The Hon John von Doussa QC was appointed the 14th Chancellor of the University of Adelaide on 26 July 2004. On 1 May 2003 he was appointed President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission for a five year term. At the time of his appointment he was a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, an appointment he had held since 1988. From 1986 to 1988 he was a Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia.
Before his appointment as a Judge he was a Queens Counsel practicing mainly in South Australia, and had served terms as the President of the Law Society of South Australia, and Vice-President of the Law Council of Australia.
He was also the President of the Australia Competition Tribunal, a Presidential Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, an Additional Judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, and a Judge of the Industrial Relations Court of Australia. From 1992 until shortly before his appointment he was also a part-time Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission.
At different times he was the chair of advisory committees for the graduate diploma courses in legal practice conducted by the University of South Australia and by the Law Society of South Australia. In 1996 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the University of South Australia in recognition of that involvement. He received a Centenary Medal in 2003.
In 1993 he sat as an Acting Judge in the Supreme Court of Vanuatu. In 1997 he became a member of the Court of Appeal of Vanuatu. In 2003 he was appointed a non-resident member of the Supreme Court of Fiji. He continues to hold these appointments.
In July 2007 he was appointed a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.
Mr von Doussa presently represents HREOC as a member of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions based in Geneva, and is Chair of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions.
