Fellow of Senate
John A McCarthy QC
LLM Virg BA LLB Syd
Fellow of Senate, 1995 -
Pro Chancellor, 2005 -
Chair, Senate/Sports Liaison Committee, 2002 -
John McCarthy QC has been a Fellow of the Senate of the University of Sydney appointed by the Minister for Education and Training since 1995. His current four year term as a Fellow of Senate appointed by the Minister commenced on 1 January 2006 and will conclude on 31 December 2009.
He is a Pro Chancellor and the Chair of the Senate/Sports Liaison Committee, as well as a member of Senate's Advisory Committee for Honorary Awards. He was formerly a member of Senate's Finance and Infrastructure Committee.
Mr McCarthy was a student at Sydney University where he completed his Arts/Law degree between 1965-70. He was a resident of St John's College.
He completed his Masters of Law degree at the University of Virginia in 1975.
He was admitted as a Solicitor in 1972. He was admitted as a Barrister in September 1976 and appointed Queen's Counsel in July 1988.
He has been Trustee of the Sydney Cricket Ground and Sports Ground Trust since 1996 and is a member of the SCG Finance Committee. From 1996 to 2000, he served on the SCG Homebush Committee which oversaw the management of the Sydney International Aquatic Centre at Homebush.
Since 1988 Mr McCarthy has been a member of the Legal Aid Review Committee No. 1 as a nominee of the New South Wales Bar Association. This is a senior review body overseeing the work of the Legal Aid Commission. From 1995 – 2005 Mr McCarthy served as a member of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal New South Wales (Legal Services Division) which is the principal tribunal for complaints against legal practitioners.
He is highly experienced in constitutional, federal and electoral law and has appeared in Courts of Disputed Returns involving Federal and State elections. He has also appeared in cases involving Local Government, trade unions and Aboriginal Land Council elections.
Mr McCarthy has had a long connection with Aboriginal people and Aboriginal agencies. He is Senior Counsel for the Dunghutti people and was involved in that role in the negotiation and settling of the first Deed of Agreement (209 years after first white settlement), between the Crown of New South Wales and an Aboriginal people in respect of native title. He was also Senior Counsel for the Dunghutti people and the NSW Aboriginal Land Council in the Federal Court proceedings for the first order for the determination of native title under the Native Title Act and on the Australian mainland. He remains actively involved in native title work including advising on the Native Title Amendment Act in 1997/98.
Mr McCarthy has been a member of the St Thomas More Society since 1975 and was elected to Council in 1977. In 1993 he was elected President of the Society and has been re-elected for successive one year terms since then. Mr McCarthy retired as President in 2005.
During the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Mr McCarthy was appointed by the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Tanzania as their Olympic Attaché. He continues his relationship with Tanzanian athletics as Chairman of the John Stephen Akhwari Athletics Foundation.
Mr McCarthy lives in Ashfield with his wife Christine. Christine is an Honours graduate in Music from the University of Sydney. They have 3 sons and 3 daughters.
