- Entry type: Person
- Entry ID: AWE2184
Evatt, Elizabeth Andreas
(1933 – )- Born 11 November, 1933, Sydney New South Wales Australia
- Occupation Barrister, Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor
Summary
Elizabeth Evatt was the first Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia and the first woman to preside in an Australian Federal Court.
In August 2020, a specialist domestic violence resource was established and named in her honour. The Evatt List, operating in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia across selected registries, will identify high-risk cases, enabling them to be fast-tracked with appropriate security arrangements in place.
Details
Elizabeth Evatt studied Law at the University of Sydney and at Harvard Law School. A Barrister-at-law at Inner Temple and the New South Wales Bar, her legal career began in England where she was a barrister and editor of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly. In 1968 she was invited to join Lord Scarman at the English Law Commission where she worked for five years.
Evatt was Deputy President of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission from 1973-76, before becoming the first Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia (1976-1988). From 1988-1993 she was president of the Australian Law Reform Commission, and Chancellor of the University of Newcastle from 1988-1994.
Between 1984-1992, Evatt was a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, serving as Chair of the Committee from 1989-1991. She was a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee from 1993-2000, and was a part time Commissioner of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission from 1995-1998.
Evatt is currently a judge of the World Bank Administrative Tribunal; a Visiting Professor at the University of New South Wales; and Chair of the Board of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Sydney. She has for many years been a member of the Australian section of the International Commission of Jurists, and was elected as a Commissioner in April 2003. A niece of former Labor leader Dr H. V. Evatt, Elizabeth Evatt is a Life Member of the Evatt Foundation, and served as Vice-President from 1982-1987.
Events
-
2001 - 2001
Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women
- 1995 - 1995
-
2020 - 2020
The Evatt List named in her honour, as a means of identifying and prioritising cases in Family Circuit Court Registries where family violence is a risk factor.
Published resources
-
Resource
- Trove: Evatt, Elizabeth Andreas (1933-), http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-463286
- Pioneering Women at the NSW Bar: 1921-1975, New South Wales Bar Association, 2011, http://www.nswbar.asn.au/the-bar-association/pioneering-women/
-
Resource Section
- Elizabeth Evatt, Brodsky, Juliette, 2011, http://www.nswbar.asn.au/the-bar-association/pioneering-women/
- Law, Kerwin, Hollie and Rubenstein, Kim, 2014, http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0624b.htm
- Book Section
- Edited Book
-
Report
- Final report. Royal Commission on Human Relationships., Royal Commission on Human Relationships (Australia), 1977
- National implementation : the cutting edge of international human rights law, Evatt, Elizabeth, 1999
- Review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984, Evatt, Elizabeth, 1996
- Genital mutilation : a health and human rights issue, Magarey, Kirsty, 1990
- Conference Proceedings
- Conference Paper
- Lecture
-
Site Exhibition
- The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, Smart, Judith and Swain, Shurlee (eds.), 2014, http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders
- Australian Women Lawyers as Active Citizens, http://www.womenaustralia.info/lawyers/biogs/AWE2184b.htm
- Book
Archival resources
- National Library of Australia, Oral History and Folklore Collection
-
National Archives of Australia, Sydney Office
- Working papers of Justice Elizabeth Evatt, chronological series
- Personal papers relating to family law matters, single number series
- Records created by Justice Elizabeth Evatt as Chairman of the Royal Commission into Human Relationships, single number series
- Files created by Justice Elizabeth Evatt as Chancellor of Newcastle University, single number series
- Files created by Justice Elizabeth Evatt as President of the Australian Law Reform Commission, single number series
- Personal correspondence files, single number series
- Addresses given by Justice Elizabeth Evatt, single number series
- National Archives of Australia, Melbourne Office
- National Library of Australia, Manuscript Collection
- Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection