Farewell - The Honourable Justice Paul Coghlan

5Mar2014

Address on the occasion of retirement of The Honourable Justice Paul Coghlan from the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria by William Alstergren SC, Chairman of the Victorian Bar Council, Thursday 6 February 2014 in the Banco Court.
May it please the Court.

I have the great honour of appearing on behalf of the Victorian Bar with my learned junior, your daughter Georgina, to congratulate Your Honour on your retirement.

The Victorian Bar congratulates Your Honour on your nearly 45 years of service in the law since your admission in March 1969.

Your Honour signed the Bar roll on 9 February 1978, 36 years ago next Sunday. Your Honour read with the legendary Fred James, a formidable advocate with a talent for elegant and graceful English, a skill and style Your Honour brought into the next generation of advocates and passed on to your Readers and to others with whom you worked.

From the outset Your Honour specialised in crime. You were briefed to prosecute in significant cases long before you became a Crown prosecutor. The corrupt policeman, “Dingy” Harris, the murderer, “Mr Stinky”, and the Silver Gun Rapist – all these Your Honour prosecuted from the independent Bar.

Your Honour was a diabolical prosecutor. Juries, it is said, loved you. You were a formidable appellant advocate, respected by the judges of this court and of the High Court. You readily conceded matters in which there was no real merit. You presented arguments with clarity and economy. Indeed, you have been described by your brother Judge Phillip Priest as a "deadly opponent".

Your Honour spoke at your welcome of being led by Crown prosecutor Gerald Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald led Your Honour in the appeal of Demirian, involving two Armenian friends who conspired to bomb the Turkish consulate. The one with the bomb accidentally triggered it prematurely, killing himself. His friend, an accessory before the fact, was charged with murder. Your Honour won a conviction at trial based on the rather ingenious argument of transferred intent. You were disappointed to lose the conviction on appeal, but that's not the end of the story.

Nearly ten years later Your Honour was Chief Crown Prosecutor and the OPP briefed Mark Weinberg QC in the High Court appeal of Osland. Weinberg ran Osland and won it, but Your Honour crafted the arguments Weinberg was under instructions to make. It was a nice illustration of Your Honour as a consummate strategist.

Your Honour's arguments, which Weinberg was under instructions to make, not only won Osland but also resulted in the High Court in Osland disapproving of the earlier decision involving the Armenians.

Your Honour was fully engaged at the Bar. You had four readers: Christine Giles; Patrick Southey, now a Magistrate; Dr Chris Corns, now an associate professor at La Trobe University; and the renowned Dr David Neal SC.

In the 12 years from 1995 until 2009, when Your Honour was appointed to this court as a trial judge, Your Honour taught in the Bar's Advocacy Training Courses in the South Pacific in Papua New Guinea, in Vanuatu and in Fiji. You taught in a record number of those courses both as an instructor, and leading many of those teams. Also in those 12 years you taught in every Bar reader's course, assisting over 300 young barristers to find their feet.

Your Honour was, as has been said, the principal judge in crime for some three and a half years. The principal judges meet weekly with the Chief Justice, the President, the Principal Associate Judge and the CEO, constituting the leadership group of this court.

Your Honour is passionate about the law. Your knowledge of the criminal law is legendary with instant recall of authorities in astonishing, precise detail in both facts of law. You have been passionate in sharing that knowledge, not only in teaching but also in personal engagement in the course of your work as a fellow barrister, as a prosecutor, as DPP, and as a Judge.

Mark Weinberg was, Your Honour has said, "My other great mentor. He gave me the opportunity to be Associate Director of the Commonwealth, he demonstrated a capacity which set standards for all of us. Much, if not all, I learnt about appellant advocacy and the need for economy I learnt from Mark".

Your Honour cares passionately about the law and about the independence and integrity of prosecutions and about people. In your six years as DPP Your Honour led by example, continuing to appear personally in the most complex and difficult cases and it's said Your Honour was always fair.

If I may be self-indulgent for a moment, I'd been at the Bar only a few years when I received a late night Dever-special flick-pass to appear the next morning in the Court of Appeal in an appeal against conviction for reckless injury. It was the case of R v. Keogh.

On arriving at court I discovered that Your Honour, then Chief Crown Prosecutor, was my opponent and your junior was some 12 years more senior than me. I have to admit I was rather nervous. To make matters worse, or perhaps more formidable and compelling, the court was comprised of Justices Tadgell, Ormiston and J.D. Phillips.

The prosecution case had been that my client punched the complainant in the face. At trial my client denied the punch and claimed the injury was caused by someone else throwing a flowerpot at the complainant.

On instructions the appeal was based on the trial judge's failure to direct the jury on self defence. It was a difficult case as self defence had not been put at trial. Indeed, the trial counsel had conceded it was not open.

After what seemed like days, more like an hour and a half, I finished my submissions to a gruelling panel. Your Honour was extremely decent and fair in reply and afterwards offered me some words of encouragement with a warm smile.

Mr Justice Tadgell was puzzled that Mr Justice Ormiston and Mr Justice J.D. Phillips voted to reserve judgment, and he was astonished when, over his passionate dissent, six months later they set aside the conviction.

I now have to confess that part of my submissions were written by the now Justice Phil Priest with the help of Justice Mark Weinberg. It was probably the only reason why I won. On Priest's advice, I made sure my perfect record against the Chief Crown Prosecutor remained intact by never accepting another brief against you again.

I have never, until today, had the opportunity to thank Your Honour for your encouragement, and on behalf of all those barristers you've helped along the way, I do so now.

For nearly 45 years Your Honour has served the law and the administration of justice in this State and the Commonwealth with distinction.

On behalf of the Victoria Bar I wish Your Honour and your wife, Anne, and your family, all the very best for your retirement, that is when Your Honour's time as a reserve judge finally comes to an end.

May it please the Court.

News Category: 
Farewell / Retirement