David Andrew Ipp (1938 – 8 October 2020) was a South African-born Australian lawyer, judge and Commissioner of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption between 2009 and 2014. Ipp was a judge of the Court of Appeal of the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian States and territories of Australia, State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil law (common law), civil matters, and hears ...

Education

Ipp was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, where he attended

Parktown Boys' High School Parktown Boys' High School is a public English medium high school for boys situated in Parktown, a suburb of Johannesburg in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is one of the oldest schools in Johannesburg. Parktown Boys' sister school is P ...

. He subsequently graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

.''Commissioner prowls, then pounces without a thought for mercy''
by Harriet Alexander & Linton Besser (

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

, 2 November 2012)Who's Who in Australia

Career

In 1964, Ipp became a partner at Hayman Godfrey & Sanderson Attorneys in Johannesburg. He was admitted to the South African bar in 1973. Ipp moved to Australia in 1981 and was admitted as a barrister in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. He was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1985. Ipp served as Treasurer of the Law Society of Western Australia in 1988. He was a Fellow at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

in 1999–2000, and was awarded an

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court: Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple, and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have s ...

Fellowship at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) is a member institute of the School of Advanced Study, University of London. Founded in 1947, it is a national academic centre of excellence, serving the legal community and universities across the ...

in 1996–97. In 1994, Ipp was a Fulbright Senior Scholar. He was scholar in residence at the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

. From 1989 to 2002, Ipp served as a judge of the

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of or more ...

. From 1993 to 2001, Ipp was also the Judge in Charge of the Civil List. From 2001 to 2002 he was Acting Judge of Appeal of the

NSW Court of Appeal The New South Wales Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for civil matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian state of New South Wales. Jurisdiction The Court of Appeal operates pursu ...

before being appointed a Judge of Appeal in 2002. In 2008, Ipp was a visiting fellow at the Wolfson College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. Ipp also served as a judge on the

Supreme Court of Fiji The Supreme Court of Fiji is one of three courts originally established in Chapter 9 of the 1997 Constitution of Fiji, the others being the High Court and the Court of Appeal. In the current Constitution of Fiji, the Supreme Court is declar ...

. Ipp was a member of the Court of Arbitration for Sport and had been since 2000.

Tort law reform

Ipp was the Chairman of the Panel of Eminent Persons, which former Australian Prime Minister

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

established in 2002 to reform tort laws. The Panel produced its final report known as '' the Ipp Report'' on 30 September 2002. Many of the recommendations in the report were taken up by state Parliaments in enacting new personal injury legislation. In 2007, Ipp criticised the reforms which were introduced as a result of his recommendations, suggesting many of the reforms had gone too far.''Tort changes went too far: judge''
by Chris Merritt (

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

, 5 April 2007)

Independent Commission Against Corruption

In November 2009, Ipp was appointed as the Commissioner of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), replacing Jerrold Cripps QC whose fixed term had expired. Ipp's fixed term as Commissioner was due to expire in November 2014; however in October 2013 he announced his retirement with effect from late January 2014, citing ill health.

Death

Ipp died in Sydney on 8 October 2020, aged 82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ipp, David 1938 births 2020 deaths Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Australian King's Counsel Judges of the Supreme Court of Western Australia Supreme Court of Fiji justices Australian judges on the courts of Fiji Alumni of Parktown Boys' High School Officers of the Order of Australia South African emigrants to Australia