Robert French was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia on 1 September 2008 and retired from that office on 29 January 2017.

He is a graduate of the University of Western Australia in science and law. He was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia in November 1986, an office he held until his appointment as Chief Justice on 1 September 2008. From 1994 to 1998 he was the President of the National Native Title Tribunal.

Following his retirement as Chief Justice, Mr French was appointed as a Non-Permanent Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in May 2017 and in January 2018 as an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court.

He is an Adjunct Professor at the Law School at the University of Western Australia, a Distinguished Honorary Professor at the Australian National University and an Adjunct Professor at Monash University Law School. He was elected as Chancellor of the University of Western Australia in December 2017.