Speeches/Articles by Chief Justice Susan Mary Kiefel AC

‘Pro Bono Work, Legal Aid and Access to Justice: Some Matters of History’ (Speech, Law Council of Australia, 2023 National Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference, Brisbane, 22 June 2023)

‘A Nudge in the Right Direction: Some Landmark Cases and the Development of the Law’ (Hal Wootten Lecture, 24 November 2022)

‘Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: A Trend Towards Equality?” (Speech, Australian Women Lawyers Conference, Brisbane, 6 August 2022)

‘The Role of Courts in Our Society’ (LawRight Public Interest Address, Customs House Brisbane, 25 October 2021)

‘Judicial Independence: From What and to What End?’ (Austin Asche Oration, Australian Academy of Law and Charles Darwin University, Darwin Hilton Hotel, 27 March 2021)

‘Shaping Legal Minds: The Ethical Mind’ (Closing Address, Queensland Law Society Symposium, Customs House, Brisbane, 19 March 2021)

‘Legacies of Sir Samuel Griffith’ (Sir Samuel Griffith Lecture, Queensland College of Art Lecture Theatre, Griffith University, Brisbane, 17 November 2020)

‘Human Rights Without an Enacted Statement of Rights’ in Simon Mount and Max Harris (eds), The Promise of Law: Essays Marking the Retirement of Dame Sian Elias as Chief Justice of New Zealand (LexisNexis, 2020) 437

'Just How Common is the Common Law? A Historical and Comparative Perspective' (Brennan Lecture, Bond University Law School, 3 October 2019)

‘Convergence: The Courts of Singapore and Australia’ (Speech, Opening of the Australian Bar Association Biennial International Conference, Singapore on 11 July 2019)

“The academy and the courts: what do they mean to each other today?”, Australian Academy of Law Patron’s Address, Banco Court, Brisbane, 31 October 2019

Opening of the International Association of Law Libraries, Sydney, 28 October 2019

“William Ah Ket’s contribution to diversity in the legal profession”; William Ah Ket Scholarship Presentation, Asian Australian Lawyers Association, Great Hall, High Court of Australia, 9 October 2019

Aspects of the Relationship Between the Law, Economic Development and Social Change and the Importance of Stability’ (Conference Paper, Bar Association of Queensland Annual Conference, Brisbane, 2 March 2019)

‘Judicial Advice to Trustees: Its Origins, Purposes and Nature’ (2019) 42(3) Melbourne University Law Review 993

‘Social Values and the Criminal Law's Adaptability to Change’ (Conference Paper, International Criminal Law Congress, Byron Bay, 6 October 2018)

‘The Significance of Comparative Law to Common Law Judges: An Australian Perspective’ (2017-2018) 9 The UK Supreme Court Yearbook 80

‘The Adaptability of the Common Law to Change’ (Speech, Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration, Banco Court, Brisbane, 24 May 2018) 

Ceremonial sitting, Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Tuesday 4 September 2018

Opening of the International Law Association 78th Biennial Conference, Sydney, Monday 20 August 2018

“The High Court Justices and the weight of war”, The Samuel Griffith Society, 4 August 2018, Brisbane

“Rhetoric and Reasoning – Contributions to the Common Law” – Hellenic Lawyers Association International Conference, Rhodes, Greece, 9 July 2018

Welcome and introduction to Australian Constitution Centre, High Court of Australia Building, 9 April 2018

“Women in the Australian Legal Profession: progress and a public voice”, International Women’s Day, Kuala Lumpur, 8 March 2018

‘Judicial Decision-making in Times of War and Relative Peace’ (Conference Paper, Supreme and Federal Court Judges’ Conference, 22 January 2018)

Chief Justice's swearing in speech, High Court of Australia, Canberra, 31 January 2017

"Why the Study of Law is Important", The Opening of the University of Queensland's T C Beirne School of Law's newly renovated West Wing of the Forgan Smith Building, Monday 13 March 2017

"Judicial Methods in the 21st Century", Supreme Court Oration Banco Court, Supreme Court, 16 March 2017

"Some reflections, following the Brexit decision, on secession, on the roles of Australian and English courts with respect to the validity of executive and legislative action and on responses to controversial decisions of this kind", Anglo Australian Lawyers Association, London, 12 July 2017

"Vicarious liability in tort - a search for policy, principle or justification", New South Wales Supreme Court Judges Conference, Leura, 25 August 2017

"Independence - What does it mean for the Legal Profession?", IBA Conference, International Convention Centre, Sydney, 8 October 2017

“Judicial Courage and the Decorum of Dissent” – The Atkin Lecture – given at the Supreme Court of Queensland, 28 November 2017

"The Community of Courts in the Asia Pacific Region", International Association of Women Judges Conference, Amora Jamison Hotel, Sydney, Friday 28 April 2017

‘Legal Influences: Across Centuries and Borders’ (Freeleagus Oration, Brisbane, 26 August 2016) 

‘Developments in the Law Relating to Medical Negligence in the Last 30 Years’ (Conference Paper, Greek/Australian International Legal and Medical Conference 2015, 1 June 2015)

‘Good Faith in Contractual Performance’ (Background Paper, Judicial Colloquium, Hong Kong, September 2015) 

‘Actions for Negligence Against Barristers in England and Australia’ (Conference Paper, International Malaysia Law Conference, Kuala Lumpur, 24-26 September 2014)

Kiefel, Susan and Cheryl Saunders, ‘The Independence of Meritorious Elite: The Government of Judges and Democracy, Country Report – Australia’ (Lecture, XIX International Congress of Comparative Law, July 2014)

‘The Individual Judge’ (2014) 88(8) Australian Law Journal 554

Kiefel, Susan and Gonzalo Villalta Puig, ‘The Constitutionalisation of Free Trade by the High Court of Australia and the Court of Justice of the European Union: Freedom of Trade and Commerce Under Section 92 of the Australian Constitution’ (2014) 3 Global Journal of Comparative Law 34

‘Lessons from a “Conversation” about Restitution’ (2014) 88(3) Australian Law Journal 176

‘Social Justice and the Constitution: Freedoms and Protections’ (2013) 20 James Cook University Law Review 6

"On being a judge", Public Lecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 15 January 2013.

Reasons for judgment: objects and observations, Sir Harry Gibbs Law Dinner, University of Queensland, 18 May 2012.

Practice at the Bar - what has changed and what remains the same, Bar Association of Queensland Annual Conference, Practice in the Modern Era, 3 March 2012

‘Proportionality:  A Rule of Reason’ (2012) 23(2) Public Law Review 85

The use of constitutional supra principles by Judges, Plenary Session IV, VIII World Congress of the International Association of Constitutional Law, Mexico City, 10 December 2010

Comparative analysis in judicial decision-making: the Australian experience, Max Planck Institute, 12 July 2010 Published in: Bd 75, Heft 2 (April 2011), Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht 354-370

Ethics and the Profession of the Lawyer, Queensland Law Society, The Vincents' 48th annual Symposium 2010, 26 March 2010

Oral Advocacy — the Last Gasp?, Supreme & Federal Court Judges' Conference, Canberra, 27 January 2010

‘Section 92: Markets, Protectionism and Proportionality – Australian and European Perspectives’ (2010) 36(2) Monash University Law Review 1

Address to Graduates, UQ Centre, The University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, 8 December 2009

Queensland University of Technology Association of Law and Justice, Annual Dinner, Marriott Hotel, Brisbane, 21 August 2009

Occasional Address, Griffith University Graduands, Brisbane Convention Centre, 1 August 2009

The Profession of Barrister - Service, Duty and Independence,Bar Practice Course, Banco Court, Supreme Court of Queensland, 20 February 2009

‘Judicial Independence’ (Conference Paper, North Queensland Law Association Conference, 30 May 2008)