Chief Justice Holmes to depart after more than two decades on the bench
Queenslandās Chief Justice Catherine Holmes has announced her resignation after a little over six years in the post.
Justice Holmes, a prominent member of the stateās judiciary for nearly 22 years and one of the Queenslandās most experienced legal practitioners, issued a short statement on Tuesday saying she will step down on 19 March next year.
āBy that date, I will have been Chief Justice for six and half years and a judge of the Supreme Court for 22 years,ā she said.
āIt has been a pleasure and a privilege to hold both positions.ā
Besides achieving a long and distinguished career on the Supreme Court bench, Holmes chaired the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry and was counsel assisting the Forde Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse in the late 1990s.
Attorney-General Sharon Fentiman praised Holmesā leadership of the court throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, saying she ensured Queenslanders continued to have access to justice over that time.
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āShe is one of the foremost legal minds in the State, and she has proved a steadfast leader of the Queensland justice system during her tenure as Chief Justice,ā Ms Fentiman said.
āIn this role she has displayed the intellect and tenacity refined during a unique career in the judiciary and the law.ā
In an interview with InQueensland at the height of pandemic last year, Holmes complained about the standard of technology in the courts, insisting he pandemic had shown the necessity for electronic case management.
That intervention prompted the government to set aside extra funding in last yearās Budget for a technology upgrade.
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Fentiman said that Holmes had also been an inspiration to generations of women lawyers in Queensland.
āHer Honour was a founding member of the Womenās Legal Service, and she was part of a generation who helped establish the position of women in the legal profession, as a prosecutor, as a barrister in private practice and as a judicial officer.ā
āOver four decades of service to the justice system, Chief Justice Holmes has helped to build the strong representation of women we see today on the Bench in Queensland and across the legal profession.ā
Queensland Law Society President Elizabeth Shearer expressed gratitude for the āfine leadership and service of the Chief Justiceā.
āChief Justice Holmes serves the people of Queensland tirelessly, and with great distinction,ā she said.
āShe is the first woman to have held the role of Chief Justice at the apex of our court system in Queensland, and her leadership is of particular inspiration to women in the legal profession.
āWe look forward to the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate her contribution to the administration of justice in Queensland more formally in 2022.ā
Ā
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