History made as Tasmanian judge Robert Beech-Jones appointed to bench of Australia’s highest court
History has been made with the appointment of a Tasmanian-born judge to the High Court of Australia. Find out more about them.
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History has been made with the appointment of a Tasmanian-born judge to the High Court of Australia.
Last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced that Justice Robert Beech-Jones had been appointed the 57th justice of the High Court.
His appointment came as the upcoming retirement of Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC, who will be replaced by Justice Stephen Gageler AC, leaves a position open on the seven-spot judiciary.
Justice Beech-Jones will begin his role in the High Court – Australia’s highest court and the ultimate Court of Appeal - on November 6.
Born in Tasmania as the youngest of four boys, Justice Beech-Jones grew up in the small mining town of Savage River, on the North-West Coast.
He attended Wynyard High School and Hellyer Matriculation College before winning a scholarship to study law and science at the Australian National University in Canberra.
Justice Beech-Jones, who currently sits on the Supreme Court of New South Wales bench, has had an illustrious legal career since being admitted to the bar in 1992.
He acted for former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib, when he sued the federal government, and also acted for Christina Rich in one of the biggest sexual harassment cases in Australian history.
Justice Beech-Jones, before becoming a judge, also acted repeatedly for the Australian Securities Investments Commission, acted in the trial against the former directors of James Harie, was counsel assisting the royal commission into the collapse of HIH Insurance, and was appointed as a silk in 2006.
In 2021, Justice Beech-Jones was appointed Chief Judge of the Common Law Division of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and a Judge of Appeal.
Justice Beech-Jones is married to acclaimed playwright and lawyer Suzie Miller.
“Justice Beech-Jones is a renowned jurist who will bring a very wide breadth of experience to Australia’s apex court,” Victorian bar president Sam Hay KC said of the appointment.
Previously, Ballarat-born but Tasmanian-education Douglas Menzies was appointed to the High Court bench in 1958.
Sir Menzies was educated at Hobart High School and Devonport High School before studying law at the University of Melbourne.
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