Michael Kirby, Mr. Justice Kirby of the High Court [1] is known to love the limelight and he doubtless was tickled when the latest issue of Australian Business described him as the Rock star of the bench [2].
In a wide ranging account drawn from a speech to university students he talked about the organization of judgments:
“I know the real reason you love me,” Justice Kirby said.
“Headings. Headings. Sub-headings. Sub-sub-headings. Indent dot points. That’s the real reason.”
Kirby had some other helpful hints for those who find his judgments time-consuming. “You don’t communicate ideas if you write High Court judgments in the way that the High Court justices did in my time. Just think of my time in law school. I had to sit there reading page after page without a single paragraph.
“So that’s what you get from me. I’m the sort of CCH of legal publishing. I believe in making it easy. You can skip all the stuff you don’t want to read and go straight to the point where the sub-sub-sub heading tells you what the gist of the matter is.
“That is a great help and I think I should get a big round of applause.”