Justice Gordon’s rise to the High Court of Australia

“Be yourself,” is the advice to young lawyers of Melbourne Law School alumna and Australia’s newest appointment to the High Court, Justice Michelle Gordon.

“You are who you are and you have much to give in whatever you are doing,” she says.

Dean of the Melbourne Law School (MLS) Carolyn Evans says she and her colleagues were thrilled to hear of Justice Gordon’s elevation from the Federal to the High Court, when she replaced Justice Kenneth Hayne, who reached the compulsory retirement age of 70 recently.

In addition to her High Court appointment, Justice Gordon is also a Senior Fellow at MLS.

Justice Gordon is excited about her appointment and keen to embrace her new role, while also acknowledging that large challenges lie ahead.

“The work of the Court is relentless and, inevitably, comprises the truly hard cases,” she says. “But it’s that combination which presents both the challenges and the rewards of the tasks that will fall to me.”

Justice Gordon is only the fifth woman appointed in the Court’s 112 year history. She joins Justices Susan Mary Kiefel and Virginia Bell on the High Court bench.

“Justice Gordon has had a long involvement with Melbourne Law School,” explains Laureate Professor Cheryl Saunders. “In fact, she delivered the inaugural lecture to one of the first JD groups at the University, some 15 years ago. She has made a tremendous contribution to the school’s teaching programs.”

Since 2012 Justice Gordon, together with her husband Justice Hayne, has taught the subject Statutes in the 21st Century as part of the Melbourne Law Masters Program.

“Their joint teaching is a particular strength of the Melbourne Law Masters program. The subject has been taught over a semester, rather than as an intensive subject, and from the outset, has been extraordinarily popular and well received by students each year. With two such significant judges teaching the subject, there are a lot of legal professionals who want to take it, to hear what Justice Gordon and Justice Hayne have to say about statutory interpretation,” Professor Saunders explains.
Justice Gordon says she first agreed to present a course on tax litigation in 1999 with Ken Jenkinson QC and Tony Pagone QC.

“As a junior practitioner, it was daunting teaching with such senior people,” she reminisces. “After just a few years, I started to teach the course, and still do, with Simon Steward and Lisa Hespe.”

Justice Gordon says that her experience teaching at MLS has been a shared, two-way learning experience.

“It has been fascinating creating and teaching a new course. I learn far more than I teach.

“Teaching has its own challenges. Trying to pass on to others the knowledge, skills and techniques necessary to an understanding of a particular area of the law is itself an education. And there is always the pleasure when you see that a student understands the point you are trying to make.”

Justice Gordon maintains that spending time with others continues to be the best way to get the most out of studying and practising law.

One gets the sense that, stripping away the veneer of the bench and behind the robes, Michelle Gordon, the person, is simply someone who at each turn looks to make the most of life’s opportunities.

“Hard work and application remain as important as they have always been. I have enjoyed my time as a practising lawyer, barrister, teacher and judge. In the end it’s dealing and interacting with others - clients, junior barristers at the bar, participants in the Indigenous lawyers program, my associates and my students - from whom I have learned and benefitted that has been the most rewarding. You always learn more from those you interact with.”

Justice Gordon will be officially sworn in at a ceremony in Canberra at the High Court on 9 June.
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