Swearing in of Judge Alexandra Harland to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, Darwin Speech given by Mr Duncan McConnel, Executive Member, Law Council of Australia at Federal Circuit Court, Darwin Dated 7 May 2013 GPO Box 1989, Canberra ACT 2601, DX 5719 Canberra 19 Torrens St Braddon ACT 2612 Telephone +61 2 6246 3788 Facsimile +61 2 6248 0639 Law Council of Australia Limited ABN 85 005 260 622 www.lawcouncil.asn.au
1. May it please the Court. 2. I appear on behalf of the Law Council of Australia, and in so doing first acknowledge the Larrakia people, the traditional owners of the land on which the Court sits today. 3. It is a pleasure to appear on behalf of the national peak body for Australian Lawyers in this new national court, a Court with the furthest reach of any national Court in our history. The Law Council represents over 60,000 lawyers currently practising in this country. Family law is the one truly national practise within the profession, and the Law Council s involvement in Family law for the profession nationally is well known. 4. Last week many of us gathered in Sydney for a ceremony which celebrated the fact that this Court had a new name the Federal Circuit Court and that its judicial officers would now carry the title judge rather than magistrate. 5. Your Honour now has the privilege of being the first person to be sworn on to the bench of the Federal Circuit Court. Many of your friends and family, including your mother Barbara, have made the trip north today to share this great milestone in your already impressive career. Sadly your late father, Emeritus Professor David Harland will not see your Honour s swearing in. There is no doubting his very strong influence not only in Your Honour s choice to study and become a lawyer, but also the course of your career leading to this distinguished achievement today. 6. Your Honour obtained a Bachelor of Laws with Honours and worked as an Associate to Judge John O Meally of the Dust Diseases Tribunal of New South Wales from 1995 to 1997. 7. After your admission in June 1997 you had 8. 4 years at Dettmann Longworth solicitors; 9. 3 years at Meyer Pigdon Family Lawyers; 10. 5 years at Watts McCray as an Associate. 11. There must have been something in the water at Watts McRay; it has previously produced no less than 3 judicial officers in Justices Swearing in of Judge Alexandra Harland to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Page 2
Garry Watts and Robert Benjamin of the Family Court and Judge Tom Altobelli of this Court. Your Honour makes it 4. 12. At Watts McRay, you worked closely with the now Justice Benjamin of the Family Court. Justice Benjamin is here today which is undoubtedly an acknowledgement of the high regard in which you are held by your colleagues. 13. I am sure it would not have been Justice Benjamin who leaked the fact of your strong preference - some might call it an obsession for the colour purple. Your Honour will note the colour selection of my tie accordingly. I understand that a Star Trek uniform or Dr Who outfit might have met with similar approval, but I may have been detained by security and not have made it here at all today, so the purple tie it is. 14. On a more serious note, he recalled also your contribution not only to the firm but to the Family Issues Committee of the Law Society of New South Wales from 2006-2009. He and other committee members say you proved so persuasive that many of your progressive views were adopted as Society policy. 15. It pegged you as a future leader of the profession, along with your impressive contribution to the academic side of the law. Since 2003 - when you gained your specialist accreditation in family law - you have been a prolific writer on the subject. 16. In November 2009 Your Honour left Watts Macray and after a brief stint at York Family Law you joined the NSW Legal Aid Commission, first as duty Lawyer and then as a Solicitor Advocate. 17. And so Lawyers Weekly was technically correct when it announced to the profession on 3 April that you were one of 2 legal aid lawyers named as federal magistrates. What it failed to mention is that Your Honour takes up this appointment in Darwin not as a former legal aid lawyer from Sydney, but as one of the country s most published authors on family law. Your Honour has published work on de-facto relationships, surrogacy and child abduction and is the primary co-author of the textbook, Family Law Principles. 18. A recent review of that text observed that its target audience was practitioners new to family law, experienced lawyers who may Swearing in of Judge Alexandra Harland to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Page 3
need a refresher, as well as young graduates who might be assigned a family law file without much supervision. I think Your Honour has pretty much covered the field there, and I am sure that before the next sittings your publishers will report a certain spike in sales in the Northern Territory. 19. Your Honour has lectured in Family Law at the University of Sydney and University of Technology, Sydney. I understand that Your Honour is completing a Master of Laws by Research at the University of Technology. 20. In March of last year you were appointed solicitor advocate. You regularly appeared in lengthy, complex hearings in both this Court and the Family Court often in the role of children s advocate, a role which undoubtedly is one of the most challenging, and critical before any Court in this country. 21. Your Honour is therefore well equipped for this challenging new role, one that brings your Honour into a new practising environment in Darwin. The members of the profession who practise in Family Law in the Northern Territory include some of the finest lawyers I have met. They have discharged their calling in an increasingly complex jurisdiction, plagued by many changes in the law as well as court practice, and have done so usually in circumstances where they are under-resourced. Family law remains one of the most emotionally difficult areas of practice for any lawyer and yet the lawyers who regularly appear in this jurisdiction have, in my experience, displayed great tolerance, patience, compassion and insight. 22. I have no doubt that Your Honour will be well assisted by the practitioners appearing in your court, just as the profession is privileged to benefit from the appointment of someone so eminently and obviously qualified to enhance the practice of Family Law in this Court in Darwin. 23. Your colleagues at NSW Legal Aid were disappointed they only got to work with you for such a short time. They were aware however that for some years you had ambitions to join the bench and were delighted when that happened. In your honour, they have all turned up to work today dressed in purple. At lunch there will be a screening of Dr Who and ham, pineapple and egg pizza for all. Swearing in of Judge Alexandra Harland to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Page 4
24. They also mentioned that while you have never learned to drive, you were very adept as fishing around for lifts. This causes them some concern. They would counsel Your Honour that the phrase just down the road means something altogether different in the Northern Territory. 25. May it please the Court. Disclaimer: This document remains the property of the Law Council of Australia and should not be reproduced without permission. Please contact the Law Council to arrange a copy of this speech. Vanessa Kleinschmidt Director, Government and Corporate Affairs m. 0408 014 110 e. vanessa.kleinschmidt@lawcouncil.asn.au Swearing in of Judge Alexandra Harland to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Page 5