Frank Hooke was born in Australia. His formative education took place in Sydney, at the University of Sydney, one of the country's oldest institutions of higher learning.
His later professional life developed in the Australian legal profession, a field shaped by the country's common law tradition and by the growth of international commercial practice in the decades after the Second World War.
Hooke studied at the University of Sydney, where he obtained a diploma. Founded in 1850, the university was the first established in Australia and has long been among the country's leading centres for legal education.
Legal education in New South Wales has traditionally combined university study with professional admission to practise, the pathway that preceded Hooke's admission to the bar in 1966.
Hooke worked as a partner of Baker & McKenzie. The firm was launched in Chicago in 1949 by Russell Baker and John McKenzie, and it became one of the earliest law firms to practise across national borders. It opened its first overseas office in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1955, and its Melbourne office became its thirtieth office in 1982.
Hooke was admitted to the bar in New South Wales, Australia, in 1966. Admission marked the start of his professional practice as a lawyer in that state. Baker & McKenzie's Australian partnership is now part of the firm's worldwide network of offices, which today operates in roughly 47 countries.
