Robert French

Robert French
Chief Justice of Australia
In office
1 September 2008 – 29 January 2017
Nominated byKevin Rudd
Appointed byMichael Jeffery
Preceded byMurray Gleeson
Succeeded bySusan Kiefel
Other offices
Judge of the Federal Court of Australia
In office
25 November 1986 – 1 September 2008
Nominated byBob Hawke
Appointed byNinian Stephen
Additional Judge Supreme Court of the ACT
In office
November 2004 – 1 September 2008
Nominated byKevin Rudd
Appointed byMichael Jeffery
Preceded byMurray Gleeson
Succeeded bySusan Kiefel
Judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji
In office
2003–2004
Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court
Assumed office
5 January 2018
Nominated byLee Hsien Loong
Appointed byHalimah Yacob
Preceded byDyson Heydon [1]
Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong
Assumed office
31 May 2017
Appointed byLeung Chun-ying
15th Chancellor of University of Western Australia
Assumed office
December 2017
Nominated byMark McGowan
Appointed byKerry Sanderson
Preceded byMichael Chaney AO
1st Chancellor of Edith Cowan University
In office
1991–1997
Nominated byCarmen Lawrence
Appointed byFrancis Burt
Preceded byUniversity created
Succeeded byRobert Nicholson
Personal details
Born1947 (age 76–77)
Perth, Western Australia
SpouseValerie J. French
EducationUniversity of Western Australia
Chinese name
Chinese
Transcriptions
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationFaahn Láih Chyùhn
JyutpingFaan6 Lai5 Cyun4

Robert Shenton French AC (born 1947) is an Australian lawyer. He is a former judge of the Federal Court of Australia and was Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from 2008 to 2017. In 2017 French became an overseas non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, and was appointed chancellor of the University of Western Australia.