New Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia

Professor James Edelman has been appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court following the retirement of the Hon Justice Blaxell.

Attorney General Christian Porter said Professor Edelman would commence in the position on July 25, 2011.

"Professor Edelman is a young, dynamic, internationally-recognised lawyer and academic," Mr Porter said.

"His appointment represents a significant coup for the Supreme Court of Western Australia."

Professor Edelman graduated from The University of Western Australia (UWA) with a Bachelor of Laws degree, First Class Honours, in 1996 before being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, which enabled him to complete a Doctor of Philosophy in Law degree at the University of Oxford in 2001.  He was also awarded a Master of Arts (Honorary) degree from that university in 2005.

He also completed a Bachelor of Economics from UWA in 1995 and a Bachelor of Commerce from Murdoch University in 1997.

Professor Edelman completed his articles of clerkship with Blake Dawson Waldron and was admitted to practice in 1998.

Since 2001 he has maintained a practice in WA, practising as a barrister from the chambers of Malcolm McCusker where he has been instructed and appeared as lead counsel in applications, trials or appeals in the Federal Court, District Court WA, Supreme Court WA, Court of Appeal WA and the High Court of Australia.  He also practises as a barrister in London with chambers at One Essex Court.

Since 2002 he has held esteemed positions lecturing at universities in Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States of America, most recently as a fellow and lecturer of Keble College, Oxford. 

In 2008 he was appointed Professor of the Law of Obligations in the Faculty of Law at Oxford, becoming the youngest ever professor of law in the history of that university. 

He won an Excellence in Teaching Award from Oxford in both 2007 and 2010 and was the winner of the UK Society of Legal Scholars Prize for the most outstanding legal scholarship in 2003.

"Professor Edelman has edited six books and published more than 80 articles, notes and reviews on topics ranging from criminal to contract law," the Attorney General said.

"As an editor or adviser of a number of law journals, including the Law Quarterly Review and Oxford Journal of Commonwealth Law, his academic work has been cited by courts throughout the common law world, including in Australia and New Zealand."