Denis Howard
29.08.1932 - 14.01.2023

Denis Howard was a damned good lawyer. I speak from personal experience; not merely did I work with him on the legal issues which arose from time to time with the NSWBA and later with the ABF but also my own firm acted for a financial institution which funded ventures for one of Denis’ best clients. As a result, I found myself on the opposite side of the table to Denis negotiating the terms of agreements involving large sums of money.

Denis was a tough negotiator but he always “played it straight.” He had that talent, essential for a top commercial lawyer, of identifying the essential issues at the heart of any deal and seeking agreement on those before dealing with peripheral matters. And you knew that any undertaking given by him or on behalf of his client would be fulfilled to the limit.

He was of course for some time the Chairman of one of Sydney’s leading firm of solicitors Mallesons Stephen Jacques (now King and Wood Mallesons) and he has been credited with being primarily responsible for making that firm fully national-wide and subsequently international. Both immediately after his death and at his funeral fulsome tributes have been paid to his qualities as a person, a lawyer and a leader from past and present members of that firm.

Denis Howard was a damn good bridge player. His record speaks for itself - representing Australia at three World Bridge Olympiads and as a member of the team which finished 3rd in the 1971 Bermuda Bowl - the best result of any Australian open team in world competition. He was also a member of no less than a dozen winning NSW teams at the ANC and half a dozen Australian pairs championships. He was of course a member of the “big four” – Cummings Howard Seres and Smilde and a particular friend of Tim Seres, Australia’s greatest bridge player. The “big four” dominated Australian bridge in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. Denis was the theoretician of the group and was responsible for much of the “NSW system” featuring asking bids and short club openings with a game forcing 1NT response. The system is no longer in vogue but some of its features still appear in systems such as the Polish Club.

Denis Howard was a damn good administrator and innovator. In this aspect he left a legacy which carried on after his retirement from serious competitive bridge in 1974 following a severe heart attack. In particular the NSWBA benefited from his vision and determination to modernise bridge administration. His interest in administration appears to have begun as early as 1963 when he had been the solicitor who drafted the constitution of the NSWBA and saw to its registration as a non- profit public company giving it the benefit of a legal personality enabling it to own property to take legal action and to be managed by a Board of Directors the Chairman of which he was subsequently to become.

In 1973, recognising the need for Australia-wide competition beyond the annual national championships (the “ANC”) he caused the establishment of the National Open Championships (the “NOT”) beginning with an event at the Menzies Hotel in Sydney and later migrating (via the Lindfield Bridge club in Sydney) to the national capital Canberra where the 2023 Championship is just finishing as I write these words. One of the members of the winning team in the very first NOT, Gaby Lorentz, is the captain of the Senior’s team which has just won the right to represent Australia at the 2023 World Championships

Further, Denis instituted the magazine “Australian Bridge” becoming its first editor with Ron Klinger as his assistant and the hardworking Grace Wagstaff (a NSW State women’s representative) as secretary. The first issue appeared in February 1970 and it has been published continually since then. The high quality of this publication has been consistently recognised throughout the bridge world as can be seen by the reputation of the various contributors of articles over the years and I am sure that Denis was gratified when, as it passed the 50th anniversary of its publication, it was clear that its high standards were being maintained by its present editor Brad Coles who is committed to the publication of a quality magazine which does Australian bridge proud.

And Denis was particularly concerned about the future of the NSWBA. When he became Chairman in the early 1970’s he set about acquiring a permanent home for it. A property was purchased in the suburb of Redfern close to the centre of Sydney and plans were drawn up for its development.

However, the site was in an area which the government had decided to redevelop, and it acquired the property from the NSWBA at a price which produced a significant profit to the Association. The money was invested wisely, and this nest egg became crucial some years later when it enabled the Association to acquire its current Goulburn Street premises in 1994.

He was also concerned with bridge throughout the State and was influential in setting up the Association of Affiliated Clubs to give a voice to suburban and country bridge clubs, a body which was subsequently amalgamated with the NSWBA.

Denis Howard was damn good at surrounding himself with competent people – the likes of Ron Klinger who took over the editorship of Australian Bridge and Ted Griffin who became Chairman of the NSWBA for a period in the 1970’s while Denis was recovering from his heart attack. After becoming President of the ABF, he planned to put Australia on the bridge map by holding the Asia Pacific Championships here for the first time since 1971, and after Australia had been chosen as the host of the 1985 Championships, he appointed John Scudder as convenor.

The event was held at the Hyatt Hotel at Kings Cross in Sydney and was a great success. The NSWBA was heavily involved and helped cement the notion that Australia was capable of successfully staging large international bridge events on a regular basis.

Denis was made a member of the WBF Executive Council in 1982 and after he was elected as its President in 1986 Australia was granted the right to host the 1989 Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup. Although Sydney was originally to be the venue the 1987 financial crisis mandated a change to Perth. Denis working through the Council of BAWA headed by President Josse Greenfeld recruited a dedicated band of local helpers with John Scudder as the assistant convenor.

The Championships were enhanced by the addition of brand-new hardware from NEC and featured innovations such as “postage stamp” cameras on the screens separating players so that their facial reactions were seen by the audience. It was the general opinion of players who had competed in past championships that these were the best run up to that time.

How could it be then that Denis was in effect pushed out of his position as WBF president only a couple of years later? Cathy Chua in her classic work “The History of Australian Bridge” published by the ABF in 1993 tells what happened in detail and I will not repeat it here, but I am of the opinion that Denis would not have been open to challenge if outside events had not prevented Perth 1989 being perceived as an overwhelming success.

Denis, a great lover of Shakespeare, must have appreciated the irony – like many Shakespearean heroes his nemesis came from the heavens – not from the machinations of the Gods but as the result of industrial action by commercial pilots which made Australia inaccessible from most of the world. With only a trickle of attendees from other countries and with the inability to broadcast direct to the rest of the world by the internet (as happens to-day,) the 1989 Championships were almost a non-event. If it had been seen in the wider bridge world as the triumph it deserved to be, the pressure to retain Denis as President may well have resisted the attempts to displace him.

Denis Howard was damn good at maintaining his dignity and his integrity. When he realised the power of his opponents he resigned and declined the somewhat hypocritical offer of a place in the WBF committee of honours. He did however find his talents accepted outside Europe and he was offered and accepted the position of CEO of the American Contract Bridge League which he filled with distinction for some time.

Throughout most of his career his career Denis wrote bridge columns – for the S.M. Herald and the National Times and commented on current events with his usual discernment and occasional acerbity – for he did not suffer fools gladly. He remained fast friends with the other members of the “big four” maintaining a ritual of Sunday morning phone calls with Tim Seres until Tim’s death. After Dick Cumming’s passing, he published a book recording Dick’s finest moments in bridge entitled “The Cummings Collection.”

In the “real world” Denis Howard was recognised as an outstanding lawyer and legal firm leader; in the microcosm which is the world of contract bridge he has long since taken his place as one of the greatest figures in the history of Australian Bridge. His passing represents the end of one of its most its most significant eras.

Neville Moses
January 2023