Richard Searby

Who is Richard Searby?

Dr. Richard Henry Searby AO QC is an Australian lawyer, company director and academic.

His father was Dr. Henry Searby, a founding member of the Royal Melbourne Hospital at Parkville and his mother, Mary Searby, was a philanthropist involved in community programs for the benefit of underprivileged people. He was born on 23 July 1931. His brother, Michael, held a doctorate in philosophy from Cambridge University and had a career as a director of companies.

He was educated first at home by his grandfather, and then at the Geelong Grammar School, where he was a school prefect. He attended Melbourne University for one year before leaving to study classics at Oxford University. He was awarded a BA Lit Hum and an MA from Oxford University in 1954 and was then admitted to the Inner Temple. On his return to Australia, from 1956 until 1959, he was Associate to Sir Owen Dixon, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. He commenced practice at the Victorian Bar in 1959 and was appointed as a Queen’s Counsel in 1971.