Margaret Stone (judge)

The Honourable Justice Margaret Stone
Judge of the Federal Court of Australia
In office 9 October 2000 – 22 March 2012
Judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory
Incumbent
Assumed office November 2003
Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 August 2015
Personal details
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	University of Sydney; Australian National University; Yale Law School
Occupation	Judge

Margaret Ackary Stone is a former Australian judge who served on the Federal Court of Australia. Since August 2015 Stone has served as the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.^[1]

Background and career

Stone holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney, a Bachelor of Laws with honours from the Australian National University, and a Master of Laws from Yale Law School. She became a partner at Freehills in 1993, where she worked in the areas of commercial property, infrastructure development, commercial financing, and taxation. Stone was appointed a judge of the Federal Court of Australia in October 2000, a position which she held until 2012.^[2][3][4]

Stone taught law at the University of New South Wales for over 15 years, including a role as Sub-Dean in 1981. Since retiring she is now a Visiting Professorial Fellow.^[5]

Between December 2012 and December 2014 she served as Australia's Independent Reviewer of Adverse Security Assessments. Adverse security assessments are findings by the Australian Security and intelligence Organisation that a person who has been found to be a refugee is a security risk. Such people are kept in detention until such time as it is determined that they are no longer security risks. They do not have access to the evidence on which the assessments are made; but in some cases may have some indications of the nature of the accusations. Dr. Stone has reviewed 22 of 52 adverse assessments as of June 2014, as a result of which four people have had their adverse assessments removed.

References

1. Thomson, Phillip (16 July 2015). "Margaret Stone to replace Vivienne Thom as Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
2. "The Hon Margaret Ackary Stone". Federal Court of Australia. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
3. "Former Judges of the Federal Court of Australia". Federal Court of Australia. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
4. "Victorian Bar Association - Women Barristers' Association Networking Breakfast 2010 - Event details" (PDF). Retrieved 13 May 2014.
5. "Former Federal Court judges in residence at UNSW Law". Retrieved 13 May 2014.