Leslie Zines — from a Personal Perspective
| Date | 01 September 2010 |
| DOI | 10.22145/flr.38.3.1 |
| Published date | 01 September 2010 |
| Author | Geoffrey Lindell |
| Subject Matter | Article |
LESLIE ZINES — FROM A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE
Geoffrey Lindell
I gre atly welcome this op portunity to write a personal tribute to Leslie based on my
association with him both as a close friend and colleague, and also from my vantage
point as an academic lawyer.
It has been my privilege to teach with, and be taught by, him. I also had the
pleasure to co-author with him the f ourth edition of Sawer’s A ustralian Constitutional
Cases (1982). Our ass ociation began in the late 1960s when he became the supervisor of
my LLM thesis and rescued my faltering efforts to bring it to a successful conclusion. I
have often had cause to reflect on how remarkable it was that we enjoyed from the
very beginning a su bstantial identity of views on legal education, and the law
generally, even though we received our respective legal education f rom law schools
which inherited different traditions of legal thinking. On a personal level I also
appreciated his genuine interest and concern for the welfare of members of my then
young family and me.
His Honour, Justice Gummow, has of course already outlined the main features of
the formidable and impressive reputation Leslie Zines acquired in a long career which
included the award of an Order of Australia in 1992 for services to the Australian legal
system, particularly in constitutional la w and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the
ANU in 1994; his election as a Fellow of the Academy of the Social S cience in Australia
in 1987; his appointment as the Arthur Goodhart Professor of Legal Science,
Cambridge University 1992-93; his appointment as Dean of the Faculty of Law at the
ANU during 1973–75 and 1984 –86 and also the Robert Garran Professor of Law from
1977 to 1992. He was also appointed Dean of Students a nd gave wide service to the
same University and its committees. In a ddition he appeared as counsel in a few but
significant constitutional High Court cases.
His Honour has adverted to Leslie's teaching in a different age. As wa s mentioned
in the citation for the award of the Honorary Doctorate, he established a peerless
reputation as a teacher. Reference was made to the esteem in which he is still held by
generations of former students who, if relieved to be free of his powerful Socratic
interrogation, count themselves privileged to have had him as their mentor. Doubtless
many of his students who attended his Trusts lectures will als o remember an ex am
paper which was wholly devoted to a single hypothetical trust instrument that
required them to show their knowledge of the subject by identifying the various legal
issues it raised. His teaching style influenced other teachers. I also recall with pleasure
not only his ready a nd enthusiastic accessibility to me and other members of staff on
the law and academic matters, but also the way he used to come into my room and
discuss with relish notable responses to questions and answers by students in class.
To continue reading
Request your trial