Background
Bernard Sugerman was born on 5 July 1904 at Rockdale, New South Wales to Solomon Ruben Sugerman and Florrie (née Green).
Bernard Sugerman was born on 5 July 1904 at Rockdale, New South Wales to Solomon Ruben Sugerman and Florrie (née Green).
Sugerman graduated with an Bachelor of Laws with First-Class Honours and co-University Medallist.
Florrie was from Russia and died in 1905, and Solomon Sugerman, a commercial traveller from Scotland, remarried in 1907. Barrister His practice grew slowly and he was appointed KC in October 1943, after which he began to be briefed in important constitutional cases before the High Court of Australia. He had been one of the Commonwealth"s advisers at the 1942 Constitutional Convention.
Legal scholar and editor Between 1926-1943, He lectured at his alma mater, the Sydney Law School, on contracts, mercantile law and torts.
He became the first editor (1927-1946) of the Australian Law Journal (ALJ), only leaving that post on being elevated to the bench. On the presentation of his portrait to the New South Wales Supreme Court, it was said that the "endurance, renewal and national place of the ALJ is one of his most permanent monuments." He was editor-in-chief of the Australian Digest (1934-1939) and editor of the Commonwealth Law Reports (1942-1946).
Sugerman was appointed to the bench of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration to make a full bench to hear the application by trade unions for a shorter standard working week of 40 hours. On completion of that case, he resigned and was appointed to the New South Wales Supreme Court on 10 September 1947.
Sugerman remained head of the Land and Valuation Court until 1961 but also was called upon to sit in equity and, over time, the Full Court and the Court of Appeal.
He sat on the Full Court to hear the landmark New South Wales state constitutional law case of Clayton v Heffron (1960) NSWR 592 where he joined the majority, writing a joint judgment with Chief Justice Evatt. He was passed over for appointment as first president of the new Court of Appeal in 1965, but he became its second president on 22 January 1970 but ill health led him to retire on 29 September 1972. Sugerman was also active in Sydney"s Jewish community.
He was a council-member of the New South Wales Bar Association (1939-1943) and deputy-president of the Solicitors Admission Board (1941-1943).