Australian High Court justice since 2017 (born 1974)
James Joshua Edelman
(born 9 January 1974)
[1]
has been a justice of the
High Court of Australia
since 30 January 2017, and is a former justice of the
Federal Court of Australia
and the
Supreme Court of Western Australia
. He is noted for his various achievements at a young age, including becoming a professor at
Oxford University
before the age of 35 and a justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia before the age of 40.
[2]
He was 43 years old upon commencing his appointment on the High Court and is eligible to continue until reaching the constitutionally required retirement age of 70 in 2044.
[3]
Education
[
edit
]
Edelman completed high school at
Scotch College
in
Perth, Western Australia
.
[2]
He completed bachelor's degrees in economics (1995) and Law (first class honours, 1996) at the
University of Western Australia
and a Bachelor of Commerce (1997) at
Murdoch University
.
[2]
He was awarded a
Rhodes Scholarship
in 1998 and completed a doctorate at
Magdalen College
,
University of Oxford
in 2001.
[4]
Career
[
edit
]
Legal
[
edit
]
Edelman was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1998 after serving as an associate to Justice
John Toohey
in the
High Court of Australia
in 1997 and completing an articled clerkship at
Blake Dawson Waldron
.
[4]
He was a member of the Chambers of
Malcolm McCusker
QC from 2001 until his appointment as a justice in 2011.
[5]
Edelman was called to the English bar in 2008
[4]
and was a member of
One Essex Court
chambers.
[5]
Academic
[
edit
]
Edelman became a tutor at
Keble College
,
Oxford
, in 2005.
[6]
Following his appointment to the Supreme Court, Edelman continued to teach as an
Adjunct Professor
at the
University of Queensland
and University of Western Australia, as well as holding the honorary position of
Conjoint Professor
at the
University of New South Wales
.
[1]
Edelman is also a patron and former editor of the
Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal
.
[6]
Edelman has been noted as having a "prodigious" record of publications. At the time of his appointment to the Supreme Court, his publications included six books and more than 80 articles, reviews, and notes.
[4]
Judicial
[
edit
]
Edelman was appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in April 2011 following the retirement of Justice
Peter Blaxell
.
[7]
He took the oath of office on 22 July 2011.
[4]
It was reported that, at the age of 37, Edelman was the youngest person to join the Supreme Court bench.
[7]
However, at the welcome ceremony for Edelman, Chief Justice
Wayne Martin
noted that the reports were incorrect and in fact Sir
Lawrence Jackson
was appointed at the age of 36 in 1949.
[4]
In April 2015, Edelman was appointed to the Federal Court of Australia.
[1]
He replaced Justice
Peter Jacobson
, who had retired in January 2015.
[8]
In November 2016, it was announced that Edelman would be appointed as a Justice of the High Court of Australia. He commenced the appointment when Justice
Susan Kiefel
became
Chief Justice of Australia
on 30 January 2017.
[9]
He is the fourth youngest person to join the Court, after
H. V. Evatt
,
Sir Edward McTiernan
and
Sir Owen Dixon
.
[10]
Personal
[
edit
]
Edelman is married and has two children.
[4]
Edelman is Jewish.
[11]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|