| Tim Carmody: His rise and fall as chief justice |
Tim Carmody's descent was almost as swift as his meteoric rise.
The former meatpacker and police officer was controversially sworn in as chief justice in July last year, despite never serving in the Supreme Court.
He was promoted in 2014 by the-then Newman government after only serving nine months as chief magistrate.
During that time he angered many in the legal profession by telling newly appointed magistrates not to "meddle" with the LNP's contentious anti-bikie laws.
He also issued a directive which meant he would preside over the most disputed bikie bail applications.
It was this perceived closeness to the government, along with his inexperience, that saw the new chief justice attract more intense fire from within legal ranks.
But the man appointed to ensure the rule of law in Queensland vowed to be a fiercely independent leader.
"If my views happen to coincide with the government's views, that's pure coincidence," he said.
However, Justice Carmody fended off criticism of his appointment by spruiking his background while acknowledging his courtroom inexperience.
"I've often said, and I'm sure nobody will argue that, I may not be the smartest lawyer in the room, and if you were in a room with me and I was the smartest lawyer it would be a good time to leave it," he said.
"But there's more to being a Chief Justice than a black letter lawyer.
"I can do this job, I will do this job, and I shouldn't not do this job because someone else says I shouldn't."
His assurances failed to silence his critics who included the former corruption inquiry chief, Tony Fitzgerald, and former Queensland solicitor-general, Walter Sofronoff.
"Merely being a self-made man, or a knockabout bloke, or even being a bloke at all or a man at all, is neither a necessary nor a sufficient qualification for membership of the profession, whether it the bar or the bench," Mr Sofronoff said.
'Dignified end to the controversy'
The criticism reached fever pitch in March this year when Justice Carmody met a well-known child protection advocate, while deliberating on an appeal by the man convicted of killing Sunshine Coast schoolboy Daniel Morcombe.
The President of the Court of Appeal, Margaret McMurdo, raised questions of bias over the meeting.
Days later said she could not sit with Justice Carmody "again on any court".
The debacle saw the chief justice withdraw from one of Queensland's highest-profile cases in early May.
By the end of the month he told the media he was ready to quit to "stop the bleeding" in the judiciary.
He said he would resign on "just terms" and if the Government agreed to a reform agenda in the courts, which it has never committed to.
The chief justice then took six weeks sick leave citing a back complaint, while negations over his departure continued.
He returned to work on June 29 and formally resigned two days later.
The State Government described his resignation as a "dignified end to the controversy".
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