking on some of the largest cases in Australian legal history.  You pioneered the “rocket docket” and you were at the forefront of ensuring that disputes were resolved with appropriate economy.

Your prodigious work ethic, precision and clarity in all your dealings have won you the highest respect in all circles.  Your appointment to this Court was universally applauded, and rightly so.

As a barrister and a judge, your Honour has continued to give back to the profession.  You have been a wonderful mentor and teacher to junior lawyers and students of law, particularly those from indigenous backgrounds. 

Your sense of community is also well acknowledged, with your involvement with teaching at the University of Melbourne as a Senior Fellow, to supervising young nippers at Waratah Bay Surf Lifesaving Club, surfing and fossicking around antique shops.

Growing up in Perth, it is not surprising to learn that your Honour follows the AFL and that you barrack for your hometown West Coast Eagles.  While you are now in this part of Sydney, in Swans territory, it has to be acknowledged that your barracking may well be paying dividends with your team a strong contender for this year’s premiership honours.

Never far away from the announcement of a new High Court Judge is the fascination over historical facts associated with appointments to this Court.  The longest serving judge was New South Welshman Sir Edward McTiernan, appointed in 1930 and who remained on the Bench for some 46 years.  The dubious honour of the shortest appointment went to Albert Piddington, also from New South Wales, who in 1913 resigned within a month of the announcement without ever taking his place on the Bench.

In 1930, Dr Evatt of New South Wales at 36 years of age became the youngest judge ever appointed.  By contrast, this year, your Honour’s Victorian colleague and your one‑time master tutor, Justice Geoffrey Nettle, became the oldest appointee.  In 1987, Justice Mary Gaudron became the first and youngest woman appointed to the Court.

Your Honour will not trouble the statistician when it comes to any of those records.  We know that your Honour is the 52nd Judge appointed to the High Court, and the fifth woman to sit on the Bench.  However, your Honour may prove to be the longest‑serving woman on the High Court Bench with the possibility of some 19 years ahead of mandatory retirement.  Of course, contemplating such a term at this stage seems a little daunting.

On behalf of the solicitors of this State, I offer my warmest congratulations on your Honour’s well‑deserved appointment, and wish you a long and very distinguished career on the Bench. 

As the Court pleases.

GORDON J:   Thank you, Mr Ulman.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance today.  To Ms Needham and Mr Ulman, thank you for your kind words.  I am very grateful.

As a barrister, a trial judge, and an appellate judge, the New South Wales profession has educated me, challenged me and exposed me to some of the best advocacy I have had the privilege of dealing with.  You will notice that I said “dealing with” rather than “listening to”.

My first exposure to the New South Wales Bar was to the Honourable TEF Hughes.  I was just 23; I was in Western Australia.  Tom was briefed to appear part way through a bitterly fought trial, after the silk who had been retained was appointed the Chief Justice of that State.  Tom Hughes taught me that clarity of thought required hard work, and that a dictaphone was of no assistance.  They are lessons I have never forgotten.

My first tax case in the Federal Court was in this State.  I was led by Geoff Nettle QC, now Justice Nettle of the High Court.  Our opponent was Richard Edmonds QC, now Justice Edmonds of the Federal Court.  I am indebted to both of them.

After appointment as silk, my first appearance in the New South Wales Supreme Court was acting for the United States of America in an extradition request for a man accused of mail and tax fraud.  The trial judge was Justice Bell, now Justice Bell of the High Court.  My first time sitting as a judge in the appellate jurisdiction of the Federal Court was also in this State.  The Bench included Justice Kevin Lindgren.  He was smart, clever – and there is a difference – and a great teacher.

My former colleagues from the New South Wales registry of the Federal Court require special mention.  Past and current members of that court provided me with invaluable advice and, most importantly, wonderful friendship, and they still do.  It was a privilege to work with them, and I owe them a great deal.

Over three decades, some traits in the New South Wales profession and its judiciary have remained:  hard work, intellectual rigour and integrity.  I look forward to my continuing engagement with the profession and the past and present members of the judiciary in this State.

Thank you all for attending.  Not only do you honour me, but more importantly, you honour this Court. 

The Court will now adjourn to reconstitute.

AT 9.22 AM SHORT ADJOURNMENT