The Honourable
John Sackar K.C.

John Sackar was formerly a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He was appointed in 2011 and sat in the Equity Division of the Court which division hears all manner of commercial disputes. Immediately prior to his retirement in February 2024, he conducted a Special Commission of Inquiry into a number of alleged unsolved homicides in the LGBTIQ+ community on behalf of the New South Wales government.

He was admitted as a barrister in 1975 and appointed Queens Counsel in 1987. Mr Sackar was a member of the Sixth Floor of Selborne Wentworth Chambers during his time at the Bar and was Head of Chambers at the Sixth Floor for a number of years prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court.

He practised extensively in all types of commercial cases including banking, insurance, reinsurance, regulatory and in libel cases. Whilst Queens Counsel Mr Sackar was also regularly retained to act as mediator. He appeared in all jurisdictions in Australia at trial and appellate level, and also appeared in the Courts in Brunei and the Privy Council in London.

Mr Sackar was called to the English Bar by Middle Temple in 2006 and is an associate member of 6 Pump Court chambers in London.

He was admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales in 1972 and graduated from University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws (1973) and a Master of Laws (1976).

He is currently the President of the Arts Law Centre of Australia, a not-for-profit organisation delivering low or no cost legal advice to artists.

He recently published a biography of Lord Devlin (Hart, 2020).

Mr Sackar regularly gives seminars and lectures.

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