Des Andersen QC’s death brings back memories of the heady days when corruption was off the leash … More new Yarraside silks than usual … Bar election in Qld in the final furlong  

Journalist Evan Whitton kept tabs on Des and noted in Can of Worms, the bible on corrupt doings in Sydney and elsewhere, that he acted in the Wran royal commission for George David Freeman, a criminal and the purveyor of horse racing tips to the corrupt chief magistrate Murray Farquhar. 

Relatively early in the proceedings, Andersen asked royal commissioner Sir Lorenzo Street to recommend to the government that Freeman’s costs be made a charge on the public purse. 

Whitton noted that this application was accompanied “by what seemed like a sharp intake of collective breath”. 

Andersen said this was justified because Freeman had been “embroiled unwillingly” in the commission. The application was stood over. 

The formal name for the Wran Royal Commission was “A Royal Commission into Certain Committal Proceedings against K.E. Humphries”. It investigated the allegation that the premier had tried to influence Farquhar in relation to charges against rugby league supremo, Kevin Humphreys, who had chiseled funds from the Balmain Leagues Club.  

The upshot was that Street cleared Wran, but Farquhar ended up in prison and Humphreys got a fine and a two year good behaviour bond. Kevin Murray QC acted for Humphreys at his trial. 

“The morning session got off to an intriguing start. First to rise and putting me irresistibly in mind of an ibis coming out of a swamp – was the tall, bald and angular Desmond Andersen, for George David Freeman, horse race tipster for Murray Farquhar, former chief stipendiary magistrate. Mr Andersen begged leave to withdraw from the commission until such time as Mr Freeman should actually have to give evidence, thought to be next week. 

‘There is a matter,’ Mr Andersen said, ‘of a stretched financial position affecting my client, impecuniosity …’ Which suggested that, sadly, Mr Freeman’s remarkable facility for foretelling the result of horse races – stated in 1977 to have been within two percentage points of being totally accurate – has, only momentarily, we may hope, deserted him.” 

Here’s a slice of Freeman doing show and tell with the media … 

Andersen also appeared as junior to Chester Porter for District Court Judge John Foord who had been charged with two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice in the Morgan Ryan case. 

This arose out of allegations from Judge Paul Flannery that Foord had leant on him and chief magistrate Clarrie Briese to go softly on the charges against Ryan. Flannery had been a classmate of Foord’s at Waverley College. Foord had a longstanding professional relationship with Ryan and also had been a junior to Lionel Murphy in an 18 month compensation case concerning an employee’s injured kneecap. 

The Foord case bore similarities to the charges against Lionel Murphy that arose from statements by Briese and Flannery. 

According to Can of Worms, Porter told the jury that Judge Foord had “become a casualty in someone else’s war” – that there had been a political war between Briese and Premier Neville Wran and High Court judge Murphy. 

Foord was found not guilty on both counts on October 1, 1985. 

He was welcomed back to the bench by Major General Kevin Murray QC and Barry Larbalestier QC. For a third time, Foord was stood down as a judge after publication of an academic analysis of shortcomings in the way he decided cases and gave sentences. 

Foord resigned from the bench on medical grounds in 1986.  

The new Victorian silks list is longer than usual, 23 instead of the usual 16-18. Observers say it is much more weighted to senior, senior juniors than in previous years. 

New knighthoods for Vic’s Bar n Grill pic.twitter.com/6TEHqKBsUx

— Justinian (@JustinianNews) November 23, 2017

Yarraside rumours suggest that many previously unsuccessful applicants, who thought they had been blackballed by the Earl Warren CJ, reapplied this year hoping that Anne Ferguson would smile on them more favourably. 

As we reported last week, this means a new election for what Banana Benders call “practising members of council”. 

There has been general concern from bar big-wigs that not enough members are bothering to vote a second time around. 

The new bar prez, Sandy Thompson, this week issued a plea to the rank and file: 

“I appreciate that the need for a second ballet for the council members has created some inconvenience for us all. I urge you all to vote again.” 

At least now we have Angela’s election manifesto, replete with typos. Enjoy: 

Subject: Vote for a Position on Bar Council

Dear Colleagues,

I seek your vote for a position on the Bar council on the basis that I am keen to make a difference to the way we, as Barristers, do business.

If elected I assure you that I will work tirelessly to improve the manner in which we are briefed (including examining the systems used by the Bar in Victoria and NSW).

I am also a trained AICD director with extensive experience in company finances and will use those skills to endeavour to reduce the Bar Association’s costs such that it reflects on what we are liable for on an annual basis. If the southern States can operated well without the high costs to Barristers, there is no reason why we, in Queensland, can’t do the same.

Thank you for considering me and I welcome your vote.

With kind regards  

Angela Julian-Armitage  LLB GAICD FMIA
Barrister-at-Law
Level 16, PD Connolly Chambers