Raymond Finkelstein Biography
Raymond Finkelstein AO KC is a lawyer and judge from Australia. He was a judge on Australia’s Federal Court from 1997 to 2011. His decisions had a significant impact on commercial law, inspiring new approaches to insolvency, competition law, and class actions.
How old is Raymond Finkelstein? – Age
He is 76 years old as of 16 July 2022. He was born in 1946 in Munich, Germany.
Raymond Finkelstein Family – Education
Wolf Finkelstein, his father, grew up in Poland near the Ukrainian border. Wolf Finkelstein was sent to Germany during WWII, when he met fellow Pole Lisa Altstock. As stateless Jews, the family arrived in Melbourne by boat in 1951. Finkelstein attended Elwood High School, where he was said to be a wayward and disruptive student.
He was accepted to Monash University in 1965, where he earned a Bachelor of Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Laws. From 1974 to 1975, Finkelstein was a teaching fellow at Monash University Law School.
Raymond Finkelstein Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $5 million.
Raymond Finkelstein Media Inquiry
Finkelstein oversaw the Independent Media Inquiry, which began on September 14, 2011, and investigated the regulatory framework of the Australian media business. On February 28, 2012, the commission delivered its conclusions to the federal government.
Raymond Finkelstein Judicial Views
In a journal article published in the Monash University Law Review in 2003, Finkelstein stated that, while he opposes judges acting as “ad hoc legislators,” it is naive to believe that a judge’s background, education, heritage, and personal ethical views do not influence their decisions.
Raymond Finkelstein Career
Finkelstein started working as a barrister at the Victorian bar in 1975. Along with fellow Jews Ron Castan, Alan Goldberg, and Ron Merkel, he occupied the same room. One of Australia’s busiest commercial practices, it was first called “Bankruptcy Chambers” and then “Golan Heights.” In 1986, he was made a Queen’s Counsel. In 1992, he served for one year as acting Specialist General of Victoria.
On July 21, 1997, Finkelstein was given the job of judge at the Federal Court of Australia. By that point, his partners Goldberg and Merkel were likewise on the seat. Melbourne became a hub for corporate law litigation as a result. Around 90% of corporate cases in the Federal Court were filed in Victoria at one point.
He has presided over a number of notable cases, including the civil hearing of prominent Australian businessman Steve Vizard. At that hearing, he increased the sentence that was proposed in the Agreed Statement of Facts by both ASIC and Vizard to a $390,000 fine and a ten-year ban from holding company directorships. Despite the fact that the case was a civil hearing involving the review by the Court of an Agreed Statement of Facts, his verdict against Vizard attracted a lot of attention from the media. However, the head of ASIC, Jeff Lucy, later admitted that a lot of the outrage from the media came from ASIC’s failure to properly communicate the full facts to the media. Finkelstein has been portrayed as “autonomous, loaded with thoughts, and capricious”, frequently drawing on rehearses from different wards to illuminate the court’s decision, both procedural and meaningful. He was additionally Leader of the Australian Contest Council.