The Australian Women's Register

Summary

Louise Taylor is a Kamilaroi woman, born and raised in inner city Sydney. Her family moved to Canberra during her high school years. She graduated from the Australian National University with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts.

Taylor was admitted as a lawyer to the  Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory in 2001. She worked as a proscecutor for the A.C.T and Commonwealth Directors of Public Proscecutions and also as a defence lawyer. In 2014 she was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Legal Aid, A.C.T.

Taylor was sworn in as a Magistrate on 10 September 2018, the first Aboriginal judicial officer for the A.C.T. When she was appointed to the A.C.T. Supreme Court on 26 July 2023, she became the first  Indigenous woman to be a superior court judge in Australia.  In May 2026 she was appointed Chief Magistrate of the A.C.T. Magistrates Court.

Taylor has served as a member of the Law Council of Australia’s Indigenous Legal Issues panel, and as an Associate of the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of New South Wales. She was Chair of the A.C.T Women’s Legal Centre, the A.C.T. Ministerial Advisory Council on WOmen and the A.C.T. Domestic Violence Prevention Council. She was recognised with an A.C.T International Women’s Day Award in 2009.