The Hon.

François

Kunc

The Honourable Justice François Kunc was appointed to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in April 2013 and sits in the Equity Division. After graduating with degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney he practised as a solicitor with Australia's oldest law firm, Allen Allen and Hemsley, from 1986. He was called to the Bar in 1992 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2007. In 2020 he graduated Master of Laws from the the judicial studies program of Duke University's Bolch Institute for Judicial Studies. He was a leader of the commercial bar appearing in courts throughout Australia for major government, corporate and individual clients. Justice Kunc is the General Editor of the Australian Law Journal and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Equity. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and is the Chair of the Legal Services Council Admissions Committee and the national Law Admissions Consultative Committee. His Honour is a noted linguist and was a member of the expert panel which prepared Australia's Recommended National Standards for Working with Interpreters in Courts and Tribunals. He has served as Adjunct Professor and Deputy Chair of the Law Advisory Council, Southern Cross University. Outside the law, he has served on the boards of numerous cultural and philanthropic organisations. In 2016, Pope Francis conferred on Justice Kunc the honour of Knight Commander of St Gregory the Great for services to the Catholic Church and civil society. His Honour is a classically trained musician and his hobbies are music, languages, reading (especially literature and history), skiing (especially in Colorado) and walking. He enjoys travel and is a frequent visitor to art galleries and museums around the world. He is married to Felicity Rourke, a senior partner in the firm now known as Allens, and they have two adult children.