SA gets first Greek Australian Chief Justice

Chris Kourakis has been appointed as the new Chief Justice of the South Australia Supreme Court. He is the first Chief Justice in this position with a Greek Australian background. Chief Justice Kourakis replaced John Doyle who retired after 17 years in the role and is the ninth Chief Justice in SA.
Premier Jay Weatherill says Chief Justice Kourakis, has the leadership and management skills to lead the court.
"It's still early days, my head is still spinning," Chief Justice Kourakis told Neos Kosmos. "It's both exciting and daunting at the same time."
The 54-year-old has had a long and distinguished legal career that he said was a combination of hard work and "being in the right place at the right time".
"I have been really fortunate in the jobs that I've had that have exposed me quickly to high level legal work," he explains.
After graduating from law at the University of Adelaide, Chief Justice Kourakis was fortunate enough to do his articles with the legal firm Johnston Withers McCusker and work alongside Elliot Johnston; a long-time advocate for Greek migrants and workers. He then began work at the Legal Services Commissions which exposed him to high level court work within the Magistrates Court.
He joined the Supreme Court in 2008 after a distinguished career as solicitor-general, with the Legal Services Commission and Edmund Barton Chambers.
He served as Chief Justice Doyle's associate member on the State Courts Administration Council.
The Chief Justice told Neos Kosmos that it was his decision to take hard cases - many with little chance of winning - and ones of a social justice nature that exposed him to the judges and built a solid reputation for himself in his legal career.
"I have had from early on what people would call these days a social justice perspective and that became known amongst lawyers in the profession," he says.
"They played a large part in developing my legal skills, stretching me and improving me as a lawyer; but they were also cases that put me in the view of judges so you build a reputation which leads to your advancement in the long term."
But it was his migrant upbringing in the rural South Australian town of Port Lincoln that also added to his work ethic and gave him a well-rounded positive attitude to enable him to take on this role.
Chief Justice Kourakis' parents migrated to the rural town from Ikaria, Greece, and owned a pig farm but also worked in fish factories and abattoirs to assist in bringing up a family of ten children. He says hard work was something that was instilled in him from a very early age and remembers weekends and school holidays as a time of feeding chickens, tending to the animals and working on the farm. He says his migrant upbringing - and being from a rural town - has enabled him to become a better legal professional.
"I see my youth growing up in Port Lincoln as one of the big advantages I have," explains Chief Justice Kourakis.
Born and bred in Port Lincoln, Chief Justice Kourakis was educated at Port Lincoln High School and credits his teachers at the time as exposing to different ideas, views and issues.
He says growing up in the country also influences the person you become and adds that "country people are really practical self-reliant people". But it was his Greek background that gave him the tools to become a successful lawyer and a good judge.
"I consider coming from a diverse cultural background to be a big advantage because it opens your eyes to the differences in people; you become a bit of a sociologist and understanding people is really an important part of being a good lawyer and a good judge."
Chief Justice Kourakis plans on bringing this sense of social justice and hard work ethic to his newly appointed role, but adds that as a judge he has to be "clinical when applying the law".
"Our job is to administer the law and I think here's a common misconception that we decide cases more or less off the top of our head and according to our personal sense of fairness," he says.
He adds that as a legal practitioner there is limited room for discretion and it's important that the law is "predictable, consistent and coherent" but as a judge, he says there is some freedom of decision making.
"In those areas where reasonable people might differ about the result then there's room for you to try and fashion your judgement in a way to further social purpose and remedy unfairness and injustice where it exists."