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Federal Judicial Scholarship

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Allsop, Justice James --- "Courts as (Living) Institutions and Workplaces" (FCA) [2019] FedJSchol 1

"In particular for the young barrister, appearing before David Hodgson was one of life's pleasures of legal practice. He was polite, kind and interested in, and respectful of, one's submissions. Even if one had missed the point, or put something less than happily, he would suggest a reframing of the proposition. A debate would then often ensue about the proposition's validity. Sometimes, the debate appeared to be carried on by him with himself. When the correct principle was exposed and refined, it was invariably attributed to counsel. He was also practical, efficient and polite. The Bar, especially the junior Bar, loved him, not just because of the way he treated them, but also because he treated their clients with the same respect and courtesy while attending to their problems with evident diligence and skill. His court epitomised what courts should be like."

I have attempted to identify some of the challenges of courts in a digital age; an age in which statistical criticism (fair or unfair) will be easy, and to be expected. Courts will have to cope with that. Importantly, how they cope and how they organise themselves must be in ways that place the human character of the institution at the centre of considerations about how judges deal with each other in their governance, organisational and operational structures and with the profession and the public in court, so that the execution of the protective judicial power can be best achieved.


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