Hicksons Lawyers recently sponsored the premiere screening of a documentary film about former High Court Justice, the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG, titled Michael Kirby: Don’t Forget the Justice Bit.

The premiere event was held on Thursday 29 April 2010 at the NSW Parliament Theatrette in Sydney. Hicksons Senior Partner Alan Blanch was the host and master of ceremony for the event.

Alan introduced the Hon. Sir Laurence Street AC KCMG QC, former Chief Justice of NSW, who officially launched the documentary. It was appropriate that Sir Laurence launched the documentary as he was Chief Justice of NSW when Michael Kirby was appointed President of the NSW Court of Appeal.

The documentary film was written and directed by Daryl Dellora and produced by Sue Maslin through their company Film Art Doco Pty Ltd. It will be broadcast on ABC TV's Compass program on Sunday 27 June.

Michael Kirby is an alumnus of Hicksons, having joined the firm as a solicitor in January 1962. Hicksons at the time was known as Hickson Lakeman and Holcombe. Michael became a Partner of the firm on 1 July 1963 and remained a Partner until 28 July 1967, at which time he left the firm and was admitted to the Bar.

During his time at Hicksons, he took over a small litigation practice and developed it into a robust practice which has grown and continues today as Hicksons Commercial Dispute Resolution practice group, now led by Alan Blanch.

Since leaving the firm, Michael has maintained a close relationship with Hicksons for more than 40 years, having generously made himself available and participated in Hicksons events for clients and friends, and in events for Hicksons professional staff. He has spoken at book launches, gatherings of Hicksons’ alumni, and spoken to and encouraged Hicksons lawyers.

He has spoken fondly of his time at Hicksons on many occasions. His reflections of his time with the firm include these comments:

“But the chief lessons that I was taught by Holcombe and Lakeman remain true today. The practice of law demands high standards of lawyering and fidelity to the client. I often think that my five years as a solicitor dealing with clients, gave me a perspective of the law that is somewhat different to many other Judges who went straight to the Bar. For me the law was, and is, a helping profession that seeks to solve problems justly. It is not a theoretical exercise to be turned off at the end of an hour’s consultation with a client. This is another lesson I learnt at Hicksons.”

DVDs of the documentary will be available from www.filmartmedia.com.

Daryl Dellora has been making documentaries for many years and is an award winning writer and director. He has been a recipient of an AFC Documentary Fellowship, and in 1991 his documentary, Mr Neal is Entitled to be An Agitator about the late Lionel Murphy, won the Australian Human Rights Award. In 2005, he was accepted to the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation study centre at Bellagio, Italy.

Sue Maslin has independently produced many documentaries screened on the ABC, including Hunt Angels which won seven major awards in 2006, including Best Documentary – L’Oreal AFI Awards, the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best Feature Documentary, and the ATOM Award for Best General Documentary Film.

Sue and Daryl have collaborated on a number of award winning documentaries, including:

• The Edge of the Possible, involving extensive interviews with architect Jorn Utzon, who designed the Sydney Opera House
• A Mirror to the People, about a year in the life of Sir William Deane, then Governor-General of Australia
• Conspiracy, about the 1978 Sydney Hilton bombing
• Mr Neal is Entitled to be An Agitator
• Koories and Cops, about the relationship between the Koori people and Police in Victoria, and
• The Highest Court, about the High Court of Australia for which they had unprecedented access to the High Court with support of the then Chief Justice, Sir Richard Brennan.

For further information, please contact Managing Partner John Markos on +61 2 9293 5404 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .