Lives and times of the judges

Anthony Besanko KC, Judge 2006-2024

Anthony Besanko was born in South Australia in 1954 and educated at St Ignatius College, Adelaide and the University of Adelaide. He won multiple prizes at the University and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class honours) in 1976.

He was admitted to practice in 1978 and joined the firm of Ward and Partners. In 1984 he was called to the South Australian Bar where he practiced until his appointment to the Supreme Court of South Australia. His main areas of practice were commercial and company law.

He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1994. During his time at the bar he was a Member of the South Australian Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Tribunal and its Presiding Member between 1998-2001. In 2000–2001 he was President of the SA Bar Association and in 2001 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of South Australia. In 2006 he was made a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, a position he held until 2024. Between 2013 and 2024 he was a judge and later Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island. He also served on the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. In January 2025 he was appointed an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court.

(Interview February 2026)

Michael Laurence Barker KC, Judge 2009-2019

Michael Barker was born in Pinjarra, Western Australia and studied law at the University of Western Australia. He was admitted to practice in 1973 and co-founded a firm of solicitors, Barker and Allen, before heading to Canada in 1978, for further study.

After gaining an LLM from York University, Toronto in environmental and planning law, he returned to Australia and taught at the Australia National University in Canberra between 1981–1985.

Justice Barker then returned to practice first as a solicitor and partner in a national law firm and then from 1991, as a barrister with a broad civil law practice and positions including chair of WA Town Planning Appeals Tribunal, 1990–1994 and Counsel assisting WA Royal Commission into commercial activities of the Government “WA INC” between 1991–1992. In 1996 he took silk and between 1996–1998 was Convenor of the Environmental Defenders’ Office of WA.

In 2002 Justice Barker was made a Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and in 2005 was appointed as inaugural president of the State Administrative Tribunal, which he helped set up.

In 2009 he was made a judge of the Federal Court, a position he held until 2019.

In a career that has encompassed many areas of law he is perhaps best known for his significant contribution to, and strong interest in Native Title.

Since retirement he has focussed on a new career, as founder and editor of the Fremantle Shipping News.

(Interview December 2025)

Susan Kiefel AC KC, Judge 1994–2007

Susan Kiefel was born in Cairns in 1954 and, on leaving school at 15, trained as a secretary. In 1973 she enrolled in the Barristers Admission Board course, passing with honours. She was admitted to the Queensland Bar in 1975 and in 1984 completed a Master of Laws (LLM) at the University of Cambridge in the UK, where she was awarded the C.J. Hamson Prize in Comparative Law and the Jennings Prize.

In 1987 Susan Kiefel was the first woman in Queensland to be appointed Queen’s Counsel and was appointed to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission in 1989.

In 1993 she was invited to join the Supreme Court of Queensland and in 1994 was appointed as a judge of the Federal Court, a position she held until 2007.

Between 2003–2007 Susan Kiefel  served as a part-time Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission, and also held a commission as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island between 2004 and 2007.

In that year she was appointed a judge on the High Court of Australia, and in 2017, became its 13th Chief Justice of Australia, the first woman to hold that position. She retired in 2023.

(Interview March 2026)

Raymond Finkelstein AO KC, Judge 1997–2011

Raymond Finkelstein was born in Munich, Germany, in 1946 and came with his family to Melbourne, Australia in 1951.

He studied at Elwood High School and Monash University, where he completed a Bachelor of Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Laws. After teaching at Monash University between 1974 and 1975, he began practicing as a barrister in1975, specialising in equity, commercial and corporations law.

In 1986 he took silk and in 1992 served for one year as Acting Solicitor-General of Victoria.

Ray Finkelstein was appointed to the Federal Court in 1997. During his 14 years on the bench he also held appointments as Deputy President and President of the Australian Competition Tribunal and Deputy President of the Copyright Tribunal.

In 2011/2012 he headed the Independent Media Inquiry into Australia’s Media Regulatory Framework, known as the Finkelstein Inquiry.

(Interview September 2025)

Jeffrey Spender KC, Judge 1984 – 2010.  

Jeffrey Spender was born in Brisbane, Queensland in 1941 and after taking a BA in science with Honours in mathematics from the University of Queensland, he went on to study law, joining the Queensland Bar in 1967.

He completed a Master of Laws at the University of London in 1972, and, returning to Australia, was leader of the Queensland criminal bar before branching into other areas of the law.

Jeffrey Spender took silk in 1983 and was appointed to the Federal Court in 1984, sitting for 26 years and serving as Acting Chief Justice on several occasions.

He was also a Judge of the Industrial Relations Court of Australia, a presidential member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and acted as an Additional Judge of the Supreme Court of the ACT.

In 2001 he was appointed as a Member of the Court of Appeal in the Kingdom of Tonga.

(Interview May 2025)

Dr Annabelle Bennett, AC SC, Judge 2003 – 2016.  Dr Bennett was born in Sydney in 1950.

Following an early interest in sciences, with a degree in science and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Sydney, Dr Bennett took a degree in law at the University of New South Wales. She joined the bar in 1980 where she developed a speciality in intellectual property. In 1994 she took silk and in 2003, was appointed to the Federal Court.

During her 13 years on the bench, Dr Bennett also served as an additional judge of the Supreme Court of the ACT, a presidential member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and president of the Copyright Tribunal. Her international appointments included being inaugural Chair of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Advisory Group of Judges.

Dr Bennett's activities since leaving the Federal Court in 2016 include an eight-year stint as chancellor of Bond University and serving as an Arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. (Interview April 2025)

Susan Kenny AM KC, Judge 1998 –2023  Susan Kenny was born in Oxford in 1953 and grew up in England, in the USA and in Melbourne, completing her schooling at Methodist Ladies’ College.

She graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws, winning the Dwight’s prize for History and sharing the Supreme Court Prize for Law.

After a career at the bar, in 1985 she moved back to England and completed a doctorate at the University of Oxford in constitutional law in 1988.

Returning to the Victorian Bar, Susan Kenny took silk in 1996.

In 1997 Susan Kenny was invited to join the Supreme Court of Victoria, Court of Appeal, the first woman to be appointed. In 1998 she was invited to join the Federal Court and remained for more than 25 years, retiring at the end of 2023. Whilst in that role, she also served as Chairperson of the Australian Electoral Commission between 2020 and 2025 and on retirement from the Federal Court, re-joined the Supreme Court of Victoria as a Reserve Judge.  (Interviewed May 2025)

John Mansfield AM KC, Judge 1996 –2016  John Mansfield was born in South Australia in 1946 and was educated at Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide and the University of Adelaide, where he graduated with Honours in law. He was admitted to practice in 1969 and was appointed Queen's Counsel for South Australia in 1985 and for the Northern Territory in 1988.

Justice Mansfield joined the Federal Court in 1996 and was also an additional Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.

He has served as President of the South Australian Law Society, President of the Law Council of Australia and Chairman of the Legal Aid Committee for the Law Council of Australia. (Interviewed April 2025)

Catherine Branson AC KC, Judge 1994-2008
Catherine Branson was born in South Australia and grew up on a wheat and sheep property near Hallett. She was educated at Presbyterian Girls' College and the University of Adelaide, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (1970) and a Bachelor of Arts (1977).

Catherine Branson worked in private practice before moving to the Crown Solicitors' Office in 1978. She was appointed Crown Solicitor of South Australia in 1984, a position she held until 1989, the first woman to be appointed to this role in Australia. She was also, at the same time, CEO of the South Australian Attorney-General's Department, the first woman to hold the position of permanent head of a South Australian government department.

In 1989 she began practising as a barrister and took silk in 1992.

In 1994 Catherine Branson was made a judge of the Federal Court, a position she held until 2008. Between 2008-2012 she was President of the Australian Human Rights Commission and in 2020 was appointed Chancellor of the University of Adelaide.
(Interviewed November 2024)

Patrick Keane, Chief Justice 2010-2013
Patrick Anthony Keane was born in Brisbane in 1952 and educated at St Columba's Convent School and St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace.

After graduation from the University of Queensland in 1976, where he was awarded the University Medal, Keane furthered his education at the University of Oxford, where he read for a Bachelor of Civil Law and was awarded the Vinerian Scholarship.

He was admitted to the Queensland Bar in 1977 and in 1988 he was appointed Queen's Counsel. He was Solicitor-General for Queensland from 1992 to 2005 and then served as a judge of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Queensland from 2005-2010.

In March 2010 he took on the role of Chief Justice of the Federal Court a position he held until February 2013, when he joined the High Court as a judge, a position he held until retirement in October 2022. Since 2023 he has sat as a non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.   (Interviewed June 2024)

Robert French, Judge 1986-2008
Robert French was born in Perth in 1947 and educated at St Louis School (now John XXIII College). He graduated from the  University of Western Australia with a degree in physics in 1968 and then  completed a Bachelor of Laws, graduating in 1971. In 1969 he unsuccessfully  contested the seat of Fremantle for the Liberal Party.

He was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1972 and was appointed to the Federal Court in 1986 aged 39. During that time,  Robert French was also chair and first president of the National Native Title Tribunal. In 2008 he became Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, retiring in 2017. He has been an overseas non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal since 2017 and in that year was also appointed Chancellor of the University of Western Australia.   (Interviewed April 2024)

James Allsop
Chief Justice 2013-2023
Judge of the Federal Court 2001-2008
James Allsop was born in Sydney in 1953 and educated at Sydney Grammar School. He graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in 1974 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1980, winning the University Medal in law in that year.

James Allsop was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1981; he was appointed Senior Counsel in New South Wales in 1994 and as Queen’s Counsel in Western Australia from 1998.

In 2001 he was appointed to the Federal Court and served on the bench until 2008, when he became President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal. In 2013 he was appointed as the Federal Court’s fourth Chief Justice, succeeding the Honourable Patrick Keane AC KC. He held this position until 2023, when he was succeeded by The Honourable Debra Mortimer.   (Interviewed March 2024)

Michael Black, Chief Justice 1991-2010
Michael Black was born in Egypt in 1940, where his father was serving in the RAF. He was educated in Egypt, England and at Wesley College, Melbourne. He graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws in 1963 and commenced practice at the Victorian Bar in 1964. He was appointed Queen’s Council for Victoria in 1980 and Tasmania in 1984. He was the Federal Court’s second Chief Justice, between 1991 and 2010, succeeding the court’s first Chief Justice, Sir Nigel Bowen AC KBE QC, who served between 1976 and 1990.   (Interviewed November 2023)

William Gummow, Judge 1986-1995
William Gummow  was born in Sydney in 1942 and was educated at Sydney Grammar School. He graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Laws and spent ten years as a solicitor before being admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1976. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1986 and in the same year was appointed to the Federal Court. In 1995 he was appointed to the High Court of Australia and after retirement, in 2012, he was appointed to the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong as a non-permanent judge from other common law jurisdictions. In parallel with his legal career, he taught law at the University of Sydney for 30 years and was the co-author, with RP Meagher and JRF Lehane, of the first three editions of Equity, Doctrines and Remedies (Butterworths).  (Interviewed January 2024)