But, then again, former ACT Chief Justice Terence Higgins said his friend and former client was hard to hang up on.

"He was the kind of man you could say no to and he would take it quite well, but why would you? Of course you took it" Mr Higgins said.

The now retired judge said representing Mr Whitlam during the fallout from the Loans Affair had been "absolutely one of the great the highlights of my legal career".

Mr Higgins had a long personal and professional association with Mr Whitlam, who passed away at age 98 on Tuesday.

The pair first met through Mr Whitlam's son, Tony, who studied law with Mr Higgins at the Australian National University in the 1960s.

The association continued into the 1970s with Mr Higgins becoming inaugural ACT Labor branch president.

Mr Whitlam's involvement included the pre-selection of Keppel Earl "Kep" Enderby to be member for the ACT, and later Canberra, in 1970, upon the death of Jim Fraser.

"He was only too happy to be involved in local, as well as national affairs," Mr Higgins said.

Mr Whitlam would then hire Mr Higgins as his solicitor when he faced two criminal charges in relation to the Loans Affair.

"He was sufficiently impressed with my performances as branch president to make me his solicitor when we had the Sankey case," Mr Higgins said.

The case involved a private prosecution by Sydney solicitor, Danny Sankey, against Mr Whitlam and cabinet members Rex Connor, Lionel Murphy and Jim Cairns, alleging the quartet had acted illegally in bypassing normal procedure to raise money.

The charges alleged that the proposal to borrow money contravened a 1928 financial agreement between the Commonwealth and the States.

A second charge alleged the defendants had conspired to deceive the Governor-General.

The first was dropped after a High Court decision in 1978.

Mr Whitlam was acquitted of the second in Queanbeyan Court soon after.

"It was obviously ridiculous," Mr Higgins said.

But despite the strain, the former judge said Mr Whitlam had been an outstanding client.

"He would say 'Look, give me advice and I'll take it'," he said.

"He would call at odd hours, but then say 'It's OK if you don't want to take this call, I realise it's an odd hour'.

"He was considerate in that respect. But of course you took it."

Mr Higgins said he had fond memories of Mr Whitlam, who he considered to be one of Australia's greatest leaders.

"He was a very considerate, very learned, and a great insight into any matters that I discussed with him," he said.

"For a government in office for so little time … the achievement per year was enormous.

"Of course, the downside of that was the pace of reform outstripped the economy's ability to pay for it. That's a criticisms that can be made."