Keith Aickin

Sir Keith Arthur Aickin KBE QC (1 February 1916 – 18 June 1982), Australian judge, was a Justice of the High Court of Australia.

Aickin was born in East Malvern, Melbourne, the younger son of James Lee Aickin, a schoolmaster from Ireland, and his Victorian-born wife Edith Clarabel, née Knight. Keith Aickin was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (with honours) and later a Master of Laws. He also received the Supreme Court of Victoria's Prize in Law.

From 1939 to 1941, Aickin worked as associate to High Court Justice (later Chief Justice) Owen Dixon. From 1942 to 1944, Aickin served as part of the Australian legation to Washington, D.C. (predecessor of the Embassy of Australia in Washington). In 1948, Aickin joined the legal department of the United Nations in New York City, becoming a legal adviser.

On returning to Australia, Aickin lectured at the University of Melbourne, before being admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1949. In 1957, Aickin was made a Queen's Counsel. He practised law until he was appointed to the bench of the High Court on 20 September 1976. Later that year he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Aickin sat on the bench until his death (following a car accident) in 1982.