Legal Career
Whilst undertaking his articles, Phillips was the founding co-editor of the Melbourne University Law Review in 1957. The Review had developed from the earlier publications “Res Judicatae “ published by the Law School in Melbourne University and ‘A Magazine of Legal and General Literature’ by the then Articled Clerks' Society of Victoria.
After completing his articles, Phillips was admitted to practice as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 2 March 1959. During his time as a solicitor, he worked as a judge’s associate to Justice Douglas Menzies of the High Court of Australia.
Phillips read with Richard Newton of Eagle Star Chambers, who was to become a justice of the Supreme Court. In 1961 Phillips was called to the Bar, and set up chambers in the newly opened Owen Dixon Chambers in Melbourne. He specialized in commercial law, equity and probate law. During this time, he served as the Bar’s representative on the Supreme Court Rules Committee for two and a half years. During his time at the bar, he earned himself the moniker of “Equity Jack”, a reference to his specialization as a barrister in the equity jurisdiction of the court. The term was apparently coined by the chamber’s clerk to distinguish him from the other J Phillips who specialized in criminal law. The other Phillips was to later become the Chief Justice of Victoria.
Phillips married his wife Eva in 1965 and took silk in 1977 as a Queens Counsel. High Court judge and former Supreme Court judge Kenneth Hayne was a notable person who read under Phillips.
Read more about this topic: John Phillips (jurist)
Famous quotes containing the words legal and/or career:
“Courage, then, for the end draws near! A few more years of persistent, faithful work and the women of the United States will be recognized as the legal equals of men.”
—Mary A. Livermore (1821–1905)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)