Lessons from history: colonial foundations of criminal justice in Victoria
The Hon Chris Maxwell will deliver the Society’s inaugural Paul Mullaly History and Law Lecture during Law Week 2023. He has been a highly respected Justice especially known for his advocacy for individual rights.
Maxwell initially studied at The University of Melbourne then, after receiving a Rhodes Scholarship, went to the University of Oxford and then graduated in law. He was admitted to the Bar as a member of Lincoln’s Inn in 1978. Maxwell was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1984. In 1981 he took up an appointment as Principal Private Secretary to Senator Gareth Evans, then Commonwealth Attorney-General. He practised in constitutional and administrative law and in revenue law. In 1994, Justice Chris Maxwell was counsel assisting the Judicial Inquiry into the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1998. A champion for the rights of the individual, Maxwell was Legal Aid Commissioner for seven years. He was President of Liberty Victoria, for which he appeared pro bono as Counsel in the Tampa case. In 2005 Maxwell was appointed the second President of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court. In 2015, he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia.