At a meeting of the council on 17 June 1902 it was resolved that the chairman of the council would be the attorney general and the vice chairman would be the senior member of the Bar present at a meeting of the council.

Since 1902 the attorneys-general for New South Wales and the Commonwealth have held various ex officio positions on the council. No record has been found of them having held an executive position other than that an ex officio one (chairman). For this reason their membership on the council has not been recorded on this list.