James Leslie Bain Allsop (born 7 April 1953) is an Australian judge, currently serving as a foreign Non-Permanent Judge of the

Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (HKCFA) is the final appellate court of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, upon the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, replacing the Judicial Committee of the Priv ...

. He was the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, in office from 1 March 2013 to 6 April 2023. He was also previously President of the

New South Wales 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 ...

, where he presided from 2 June 2008 to 28 February 2013. In 2024, he was appointed as an International Judge to the Singapore International

Commercial Court Business courts, sometimes referred to as commercial courts, are specialized courts for legal cases involving commercial law, internal business disputes, and other matters affecting businesses. In the US, they are trial courts that primarily or ...

Education

Allsop attended

Sydney Grammar School Sydney Grammar School (SGS, colloquially known as Grammar) is an independent, non-denominational day school for boys, located in Sydney, Australia. Incorporated in 1854 by an Act of Parliament and opened in 1857, the school claims to offer "c ...

and completed year 12 in 1970. Allsop then graduated from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

with a Bachelor of Arts in 1974 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1980. He won the

University Medal A University Medal is one of several types of award conferred by university, universities upon outstanding students or members of staff. The usage and status of university medals differ between countries and between universities. As award on grad ...

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 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 ...

in 1998. From 2001 to 2008, Allsop was a Justice of the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

. He has also served as an additional Justice of the

Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory The Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory is the highest court of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in civil matters and hears the most serious criminal matters. The court ha ...

(2003–08). Allsop was appointed the President of the

on 2 June 2008. On 20 November 2012, Commonwealth Attorney-General

Nicola Roxon Nicola Louise Roxon (born 1 April 1967) is an Australian former politician. After politics, she has worked as a company director and academic. Roxon represented the lower house seat of Gellibrand in Victoria for the Australian Labor Party; ...

announced Allsop would be appointed Chief Justice of the

. In January 2022, he presided over the application for judicial review regarding the visa status of

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...

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" and demonstrating the "yawning crevasse between the facts in the real world and Australian "environmental" law". He was succeeded as Chief Justice from 7 April 2023 by Justice Debra Mortimer, who has been a judge of the court. After being appointed as a Non-Permanent Judge to the

in March 2024, he remains in the position , along with other Australian judges

Patrick Keane Patrick Anthony Keane (born 26 October 1952) is an Australian judge currently serving as a non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal since 6 April 2023, after his retirement as a Justice of the High Court of Australia. He is ...

William Gummow William Montague Charles Gummow (born 9 October 1942) is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. He was appointed to the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong on 8 April 2013 as a non-p ...

, and

Robert French Robert Shenton French (born 1947) is a former judge of the Federal Court of Australia and was Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from 2008 to 2017. From 2017 to 2024, he was chancellor of the University of Western Australia, of whi ...

, after British judge

Jonathan Sumption Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption, Lord Sumption, (born 9 December 1948), is a British author, medieval historian, barrister and former senior judge who sat on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2018, and a Non-Permane ...

resigned, criticising the judiciary of Hong Kong after 14 prominent democratic activists were convicted for

subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to sabotage the established social order and its structures of Power (philosophy), power, authority, tradition, h ...

Other activities

Allsop is also an adjunct professor at the University of Sydney, where he specialises in international admiralty and maritime law. In April 2024, Justice Allsop gave the keynote speech at the Fifth Full Meeting of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts.

Honours

Allsop was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(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. 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".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allsop, James Chief justices of the Federal Court of Australia Judges of the Federal Court of Australia Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Presidents of the NSW Court of Appeal Judges of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory Australian King's Counsel People educated at Sydney Grammar School University of Sydney alumni Academic staff of the University of Sydney Companions of the Order of Australia Officers of the Order of Australia Living people 1953 births

Education

Career

Other activities

Honours

See also

References