Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Bruno Fiannaca appointed as new judge for the Supreme Court

Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Bruno Fiannaca SC has been appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

Attorney General Michael Mischin said Mr Fiannaca was a highly experienced legal practitioner who had spent the majority of his career as a State prosecutor.

“Mr Fiannaca has extensive legal acumen after spending more than 25 years prosecuting a number of high profile criminal cases on behalf of the State,” Mr Mischin said.

“He has been the deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for the past five years and has acted in the position of DPP, making him suitably qualified for the Supreme Court.”

Mr Fiannaca completed his legal education at The University of Western Australia in 1984 and started his career in the former State Crown Solicitor’s Office in 1985.

In 1992, Mr Fiannaca joined the office of the DPP as a Crown Prosecutor and was appointed Consultant Crown Prosecutor in 2001, senior counsel in 2005, acting DPP in 2009 and 2010 and deputy DPP in 2010.

Mr Fiannaca’s appointment follows the recent appointments of Paul Tottle and former District Court of Western Australia Chief Judge Peter Martino as Justices of the Supreme Court of WA.

The State Government is spending $27 million to redevelop the Cathedral and Treasury Precinct’s 33-storey tower for the new Supreme Court (Civil), which will provide eight courts, 10 hearing rooms, five special trial rooms and numerous interview rooms for civil matters.

Fact File

• The criminal non-appeal backlog (cases on hand as of June 30, 2014, which have been in the Supreme Court for more than 12 months) account for 5.2% of all cases on hand.  Western Australia had the lowest proportion of cases in backlog, indicating that the majority of criminal cases are being finalised in a timely manner
• The number of Supreme Court judicial officers per 100,000 people is 1.2 in Western Australia. This is the highest of the comparable States (NSW, Vic, Qld and SA)