Victorian DPP Kerri Judd’s appointment as Supreme Court judge triggers alarm

Kerri Judd’s appointment to the Victorian Supreme Court bench has been celebrated by senior legal minds, the state opposition and staunch critics, who hope the appeals process will hold her accountable.

Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd KC has been elevated to the Supreme Court

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Director of Public Prosecutions Kerri Judd’s appointment to the Victorian Supreme Court bench has been celebrated by senior legal minds, the state opposition and staunch critics who see it as an opportunity for “fresh leadership” in the besieged prosecutions office.

Legal sources have said while it is concerning that the chief prosecutor – who has lodged official complaints against two judges – will join the judiciary, they hope the appeals process will hold her accountable, and look forward to a new chapter for the Victorian Office of Public Prosecutions.

Ms Judd alerted staff to her new role in a note, saying her eight years in the Office of Public Prosecutions were “challenging” but a “true honour and privilege”.

“Appearing for and advising the Crown, whether as a solicitor, Crown Prosecutor, or member of the private Bar, is challenging – it demands much of us. And assisting victims and witnesses of crime as they navigate the intricacies, twists and contradictions of our imperfect justice system is likewise no easy feat,” she wrote.

“None of these timeless truths could be otherwise. Because though much has changed in recent years, there’s rightly no relief from the weight of public expectation that justice, through the vehicle of our office, must prevail within the confines of which we work.”

Victorian silk Gavin Silbert KC, a former chief Crown prosecutor who has been a regular critic of Ms Judd, told The Australian he wasn’t surprised by the appointment. “In the Supreme Court at least there are appeals and things can be fixed there,” he said.

Ms Judd’s tenure is marred by her refusal to prosecute Victorian Police officers and Nicola Gobbo over the Lawyer X scandal, despite the wishes of former High Court judge Geoffrey Nettle, who had been appointed to run the Office of Special Investigator to consider criminal charges and was adamant Ms Judd pull the trigger. She was further scrutinised for her prosecution of Cardinal George Pell, whose historical child sexual abuse conviction was thrown out by the High Court in a 7-0 single judgment.

Geoffrey Nettle

In a speech at the Sydney Institute in January, priest and lawyer Frank Brennan described the Pell case as “nothing more than an appalling sting operation”, while Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher said Pell had been “a soldier for Christ in the culture wars” and a “martyr of the corrupt Victorian legal system”.

Victorian opposition legal affairs spokesman Michael O’Brien said Ms Judd’s office had “weathered a number of significant controversies” under her leadership. “These include the failure to lay charges over the Lawyer X scandal and the George Pell miscarriage of justice,” he said.

He added that appointing chief Crown prosecutor Brendan Kissane to Ms Judd’s role “offers the opportunity for fresh leadership for an office which is critical to the Victorian justice system”.

In her note to staff, Ms Judd particularly thanked those who experienced “public scrutiny” in the wake of complaints she made against Supreme Court judge Lex Lasry and County Court judge Geoff Chettle to the Victorian Judicial Commission.

The Australian in February exclusively revealed Ms Judd had taken action against Justice Chettle over a pre-trial ruling he made in a rape case. The circumstances of her complaint were similar to those that triggered her report against Justice Lasry, who sensationally quit in open court after he became aware of her grievances.

He had ordered a permanent stay of charges against a trucking company boss relating to the Eastern Freeway tragedy that claimed the lives of four police officers.

The veteran judge was highly critical of prosecutors after they abruptly abandoned manslaughter charges. The Court of Appeal overturned Justice Lasry’s decision and when he resigned in open court on February 14 he said he accepted the court’s ruling.

Lex Lasry

Justice Lasry revealed Ms Judd had lodged the complaint in which she claimed comments he made in staying the criminal trial had the “tendency to ­diminish public confidence in the administration of justice in ­Victoria”.

In her departure letter, Ms Judd celebrated the “progress” made in the legal profession in recent years, and said she hoped she had helped make the OPP “a uniquely inclusive and welcoming workplace for all”.

“You need only look to the more than one in two graduating lawyers nowadays who are women, or the many women barristers, law partners, judicial officers, and early travellers before them, who show reality isn’t so easily pressed into service of such narratives,” she said. “Indeed, you need only familiarise yourself with ‘my own unlikely journey’ as a graduate of Croydon High School to a graduate of Melbourne Law School, to becoming the first woman appointed Director of Public Prosecutions in Victoria, and now a Justice of the Supreme Court, to comprehend the promise of change.”

Mr Kissane, who will replace Ms Judd, said this was a “significant achievement in an already eminent career”.

“Her appointment represents a wonderful gain for the bench and public confidence in the administration of justice, although a corresponding loss for our office, which will be keenly felt,” he said.

Solicitor for Public Prosecutions Abbey Hogan also congratulated Ms Judd, saying she expects Ms Judd “will apply herself with the same formidable intellect, integrity, down-to-Earth civility and capacity for hard work for which she is known”.