Jim Macken

James Joseph Macken was an Australian lawyer, judge and human rights activist.

Career

MacKen was admitted as a barrister in July 1963, and worked in cases of employment law. on 2 June 1975 he was appointed a judge of the Industrial Commission of NSW and retired on 21 August 1989.

After retiring as a judge, Macken continued to work as an academic and author, including lecturing in industrial relations at Sydney Law School.
In September 2016, Macken offered to trade places with a refugee at one of the immigration detention camps operated in Nauru or Manus under Australia's Pacific Solution policy.

Jim Macken died in his sleep on 19 September 2019. He is survived by his eleven children, two brothers and twenty-three grand children.

In June 2003 Macken was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to industrial relations as an advocate, judge, academic and author.