Gary Gumpl was born in Adelaide after his parents, Hungarian and Yugoslav nationals, migrated from European Displacement Camps. He graduated in law from the University of Adelaide in 1973. Prior to his appointment as a Magistrate in 1987 he spent several years as a prosecutor in Darwin. Richard Kleinig is a fourth generation Australian of German descent with ancestral ties to the Barossa Valley. After graduating from the University of Adelaide, he spent four years in private practice and 11 years in the SA Attorney General's office as a research officer and legal and policy adviser. He was appointed a Stipendiary Magistrate in 1989.