Narrabri can now claim its first judge of the District Court of NSW following the official swearing in of former resident Stephen Hanley.
Justice Hanley’s wife, barrister Pauline David, and his sister Leonie and daughter-in-law Kolude were present at the Sydney ceremony to offer their congratulations.
Mr Hanley is the son of the late Col and Vera Hanley, prominent residents of Narrabri for many years.
After attending St. Francis Xavier’s School in Narrabri, Mr Hanley was a boarder at De La Salle College, Armidale and later attended New England and Sydney universities. He began his legal career as a solicitor in 1977 and established his own specialist law practice in 1979. He was admitted to the Bar in 1986 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2010.
“Mr Hanley has been a leading criminal defence barrister in NSW for more than a quarter of a century, representing defendants charged with a range of serious and complex offences, including murder, terrorism and money laundering,” Attorney-General Greg Smith said.
He appeared in some of the first people smuggling and sex slave
trafficking trials in NSW. Mr Hanley represented people called to give evidence at the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption, the Royal Commission into drug trafficking and hearings conducted by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Police Integrity Commission, the Crime Commission of NSW and the National Crime Authority.
There are 65 District Court judges in NSW. It is highly unlikely Justice Hanley will ever hear a case in Narrabri, which has not had a District Court sitting for 15 years.