Neville John Owen, a former senior judge of the Court of Appeal 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 ...
, is the Chair of The
Truth, Justice and Healing Council
The Truth, Justice and Healing Council was established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference as a national co-ordinating body to oversee the church's engagement with the 2015-17 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual ...
since 2014,
[ a body established by the ]Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference (ACBC) is the national episcopal conference of the Catholic bishops of Australia and is the instrumentality used by the Australian Catholic bishops to act nationally and address issues of national s ...
to oversee the Roman Catholic Church in Australia's engagement with the and the pastoral and other ramifications that arose from a series of sexual abuse scandals within the Catholic Church in Australia and its associated institutions.
Career
Graduating from 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 1968 with a Bachelor of Laws
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
(honours
Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...
), Owen practiced as a barrister
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
and solicitor
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
from 1972 to 1991 and was a partner in a law firm, now known as Clayton Utz
Clayton Utz is an independent, top-tier Australian law firm headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Established in 1833, it is generally considered a leading law firm, and has been known as one of the " Big Six" Australian law firms. The firm is r ...
. Owen's practice was broadly based in commercial law
Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...
and was closely involved with matters relating to corporate structures, insolvency, trusts and equity, commercial litigation and media law. In 1991 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia, the highest ranking court in the Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of 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 ...
.[
From 2001 through to 2003, Owen headed ]HIH Insurance
HIH Insurance was Australia's second-largest insurance company before it was placed into provisional liquidation on 15 March 2001. The demise of HIH is considered to be the largest corporate collapse in Australia's history, with liquidators est ...
Royal Commission. In July 2003 he started the three-year hearing into Alan Bond's Bell group of companies. It was one of the nation's longest running and most expensive civil actions.Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
of the University of Notre Dame Australia
The University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) is a national Roman Catholic private university with campuses in and in Western Australia and Sydney in New South Wales. The university also has eight clinical schools as part of its school of med ...
who served from 1989 until 2008.[ In 2014 he was appointed by the Roman Catholic Australian Catholic Bishops Conference to chair The Truth Justice and Healing Council as the Church's official coordinating agency with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
]
See also
* Judiciary of Australia
The judiciary of Australia comprises judges who sit in federal courts and courts of the States and Territories of Australia. The High Court of Australia sits at the apex of the Australian court hierarchy as the ultimate court of appeal on matter ...
References
University of Western Australia alumni
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Judges of the Supreme Court of Western Australia
University of Notre Dame Australia people
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