Rate My Professor Michael Kirby

Michael Kirby AC CMG serves as Conjoint Professor and Honorary Professor in the School of Law and Justice within the College of Human and Social Futures at the University of Newcastle. He is an international jurist, educator, and former judge with a distinguished academic background from the University of Sydney, where he earned a BA in 1959, LLB in 1962, BEc in 1966, and LLM with First Class Honours in 1967. Admitted as a solicitor in 1962 and barrister in 1967, Kirby held leadership roles including President of the Students' Representative Council and Sydney University Union. His early career featured election to the University of Sydney Senate and membership in the Bar Council of New South Wales.

Kirby's extensive judicial and reform career encompasses appointment as Deputy President of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (1975-1983), inaugural Chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission (1975-1984), Judge of the Federal Court of Australia (1983-1984), President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal (1984-1996), President of the Court of Appeal of Solomon Islands (1995-1996), and Justice of the High Court of Australia (1996-2009). He has undertaken prominent international assignments, including President of the International Commission of Jurists (1995-1998), Member of the Eminent Persons Group on the Future of the Commonwealth (2010-2011), Commissioner of the UNDP Global Commission on HIV and the Law (2011-2012), and Chairman of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the DPRK (North Korea) (2013-2014). Among his major honors are the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1991, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1983, Australian Human Rights Medal (1991), UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education Laureate (1998), inaugural Australian Privacy Medal (2008), and co-winner of the Gruber Justice Prize (2010). Kirby has received honorary degrees from numerous institutions, including Doctor of Letters from the University of Newcastle. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Laws of Australia and authored Law, Justice and Other Challenges: Selected Speeches and Papers of Michael Kirby (2026). His contributions extend to public lectures, international arbitrations, mediations, committee roles, and editorial work, profoundly influencing Australian and global jurisprudence.