Ceremonial Sitting On The Occasion of Announcement of Appointments of Queen's Counsel and Senior Counsel C00/1997 [1998] HCATrans 6 (2 February 1998)

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

GAUDRON J

McHUGH J

GUMMOW J

KIRBY J

HAYNE J

TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

AT CANBERRA ON MONDAY, 2 FEBRUARY 1998, AT 3.07 PM

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

Mr L.S. Katz, SC, Solicitor-General for New South Wales

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

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

Mr R. Gotterson, QC, President of the Bar Association of Queensland

Mr C. Pullin, QC, President of The Australian Bar Association

Mr N. Young, QC, Chairman of The Victorian Bar

Mr R. Williams, QC, President of The Australian Capital Territory Bar Association

Mr W. Martin, QC, President of The Western Australian Bar Association

Mr C. McDonald, QC, President of the Northern Territory Bar Association

Mrs A. Bennett, SC

Mr R.F. Edmonds, SC

Mr R.E. Birmingham, QC

Mr K.J. Martin, QC

Mr N.W. McKerracher, QC

Mr T.F. Percy, QC

Mr P.I. Jooste, QC

Mr J.E. Reeves, QC

Mr J.B. Waters, QC

Mr M. Cashion, SC

Mr J.J. Graves, SC

Mr P. Hallen, SC

Ms A.J. Katzmann, SC

Mr R.D. Cogswell, SC

Mr S.L. Walmsley, SC

Mr R.S. Toner, SC

Mr P.A. Johnson, SC

Mr P.H. Greenwood, SC

Mr D.M. Yates, SC

Mr S.G. Finch, SC

Ms J.M. Dick, SC

Mr J.C. Sheahan, SC

Mr L.R. Boyes, QC

Ms D. Bryant, QC

Mr T.J. Casey, QC

Mr P.C. Young, QC

Mr A. Southall, QC

Ms M.L. Warren, QC

Mr J.W. de Wijn, QC

Mr C. Gunst, QC

Mr M.W. Shand, QC

Mr P.F. Tehan, QC

Mr D.S. Levin, QC

Mr K.H. Bell, QC

Mr M.J. Colbran, QC

Mr C.J. Kourakis, QC

_____________________

BRENNAN CJ: Mr Martin, President of the Western Australian Bar Association.

MR MARTIN: May it please the Court, I inform the Court that the following members of the Bar here present have been appointed as Her Majesty's Counsel for the State of Western Australia.

They are:

Ronald Edward Birmingham who ranks in seniority after John Myer Walters

Kenneth James Martin who ranks in seniority after Ronald Edward Birmingham

Neil Walter McKerracher who ranks in seniority after Frank Castiglione

Thomas Francis Percy who ranks in seniority after Neil Walter McKerracher

Peter Innes Jooste who ranks in seniority after Carmel Joy McLure

May it please the Court.

BRENNAN CJ: Thank you, Mr Martin. Mr McDonald, President of the Northern Territory Bar Association.

MR McDONALD: May it please the Court, I inform the Court that the following members of the Bar here present have been appointed as Her Majesty's Counsel for the Northern Territory.

They are:

John Edward Reeves who ranks in seniority after Colin Rodney McDonald

John Bascomb Waters who ranks in seniority after John Edward Reeves

BRENNAN CJ: Thank you, Mr McDonald. Mr Bennett, Immediate Past 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:

Michael Cashion who appears in the Bar list next after David Andrew Buchanan

John Jeffrey Graves who appears in the Bar list next after Michael Cashion

Phillip Hallen who appears in the Bar list next after John Jeffrey Graves

Anna Judith Katzmann who appears in the Bar list next after Peter James McEwen

Richard Dominic Cogswell who appears in the Bar list next after Anna Judith Katzmann

Stephen Lewis Walmsley who appears in the Bar list next after Richard Dominic Cogswell

Robert Stephen Toner who appears in the Bar list next after Stephen Lewis Walmsley

Peter Anthony Johnson who appears in the Bar list next after Robert Stephen Toner

Philip Hilton Greenwood who appears in the Bar list next after Desmond John Fagan

David Markey Yates who appears in the Bar list next after Philip Hilton Greenwood

Steven Gregory Finch who appears in the Bar list next after David Markey Yates

BRENNAN CJ: Thank you, Mr Bennett. Mr Gotterson, 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:

Julie Maree Dick who ranks in seniority after John Denis Batch

John Charles Sheahan who ranks in seniority after Julie Maree Dick

BRENNAN CJ: Thank you, Mr Gotterson. Mr Young, Chairman of The Victorian Bar.

MR YOUNG: May it please the Court, I inform the Court that the following members of the Bar here present have been appointed as Her Majesty's Counsel for the State of Victoria.

They are:

Lyn Ross Boyes who ranks in seniority after Bryan Andrew Keon-Cohen

Diana Bryant who ranks in seniority after Ian James Hardingham

Terence John Casey who ranks in seniority after Diana Bryant

Peter Charles Young who ranks in seniority after Terence John Casey

Anthony Southall who ranks in seniority after Ian Douglas Hill

Marilyn Louise Warren who ranks in seniority after Charles Michael Scerri

John William de Wijn who ranks in seniority after Marilyn Louise Warren

Charles Gunst who ranks in seniority after John William de Wijn

Michael Warner Shand who ranks in seniority after Charles Gunst

Patrick Francis Tehan who ranks in seniority after Michael Warner Shand

David Samuel Levin who ranks in seniority after Patrick Francis Tehan

Kevin Harcourt Bell who ranks in seniority after David Samuel Levin

Michael John Colbran who ranks in seniority after Kevin Harcourt Bell

BRENNAN CJ: Thank you, Mr Young. Mr Abbott, President of The South Australian Bar Association.

MR ABBOTT: May it please the Court, I inform the Court that Christopher John Kourakis who ranks in seniority after Richard Conway White has been appointed one of Her Majesty's counsel for the State of South Australia.

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

The Court congratulates you, the new silks, on your appointment and wishes you honourable and challenging careers as leaders of your respective Bars. To be granted silk is a considerable honour. It gives great satisfaction to the appointee and perhaps even greater satisfaction to the junior Bar. It is an accolade of achievement, confirmed by the Courts in which you practise or by the estimate of your professional peers. Many counsel have regarded the successful taking of silk as the most significant step in professional life, more significant to the individual than elevation to the Bench. It is worth recalling, however, that the origin of the institution of silk in Australia was constitutionally perceived as an appointment to an office, not as the conferral of an honour. Appointment to the office of Queen's Counsel was within the powers of the Executive of those Colonies which had responsible government, while the conferral of an honour was reserved to the Queen. See Dr Jeremy Finn: "Political or Professional Honours: Queen's Counsel in Australia, 1839-1875" (1996) 2 Australian Journal of Legal History 61 at 63. Today the grant of silk, whether as Queen's Counsel or as Senior Counsel, should still be seen as the appointment to an office, not merely as the conferring of an honour. An office because it carries duties. They are duties of leadership and the duties are substantial.

The duties of leadership fall into two categories. In the day to day work of the silk, he or she is expected to exceed the standards of the journeyman barrister and to be the master professional. He or she must have and show familiarity with the material facts in the brief, not a fuzzy idea of what the case is about; he or she is expected to be able accurately and concisely to bring the tribunal's attention to the relevant legal principles, not merely to speak in generalities unsupported by statute or authority; he or she is expected to be a fearless but respectful advocate of the client's cause, neither supine nor discourteous; he or she is expected to be a counsel of utter integrity and independence, so that clients may derive the full benefit of competent and impartial advice and courts may be assisted in the administration of justice according to law. The silk is not a gladiator noted for partisanship rather than professional performance. The donning of the silk gown is a reminder of the standard of advocacy and advice expected of senior counsel - a standard which brings out the best efforts of those briefed as juniors and provides by example leadership in advocacy to the Bar generally.

The second category of a silk's duties calls for leadership in the values which should inform practice at the Bar and in the public service which the Bar performs. It is for the silks to show that professional ethical standards are lived, not merely prescribed. Integrity in professional dealings and candour in Court are not only the badges of an honourable profession; they are the weapons of the competent counsel that win the respect of colleagues and the confidence of the Bench. Independence, that priceless possession, facilitates impartiality in advocacy and in the giving of advice. It is the mark of a counsel who has the strength of seeking no reward save reasonable remuneration and recognition for the exercise of his or her professional abilities. It is for the silks to accept some of the burden of pro bono briefs. And it is for the silks to demonstrate their adherence to the requirement of reasonableness in the two elements of the cab rank rule - fee and availability. A Bar which discounts these requirements is a Bar destined to suffer first external regulation and ultimately dissolution. A Bar whose leaders fail to teach and embrace the ethical standards of the profession is no more than a service industry.

Discharge of the duties of the silk are his or her entitlement to the honour which it brings. The rustle of the new silk gown is accompanied by the glint of recognition in the eyes of colleagues and some change, born of new expectations, in relationships with both bench and solicitors. Today, as your respective appointments are formally announced to this Court, you are assembled with other silks from other jurisdictions. You are meeting, if you have not met before, those with whom you may expect to have dealings in the years ahead as your practices take you outside your home jurisdiction. This ceremony assists in developing those personal contacts which are conducive to the efficient operation of the Australian legal system in the interests of the Australian people.

Many of you are accompanied here today by those who, by their love and patience, have made it possible for you to achieve the status of silk. They have joined in your celebration of the grant of silk and it is fitting that they should be acknowledged and welcomed with you in this ceremony. We wish them a share in the satisfactions of your future practice.

The Court therefore congratulates both you, the new silks, and those who have supported you in your professional careers and when we adjourn we look forward to seeing you at afternoon tea.

AT 3.21 PM THE COURT ADJOURNED