Australia’s top five powerbrokers in the law for 2023
The hotly anticipated Power issue, out on Friday, September 29, includes lists of the key players across six industry sectors. Here are Australia’s most influential legal leaders. From AFR Magazine’s Power issue.
The first referendum this century, a new High Court chief justice, the advent of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the rise of women in the profession marks 2023 as a transformative year for the law.
Australia will soon pass its verdict on the Indigenous Voice to parliament, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insists he remains confident the Australian people will vote yes to having the proposed advisory body enshrined in the Constitution.
Professor Megan Davis – who Noel Pearson has called “our leader in relation to the constitutional law” – was third on the 2022 Power list. But in recent months the debate has moved on to how the Voice would operate and as a result, she did not make this year’s list.
Mark Dreyfus, Stephen Gageler, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Paul Brereton, Virginia Briggs. Alex Ellinghausen, Oscar Colman, Rhett Wyman, Edwina Pickles, Dominic Lorrimer
Labor has delivered on another election commitment; the NACC is now up and running with war crimes investigator Paul Brereton at the helm.
The government has also named Stephen Gageler to succeed Susan Kiefel after her transformative stint as the nation’s first female chief justice.
Kiefel’s handling of the sexual harassment allegations made against former justice Dyson Heydon led to her topping the cultural Power list in 2020. A consummate power player, she also changed the way the court worked, emphasising collaboration and fewer judgments.
With NSW Supreme judge Robert Beech-Jones to fill the vacancy caused by Kiefel’s retirement, it means there is no longer a majority of women – four out of seven – on the court. However, women now lead four of the big six law firms and outnumber men in private practice, completing the numerical domination of females in all sectors of legal practice outside the Bar.
1. Mark Dreyfus, KC
The attorney-general hasn’t wasted a minute after waiting nine years for his second stint in the role.
As Commonwealth AG, he wields more executive power than anyone in cabinet bar the PM and has been at the centre of big-ticket reforms such as the NACC, the abolition of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the referendum on the Voice.
Dreyfus also led the selection process for the new chief justice and appointed the first female chief justice of the Federal Court, Debra Mortimer.
2. Stephen Gageler
The chief justice-elect is the longest-serving judge on the High Court (11 years) and regarded as its intellectual leader – especially on constitutional law.
When he takes over on November 6, he will probably bring a very different style of leadership. Kiefel was strong on collaboration, but Gageler has always been more likely to write alone.
The first woman to hold down the top job adopted a lower profile after the Heydon revelations. Gageler has flagged a more expansive public role, having opined on judicial appointments and lawyers going back to the office.
3. Gina Cass-Gottlieb
The head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is shaping up as a transformative regulator.
Since taking over from Rod Sims last year, Cass-Gottlieb has signalled a more interventionist approach, with tighter competition laws and a rigorous approach to mergers.
Observers say she is just warming up and predict a big 2024 for the former partner at Gilbert + Tobin. Exhibit A: the ACCC is suing Qantas in the Federal Court alleging it deceived customers when it sold tickets on cancelled flights.
4. Paul Brereton
The former war crimes investigator and NSW Supreme Court judge now heads the NACC, which started operating on July 1. Brereton has laid out an expansive agenda that includes helping agencies and governments to “avoid falling off the integrity track”.
He believes the formation of the commission has “implications for the corporate sector, business and lawyers, and the future of integrity in governance”.
5. Virginia Briggs
When Briggs became chief executive of Australia’s largest law firm, MinterEllison, in June 2021, she was the only female leader of a big six firm.
Now there are four: Renae Lattey (King & Wood Mallesons), Kristin Stammer (Herbert Smith Freehills) and Emma Covacevich (Clayton Utz). Briggs happily admits to being a cheerleader for the march of women in the profession. “It’s about time.”
The AFR Magazine annual Power issue is out Friday, September 29, inside The Australian Financial Review. Follow AFR Mag on Twitter and Instagram.
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