The passing of leading family law advocate and Renaissance man Malcolm David Broun OAM  QC (1935-2014) will be deeply mourned far beyond the legal world, writes friend and colleague Elizabeth Cohen.

Malcolm’s Broun’s achievements were many and diverse.

As a lawyer he was best known for his contribution to family law in Australia. He was a recognised leader of the Bar for decades and gave numerous papers at conferences and seminars.

During the early years of the development of his practice Malcolm became greatly impressed with the historical importance, and the social significance, of family law as a core part of what governs our society as a whole. He found it extraordinary that so many lawyers in his early years of practice saw it as a lower or less significant part of law.

Malcolm’s interest in family law as a legal study led to his helping other members of the profession to appreciate its central importance in the way that Australian society operates. 

With the encouragement and assistance of close friend Stuart Fowler, Malcolm called a meeting of practitioners interested in family law who wanted to develop their understanding of the law and to improve their professional competence. So – at the same time as the Family Law Act of 1975 was being debated in Parliament – the NSW Family Law Practitioners Association was established in Sydney.

The Association recognised practitioners with real expertise in family law as Fellows. This began after Chief Justice Elizabeth Evatt joined the Association and started to interview the candidates.

Thereafter the Law Society, particularly under the presidency of Mahla Perlman, developed a recognition of accredited specialists in various areas – and Malcolm believed that it was the action of the Family law Practitioners Association that started the impetus of accredited specialists in all areas of the law.

Early promise

During his time at Sydney University, where he became president of the SRC, Malcolm was instrumental with friend John Sharwood in setting up what later became the University Cooperative Bookshop. For 20 years until 1978 he was a director of the University Cooperative Bookshop, and chairman for the last 10 years.

In 1958 Malcolm graduated from Sydney University with Honours in Arts/Philosophy and was offered a scholarship to ANU with a view to becoming an academic, but he decided to continue with his parallel law degree at Sydney University.

In 1959 he was admitted to the NSW Bar and joined 13^th Floor Wentworth Chambers.

In 1979 Malcolm, being a progressive type, took up the offer from Edward St. John who was founding a new set of chambers on Level 44 of the MLC Centre. It was a new innovation to move out of Phillip St into the glamour of the MLC Centre, and he became a founding member of Edmund Barton Chambers.

After the retirement of Edward St. John QC, Malcolm led that floor for about 20 years and was a mentor to all. He was a brilliant organiser and his door was always open to assist young members of the floor. He tried, quite successfully, to turn the Chambers Floor into a supportive family for all working there, and his generosity of spirit was known to all members during those years.

Malcolm took silk in 1982. The attitude of the profession that family law was a lower area of law became very obvious, particularly in 1980 and 1981, when Malcolm’s application to take silk was declined by the Attorney General, apparently on the basis that the presence of silk at the family law Bar would increase the expense to the public of having family law disputes.

Fighting the good fight

After Ray Watson had been appointed a judge of the Family Court, there had been no silk appointed at the regular family law Bar. In 1981, the Bar Association recommended Malcolm’s appointment as Queen’s Counsel to the Attorney General.

When that appointment was refused, the Bar Council discussed with the state government how to deal with the situation. The Bar Association had wanted to establish a principle that the appointment of QC should always be of a practitioner and not of the type of work he did.

The state Attorney General at that time, Frank Walker, worked out an agreement with the Bar Association by which Professor Julius Stone would be appointed QC, although he had never been a practitioner. Accordingly Professor Julius Stone and Malcolm both took silk at the same time.

In June 1999 Malcolm was awarded his OAM for his involvement in the Scottish community.

In addition to his legal and historical writing, Malcolm, in later years was writing poetry, plays and novels. A number of his short plays have been performed and he was said to be an excellent writer of comedy. 

His plays, novels and poetry are published on www.alexbroun.com.au. Alex Broun is Malcolm’s eldest son and is a well-known playwright and producer.

Malcolm worked hard for the Asthma Foundation, and he loved literature and history. In 1953, at the age of 18, he became the Australian Junior Chess Champion.

He leaves behind him five adult children, three from his first marriage to Janet and two from his marriage to Wendy, his widow and soul mate. He was a proud father and an excellent family man with an extended close-knit family.