Plunkett Lecture 2021: The Honourable Justice Jacqueline Gleeson – Dignity in the time of John Hubert Plunkett

17/08/2021

The Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History is pleased to invite registrations for the Tenth Annual Plunkett Lecture:

Dignity in the time of John Hubert Plunkett

• Chair: The NSW Attorney General, The Hon Mark Speakman SC MP

• Lecturer: The Hon Justice Jacqueline Gleeson, High Court of Australia

• Date and time: Thursday 19 August 2021 from 5:15 – 6:15 pm.

• The session will take place online via webinar.

• Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_AynZHwRqTPmIhk5tsDEkbw

About the Lecture: The J.H. Plunkett Lecture is an annual Lecture to honour the memory of one of the State’s pivotal Attorneys General. John Hubert Plunkett (1802-1869) arrived in NSW, from Ireland, in 1832. For more than 30 years thereafter he made a major contribution to colonial law and society, serving, inter alia, as Solicitor General and Attorney General. In 1835 he published The Australian Magistrate, the first Australian legal practice book. He was the first Australian lawyer to be granted a commission as Queen’s Counsel. He led Roger Therry, another Irish-born barrister, in the conduct of the Myall Creek Murder trials.

The Lecturer: Justice Gleeson was appointed to the High Court of Australia in March 2021. At the time of her appointment, she was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, having been appointed to that position in April 2014. She has Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws degrees from the University of Sydney. She was admitted as a solicitor in 1989 and practised as an employed solicitor at Bush Burke & Company in Sydney from 1990 to mid-1991. She then practised as a barrister from mid-1991, leaving the Bar at the end of 2000. From 2001 to 2003, she was General Counsel at the Australian Broadcasting Authority. From 2004 to 2006, she was a Senior Executive Lawyer with the Australian Government Solicitor. She returned to the Bar in 2007 and was made Senior Counsel in 2012.

We are honoured that the Attorney General will chair the 2021 Lecture. The Attorney General delivered the Seventh Annual Plunkett Lecture in 2018, ‘The Royal Prerogative of Mercy’ and chaired the 2017 Plunkett Lecture, ‘John Hubert Plunkett QC and the Myall Creek murder trials’ delivered by Mark Tedeschi AM QC and the 2020 Plunkett Lecture, ‘John Hubert Plunkett: An Irish Lawyer in Australia’ delivered by Dr John McLaughlin AM.

Queries about the lecture may be directed to membership@forbessociety.org.au. Alternatively you may contact the Secretary: Simon Chapple secretary@forbessociety.org.au or Treasurer: Carol Webster SC treasurer@forbessociety.org.au.