October 17, 2014

Students treated to masterclass from Michael Kirby

Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby delivered a masterclass in statutory interpretation to a lucky group of UOW law students on 14 October.

Statutes have become the dominant form of law in Australia in recent years and there is a growing push from members of the legal profession to have statutory interpretation taught as a stand-alone subject in law schools.

Mr Kirby was enthusiastic to visit UOW’s law students and congratulated them on taking steps towards addressing this problem.

He told students studying the new UOW law subject, Interpreting Legal Texts, that statutory interpretation is “an art which belongs significantly to lawyers who have the responsibility to work out what the words mean”, explaining that “the challenge of interpretation is the playing of mind games with words”, and overall “statutory interpretation is fun!”.

It appeared students couldn’t disagree throughout the engaging 1.5 hour seminar where Mr Kirby chatted with them, giving them a special opportunity to discuss their thoughts on a statutory interpretation case on which he deliberated during his time on the High Court of Australia.

At the end of the seminar, Mr Kirby generously awarded a prize to the student with the best question -- Adam Friend was excited to receive a personally signed copy of a text on statutory interpretation, which will no doubt be a treasured reminder of the time Mr Kirby spent with the students.

Mr Kirby was Australia’s longest serving judge when he retired from the High Court of Australia in 2009. He is renowned for his commitment to social justice and for inspirational judgments over 35 years on three courts and an Arbitration Commission.

Mr Kirby with (from left) lecturer Karina Murray, student Adam Friend, who was awarded a prize for the best question, and Dean of Law Professor Warwick Gullett.

He has also served on a number of high-profile international boards – from the UN Special Representative Human Rights in Cambodia to the World Health Organisation’s Global Commission on AIDS. In 2013 the UN Human Rights Council appointed Mr Kirby to lead a landmark inquiry into human rights abuses in North Korea.