Reginald Barrett (born 1 April 1944) was a Judge (2001–2015), Judge of Appeal (2012–2015) and Acting Judge of Appeal (2016-2020) 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 ...

. He had been a corporate and securities lawyer and a partner in

Mallesons Stephen Jaques King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is the largest global law firm in Asia. It has 30 offices and more than 3,500 legal professionals in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. Its predecessor firms include ''SJ Berwin'' of the United Kingdom's ...

, general counsel for

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it ...

and 20 year partner with Allen Allen & Hemsley.

Early life and education

Reginald Ian Barrett was born on 1 April 1944 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, New South Wales, the son of Ronald Arthur Barrett and Lila Jean née Frew who had married in 1941. He completed his secondary education (

Leaving Certificate A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certifica ...

) at

Newcastle Boys High School , motto_translation = With Oars and Sailsi.e. with all one's might , streetaddress = Turton Road, Waratah , city = Newcastle , state = New South Wales , postcode = 2298 , country ...

and matriculated to 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 si ...

. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1964 and 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 ...

in 1967. He returned to

Sydney Law School Sydney Law School (informally Sydney Law or SLS) is the law school at the University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university. Sydney Law School began a full program of legal instruction in 1890 following the appointment of its first dean, having ...

for further studies and was graduated as a Master of laws with first class honours in 1971. He served as a councillor of Wesley College at the University of Sydney between 1970 and 1977 where he had been elected senior student in his penultimate undergraduate year.

Career

Barrett was admitted as a

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 ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

on 17 March 1967. He was an articled clerk (19641967) with Allen Allen & Hemsley, a year behind

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 (Hong Kong), Court of Final Appeal of H ...

(later puisne justice of the High Court of Australia) and a year ahead of John Lehane (later a Federal Court judge). On admission he became an employed solicitor and made partner in 1971. From 1987 to 1989 he was their resident partner in London. Barrett was appointed as a part-time member of the Companies and Securities Law Review Committee between 1983 and 1987. In 1991 Barrett left Allens to become Group Secretary and

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 ...

for

which had been one of his clients at Allens. From 1991 he was a part-time member of the Commonwealth Companies and Securities Advisory Committee and convenor of its legal committee. In May 1995 Barrett became a partner at

where he practised until his commission as a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 2001. In 1997 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

Appeal Tribunal and then Chairman in January 1998. As a corporate and securities law specialist he was involved in several important and complex Australian corporate cases: the 1995

Challenge Bank merger, the NRMA insurance demutualisation, Comalco's takeover of Rio Tinto and the Australian Stock Exchange demutualisation and self-listing which was a world first. Barrett has been noted for his commitment to legal education. From 1973 to 1974 and from 1976 to 1987 (when he left Australia to work in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

), he was a part-time lecturer at the Sydney Law School of The University of Sydney. He was also a consultant to the Legal Workshop,

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 and ...

from 1973 to 1977. He chaired the Legal Qualifications Committee of the New South Wales Legal Practitioners Admission Board (200406) which he had joined in 2002. Barrett has been a member of the editorial board of the '' Company & Securities Law Journal'' since it began publication in 1982. He was the general editor of Robson's Annotated Corporations Legislation from 2010 to 2019, and is a member of the advisory board of Practical Law Australia and an assistant editor of the New South Wales Law Reports. Barrett was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales on 19 March 2001. In 2012 he was commissioned as a Judge on 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 ...

. Barrett retired from both positions with effect from 20 April 2015. On 10 June 2019 he was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the law, and to the judiciary, particularly in the area of corporations law and legislation.

Personal life

On the 1 August 1970 he married Susan, the daughter of Mervyn G. and Dorothy M. Campbell. They have two sons. He has sung with the Sydney Philharmonic Choir including as one of their twelve hundred at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Reginald Ian Living people Lawyers from Sydney People educated at Newcastle Boys' High School Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales 1944 births Sydney Law School alumni