SEARCH
Justinian News

Does the NSW Law Society have rules about a solicitor who reposted racist and antisemitic remarks and urged "freedom minded" people to read the "brilliant" Mein Kampf... More >> 

Politics Media Law Society

My Role in Gough's Downfall ... Reporter-at-Large … Scoops that flushed out the deceit behind the Dismissal … Big anniversary chinwag in Canberra on November 11 … The combined forces of Kerr, Ellicott and cousin Garfield … Constitutional manipulation … Maurice Byers to the rescue ... Read more >> 

This area does not yet contain any content.
Free Newsletter
Justinian Columnists

Knit one, purl one ... Iron Lady of legal rectitude endorses Gageler ... The chief justice wants judges on the straight and narrow ... The cardboard cutout model of legislative supremacy ... The evils of judicial activism ... Procrustes on the dance floor with the Legislative-Judicial Foxtrot ... Read more >> 

Blow the whistle

 

News snips ...


 Hard on the heels of Prima Facie comes Inter Alia ... More >>

Justinian's Bloggers

Berlusconi's dream world ... Revenge politics in Italy ... Independence of prosecutors under attack ... Constitutional assault ... The years of lead ... Investigations reopened into old murders ... High drama at Milan's Leoncavallo ... Rome correspondent Silvana Olivetti reports ... Read more >> 

"If we’re only picking people who have got completely lily-white records then we’ll be missing out on a lot of people that can contribute to public life.

NSW Premier Chris Minns, endorsing Mal Lanyon, his pick for Police Commissioner, whose contributions to public life include shouting drunken obscenities at a paramedic who came to his aid, and commandeering a police launch for private entertainment on New Year's eve ... Read more flatulence ... 


Justinian Featurettes

Schmoozing and betrayal ... Judge Water Softener rides into Integrityville mounted high on his horse ... Judicial review of corruption finding ... Intriguing submissions ... Unprecedented assistance to morals monitor ... The scale of the sub-rosa intrigue ... Plenty to think about ... Ginger Snatch reports ... Read more >> 

Justinian's archive

News Desk Special ... Angelic death notices from the bar ... Soapy slips on FOI changes ... Unusual interlocutory costs order for Chris Dale ... Judge ticks off Abbott in letters' page ... Knock About's festive salute to the coppers ... January 19, 2015 ... Read more >> 


 

 

« The language of wine | Main | McCabe litigation took 10 years in two states »
Friday
Apr082011

A.J. Brown

What happens to a person who spends seven years immersed in the life of Michael Kirby? ... Professor A.J. Brown is the author of Michael Kirby: Paradoxes & Principles ... He's on Justinian's couch trying to explain himself

A.J. Brown: closely identifies with profiteroles

Professor A.J. Brown is the John F. Kearney Professor of Public Law at Griffith University.

Originally a Canberra lad (son of famed press gallery journalist Wallace Brown), he went to the University of New South Wales and later worked as an investigator for the Commonwealth Ombudsman and as associate to Justice (Tony) Fitzgerald, prez of the Queensland Court of Appeal.

He has run large research projects, such as the constitutional values survey and an empirical inquiry into public interest whistleblowing, which resulted in the publication of Whistling While They Work.

Brown's work on the Kirby biography commenced in 2003 and involved ploughing through 117 metres of personal and official papers dating back to the 1940s, interviews with more than 30 of the jurist's relatives and colleagues and access to hundreds of working papers and original drafts of judgments.

The investigation into how falsified documents were used in parliament to wrongly accuse the judge of improper behaviour and misuse of Commonwealth cars is ground breaking work.

Join Prof. Brown On the Couch ...

Describe yourself in three words.

Thoughtful, inquiring, reckless.

What are you currently reading?

Newspapers.

What's your favourite film?

Good Night, and Good Luck.

Who has been the most influential person in your life? 

Both my parents – Wal & Val Brown. 

If you hadn't become a lawyer and an academic what occupation would you like to have?

Novelist. Michael Kirby says I already am.

What is your favourite piece of music?

Currently ... "Blood Buzz Ohio" by The National.

What is your most recognised talent?

Refusal to accept that something can’t be done.

What words or phrases do you overuse?

"In fact ... however ... deep."

What is your greatest regret?

Not having kids at a younger age.

Whom do you envy and why?

Schoolfriends who always knew what they wanted to do in life, and just did it.

Why do a biography about Michael Kirby when so much is already known about him?

Because everyone knows about him but only relatively few have ever figured him out.

What was the most disturbing discovery you made about Michael Kirby?

That he had done five times more things and kept ten times more archives than even I had predicted.

What is your most disturbing personal obsession?

Refusal to accept that something can’t be done.

What's your most glamorous feature?

My Jimmy Pike ties (thanks Mum).

If you were a foodstuff, what would you be?

Profiteroles.

What human quality do you most distrust?

Disingenuousness.

What would you change about Australia?

The federal system.

Whom or what do you consider overrated?

Twitter, Facebook and excessive over-communication.

What would your epitaph say?

"Gone soaring" (I expect to be reincarnated as a wedge-tailed eagle).

What comes into your mind when you shut your eyes and think of the word "law"?

Power.

 

 

Michael Kirby: Paradoxes and Principles, by A.J. Brown. The Federation Press

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Editor Permission Required
You must have editing permission for this entry in order to post comments.