Name Dean Mildren Role Judge | Education University of Adelaide | |
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Books Big Boss Fella All Same Judge: A History of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory | ||
Dean Mildren, AM, RFD, QC (born 27 February 1943) was a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. He was appointed to the Court on 27 June 1991, and retired February 2013. He is sworn in as an Acting Judge of the Court, so from time to time still adjudicates on cases in the Northern Territory.
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Early life and education
Mildren was born in Adelaide, South Australia, and attended the Norwood High School and the University of Adelaide. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts and from 1966–68 was an Articled Clerk to James Henry Muirhead who was later to become a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.
Mildren was a solicitor with Thomson & Co in Adelaide from 1968–71.
Legal work in the Northern Territory
Mildren relocated to the Northern Territory in 1972 and established the firm Mildren & Partners in which he practised as a barrister & solicitor.
Mildren practised as a barrister from 1980 until his appointment to the bench in 1991. He was appointed as a Queen's Counsel in 1983 and was President of the Northern Territory Bar Association from 1987–91 having been Vice-President from 1989–90.
Mildren was President of the Northern Territory Law Society from 1973–75 and 1979–81. He was also Deputy Chairman of the Northern Territory Legal Practitioners Complaints Committee from 1983–88, Chairman of the Northern Territory Planning Appeals Committee from 1979–85, Chairman of the Northern Territory Council of Law Reporting from 1993–95 and President of the Northern Territory Law Reform Committee from 1991–97. He is a life member of the Criminal Lawyers Association of the Northern Territory.
In 2011, Mildren published a history, Big Boss Fella All Same Judge – A History of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory.
Mildren was a colonel in the Australian Army Legal Corps from 1992–96, after being a lieutenant colonel from 1980–92. He was a Judge Advocate from 1986–96 and was a Defence Force Magistrate from 1986–91. Justice Mildren was also the Chief Legal Officer of the 7th Military District from 1975–86. Mildren has been a Member of the Defence Force Discipline Appeal Tribunal since 1996.
Other interests
Mildren lectures part-time at Charles Darwin University having been appointed as an Adjunct Professor of the University in 1997. He has been a Life Member of the Australian Centre of International Arbitration since 1986 and is a Patron of the Friends of the Territory Wildlife Park. He is also a Patron of the Dante Alighieri Society in Darwin and Vice-Patron of the Darwin Cricket Club.