News & Events

On Monday morning, the executive and I attended a morning tea with the Bar Office team. It was a lovely way to start the week and energy levels were extremely high, particularly amongst those who had the good fortune to attend a Taylor Swift concert or two over the weekend. The Bar Office has a punishing workload that is always accomplished with great efficiency and enthusiasm.

On Monday, I appeared on behalf of the Victorian Bar to present our new silks to the High Court. The ceremony, held at the commencement of every new legal year, is significant. The new silks from each State and Territory stand in turn to take their bows, the Victorians wigless but wearing their rosettes and those from the northern States dressed up in their long ceremonial wigs. The Chief Justice remarked on what he described as the ‘subtle’ differences between the Bars on display in the courtroom and expressed the Court’s gratitude for the courtesy that the new silks showed the Court by their attendance. At the afternoon tea following the ceremony, the Victorian members of the High Court were especially generous with the time they spent meeting the silks and their families and friends. The silks were also supported by the presence of the Honourable Chief Justice William Alstergren AO and the Honourable Justice Simon Whelan, who attended as the representative of the Chief Justice of our Supreme Court. The ceremony was followed by a gala dinner held at the National Gallery.

On Monday, the Bar Council held a special purpose meeting to consider the Charter that governs the way we conduct ourselves as Bar Councillors, and the processes that we will follow when responding to requests for submissions from external stakeholders and government. It was a productive meeting and I particularly thank Jim Peters AM KC, a former President, who provided us with some very wise advice. I also thank all the members of the new Bar Council who are settling in and getting down to work. We are all looking forward to doing our best to work together on behalf of members.

There has been a spate of judicial welcomes and farewells, with more to come. Last Friday it was my great privilege to speak on behalf of the Victorian Bar at a ceremony to farewell the Honourable Justice Susan Kenny AM, who leaves the Federal Court after 26 years on that bench. Her Honour has had a remarkable judicial career, commencing in 1996 when she was the first woman appointed to the Victorian Court of Appeal. As a barrister, she appeared in nearly all the leading constitutional law cases of the 1980s and ‘90s, and her other achievements and contributions to public life are too many for me to list here. She will continue as the Chair of the Australian Electoral Commission. I thank her Honour for her service and wish her well for the next chapter of her career.