During the period of almost thirteen years that I have occupied the office of Chief Justice I have had numerous occasions to witness the expansion of international contact on the part of Australian lawyers, particularly judges but also practitioners and academics. It is clear to me that the process has personally enriched the individuals who have been so involved. More significantly the process has served the broader Australian national interest including, not least, our economic interest. Our legal system and the quality of our lawyers constitute one of our national strengths or, to use economists’ terminology, a sphere of comparative…