Justice Richard Refshauge – Patron

For more than 40 years, Justice Richard Refshauge has played a pivotal role in Directions’ work in the community. He was a founding member of Directions (then known as the Drug Information and Referral Centre) in 1973 and has held positions on the Board of Management ranging from ordinary member to president.

Richard has been a prominent figure in Canberra legal circles since the 1970s. After graduating from the Australian National University (ANU) with a BA (Hons) LLB he commenced private legal practice with Macphillamy Cummins & Gibson in Canberra. He became a partner in 1981 and was made senior partner in 1992. Richard continued his rise among the legal fraternity and was appointed the third ACT Director of Pubic Prosecutions in 1998 and then a Judge of the ACT Supreme Court in 2008.

In between his professional career and his time working with Directions he also found time to tutor and lecture in law at the ANU. In 1987 he was responsible for the course in practice and procedure and has since delivered lectures within that course and its subsequent replacement, Civil Litigation. He has been a guest lecturer in the ANU Legal Workshop and in criminal law and was appointed as Adjunct Professor in 2001, a position he continues to enjoy to this day.

We are very proud of our unbroken history with Justice Richard Refshauge and of his position as our current patron, a role he is passionate about.