State Heritage Convention

The Hon David K Malcolm AC Cit WA
Chief Justice of Western Australia

The Hon David Kingsley Malcolm AC Cit WA was appointed Chief Justice of Western Australia in 1988. In 1990 he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Western Australia. In 1992 he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia. In 1999 he was elected as an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, London. In 2000 he was awarded the Honour of Citizen of the Year in Western Australia in the category of the Professions.

He graduated with an LL.B from the University of Western Australia in 1959 with first class honours and was Rhodes Scholar from Western Australia in 1960. In 1962 he obtained his BCL at Oxford with first class honours. He was admitted to practice in 1964. He was a partner with the firm of Freehill Hollingdale & Page and its predecessor firm in Perth from 1964 to 1979. He acted as Counsel and Deputy General Counsel for the Asian Development Bank based in Manila between 1967 and 1970.

He practised widely in many areas of the law including commercial and corporate law, mining, media, shipping and administrative law. He was Chairman of the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia in 1976 and from 1979 to 1982 and a member of the Copyright Tribunal from 1979 to 1982. He was Queen's Counsel from 1980 to 1988, President of the Western Australian Bar Association from 1981 to 1984 and Vice President of the Australian Bar Association in 1984.

He was Vice President of the Law Society of Western Australia from 1986 to 1988 and Chairman, Town Planning Appeals Tribunal from 1978 to 1986. He has been the Chairman of the Judicial Section of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific since 1991. He has been a member of LAWASIA since 1968. He is the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Crime Research Centre at the University of Western Australia, President of the Western Australian Branch of the International Commission of Jurists and a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for the Reform of Criminal Law.