Norman Delaney was first admitted as a barrister in 1968, before continuing work as a solicitor until 1975, when he became manager of the Law Society shop front legal aid centre. He returned to the bar in 1975 and was the first full time barrister in Parramatta with rooms above the Rural Bank, which would later become Lachlan Macquarie Chambers. He became a member of chambers in 1988 and remained until appointed as a District Court Judge on 4 February 1998. In 1996, he was the first barrister outside Sydney to be elected to the Bar Council. Norman Delaney retired as a District Court Judge in July 2014 and has been an Acting Judge since.