Chris Maxwell

Christopher Murray Maxwell is an Australian jurist. He succeeded Justice John Winneke as President of the Victorian Court of Appeal on 16 July 2005.

Career Maxwell was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne where he was resident at Trinity College. He played rugby and Australian rules football at Trinity, where he was the senior student in 1973. After graduating with honours in 1974, he was selected as Victorian Rhodes Scholar for 1975, completing a Bachelor of Philosophy at Oxford University. In 1978, he became a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in London practising briefly at the English Bar. He signed the Victorian Bar Roll in 1984 and became a QC in 1998.

In 2019, Maxwell heard the high profile County Court appeal of Cardinal George Pell against his conviction for the commission of sexual offences. Maxwell concurred with the Court of Appeal 2-1 majority rejecting the appeal, which was subsequently overruled by the High Court.

During an appeal into a drug importation conviction by Tony Mokbel due to the actions of Nicola Gobbo in providing information to Victoria Police, Maxwell called the actions of Gobbo and others involved in her informing "disgraceful" and a "matter of profound importance".

Maxwell is an adjunct professor at Victoria University. He is married with three children. His wife Sarah is a daughter of Sir Ninian Stephen who was a Governor-General of Australia and High Court Justice.