Sir Laurence Whistler Street Air Corps, Knight Commander of the Order of Street Michael and Saint George, Queen's Counsel is an Australian jurist and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
Background
Street is the son of a New South Wales Supreme Court Chief Justice. His father Sir Kenneth Street was Chief Justice between 1950 and 1960 following in the footsteps of Sir Laurence"s grandfather, Sir Philip Whistler Street. His mother Jessie Street was renowned for her work for Aboriginal and women"s rights.
Education
Street attended the Cranbook School in Bellevue Hill.
Career
He was the third generation of the Street family to have served New South Wales in this role. She "masterminded the formation of the Aboriginal Rights Organisation, which led to the successful referendum held in 1967". After a stint in the Royal Australian Navy, he studied law at the University of Sydney.
Street became a barrister at the New South Wales Bar in 1951.
As a barrister he practised extensively in equity, commercial law and maritime law. In 1965 he was appointed judge of the New South Wales Supreme Court in the Equity Division.
In 1974, at age 47, Street became the state"s second-youngest Chief Justice (Sir Alfred Stephen was 42 when appointed Chief Justice in 1844). Since 1989 he has worked as a commercial mediator and an alternative dispute resolution consultant.
This work has included 1,500 mediations, mainly involving major commercial disputes.
In 2007 he branched out into criminal law, heading a review of a decision by the Queensland Director of Public Prosecution in the Chris Hurley case. He is a patron of the Jessie Street National Women's Library named in memory of his mother. Street has said: "I"ve never felt constrained in my private life by the cast-iron requirements of society.
I have led a life that has not necessarily always conformed to the strict Victorian standards".
Achievements
Views
Quotations:
"I"ve never felt constrained in my private life by the cast-iron requirements of society. I got divorced, I remarried, and had a second family of one. I have led a life that has not necessarily always conformed to the strict Victorian standards".
Membership
He is a member of several professional organisations, including an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Building. And an Honorary Member of the Society of Construction Law Australia.
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George; Order of Australia
Order of St Michael and St George; Companion of the Order of Australia
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later King George IV, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, King George III.
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later King George IV, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, King George III.