List of Sydney Law School alumni

In its over 150-year history, the Sydney Law School has produced a prominent group of alumni. The following is a list of some of these prominent alumni.

Courts and tribunals

International Court of Justice

• Sir Percy Spender: International Court of Justice judge 1958–1964, President 1964–1967
• Sir Garfield Barwick ad hoc judge 1973–1974

High Court of Australia

• Chief Justices of the High Court of Australia (in chronological order):
  1. Sir Garfield Barwick
  2. Sir Anthony Mason
  3. Murray Gleeson
• Puisne Justices of the High Court (in chronological order):
  1. H. V. Evatt
  2. Sir Edward McTiernan
  3. Sir Dudley Williams
  4. Sir Frank Kitto
  5. Sir Alan Taylor
  6. Sir Victor Windeyer
  7. Sir Cyril Walsh
  8. Sir Kenneth Jacobs
  9. Lionel Murphy
  10. Sir William Deane
  11. Mary Gaudron
  12. Michael Kirby
  13. William Gummow
  14. Susan Crennan
  15. Virginia Bell

As of 2017, Sydney Law School has produced 18 out of 52 Justices of the High Court of Australia (with the University of Sydney more broadly having produced 24).^[1]

Supreme Court of New South Wales

Chief Justices of the NSW Supreme Court:

• Tom Bathurst (2011–)
• James Spigelman (2001–2009)
• Murray Gleeson (1988–1998)
• Sir Laurence Whistler Street (1974–1988)
• Sir John Kerr (1972–1974)
• Sir Leslie James Herron (1962–1972)
• Dr. H. V. Evatt (1960–1962)
• Sir Kenneth Whistler Street (1950–1960)
• Sir Frederick Richard Jordan (1934–1949)
• Sir William Portus Cullen (1910–1925)

Presidents of the NSW Court of Appeal

• Margaret Beazley (2013–)
• James Allsop (2008–2013)
• Sir Kenneth Jacobs (1972–1974)
• Sir Gordon Wallace, first President of the Court of Appeal (1966–1970)

Judges of the NSW Court of Appeal:

• Carolyn Simpson (2015–)
• Mark Leeming (2013–)
• Arthur Emmett (2013–)
• Clifton Hoeben (2012–)
• Peter Young AO (2009–2012)
• Julie Ward (2008–)
• Robert Macfarlan (2008–)
• Peter McClellan, Judge of Appeal (2005–); Chief Judge in Equity (1986–2001)
• Ruth McColl AO (2003–)
• Kim Santow (2002–2007)

In 1999 legal history was made when Justices Virginia Bell, Margaret Beazley and Carolyn Simpson sat together, forming the first all-female bench in an Australian court. According to the Women Lawyers Association of NSW, there had never been an all-female bench in England or New Zealand.^[2]

Judges of the NSW Supreme Court:

• Peter Garling (2010–)
• Clifton Hoeben (2004–2012)
• Carolyn Simpson (1994–2015)
• Kim Santow (1993–2002)
• Peter Young AO (1985–2001)

Federal Court of Australia

• James Allsop, Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia (4 March 2013–present)
• Peter Jacobson (17 June 2002)
• Nye Perram (8 August 2008)
• Jayne Jagot (3 September 2008)
• Lindsay Foster (4 September 2008)
• David Yates (30 November 2009)
• Michael Wigney^[3] (9 September 2013)
• Jacqueline Gleeson^[4] (15 April 2014)
• Arthur Emmett (1997–2013)

Supreme Court of Western Australia

• Graeme Murphy (3 August 2010)

Solicitors General of Australia

• Sir Robert Garran (1916–1932)
• Sir Anthony Mason (1964–1969)
• Bob Ellicott (1969–1973)
• Sir Maurice Byers (1973–1983)
• David Bennett (1998–2008)
• Justin Gleeson (2013–present)

Other legal professionals

• Marie Beuzeville Byles, the first woman to practise as a lawyer in NSW
• Nicholas Cowdery QC, former NSW Director of Public Prosecutions (1994–2011)
• Ada Emily Evans, the first woman in Australia to graduate with an LL.B. (but not permitted to practise)
• Elizabeth Evatt, former Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia and first Australian to be appointed to the United Nations Human Rights Committee
• Kate O'Regan, Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1994 to 2009
• Geoffrey Robertson QC, former President of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, human rights lawyer, author and joint head of Doughty Street Chambers
• Kim Santow, Justice of Appeal in the New South Wales Supreme Court and former Chancellor of the University of Sydney (2001–2007)
• Mark Tedeschi QC, Senior Crown Prosecutor for New South Wales
• Lucy Turnbull, lawyer and former Lord Mayor of Sydney
• Bret Walker SC, leading silk and former President of the Law Council of Australia

Politics

Business

• James Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank Group
• Rene Rivkin, entrepreneur
• Allan Moss, banker
• John Coates, Vice-President, International Olympic Committee
• David Gallop, Chief Executive, Football Federation Australia

Academia

Academics

• William Gummow
• Dyson Heydon
• Sarah Joseph
• Andrew Leigh
• Ben Saul

Rhodes scholars

24 Rhodes scholars including:^[5]

• Vincent John Flynn (1927)
• David Hargraves Hodgson (1962)
• Geoffrey Robertson (1970)
• Malcolm Turnbull (1978)
• Tony Abbott (1981)

Vinerian Scholars

• Peter Cane^[6][7] (1976), Magdalen College, Oxford
• Andrew Bell^[8] (1993), Magdalen College, Oxford
• Naomi Oreb^[9] (2012), Magdalen College, Oxford

Arts, media, and entertainment

• Richard Ackland AM, journalist and publisher
• Janet Albrechtsen, columnist
• Julia Leigh, writer and film director
• Chas Licciardello, comedian
• David Marr, writer
• Julian Morrow, comedian
• Andrew O'Keefe, entertainer
• Craig Reucassel, comedian
• Peter Weir, film director

Sport

• Nick Farr-Jones, former Wallabies captain

References