NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos announced the appointments of Justice Anthony Whealy as a Judge of Appeal and of barrister John Sackar, QC as a Supreme Court judge.

“Justice Whealy and Mr Sacker are highly respected within the NSW legal system and I anticipate they will serve with distinction in their new roles,” Hatzistergos said.

Justice Whealy has sat on the bench of the Supreme Court for a decade. He presided over the two-year trial of five men convicted and jailed over a terrorism plot, as well as the trial of Faheem Lodhi, who became the first person in NSW convicted under counter-terrorism laws.

Justice Whealy was also the presiding judge on the insider trading trial of stockbroker Rene Rivkin.

He lead the 12-month trial of members of the Ronen family for a $15 million tax fraud, as well as a civil case in which Irish man, Garry Mulligan, unsuccessfully sued Coffs Harbour City Council and the State of NSW after he struck his head on a sandbar and became a quadriplegic.

Prior to taking public office, Justice Whealy practised as a barrister for almost 30 years, specialising in liquor licensing law. He was appointed a Queens Counsel in 1984.

Justice Sackar has been practising law for 37 years, primarily in general commercial law including trade practices, banking and insurance law and media law.

VIEW ALL

He was admitted as a barrister in 1975 and appointed a Queens Counsel in NSW in 1987. He has also attained the title of Queens Counsel in Victoria, ACT, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Justice Sackar has appeared in all courts in Australia and regularly appears before the NSW Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia. He has also appeared as junior and leading counsel in the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in appeals from Australia and Brunei.

Justice Whealy’s appointment as a Judge of Appeal commences on January 31, 2011, while Mr Sackar will be sworn in as a judge of the Supreme Court on February 1, 2011.