It is a great pleasure to welcome this evening the Honourable K R Handley AO QC to address us on Developments in Proprietary and Promissory Estoppel.

His Honour has had a distinguished career, first as a barrister in NSW, for thirty years, then as a judge of the NSW Court of Appeal , for twenty three years.

In 2001 His Honour sat, in the face of significant physical risk, as one of the judges of the Fiji Court of Appeal which determined that the 1997 Constitution of Fiji remained in force following the coup d’état in that country.

His Honour spent some of his youth in Fiji, was educated at Beecroft Grammar School, at Cranbrook School and at the University of Sydney, and has had a lifelong association with the Anglican Church.  He has been a president of the Council of Cranbrook School and a Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney.

I don’t just mention these achievements  as a way of paying tribute to a distinguished guest, but also as an observation that His Honour worked hard as a young man to make the most of the opportunities created by previous generations of distinguished men and women, and then in his turn excelled, continued working very hard, and contributed to the continuation and development of the institutions he knew and valued:  The schoolboy became a school board member and president, the congregant became a Chancellor, and the law student became a lawyer and a senior judge.

This is an inspiring story, one that must encourage all of us to examine our own lives and to see how we can better contribute to the institutions, communities and families that have nourished us.

I hope that His Honour’s presence here this evening is a confirmation of the worth of the aims of this fledgling association, as we seek to promote the practice of law as a profession and not just a business, and as we seek to support each other as part of a community of professionals.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Honourable Ken Handley.