Qcs - Appt of CER

[1997] HCATrans 28

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:   BRENNAN CJ

DAWSON J
  TOOHEY J
  GAUDRON J
  McHUGH J
  GUMMOW J
  KIRBY J

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT CANBERRA ON MONDAY, 10 FEBRUARY 1997, AT 3.06 PM

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

Mr G. Griffith, QC, Solicitor-General for the Commonwealth

Mr D.M.J. Bennett, QC, President of The New South Wales Bar Association

Mr M.L. Abbott, President of The South Australian Bar Association

Mr R. Gotterson, QC, Senior Vice-President of The Bar Association of Queensland

Mr K. Crispin, President of The Australian Capital Territory Bar Association

Mr C. Pullin, QC, representing The Western Australian Bar Association

Mr T. Riley, QC, President of The Northern Territory Bar Association

Mr J. Middleton, QC, Chairman of The Victorian Bar

Mr T. Buddin, SC

Mr R.R. Bartlett, SC

Mr N. A. Cotman, SC

Mr D.L. Davies, SC

Mr G. S. Hosking, SC

Mr L.A. Levy, SC

Mr P.M. Kite, SC

Mr A.W. Street, SC

Mr A.J.L. Bannon, SC

Mr B.R. McClintock, SC

Mr T.A. Game, SC

Mr A.J. Glynn, SC

Mr T.D. Martin, SC

Mr D.O.J. North, SC

Mr M.P. Taussig, QC

Mr C. Howard, QC

Mr W.H. Morgan-Payler, QC

Mr J. Ruskin, QC

Mr W.R. Ray, QC

Mr R.A. Brett, QC

Mr P.J. Jopling, QC

Mr A.L. Cavanough, QC

Mr J.G. Judd, QC

Ms S.C. Kenny, QC

Ms F.P. Hampel, QC

Mr W.T. Houghton, QC

Mr G.T. Pagone, QC

Mr R.M. Garratt, QC

Ms C.E. Molyneux, QC

Mr B.A. Keon-Cohen, QC

Mr D.A. Trim, QC

Mr C.R. McDonald, QC

BRENNAN CJ:   Mr Crispin, President of the Australian Capital Territory Bar Association.

MR CRISPIN:   May it please the Court, I inform the Court that Terence Lionel Buddin who ranks in seniority after Francis John Purnell has been appointed as Senior Counsel for the Australian Capital Territory.

BRENNAN CJ:   Thank you, Mr Crispin.  Mr Bennett, President of the New South Wales Bar Association.

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

They are:

Raymond Ronald Bartlett who appears in the Bar list next after Richard Francis Edmonds

Nigel Anthony Cotman who appears in the Bar list next after Raymond Ronald Bartlett

David Lloyd Davies who appears in the Bar list next after Nigel Anthony Cotman

Gregory Scott Hosking who appears in the Bar list next after David Lloyd Davies

Leonard Ari Levy who appears in the Bar list next after Peter William Neil

Peter Michael Kite who appears in the Bar list next after Winston Charles Terracini

Alexander Whistler Street who appears in the Bar list next after Noel Charles Hutley

Anthony Joseph Leo Bannon who appears in the Bar list next after Alexander Whistler Street

Bruce Roland McClintock who appears in the Bar list next after Anthony Joseph Leo Bannon

Timothy Aylward Game who appears in the Bar list next after Bruce Roland McClintock

May it please the Court.

BRENNAN CJ:   Thank you, Mr Bennett.  Mr Gotterson, Senior Vice-President of the Bar Association of Queensland.

MR GOTTERSON:   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:

Anthony John Glynn who ranks in seniority after Shane Lawrence Doyle

Terence Douglas Martin who ranks in seniority after Anthony John Glynn

David Octavius Joseph North who ranks in seniority after Terence Douglas Martin

BRENNAN CJ:   Thank you, Mr Gotterson.  Mr Middleton, Chairman of the Victorian Bar.

MR MIDDLETON:   May it please the Court, I inform the Court that the following legal practitioners here present have been appointed as Her Majesty’s Counsel for the State of Victoria.

They are:

Michael Peter Taussig who ranks in seniority after Kim William Spencer Hargrave

Colin Howard who ranks in seniority after Michael Peter Taussig

William Harry Morgan-Payler who ranks in seniority after Colin Howard

Jeremy Ruskin who ranks in seniority after William Harry Morgan-Payler

William Ross Ray who ranks in seniority after David Norman Galbally

Robin Alfred Brett who ranks in seniority after John Udorovic

Peter John Jopling who ranks in seniority after Robin Alfred Brett

Anthony Lewis Cavanough who ranks in seniority after Peter John Jopling

James Gregory Judd who ranks in seniority after Anthony Lewis Cavanough

Susan Coralie Kenny who ranks in seniority after James Gregory Judd

Felicity Pia Hampel who ranks in seniority after Susan Coralie Kenny

William Thackeray Houghton who ranks in seniority after Felicity Pia Hampel

Gaetano Tony Pagone who ranks in seniority after William Thackeray Houghton

Rodney Mark Garratt who ranks in seniority after Gaetano Tony Pagone

Clarinda Eleanor Molyneux who ranks in seniority after RodneyMark Garratt

Bryan Andrew Keon-Cohen who ranks in seniority after Clarinda Eleanor Molyneux

BRENNAN CJ:   Thank you, Mr Middleton.  Mr Abbott, President of the Bar Association of South Australia.

MR ABBOTT:   May it please the Court, I inform the Court that Darrell Alfred Trim who ranks in seniority after Bradley Maxwell Selway has been appointed as one of Her Majesty’s Counsel for the State of South Australia.

BRENNAN CJ:   Thank you, Mr Abbott.  Mr Riley, President of the Northern Territory Bar Association.

MR RILEY:   May it please the Court, I inform the Court that Colin Rodney McDonald who ranks in seniority after Rex Stephen Leslie Wild has been appointed as Her Majesty’s Counsel for the Northern Territory.

BRENNAN CJ:   Thank you, Mr Riley.  Are there any motions at the Bar generally?

The Court congratulates the new silks who wear their gowns for the first time in this Court.  We offer our best wishes too to the spouses and families of the new silks who, by their forbearance, understanding and support, have permitted the new silks to forge their careers in a profession that is both competitive and time consuming.

The grant of silk is a recognition of integrity, of high ethical standards and the possession of superior skills as a legal advocate.  As the procedures for the granting of silk in the several jurisdictions of the States and Territories involves consultation with practitioners and, frequently, confirmation by judges who know the quality of a candidate's professional work, the grant of silk is a warranty of the esteem of a professional peer group.  That is a warranty of great significance to solicitors and their clients who are seeking counsel's services.

But, in the public eye, the status of silk depends on the status of the Bar as a whole.  Peer group recognition is no commendation unless the peer group is itself held in high esteem.  The tradition of the Bar is that the silks are its leaders - not necessarily by popular vote, though that is often the case, but by merit which others seek to emulate and by example which others freely follow.  So you have a new responsibility which goes with the new status.  And, reciprocally the status ultimately depends on the discharge of the responsibility.

Some occasions in recent years have given reason to wonder whether the Bar which you will be leading has appreciated the full meaning of the independence which is essential to a satisfactory discharge of the Bar's important function.  Of course, it is understood that there must be independence in the sense of avoiding conflicts of interest and duty, especially independence from impermissible external pressures and independence from financial aspirations that might tend to divert a counsel from his or her strict professional duty.  But the independence of the Bar goes further than that.  There must be a degree of independence from the client in order that the client may have the benefit of dispassionate advice and in order that the court may be confident that counsel is  capable of assisting in the doing of justice according to law.  That confidence is shaken if counsel lend themselves to the advocacy of their client's cause in the public fora or engage in exercises of self-promotion.  Further, although the Bar is independent of the judiciary, it may not be fully appreciated that that independence requires not only a fearless refusal to mislead the court or to permit it to be misled but also a respectful and firm resistance to any judicial proposition which does not accord with the law or with sound legal practice.  A sanguine or supine acceptance of legal or factual error or of irregular procedures which ought not be adopted undermines the independence of counsel on which the doing of justice according to law so largely depends.  Counsel's task is legal advocacy, properly prepared, fearlessly presented yet controlled by the paramount duty of assisting the court to do justice in an adversarial system according to law.

Independence is fostered by the Bar's individuality of practice or, at least, practice in a single-disciplinary partnership.  There may be administrative or commercial advantages in the provision of advocacy services in a multi-disciplinary firm which offer services to assist a client in a variety of ways, but advocacy so provided may not be proof against duties of loyalty to others whose work is not focused on the curial process.  Counsel are participants in the work of the third branch of government and they cannot subordinate that function to concerns about a client's affairs other than the client's legal rights and liabilities nor can they subordinate that responsibility to different concerns entertained by an advocate's associates.

Your responsibility is not only to maintain the Bar's high standards but also of seeing to it that the Bar maintains them.  Else your profession becomes a mere service industry.  Then there would be no justification for resisting a regime of regulation that is appropriate to an industry.  Rugged independence, a generous application of the cab-rank rule so that the Bar's services are extended as widely as can reasonably be expected, and a passionate but critical approach to the administration of justice according to law will do much to confirm the Bar's pivotal importance as a social institution.

You are the incoming custodian of the best traditions of the Bar.  Those traditions are conducive to camaraderie and to conversation, to mutual assistance and to long-lasting friendships.  As you move into this new stage of your professional careers, you may find that, despite the structured clashes of the court-room, and perhaps because of them, there is a peace that comes from that well-ordered priority of interests of which Belloc spoke:

"From quiet homes and first beginning,
Out to the undiscovered ends,
There's nothing worth the wear of winning,
But laughter and the love of friends."

You may even find a little time to acknowledge those whose love and support have brought them here today.  To you and to them, the Court extends its best wishes.

AT 3.19 PM THE COURT ADJOURNED