Michael Kirby Paradoxes and Principles – A J Brown (The Federation Press Pty Ltd)
The remarkable story of the life and work of Australia’s most famous modern judge, this biography charts Michael Kirby’s extraordinary public life from his first forays as a student politician in the early 1960s, to his appointments as foundation chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission in 1975, President of the NSW Court of Appeal in 1984, and Justice of the High Court of Australia (1996-2009).
Author biography
A J Brown is John F Kearney Professor of Public Law at Griffith University and one of Australia’s leading public law and political science scholars. Born and raised in Canberra, and educated at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Dr Brown has worked as a senior investigator for the Commonwealth Ombudsman, as associate to Justice G E ‘Tony’ Fitzgerald AC, President of the Queensland Court of Appeal, and as a ministerial policy advisor in the Queensland Government. Dr Brown is now based in the Griffith Law School on Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus.
Judges’ comments
A. J. Brown combines readable scholarship with authorial depth, in his definitive biography of former High Court judge, Justice Michael Kirby. Brown combines an exhaustive analysis of Kirby’s judicial development, with an uninhibited and revealing portrayal of a complex and workaholic personality. Brown reconciles the ‘paradox’ of Kirby’s progressive public pronouncements with his embrace of tradition, including his constitutional monarchism. Brown follows Kirby through turbulent times when law, politics and social mores controversially intersected in his life to his present respected position in legal and humanitarian circles. Michael Kirby, Paradoxes & Principles is not only a significant achievement in contemporary Australian legal writing, but also in biographical insight and depth in the portrayal of a remarkable Australian.