John Harber Phillips

John Harber Phillips, AC, QC (18 October 19337 August 2009) was an Australian lawyer and judge who served as Chief Justice of Victoria from 1991 to 2003. He was first appointed to the Victorian Supreme Court in 1984, having previously been the state's director of public prosecutions as well as a director of the National Crime Authority.

Early years Phillips was born on 18 October 1933 in Melbourne to parents Anthony Michael and Ivy Muriel Phillips. He attended Presentation Convent and De La Salle College, Malvern and then undertook his tertiary education at the University of Melbourne where he obtained an LL.B. degree. He undertook his legal articles at the firm of Dooley & Breen solicitors. He was called to the Victorian Bar in 1959 and read with Victor Belson. He became a Member of the Victorian Bar Council in 1974 and continued to be a member of that Council until 1984. He also served as chairman of the Victorian Criminal Bar Association. His co-counsel Andrew Kirkham in the trial remarked that Phillips was "one of the best trial lawyers in the country". His skills as counsel were described as being that of a "very elegant street fighter, swift and deceptive". In the following year he was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, holding that appointment until 1990. In 1990 he was appointed chairman of the National Crime Authority and also at the same time he also was appointed a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia. As head of the National Crime Authority and also Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions he worked to improve the efficiency of the Courts.

He was appointed as Chief Justice of Victoria in 1991. Phillips was appointed to the court under Attorney General Jim Kennan. He also introduced Open Days at the Court in which he personally gave guided tours of the court building.

As Chief Justice, he led what was called the “Spring Offensive”. In 2002, he was the Inaugural Chairperson of the Judicial College of Victoria, and he was also the chair of Working Party that set the college up. He presided over a ceremony that marked appointment of notaries locally rather than by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Victoria University awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Laws for his "exceptional contribution to the law and law reform" on 5 August 2003.

Retirement Phillips retired on 17 October 2003 when he turned 70, which is the compulsory retirement age for judges in Victoria. His retirement dinner was held in the Queen Hall at the Victorian Parliament House on 17 October 2003. At the dinner, Phillips talked about Italian judge Giovanni Falcone who was murdered in Sicily by explosives placed under a road. Phillips described him as one of his “judicial heroes”. At the dinner, the Attorney General described Phillips as “a man who thinks before he speaks, who measures his words and makes each one count”.