Kevin Fredrick O'Leary QC (19 February 1920 – 3 August 2015) was the second Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. He was appointed to that position on 12 September 1985 after James Muirhead had acted in the position following the relocation to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

of the Territory's first Chief Justice William Forster earlier that year.

Education and early life

Chief Justice O'Leary was born in Sydney,

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, and attended the

Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham , motto_translation = A crown to the one who strives , established = , type = Private comprehensive single-sex secondary day school , denomination = Roman Catholic , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = Christian Brothers , principa ...

. He commenced studying law at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

and joined the Australian Imperial Forces in 1940 and the

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in 1942. After the war ended, he returned to studying and eventually graduated with Honours in 1948 and was admitted to practice the following year.

Legal career and other interests

Chief Justice O'Leary practised as a barrister and solicitor in Sydney and established the firm of Colreavy and O'Leary. He was called to the Bar in 1957 and relocated to the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...

, where he served with distinction. He has held many important roles during his career: * Lecturer, Practice and Procedure and the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

(1964–1982) * Vice-President, Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory (1965–1967) ** President (1967–1970) * Member, Executive of the Law Council of Australia (1969–1976) ** Vice President (1972–1974) *** President (1974–1976) * First Chair, Australian Legal Education Council from (1977–1981) * Founding Director, Legal Workshop at the Faculty of Law at the Australian National University (1971–1982) * Elected, Honorary Member of the American Bar Association (1976) Chief Justice O'Leary was appointed as an Acting Judge of the National Court of Papua New Guinea in 1976 and as an Acting Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in 1982. That appointment was made permanent in 1983. He was elevated to the position of Chief Justice in 1985. He resigned in 1987 due to ill-health and relocated to

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 ...

. In retirement he lived in Canberra, and was a resident at Calvary Retirement Village. He was appointed as a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in the Northern Territory immediately following his retirement.

Publications

* ''Principles of Practice and Procedure'' (with A. E. Hogan) (1976) * ''Supreme Court Civil Procedure'' (1987)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oleary, Kevin 1920 births 2015 deaths Australian barristers Chief Justices of the Northern Territory Judges of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory 20th-century Australian judges Australian military personnel of World War II Australian King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel Australian judges on the courts of Papua New Guinea People from Sydney Australian people of Irish descent