The Australian Women's Register

In 1982 Heather Sculthorpe became the first Tasmanian Aboriginal to obtain a law degree, from the University of Tasmania. She established a career in the administration of Tasmanian Aboriginal organisations. In 2016 she was Chief Executive Officer of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.

In 1931 Helen Ida Dunbar became the first woman to graduate from University of Tasmania Law School.

The Hon. Justice Helen Wood has served on the bench of the Supreme Court of Tasmania since 2009. She was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Tasmania and High Court of Australia in 1986.

Olive Wood obtained a BA 1953, LLB 1964 from the University of Sydney Law School. She was the School’s first Pro Dean and retired in 1998.

Elizabeth Woods was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1984. She was a Magistrate from 1999-2000 and was appointed Deputy Chief Magistrate of Western Australia in 2000.

Louise Taylor is an Kamilaroi woman born and raised in inner city Sydney. She was admitted as a lawyer at the ACT Supreme Court in 2001. She is interested in women’s issues and has been a specialist Family Violence prosecutor at the Office of the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions.

Taylor was sworn in as a Magistrate of the A.C.T. on 10 September 2018.

Anne Ward is a professional company director with extensive experience in business management, strategy, finance, risk and governance. Prior to becoming a professional director, Anne had a successful career as a commercial lawyer for 28 years advising major corporations on strategic transactions, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, contract law and regulation and corporate governance. She was General Counsel for National Australia Bank for Australia and Asia and was a partner at national law firms Minter Ellison and Herbert Geer.

Julie Ward was the first woman directly appointed as a solicitor in private practice to the New South Wales Supreme Court. Prior to her appointment as a Judge, she was a Partner at Mallesons Stephen Jaques.

Marilyn Warren (BJuris 1973, LLB 1974, LLM 1983, HonLLD 2004) was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria in November 2003. She is the first woman to be appointed to this office in an Australian Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Warren, who holds the degrees of Bachelor of Jurisprudence, Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws from Monash, commenced her legal career in the Victorian Public Service and was admitted to practice in 1975.

She was employed in various government legal offices including as a senior legal policy adviser to three Attorneys-General: Haddon Storey, John Cain and Jim Kennan. She was later appointed an assistant chief parliamentary counsel.

Chief Justice Warren signed the Roll of the Victorian Bar in 1985 and practised predominantly in the areas of administrative law, commercial law and town planning.

She served as a member of the Bar Council’s Law Reform Committee for eight years from 1986 to 1994. In 1997 she took silk.

In 1998 she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria and presided in all jurisdictions, in particular the Corporations List and the Commercial List, of which she was the judge in charge for three and a half years. She has sat in a number of significant trials and appeals and continues to sit in all jurisdictions in her capacity as Chief Justice.

In 2004 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in recognition of her service to the law and the community. In 2005 she was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for service to the judiciary and to the legal profession particularly the delivery and administration of law in Victoria, to the community in areas affecting the social and economic conditions of women and to forensic medicine internationally. In 2006, she was appointed as Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria.

In 2014 Chief Justice Warren was named the Monash University Faculty of Law Distinguished Alumni of the Year and the overall Monash University Distinguished Alumni of the Year.

The Chief Justice is also the Chair of a number of Victoria legal bodies including the Courts Council, the Judicial College of Victoria, and the Judicial Commission of Victoria.

Dr Helen Watchirs is President of the Australian Capital Territory Human Rights Commission, and Human Rights Commissioner since 2004. In 2010 she was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for service to the advancement of human rights particularly as the Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner of the Australian Capital Territory.

Nicole Watson is a member of the Birri-Gubba People and the Yugambeh language group. Nicole has a bachelor of laws from the University of Queensland and a master of laws from the Queensland, University of Technology.

Nicole was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1999. She has worked for Legal Aid Queensland, the National Native Title Tribunal and the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency. Nicole is also a former editor of the Indigenous Law Bulletin.

Nicole’s first crime fiction novel, The Boundary, was released nationally in June 2011. Nicole is a lawyer and a researcher at Jumbanna Indigenous Learning Centre at the University of Technology Sydney.

Rose Weinberg was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1976.

Christine Wheeler was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1980. In 1994 she was the first woman appointed QC in Western Australia. She was the first female Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia from 1996-2004. She was a Judge of the Court of Appeal from 2004-2010. From 2001-2005 Christine was the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Western Australia.

Dominica Whelan was a Judge of the Federal Circuit Court, former Commissioner of Fair Work Australia, and former industrial officer, with lifelong commitments to feminism, labour law and equitable access to justice.

Janet is one of the pre-eminent commercial litigators in Australia and is head of Gilbert + Tobin’s Litigation practice in Melbourne. Janet is highly regarded for her focus on providing strategic advice, detailed analysis and commercial solutions and has a reputation for excellence amongst clients and peers.

Throughout her career Janet has always held leading roles in both the arts and tourism sectors. In December 2015, Janet was appointed President of the Council of Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, the first woman to hold the position in the Gallery’s 154 year history. Janet sits on a number of other boards and is Deputy Chair of Victorian Major Events, Director of National Australia Day Council, Director of the Bell Shakespeare Company and Council Member of Newman College, University of Melbourne and Patron of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation.

Janet was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015 for her “significant service to the community through the arts, health and major events sectors and as a legal professional”. Janet was named one of Australia’s 10 Most Influential Women in the Westpac and Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence Awards in 2015 and won the category for Culture. Janet was also named one of Australia’s 100 Most Influential Women in the Westpac Banking Corporation and Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence Awards in 2012 in the category of Boards and Management.

Deidre Willmott commenced as Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Western Australia in 2014. She has worked as a lawyer and held a number of high profile roles in industry and government.

Deidre has many years experience in policy and advocacy on behalf of business. From 2006 to 2008, Deidre worked with ACCI and CCI as the Executive Director Policy for CCI from 2006 to 2008. In this role she was instrumental in driving changes in the Liquor Licencing Act to allow for more flexibility in Perth’s restaurant and bar industry. She also led the campaign for extended retail trading hours.

Other high profile roles have included Chief of Staff to Premier Richard Court, General Manager of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, Director External Relations at Fortescue Metals Group and Executive Chairman at strategic communications firm Cannings Purple.

As Chief of Staff to Premier Colin Barnett Deidre was involved in advising on a number of key projects in the oil and gas industry.

Margaret Wimpole was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1973 and worked as Parliamentary Counsel.

In 1923 Miss Mary Frances Tiernan, M.A., LL.B., University of Melbourne, who shared the Mollison Scholarship in Arabic with another student, was admitted to practice as barrister and solicitor, in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Enid Russell was the first female graduate of the University of Western Australia Law School in 1930. She was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1931 – becoming the first Western Australian woman admitted to legal practice in Western Australia. During World War 2 Russell joined the South African Women’s Army Service. She was also a part-time lecturer, University of Western Australia Law School between 1946-1951 and the author of
A History of the Law in Western Australia and Its Development From 1829 to 1979
(Perth: UWA Press, 1980).

Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs held the positions of President of the Australian Human Rights Commission (2012-2017) and, since 2012, Vice-President, Administrative Tribunal of the Asian Development Bank. Prior to taking up these appointments she served as dean and Challis Professor of International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney (2007 to 2012) and as director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (2005 to 2007).

In 1976 Jay Sanders became the first woman appointed as a Magistrate in South Australia. When she retired in 2002 she was the longest serving female magistrate in Australia.

Lucy Turnbull has a degree in law from Sydney University and an MBA from the University of NSW. She practised as a lawyer and worked as an investment banker before becoming involved in local government. She was the first female Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney (2003-4).

In 1934 Olga J. Sangwell passed the final examinations in the Faculty of Law, Sydney University, with second-class honours, becoming the first woman student to secure honours from the Sydney University Law School. She had a brilliant career at school, having passed the Leaving Certificate from Fort-street Girls’ High School with honours in Latin and French, and was awarded a University exhibition and the Ada Partridge prize for the best pass in the Leaving Certificate examination secured by a student of the school. She entered the Faculty of Arts in 1928, and in 1930 she entered the Faculty of Law and secured the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In addition to securing second class honours in Law, Miss Sangwell won the Rose Scott prize for women students in private International law.

Irene Wales is a Special Counsel in the Sydney Office of Clayton Utz.

Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders AO is an eminent law teacher and legal scholar with specialist interests in constitutional law and comparative public law.

Gail Wallace, LLB JP grew up on an Aboriginal reserve at Orient Point, now known as Jerrinja. Gail is currently the Project Officer with the Nowra Circle Sentencing Court.

Excerpt from the National Competition Council website:

Ms Julie-Anne Schafer is the President of the National Competition Council. Ms Schafer was appointed for a period of three years from 18 December 2015.

Ms Schafer has 25 years of experience as a partner in the legal services sector. She has served on advisory committees for the law faculties of several universities in Queensland. She was also the Deputy Chancellor of the Queensland University of Technology. She has over 15 years of directorship experience in diverse and highly regulated sectors, including road and rail transport.

Ms Schafer has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In 1995-96 Julie-Anne Schafer became the second woman President of the Queensland Law Society.