Obituary - Professor Robert Baxt AO

Bob was born in Japanese occupied Shanghai a year or so before the outbreak of World War II. His family settled in Australia in 1947.

He was educated at Newington College (the Sydney sister school to Melbourne’s Wesley College), the University of Sydney. BA LL B (Hons), and the Harvard Law School, LL M.

He served Articles with M. Rosenblum & Co and, in 1962, was admitted to practice in New South Wales as a Solicitor. In 1963, he won a scholarship to Harvard. He began practice as a Solicitor with Freehills in Sydney; and he practised there until September 1965. He came to Melbourne as a Senior Lecturer at Monash Law School and was, in 1969, admitted to practice in Victoria.

A Senior Lecturer in the Law Faculty at Monash, Bob split his Reading over the academic summer long vacations in 1969/70 and 1970/71. He read first with Peter Brusey then, after Brusey took Silk, with Alan Goldberg (later QC; then Federal Court Judge).

Bob left the Bar in November 1974; but he maintained ties with the Bar through his practice as a Solicitor. At Monash, on leaving the Bar, Bob became a Consultant with Phillips Fox & Masel. After his 3 years (1988-91) as Chairman of the Trade Practices Commission, he became a partner first at Allens Arthur Robinson, then at Herbert Smith Freehills – both in Melbourne. He was a Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne.

In 2010, Bob with David Shavin QC (Alan Goldberg’s first and last Readers) put together a Readers Dinner to mark Alan’s retirement from the Federal Court.

The Funeral is tomorrow, Wednesday 14 March 2018 at 1:00 pm in Jewish Memorial Garden 1 at the Springvale Botanical Cemetery, 600 Princes Highway, Springvale. A Minyan will be held tomorrow at 7:30 pm at the St Kilda Hebrew Congregation, 12 Charnwood Grove, St Kilda.