Former army chief David Morrison made international headlines when he delivered a powerful speech to camera telling sexist soldiers to "get out".
Now, the recently retired Lieutenant-General, who was farewelled on May 15 after a 36-year military career, takes on a new role, helping to select the NSW barristers who should be appointed this year to the prestigious rank of silk.
Mr Morrison said he was "honoured and privileged" to join the eight-member senior counsel selection committee for 2015 as a non-legal member, a position added to the panel of eminent lawyers in recent years.
"I think we're all interested in how our senior lawyers are appointed," he told Fairfax Media.
"The judiciary and the way the legal system works affects us all. I'm looking forward to making whatever contribution I can."
Mr Morrison cemented his status as a champion of equality and diversity when he told a United Nations global summit last year that "we live in a world where the squandering of women's talent, the traducing of their potential, is a global disgrace".
He said he had been "a voice, but only one of many . . . calling for a broader perspective with regard to how we build a military or a community for the future".
The former Chief of Army said the NSW Bar Association had "taken a very innovative step" in appointing a non-legal member to the silk selection committee, a position created in 2013.
"It is best practice now to invite someone outside of a fraternity, a military or a legislature, to be involved in the selection process," he said.
"We have certainly been doing that for our senior selection committees in army for several years now and it has been, I think, enormously advantageous.
"I think there is a very genuine desire on the part of the Bar Association to give as many people, irrespective of their gender or whatever their background is, the opportunity to reach their potential as senior members of the legal fraternity."
NSW Bar Association president Jane Needham, SC, said the association was "very happy" to have Mr Morrison on the silk selection committee "because of his standing in the community".
She said Mr Morrison's leadership in the area of equality and diversity "was one of the things that we looked at" but his background more generally meant he would be "very useful" in selecting leaders of the legal profession.
The silk selection committee includes Ms Needham, association senior vice-president Noel Hutley, SC, four silks, and an eminent non-practising barrister.
Ms Needham said the respected former Court of Appeal judge Joe Campbell had been appointed to the latter role this year.
Applications for silk open in July. Committee members consider the applications separately before holding four meetings in September. New silks are announced in late September or early October.
There are 375 silks – 9.8 per cent of them women – out of 2267 practising barristers in NSW, of whom 20.8 per cent are women.
