Maurice Byers was born in Sydney in 1917 and educated at Fort Street High School, one of the city’s most academically demanding institutions. He went on to study law at the University of Sydney, graduating with distinction, and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1944. From the outset of his career, Byers displayed a mastery of language, logic, and constitutional structure that set him apart. He became known for his cool temperament, lucid argument, and extraordinary grasp of both principle and detail.

Byers took silk in 1960 and quickly became one of the most formidable advocates in the country. His practice was centred around constitutional and public law, and he appeared in some of the most significant High Court cases of the post-war era. He had a singular ability to express complex ideas with disarming simplicity, and judges often remarked on the precision and elegance of his submissions. He avoided rhetoric for its own sake and preferred to let structure and clarity do the work.

In 1973 he was appointed Commonwealth Solicitor-General, a role in which he served under governments of markedly different political persuasion. He acted as the principal legal adviser to the federal government and as its chief advocate before the High Court. His tenure saw some of the most defining constitutional cases of the twentieth century, including the Franklin Dam case and the challenge to the dismissal of the Whitlam Government. He handled such matters with a disciplined sense of independence, insisting that legal integrity must transcend political convenience.

Byers returned to the private Bar in 1984 and continued to appear in major constitutional litigation. Even late in life, he retained the ability to illuminate legal problems with unmatched clarity. He was knighted in 1983 and died in 1999, remembered by the bench and the Bar alike as a jurist of quiet brilliance and profound influence. His advocacy set a standard for constitutional discourse and exemplified the role of the barrister as both a technician and a guardian of public reason.