The Hon Peter Applegarth AM KC graduated from the Universities of Queensland and Oxford, and was at the Bar from 1986 until 2008. He practised in a wide range of civil and public law litigation. His areas of practice included professional negligence, commercial litigation, insurance law and media law.
Prior to his judicial appointment in August 2008, Mr Applegarth had served as an Executive Member of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, a Part Time Member of the Queensland Law Reform Commission, a member of the expert panel that advised on the establishment of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and as a Board Member of Legal Aid Queensland.
From 2008 until 2024, he was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland. He managed the Supervised Case List and served as a Commercial List Judge, including as Principal Commercial List Judge. Between 2020 and 2023 he additionally served as Chair of the Queensland Law Reform Commission, including its major reference on Voluntary Assisted Dying. He also served on the Governing Council of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration.
In 2020, Mr Applegarth became a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to law, the judiciary and social justice.
His publications cover a wide field of law and legal history: https://www.sclqld.org.au/collections/explore-the-law/judicial-profiles/applegarth-138620?page=1
He was Patron of the UQ Pro Bono Centre and continues to teach in that Centre.
He teaches LAWS5127 Media Law and is undertaking doctoral research about injunctions to stop the disclosure of private information. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.