Dyson Heydon loses his silk’s licence

Former High Court judge Dyson Heydon has lost his practising certificate as a barrister.

Former High Court judge Dyson Heydon. Picture: AAP

Former High Court judge Dyson Heydon has lost his practising certificate as a barrister and faces a police investigation into alle­gations he sexually harassed six female associates during his ­decade on the bench.

The NSW Bar Association said on Wednesday Mr Heydon could no longer provide legal services as a barrister because his practising certificate was not ­renewed before its expiry on June 30.

The non-­renewal, which could signal the end of Mr Heydon’s legal career, 47 years after he was admitted to the NSW Bar, came as ACT Policing’s chief officer, Neil Gaughan, said an investigation into allegations against the former judge had started.

Mr Gaughan said police had made contact with the High Court about the matter, and inquiries could involve the national arm of the Australian Federal Police if there were any possible allegations of assault that came from legal jurisdictions outside the nation’s capital territory.

ACT Policing is the local arm of the AFP within the national capital’s borders.

Confirmation police were looking into allegations against Mr Heydon follows a request by ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold for the AFP to investigate Mr Heydon in the wake of a High Court-­ordered report’s findings last week — accepted without qualification by Chief Justice Susan Kiefel — that he had sexually harassed six women associates.

Nine newspapers have reported allegations from other female lawyers, including the former president of the ACT Law Society, Noor Blumer, who claimed Mr Heydon was “feeling up the side of my leg” and had tried to forcibly kiss her during the University of Canberra Ball in April 2013.

Through his solicitors, Mr Heydon has issued a “categorical denial” of allegations against him. His solicitors say if conduct caused offence, the result was “inadvertent and unintended”.

Mr Gaughan said on ABC radio that police inquiries in Canberra were under way.

“We’ll look into it very thoroughly … in a very forceful way, but in a very respectful way to the people who have been subject to the (alleged) harassment,” he said.

The ACT police chief said he was also consulting with the ­national arm of the AFP “because there’s a possibility if there has been any assault or anything like that — and, again, it’s a possibility, no claims have been made at this stage — it could be other jurisdictions outside the ACT”.

The Bar Association did not comment on whether Mr Heydon declined to have his barrister’s certificate renewed or whether the association acted on its own volition to delist him.

Mr Heydon’s name was removed last week from the website of his Sydney chambers, Eight Selborne, where he had practised as a barrister since 2013 when he retired from the High Court at the mandatory age of 70.

The High Court has launched its own wider investigation into how far sexual harassment might have extended in its ranks.