High Court of Australia

Court of Appeal (NSW)

Federal Court of Australia

Qualifications

BA
LLB
BEc
LLM
Doctorates (hon)

Appointed by

Paul Keating

Links

Personal home page

High Court speeches page

Qualifications

• BA (1959) University of Sydney

• LLB (1962) University of Sydney

• BEc (1965) University of Sydney

• LLM (First Class Honours) (1967) University of Sydney
  

Honours/Awards

• Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) (1982) for Services to the law

• Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) (1991)

• Centenary Medal (2001) For service to law reform and as a Justice of the High Court of Australia

• Eighteen honorary doctorates, including

  • Doctor of Letters from the University of Newcastle (NSW), the  University of Ulster and James Cook University

  • Doctor of Laws from the University of Melbourne, Macquarie University, the University of Sydney,
    the National Law School University of India, Buckingham University and the Australian National University. 

  • Doctor of the University by the University of South Australia

Relevant work history

Judicial & Commissions

• 1996-2009 - Judge of the High Court of Australia (6 February 1996 - 2 February 2009; appointed by Paul Keating)

• 1995-1996 - President of the Court of Appeal of Solomon Islands

• 1984-1996 - President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal

• 1983-1984 - Judge of the Federal Court of Australia (20 March 1983 - 23 September 1984)

• 1975-1984 - First Chairperson of the Australian Law Reform Commission

• 1975 - Deputy President of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission

Other

• 1984-1993 - Chancellor of Macquarie University in Sydney

• 1988-1992 - Member of the World Health Organisation’s Global Commission on AIDS

• 1995-1998 - President of the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva

• 1993-1996 - UN Special Representative Human Rights in Cambodia

• 1995-2005 - Member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Committee

• 2007-2009 - Member of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Judicial Reference Group

• 2009-2010 - President of the Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators Australia

• 2009-2014 - Board Member, Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration

• 2015-16 - Panel Member, Global Fund’s Equitable Access Panel

• 2015-16 - Panel Member, UN Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on Access to Essential Medicines

• 2017 - Panel Member, UNAIDS/OHCHR’s panel on overreach of criminal law

• 2004 - current - Member of the UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights

  • Commissioner of the UNAIDS Lancet Commission on AIDS to the Right to Health (2013-2014)

• 2009- Editor-in-Chief, The Laws of Australia

• 2018- Co-Chair of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute

• Adjunct/Honorary Visiting Professor at 12 universities

• Barrister and solicitor

Relevant judgments

• Rural Press Limited v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [2003] HCA 75 (11 December 2003)
  Misuse of market power and exclusionary provisions
  Justice Kirby dissented on the issue of misuse of market power - the majority found that there had been no contravention

• Boral Besser Masonry Limited (now Boral Masonry Ltd) v ACCC [2003] HCA 5 (7 February 2003)
  Misuse of market power; predatory pricing
  Justice Kirby dissented - the majority found that there had been no contravention

• News Ltd v South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club Ltd [2003] HCA 45
  Deals with s 45's prohibition of exclusionary provisions in relation to South Sydney's exclusion from the national rugby competition in 2000.

• Melway Publishing Pty Ltd v Robert Hicks Pty Ltd [2001] HCA 13
  Misuse of market power
  Justice Kirby dissented - the majority found that there had been no contravention

Publications

View Michael Kirby’s home page (speeches)