Ronald Sackville

Ronald Sackville AO is an acting judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and a former judge of the Federal Court of Australia.^[1]

Education

Sackville is a graduate of the University of Melbourne (where he was editor of the Melbourne University Law Review) and Yale University.^[1]

Career

Sackville was Professor of Law (1972–1985) and Dean of the Faculty of Law (1979–1981) at the University of New South Wales.^[1]

He served as Commissioner for Law and Poverty on the Australian Government Commission of Inquiry into Poverty (1973–1975); Chairman of the South Australian Royal Commission into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs (1979–1981); Chairman of the New South Wales Law Reform Commission (1981–1984); and Chair of the Access to Justice Advisory Committee (1993–1994).^[1] He was also an Assistant Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (New South Wales) (1992);^[1] and Chair of the Judicial Conference of Australia, a body representing judicial officers throughout Australia (2004–2005).

Sackville practised as a barrister in Sydney from 1985 until 1994.^[1] He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1991.^[1] He served as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 19 September 1994^[1]-2008. He has also been a judge on the Supreme Court of Fiji.

Sackville has held many academic posts, including visiting appointments at McGill University (Montreal), Cardozo Law School, Yeshiva University (New York), Cornell University (New York) and New York University.

On 27 July 2007 Justice Sackville delivered his judgment in Seven Network Limited v News Limited [2007] FCA 1062, one of the most expensive pieces of litigation in Australian history.^[2] That case involved a complaint by Australia's Channel Seven television network that it was forced to shut down its pay television sports channels business due to anti-competitive conduct by a range of other Australian media companies including News, PBL and Telstra between 1999 and 2001. Sackville found that no such anti-competitive conduct existed.^[3] This case has become an example for the University of New South Wales.^[4]

Justice Sackville has held many academic posts, including visiting appointments at McGill University (Montreal), Cardozo Law School, Yeshiva University (New York), Cornell University (New York) and New York University.^[5]

In the Australia Day Honours of 2009, he was named an Officer of the Order of Australia for "service to the administration of the Australian judicial system, to the reform of federal and state law, and to legal education."^[6]

References