Mariusz Pavel Podleska
(1955-2001)
By Rick Burbidge QC
Mariusz Pavel Podleska, barrister, was killed in a
traffic accident at Balmain on Thursday 8 March.
Mariusz was born in Stalinogrod, Poland on 10
February 1955, the only son of a classical musician and a
great Polish beauty. The family migrated to Hobart in
1966. The family was granted Australian citizenship the
following year.
Mariusz attended a local high school, where he
experienced the problems associated with an absence of
knowledge of the local language, a disability which he
quickly overcame. At age 18, suffocating within the close
confines of the local Polish community, Mariusz escaped to
sea, joining a Sydney-Hobart yacht, which was sailing on
to New Zealand. He was, alas, quickly tracked down
through the international Polish brotherhood, and in a
negotiated return to the bosom of his family he agreed to
study law, but in Canberra. His sharp intellect enabled him
to graduate at ANU as a Bachelor of Arts, with Honours
in Philosophy and Politics. Though an excellent student,
Mariusz, gifted with European charm, polished and far too
good-looking, settled into the life of an antipodean
Sebastian Flyte. He revelled in university life, but his
leisurely pursuit of learning ultimately came to an end with
his graduation in law, again, with Honours, in 1982.
In 1983 Mariusz was admitted as a solicitor in New
South Wales and the ACT, and commenced work with
Dawson Waldron, with Hugh Keller his supervising
partner. In 1986 he was called to the New South Wales
Bar, and in subsequent years was admitted to the bars in
Tasmania and Western Australia. Mariusz' first chambers
were on 10 Wentworth, then lead by Ken Handley QC. He
read with Tony Bellanto QC and Martin Einfeld QC,
accepting briefs in all jurisdictions, but steering himself
towards corporate and equity work where possible. He
later joined Windeyer Chambers and in 1991 I invited him
to join my new chambers in the State Bank building. He
later joined King Chambers under John Dowd QC and 3
Selborne Chambers under Peter Capelin QC.
During his practice years Mariusz involved himself in
academic pursuits of many kinds, and his interest in
academic law which he implemented by taking on a
variety of teaching positions to some extent overshadowed
his pursuit of professional eminence. He held at different
times the posts of examiner in Constitutional Law at
Sydney University, Resident Tutor in Law at St Andrews
College, Lecturer in Practice and Procedure for the
Solicitors' and Barristers' Admissions Board course and
occasional examiner and lecturer at the College of Law.
Mariusz was a gregarious man, with an enviable
generosity of spirit. He loved the law, its theatricalities and its philosophies. He personally sparked the interest of
numerous young practitioners, whom he supported with
gifts of books, his own boundless enthusiasm and wisdom.
In 1997 he was advised that he had a terminal illness,
and he determined to grapple with that issue alone. He
gave up practice, and resided for some 18 months in Byron
Bay. He succeeded in confounding his medical advisors,
and by 1999 was looking to resume part-time practice. He
joined Lismore Chambers, headed up by Geoff Radburn,
and began intermittent practice in the Northern Rivers
District. Mariusz was however not really suited to the
demanding circuit court life of the common law, nor did
his health prove as robust as he had hoped. He accordingly
sought refuge in the academic world, and in 2000 secured
work as a part time member of the Southern Cross
University Law School, and as a teacher at the University
of New England School of Law. Tragically, he had secured
a position of a more permanent nature with the University
of Newcastle on the day prior to his death.
He was a colourful figure against the increasingly
neutral background of the Bar, and his passing at such an
early age is a great sadness to all who knew him.
