This week

On Monday morning, I spoke on behalf of the Bar at the Hon. Justice Ian Waller’s welcome in the Banco Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria. His Honour was admitted to practice in April of 1988 and signed the Bar Roll just 12 months later. He read with Julian Burnside AO KC. His Honour took silk in 2007 and served for many years on the Board of Examiners and (more recently) on the Ethics Committee. I am proud to count myself among his Honour’s six Readers. In his reply, his Honour referred to his family’s connection to the law, and to all the momentous occasions they had enjoyed in the Banco Court. He observed that none of those occasions would have occurred if his father’s parents had not left Poland in 1938 to avoid the worst consequences of the twisted and hateful ideology embodied in the Nazi regime. It was a poignant speech that made everyone present pause and reflect.

It being a short week, there were only a few things on the agenda. We held a special purpose Bar Council meeting on Tuesday afternoon and then I spoke at the Hon. Justice John Dixon’s farewell yesterday afternoon. Along with the Victorian Solicitor-General, Rowena Orr KC, and the President of the LIV, Tania Wolff, I thanked his Honour for his long and distinguished service on the Supreme Court. In reply, his Honour described how much he had enjoyed his time as a judge and gave a glimpse of what he plans to do in retirement. It was a very nice occasion and a fitting tribute to his Honour. On behalf of the Bar, I wish him well.

Last Saturday was a very good day. We held the 2023 Sports Law Conference and Tri-State Football Tournament at Green Gully FC. It started off with several interesting sports-related papers, and then teams from three states took to the field for a series of matches.