David Kingsley Malcolm, AC, QC (6 May 1938 – 20 October 2014) was the

Chief Justice of Western Australia The Chief Justice of Western Australia is the most senior judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia and the highest ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of Western Australia. The chief justice is both the judicial head of the Sup ...

from May 1988 until his retirement from the bench in February 2006. He was also an expatriate justice of 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 ...

Early life

Malcolm was born on 6 May 1938 in

Bunbury, Western Australia Bunbury () is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, approximately south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's third most populous city after Perth and Mandurah, with a population of approximately 75,000. Loca ...

. His father was a livestock salesman with Elder Smith & Co., while his mother, a teacher, was the granddaughter of Walkinshaw Cowan and niece by marriage of

Edith Cowan Edith Dircksey Cowan (' Brown; 2 August 1861 – 9 June 1932) was an Australian social reformer who worked for the rights and welfare of women and children. She is best known as the first Australian woman to serve as a member of parliament. C ...

. Malcolm was educated at

Guildford Grammar School Guildford Grammar School, informally known as Guildford Grammar, Guildford or GGS, is an Independent school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Mixed-sex education, coeducational Primary school, primary and Secondary school, se ...

and went on to 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 ...

, graduating

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

in 1959. He was chosen as Western Australia's

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international Postgraduate education, postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Esta ...

in 1960 and subsequently completed a

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL or B.C.L.; ) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; at Oxford, the BCL contin ...

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

Legal career

Malcolm served his

articles of clerkship Articled clerk is a title used in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries for one who is studying to be an accountant or a lawyer. In doing so, they are put under the supervision of someone already in the profession, now usually for two ye ...

in Perth with Stone James & Co., then joined Muir Williams Nicholson as a partner upon his admission to the bar in 1964. In 1967 he joined the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank to promote social and economic development in Asia. The bank is headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines and maintains 31 field offices around the world. The bank was establishe ...

's legal department in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

. He remained with the ADB until 1970 as deputy

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

and traveled widely in Asia. After returning to Perth, Malcolm resumed his role in Muir Williams Nicholson's litigation department, up until its merger with Sydney firm Freehill Hollingdale & Page in 1979. He then joined the independent bar and 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 1980. He regularly appeared before the Privy Council, and appeared as counsel on one of the last Australian appeals to the Privy Council before the ''

Australia Act 1986 The ''Australia Act 1986'' is the short title of each of a pair of separate but related pieces of legislation: one an act of the Parliament of Australia, the other an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. In Australia they are refe ...

'' took effect. Malcolm was president of the Western Australian Bar Association from 1982 to 1984 and vice-president of the

Australian Bar Association The Australian Bar Association (ABA) is the peak body representing more than 6,000 barristers throughout Australia. The ABA was established in 1963 to serve, promote and represent its members, and advocate for fair and equal justice for all. ...

in 1984. He practised across a wide range of areas including "income tax, mining, shipping, equity, intellectual property and corporations law".

Chief Justice

He was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on the retirement of the widely respected Francis Burt. In 1990 he also became

Lieutenant-Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a " second-in-com ...

of the state. Malcolm earned great respect during his time as Chief Justice, and received great acclaim from the legal profession on his retirement on 7 February 2006. However, during his final year on the bench he came under increasing pressure, by the media, for perceived failings on the bench after he aborted a murder trial. At his farewell, the Attorney-General,

Jim McGinty James Andrew McGinty (born 22 September 1949) is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2009, representing the district of Fremantle. He was Labor Party leader and Lea ...

, commented on the landmark judgement that Malcolm had handed down in the appeal of John Button, a high-profile case in which a manslaughter conviction was quashed over 30 years after the event. Wayne Martin replaced Malcolm as Chief Justice, and Malcolm later became Professor of Law at the

University of Notre Dame Australia The University of Notre Dame Australia (known simply as Notre Dame; ; French language, French for 'Mary, mother of Jesus, Our Lady') is a Private university, private Catholic university with campuses in Perth, Sydney and Broome, Western Austr ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

Death and legacy

Malcolm died in Perth in October 2014, aged 76. The

David Malcolm Justice Centre The David Malcolm Justice Centre is a 33-storey, tall skyscraper on Barrack Street in Perth, Western Australia. The building is named after David Malcolm, a former chief justice of Western Australia, and houses civil courtrooms for the Suprem ...

, a 33-storey skyscraper located on Cathedral Square in the Perth CBD, was named in his honour in 2016. The tower houses the civil arm of the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

and offices for the Department of the Attorney General and Department of Treasury.

General references

* Taylor, Alister (ed) (1997) ''The Australian roll of honour : national honours & awards 1975–1996'' Sydney, N.S.W. : Roll of Honour Publications, – item on Malcolm's'' AC 1992 for service to the law and to the Crown''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, David Kingsley 1938 births 2014 deaths Australian Rhodes Scholars Companions of the Order of Australia People from Bunbury, Western Australia People educated at Guildford Grammar School Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Chief justices of Western Australia Judges of the Supreme Court of Western Australia 20th-century King's Counsel Australian King's Counsel Australian judges on the courts of Fiji Supreme Court of Fiji justices University of Western Australia alumni