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 State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court i ...

Education

Ipp was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, 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 Pa ...

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

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) 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 ...

.''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 compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

, 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 (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. He was appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

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 The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

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 ...

Fellowship at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

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 The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

. He was scholar in residence at the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law or UVA Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as part of his "academical v ...

. 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 A$750,00 ...

. 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 university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. Ipp also served as a judge on the

Supreme Court of Fiji The Supreme Court of Fiji is one of three courts established by the now-defunct Chapter 9 of the Constitution, the others being the High Court and the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court is declared to be ''"the final appellate court of the St ...

. 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, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

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 newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

, 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