John Halden Wootten QC was an Australian lawyer and legal academic and the founder of the University of New South Wales Faculty of Law, of which he was the Foundation Chair and its inaugural Dean.
12 Facts About Hal Wootten
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John Halden Wootten was born to a lower-middle-class family of dairy farmers from the North Coast region of New South Wales and is of English descent.
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Wootten's father died when Hal was 11 months old; he was raised by his mother and, primarily, her parents, with whom Wootten lived until he was 9 years old.
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Hal Wootten undertook his primary schooling at Willoughby Public School and Double Bay Public School, when his mother ran her dress-making business.
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In 1949, Hal Wootten was called to the bar in New South Wales but did not commence practising as a barrister until 1951.
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On 8 September 1969, Hal Wootten was appointed to this position, where, in 1971, he would oversee the first teaching classes in the faculty.
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In 1970, Hal Wootten helped establish the Aboriginal Legal Service, becoming its first president.
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In 1973, Hal Wootten stepped down from this position to take up his appointment as a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
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Hal Wootten was appointed a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1973, serving until 1983.
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Hal Wootten has been involved in the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and the Australian Conservation Foundation, as its president, among other causes.
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Between 1984 and 1986, Hal Wootten served as the chairman of the Australian Press Council.
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In 1990 Hal Wootten was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia for "service to human rights, to conservation, to legal education and to the law".