Tasmania’s Supreme Court will welcome a new Chief Justice and a new puisne judge in the new year.
Christopher Shanahan SC and Kate Cuthbertson SC have been appointed to the respective roles by Governor Barbara Baker.
Shanahan will take over from current Chief Justice Alan Blow on January 20, while Cuthbertson will begin her position on February 3.
Attorney-General Guy Barnett congratulated both appointees, saying Shanahan is a “remarkable fit” for the role and has had an “exceptional legal career across Australia over a number of decades”.
“He was admitted to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1984, to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1989 and the High Court of Australia in 1990 and he was appointed Senior Counsel in 2004,” Barnett said.
“More recently, Mr Shanahan was Acting Commissioner of the Corruption and Crime Commission of Western Australia and a Senior Sessional Member of the State Administrative Appeal Tribunal.”
Cuthbertson, who has been acting as a Judge of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia since August 2024, was also praised for her career.
“Up until then, she was Barrister at Law, then Senior Counsel (2022), with Malthouse Chambers for 14 years and Head of Chambers from 2014,” the Attorney-General said.
“She was a barrister and solicitor with the Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania for 10 years before that. Judge Cuthbertson was admitted in 1999.”
The appointments fill the vacancies created by the retirement of Blow and the resignation of disgraced judge Gregory Geason.
“These appointments ensure the Supreme Court returns to a full complement of Judges,” Barnett said.
Justice Blow has served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania since April 2013, having first been appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court 13 years prior.
