JOHN PRACTISES IN THE AREAS OF:

ABOUT JOHN O'BRIEN

John's grandfather, Patrick Aloysius O'Brien, was a doctor in France during The Great War and was later Casualty Surgeon to the Central Police Office in the City of Glasgow. On the night of 10 May 1941 he was called to examine an injured pilot who had parachuted from a Messerschmitt 110 fighter plane at Eaglesham south of Glasgow. The injured man was  Rudolf Hess, Deputy Fuhrer of the Third Reich and leader of the NAZI Party, who had flown to Scotland on a personal mission to end the Second World War.
 
John was to be named after his grandfather however in April 1947, his youngest uncle's ship the Sir Harvey Adamson was lost with all hands in mysterious circumstances off the Temasserin coast in the treacherous waters of the Mergui Archipelago, after leaving Rangoon. The ship is believed to have struck a mine and was never seen again and when John was born the following year he became John Alexander O'Brien ('Alec') after his missing uncle.

John O'Brien (pictured) who is the first of seven children, was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1948. He came to Australia in 1951 with his mother and father. His mother qualified in medicine in 1944. His father saw active service as a Spitfire pilot with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and flew combat operations against the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica in North Africa and during the Battle of Malta in 1942. After the war he completed his medical training and qualified as a doctor in 1950.

John was educated at Xavier College and Melbourne University where he graduated in law and philosophy in 1972. He was articled to distinguished Sunshine solicitor Mr. Patrick Cannon of Patrick J. Cannon, Coburn & Associates and was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1973. He read for the Victorian Bar with Mr. Anthony Graham (now The Hon. Anthony Graham Q.C. who is a retired judge of the Family Court of Australia) and practised at the Victorian Bar from 1975 to 1980, principally as a criminal defence advocate with personal responsibility for many long, complex and notorious criminal trials which arose during that era.

Thereafter John has practised as a barrister and solicitor with a special interest in personal law. During a career spanning almost forty years, John has been responsible for the conduct of many complex and leading cases in the superior jurisdictions both in Victoria and interstate and has worked intimately with  leading members of the Senior Bar many of whom were subsequently appointed as judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria. 

Between 1977 and 1982 John was a member of the RAAF (Reserve) and during this time conducted many courts-martial throughout Australia. In his spare time John enjoys fly-fishing and reading history and biography. He is a member of the Parish Pastoral Council for the Parishes of St. Clare and St. Francis Xavier in Box Hill and is committed to the precept that it is only by the vigorous pursuit of social justice that poverty, exploitation and conflict can be eliminated from the world. John has a daughter who is also a lawyer, two sons, the elder of which is a law student, and eighteen nieces and nephews several of whom are also members of the legal profession.