Alastair Nicholson | |
---|---|
2nd Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia | |
In office 1 February 1988 –2 July 2004 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Melbourne, Victoria | 19 August 1938
Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
Occupation | Barrister; Jurist |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Australia |
Service/ | Royal Australian Air Force Reserve |
Years of service | 1959–92 |
Rank | Air Vice Marshal |
Unit | Legal Reserve |
Commands held | Judge Advocate General (1987–92) |
Awards | Officer of the Order of Australia Reserve Force Decoration |
Alastair Bothwick Nicholson, AO , RFD , KC (born 19 August 1938) is a retired Australian jurist who served as the Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia from 1988 until 2004.
Nicholson was born in 1938 in Melbourne returning with his mother Jean to Papua New Guinea, at that time an Australian territory, where his parents owned a rubber and coconut plantation. He was educated at Scotch College Melbourne where he was a boarder, and studied law at the University of Melbourne where he was a resident at Ormond College.
His grandfather was Alexander Nicholson, Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police from 1922 to 1925. [1]
He was admitted as a legal practitioner in Victoria in 1961, and joined the Victorian Bar in 1963. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1979 and was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria between 1982 and 1988.
He has long been involved in the Australian Defence Force, being Judge Advocate General between 1987 and 1992. His military involvement commenced with his appointment as a flight lieutenant in the Legal Reserve of the Royal Australian Air Force, through service in Australia and in Vietnam and at Butterworth in Malaysia as defence counsel and Judge Advocate leading ultimately to his promotion to the rank of air vice marshal.
Since 2003 he has been an Honorary Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, originally attached to the Department of Criminology until 2009 and subsequently to the Faculty of Law; and he has been the Chair of the National Centre Against Bullying. He was the founding patron of Children's Rights International in 2001 and has been Chair of that organisation since March 2010. He has been the patron of International Social Service Australia since 2008.
Anthony Murray Gleeson is an Australian former judge who served as the 11th Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1998 to 2008.
Sir William Hill Irvine was an Australian politician and judge. He served as Premier of Victoria (1902–1904), Attorney-General of Australia (1913–1914), and Chief Justice of Victoria (1918–1935).
Julian William Kennedy Burnside is an Australian barrister, human rights and refugee advocate, and author. He practises principally in commercial litigation, trade practices and administrative law. He is known for his staunch opposition to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, and has provided legal counsel in a wide variety of high-profile cases. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2009, "for service as a human rights advocate, particularly for refugees and asylum seekers, to the arts as a patron and fundraiser, and to the law." He unsuccessfully stood for the Division of Kooyong at the 2019 federal election as an Australian Greens candidate, but achieved the highest vote for the Greens in the seat at a federal election and allowed the party to enter into the two-party preferred vote.
Sir Wilfred Kelsham Fullagar, KBE, QC was an Australian judge who served on the High Court of Australia from 1950 until his death in 1961. He had earlier served on the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1945 to 1950, and had previously been considered one of Melbourne's leading barristers.
Diana Bryant is an Australian jurist who served as Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia from 5 July 2004 to 12 October 2017.
Keith John Austin Asche is a former Administrator of the Northern Territory of Australia and was the third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.
Clifford Inch Menhennitt was an Australian jurist. He served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1966 to 1979. While largely unknown today, Menhennitt was responsible for delivering the landmark 1969 Menhennitt ruling, which was the first legal precedent with regard to abortion law in Australia.
Sir Laurence Whistler Street, was the 14th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales. He was the third generation of the Street family to serve in these viceregal offices and the youngest since 1844. Street fought in World War II and became a commander in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve and an honorary colonel in the Australian Army Reserve.
The Melbourne University Law Review is a triannual law journal published by a student group at Melbourne Law School covering all areas of law. It is one of the student-run law journals at the University of Melbourne and is generally regarded as Australia's leading generalist law journal. Students who have completed at least one semester of law are eligible to apply for membership of the editorial board. Applicants are assessed on the basis of their performance in a practical exercise, academic aptitude, and proofreading and editing skills. The 2024 editors-in-chief are James Cafferky, Alexander Henry and Fiona Xia.
Lex Lasry is an Australian lawyer and a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria from 2007 to 2018. He also sat as a reserve judge from 2018 until his retirement as a reserve judge in February 2024.
Dean Mildren, is a former judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. He was appointed to the court on 27 June 1991, and retired February 2013. He is sworn in as an acting judge of the court, so from time to time still adjudicates on cases in the Northern Territory.
Sir Henry Arthur Winneke, was a Chief Justice of Victoria and the 21st Governor of Victoria, from 1974 to 1982.
John Spence Winneke, was a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria and President of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian state of Victoria.
Alex Chernov is an Australian lawyer, judge and barrister who served as the 28th Governor of Victoria, from 2011 to 2015. Chernov also served as Vice-President of the Australian Bar Association, from 1986 to 1987, President of the Law Council of Australia, from 1990 to 1991, and the 20th Chancellor of Melbourne University, from 2009 to 2011.
Major General Leonard William Roberts-Smith, is a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. From February 2005, he was one of the inaugural Judges of the Court of Appeal Division, having been first appointed to the Supreme Court on 6 November 2000. From May 2007, he served as Commissioner of the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia, having been appointed for a five-year term. He retired on 31 January 2011.
Sir Frederick Wollaston Mann KCMG was the chief justice of the Australian state of Victoria between 1 October 1935 and 31 January 1944. He was also Victoria’s lieutenant governor between 12 May 1936 and May 1945. Mann was nicknamed the “Little Gentleman” because of his height and he was unfailingly courteous. He had a reputation of being a careful judge delivering decisions of precision and clarity. In 1935, he became the first Australian born person to become chief justice of Victoria.
John Harber Phillips, AC, QC was an Australian lawyer and judge who served as Chief Justice of Victoria from 1991 to 2003. He was first appointed to the Victorian Supreme Court in 1984, having previously been the state's director of public prosecutions as well as a director of the National Crime Authority.
Major General Gregory Howard "Greg" Garde, is a senior Australian lawyer and Army officer. His positions and appointments have included Queen's Counsel, Supreme Court Justice, President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and membership of various boards of directors.
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.
Alexander Nicholson was an Australian police officer and Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police from 1922 to 1925. Nicholson was Chief Commissioner at the time of the 1923 Victorian police strike.
'Alexander Nicholson was my grandfather.' The voice belongs to Alastair Nicholson, former Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, now retired