Obituary & Service - John Edward Barnard QC

John Barnard was educated at Haileybury College and at Ormond College within the University of Melbourne. He graduated LL B; served Articles at Mullett Langford in Collins Street; was admitted on 1 April 1955; and signed the Bar Roll on 10 February 1956. He read with Tony Murray (later QC, Solicitor-General, then Supreme Court Judge).

He practised in Common Law and Insurance – mostly for defendants. His best-known case for a plaintiff was in the 1980s when he represented Franz Stampfl, the legendary athletics coach who had been rendered a quadriplegic in a motor car accident. He represented The Alfred Hospital in PQ v Australian Red Cross & Ors, the HIV Aids blood transfusion case – still the longest-running civil jury trial in Victoria, probably in Australia.

He had two Readers, Ross Gillies (now QC) and Jon Ramsden (retired Judicial Registrar). He took silk in November 1973.

John Barnard practised at the Bar for more than 44 years, of those, more than 26 years as a Silk.

His service to the Bar was prodigious. He served 8 years in the Senior Category on the Bar Council, 6 of those on the Executive Committee; and was Vice-Chairman in 1983/84. He served 8 years on the Ethics Committee, 6 of those as Vice-Chairman. He chaired the Bar Constitution Committee for 6 years. He was a Bar appointee to the Supreme Court Board of Examiners for 6 years

Service arrangements will be announced as soon as they become known. 

His Funeral Service is at Holy Trinity Anglican Church 251 High Street (corner Pakington Street) Kew this Friday 16 June 2017 at 10:30 am.