Andrew Bell

Andrew Scott Bell (born 21 February 1966) is an Australian lawyer and judge serving as the Chief Justice of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales.

He was a Rhodes Scholar for New South Wales, and practised as a barrister-at-law.

He was a resident from 1985 to 1989 at St Paul's College.

He graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts and in 1989 a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours and receiving the University Medal in both degrees.

Bell also received the Sydney University Convocation Medal.

In 1989, Bell and Warren Lee won top honours in the World Universities Debate Championships held at Princeton, New Jersey, defeating debaters from the University of Toronto.

The win was after an eight-day tournament organised by the American Whig-Cliosophic Society of Princeton University, involving 116 teams from 18 nations.

The pair had in the semi-finals defeated a team from Yale University.

In 1990, Bell was the Rhodes Scholar for New South Wales and undertook a Bachelor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford.

He graduated with First Class Honours and was awarded the Vinerian Scholarship for first place in the BCL.

The following year he earned his doctorate from Oxford University.

His thesis formed the basis for his book Forum Shopping and Venue in Transnational Litigation published by Oxford University Press.

He was later to become a selection committee member of the Australian Rhodes Scholar's Association.

In 1990–1991, Bell was the Associate to the then Chief Justice of the High Court, Anthony Mason.

It was there he met his wife, Joanna Bird, the Associate to Justice Michael McHugh.

He was admitted as a barrister in 1995 and read with Phil Greenwood and Paul Brereton (who later became a Supreme Court Justice).

He became a member of the College Council in 2004, and continued to serve as a member until 2013, and served as deputy chairman between 2010 and 2013.

He took silk in 2006.

He had a broad national practice and appeared in both trials and appeals, including 30 High Court appeals.

He was Treasurer, then Senior Vice President of the New South Wales Bar Association, a past chairman of a Professional Conduct Committee of that Association and was for many years the editor of the Bar Association's journal titled "Bar News".

He was twice the chairman of his chambers, Eleven Wentworth and he was a member of "Wentworth Wombats", described in his swearing-in speech as being "one of the finest cricket teams ever to leave these shores but never to taste success".

In 2008 he was appointed an adjunct professor at Sydney University Law School, where he taught private international law.

Bell has co-authored three editions of Nygh's Conflict of Laws in Australia.

Bell is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

His notable legal cases have included acting for former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, for Qantas against Rolls-Royce, the Rinehart children in trust litigation against Gina Rinehart, and for Channel 7 in relation to cases arising from Australian Federal Police raids.

Bell was a long-time board member of Sculpture by the Sea exhibition.

He became its chair between 2010 and 2016.

He is credited with being instrumental in developing the event from an organisation barely able to stage two large exhibits in Sydney and Perth, to a well established non-for-profit cultural institution regarded as the peak body for sculpture in Australia.

He introduced key changes such as a universal minimum income for artists in the Sydney exhibition, and later covering the costs of the heavy installation equipment for artists in both Sydney and Perth.

He also developed initiatives such as "Sculpture at Barangaroo", held in 2016 and 2017, as well as the Sydney Sculpture Conference at the Sydney Opera House.

He was later in 2018 to commission a sculpture by Ayako Saito called “Heaven’s Door” for the college.

He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Sydney, and from 2019 was the President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal.

On 7 March 2022, Bell was sworn in as the 18th Chief Justice of New South Wales, succeeding Tom Bathurst, who retired on 5 March 2022.

As Chief Justice, he is the President of the Judicial Commission of New South Wales.

Bell is the son of economist Dr Harold Bell and art historian Dr Pamela Bell.

His father had bachelor's degrees in arts and economics, a Masters of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, and a doctorate from the London School of Economics, and become a well-known economist and public commentator.

His mother holds an honours degree in fine arts, a master's degree and a doctorate.

She became the first curator of the University of Sydney's art collection and is highly regarded as an art historian.

Bell grew up on the North Shore of Sydney and attended four schools, Balmoral Infants, Mosman Primary, Neutral Bay Opportunity and Sydney Grammar School At Sydney Grammar he captained the school cricket and debating teams and was Dux of the School.

Bell began his legal studies at the University of Sydney.