Tight-knit law cohort celebrates 50 years

The UQ Law School Class of 1970 is a tight-knit bunch, holding reunions every five years. But easily the best-attended one was in 1995.

“They all came along to that one,” laughs event host the Honourable Leneen Forde AC.

“Not only those who’d been together doing Law at uni, but their husbands and wives too. They weren’t going to miss that.”

Of course, the venue had a fair bit to do with the legal eagles’ enthusiasm – Government House, where Forde served as Governor of Queensland from 1992 to 1997. By all accounts, it was a memorable night – Joseph Ganim, a spritely member of the Class of 1970, who worked his law firm to become a national powerhouse, cracked up the assembled company when he referred to Forde as ‘Your Majesty’.

There were also some legal questions to be resolved, as Governor Forde may soon have needed to exercise one of her reserve powers in relation to the Mundingburra by-election.

As Tim O’Dwyer, one of those present, recalled it, “so we checked out the lawyers present for those best able to give Her Excellency some free constitutional advice.

“Jeff McPhee was our most qualified graduate but he could not be present because he was in India. We got in touch but, because he was on a Trappist retreat, he could offer only one cryptic word: SPASM.

“We worked out that this was actually an acronym for “Simply Pray and Say Mantras.”

Fortunately, Forde did neither as she was eventually not required to make any reserve powers intervention.

The Class of 1970 reunited again late last year, this time at the less opulent but extremely pleasant and convivial surroundings of Saint Lucy Caffé e Cucina at UQ's St Lucia campus. It was also an anniversary reunion, marking 50 years since the Class of 1970 left the Great Court to become solicitors and barristers.

An image of Derek Murphy, Leneen Forde and William Duncan at the UQ Law School Class of 1970 50th reunion.

Derek Murphy, Leneen Forde and William Duncan at the UQ Law School Class of 1970 50th reunion. Images: Dony Rodriguez

Derek Murphy, Leneen Forde and William Duncan at the UQ Law School Class of 1970 50th reunion. Images: Dony Rodriguez

Forde is probably the best known of the class, being not only a Queensland Governor but also Chair of the Commission of Inquiry into the abuse of children in state institutions – a landmark inquiry which found that abuse had occurred and led to 42 recommendations which were to have a deep impact on child protection in Queensland.

But what’s less well-known is Forde’s time before she became governor, when she was widowed at a young age with five children and was working as a medical laboratory technician before undertaking law studies, from which she graduated at age 35.

“There were very few mature-aged students at the time, and I was about 15 years older than the rest of the cohort,” she said.

“But they were very pleasant to me, even if they seemed like youths.”

In academic terms, the star of the class was Professor Denis Galligan, who became a Rhodes Scholar for Queensland in 1971, taking him off to Oxford University. He never returned, and is still undertaking an academic legal career at Oxford.

Another prominent member of the Class of 1970 whose career was spent overseas was Buri Kidu, later to become Sir Buri Kidu. A native Papua New Guinean, he came to Australia to attend school, becoming school captain of Toowoomba Grammar before undertaking his law degree at UQ.

When he returned to PNG, Kidu worked for the government, mostly in the legal section, but he was also Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Department from 1979 to 1980, before being appointed as the first national Chief Justice of PNG in 1980, only 10 years after graduating from UQ.

A theme of his tenure was the independence of the judiciary. He secured independent funding of the judiciary, with a separate appropriation bill, so its budget was not in control of the Justice Minister at the time.

He had a statutory appointment of 10 years and then served another three. He died in early 1994, not yet 50.

Donald Muller, David Searles, Beth Barr and Bruce Hoare at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Donald Muller, David Searles, Beth Barr and Bruce Hoare at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Donald Muller, David Searles, Beth Barr and Bruce Hoare at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Tim O'Dwyer chats with Barbara Newton at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Tim O'Dwyer chats with Barbara Newton at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Tim O'Dwyer chats with Barbara Newton at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Carmel MacDonald chats with Jane Meltzer.

Carmel MacDonald chats with Jane Meltzer.

Carmel MacDonald chats with Jane Meltzer.

Gregory Gosper, Steve Karas, and David Searles.

Gregory Gosper, Steve Karas, and David Searles.

Gregory Gosper, Steve Karas, and David Searles.

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Donald Muller, David Searles, Beth Barr and Bruce Hoare at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Donald Muller, David Searles, Beth Barr and Bruce Hoare at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Donald Muller, David Searles, Beth Barr and Bruce Hoare at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Tim O'Dwyer chats with Barbara Newton at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Tim O'Dwyer chats with Barbara Newton at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Tim O'Dwyer chats with Barbara Newton at the Class of 1970 reunion.

Carmel MacDonald chats with Jane Meltzer.

Carmel MacDonald chats with Jane Meltzer.

Carmel MacDonald chats with Jane Meltzer.

Gregory Gosper, Steve Karas, and David Searles.

Gregory Gosper, Steve Karas, and David Searles.

Gregory Gosper, Steve Karas, and David Searles.

The 1970s was also an era when women were starting to become more empowered and, although not many women were in the Class of 1970, several of those who were went on to have high-achieving careers.

Barbara Newton became the first female Public Defender in Queensland, when she was appointed to head that office in 1987, while Carmel MacDonald (nee Kelly) became an academic at Queensland University of Technology’s School of Law and was also Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Tribunals, before being appointed as President of the Land Court.

The role of women is chronicled at some length in the work of another who started studying law with the Class of 1970, Dr Susan Currie, a lawyer and academic who wrote profiles of female judges and barristers in Queensland in A woman’s place: 100 years of Queensland women lawyers.

These women were to play an important ongoing role mentoring other women in Queensland’s legal system.

Towards the end of the 1970s, although the careers of several were progressing, life was still a lot more difficult for women than for men in the legal system. Forde had the experience of having a man who had joined the law firm at which she worked become partner while she was passed over. But at least she was paid the same as men, which was not always the case in Brisbane legal circles at the time. Insurance premiums for women indemnity lawyers were twice what they were for men.

So, they had plenty to complain about. In 1978, several women convened a meeting at the UQ Staff Club, which led to the formation of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland. Forde was its inaugural president.

Four of those original members still meet regularly for lunch in Brisbane, along with the slightly younger the Honourable Margaret McMurdo AC, a former president of the Queensland Court of Appeal, who had been mentored by the Association throughout the 1970s.

Click on the image above to view photos of life at UQ in the 1970s.

Click on the image above to view photos of life at UQ in the 1970s.

Judges, in the form of Their Honours, are well represented in the Class of 1970. The Honourable Jeffrey Spender QC was a judge of the Federal Court from 1984 to 2010, the Honourable David Searles was a judge of the District Court of Queensland from 2007 to 2017, while the Honourable Michael Noud was a District Court judge from 1989 to 2016.

Steve Karas AO was a Senior Member of the Immigration Review Tribunal from 1989 to 1999, before becoming a senior member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Frank Clair was chair of the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC), a forerunner to the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

Not all went into the legal field – Reverend Jeff McPhee, after being a solicitor for a few years, then became an Anglican priest.

And some went in to private practice, particularly Ganim, who was at Surfers Paradise beach with good mate Paul Hopgood in 1974 when they decided they would set up their own law firm, using a stick to draw in the sand the way this would happen. HopgoodGanim now has a national presence and nearly 300 employees, but it also has a reputation for innovation – they were the first Queensland law firm to have one of those new-fangled devices, the fax machine.

Andrew Knott is the only graduate still in practice, albeit part-time, as a consultant at Holding Redlich, while David Phipps, who served as a Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal referee, is still a prominent figure in Brisbane as President of the Queensland Club.

Tim O’Dwyer took a different route from many of his colleagues in the early 1970s, not heading for the city offices of the big law firms in central Brisbane, but hanging up his shingle at Woodridge, then a growing dormitory suburb in the northern extremities of the Albert Shire. Originally specialising in conveyancing, as Logan grew, so did he – handling his clients’ sales and purchases, their traffic matters, and sometimes even their divorces.

But O’Dwyer’s profile outgrew Logan, and he morphed into a strident consumer advocate and became, as he admits, “an appalling media tart”. He fronted television and wrote newspaper columns as a consumer advocate, as well as penning a book, Real estate escapes, which he notes with pride still hasn’t been put into the remainder bin.

At University he had written a slim volume of poetry, but mercifully, he didn’t read from it at the 50th reunion. But Andrew Knott read some, Bill Duncan made a speech, and by all accounts the afternoon was very jolly. And why not? Getting together 50 years after graduation is something to celebrate.