The partners and staff of Freehills are deeply saddened by the loss of respected colleague and friend, Keith Steele.
Keith joined Freehills in 1977 and he became a partner in 1980. Keith will be remembered as one of Australia’s leading litigation practitioners. For the past 32 years, Keith has practised extensively in the area of commercial dispute resolution and litigation (including international arbitration), with special expertise in commercial contracts, cross-border disputes, product liability, public law, customs and international trade remedy law.
‘Keith was a modern colossus in this firm,’ said Peter Butler, Managing Partner. ‘He was its conscience and was a brilliant lawyer. He was one of the prime architects of the Freehills Litigation group. He mentored literally scores of people here, both partners and non-partners. He was liked and admired by every single person here. He was an amazing and loyal friend.’
Early career
Keith was a Girdlers Scholar and a Law (Honours) graduate of Cambridge University (where he also gained a double Blue in cricket and rugby).
‘He was a great,’ said Kevin Broadley, Consultant. ‘He won a scholarship to Cambridge University, given only to the brightest young man around New Zealand of his era.’
Keith joined the Freehills Litigation group in Sydney in January 1977 after four years with the Crown Solicitor's office in Auckland, where he advised and represented many New Zealand Government agencies as an advocate in criminal prosecutions and civil actions in both the lower and superior courts of New Zealand.
‘Keith did Articles with his brother-in-law’s firm in Auckland and during those years he met Margaret L’Estrange,’ said Mr Broadley. ‘After a period of cross-Tasman courtship, they married and Keith decided to come and live in Sydney. So Keith then had to find a job in Sydney.
‘We interviewed him here,’ continued Mr Broadley. ‘He was interviewed by a number of partners, including me. We were all very impressed with him, and we offered him a job with me in Litigation, which he accepted. He was very successful as a young litigator.’
Career achievements
Professionally, Keith went from strength to strength and was involved with a lot of big cases. He was appointed Sydney Chairman and Senior Partner of the firm (1997–2001) and he played a lead role in the national integration of Freehills in 2000.
‘It was a big challenge for the firm to go from a federation to a fully merged national firm,’ said Mr Broadley. ‘Keith was passionate about achieving that objective and was elected Chairman to fulfil this. It sounds easy to do but it was difficult and Keith expended a huge amount of energy and effort on putting it all together until ultimately in 2000 we finally achieved a fully integrated national firm.’
From 2005–08 Keith was the Head of Litigation nationally at Freehills and in that capacity led a group of 65 partners, 230 lawyers and 150 other staff and sat on the firm’s Executive.
A man of many abilities
Aside from his work at Freehills, Keith served as a member of the Administrative Law Committee of the New South Wales Law Society, the Law Council of Australia and as Chairman of the Customs Law Committee. He has also been a member of the International Trade and Business Committee of the Law Council. He was a past Chairman of the sub-committee on trade for the International Bar Association (IBA) and a past Vice-Chairman of Committee O (international litigation) of the IBA.
Keith was an author of many works including the Australian chapter of Antidumping law and practice – a comparative study (Jackson & Vermulst and University of Michigan Press, 1989). He was the co-author of the Australian chapter of Rules of Origin in International Trade (Vermulst, University of Michigan Press, 1994) and an author of the Australian and Asia-Pacific chapters of Economic Consequences of Litigation Worldwide (Kluwer/IBA, 1999).
Keith played a leading role in the establishment of Freehills’ pro bono program in Sydney. In 1992 he was instrumental in establishing the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre to serve homeless young people in Kings Cross. Keith also successfully established a permanent solicitor secondment arrangement with the Kingsford Legal Centre and orchestrated Freehills becoming a founding member of the Public Interest Law Clearing House. Keith served as a director of that body for nearly 10 years from its inception.
Good times
‘Keith had a habit when he and his team had had a successful win in a case; he loved to go to Phillip’s Foote, which is a pub in The Rocks,’ said Mr Broadley. ‘We had many happy Friday afternoons at Phillip’s Foote celebrating the latest win or the latest wedding or birth or whatever, and he loved sitting at the top of a table in a room or the beer garden at Phillip’s Foote with the young people and enjoying the lunch over a drink or two. It was something that he really enjoyed and we all enjoyed being part of it as well.’
An enduring legacy
‘He is totally irreplaceable, a very special man. What sums Keith up is that he is a good man in every sense of the word,’ said Mr Broadley.
‘The loss of Keith to this firm institutionally is huge,’ said Mr Butler. ‘He was our rock, what he stood for defined the very best parts of Freehills. I know I speak for so many people when I say, we are going to miss him terribly. He was a great friend, a great mentor. He had absolutely outstanding values and he was a complete gentleman.’
Keith was a man of strength, moral courage and a good friend to many around the world. Keith was devoted to his family, and we send our sincere condolences to his wife Margaret and his three children.