Mordecai ‘Mordy’ Bromberg

As a footballer and Australian Federal Court Judge, The Hon. Justice Mordecai ‘Mordy’ Bromberg surely has one of the most interesting career journeys around. Mordy (as he prefers to be known) joined the Saints from BGS after attending the School for just one year playing memorable football on the Crowther Oval.

The fact that Mordy made it that far is remarkable, given he was born in Israel, didn’t move to Australia until he was eight and didn’t speak a word of English when he arrived.

In his football career he played 34 games, scored 11 goals and had three Brownlow Medal votes in 1980. He gave up playing to pursue a career in law. Mordy graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of

Economics and a Bachelor of Laws, and was admitted as a solicitor in 1984.

Mordy became a barrister at the Victorian Bar in 1988.  He forged an outstanding career, principally in the area  of labour and industrial law, and in 1998 appeared for   the Maritime Union of Australia in its landmark case against Patrick Stevedores. Mordy was appointed Senior Counsel in 2003 and from 2005 served as President of the Australian Institute of Employment Rights.

For over 30 years Mordy worked in Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and London as a solicitor and a barrister, then a Senior Counsel, and then in 2009 was appointed to the Federal Court of Australia.

Mordy said there were some similarities between his two endeavours – football and law.

“You can’t shy away from hard work to succeed as a footballer and the dedication to the task that football teaches you is something I’ve applied to my legal career as well. In many ways, your personality is a result of what you’ve done and what you’ve achieved, and football has given me a nice introduction to a whole lot of aspects to my professional life and it’s not uncommon that people know who I am and what I’ve done.”

Not satisfied with simply running a very successful practice, in 2007 Mordy co-edited a book with fellow barrister Mark Irvine, the Australian Charter of Employment Rights, which was described as a ‘blue print for the future of Australian industrial relations”.