Experiences of coming to law: An Interview with Bob Brown on the Tasmanian wilderness society as client in the Tasmanian Dam Case

Abstract

While histories of law tend to examine the lawyers and judges involved through readings of the texts of transcripts and judgments, this contribution contextualises and presents a different and rarer artefact: the recollections of a client seeking to become part of a divisive, nationally significant case. The text here is a transcript that combines two interviews I conducted with Dr Bob Brown about his experience as head of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society when it sought to appear as amicus curiae before the High Court in the Tasmanian Dam Case. As an historical artefact, this interview tells a story of coming to law: Brown's recollections and explanation of the Wilderness Society's aims, expectations and experience before, during and after the matter. This contribution contextualises and presents the interview. To conclude, it suggests that among many readings of this text, it can be usefully read as a story about legalism; here, the encounter and disjuncture between environmental values and legal form.