2024 Sir David Williams Lecture: The Hon Susan Kiefel AC KC

2024 Sir David Williams Lecture: Judicial review of discretionary decision-making: differences of a

Location: University of Cambridge

The 2024 Sir David Williams lecture will be given by The Honourable Susan Mary Kiefel AC KC.

The Honourable Susan Mary Kiefel AC KC was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia on 30 January 2017, having served as a Justice of the High Court since 3 September 2007. Ms Kiefel retired from the Court in November 2023, having served approximately seven years as the first female Chief Justice of Australia.

Ms Kiefel was born in Cairns, Queensland, Australia in 1954. She was educated in Queensland and at the University of Cambridge, where she received a Master of Law. She was awarded the CJ Hamson Prize for Comparative Law and the Jennings Prize. Having been admitted to the Queensland Bar in 1975, Ms Kiefel in 1987 became the first woman in Queensland to be appointed Queen’s Counsel. She became a Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1993, and a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia in 1994. For four years (2003-2007) Ms Kiefel served as a part-time Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission. She also held a commission as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island from 2004. She was for many years a member of and later chaired the Key Centre for Ethics, Law and Governance at Griffith University.

In 2011, Ms Kiefel was awarded the Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia for eminent service to the law, judiciary law reform and legal education in the areas of ethics, justice and governance.

Ms Kiefel is a Life Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, and a Life Member of the Bar Association of Queensland. In 2008, she was made an Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge and a Doctor of the Griffith University. In 2009, Ms Kiefel was made a Doctor of Laws honoris causa by the University of Queensland, and in 2018 was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Adelaide. In 2019, Ms Kiefel received the awards of Doctor of the University from both the Queensland University of Technology and the University of the Sunshine Coast. Among other associations, Ms Kiefel is a titular member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn. In 2023, Ms Kiefel was awarded life membership of the Australian Bar Association.

Ms Kiefel is the Queensland recipient of the 2024 Australian Awards for Excellence in Women’s Leadership.

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

Host or Publisher Centre for Public Law, UofC