Swearing-in of Devereaux SC DCJ and McGinness DCJ

The Chief Judge

On behalf of all the Judges I most warmly welcome Judge Devereaux and Judge McGinness to the District Court of Queensland and congratulate them on their appointments, and in welcoming all present here this afternoon.  I acknowledge the honour of the presence of the Chief Justice, the Attorney-General, other Judges of the Supreme Court, Judges of the Federal Court, the former Chief Judge Pat Shanahan, the Chief Magistrate and members of other Courts and Tribunals.

The Judges also note with pleasure the presence of the Acting Director-General of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, Ms Rachel Hunter, and her Deputy and other officers.

Many of our colleagues are away on circuit or not within the jurisdiction and very much regret their inability to be present here this afternoon.  All of them have stressed they wish particularly to be associated with what I am about to say.

The appointments to the District Court of his Honour Judge Devereaux SC and her Honour Judge McGinness are most welcome.  Judge Devereaux fills a vacancy arising in our ranks from the retirement in May of his Honour Judge Howell, and Judge McGinness’ appointment is timely in view of Judge Forde’s impending retirement with his formally leaving us next month.

We most warmly welcome Judge Devereaux back home, as it were, as he was an Acting Judge of this Court for four months last year.  His fine legal intellect and wealth of experience as a successful barrister and silk are textbook qualifications for appointment to this Court.  He was educated at Marcellin College, Enoggera and holds degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Queensland.  Upon his admission to the Bar in 1988 he practiced at the private Bar for 12 years before undertaking a four-year stint with the West Australian Aboriginal Legal Service.  On returning to Queensland he was appointed the Public Defender and has discharged since then the onerous duties of that office with great skill and élan.  Judge Devereaux took silk in 2005 and, as I said, all in all a textbook appointment to this Court.

Judge McGinness, too, is so very highly regarded by the Judges and the profession, and her appointment is also one in which not only the profession but the community at large may have the utmost confidence.  She was educated at All Hallows Convent and also holds degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Queensland and was admitted to the Bar in 1994.  Judge McGinness first practiced at in-house counsel at Legal Aid Queensland, rising to Acting Public Defender in 1997 before her appointment in 1998 as a principal legal officer with the Commonwealth Director of Prosecutions.

She then practiced at the private bar for five years until her appointment to the Magistrates Court in 2005 from when she has agreed to join us.  Her Honour brings to the District Court a wealth of experience and wisdom from which the people of Queensland will most certainly benefit.

Clearly, then, these appointments to this court are those in which the Judges and the community and the legal profession can be most grateful and most confident.

We wish them well as they join us in the discharge of this great public responsibility.

The Attorney-General

May it please the Court.  I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land where we meet and pay my respects to their Elders, both past and present.

I also recognised the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, Chief Justice of Queensland, your Honour the Chief Judge Patsy Wolfe, the Chief Magistrate Judge Brendan Butler, and all of the distinguished members of the Queensland and Commonwealth judiciaries present in Court this afternoon.

I am very pleased to be able to represent the government and the people of Queensland at this important ceremony today to welcome your Honour Judge Devereaux SC and your Honour Judge McGinness as Judges of the District Court of Queensland.

Your Honour Judge Devereaux joins the District Court following a distinguished career in the law and in public service, more broadly.  You commenced your legal career in Queensland as an interviewing officer with the Public Defender’s Office after you completed your Law and Arts degrees at the University of Queensland in 1985.  Today you come to this Bench from the position of Public Defender within Legal Aid Queensland.  After your Honour was called to the Bar in 1988 you had a wide practice, including criminal, commercial, civil and bankruptcy matters.  Your Honour then decided to work further afield as counsel in the office of the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia.  Thankfully, good sense prevailed and you returned to Queensland.

Since 1998, you’ve represented and provided legal counsel to Queenslanders through Legal Aid Queensland.  Your Honour’s skill as an advocate and your legal knowledge, integrity and honesty were recognised by the Chief Justice when in 2005 you took Silk.

You have contributed greatly to the legal profession and to the development of the law in our State through your many appearances in appellate matters, including notable appearances in the High Court of Australia.

Your Honour’s commitment to the development of the legal profession has been demonstrated through your work as an instructor in advocacy skills, in association with the Queensland University of Technology and the Australian Advocacy Institute.

Most admirably, you have also, throughout your career, taken time to provide guidance and leadership to other legal practitioners, particularly those more junior to you.

I acknowledge the importance of this day to your wife, Jacqueline and to your sons, to your parents, your siblings and to your extended family who should feel rightly proud of your significant achievements.

Your Honour Judge McGinness is new to the Bench of the District Court, but you are no newcomer to judicial life in this State, having served as a Queensland Magistrate since 2005.  Much of your Honour’s professional life was spent in the Public Defender’s Office and then Legal Aid Queensland.

You worked at Legal Aid for 13 years, both before and after your call to the Bar in 1988.  Your Honour commenced your legal career as a legal clerk while you completed your Bachelor of Law degree at the University of Queensland.

During your legal career, your Honour also worked as the principal legal officer in the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in 1998 and 1999, before returning to Legal Aid Queensland as in-house Court of Appeal counsel.

You subsequently commenced work at the private Bar where you practiced for a period of five years, predominantly in the field of criminal litigation.  In 2005 you were appointed to the Magistrates Court working principally in Cairns and the Far North of our State.

The wealth of experience you gained from your frequent circuits as a Magistrate to Cape York and the Islands of the Torres Strait, will prove invaluable in the District Court.  Your Honour has also contributed to the wider legal life of the State through your participation in a number of activities.

You participated in the taskforce on Women and the Criminal Law, a substantial review of the Criminal Code and other laws in Queensland and their effect on women.  Your Honour has also assisted law students as a volunteer instructor at the Bar Practice Course, and more recently in moot competitions at James Cook University and at secondary schools in Cairns.

Your Honour was a member of the Melbourne Committee that reviewed the Jury Act and you have helped mentor women practitioners at Legal Aid Queensland.  Your Honour has also spent much time as a Magistrate in the Drug Court and the Childrens Court and I understand you have found the administration of therapeutic jurisprudence an exciting field.

I also wish to acknowledge your husband, Andrew, your parents Garth and Judith, and other family members, Naomi, Nick, Mary-Jane, Rose, Amelia and Alice who are all present here today; who will also be very proud of your achievements.

As you join the ranks of the District Court, I know your experience will be welcome by other Judges and practitioners and I have every confidence you will continue to make a meaningful contribution to the judicial life of our State.

To commit to judicial service is to commit to public service and these Courts, the full power of the State may be brought to bear on the citizen, the mighty and the meek all being equal before the law.  There is, accordingly, no place for bombast or pride in the exercise of judicial office.

Your Honours will distinguish yourselves, not only through your dedication, your determination and your sheer hard work, but I am confident that your Honours will exercise your great duties and responsibilities with dignity, humility and respect.

In conclusion, I wish to acknowledge once again that your Honours are representative of the calibre of those lawyers who have trained in and have devoted their professional legal careers to public legal agencies in this State.  May your past and your future public service remain an example to other lawyers in Queensland.  May it please the Court.

The President, Bar Association of Queensland

May it please the Court.  It is my privilege, on behalf of the Bar to welcome your Honours Judge Devereaux and Judge McGinness as the newest Judges of the District Courts of Queensland and to congratulate each of you on this appointment.

The Court is an important one; one whose significance to the people of this State will only increase.  The Bar has confidence in both of your Honours qualifications for appointment.  Although you will also master the necessary aspects of civil litigation, the broad and long experience each of your Honours has in the criminal jurisdiction, means that these appointments sensibly reflect the extent to which the Court’s role in that field is so vital.

Given both your backgrounds, it could be argued that these appointments should trigger an obligation on the part of Legal Aid Queensland to give notice of whether it intends to mount a full takeover of the Court.  But Legal Aid plays a critical function in the State’s system of administration of justice and your Honours appointments properly recognise this, and the fact that when men and women of talent rise through that office, they can expect to be considered for judicial office.

Your Honour Judge Devereaux, temperament can sound like a superficial thing, but in a Court where an essential ingredient of a successful trial is so often that all parties leave the Courtroom satisfied that they have had a fair hearing, that they have received a fair trial, it is a quality of real substance.

Those who know you well describe you as “gentle, courteous, fair and understated.”  They all rushed to qualify this by saying that these qualities should not be confused with any laxness of approach.  I asked each of them whether you were an example, a true example of an iron fist in a velvet glove and independently all again were unanimous.  Their response was that they thought so, but couldn’t be sure as they had never seen you have to resort to peeling the glove off. 

It seems to me that this demonstrates that your Honour’s temperament is ideally suited to this new role.  When one combines this with your Honour’s experience in the criminal jurisdiction, including your intimate understanding of the complexities that can be added by an accused being represented by Legal Aid, the reason for the Bar’s confidence in your Honour’s appointment becomes obvious.

I would also like to thank your Honour for the time and effort that you spent as a Member of the Association’s Bar Council.  It’s important to us to include, and benefit from the views of the Legal Aid Office, and your Honour’s work permitted this.

Your Honour Judge McGinness. Your Honour has been a Magistrate in Cairns for some time now.  There are some who are disturbed by the appointment of Magistrates to Higher Courts.  They see it as inimical to the independence of the judiciary.  I would submit that this underestimates the professionalism of modern Magistrates who understand that it would be a true betrayal of their Oath to jostle for promotion.

It’s remarkable, despite the currency of this criticism today, that the response to the announcement of your Honour’s impending appointment, has been unanimously and overwhelmingly supportive.  This, it seems to me, is an extension of the Bar’s reaction upon learning that you had accepted the offer of an appointment to the Magistrates Court. Without in any way at all wanting to slight, or be seen to pay a slight to this important Court, our reaction to your acceptance of such an appointment was one of puzzlement.  We had looked forward to you taking Silk shortly after the time of your appointment and taking your place as one of the Bar’s leaders.  Instead, you spurned us and chose the path of public duty.

When it is put like this we see that there is no basis whatsoever for criticising your Honour’s decision.  This devotion to public duty manifests itself in an energetic, and from what I have seen, deeply rooted enthusiasm for the proper working of the criminal justice system from which the Court, and those who come before it, can only benefit.

This, together with the intellect, legal skills and experience others have mentioned, surely makes your Honour a perfect candidate for the honour of appointment to this Court.

In a slightly similar way, both of your Honours can be expected to change the public perception of the Court.  I understand that your Honour Judge Devereaux is an accomplished minstrel, devoted to emulating the works of that famous, if slightly melancholy bard, Leonard Cohen, and that through your public performances, you too, have gained great fame.

You will probably be immediately at home in this Court where other fans of the bard lurk.  If ever you forget any lyric, and I mean absolutely any lyric at all, your Honour, I suggest that you knock on Judge Wilson’s door.  His Honour knows all of them off by heart.

Your Honour Judge McGinness will readily understand that as the representative of the Bar, I naturally eschew placing importance on appearances.  We deal only in matters of substance at the Bar Council.  Having said this, more than one of those I have consulted about the details of your Honour’s career have quite independently volunteered that with your appointment, the Court will attain its Grace Kelly so I feel I should pass this comment on. 

Experience, intellect, temperament, devotion to duty, fame and glamour; it seems we should congratulate the government on another two fine appointments to a Court.

Your Honours, we wish you well in your new roles.  In them, you have the full support of the Bar.  May it please the Court.

The President, Queensland Law Society

May it please the Court. Paul de Jersey AC Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland, Chief Judge Patsy Wolfe, Judge Brendan Butler, Chief Magistrate, Retired Chief Judge Pat Shanahan and other distinguished guests.

On behalf of the Solicitors of Queensland, I applaud the selection of their Honours as Judges of the District Court and congratulate them both on their appointment.  If it wasn’t for my learned friend I’d probably venture into the musical score of your Honour Judge Devereaux, but it seems that the Bar has changed the musical bar and taken my thunder.

But it’s – you have so much in common and certainly, your Honour Judge McGinness, you’ve gained substantial experience, an insight of the field while working for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, the Public Defender’s Office, the Legal Aid Office and the private Bar, and also, of course, the Magistracy in Cairns which is not always an easy Court within which to deal.

His Honour’s achievements in the practice of criminal law are also well known at the Legal Aid Queensland and as the public defender and your work was recognised in 2005 by his appointment to Senior Counsel.

Both Judges have been remarkably active in returning the benefits of their experience to this profession.

Her Honour has been a volunteer instructor with the Queensland Bar practice course and a mentor for female professional staff at Legal Aid Queensland as well as junior female members of the Bar.

His Honour contributed a great deal to the Queensland fraternity, particularly the QLS Criminal Law Section from 2001 through to 2007 and has presented CLE seminars and conferences, notably at our 2008 QLS symposium, and the paper was “The Capacity Issues in Criminal Clients”.

I was actually somewhat amazed on one occasion when attending a Family Law conference that your Honour delivered a paper which was really quite refreshing but, indeed, you probably should have been there a few more times. 

And to quote his Honour from a June 2006 Legal Aid magazine you said this:

“Being appointed Senior Counsel is an acknowledgement of being a barrister of quality and a leader within the profession.  What goes with this is an expectation that you will always produce top quality work and behave in an exemplary manner.  It is a lot to give up but I will be working hard to meet these standards and provide outstanding representation for disadvantaged Queenslanders.”

I submit that his Honour’s appointment to the judiciary is acknowledgement that he has delivered on this promise and I have no doubt that he will continue to do so.

Not the least of their Honours shared attributes is a substantial work ethic and I might confidently predict that this will be of great benefit to both the District Court of Queensland and also the people of this State.

To both Judge Devereaux and to Judge McGinness, please accept the good wishes of my branch of the profession in the next stage of your respective careers.  If it may please the Court.

Judge Devereaux SC

Chief Judge, Mr Attorney, Mr Stewart and Mr Berry.  Chief Judge, thank you for the welcome.  It is, in a sense, a welcome back and it feels fine, and I will come back to that later.

Mr Attorney, thank you for your expression of the Government’s confidence in me.  That is implicit in the appointment.  I was here or about three and a half months at the end of last year and so I have some idea of the commitment involved and, as I am likely to say more than once today, I am honoured by the appointment.  Thank you Mr Stewart and Mr Berry for your kind words.

I learned from my time on the Council of the Bar Association and the Criminal Section of the Law Society about just how much time lawyers spend working, not just for their own sakes nor for the sakes of other lawyers, but for the sake of the community generally.

I have seen lawyers who, having worked their day in their practices, sit at meeting into the night preparing educational events for others or preparing submissions to Government on proposed legislation, all of this work generally for the community.  I think sometimes it is not properly recognised that lawyers do spend a lot of time for nothing but for the benefit of the community. 

I also, of course, enjoyed my time at the Bar early in my career.  It is a marvellous existence; and my relationship with solicitors over the years.

I am overwhelmed a little by the number of people here, of course I qualify that, to the extent that you are here for my part of this show.  I appreciate the drawing power that my colleague has.  But I acknowledge and I am honoured by the presence of the Chief Justice and Judges of the Supreme Court, particularly there are some Judges of the Court of Appeal here. 

I will miss appearing in the Court of Appeal.  It was always an honour and nearly always a pleasure to appear in that Court and that is one part of life before now that I will miss.  I guess today with the Court of Appeal I start a whole new relationship.  Lovely people the Court of Appeal.

I come here after spending more than 11 years at Legal Aid Queensland.  Needless to say my time there was rich in opportunity and challenge and reward.  I will especially miss my immediate colleagues in the Council Division of Legal Aid Queensland and in order of the places they sat in the U-shaped chambers we had, that was David Shepherd and Carl Heaton, who are the two Deputy Public Defenders, who I want to especially thank for their incredible hard work and support of me during our time together.  Rob East, Callan Cassidy, Julie Sharp, Catherine Morgan, Catarina Preskalo, Joe Briggs, John McInnes, who is at the moment in our Townsville Branch.  He is replaced by Mark Dickson.  Steve Crofton, Soraya Ryan, Laura Rees, Megan Robbins, Harry Fong and also in Townsville Frank Richards.  There is great talent in that group and I will miss their company and their counsel and their enthusiasm that they bring to each case that they have.  Of course, until the middle of last year Tony Moynihan SC, now DPP, was also part of the group.

Now Legal Aid is a much bigger place than that.  Legal Aid is a place full of capable people, commonly determined to achieve the best possible outcomes for their clients who are some of the most disadvantaged people in Queensland.  It is the quintessential fair go institution.

Twenty-one years ago, almost to today, on the 18th of July 1988, I was admitted as a barrister of this Court in this room.  My whole family was there.  Today not all of my siblings can be here, but some are, and there are partners and children, and there are so many that they are not sitting all over there, they are kind of dotted around the room.  I see them. 

My mother and father are here.  They have taught me more than they know.  They probably do know.  In December they will celebrate their 55th anniversary and that is significant.  It is an example of the fact that I grew up in a completely stable, secure and living family environment. 

And, of course, I have my own family, my darling wife Jacqueline, the central beauty of my beautiful life, who has shared the stress of the hard cases and the difficult situations in the office with me for more than 17 years, and our two spectacular children Cohen and Pip, who make life even more wonderful.

There are also members of my wife’s family here who have given us great encouragement and support and friendship over the years and I want to acknowledge their presence.

Now, I want to talk briefly about oaths and honours.  At the centre of that admission ceremony back in 1988 and at the heart of today’s ceremony is the oath that I have taken and Judge McGinness has taken.  An oath or affirmation is a defining feature of Court proceedings.  Jurors, witnesses, bailiffs, interpreters all give solemn undertakings before they perform their role in a Court  proceeding.  And that is appropriate.  Serious business is transacted.  Decisions are made that affect people’s lives.  And so it is proper that Court proceedings are attended with that degree of solemnity.  And carried out for the most part in public for anyone to come and see and for the media to report on.

As part of that Judges are addressed “your Honour”.  I just want to mention two things about that.  The first is that the form of address highlights the importance of the role as opposed to the person in the role.  Of course, all Judges bring their personal characteristics to the role but it is the role that matters.

And the second thing is that the form gives expression to the fact that it is, in fact, an honour to do the job.  And so, from today, it is my honour to serve the people of Queensland as a District Court Judge according to the oath made earlier.

And Chief Judge it is a joy to be welcomed back to the Court like this.  When I was here last year I experienced great collegiality among the Judges and the staff of the District Court.  The most senior Judges sought me out to make sure that I was comfortable and provided for and to give me advice and encouragement.  And so it is, indeed, an honour to be appointed to the Court.

Judge McGinness   Chief Judge, Judges of this Court, the Chief Justice, Judges of the Supreme and Federal Courts, the Chief Magistrate, Magistrates, and other Tribunal members, Mr Attorney-General, Director-General, Acting Director General Ms Hunter, Mr Stewart, senior counsel and Mr Ian Berry, thank you all for your kind and encouraging words.  Family, friends and members of the profession, and retired Chief Judge Shanahan, thank you for your efforts to be here today.

It is a great Honour to be appointed to serve my community as a District Court Judge.  Like Judge Devereaux this is the second time I’ve sat in the Banco Court to swear an important oath, and it was the same day, I’ve just realised, as Judge Devereaux some 21 years ago.

As a 24 year old I was very excited.  My family were very proud when I was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court. A friend and colleague, now Judge Rafter, moved my admission which was witnessed by family, friend and colleagues; many of whom are here again today.

I now join a distinguished group of colleagues in this Court. Some with whom I have worked or shared chambers over the past 25 years.  I have already been warmly welcomed by many of you, especially by your Honour, the Chief Judge.  I appreciate your good wishes and support.  I leave another group of talented and dedicated judicial officers in the Magistrates Court.  I have no doubt that the past four years working as a Magistrate, particularly in far north Queensland, has been an invaluable lesson in the getting of judicial wisdom.

I regularly sat in circuit courts throughout the Cape and Torres Strait Island communities where English is often not the first nor even the second language.  I also sat as the Drug Court and Childrens Court Magistrate which presented its own special challenges yet also great reward.  These experiences have armed me with skills which I know will serve me well in my new position.

I am also grateful for my training and the experience gleaned from working at The Public Defenders Office, at Legal Aid Queensland and The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions over a period of 15 years.  It was during these years that I realised the great professional and personal satisfaction gained by working for the public.  I also thank the solicitors and employees of the many government departments who briefed me during those years.  I am grateful for the support of the private legal profession during my time in private practice at the Bar.

Chief Judge, Mr Attorney General, Mr Stewart and Mr Berry thank you for your kind words here today.  Thank you to my friends and colleagues the Bar for their comradery and for their guidance over the many years.  And I also have a unique opportunity today to speak from my heart as opposed to my head.  I therefore wish to especially thank my parents, Garth and Judith, for your love and support, and the opportunities that you have given to me.  Thank you to my sister Naomi, and to my sister-in-law Mary-Jane, who braved travelling long distances with their noisy but oh so beautiful children Rose, Alice and Milly to share my joy today.

To the rest of my family, friends and colleagues you know how proud and happy I am that you are a part of my life.  I finally wish to thank my husband Andrew.  I am so happy and blessed to have shared almost half my life with you.  When I was transferred to Cairns you not only came willingly, but you managed to established a successful law practice there in a mere three and a-half years period.  Together now we begin the next exciting chapter of our lives together.