Elkaim joins ACT Supreme Court
Former NSW District Court judge Michael Elkaim joined the bench as the ACT’s fifth resident Supreme Court justice and the only Jewish judge in the ACT earlier this month.
FORMER NSW District Court judge Michael Elkaim joined the bench as the ACT’s fifth resident Supreme Court justice and the only Jewish judge in the ACT earlier this month.
Elkaim told The AJN that he enjoyed his time on the NSW District Court bench, to which he was appointed in 2008, but is “very pleased to have worked my way up to a Supreme Court position”.
Elkaim has 30 years’ experience as a barrister, practising in common, family, criminal and commercial law, as well as criminal, appellate and civil matters.
“I hope my background will assist me [in the Supreme Court] but I think my experience as a judge of the District Court will be of more assistance,” he said.
“I felt honoured to have succeeded against a wide range of applicants,” Elkaim said, adding that the interview process was “comprehensive but fair”.
ACT Attorney-General Simon Corbell said that Elkaim brings the temperament, skills and intellectual capacity needed for the important role of a Supreme Court judge.
“I’m confident he will discharge his duties very effectively,” Corbell said.
The appointment comes after seven years of pressure to appoint a fifth permanent judge; former ACT Supreme Court chief justice Terence Higgins warned in 2009 that the court’s rising case load and backlog was too much for four judges.
There has been considerable reductions in the backlog since Chief Justice Helen Murrell implemented changes, including a new system of intensively listing criminal trials in 2011.
Between 2011 and 2015, the number of cases that were outstanding for more than year have dropped from 28 per cent to 15 per cent.
The changes in the Supreme Court, including Elkaim’s appointment, has eased the frustration of victims, offenders, witnesses, lawyers and judges, something that Elkaim hopes to continue.
YAEL BRENDER
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