Cusack was born in
Ireland, the son of Dora and John Cusack,
KC, later a judge (d. 1940), who contested the seat of
Newry as a
Unionist at the
January 1910 general election. One of his brothers, John Cusack, known as Jake (d. 1968), was Minister of the Interior of
Kenya during the
Mau Mau period. Another brother, Dermot, died in 1933 in a car accident. Cusack was brought up in England. He was educated at
King's College School and the
University of London, as well as in Italy. He passed his
LLB in 1939 and was
called to the Bar from
Gray's Inn in 1940. He then served during
World War II in the
British Army until 1946. In 1943-44 he was a Staff Captain, HQ
Eastern Command, and with a promotion to major was Deputy Assistant Military Secretary at the
War Office from 1944 to 1946, before resuming his legal career. From 1953 to 1960 he was a member of the
General Council of the Bar. In 1960 he became a
Queen's Counsel. He was
Recorder of
Gloucester from 1961 to 1964, and Recorder of
Wolverhampton from 1964 to 1966, the year in which he was appointed a
High Court judge, in succession to Mr Justice Elwes. He was assigned to the Queen's Bench Division. In the same year he was knighted, and elected a
bencher of Gray's Inn. He was unmarried. ==References==