Raymond Antony Finkelstein AO KC (born 16 July 1946) is an Australian lawyer and judge.
The Second World War led Wolf Finkelstein to Germany, where he met fellow Pole Lisa Altstock.
[1] Finkelstein's secondary education was at Elwood High School, where he was reportedly a rebellious and disobedient student.
He has presided over a number of notable cases, including the civil hearing of prominent Australian businessman Steve Vizard, in which he increased the sentence proposed in the Agreed Statement of Facts by both ASIC and Vizard to a $390,000 fine and a ban from holding company directorships for ten years.
[8]Finkelstein has been described as "independent, full of ideas, and unpredictable",[9] often drawing on practices from other jurisdictions to inform the court's ruling, both procedural and substantive.
[10] In 2003, Finkelstein entered into the debate on judicial activism in a journal article published in the Monash University Law Review, in which he stated that, while he opposes judges acting as "ad hoc legislators", it is naïve to think that a judge's background, education, heritage and personal ethical views do not influence their decisions.