Francis Burt Chambers was privileged to have the Hon Justice Katrina Banks-Smith of the Federal Court of Australia deliver the 2024 Sir Francis Burt Oration.
Joined by members of the judiciary, the Independent Bar, the legal profession and Sir Francis Burt’s family, her Honour presented on the topic: ‘The Court of Law and the Court of Public Opinion: Reconciling the judicial process with public perceptions’.
Justice Banks-Smith’s analysis of “the push-pull between those concepts of legal justice and public opinion advance discussions and understandings of justice ‘from time to time’” was challenging and insightful.
Using a series of examples from a variety of jurisdictions, her Honour stated that “legal justice and what I will call popular justice can and do work together to bring about change”. “The media, and in particular the mainstream media and informed investigative Sir Francis Burt Oration 2024 journalism, has the capacity to disclose issues that are not sufficiently addressed by the justice system at a particular time, and so is a powerful driver of change.”
The annual Sir Francis Burt Oration honours the founder of the Independent Bar in WA, former Chief Justice and Governor of WA, Sir Francis Burt AC KCMG QC.
Her Honour’s paper is available here.