Romano, Bruna - Australian Women Biographical entry

Australian Women
Biographical entry

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Romano, Bruna (1942 - )

Barrister and Solicitor

Born: 18 November 1942 Motticella, Reggio Calabria, Italy

Bruna Romano migrated to Australia from Italy with her family in 1956. In 1967 she was awarded a Council of Legal Education Certificate from the Legal Education Committee of Victoria and was admitted as a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of Victoria in May 1968. In mid-1968 she became the first woman to establish a law practice in the ACT, and remained head of the firm Romano & Co. until 2003. She was active in a number of community organisations in Canberra until the 1990s and continues to practice as a family law consultant.

Career Highlights

Alternative Names:

Verduci, Bruna (maiden name)

The fifth of nine children of Giuseppina Raco and Bartolo Verduci, Bruna Romano migrated with her family to Melbourne at the age of 13 and completed the Higher School Certificate at McRobertson Girls High, Melbourne, in 1961. In 1967 she was awarded a Council of Legal Education Certificate from the Legal Education Committee of Victoria, and became a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of Victoria in May 1968. She married a Public Servant, Domenico Romano in December 1967 and became the first woman to establish a legal firm in the ACT in mid-1968 when she established the firm of Romano-Verduci, the ACT’s first non Anglo-Celtic law firm in the Canberra region. Her husband completed a law degree at the Australian National University and joined the firm in the mid-1970s. Bruna remained head of the firm Romano and Co. until 2003. In 1986 she was appointed Honorary lawyer for the Embassy of Italy, and in 1999 graduated from the University of Adelaide and the Australian National University with an Advanced Certificate of Arbitration and Mediation. From 1968 until the 1990s she was an active member of a number of community organisations such as the Good Neighbour Council (1968-80), the Council of Social Security, the Italo-Australian Women’s Committee, the Business and Professional Women’s Club, the Law Society’s Free Legal Service, the Women’s Legal Service and she was a founding member of the organising committee of Villaggio Italiano (San Antonio Retirement Village), Page, ACT. She and Domenico have two children, one of whom is now a partner in the firm.

Sources used to compile this entry: National Library of Australia Oral History Collection, interview with Domenico Romano by Ann-Mari Jordens, November 2005 and February 2006, TRC 5602; Canberra Times, 26 November 1998, pp 10-11.

Published Resources

Romano, Bruna (1942 - )

See also