WA’s new Chief Justice Peter Quinlan has vowed to try to make the courts more accessible to the person on the street — while also promising to keep highlighting the State’s vast number of indigenous prisoners.

Mr Quinlan will be confirmed today as the new head of WA’s justice system, taking on the role vacated by Justice Wayne Martin.

The 48-year-old father of five will become WA’s 14th premier jurist. He has been the Solicitor-General for the past two years.

In an exclusive interview with The West Australian, Mr Quinlan said he was honoured, a little daunted but excited by the appointment.

“It is a very daunting thought ... and it is a changing role as well, so there are new challenges ahead,” Mr Quinlan said.

“Obviously, there is a need to be involved in the work of the court, all of the areas and all the jurisdictions — and in many ways it is about supporting the other judges and the work they do.

“The last two people in the role ... have very much been a point of contact between the judiciary and the community in terms of explaining the works of the court to the public.

“That is an absolutely critical role so that the community understands what their courts do.”

Mr Quinlan is the third consecutive Chief Justice not to sit as a judge before his appointment, with Justice Martin and his predecessor David Malcolm moving straight from the bar to the position.

As a barrister, Mr Quinlan represented the family of Ms Dhu during the inquest into her death in custody.

He appeared as counsel assisting Corruption and Crime Commission hearings investigating the wrongful murder conviction of Andrew Mallard and the police tasering of Kevin Spratt.

He has been known to use the lyrics of Taylor Swift and the movies of the Coen Brothers to get his point across. Mr Quinlan said he intended to import some of that modernist approach as head of the court.

Camera Icon WA’s new Chief Justice Peter Quinlan with wife Lucette and their children, left to right, Lux, 12, Jude, 14, Audrey, 15, Harper, 17 and Gabe, 19. Credit: Nic Ellis

“I do like to explain and deal with legal concepts in a way that is engaging and topical,” Mr Quinlan said. “It is part of an effective way of communicating with people that you can draw upon art and music and popular culture to explain what, at first sight, can be fairly difficult concepts.”

Surrounded by his family yesterday, Mr Quinlan said he would start with a reform agenda, but pinpointed “the single biggest issue to our justice system as access”.

“There is a large, unserved middle in the justice system. The very wealthy have access to justice, and a small proportion of the very poor have access,” Mr Quinlan said. “There is a large group in the middle where access to justice is often theoretical rather than real.

“That will be the aim — enabling ordinary men and women to access the justice system to vindicate their rights or claims that they have, the same way the top end of town can.”

Mr Quinlan said he would continue to highlight the plight of the indigenous people in the court system.

“It’s a problem which is ultimately not able to be solved by the courts,” he said. “But what the courts can do, and the Chief Justice has done, is continually draw attention to that issue because it is undoubtedly a scandal, the over-representation of indigenous persons in the prisons and in the criminal justice system in general.”

Attorney-General John Quigley said Mr Quinlan was the “standout choice”.

“Amongst solicitors general of Australia, and in the High Court, Mr Quinlan SC is held in very high regards,” Mr Quigley said. “He has a comprehensive and unrivalled understanding of the public and private sectors, which is essential to the efficient management and modernisation of the courts in WA.”