John Toohey

John Leslie Toohey, AC, QC (4 March 1930 – 9 April 2015) was an Australian judge who was a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1987 to 1998. Early life and education Toohey was born in rural Western Australia on 4 March 1930, to Albert and Sylvia Toohey. He was the eldest child, with two younger sisters and a younger brother. He completed his secondary education at St. Louis School (now John XXIII College), a Catholic school in Perth. He studied law and arts at the University of Western Australia. He graduated with first class honours in law in 1950, receiving the FE Parsons Prize (for the most outstanding graduate) and the HCF Keall Prize (for the best fourth year student). He completed his arts degree with first-class honours in 1956. Legal career After completing his law degree, Toohey commenced his articles of clerkship at the Perth law firm Lavan & Walsh, and was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1952. Toohey soon rose to prominence in the Western Australian legal profession, developing expertise in taxation and property law. At the age of 31, he appeared before the High Court in Federal Commissioner of Taxation v Finn, which concerned the deductibility of travelling expenses.