The professional milestones in Cedric Hampson’s illustrious professional career have already been well documented. So too, those of his family life have been covered elsewhere. I prefer to write a memoir of him as I knew him from 1958 when, fresh from Oxford, he taught me Personal Property.

His reputation had preceded him. There are few who in real life catch up with preceding reputations.

Cedric did that and more.

As a lecturer, I remember him as well tailored, as he always subsequently was, erudite, engaging, amusing and confident (without being overconfident) in his own abilities. I did not know then that I would have the good fortune years later in 1965 as a young barrister, to join him in chambers in the second Inns of Court, a converted shoe factory on the site of the current and third Inns of Court in Brisbane.

Generosity of Spirit

I enjoyed that good fortune with Tony Healy (now a retired District Court Judge) and the late Bruce McPherson, who like Cedric had enjoyed an Oxbridge education, but in his case at Cambridge, a matter the subject of gentle teasing by Cedric.

No one could have been more generous than Cedric.

Complete and open access to his library was a given. He insisted that we share his secretary and refused to accept any recompenses for that.

He introduced us to the solicitors who briefed him, that is to say, almost all the solicitors in Brisbane and many from outside it, encouraging them to brief us in minor cases in which we were unlikely to do any damage. As valuable as all of this was, none of it was as valuable as his learned, and even better, very practical counsel in particular cases, which he was always ready to give.

As early as then he was predestined for silk.

Many thought that he should have already applied for and been granted it. He was the first choice as junior by both leading and other senior counsel. Equity, Commercial Law, Matrimonial Law and Testators Family Maintenance Law as they were then respectively called, Criminal law, Town Planning Law, and the law, more often the lore, of the numerous and miscellaneous tribunals that flourished then, (e.g. Licencing Commission, Central Sugar Cane Prices Board and the Picture Theatre and Film Commission) were all within his range.

A memory of an occasion in the last of those stands out in my mind.

Part of his advocate’s arsenal was a very quick wit. It was necessary for my client to establish that he had the financial capacity to build and operate a picture theatre the subject of a hotly contested licence. I have to acknowledge that the evidence of that was rather slow in coming, and when it did, left something to be desired.

 It consisted of a letter on a dubious letterhead of a financier of whom neither I nor anyone else had ever heard. It was admissible as the rules of evidence did not apply in that Tribunal – we often wondered what rules of any kind did. Cedric made no objection to the reception of the letter. “Wait a moment though,” he said. “Could I just see the signature?” The letter was handed to him. “Ah, Knenlani” he said.

Our case never recovered from that piece of ridicule.

Those who selected the photographs for his Mass did very well. There is one on the page behind the words of the Recessional Hymn, of Cedric leaning back, packed bookshelves behind him, wearing a sceptical, not quite mocking smile – he was never cruel. It brings back memories, of Cedric exploring and testing a proposition, or an opinion, and finally judging, “Come on Callinan, you know [or perhaps should know] better than that.”

 Equally moving was the photograph of him taken only a few years ago in Vietnam, admiring beautiful orchids in a garden, reminding me of his joy in his own cultivation of the flower, another field of his expertise.

We’ll fix it in the High Court

I was for several years a member of boards and committees chaired by Cedric, including the Committee of the Bar Association, Barristers Chambers Ltd and the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting.

He was an outstanding Chairman, organised, patient, fully informed and efficient. Of all the chairs in which he sat I think that of Barristers Chambers Limited was the most testing.

To persuade one hundred and fifty or so barristers to agree on anything would be an achievement. To get them to agree to fund, by equity and debt, and to accept the design and construction of, a new building, and the disruption of two moves while that occurred, were feats of Herculean magnitude.

One reason why he achieved this was his inclusiveness, a word so overused as almost to have lost meaning. In his case it meant a willingness to accommodate, or skilfully navigate the most absurd of eccentricities and illogical of objections without giving offence. This quality was no doubt a major reason for the Bar’s effective drafting of him for a second term as its President.

There are many anecdotes I could tell about Cedric. Time and space confine me to three.

He developed little short of an obsession about the colour of the football jerseys of his old school, St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace. He wanted change. “The current jerseys are too dark. They need red, bright red jerseys like the Welsh wear. Light colours make their wearers look bigger”. He discussed at length the strategies he would use to get his way. Ultimately he overcame the conservatism of his opponents and attended the first match in which the school ran out in bright red.

I remember being present when a barrister mentioned that there was something that he wanted to do for his children but was unable to afford. Without inquiry as to the amount (which would on any view have been considerable) and without any hesitation of any kind, Cedric said “I’ll pay”.

Graham Hart was a popular, very ingenuous judge who liked injured plaintiffs to be amply compensated. One night, late after the Bar dinner at which admittedly some alcohol had been taken, Graham confronted Cedric:

“Hampson, you broke our agreement.”

“What agreement?”

“That if I give X (Cedric’s client in a personal injuries case) $150,000, the

Full Court wouldn’t be able to reduce it”. They did, to $120,000.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to the High Court. I’ll fix it up there”.

And he did.

I think that his non-legal organisational skills, rather rare in barristers, was a reason why he was so popular with judges and retired judges, as counsel assisting in inquiries. The organisation of documents, selection of witnesses, and the management of a number of staff were all tasks that he handled with tact and great efficiency. His absence from time to time from mainstream court work while he fulfilled so many different roles as counsel assisting, was those Commissions’ gain. It was also, in a sense, the judiciary’s loss.

On the other hand, his open door, his quick appreciation of a problem and the best way to deal with it, his good humour, his knowledge, and his experience, remained available to the hundreds of barristers who routinely sought him out.

When the bells tolled for Cedric, they truly tolled for all of us.

Ian Callinan QC (pictured) was a Justice of the High Court between February 1998 and August 2007. He is also a former president of the Queensland Bar Association and Australian Bar Association. His friend Cedric Hampson QC died aged 81 on 23 August.