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Murray Gleeson
Anthony Murray Gleeson AC GBS KC (born 30 August 1938) is an Australian former judge who served as the 11th Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1998 to 2008.
Gleeson was born in Wingham, New South Wales, and studied law at the University of Sydney. He was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1963 and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1974, becoming one of the state's leading barristers. Gleeson was appointed Chief Justice of New South Wales in 1988, serving until his elevation to the High Court in 1998. He and Samuel Griffith (appointed 1903) are the only people to have been elevated directly from the chief justiceship of a state to the chief justiceship of the High Court. As required by the constitution, he retired from the court when he reached his 70th birthday.
In October 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Gleeson's daughter, Jacqueline Gleeson, will be elevated to the High Court following the retirement of Justice Virginia Bell.
Gleeson was born in Wingham, New South Wales, the eldest of four children. He was educated at St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, where he won the Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition in both 1953 and 1955, before matriculating to receive first class honours degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney. Among his graduating class of 1962 were John Howard, later to become Prime Minister; and Michael Kirby, who later served alongside him as a judge on the High Court.
After graduation, Gleeson spent one year as a solicitor at Messrs Murphy & Moloney. Gleeson was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1963, where he read with Laurence Street and Anthony Mason - his future predecessors as Chief Justice of New South Wales and Chief Justice of Australia respectively.
His appearances as junior counsel focussed mainly on matters of taxation and commercial law, as well as important constitutional cases including Strickland v Rocla Concrete Pipes Ltd, which concerned the scope of the corporations power.
Upon his appointment as Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1974, Gleeson's career as senior counsel continued to focus on commercial and constitutional matters. However he also appeared in some high-profile criminal cases, including his successful defence before a jury of National Party MP Ian Sinclair in 1980. In the same year he appeared for the appellants in Port Jackson Stevedoring v Salmond & Spraggon, the last case granted leave to appeal to the Privy Council from the High Court. In 1981 he appeared for former Prime Minister Sir William McMahon in Evans v Crichton-Browne, excluding the rhetoric of electoral advertising from judicial scrutiny under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. Gleeson was President of the New South Wales Bar Association 1984–1985.
Gleeson was a methodical counsel, who prepared his cases and even his cross examinations in minute detail. Retired Justice of Appeal Roddy Meagher said jokingly of Gleeson: "He has written nothing outside his professional work. He takes no interest in either music or art. He does, however, like flowers. He stares at them to make them wilt."
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Murray Gleeson
Anthony Murray Gleeson AC GBS KC (born 30 August 1938) is an Australian former judge who served as the 11th Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1998 to 2008.
Gleeson was born in Wingham, New South Wales, and studied law at the University of Sydney. He was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1963 and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1974, becoming one of the state's leading barristers. Gleeson was appointed Chief Justice of New South Wales in 1988, serving until his elevation to the High Court in 1998. He and Samuel Griffith (appointed 1903) are the only people to have been elevated directly from the chief justiceship of a state to the chief justiceship of the High Court. As required by the constitution, he retired from the court when he reached his 70th birthday.
In October 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Gleeson's daughter, Jacqueline Gleeson, will be elevated to the High Court following the retirement of Justice Virginia Bell.
Gleeson was born in Wingham, New South Wales, the eldest of four children. He was educated at St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, where he won the Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition in both 1953 and 1955, before matriculating to receive first class honours degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney. Among his graduating class of 1962 were John Howard, later to become Prime Minister; and Michael Kirby, who later served alongside him as a judge on the High Court.
After graduation, Gleeson spent one year as a solicitor at Messrs Murphy & Moloney. Gleeson was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1963, where he read with Laurence Street and Anthony Mason - his future predecessors as Chief Justice of New South Wales and Chief Justice of Australia respectively.
His appearances as junior counsel focussed mainly on matters of taxation and commercial law, as well as important constitutional cases including Strickland v Rocla Concrete Pipes Ltd, which concerned the scope of the corporations power.
Upon his appointment as Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1974, Gleeson's career as senior counsel continued to focus on commercial and constitutional matters. However he also appeared in some high-profile criminal cases, including his successful defence before a jury of National Party MP Ian Sinclair in 1980. In the same year he appeared for the appellants in Port Jackson Stevedoring v Salmond & Spraggon, the last case granted leave to appeal to the Privy Council from the High Court. In 1981 he appeared for former Prime Minister Sir William McMahon in Evans v Crichton-Browne, excluding the rhetoric of electoral advertising from judicial scrutiny under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918. Gleeson was President of the New South Wales Bar Association 1984–1985.
Gleeson was a methodical counsel, who prepared his cases and even his cross examinations in minute detail. Retired Justice of Appeal Roddy Meagher said jokingly of Gleeson: "He has written nothing outside his professional work. He takes no interest in either music or art. He does, however, like flowers. He stares at them to make them wilt."
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