Raymond Finkelstein

Raymond Finkelstein QC is an Australian lawyer and judge. From 1997 until 2011, he served as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. His judgments were highly influential in commercial law, giving rise to new approaches in insolvency, competition law and class actions.

Early life and Education

Finkelstein was born in Munich, Germany in July 1946. His father, Wolf Finkelstein grew up in Poland, near the border with Ukraine. World War II led Wolf Finkelstein to Germany, where he met fellow Pole Lisa Altstock.

In 1951, as stateless Jews, the family came to Melbourne, Australia by boat.

Finkelstein's secondary education was at Elwood High School, where he was reportedly a rebellious and disobedient student.

In 1965, he was accepted to study at Monash University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Jurisprudence.

Finkelstein was a teaching fellow at Monash University Law School from 1974-1975.

Career

In 1975 Finkelstein began practicing as a barrister at the Victorian bar. He shared chambers with Ron Castan, Alan Goldberg and Ron Merkel, which eventually became one of Australia's busiest commercial practices. He was made a Queen's Counsel in 1986. In 1992, he served for one year as the Victorian Solicitor-General.

Finkelstein was appointed as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia on 21 July 1997. By that point, his colleagues Goldberg and Merkel were also on the bench. It made Melbourne a hub for corporate law litigation. At one point in time, around 90% of corporate cases in the Federal Court were listed in Victoria.

He has presided over a number of notable cases, including the trial of prominent Australian businessman Steve Vizard, in which he sentenced Vizard to a $390,000 fine and a ban from holding company directorships for 10 years. His judgment of Vizard attracted widespread media attention, as it contained scathing attacks on the moral culpability of the businessman, and on white collar crime more broadly.

Finkelstein has been described as "independent, full of ideas, and unpredictable", often drawing on practices from other jurisdictions to inform the court's ruling, both procedural and substantive. He was also President of the Australian Competition Tribunal.

Views on judicial activism

Finkelstein entered into the debate on judicial activism in a journal article published in the Monash University Law Review, in which he stated that, while he opposes judges acting as "ad hoc legislators", it is naive to think that a judge's background, education, heritage and personal ethical views do not influence their decisions.