James Allsop

{{Short description|Australian judge and former Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia}}

{{Infobox judge

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable

| name = James Allsop

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|AC|}}

| nationality = Australian

| image = 1 james allsop 2017.jpg

| office = Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia

| term_start = 1 March 2013

| term_end = 6 April 2023

| appointer = Dame Quentin Bryce

| predecessor = Patrick Keane

| successor = Debra Mortimer

| office2 = President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal

| term_start2 = 1 June 2008

| term_end2 = 28 February 2013

| predecessor2 = Keith Mason

| successor2 = Margaret Beazley

| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|7 April 1953}}

| birth_place = Sydney

| alma_mater = University of Sydney

| death_date =

| death_place = |

}}

James Leslie Bain Allsop {{post-nominals|country=AUS|sep=,|AC|}} (born 7 April 1953{{cite web |title=Curriculum Vitae of The Honourable James Leslie Bain ALLSOP, AC |url=https://gia.info.gov.hk/general/202403/25/P2024032500358_452896_1_1711353455808.pdf |website=info.gov.hk |access-date=26 March 2024}}) is an Australian judge, currently serving as a foreign Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.{{cite web | url= https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202403/25/P2024032500267.htm | title= Appointment of non-permanent judge from another common law jurisdiction of the Court of Final Appeal | date=25 March 2024 }}

He was the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, in office from 1 March 2013 to 6 April 2023.{{cite web|title=Former Judges of the Court |url=https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/about/judges/former-judges |website=Federal Court of Australia |date=29 March 2012 |accessdate=18 April 2023}} He was also previously President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, where he presided from 2 June 2008 to 28 February 2013.{{cite web|title=The Hon James Leslie Bain ALLSOP AO|url=http://www.fedcourt.gov.au/about/judges/current-judges-appointment/current-judges/allsop-cj|website=Federal Court of Australia|archive-date=11 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311142843/http://www.fedcourt.gov.au/about/judges/current-judges-appointment/current-judges/allsop-cj}}

In 2024, he was appointed as an International Judge to the Singapore International Commercial Court.

Education

Allsop attended Sydney Grammar School and completed year 12 in 1970. Allsop then graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in 1974 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1980. He won the University Medal in law.Who's Who in Australia

Career

Allsop was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1981, and was appointed Senior Counsel in 1994. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in Western Australia in 1998.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

From 2001 to 2008, Allsop was a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia. He has also served as an additional Justice of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory (2003–08). Allsop was appointed the President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal on 2 June 2008.

On 20 November 2012, Commonwealth Attorney-General Nicola Roxon announced Allsop would be appointed Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia. In January 2022, he presided over the application for judicial review regarding the visa status of Novak Djokovic on the Full Bench of the Federal Court of Australia. In March 2022 he presided over the Court's ruling that the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment has no duty of care to protect children from the impacts of climate change when considering fossil fuel projects, a ruling that was characterised as undoing "20 years of climate litigation progress in Australia"{{Cite web |last1=Peel |first1=Jacqueline |last2=Markey-Towler |first2=Rebekkah |title=Today's disappointing federal court decision undoes 20 years of climate litigation progress in Australia |url=http://theconversation.com/todays-disappointing-federal-court-decision-undoes-20-years-of-climate-litigation-progress-in-australia-179291 |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=The Conversation |date=15 March 2022 |language=en}} and demonstrating the "yawning crevasse between the facts in the real world and Australian "environmental" law".{{Cite web |title=Tweet|url=https://twitter.com/drchrismcgrath/status/1503522333109407745 |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=Twitter |language=en}}

He was succeeded as Chief Justice from 7 April 2023 by Justice Debra Mortimer, who has been a judge of the court.{{Cite news |date=2023-03-31 |title=Federal Court to get its first female chief justice |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-31/federal-court-first-female-chief-justice-debra-mortimer/102170852 |access-date=2023-04-18}}

After being appointed as a Non-Permanent Judge to the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in March 2024,{{cite web | url= https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202403/25/P2024032500267.htm | title= Appointment of non-permanent judge from another common law jurisdiction of the Court of Final Appeal | date=25 March 2024 }} he remains in the position {{as of |lc=yes|June 2024}}, along with other Australian judges Patrick Keane, William Gummow, and Robert French, after British judge Jonathan Sumption resigned, criticising the judiciary of Hong Kong after 14 prominent democratic activists were convicted for subversion. {{cite web | last=Hogan | first=Libby | title=Top judges quit Hong Kong's court, ex-judge warns rule of law is 'profoundly compromised' | website=ABC News | date=11 June 2024 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-11/judge-warns-hong-kong-rule-of-law-in-danger-three-judges-quit/103965104 | access-date=11 June 2024}}

Other activities

Allsop is{{when|date=June 2024}} also an adjunct professor at the University of Sydney, where he specialises in international admiralty and maritime law.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

In April 2024, Justice Allsop gave the keynote speech at the Fifth Full Meeting of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts.{{Cite web |title=SIFoCC |url=https://sifocc.org/ |access-date=2024-05-24 |language=en-GB}}

Honours

Allsop was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2013 for distinguished service to the judiciary and the law, as a judge, through reforms to equity and access, and through contributions to the administration of maritime law and legal education.{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-day-2013-honours-list-20130125-2dcrg.html |title=Australia Day 2013 Honours List |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=25 January 2013 }} He was promoted to Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the 2023 Australia Day Honours for "eminent service to the judiciary and to the law, to organisational and technological reform, to legal education, and to insolvency law".{{Cite web |date=2023-01-25 |title=Australia Day 2023 Honours: Full list |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-day-2023-honours-full-list-20230124-p5cf79.html |access-date=2023-01-25 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}