Attorney General Simon Corbell has announced a second acting Supreme Court Justice to sort out our local court:
The appointment today of Acting Justice Mathews to the ACT Supreme Court follows the announcement last week of former New South Wales District Court Judge, John Nield, as an acting judge of the court.
“This is the second of the acting appointments that the Government has committed to funding as part of the 2010-11 Budget, to provide the court with some assistance to reduce the backlog,” Mr Corbell said…
Acting Justice Mathews served as a crown prosecutor before being appointed in 1980 as a Judge of the New South Wales District Court and, in 1987, a Judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court.
In 1994 Justice Mathews was appointed to the Federal Court and was also the President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and Deputy President of the Native Title Tribunal (1994 -1999).
Acting Justice Mathews founded the Australian Association of Women Judges and between 2004 and 2006 was President of the International Association of Women Judges. In 2007 she was made Patron of the Women Lawyers Association of NSW.
Acting Justice Mathews has also held numerous other positions including President of the Arts Law Centre of Australia.
It would be nice to know that these legal stars at the end of long careers get a thorough debrief as to their thoughts on the operation of the ACT Supreme Court when they’ve cleared the backlog and depart.