Jacqueline Gleeson

Last updated

Jacqueline Gleeson
Justice of the High Court of Australia
Assumed office
1 March 2021
Education Monte Sant'Angelo Mercy College
University of Sydney
OccupationJudge, lawyer

Jacqueline Sarah Gleeson (born 7 March 1966) is an Australian judge. She has been a Justice of the High Court of Australia since 1 March 2021, and was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, based in Sydney, from April 2014 to February 2021. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Gleeson is the eldest of four children of former Chief Justice of Australia Murray Gleeson and Robyn Gleeson. Speaking about her upbringing, Gleeson stated that "my wellbeing and development was my mother's job and she can justly take credit for any success of mine". She was educated at Monte Sant'Angelo Mercy College and attended Sancta Sophia College, University of Sydney, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1986 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1989. [3]

Career

Gleeson was admitted as a lawyer in 1989, and worked as an associate to Justice Trevor Morling of the Federal Court and then as a solicitor for Bush Burke & Company. Gleeson was admitted as a barrister in 1991. In 2000, she left the Bar to work as general counsel for the Australian Broadcasting Authority and then from 2003 a senior executive lawyer for the Australian Government Solicitor. She completed a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney in 2005, before returning to the Bar in 2007. She gained senior counsel status in 2012. Her practice specialised in administrative law, competition and consumer law, professional liability, disciplinary proceedings and taxation. Gleeson represented the New South Wales government at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and represented QBE Insurance in the Canberra bushfires litigation in 2013, then the Australian Capital Territory's largest ever civil case. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Federal Court

Gleeson was appointed to the Federal Court by Attorney-General George Brandis on 15 April 2014, replacing retired Justice Dennis Cowdroy. [5] Gleeson has sat on a number of high-profile cases, dismissing claims against the Australian Securities and Investments Commission brought by clients of Storm Financial that alleged that the regulator should have taken action to prevent their loss. [6] [7] Gleeson held that a company promoting a scheme "how to buy a house for $1" had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct. [8] [9] Gleeson was a member of the Full Court of the Federal Court that unanimously upheld an appeal by the Australian Defence Force, finding that the ADF had not breached the implied freedom of political communication when it terminated Gaynor's commission in the army reserve after he expressed anti-homosexual and anti-Islamic views. [10] [11] The High Court refused special leave to appeal against the decision. [12]

High Court

On 28 October 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Attorney-General Christian Porter announced that Gleeson and Simon Steward would be appointed to the High Court of Australia to fill the vacancies caused by upcoming retirements of Geoffrey Nettle and Virginia Bell. She began her term on 1 March 2021 in succession to Bell. [13] [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Gaudron</span> 20th and 21st-century Australian judge

Mary Genevieve Gaudron, is an Australian lawyer and judge, who was the first female Justice of the High Court of Australia. She was the Solicitor-General of New South Wales from 1981 until 1987 before her appointment to the High Court. After her retirement in 2002, she joined the International Labour Organization, serving as the President of its Administrative Tribunal from 2011 until 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray Gleeson</span> Australian former Chief Justice

Anthony Murray Gleeson is an Australian former judge who served as the 11th Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1998 to 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Brandis</span> Australian politician

George Henry Brandis is an Australian former politician. He was a Senator for Queensland from 2000 to 2018, representing the Liberal Party, and was a cabinet minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments. He was later High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2018 to 2022.

John Dyson Heydon is a former Australian judge and barrister who served on the High Court of Australia from 2003 to 2013 and the New South Wales Court of Appeal from 2000 to 2003, and previously served as Dean of the Sydney Law School. He retired from the bench at the constitutionally-mandated age of 70 and went on to chair the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption between 2014 and 2015, an appointment that was politically controversial due to his avowed conservatism and connections with the governing conservative party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Crennan</span> Former Justice of the High Court of Australia

Susan Maree Crennan, is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.

<i>Al-Kateb v Godwin</i> 2004 decision of the High Court of Australia

Al-Kateb v Godwin, was a decision of the High Court of Australia, which ruled on 6 August 2004 that the indefinite detention of a stateless person was lawful. The case concerned Ahmed Al-Kateb, a Palestinian man born in Kuwait, who moved to Australia in 2000 and applied for a temporary protection visa. The Commonwealth Minister for Immigration's decision to refuse the application was upheld by the Refugee Review Tribunal and the Federal Court. In 2002, Al-Kateb declared that he wished to return to Kuwait or Gaza. However, since no country would accept Al-Kateb, he was declared stateless and detained under the policy of mandatory detention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Kiefel</span> Australian judge; Chief Justice of Australia

Susan Mary Kiefel is an Australian lawyer and barrister who is the 13th and current Chief Justice of Australia since 2017. She has concurrently served on the bench of the High Court of Australia since 2007, previously being a judge of both the Supreme Court of Queensland and the Federal Court of Australia. Kiefel is the first woman to serve in the position of Chief Justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Branson</span> Australian judge

Catherine Margaret Branson is a former Australian judge and public servant. She was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 1994 to 2008, and then President of the Australian Human Rights Commission from 2008 to 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Spigelman</span> Australian judge

James Jacob Spigelman is a former Australian judge who served as Chief Justice of New South Wales from 1998 to 2011. He was also Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales from 1998 to 2012. He served on the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong as a non-permanent judge from other common law jurisdictions from April 2013 to his early resignation in September 2020. Spigelman also served as chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 2012 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert French</span> Former Chief Justice of Australia

Robert Shenton French is an Australian lawyer and judge who served as the twelfth Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 2008 to 2017. He has been the chancellor of the University of Western Australia since November 2017.

Jayne Margaret Jagot is a Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian judicial system. She was appointed to the High Court in October 2022. Jagot was previously a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. Before that, she served as a judge of Land and Environment Court of New South Wales and a partner at the law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques.

<i>Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Baxter Healthcare Pty Ltd</i> 2007 High Court of Australia decision

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Baxter Healthcare Pty Ltd, (Baxter) was a decision of the High Court of Australia, which ruled on 29 August 2007 that Baxter Healthcare Proprietary Limited, a tenderer for various government contracts, was bound by the Trade Practices Act 1974 in its trade and commerce in tendering for government contracts. More generally, the case concerned the principles of derivative governmental immunity: whether the immunity of a government from a statute extends to third parties that conduct business with the government.

Jane Hamilton Mathews was a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, a judge of the Federal Court of Australia and President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Kathleen Farrell is an Australian judge. She has been a judge of the Federal Court of Australia since 2012 and among the very few solicitors to have been appointed directly to the court.

Debra Sue Mortimer is an Australian judge who has been the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia since 7 April 2023. She was born in New Zealand but has practised law in Australia. She has been a judge of the Federal Court of Australia since 2013, having previously been a Senior Counsel practising at the Victorian Bar in migration law, environmental law and anti-discrimination law.

Judicial independence is regarded as one of the foundation values of the Australian legal system, such that the High Court held in 2004 that a court capable of exercising federal judicial power must be, and must appear to be, an independent and impartial tribunal. Former Chief Justice Gerard Brennan described judicial independence as existing "to serve and protect not the governors but the governed", albeit one that "rests on the calibre and the character of the judges themselves". Despite general agreement as to its importance and common acceptance of some elements, there is no agreement as to each of the elements of judicial independence.

Robert James Bromwich is a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, serving since 29 February 2016. He also holds roles as an Additional Judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory and, from 10 April 2019 to 30 April 2020 was a part-time Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission, sitting on its Inquiry on Corporate Crime.

Simon Harry Peter Steward is an Australian judge and former barrister currently serving as a Justice of the High Court of Australia. He was previously a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 2018 until his appointment to the High Court.

References

  1. Pelly, Michael (29 October 2020). "High Court bookie wiped out after missing omen tip". Financial Review. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  2. 1 2 "The Hon Jacqueline Sarah GLEESON". Federal Court of Australia. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 "The Hon Justice Jacqueline Gleeson" (PDF). New South Wales Bar Association News. New South Wales Bar Association. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  4. "Ceremonial Sitting of the Full Court For the Swearing In and Welcome of the Honourable Justice Gleeson". Federal Court of Australia. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  5. 1 2 "New Federal Court judge a chip off the old block". Lawyers Weekly. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  6. "Court throws out ASIC Storm claim". financialobserver.com.au. 12 February 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  7. Lock v Australian Securities and Investments Commission [2016] FCA 31 (4 February 2016), Federal Court.
  8. "We Buy Houses breached Australian Consumer Law with 'buy a house for $1' claim, judge says". ABC News. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  9. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v We Buy Houses Pty Ltd [2017] FCA 915 (11 August 2017), Federal Court.
  10. "We need the clarity of a High Court ruling on Bernard Gaynor's free speech crusade". The Canberra Times. 4 April 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  11. Chief of the Defence Force v Gaynor [2017] FCAFC 41 (8 March 2017), Federal Court (Full Court)
  12. Gaynor v Chief of the Defence Force [2017] HCATrans 162 (18 August 2017), High Court.
  13. Mizen, Ronald; Pelly, Michael (28 October 2020). "Gleeson, Steward next High Court justices". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  14. "PM announces new High Court justices, including daughter of former chief justice". www.abc.net.au. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.