[ { "Title\/Name": "Jackson, Judith Louise (Judy)", "Entry ID": "AWE0129", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jackson-judith-louise-judy\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Hobart, Tasmania, Australia", "Occupations": "Attorney General, Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Judy Jackson was elected to the House of Assembly in the Tasmanian Parliament representing the electorate of Denison in 1986. During her parliamentary career, she held the ministerial portfolios of Health and Human Services from 1998 to 2002 and Attorney-General from 2002 until her retirement in 2006.\n", "Details": "Educated at Glenorchy Primary School and Hobart High School, Judy Jackson graduated from the University of Tasmania with a BA, DipEd and LLB. She worked as a secondary school teacher (1969-1983) and as a lawyer with the Crown Law Department (1984-1985) before launching a political career in 1986.\nJackson was the Shadow Spokesperson for Health from 1986 to 1989. In 1989 she was appointed Minister for Community Services and Minister for Parks, Wildlife and Heritage and in 1991 became Minister for Roads and Transport. She held these portfolios until 1992.\nLeader of the Opposition in the House from 1992 to 1996, she was also Shadow Minister for Social Justice (1993-1995); Parks, Wildlife and Heritage (1993-1996); Environment and Planning (1994-1996); Local Government (1995-1996); Status of Women (1996-1998); Justice (1996-1998); and Shadow Attorney General (1996-1998). In 2002 she became Attorney-General in Tasmania. Her community interests included being on the boards of Euphrasia and Glenorchy Skillshare.\nShe was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2023 for significant service to the people and Parliament of Tasmania.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hon-judy-jackson-mha-electorate-denison-inaugural-speech-19-march-1986\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/judith-judy-louise-jackson\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-2002\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-judy-jackson-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Reid, Margaret Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE0161", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/reid-margaret-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Crystal Brook, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "Margaret Reid is the first woman to have been elected President of the Senate. She held this position for six years, from 20 August 1996 to 18 August 2002. In 2004 she was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia for her service to the Australian Parliament and the community.\n", "Details": "Margaret Reid obtained her Bachelor of Laws from Adelaide University and worked as a barrister and solicitor before entering Federal Parliament. She was Deputy Government Whip in the Senate from 18 November 1982 to 4 February 1983, Deputy Opposition Whip from 21 April 1983 to 14 September 1987 and Opposition Whip from 14 September 1987 to 9 May 1995. On 9 May 1995, Reid became Deputy President of the Senate and Chair of Committees and President of the Senate in August 1996.\nReid was awarded the Queen Elizabeth 11 Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 and the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1987. She is married with two sons and two daughters.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-hon-margaret-reid-senator-for-the-australian-capital-territory\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/from-lady-denman-to-katy-gallagher-a-century-of-womens-contributions-to-canberra\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-senator-margaret-reid\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-margaret-reid-relating-to-andrew-fisher-2001-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-margaret-reid-1969-2003-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/margaret-reid-interviewed-by-barry-york-in-the-old-parliament-house-political-and-parliamentary-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-margaret-reid-politician-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/liberal-party-policy-on-act-self-government\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kelly, Jackie", "Entry ID": "AWE0177", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kelly-jackie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Upper Hutt, New Zealand", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Jackie Kelly was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister in the third Howard Ministry on 26 November 2001. She was elected MHR (Lib) for Lindsay, New South Wales on 19 October 1998.\n", "Details": "Jackie Kelly graduated with a law degree from the University of Queensland, where she was awarded a University Blue for her sporting achievements and contribution to University life.\nIn 1987 she commenced work with the Corrective Services Department of Queensland and worked as a Probation and Parole Officer. In May 1989 Kelly was admitted to practice as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland. From 1989-1996 she was a Legal Officer with the Royal Australian Air Force and in June 1995 she was awarded the Helsham prize for her services to the RAAF Legal Category.\nIn 1986, Kelly represented Australia in the under 23s rowing and she has completed in the 1994 World Masters rowing in Brisbane (2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze), the 1997 Australian Masters Rowing Championships in Canberra (1 gold, 1 bronze) and the 1997 World Masters Rowing Championships in Adelaide (2 gold).\nKelly was the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Sydney 2000 Games and her committee service includes: Member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment, Recreation and the Arts 30 May 1996 - 11 September 1996 and the Industry, Science and Technology Committee from 24 September 1997. Appointed Federal Minister for Sport and Tourism on 21 October 1998 until 26 November 2001 when she was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.\nMarried with one child, Kelly enjoys participating in team sports such as hockey and netball.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-2002\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/competitive-australia-jackie-kellys-biography\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-hon-jackie-kelly-mp-member-for-lindsay-nsw\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-in-the-party\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/so-many-firsts-liberal-women-from-enid-lyons-to-the-turnbull-era\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-the-hon-jackie-kelly\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-jackie-kelly-politician-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bishop, Bronwyn Kathleen", "Entry ID": "AWE0178", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bishop-bronwyn-kathleen\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Company director, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "Bronwyn Bishop was elected as a Senator for New South Wales in 1987 and resigned in 1994 to contest the seat of Mackellar in a by-election and was elected to the House of Representatives, holding her seat until 2016 when she lost pre-selection as the Liberal candidate. She served as Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel 1996-98, and Minister for Aged Care 1998-2001 in the Howard government and as Speaker of the House of Representatives 2013-15.\n", "Details": "Before entering Federal Parliament Bronwyn Bishop was a Solicitor and Company Director. She was elected to the Senate for NSW in 1987 and resigned on 24 February 1994. In March 1994, Bishop contested the seat of Mackellar at a by-election called upon the resignation of the Hon. J.J. Carlton, and was elected to the House of Representatives. She was re-elected in 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013, but did not contest the 2016 election, losing pre-selection as the Liberal candidate to Jason Falinski.\nBishop was Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel from 11 March 1996 to 21 October 1998, and Minister for Aged Care from October 1998 to October 2001. She held a number of shadow portfolios over her long career and was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in 2013 on the election of the Abbott government. She resigned her position in August 2015 after controversy over her travel expenses and returned to the backbench.\nBishop was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2020 for distinguished service to the Parliament of Australia, to the people of New South Wales, and to women in politics.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-2002\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-in-the-party\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-hon-bronwyn-bishop-mp-member-for-mackellar-nsw\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-bronwyn-bishop-politician-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hmss-0375-canberra-centenary-time-capsule\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-hon-bronwyn-bishop\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Coonan, Helen Lloyd", "Entry ID": "AWE0195", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/coonan-helen-lloyd\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Businesswoman, Feminist, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "Helen Coonan is a former Australian politician, who was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing New South Wales from July 1996 to August 2011. On 26 November 2001, she was appointed Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer in the Howard Government. She was re-elected in 2001 and 2007. From 2004-07, she served as Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.\nSince leaving politics in 2011, Coonan has transitioned into the corporate world, and vouches for the seminal importance of the law, including legal training, legal practise and legal experience as a common thread underpinning her capacity to perform across a diverse professional and public landscape for a very long time.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Helen Coonan for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Helen Coonan and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\nI first thought about doing a law degree when I received a telephone call from a reporter on the Wagga Daily Advertiser on an afternoon late December in 1964. He broke the news of my success in the HSC (then the Leaving Certificate). During the course of an ensuing interview for the paper the next day, he asked what I wanted to do with such a splendid result. I said that I wanted to go to University and would probably study Arts. But it was then that I started to think about a combined Arts\/Law degree, the only combined law degree then available.\nI didn't know much about law. I had read \"To Kill a Mockingbird\" like just about everyone else had, but no one in my family, friends or acquaintances were lawyers. In fact I had never met one! There were no mentors or role models nor supporters or boosters to turn to for guidance. And yet almost instinctively I knew that this was what I wanted to do.\nEven as a young country girl growing up on a property as part of a small rural community, I was intrigued by the notion that people could right wrongs and help those in need. I thought I could recognise injustice where I saw it, especially in point, that of domestic violence and powerlessness and the dreadful consequences for families utterly without redress. A friend of my mothers who suffered horrific domestic violence was eventually forced to leave her home, a family property that had been in the husband's family for generations and flee with her children to live in poverty and dependence on her relatives. I recall thinking \"how can that be fair and why couldn't more be done to help her?\"\nI graduated in 1970 and was admitted to practice in March 1971 at a time when practicing women lawyers were thin on the ground. Challenges came thick and fast and I quickly learnt to find pathways through the thickets with my Plan B strategy that I have honed throughout my career and that has always served me well. I can truly say never be afraid of Plan B if Plan A does not work!\nI became an active member of the Women's Electoral Lobby and began to get many women referred as clients, in various levels of distress and need. I was working in a commercial law firm doing general commercial work including, corporate structures, insurance and tax advice with a \"big end of town\" type of clientele. Soon the waiting room became populated by women in kaftans, children in strollers, sticky lollies and sticky hands next to suited and serious businessmen, with things corporate on their minds!\nI was frenetically busy. I represented these women in Court during the day and worked into the small hours to represent the corporate clients at night.\nEventually after several months of this, the senior partner came to my office. He closed the door and we had a pleasant conversation about my prospects until it became clear that the women who did not exactly fit the firm's clientele would need to go elsewhere. I said: \"But they have nowhere else to go\".\nThat evening my husband (an early feminist if ever there was one) said to me: \"Why don't you just start your own firm and continue what you are doing\"?\nThis was a huge risk. Here I was on track for a partnership and wanting to start a family. Diverting course to start my own firm then was not on the agenda.\nBut faced with an unpalatable choice, I embarked on Plan B. At the age of 25, full of bravado and self-belief, I set up Coonan & Associates in 1975. I believe it was the first women orientated legal firm of its kind. The lesson learnt is that Plan B can be the best choice if you have the insight to see the possibilities and confidence to take a few risks.\nAs it happened, that decision set me on a course that led to personal and professional success and public recognition. It freed me up to pursue my passion for advocacy on issues I cared about.\nWith some other like-minded women, I lobbied government, raised funds and set up the corporate model for the first women's refuge in Sydney - The Elsie Women's Refuge in Glebe - followed by another half dozen dotted around the metropolitan area. I then turned attention to a Women's Health Centre at Leichhardt and Liverpool and a Women's Legal Centre. I embarked on an awareness campaign against what was then blatant discrimination against women in the workplace, in employment and in their relationships. I discovered the power of television and media to help the cause, and even agreed to be a regular panellist on Beauty and the Beast, provided the genuine letters I got could be treated seriously and information provided on air!\nI fought for changes through political advocacy and legal representation on issues as diverse as tax deductibility for child care to recognition of property and inheritance rights for de facto and same sex relationships. I was appointed Chair of the Law Foundation and in that role embarked on a strategy to save the Public Interest Advocacy Centre that was facing an uncertain future. I worked with others on the NSW anti-discrimination legislation and advocated for reform of the divorce law. After the passage of the Family Law Act it needed to be monitored for unintended consequences. One issue that concerned me was the inability of the Court to deal appropriately with superannuation assets. It was a source of great satisfaction to me that years later as the Assistant Treasurer, I was able to get this reformed so that now superannuation assets belonging to one spouse can be treated as matrimonial property subject to the courts powers to divide these assets on divorce. It was an area where I had developed expertise. I was recently interviewed for the ABC Four Corners 50th anniversary program and was shown old footage of me talking about the need for women to look beyond marriage for their economic security. I realised just how long I have been banging on about the feminization of poverty and it is still relevant today.\nEven though it would take another 15 or so years to get there, I knew that my heart was in politics and my destiny would be in Parliament. I also knew that my legal training and knowledge was a key plank in my toolkit to get there.\nBut I had a young son and so much still to achieve in the law. In 1983 my firm which had morphed into Coonan & Hughes, with the addition of a partner John Hughes and several employed solicitors merged with a larger commercial firm, Gadens. I became a partner there and it was an opportunity to hone my commercial skills with different legal work and a different client base.\nDuring this partnership I accepted a secondment to work in a large business law firm in New York and was admitted to the New York Bar. In legal practice, advocacy is my passion and on returning to Australia I resigned my partnership and was admitted to the Bar in July 1986. I was fortunate to be invited to join the Eleventh Floor Wentworth Chambers in Phillip Street and to enjoy the professional guidance and friendship of legendary clerk Paul Daley. I also enjoyed the collegiality and friendships (which last to this day) of male colleagues who were the members of these chambers. For most of my time on the Eleventh Floor I was the only women in a Chamber set of 20 or so men. It was probably the best chambers in Sydney with able and capable barristers who were generous with their time and advice. Getting a room in these Chambers was a critical component of my success at the Bar.\nI do recognise, however that many if not most women at the Bar do it tough. It can be difficult to get suitable chambers and to get work that demonstrates what you are capable of. As a minister tasking work for the Commonwealth, as a rule I would look out for women juniors to make sure they would get exposure and experience with important briefs. I hope getting good women advocates is now a matter of course.\nI spent 10 rewarding years as a barrister handling complex commercial cases, corporate collapses and building construction cases. Included in my case list was acting as counsel for the liquidator of Spedley Securities. Getting to grips with the anatomy of a deposit taking bank that had been artificially propped up by shareholders for years together with the investigation, litigation and recovery of creditors money was a rewarding and informative experience. I have always liked David and Goliath type contests and another memorable win was acting for around 800 Tooheys hoteliers whose \"goodwill' in their hotels had been cancelled by the acquisition of the Tooheys business by Austotel, an entity associated with Mr Alan Bond. It was this background in these types of commercial disputes that prepared me to later have the experience and capacity as a Minister to work on solutions to major and complex national problems such as the government's response to the insurance crisis following the collapse of HIH.\nMy next strategic career decision cropped up rather suddenly with an opportunity to put myself forward as a candidate for preselection for the Liberal Party. At the time I had just concluded a long construction case involving contract overruns for security installations in six power stations in NSW. It was financially rewarding but a rather formulaic dispute that had lasted almost for one year. It also coincided with my son completing his HSC. Psychologically I was probably ready for the next stage of my evolving career. I had a week to decide whether to nominate or whether to continue my career at the Bar, and work towards being appointed silk and eventually the possibility of judicial appointment. That was the conventional career path and I was well along that track. If I won the preselection, it would mean largely abandoning the momentum I had worked so hard to build as a barrister; it would mean an atmospheric drop in income and it would mean huge disruption and loss of privacy for my family. On the other hand was the lure of a new direction at the highest level of politics - the chance to leverage my skills and experience and make a real difference to the lives of Australians. It was the itch I had to scratch and I was determined not to die wondering! Once again, I chose Plan B but this was an enormous risk.\nI transitioned from being a barrister to full time politics on election to the Senate in 1996. It was a huge adjustment. Politics is not for the faint hearted or the thin skinned! Early on, I was often asked if I missed the law. My answer was: \"At times yes I do, compared to politics; the law is such a gentle profession\"!\nHowever, fortune favoured me as I made my way in the Senate and I have my fair share of firsts as a woman in politics.\nThe then Prime Minister, John Howard, gave me a great vote of confidence when he promoted me straight from the back bench to the key portfolio of Assistant Treasurer in 2002. I was at the time the only woman in the history of Federation to hold a Treasury portfolio. It was the gateway to handling major economic reforms in tax, superannuation, insurance and financial literacy. I had responsibility for the Australian Tax Office and for the prudential regulator of financial institutions, APRA. It enabled me to sit on the Expenditure Review Committee with the Treasurer and Finance Minister and to play a key part in formulating the Federal Budget.\nFor all of these tasks a good working knowledge of legal principle and practical experience proved invaluable. An example is the role I was to play in delivering the Government's response to the major national insurance crisis in 2003 that gripped the nation after the collapse of HIH. My portfolio responsibilities included oversight of the Australia Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) and much work was required to reform regulation of financial institutions to ensure capital adequacy and valuation of assets to prevent similar collapses in the future. It was this work that set up Australian financial institutions to be better able to deal with the head winds from the Global Financial Crisis.\nBut prudential reforms were only one side of the aftermath of the HIH collapse which saw liability classes of insurance become either unavailable or unaffordable whether you were running a pony club, an architect's office or delivering a baby! It was a national problem and together with the co-operation of the State Treasurers I was able to convene a Ministerial meeting that comprehensively reviewed and reformed tort law in each State, set up professional standards schemes in return for capped liability for professionals and embarked on a major rescue of medical indemnity that has lasted to this day. I don't believe I could have delivered and implemented a comprehensive solution to this crisis without having a sound practical grasp of the legal framework that would underpin national reform of insurance.\nFortune smiled on me again in 2004 when I was promoted to Cabinet as the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts which remain a major passion to this day. It was a large and complex portfolio that required handling telecommunications, the privatization of Telstra and media reform. I became the shareholder Minister for both Telstra and for Australia Post. My career was further boosted by promotion to Deputy Leader of the Senate with the immense privilege of participating in the daily leadership meeting with the PM, Treasurer and Senate Leader to discuss the political landscape and tactics of the day. And of course sitting at the Cabinet table was much like having a seat on the top Board in the country.\nDuring my time in politics, I was able to see first-hand the real and positive difference women in politics can and do make - it is a different and essential voice to the proper representation of all Australians. I am proud to have been the most senior woman Minister in that Government, to have been given responsibility for large economic portfolios and to learn the inner workings of Government. I believed that I had been an effective leader and made the most of this opportunity.\nI have now transitioned into challenging new roles in the corporate world, and I can vouch for the seminal importance of the law, including legal training, legal practise and legal experience as a common thread underpinning my capacity to perform across a diverse professional and public landscape for a very long time. Having spent 15 years as a solicitor, 10 years at the Bar and 15 years in Parliament including many years where I had the Ministerial carriage of major reforms for the benefit of all Australians, I am grateful that I took that leap of faith as a 17 year old to grasp the opportunities that the law can deliver!\nThe general information (below) has been sourced from publicly available resources.\nCountry born and bred, Coonan moved to Sydney to complete a combined Arts\/Law degree at Sydney University. After graduating she started the first women-orientated legal firm in 1975. The firm later merged with a business law firm of which she became a partner.\nDuring a secondment to the United States in 1985, Coonan was admitted to practice as an Attorney in the Supreme Court of New York. The following year she returned to Sydney and specialised as a commercial barrister at the Sydney Bar. The Chief Justice appointed her as a Supreme Court Mediator in 1992.\nBefore entering Federal Parliament Coonan was a Member of the Convocation of the Senate, University of Sydney from 1983 to 1984; a part-time Member of the Social Secretary Appeals Tribunal in 1987; Trustee of the Historic Houses Trust of NSW from 1988 to 1992 and Chair from 1992 to 1995; Chair of the Board of Governors of the Law Foundation of NSW from 1991 to 1992; and Director and Fellow of the Royal Hospital for Women Foundation from 1995 to 1996.\nIn parliament, Coonan was a member of several Senate Standing Committees; Senate Legislative and General Purpose Standing Committees; Senate Select Committees; Joint Statutory Committees; Joint Standing Committees and Joint Select Committees; as well as Deputy Government Whip in the Senate from 10 November 1998.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-hon-helen-coonan-senator-for-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-2002\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/senator-helen-coonan\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/so-many-firsts-liberal-women-from-enid-lyons-to-the-turnbull-era\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Vanstone, Amanda Eloise", "Entry ID": "AWE0197", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/vanstone-amanda-eloise\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Elected to the Senate for South Australia in 1984 (Liberal Party), Vanstone was appointed to several Ministries in her long parliamentary career: Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs from 1996 to 1997, Minister for Justice (and Customs ) from 1997 to 2001, Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women from 2001 to 2003 and Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs from 2003 to 2007. On her retirement in 2007, she was appointed Australia's Ambassador to Italy, serving in this position until 2010.\n\u00a0\n", "Details": "Vanstone obtained a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide, as well as a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and a Marketing Studies Certificate form the South Australian Institute of Technology. She began her career as a retailer, and worked in wholesaling before becoming a solicitor.\nVanstone served as Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (11 March 1996 to 9 October 1997), Minister for Justice (9 October 1997 to 21 October 1998), Minister for Justice and Customs (21 October 1998 to 30 January 2001), Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women (30 January 2001 to 7 October 2003), and Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (7 October 2003 to 30 January 2007).\nShe has been a Member of the Cabinet and the Legal Committee of the Cabinet; Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition; Shadow Special Minister of State; and spokesperson on the Status of Women. She was involved in the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse.\nAmana Vanstone was honoured with an AO in the Australia Day Honours list in 2020 for distinguished service to the Parliament of Australia, to the people of South Australia, and to the community.\nMarried to Tony, she is a supporter of the RSPCA.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-hon-amanda-vanstone-senator-for-south-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/senator-the-hon-amanda-vanstone-minister-for-family-community-services-minister-assisting-the-prime-minister-for-the-status-of-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-2002\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/so-many-firsts-liberal-women-from-enid-lyons-to-the-turnbull-era\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/opening-of-a-memorial-to-the-stolen-generations\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-senator-amanda-vanstone\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Gillard, Julia Eileen", "Entry ID": "AWE0230", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gillard-julia-eileen\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Barry, Wales", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Prime Minister, Solicitor", "Summary": "On June 24, 2010, Julia Gillard became the first woman Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia and retained her position after the federal election, which was held on 21 August 2010. She led a minority Labor Government, supported by a member of the Greens party and three Independents. She lost the prime ministership on 27 June 2013, when Kevin Rudd challenged her for the position and won. She retired from parliament in August 2013.\nHer career in parliamentary politics began when she was elected Member of the House of Representatives for Lalor (Victoria) in 1998 and re-elected in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010. She became Deputy Leader of the Opposition (ALP) in December 2006. On the election of the Labor Government in November 2007, she assumed the position of Deputy Prime Minister and took on the portfolios of Employment and Workplace Relations, Education and Social Inclusion.\nIn 2017, Julia Gillard was made a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia 'for eminent service to the Parliament of Australia, particularly as Prime Minister, through seminal contributions to economic and social development, particularly policy reform in the areas of education, disability care, workplace relations, health, foreign affairs and the environment, and as a role model to women.'\n", "Details": "Educated at Unley High School (SA) and the Universities of Adelaide and Melbourne, Julia Gillard worked as a solicitor with Slater and Gordon from 1987 to 1990, when she became a partner with the firm. In 1996, Gillard became Chief-of-Staff to John Brumby (then Leader of the Victorian Opposition) and retained her position until her election to federal parliament in 1998.\nGillard has served as Shadow Minister for Population and Immigration (November 2001 to July 2003); Shadow Minister for Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs (February 2003 to July 2003); Shadow Minister for Health (July 2003 to December 2006); and Manager of Opposition Business (December 2003 to December 2006). She became Deputy Leader of the Opposition in December 2006. In 2010 she became Prime Minister of Australia.\n", "Events": "Appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) (2017 - 2017) \nAppointed Chair of Beyond Blue (2017 - 2017) \nAppointed chairwoman of the Global Partnership for Education focussed on the education of children in the world's poorest countries (2014 - 2014) \nAppointed to the Board of the mental health institution beyondblue (2014 - 2014) \nBorn: daughter of John Oliver and Moira Gillard (1961 - 1961) \nChief of Staff to Leader of the Opposition John Brumby (1996 - 1998) \nDeputy Leader of the Opposition (2006 - 2007) \nDeputy Prime Minister (2007 - 2010) \nElected Member House of Representatives (MHR) for the Australian Labor Party (ALP) for the Victorian electorate of Lalor (1998 - 1998) \nHonorary Visiting Professor of Politics at the University of Adelaide (2013 - 2013) \nMember, Adelaide University Union (1980 - 1980) \nMember, Administrative Committee, Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party (1993 - 1997) \nMember, National Let's Develop Education Committee, Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party (1982 - 1983) \nPartner, Slater & Gordon Solictors (1990 - 1996) \nPresident, Adelaide University Union (1981 - 1981) \nPresident, Australian Union of Students (1983 - 1983) \nPrime Minister of Australia (2010 - 2013) \nShadow Minister for Health (2003 - 2006) \nShadow Minister for Population and Immigration (2001 - 2003) \nShadow Minister for Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs (2003 - 2003) \nSolictor, Slater & Gordon Solictors (1987 - 1990) \nVice-President, National Education Australian Union of Studies (1982 - 1982)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-2002\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ms-julia-gillard-mp\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gillard-becomes-australias-first-female-pm-after-rudd-goes-down-without-fight\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-making-of-julia-gillard\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/from-lady-denman-to-katy-gallagher-a-century-of-womens-contributions-to-canberra\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/julia-gillard-my-story\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Tenison Woods, Mary Cecil", "Entry ID": "AWE0568", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tenison-woods-mary-cecil\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Death Place": "Ryde, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Child welfare advocate, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Mary Tenison Woods (n\u00e9e Kitson) was the first woman to graduate in law in South Australia. She was admitted to the bar on 20 October 1917. Her application to become a public notary in 1921 led to a change in the law: the existing Act did not include women as 'persons'.\nWhen Mary married in 1924 her partners did not wish to work with a married woman. Mary left the firm and formed a new partnership in 1925, in what may have been the first female practice in Australia. In the mid 1930s, Mary moved to Sydney and worked as a legal editor.\nFollowing the failure of her marriage to Julian Tenison Woods, she moved to Sydney with her son, where she worked as a legal editor. In 1941 she became a member of the Child Welfare Advisory Council (NSW), held many honorary positions and served on a number of boards. Mary lectured at the university on legal aspects of social work and wrote several legal textbooks on a range of subjects.\nIn 1950 Tenison Woods was appointed chief of the office of the status of women in the division of human rights, United Nations Secretariat, New York. During her term two major conventions were adopted: the Convention of the Political Rights of Women (1952), the first international law aimed at the granting and protection of women's full political rights, and the Convention of the Nationality of Married Women (1957) which decreed that marriage should not affect the nationality of a wife.\nOn 13 June 1959 Mary Tenison Woods was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for public service, especially with the United Nations. Previously she had been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 8 June 1950 for services to child welfare.\n", "Events": "After moving to Sydney with her son, she worked as legal editor with Butterworth's Book Company (1930 - 1950) \nAppointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for public service, especially with the United Nations Organization (1959 - 1959) \nAppointed appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to child welfare. (1950 - 1950) \nAppointed Chief of the Office of the Status of Women in the Human Rights Division of the United Nations (1950 - 1958) \nBecame a partner in the reconstituted firm of Johnstone, Ronald & Kitson (1919 - 1919) \nFirst woman to be admitted to the Bar in South Australia (1917 - 1917) \nFounder of the New South Wales St Joan's Social and Political Alliance (1946 - 1946) \nGraduated from the University of Adelaide, (LLB) (1916 - 1916) \nHer husband's name was removed from the roll for misuse of trust funds. The couple separated. (1927 - 1927) \nJoined Dorothy Somerville in practice, as her former partners preferred not to work with a married woman (1925 - 1925) \nKitson's application to become a public notary led to a change in the law: the existing Act did not include women as 'persons' (1921 - 1921) \nLectured part time at the University of Sydney on legal aspects of social work (1940 - 1950) \nMary Kitson married barrister and solicitor, Julian Gordon Tenison Woods, they were to have one son (1924 - 1924) \nNominated (unsuccessfully) to be the Australian representative on the United Nations Organization Status of Women Commission (1948 - 1948) \nPublished Juvenile Delinquency (1937 - 1937) \nSat on the board of the Women's Australian National Services (1940 - 1945) \nServed on the New South Wales Board of Social Studies at the University of Sydney (1941 - 1949) \nServed on the New South Wales Board of Social Study and Training (1935 - 1940) \nShe received grants from the Carnegie Corporation to research delinquency (1930 - 1930) \nWrote two articles for the Sydney Morning Herald highlighting problems at Parramatta and at the Gosford Boy's Home (1944 - 1944)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mary-tenison-woods\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mary-tenison-woods-social-and-political-activist\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/capital-issues-and-economic-organization-regulations-as-amended-to-date-and-continued-in-force-by-the-commonwealth-defence-transitional-provisions-act-1946\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/butterworths-commercial-legislation-service-being-a-complete-digest-of-acts-of-parliament-regulations-and-orders-of-the-commonwealth-and-all-states-of-australia-including-notes-on-decisions-of-the\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/butterworths-digest-of-commercial-legislation-1947-being-a-complete-digest-of-acts-of-parliament-regulations-rules-and-orders-of-the-commonwealth-and-all-states-of-australia-which-relate-to-commerc\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/digest-of-commercial-legislation-being-a-complete-digest-of-acts-of-parliament-regulations-rules-and-orders-of-the-commonwealth-and-all-states-of-australia-which-relate-to-commerce\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/digest-of-war-legislation-in-australia-being-a-complete-digest-of-acts-of-parliament-regulations-rules-and-orders-by-laws-proclamations-and-notices-of-the-commonwealth-and-all-states-of-australi\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ex-servicemens-legislation-being-the-re-establishment-and-employment-act-1945\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/juvenile-delinquency-with-special-references-to-institutional-treatment\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/landlord-and-tenant-and-land-sales-control-legislation-of-new-south-wales-being-the-landlord-and-tenant-amendment-act-1948-and-war-service-moratorium-regulations\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/landlord-and-tenant-commonwealth-regulations\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/price-regulations-consolidated-and-annotated-being-prices-regulations-as-amended-to-date-and-continued-in-force-by-the-commonwealth-defence-transitional-provisions-act-1946\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/three-women-of-faith-gertrude-abbott-elizabeth-anstice-baker-and-mary-tenison-woods\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tenison-woods-mary-cecil-1893-1971\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/200-australian-women-a-redress-anthology\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-mary-cecil-tenison-woods-barrister-legal-author-and-editor-and-child-welfare-reformer-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Brennan, Anna Teresa", "Entry ID": "AWE0631", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/brennan-anna-teresa\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Emu Creek, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Parkville, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "Anna Brennan, member of a talented Victorian family, was a devout Catholic who actively pursued the cause of women's equality throughout her life. She was one of the earliest woman to graduate in law at the University of Melbourne in 1909 and practised as a solicitor in her brother's legal firm for fifty years. She was a foundation member of the Lyceum Club in 1912 and president from 1940-41.\nThe Victorian Legal Women's Association was established in 1931 with Brennan serving as president. A founding committee member of the Catholic Women's Social Guild in 1916, later the Catholic Women's League, she served as president from 1918-1920. She joined the Victorian branch of St Joan's International Alliance, holding the office of president from 1938-1945 and again in 1948 until her death in 1962.\n", "Details": "Anna Brennan was the thirteenth child of Michael Brennan, farmer and his wife Mary nee Maher. She commenced medical studies at the University of Melbourne in 1904, but was not permitted to continue as she was 'too nervous to do the dissections'. She commenced the law course in 1906, graduating in 1909. At the university she became a member of the Princess Ida Club for women students, was an office bearer from 1907-1909 and remained a committee member until 1913. She represented the Princess Ida Club on the national Council of Women in 1912\nShe became a partner in her brother Frank's firm, specialising in the matrimonial field and campaigned for more equitable laws in relation to divorce. She was the second woman in Victoria to be admitted to practice.\nHer commitment to her Catholic faith was evident in her involvement with the Catholic Women's Social Guild, lecturing and writing for its publications Women's Social Work and its successor Horizon.\nJoan of Arc was an inspiration to her and she joined the forerunner of the St Joan's International Alliance, the Catholic Women's Suffrage Society in London. She was an inaugural member of the Victorian chapter of the St Joans' International Alliance when it was established in 1936 and was president from 1938-45 and 1948-62.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/horizon-in-retrospect-1916-1986\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/brennan-anna-teresa-1879-1962\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-lyceum-club-melbourne-1912-1962\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/anna-brennanthe-valiant-woman\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tributes-to-a-medical-missionary-pioneer-dr-mary-glowrey-sister-mary-of-the-sacred-heart-first-c-w-s-g-president\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/200-australian-women-a-redress-anthology\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/history-of-the-lyceum-club-and-papers-1970-1975-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/records-of-the-st-joans-international-alliance\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/melbourne-university-princess-ida-club\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/melbourne-university-princess-ida-club-2\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Murray, Kemeri Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE0830", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/murray-kemeri-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Kemeri Murray attended Adelaide University, graduating in 1953 in Law and 1954 in Arts. She studied piano under Raymond O'Connell while doing articles at Vaughan, Porter and English, a well known South Australian Law firm. After being admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of South Australia she transferred to Brian Magarey and was offered a partnership, making her the first married woman to be offered a partnership in South Australia. In 1973 she was offered a position on the Bench with the District Court of South Australia, thus becoming the second woman judge in South Australia. A member of the Flinders University Council, in 1978 she was appointed to the Advisory Council for Inter-Government Relations.\n", "Events": "Admitted Barrister and Solictor with the South Australian Supreme Court (1955 - 1955) \nAlternate Chairman of the Helpmann Academy (1996 - 2000) \nAlternate Chairman of the Media Council of Australia for the Alcoholic Beverages Advertising Code Council (1995 - 1996) \nAppointed Dame Commander Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem (1995 - 1995) \nAwarded Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal (1977 - 1977) \nChairman of the Church of England Commission of Marriage (1975 - 1978) \nChairman of the Church of England Commission of Women's Issues (1986 - 1992) \nChairman of the Commonweath Club (1998 - 1999) \nChairman of the Interim Bread Industry Authority (1975 - 1976) \nChairman of the Sex Discrimination Board, South Australia (1982 - 1985) \nChairman South Australian Community Welfare Advisory Committee of Non-Accidental Injury to Children (1975 - 1975) \nCompanion at Flinders University, South Australia (1997 - 1997) \nCompanion of the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund (1999 - 1999) \nCouncil member of Flinders University, South Australia (1974 - 1996) \nGovernor of the Medical Foundation at the University of Adelaide (1988 - 1988) \nJudge Administrator of the Adelaide Registry (1982 - 1982) \nJudge at the District Court, South Australia (1973 - 1976) \nJudge of the Family Court of Australia, Adelaide Registry (1976 - 1976) \nMarried Eric Murray, they had 2 children (1955 - 1955) \nMember of the Board of Management at Flinders Medical Centre (1980 - 1986) \nMember of the Church of England Commission of Social Responsibilities (1978 - 1992) \nMember of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Inter-Government Relations (1980 - 1984) \nMember of the Diocesan Committee of Society Questions (1980 - 1980) \nMember of the Diocesan Committee of Society Questions (1982 - 1982) \nMember of the Management committee at the Institute of Study Learning Difficulties (1984 - 1988) \nMember of the Multicultural Forum of the South Australian Government (1994 - 1994) \nPartnership with Giles Magarey & Lloyd, South Australia (1956 - 1973) \nRepresentative Governor of the Flinders Medical Research Foundation (1984 - 1996)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/children-and-the-courts-ideals-and-reality\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/report-of-the-community-welfare-advisory-committee-enquiry-into-non-accidental-physical-injuries-to-children-in-south-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/i-feel-fulfilled-administering-justice\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-2003\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-of-australian-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/greater-than-their-knowing-a-glimpse-of-south-australian-women-1836-1986\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-with-kemeri-murray-sound-recording-interviewer-yvonne-abbott\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-kemeri-murray-justice-judge-of-the-family-court-of-australia-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Somerville, Dorothy Catherine", "Entry ID": "AWE0838", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/somerville-dorothy-catherine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Unley, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "The daughter of Archibald and Seca (n\u00e9e Lewin) Somerville, Dorothy Somerville was educated at Brownhill Creek School in Mitcham, the Methodists Ladies College (now Annesley College) and the Adelaide Law School. She was the third woman admitted to practice law in South Australia in 1922. Mary Kitson, the first woman admitted to the Bar, joined with Somerville in 1925 to form Australia's first women's legal partnership: Kitson & Somerville. Kitson later went to Sydney to work in publishing, and in 1950 she moved to New York to take charge of the United Nations affairs on the Status of Women. Somerville, who continued with the legal practice, became an honorary solicitor to a number of women's organisations.\n", "Events": "Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the Legal profession and to the community (1986 - 1986) \nFoundation Member of the Lyceum Club (Adelaide) Incorporated (1921 - 1921) \nGraduated Bachelor of Arts (BA) (Hons) from Adelaide University (1919 - 1919) \nGraduated Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from Adelaide University (1922 - 1922) \nHonorary Life member of the Lyceum Club (Adelaide) Incorporated (1971 - 1971) \nHonorary Life member of the South Australian Women's Hockey Association (1945 - 1945) \nHonorary solicitor to the Australian Croquet Council (1948 - 1975) \nHonorary solicitor to the Country Women's Association (SA) (1925 - 1971) \nHonorary solicitor to the South Australian Women's Croquet Association (1925 - 1925) \nHonorary solicitor to the South Australian Women's Hockey Association (1925 - 1974) \nHonorary solicitor to the Wanslea Inc (Emergency Homes for Children) (1945 - 1945) \nHonorary solicitor to the Women's Memorial Playing Fields (1955 - 1955) \nSolicitor in private practice (1925 - 1925)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/greater-than-their-knowing-a-glimpse-of-south-australian-women-1836-1986\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-of-australian-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-with-dorothy-somerville-sound-recording-interviewer-yvonne-abbott\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-dorothy-somerville-solicitor-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Levy, Rose Winstanley (Winnie)", "Entry ID": "AWE0845", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/levy-rose-winstanley-winnie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "The daughter of a sea captain Winnie Levy grew up in Western Australia. She attended the White Gum Valley School and won a scholarship to the Perth Modern School. She completed a degree in French and Mathematics at the University of Western Australia and then went to the Sorbonne for two years. On returning to Western Australia she became a French tutor at the University of Western Australia. She was forced to resign when she married. After having a baby, she returned to the university to study law. Following her move to Adelaide Levy was admitted to the Bar, in 1945, and practised for 23 years. A member of the Lyceum Club Levy was a leader of the International Circle.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-with-rose-winstanley-winnie-levy-sound-recording-interviewer-yvonne-abbott\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/radio-interview-with-winstanley-levy-sound-recording-interviewer-mary-rose-goggs\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bond, Aileen Constance", "Entry ID": "AWE0846", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bond-aileen-constance\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "South Australia, Australia", "Death Place": "South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "Aileen Bond, born Aileen Ingelby in 1898, was educated at St Peter's Girls' School and studied law at Adelaide University and was one of Adelaide's earliest practising female solictors. She joined the Lyceum Club when it formed in 1922. In 1924 she married John Leslie Bond, a minister, and they moved around South Australia. During World War II her husband enlisted and went to New Guinea and she and the four children lived at Brighton, in Adelaide. After the war they lived at Clare and Victor Harbour. Her husband was given an administrative job and became in turn an Archdeacon and then a Canon. Following his death, Levy moved to Toorak Gardens, an eastern suburb of Adelaide.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-with-aileen-bond-sound-recording-interviewer-anne-geddes\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/address-by-aileen-bond-and-constance-mccarthy-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-with-aileen-bond-sound-recording-interviewer-yvonne-abbott\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-with-aileen-bond-sound-recording-interviewer-pamela-runge\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McCarthy, Gwendolen (Gwen) Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE0847", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mccarthy-gwendolen-gwen-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Norwood, South Australia, Australia", "Death Place": "South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "Gwen McCarthy was born Gwendolen Helen Ure in Norwood in 1901. She was educated at Methodist Ladies College (now Annesley College) and studied law at Adelaide University, where, in 1923, she was awarded the prestigious Stow prize and medal, styled Stow Scholar because she won three prizes in her annual examinations that year. Gwendolen Ure was the first female Stow Scholar.\nShe joined the Lyceum Club in Adelaide in 1923 and was president 1967-1969. She married James McCarthy in 1927 and they set up a law practice in Kadina. Here she was involved in the Girl Guides. On her husband's death McCarthy returned to Adelaide and joined the firm of Thompson, Cleland, Holland and McCarthy.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/address-by-aileen-bond-and-constance-mccarthy-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-career-of-gwendolen-mccarthy-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "O'Shane, Patricia", "Entry ID": "AWE1068", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/oshane-patricia\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Mossman, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Aboriginal rights activist, Barrister, Caf\u221a\u00a9 owner, Lawyer, Magistrate, Management consultant, Public servant, Teacher, University Chancellor", "Summary": "Patricia O'Shane was born in Northern Queensland in 1941. A noted activist for Indigenous rights, her achievements in the public sphere have been remarkable. She was the first Aboriginal Australian barrister (1976) and the first woman to be appointed to the New South Wales Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board (1979). When she was appointed permanent head of the New South Wales Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs in 1981, she became not only the first Aboriginal person but also the first woman to become a permanent head of ministry in Australia.\n", "Details": "Patricia O'Shane was born in 1941 in the small township of Mossman, North Queensland. She attended State primary and high schools in Cairns, and was awarded a Teacher's Scholarship, which enabled her to study full-time at the Queensland Teachers' Training College, and part-time at the University of Queensland. After graduating from Teachers' College, she taught at primary and high schools respectively before and after her marriage. In 1973, having received an Aboriginal study grant from the Federal Government, she undertook a Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of New South Wales, and completed the course at the end of 1975. In March 1976 she became Australia's first Aboriginal Barrister at a ceremony in the New South Wales Supreme Court. In 1979 she was appointed a Member of the New South Wales Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board - the first female member in the Board's 91-year history. She has worked with the New South Wales Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly on Aborigines, as Coordinator of the Aboriginal Task Force. In November 1981 Pat O'Shane was appointed permanent head of the New South Wales Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, becoming not only the first Aboriginal person but also the first woman to become permanent head of a ministry in Australia.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/some-aboriginal-women-pathfinders-their-difficulties-and-their-achievements\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/indigenous-heroes-and-leaders\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-healthy-sense-of-identity\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tall-poppies-nine-successful-australian-women-talk-to-susan-mitchell\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/splitting-the-world-open-taller-poppies-and-me\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-wailing-a-national-black-oral-history\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/murawina-australian-women-of-high-achievement\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/aboriginal-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dhirrabuu-mari-outstanding-indigenous-australians\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-matriarchs-twelve-australian-women-talk-about-their-lives-to-susan-mitchell\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rebel-magistrate-with-a-passion-for-justice\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/aborigines-and-the-criminal-justice-system\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australias-first-aboriginal-lawyer\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-patricia-oshane-1998-manuscript\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Smith, Addie Viola", "Entry ID": "AWE1144", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/smith-addie-viola\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Feminist, Lawyer", "Summary": "Addie Viola Smith, lawyer and feminist, held various offices with the Australian Federation of Women Voters and the League of Women Voters (New South Wales) from the late 1950s until her death in 1975. She was Liaison Representative for the International Federation of Women Lawyers to the United Nations, 1952-1966. She was a member of the Australian delegation that attended the International Alliance of Women Congresses in Dublin, 1961, and Trieste, 1964. She served as Vice-President, 1968-1970, and was made an honorary life member in 1972, of the Australian Local Government Women's Association.\n", "Details": "Addie Viola Smith (1893-1975) was born in Stockton, California, U.S.A.. After graduating from the Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C., in 1920, she embarked on a career in the U.S. Civil and Foreign Service. From 1920 to 1948 she held postings in economic and trade promotion in China, and from 1949 to 1951 she served with E.C.A.F.E.. From 1952 to 1966 she was representative to the U.N. for the International Federation of Women Lawyers and a member of its Executive Committee. A Vice-President of the Australian Local Government Women's Association from 1968 to 1970, she published, in 1975, Women in Australian Parliaments, Past and Present : A Survey. In 1957 she had made her retirement home with Eleanor Hinder at Neutral Bay in Sydney. She assisted and significantly augmented Eleanor's genealogical researches. Among Smith's duties as executrix of Eleanor Hinder's estate, were the arranging and annotating of her friend's papers for deposit in the Mitchell Library, tasks that she faithfully and diligently executed over the rest of her life.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/smith-addie-viola-1893-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-viola-smith-further-papers-1957-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/eleanor-m-hinder-papers-1837-1963-together-with-the-papers-of-a-viola-smith-ca-1850-1975\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Patrick, Jeannette Tweeddale", "Entry ID": "AWE1206", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/patrick-jeannette-tweeddale\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brighton, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Brighton, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Local government councillor, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Jeannette Patrick served as the member for Brighton in the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament from 1976-85. She held the position of secretary of the Parliamentary Liberal Party from 1979-82.\n", "Details": "Daughter of Robert Tweeddale Breen, solicitor and Marie Freda Chamberlin, who served as a Victorian Liberal Senator in the Australian Parliament from 1962-68, she completed her secondary education at Firbank Church of England Girls' Grammar School, Brighton and her tertiary education at the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws in 1967. She worked as a solicitor in the family firm, R. T. Breen & Co. from 1967 and served as a Brighton City Councillor from 1973-76 before being elected to the Victorian Parliament in the same year.\nOn 25 October 1949 she married Vernon Ronald Patrick, law clerk. They had a son and a daughter.\nHer community commitments included : member of the Consumer Affairs Council 1974-75, member of Brighton Technical School Council 1976-83, member of Firbank Council and Brighton Community Hospital committee of management 1976-80; member of the University of Melbourne Council 1979-83, Gardenvale Central School Council 1982-83; honorary solicitor to local organisations and a member of St Peter's Anglican Church, Brighton.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-register-of-the-victorian-parliament\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-1983\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/carrying-on-the-fight-women-candidates-in-victorian-parliamentary-elections\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/leader-in-push-for-equal-opportunity\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sibree, Prudence (Prue) Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE1207", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sibree-prudence-prue-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, from 1968, Prue Sibree served as the member for Kew in the Legislative Assembly in the Victorian Parliament from 1981-88.\n", "Details": "Daughter of William Turnor, retail dairyman, and Patricia Kidd, secretary, Prue Sibree was educated at Chalgrove Girls' School in Box Hill and Strathcona Baptist Girls' Grammar School in Surrey Hills. She completed her tertiary education at the University of Melbourne, gaining a Bachelor of Laws in 1967. She practised as a solicitor from 1968-81 and established her own firm, Prue Sibree & Co. in 1979.\nOn 9 August 1969 she married Mark William Sibree, a computer specialist. They had a son and two daughters.\nHer community interests included membership of the Citizens Welfare Services Board in 1973; membership of the Victorian Consumer Affairs Council 1976-81, the Metropolitan Transit Council 1979-81 and the University of Melbourne Council 1983-88. She was Chairman of the Kew Freedom from Hunger committee 1981.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-register-of-the-victorian-parliament\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-1983\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/carrying-on-the-fight-women-candidates-in-victorian-parliamentary-elections\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wade, Jan Louise Murray", "Entry ID": "AWE1235", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wade-jan-louise-murray\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Attorney General, Barrister, Commissioner, Lawyer, Minister, Parliamentarian, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Jan Wade served as the member for Kew in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of the State of Victoria from 1988-99. As a Minister in the Liberal Government from 1992-99, she held the portfolios of Attorney General, Fair Trading and Women's Affairs.\nEducated at Sydney Girls' High School, Firbank Church of England Girls' Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, Jan Wade worked as a solicitor in private practice (1964-67), in the Parliamentary Counsel's office from 1970-79 and as president of the Equal Opportunity Board (1985-88) before entering parliament in 1988.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Jan Wade for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Jan Wade and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nLooking back on my life I cannot imagine a more interesting and satisfactory career. However in many ways it also illustrates some of the problems encountered by women lawyers in the period 1960 to 2000. While they are minor compared to those encountered by the pioneering women lawyers of the earlier 20th century, I have included some of my experiences in this regard for the record.\nMy own attitudes to a legal career contributed to my slow start in the profession. Although I enjoyed the challenges of legal education, I tended to perceive my future as being a wife and mother. Fate intervened at various times to tempt me forward in my career.\nI was born in 1937 in Sydney. I attended Rose Bay Public School where I was Dux of the school in 1949 and moved on to Sydney Girls' High School.\nMy father died in 1952 and our mother decided to return to her family in Melbourne resulting in new schools for my brother Michael and me. It also meant a significant down grading in accommodation and comfort as we moved into a very small flat where I shared a bedroom with my mother until I left home after I finished my articles in 1959. Looking back I believe my mother had many more grounds for complaint than I did.\nMy new school was Firbank and I was there for two years. I was lucky enough to get a Commonwealth Scholarship that not only paid my University fees but also paid a small living allowance. University had not seemed to be an option so I had no plans but I recalled my father saying that I should consider law.\nI enjoyed the Law School at Melbourne University and found subjects for both my law and arts degrees interesting and not particularly difficult. However, I did not see myself as a solicitor and did no more work than was necessary. I completed my legal studies in 1958 with a fairly average degree. I then did my articles with Weigall & Crowther.\nIn early 1960, like many of my contemporaries, I left for a couple of years in London. With nothing but a return ticket in my pocket, as required by my mother, I embarked on the ss. Orcades. Once there I found that female lawyers were not in demand but unqualified schoolteachers were paid quite well and not required to pay tax.\nI taught in a series of schools in North East London for two years. My first school in Islington (pre gentrification) was a Secondary School described as a \"sink school\" - a school that took pupils rejected by all other schools in the district. It was a girls' school but no safer for that. The girls wore extremely short navy skirts and beehive hair. I was told that the previous teacher of my class had been carried out on a stretcher. The last game of netball I ever played was a staff versus student match of extreme ferocity.\nIn co-educational schools removal of knives and other weapons was an everyday occurrence and teachers were advised never to stay on the school premises after hours and never to walk to the train station alone.\nOn entering Parliament in 1988 I realized that my teaching career had taught me quite a lot about the behaviour I was to encounter there, such as speaking notwithstanding a barrage of rude and defamatory comment and continuing to work in a threatening atmosphere.\nForgetting my return fare was already paid, I travelled home overland to South India in a Land Rover encountering a number of character building experiences such as an attack by youths when camping on the outskirts of Teheran and being saved by the Pakistani Army from possibly having my throat cut by Pathans.\nOn my return in 1963 I endeavoured to commence my legal career only to be advised by many solicitors' firms that, as I was married and could be having children, I was not a suitable employee. I regret to say, at that time, I thought their attitude was quite understandable.\nAfter short periods in the toy department at Myers and at a Secondary School in Preston, Zelman Cowan was kind enough to give me a job as a tutor in the Melbourne Law School. He was also very supportive when I had to confess after a few months that I was pregnant and agreed that I could continue until the baby was born in November and correct exam papers in hospital. While this is not unusual now, it seemed no one had previously seen an obviously pregnant woman teaching then. I continued to tutor on a part time basis the following year. I then had another two children and opened a solicitor's practice at home.\nIn 1967 I decided that academia was the way forward with working hours possibly compatible with family responsibilities. I applied successfully to be a tutor at Monash University but this did not start until February 1968 so I had a few months to wait. A friend said that the Victorian Crown Law Department was short of legal staff and may be prepared to employ a married woman on a temporary basis.\nI applied in order to test my capacity to work full time and to test my then part time babysitter's capacity to also work full time. My application, which was still on the departmental file when I became Attorney General, states that I knew that, as a married woman, I could only be employed on a temporary basis and that, as a woman, I would be paid less than a man doing the same job. I said that this was acceptable to me. It was not enough however to persuade the Crown Solicitor who responded by saying he would not employ women lawyers.\nI was told that the Chief Parliamentary Counsel took a different view. I re-applied and succeeded. John Finemore, the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, was one of the most brilliant lawyers I have met. It was at this point my life as a lawyer changed.\nI was good at drafting legislation and I loved it. For the first year I kept my options open and also tutored at Monash part time. This was the end of my half-hearted approach to the law.\nI stayed in the Parliamentary Counsels' Office for 12 years having one more child in 1970. My pregnancy caused some consternation. As I was still employed on a temporary basis I would normally have been asked to leave but the office was short staffed and I was permitted to stay but told that I should not attend Parliament, once it was obvious I was pregnant, as it might disturb the members. I took no notice and nobody complained.\nParliamentary Counsel are traditionally members of the Bar in England and that tradition continued here. I signed the Bar Roll in 1971 and was the 13th woman to do so. As John Finemore wanted us to get the best possible understanding of the way the legal system worked he encouraged us to read at the Bar. The Justice Department gave us paid leave to do so. I read with John D. Phillips. At that time you were allowed to take briefs straight away. I got briefs to write opinions from people who knew me and briefs in the Magistrates' Court and for fairly basic applications, such as adjournments, in the other Courts. Members of the Bar were very helpful in many ways. I did not have a wig or gown and had no trouble borrowing them from smaller members such as Gordon Spence. Ken Hayne who was in Chambers nearby gave me a word for word briefing on what to say in the first of a number of appearances for women seeking maintenance from their husbands.\nThe only women I saw at the Bar at that time were Joan Rosanove and Molly Kingston. I don't think they noticed me. The then Chairman of the Bar Council did notice me the first time I was at the Bar dining room for lunch and sent someone to check whether someone had smuggled in his wife.\nWhile I enjoyed being at the Bar I don't think I did as well as I could have because I had a number of things in my life like four children, some moonlighting for the Parliamentary Counsel and eventually pneumonia. Also I found that I missed the problem solving and creative law opportunities of the Parliamentary Counsels' Chambers so I returned to drafting.\nI left the Parliamentary Counsels' Office when I was appointed Commissioner for Corporate Affairs in 1979.\nInitially this new appointment to head an office with a few hundred staff proved to be a greater challenge than anyone anticipated.\n \"Woman appointed to head Corporate Affairs\" was the headline on the front page of the Age. The business community was surprised, the accountants were astonished and the stock exchange was wary but supportive. More than half my professional staff refused to work for a woman. My deputies had applied for the position. One of them locked the door between his office and mine and the other returned any request for assistance annotated \"if you're so clever do it yourself\". However, after a stand off period, we found we could work together. We brought some very successful cases in the Supreme Court. I began to enjoy every minute of running a very efficient office and contributing to the National Companies and Securities Legislation.\nIn 1984 I gave advice to the Cain government about problems with the regulation of financial institutions and the investigation of failed companies. This was not appreciated and I was removed from office. The then Attorney General Jim Kennan issued a press release stating \"the moves were part of the Government's plans to bring the Corporate Affairs Commission closer to the private sector\". It took a few years for the impact of these moves to be seen with several spectacular collapses, including the State Bank.\nI was transferred to become President of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal. While this was a demotion in public service terms, it proved to be very educational for me in areas involving discrimination on the grounds of gender, race and disability.\nIn 1987 I was approached by members of the Liberal Party to stand for pre-selection. Although I was not a member of the Party, they thought my experience would be useful after the 1988 election that they expected to win. I had not had any experience in a political party and, having been persuaded to stand, I was surprised to find that 26 people were standing for pre-selection for the seat of Kew. However within 3 months of joining the party I was sitting in Parliament, as the member for Kew, after a close win in a by-election. We did not win the 1988 election so I was introduced to life as a frontbencher in Opposition where I had various shadow portfolios.\nIn 1992 we won Government and I became the first woman to be appointed Attorney General in Australia. I was also Minister for Women and Minister for Fair Trading. I held all these portfolios until I retired at the end of 1999.\nAs Attorney General I gave the highest priority to creating a criminal justice system that would have the confidence of the public. In Opposition I had attended many public meetings where it was clear that people were disillusioned by the system and particularly by sentences for serious crime. This was not about revenge but was because they felt the impact of crime on the community was not appreciated. Victims of violent crime, especially women, considered sentences were so low that they indicated the terrible ordeals they had been through were of no concern to the justice system and that they themselves were not valued.\nLegislation I introduced with a view to restoring the confidence of the public in the justice system included:\n\n The introduction of victim impact statements;\n The abolition of unsworn evidence;\nThe creation of a new offence of intentionally infecting someone with the HIV virus;\nIncreasing sentences for serious sexual and violent offenders and for sexual offences involving children;\n Introducing indefinite sentences for offenders who are a danger to the community;\n Introducing majority verdicts in criminal cases with a view to avoiding traumatic repetition of trials for victims of sexual assault;\n Changes to the Crimes and Evidence Acts to give victims of sexual assault alternative ways of giving evidence and the installation of video and other changes in courtrooms;\nThe creation of a DNA database of offenders convicted of sexual offences;\nThe creation of a new offence of stalking;\nThe introduction of indefinite intervention orders against violent spouses;\nReform of the law relating to female genital mutilation;\n Reform of the Governor's Pleasure system to impose safeguards on the release of detainees who have been found not guilty on the ground of mental illness.\n\nI was criticized by the opposition in Parliament and by the media for almost all of these changes but to the best of my knowledge they are all still in force, although not always being interpreted as intended. I started out with high hopes but I did not succeed in restoring public confidence in the criminal justice system. This will require a major change of approach, whether voluntary or imposed, by a profession that to date does not seem to understand that there is a problem.\nAs the ability to see what legislation was required was my area of expertise and, as I had responsibility for Women and Fair Trading as well as being Attorney General, I probably hold the record for the most legislation ever introduced by one member of Parliament. This is not to say that I believe in an ever expanding Statute Book. I do not. However, I do believe that our Acts of Parliament and our Courts and tribunals should be of the highest quality and should meet the needs of all members of the community. I formed the view that the needs of some members of the community, including women, had been overlooked. I will not try the patience of readers by listing all of the changes I introduced however I will mention some, unrelated to crime, that I think illustrate this:\n\nThe appointment of a number of women to the Supreme and County Courts. There were no women judges in Victoria when I became Attorney General;\nThe creation of the Victorian Court of Appeal to provide a first class appellate system;\n A new Equal Opportunity Act extending protection to people discriminated against on the grounds of age, lawful sexual activity, personal appearance, industrial activity, personal association, pregnancy and status as a carer;\nThe amalgamation of a number of existing tribunals to create the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal which also had an overlapping jurisdiction with some aspects of the court system giving an option on forum and type of hearing for parties to a dispute;\nA new Building Act revising laws and procedures regarding building requirements with disputes being heard by the Tribunal;\nA new Estate Agents Act separating policy and administrative and judicial functions;\nA new Residential Tenancies Act covering residential property, caravan parks and rooming houses and establishing a Bond Authority to overcome problems and disputes between landlords and tenants;\nA new Fund Raising Appeals Act requiring charities, for the first time, to maintain appropriate records and to provide information to the public about expenditure.\n\nIn addition I was responsible for several pieces of legislation drafted in Victoria and to be adopted in all States such as the Consumer Credit Code, a new Co-operatives Act and a new Friendly Societies Act.\nIn the Women's portfolio the Office of Women's Affairs participated in reforms throughout government and in particular in education and health. There was a lot of work done recognizing the social and economic costs for women carers and the value of their work to the community.\nStrategies were established to assist Koori women, rural women and older women and funding was provided for a number of initiatives. The remaining tower of the Queen Victoria Hospital was refurbished and became the Queen Victoria Women's Centre\nI am not sure how many of these changes are still in place or whether they have been altered in any significant ways. It may be that there have been further improvements. I am satisfied that I did my best at the time. However, the community is always changing and things do not always work as one expects. For example, I thought the publicly available information available under the Fund Raising Act would allow the media to expose charities whose funds were being spent other than on their stated purpose. This has not happened.\nI retired from Parliament at the end of 1999 after 5 years in Opposition and 7 years in Government and then spent 3 years as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Victoria University.\nTo assist me in writing this outline of my career I obtained some press clippings of a biographical nature from the Library of the Victorian Parliament. Links are provided to some of them and to an interview with Juliette Brodsky in 2009 for the Women Barristers' Association.\nReading the press clippings after so long was disturbing. I was reminded of how often I was described as shy, diffident, cautious, hesitant, nervous and with the 'softest of voices\". While I do not have a loud voice and I sometimes have a hesitant manner because I am careful in what I say, these comments seemed exaggerated and overly repetitive. I wondered if my portrayal in the media could be due to inadequacy on my part or an attack on a woman in a position previously always held by a man. After some thought, I now see it as a sign of success.\nPolicy is important, getting the support of your Party and the Parliament for policies is important and implementing your legislation is important. In three challenging portfolios I succeeded in these aims. In seven years I gave hundreds of speeches and attended conferences and meetings, including large public meetings, where I was questioned at length. A newspaper clipping records that, in government, only two other Cabinet Ministers and the Premier spoke more often in Parliament than I did. My performance is for others to assess but, on reflection, I do not consider I was attacked because of my gender or my personality. I think the problem was my success in putting forward and implementing policies that some in the media and elsewhere did not support. The criticism I received does not indicate that women should aim to be more like men, rather the reverse. It says success comes in many forms.\nRecently I was thanked by a Shadow Minister who said advice, I had given her at a training session for potential M.P.s, had proved to be very valuable. The advice was not to raise her voice when being shouted at in Parliament but to continue to speak at the same level and she would find the shouting would stop so the shouters could hear what was being said.\nThings have improved in ways unimaginable since my early days in the law but they have not changed enough. Women will succeed more frequently. But why is \"merit\" still raised so often in relation to women entering Parliament or obtaining senior positions? How do some not particularly outstanding men find their way into so many of these positions without \"merit\" being mentioned?\nWriting this has reminded me of many great times and many challenges. It has also reminded me of how much of my career has been assisted or informed by many lawyers, public servants and people whose careers or interests overlapped mine. Always more important to me than my career are my children and my stepdaughter and now their families. My husband who shares many of my interests has been my greatest supporter both at work and at home.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-1998\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/victorian-parliamentary-handbook-prepared-by-direction-of-the-president-of-the-legislative-council-and-the-speaker-of-the-legislative-assembly\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tribunals-in-the-department-of-justice-a-principled-approach-discussion-paper\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/carrying-on-the-fight-women-candidates-in-victorian-parliamentary-elections\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Tehan, Marie Therese", "Entry ID": "AWE1236", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tehan-marie-therese\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Nagambie, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal party of Australia, Marie Tehan served in both Houses of the Victorian Parliament. She was the Member for Central Highlands in the Legislative Council from 1987-92 and for Seymour in the Legislative Assembly from 1992 until 1999, when she retired. As a minister in the Kennett Liberal Government she held the portfolios of Minister for Health from 1992-96 and Minister for Conservation and Land Management from 1996-99.\n", "Details": "Educated at Sacre Coeur, Glen Iris, Melbourne and the University of Melbourne, Marie Tehan qualified as a lawyer. She married Jim Tehan in 1963 and settled in regional Victoria.\nAfter producing six children she established her own legal practice in Mansfield, Victoria in 1970.\nShe was elected to the Victorian Parliament in 1987 at a by-election and retired from Parliament in 1999. She died at Nagambie after a short illness on 31 October 2004.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-1998\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/victorian-parliamentary-handbook-prepared-by-direction-of-the-president-of-the-legislative-council-and-the-speaker-of-the-legislative-assembly\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-profile-of-reform-in-victorias-public-health-system-an-address-to-the-hong-kong-hospital-authority-plenary-session\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/small-rural-hospitals-task-force-report-ministerial-responses\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/carrying-on-the-fight-women-candidates-in-victorian-parliamentary-elections\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Fowler, Lilian Maud", "Entry ID": "AWE1274", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fowler-lilian-maud\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Cooma, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Alderman, Lawyer, Local government councillor, Politician", "Summary": "The first woman alderman, mayor and among the first women JPs and MPs in New South Wales, Lilian Fowler was a blunt and tenacious politician, who worked on behalf of women and the underprivileged.\nLabor candidate for Newtown in 1941 (unsuccessful), 1944 (elected) and 1947 (elected). Lang Labor candidate for Newtown-Annandale in 1950. Alderman Newtown Municipal Council 1928, first woman alderman in NSW, re-elected 1935-37, 1938-40, 1941-44, 1948. Mayor 1938-39.\n", "Details": "Lilian was educated at Cooma public school, and married Albert Edward Fowler, bootmaker, on 19 April 1909.\nShe became Secretary of the Newtown-Erskineville Political Labor League. For 20 years from 1917, she was electorate manager for F.M. Burke, anti-conscriptionist Labor candidate for Newtown. Her Labor activism included being a Central Executive member of ALP 1920-21, 1923-25, and President of Labor Women's Central Organising Committee, 1926-27. She was instrumental in pressuring premier Jack Lang to institute widows' pensions and child endowment. Mrs Fowler was active in Newtown Municipal Council from 1928 - she established playgrounds and instituted a 40-hour week for council employees. From 1941 she stood against her former employer Burke, as a Lang Labor candidate. She remained critical of Labor's centralist tendencies and of bureaucratic consolidation in labour and municipal politics.\nThe Federal electorate of Fowler is named after her, as is Lilian Fowler Place, Marrickville, NSW, and Fowler Reserve in Newtown, NSW.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-in-australian-parliaments-and-local-governments-past-and-present-a-survey\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/herstory-australian-labor-women-in-federal-state-and-territory-parliaments-1925-1994\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fowler-elizabeth-lilian-maud-1886-1954\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hadden, Dianne Gladys", "Entry ID": "AWE1299", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hadden-dianne-gladys\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Ivanhoe, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "Dianne Hadden was the Independent member for Ballarat Province in the Legislative Council of the Victorian Parliament until 2006. She was elected as a Labor Member in 1999, but resigned from the Australian Labor Party in 2005. She unsuccessfully contested the 2006 state election, held on 25 November, as an Independent in the Legislative Assembly seat of Ballarat East.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-2002\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/victorian-parliamentary-handbook-no-8-the-55th-parliament\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/victorian-parliamentary-handbook-electronic-edition\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/carrying-on-the-fight-women-candidates-in-victorian-parliamentary-elections\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mikakos, Jenny", "Entry ID": "AWE1302", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mikakos-jenny\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Jenny Mikakos was elected as the Member for the Province of Jika Jika in the Parliament of Victoria in 1999. She held the position of Parliamentary Secretary, Justice in the Bracks , later Brumby Labor Government, from December 2002 until August 2007. She assumed the position of Parliamentary Secretary, Planning in August 2007. She was elected to the newly created Northern Metropolitan Region at the 2006 state election. She was re-elected in 2010 when the Labor government was defeated and again in 2014 when the Labor party returned to power. She currently holds the ministerial portfolios of Families and Children, and Youth Affairs.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/victorian-parliamentary-handbook-no-8-the-55th-parliament\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-2002\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/victorian-parliamentary-handbook-electronic-edition\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/carrying-on-the-fight-women-candidates-in-victorian-parliamentary-elections\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Ashmore-Smith, Suzanne Catherine", "Entry ID": "AWE1335", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ashmore-smith-suzanne-catherine\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Political candidate, Taxation officer, Teacher", "Summary": "Suzanne Ashmore-Smith was a once-only candidate (ALP for Bligh in 1978), who later had a varied and successful career.\n", "Details": "Suzanne Ashmore-Smith was educated at Santa Sabina College, Strathfield, and the University of Sydney, where she graduated in Arts (BA) and obtained her teacher's certificate. She later completed a law degree at the University of New South Wales (LLB).\nShe taught in schools in Papua New Guinea and Thailand and was a part-time tutor in politics at the UNSW for three years. In 1978 she became Assistant Research Officer with the Australian Taxation Office, later rising to become Assistant Commissioner.\nSuzanne Ashmore-Smith joined the ALP c.1960. After returning to Australia from a long residence overseas, she rejoined the party and was elected a delegate to various party councils and to the Labor Women's Conference.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bradshaw, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE1379", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bradshaw-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "A once-only candidate, Margaret Bradshaw ran for the Liberal Party in the Blue Mountains elections of 1984.\n", "Details": "Margaret Bradshaw joined the Liberal Party c.1974. She was reported to have conducted her 1984 campaign by telephone from the lounge room of her home. She distributed her literature through the post, saying, \"In the mountains, letterboxing is strictly for mountain goats.\" She campaigned for better trains and roads, an independent water supply and an immediate start on two new high schools.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Calvert, Michelle", "Entry ID": "AWE1390", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/calvert-michelle\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Activist, Lawyer", "Summary": "Michelle Calvert was Alderman in the Ashfield Municipal Council from 1991-95 and active in environmental issues. She later ran for the No Aircraft Noise Party in the Ashfield elections of 1995 and in the House of Representatives for Lowe in 1996.\n", "Details": "Michelle Calvert grew up in Stanmore and went to school in Annandale and Petersham. She worked as a Police Prosecutor and as a senior investigator with the War Crimes Unit of the Commonwealth Department of the Attorney General. In 1996 she was working for LEAD, an organisation committed to reducing the risk of lead poisoning, especially in children.\nShe was President of the Haberfield Association for 10 years and was active in local environmental and community issues. She is married and has four children.\nHer election leaflet reported that she lived under the flight path in Haberfield, which may explain her candidacy in 1995.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Fletcher, Karen", "Entry ID": "AWE1441", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fletcher-karen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Politician", "Summary": "Karen Fletcher is a political activist with a passionate interest in justice. She is a long-term member of the Democratic Socialist Party and stood in elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Marrickville (1995); the House of Representatives for Sydney (1996); and the Queensland Senate (in both 1990 and 2001).\n", "Details": "Karen Fletcher was a student when she ran for Marrickville. She wrote regularly for Refractory Girl and Green Left Weekly on women's issues. In 2000, she was co-ordinator of the Prisoners Legal Service in Brisbane, and was a speaker at the Annual Conference of Community Legal Centres in Alice Springs in August of that year. In 2004, she joined the intern program of the Centre for Public Health Law and spent her second placement with the National AIDS Council of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Gadiel, Tanya Rachelle", "Entry ID": "AWE1449", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gadiel-tanya-rachelle\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Cessnock, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Politician", "Summary": "An ALP candidate, Tanya Rachelle Gadiel was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Parramatta in 2003. She was re-elected in 2007, but retired before the 2011 election. She served as Deputy Speaker in the Christina Keneally Labor Government.\n", "Details": "Tanya Gadiel was educated at public schools including Cessnock High School, and was the first person in her family to travel overseas or go to university (BA, LLB). She was a Rotary exchange student to South Africa.\n\"Her career history includes: Industrial Officer Australian Workers' Union NSW branch Organiser Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union (Postal and Telecommunications), Policy advisor and chief of staff to Michael Costa Minister for Police, Elected member for Parramatta 2003, Member Committee on Health Care Complaints Commission.\nTanya married Michael Gadiel and had one daughter.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Chikarovski, Kerry Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE1517", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/chikarovski-kerry-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Politician, Solicitor", "Summary": "Kerry Chikarovski is the only woman ever to have held the leadership of the Opposition in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. After her retirement from politics, she published her autobiography, Chika, in 2004. Since 2003 she has been Director, Infrastructure and Planning Australia Pty Ltd.\n", "Details": "Kerry Chikarovski was born in Sydney in 1956, the daughter of Greg and Jill Bartels. She was educated at the United Nations International School, Our Lady of Dolours, Chatswood, Monte Sant' Angelo, North Sydney and the University of Sydney (BEc LLB). She was President of the Sydney University Law Society 1978-1979 and a Director of the University of Sydney Union 1977-1978.\nAfter graduation, she worked as a solicitor in private practice 1980-1985 and as a Solicitor and Instructor at the College of Law, 1988-1991. She married Chris Chikarovski in 1979 (marriage dissolved) and has two children.\nKerry Chikarovski ran unsuccessfully in the seat of Cabramatta in 1981, but won preselection for the Liberal Party for the safe seat of Lane Cove in 1991 on the retirement of the Attorney General, John Dowd, later Justice Dowd. She held the seat until 2003, when she resigned from Parliament.\nKerry Chikarovski is the only woman ever to have held the Leadership of the Opposition in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. After her retirement from politics, she published her autobiography, Chika, in 2004. Since 2003 she had been Director, Infrastructure and Planning Australia Pty Ltd.\nHer parliamentary career is as follows:\n\nMinister for Consumer Affairs and Assistant minister for Education 1992-1993\nMinister for Industrial Relations and Employment 1993-1995\nMinister for the Status of Women 1993-1995\nDeputy Leader of the Liberal Party 1994-1995\nShadow Minister for the Environment 1997-1998\nShadow Minister for the Arts and Women 1999-2002\nShadow Minister for Infrastructure and Major Projects 2002-2003\nLeader of the Opposition 1999-2002\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Perry, Barbara Mazzel Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE1714", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/perry-barbara-mazzel-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Barbara Perry was a successful candidate, who was elected the first time she ran for Parliament as an ALP candidate in the 2001 by-election for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Auburn. Barbara was re-elected in 2003, 2007 and 2011. She left Parliament in March 2015 after serving as a minister in previous Labor Governments. Prior to entering state politics she was a Councillor with the Auburn Council (1995-2003).\n", "Details": "Barbara Perry is the daughter of Ralph and Susan Abood, migrants from Lebanon. She is married to Michael Perry, and they have two sons. She was educated by the Sisters of Charity and the Marist Brothers. She graduated in law from the University of Sydney and worked at the Legal Aid Commission from 1990 - mostly in Family Law.\nBarbara Perry was the first woman of Lebanese origin to be elected to Legislative Assembly.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sperling, Karla Michelle", "Entry ID": "AWE1763", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sperling-karla-michelle\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Karla Sperling is a committed Green activist whose academic study makes her an expert on environmental law and sustainability. She stood for the Greens in the following elections: New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Kiama in 1995; Senate for NSW in 1996; House of Representatives for Throsby in 1993 and 1998.\n", "Details": "Karla Sperling tutored and lectured at the University of Wollongong. She was for some time Deputy Chairperson of the Illawarra Catchment management Committee. Karla Sperling gained the world's first Ph.D. in Sustainable Futures when she graduated from the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney in May 2002, writing her thesis on \"Overcoming legal impediments to urban planning for sustainability in the Sydney greater metropolitan region.\"\nShe was the convenor of the Friends of the Regent Theatre, Wollongong which campaigned to retain, protect and conserve the theatre and ensure its continuing public.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hawkins, Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE1836", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hawkins-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Councillor, Lawyer", "Summary": "Mary Hawkins is a committed environmentalist who stood for the Australian Greens in the 2003 New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Strathfield. She had more success at the local government level where, in 2004, she was elected to the Ashfield Council. Mary Hawkins has practised law from 1994 and is a keen bushwalker, a cyclist and a bird watcher. She is also committed to reducing the negative impact of human activity on the environment. She has travelled widely in Asia, Europe and America and is opposed to the abrogation of Australia's support of international bodies such as the UN and IPCC.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Klugman, Jeni", "Entry ID": "AWE1871", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/klugman-jeni\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Advisor, Lawyer, Lecturer", "Summary": "Jeni Klugman, who came from a political family, is a distinguished international economist. She was an ALP candidate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for Carlingford in 1988.\nIn 2019, Klugman is a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government's Women in Public Policy Program at Harvard University and Managing Director, Georgetown Institute for Women Peace and Security. She recently became VicHealth's second leading thinker, together with Professor Iris Bohnet, under an initiative that aims to make behavioral insights practical and accessible for Victorian government, industry and not-for-profit organizations.\nPrevious positions she has held include Director of Gender and Development at the World Bank, and director and lead author of three global Human Development Reports published by the UNDP.\nKlugman sits on several boards and panels, including for the World Economic Forum and the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Australian National University, and postgraduate degrees in both Law and Development Economics from the University of Oxford where she was a Rhodes Scholar.\n", "Details": "Daughter of Dr Richard Klugman (MHR 1969-1990) and Kris Klugman (also a candidate for the NSW Legislative Assembly), Jeni was educated at Burnside Public School and Cumberland High School. She graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Law and Economics, winning a Rhodes Scholarship from New South Wales to Oxford University.\nShe joined the ALP in 1979 and has held various offices in the party at branch and electorate level. She has been a delegate to Annual Conference and was a member of several policy committees. She was on the Executive of Young Labor 1986-87.\nIn 1996 Jeni commenced a Ph.D. with the Centre for Economic Research, Australian National University and in 1998.\n\"Jeni Klugman is a senior adviser at the World Bank and a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Women and Public Policy Program. She currently serves on the World Economic Forum's Global Advisory Council on Benchmarking Progress and Advisory Board on Sustainability and Competitiveness.\nPreviously, Klugman was director of Gender & Development at the World Bank Group, where she served as lead spokesperson on gender equality issues, and was responsible for developing strategic directions to support the institution's gender and development priorities.\"\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mccafferty, Joanne", "Entry ID": "AWE1903", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mccafferty-joanne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Manager, Political candidate, Public servant", "Summary": "A once only candidate, Joanne Mccafferty represented the Liberal Party at the 2003 election for the seat of Georges River in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. She was born and educated in the Georges River area and later completed a B.A., LL.B, at the University of Sydney and a M.Com. at the University of New South Wales. She has worked as a lawyer, and as a senior manager in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She also spent several years working with Australian companies in China.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McDonald, Janet", "Entry ID": "AWE1906", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcdonald-janet\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Lawyer, Political candidate", "Summary": "Janet McDonald was a once only candidate (ALP, New South Wales Legislative Assembly, North Shore, 1999) whose career in the law has continued successfully. She was President of the Australasian Law Students Association and has worked as a solicitor, waitress, cashier and company director. Janet was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW on 20 December 1989. She later tutored in Law at the University of Sydney for a short time.\nAt the time of her campaign, Janet McDonald was in partnership with her husband in Driscoll & Matters, a Legal Costs Consulting company. In 2000, having built up the business to a client base of over 160 firms, they sold out and went into the coffee cart business, selling coffee on the pavements of the city. They found they preferred the law and have re-established themselves as Driscoll Matters + Macdonald Pty Limited, Legal costs lawyers.\nJanet is a keen sportswoman and a Sydney Swans Football Club supporter.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McKay, Sonya", "Entry ID": "AWE1910", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mckay-sonya\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Bass Hill, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Environmentalist, Lawyer, Political candidate", "Summary": "An active and committed environmentalist, Sonya McKay represented the Australian Greens in the House of Representatives election for Blaxland in 2001 and at the New South Wales Legislative Assembly election for East Hills in 2003. She conducted her campaign on the local issues of opposition to the Holsworthy airport proposal, opposition to the privatisation and expansion of Bankstown airport and prevention of overdevelopment of the electorate area. Sonya McKay was also a strong advocate of increased funding for health and public education. At the time of her campaign for East Hills she was enrolled in a Master of Environmental Law degree at the University of Sydney (B.A., LL.B). Sonya McKay was born and educated in the western suburbs of Sydney.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mundey, Judith Ann", "Entry ID": "AWE1928", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mundey-judith-ann\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Activist, Communist, Lawyer", "Summary": "An activist, particularly in regard to women's issues, Judith Mundey represented the Communist Party of Australia in the 1967 and 1968 elections for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Phillip and in the 1980 House of Representatives election for Sydney. She became the first woman President of the Communist Party of Australia 1979-82, having been Secretary of the Sydney District Committee of the party 1973-79. She was also one of a group of women who established the Women's Liberation Movement in Australia in 1969.\nJudy Mundey was born in Sydney and educated at Eastlakes and Mascot Public Schools, and at St George Girls' High School. She later completed an Arts degree and a Law degree at Macquarie University. In 1965 she married Jack Mundey, of BLF and Green Bans fame, and they had one son.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-of-australian-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Newton, Claire Therese", "Entry ID": "AWE1937", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/newton-claire-therese\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Bristol, United Kingdom", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "A once only candidate whose later career was in private practice of the law, Claire Newton joined the Lismore branch of the ALP in 1982 and was their candidate in the 1984 New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections. At the time of her campaign she had been employed at the Lismore Women's Refuge for 4 years.\nClaire Newton was educated to fourth form at St Bernadette's Secondary Modern School, Bristol and finished her schooling at Fairfield Girls' High School, after arriving in Australia in 1972 and moving to Lismore in 1977. In the 1990s, Claire Newton completed an associate diploma in law and worked for some time as a paralegal. She then returned to study and finished a law degree (LL.B.) at the Southern Cross University. She is married, with two daughters and works with a firm of solicitors in Ballina.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Saffin, Janelle Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE1991", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/saffin-janelle-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Ipswich, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Lawyer, Politician, Teacher", "Summary": "Janelle Saffin joined the Australian Labor Party in 1982 and held senior positions in her local branch, was a delegate to Country and State conferences and was a member of the Corrective Services Advisory Council. She has been President of the North Coast Breast Screening Program and a committee member of the Northern Rivers Social Development Council. After working as a teacher, and small business person and being active in community services and local charity, Janelle Saffin stood unsuccessfully for the seat of Lismore (New South Wales Legislative Assembly) in 1991. However in 1995 she was elected to the Legislative Council of the New South Wales Parliament (1995-2003); to the seat of Page in the House of Representatives (2007-2013); and to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 2019, representing the seat of Lismore. She holds three ministerial positions: Recovery; Small Business; and the North Coast.\nShe is married to Dr Jim Gallagher, and has one son and three stepsons. Janelle Saffin completed a Dip Prim T (Northern Rivers CAE), BLegalStud (Macq), and Mbus. \n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Scott, Jennifer", "Entry ID": "AWE2002", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/scott-jennifer\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Jennifer Scott is active in her local community and represented the Liberal Party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly elections for the Blue Mountains in 1995 and 1999. She was President of the Hills Young Liberals 1972-75, and has been a delegate to State Convention from 1993, State Council from 1994, and on the State Executive of the Liberal Party 1996-7. Jennifer is actively involved in the Cancer Support Group Fundraising in her area and is a member of the Springwood Palliative Care Unit. She is married with two daughters and has completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Legal Studies at Macquarie University and Certificates in Mediation at Bond University & UTS.\nShe was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2023 for significant service to the community through a range of organisations including Rotary International.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wearne, Lorraine", "Entry ID": "AWE2041", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wearne-lorraine\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Councillor, Lawyer", "Summary": "Lorraine Wearne was a successful Independent local Councillor on the Parramatta City Council from 1995 to 2007 and was Lord Mayor from 2000-2001. This made her the first woman Lord Mayor of Parramatta and the first woman in the Sydney region to hold that title. She was motivated to run for the 2003 election for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Parramatta by a sense of fair play. Her campaign slogan was \"People not Politics for Parramatta\". Lorraine Wearne's candidature as an Independent was prompted by distaste of the preselection procedures of the ALP which imposed a Head Office candidate over a local Councillor.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bignold, Marie May", "Entry ID": "AWE2071", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bignold-marie-may\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Kiama, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Marie Bignold was a member of the Call To Australia Group (CTA). She was a member of the directly elected Legislative Council from 1984-1991; she was elected on 5 December 1984. Bignold was the first woman lawyer to take a seat in the Legislative Council.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Staunton, Patricia Jane", "Entry ID": "AWE2087", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/staunton-patricia-jane\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Townsville, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Alderman, Lawyer, Magistrate, Nurse, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Patricia Staunton was a Member of the NSW Legislative Council from 25 March 1995 to 2 September 1997. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party, a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and has worked as a Chief Magistrate, Alderman of the Sydney City Council and Registered Nurse.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/patricia-jane-staunton\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law-for-nurses-and-midwives\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sham-Ho, Helen Wai-Har", "Entry ID": "AWE2091", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sham-ho-helen-wai-har\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Hong Kong", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Helen Sham-Ho was a Member of the NSW Legislative Council from 19 March 1988 to 28 February 2003. She represented the Liberal Party from 1988-1998 and served out the remainder of her term as an Independent. She was the first Chinese born Parliamentarian in Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/helen-sham-ho-interviewed-by-diana-giese-in-the-post-war-chinese-australians-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Evatt, Elizabeth Andreas", "Entry ID": "AWE2184", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/evatt-elizabeth-andreas\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "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.\nIn 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.\n", "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.\nEvatt 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.\nBetween 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.\nEvatt 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.\n", "Events": "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. (2020 - 2020) \nInducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/elizabeth-evatt\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pioneering-women-at-the-nsw-bar-1921-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/recollections\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-guide-to-family-law-questions-and-answers-to-help-you-make-the-right-decisions\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/final-report-royal-commission-on-human-relationships\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/royal-commission-on-human-relationships-official-transcript-of-proceedings\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/national-implementation-the-cutting-edge-of-international-human-rights-law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/review-of-the-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-heritage-protection-act-1984\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-status-of-women-in-asia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/valuing-womens-work-women-equality-and-family-law-reform\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/genital-mutilation-a-health-and-human-rights-issue\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/born-in-hope-the-early-years-of-the-family-court-of-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/elizabeth-evatt-interviewed-by-daniel-connell-in-the-law-in-australian-society-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/elizabeth-evatt-address-at-the-national-press-club-on-24-september-1980-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/working-papers-of-justice-elizabeth-evatt-chronological-series\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/personal-papers-relating-to-family-law-matters-single-number-series\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/records-created-by-justice-elizabeth-evatt-as-chairman-of-the-royal-commission-into-human-relationships-single-number-series\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/files-created-by-justice-elizabeth-evatt-as-chancellor-of-newcastle-university-single-number-series\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/files-created-by-justice-elizabeth-evatt-as-president-of-the-australian-law-reform-commission-single-number-series\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/personal-correspondence-files-single-number-series\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/addresses-given-by-justice-elizabeth-evatt-single-number-series\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/files-created-by-justice-alastair-bothwick-nicholson-as-chief-justice-of-the-family-court-of-australia-single-number-series\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-craig-mcgregor-1961-2005-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pat-richardson-scrapbooks-relating-to-the-womens-electoral-lobby-and-womens-events-1977-2002\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Romano, Bruna", "Entry ID": "AWE2717", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/romano-bruna\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Motticella, Reggio Calabria, Italy", "Death Place": "Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "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 continued to practise as a family law consultant.\n", "Details": "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.\nBruna Romano died in December 2009, after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour about 14 months earlier.\nIn 2023 the ACT Government named a street after Bruna in Denman Prospect, a new suburb where the street names commemorate people associated with activism and reform.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/domenico-romano-interviewed-by-ann-mari-jordens-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Roxon, Nicola Louise", "Entry ID": "AWE2726", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/roxon-nicola-louise\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Attorney General, Lawyer, Minister, Parliamentarian, Union organiser", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Nicola Roxon was elected to the House of Representatives for Gellibrand, Victoria, in 1998, and was re-elected in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010. She became Shadow Minister for Health in 2006 and on the election of the Labor Government in November 2007, she became the Minister for Health and Ageing.\nShe continued to hold that portfolio in the Gillard Labor Government until she was appointed Attorney-General on December 14, 2011; the first woman to hold the position in the Australian parliament. She resigned from the portfolio in February 2013 and retired from parliament on 5 August 2013.\nA complete record of her parliamentary service, including links to her first and valedictory speeches, can be found in the Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia (see below).\n", "Details": "Roxon was born in Sydney, New South Wales. She is the second of three daughters and the niece of the late Australian journalist and Sydney Push member Lillian Roxon. Her paternal grandparents were Jewish and migrated from Poland to Australia in 1937. Anglicising the family name from Ropschitz to Roxon, her grandfather worked as a GP in Gympie and Brisbane, Queensland. Her mother Lesley trained as a pharmacist, while her father Jack was a microbiologist. He was a strong influence in her life and she was devastated by his death from cancer when she was 10 years old.\nRoxon was educated at the Methodist Ladies' College in the suburb of Kew in Melbourne, Victoria. She completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Melbourne before working as Judge's Associate for the Hon. Justice Mary Gaudron in the High Court of Australia. She was a Union organiser for the National Union of Workers, and an Industrial Lawyer with Maurice Blackburn and Co. until 1998, when she was elected to the House of Representatives.\nA member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 2001, Roxon has served as Shadow Minister for Children and Youth; Shadow Minister for Population and Immigration; Shadow Attorney-General, and Assisting the Leader on the Status of Women; and Shadow Minister for Health. She has been a member of House of Representatives Standing Committees on Industry, Science and Resources; and Legal and Constitutional Affairs; and served on the Joint Select Committee on the Republic Referendum in 1999. In 2003, Roxon was a member of the Parliamentary Delegation to Syria, Lebanon and Israel.\nShe was Minister for Health and Ageing in the Rudd Government (2007-2011) and was appointed Attorney General in the Gillard Government of 2011-2013.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2014 - 2014)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nicola-roxons-valedictory-speech-in-full\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/at-home-with-nicola-roxon\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/goodbye-to-all-that-why-i-resigned\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/roxon-the-hon-nicola-louise\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Byles, Marie Beuzeville", "Entry ID": "AWE2745", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/byles-marie-beuzeville\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Ashton-On-Mersey, Cheshire, United Kingdom", "Death Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Author, Conservationist, Lawyer, Mountaineer", "Summary": "Marie Byles was the first woman to qualify to practise law in New South Wales. As Honorary Solicitor, she worked with Jessie Street to change the law regarding women's guardianship of their children. Establishing her own legal practice allowed her to devote herself to bushwalking, mountaineering and conservation of the environment. She was responsible for reserving Bouddi Natural Park north of the Hawkesbury River. A Pacifist, Byles was a devotee of Gandhi and developed an interest in Buddhism. A founding member of the Buddhist Society of New South Wales, she became an international authority on Buddhism and wrote several books on the subject.\n", "Details": "Marie Byles was born in 1900, the year of Queen Victoria's death, to Ida Unwin Byles (a cousin of publisher Sir Stanley Unwin) and Cyril Beuzeville Byles, an expert in railway signalling. Cyril was offered a position with New South Wales Railways and the family moved to Sydney in 1911. Marie was educated at Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC) Croydon, then Pymble. She was Head Prefect and Dux.\nByles studied Arts, then Law, at the University of Sydney. In 1918 an Enabling Act was passed in NSW, allowing women to practise law. Marie won the Rose Scott Prize for International Law and attracted media attention on her graduation. She worked with many women's organizations including Jessie Street's United Association of Women to help change the laws regarding women's rights in marriage and divorce, and, in particular, the guardianship of their own children.\nA bushwalker, Byles was drawn to mountaineering and travelled the world by cargo boat in 1929 to gain experience in high altitude climbing in Scotland, Norway and Canada. She climbed Mt Cook in New Zealand and returned to that country twice more to climb virgin peaks and map unexplored areas, before leading an international expedition to south China in 1938.\nOn returning to Sydney from her round-the-world voyage, Byles established her own legal practice, knowing that she would struggle to be given the respect she deserved by a patriarchal legal profession that saw women as secretaries and clerks. She employed an all-female staff, training them as highly skilled paralegals, and was committed to profit-sharing. The proficiency and loyalty of her staff allowed Byles to spend extended periods of time on overseas expeditions.\nAn early member of the Sydney Bushwalkers Club, Byles joined with others who were committed to conserving the natural environment and saving it from development. As Honorary Solicitor for the Federation of Bushwalking Clubs, she helped to get large amounts of land reserved in State Parks. In particular she wanted to reserve a stretch of coastline north of the Hawkesbury River that she had explored as a young woman. She achieved this in 1935 and became a Trustee of Bouddi Natural Park. She was notorious for organising regular working bees that saw up to a hundred people making tracks and installing water tanks etc.\nByles served as President of the Federation of Bushwalking Clubs for some years as well as editing its journal. With Paddy Pallin, the camping equipment provider, she founded The Bush Club, a specialised bushwalking club for people not interested in doing exhausting overnight bushwalks. The club attracted many European refugees who were glad for the opportunity to become acquainted with their new country but needed to report to the police every night.\nOn a bushwalking expedition to Bouddi in 1941, Byles suffered a collapsed arch and this restricted her bushwalking involvement. The failure of her attempt to reach the summit of a virgin peak in south China in 1938 shattered her and eventually inspired her interest in philosophy and Eastern spirituality. She travelled to India in 1953 and wrote about the life of the Buddha in Footsteps of Gautama Buddha. A devotee of Gandhi, she named the cottage that she had built next to Pennant Hills Reserve 'Ahimsa' after Gandhi's principle of non-violence. She wrote a book, The Lotus and the Spinning Wheel, on the comparisons between Buddha and Gandhi.\nByles learned of a form of meditation taught by Buddha, 'Vipassana', and travelled to Burma to do an intensive retreat at the Maha Bodhi centre in Mandalay. She wrote a book about her experiences, Journey Into Burmese Silence, that helped guide a new generation towards the spirituality of the East. Byles was a founding member of the Buddhist Society of NSW, the first society of Western Buddhists in Australia. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she opened her home to Quakers and Buddhists for silent meditation and discussion groups.\nByles travelled to Japan to investigate Zen meditation and discovered the Ittoen spiritual community. She published a book on their teacher's philosophy, and wrote her own book, Paths to Inner Calm. In 1966 she was attacked while sleeping on the verandah of her home in Cheltenham. She was hospitalised and convalesced at the home of her friend, the writer Florence James, in the Blue Mountains. Suffering constant headaches, she learnt about the Alexander Technique and studied under the only teacher in Sydney. When he died Byles wrote a book on the exercises called Stand Straight Without Strain.\nIn 1974 Byles was honoured by the Women Lawyers Association for 50 years in the practice of law. Mary Gaudron and Elizabeth Evatt (recently Justices of the High Court) attended.\nSuffering from cancer, and refusing hospitalisation or painkillers, Marie Byles died at home on 21 November 1979. She bequeathed her home and the nature reserve on which it stands to the National Trust of NSW.\nThis entry was researched and written by Anne McLeod.\nExcerpted from the Dictionary of Sydney, relating to Byles' pioneering role in the law:\nIn her efforts to become an articled clerk (part of requirements for legal qualification at the time), she had some discouraging encounters with law firms - one male solicitor viewed Marie's potential as a mere typist. Eventually she was articled to Stuart Thom & Co on 6 June 1924. To obtain the requisite training with the master solicitor, her father had to pay \u00a3200 for her articles. The usual cost for male graduates was, in contrast, \u00a3100. Marie's father also had to provide her with suitable clothing for work. Unfortunately, the articles proved to be a soul - destroying experience. A change of workplace was made possible with the intervention of Sir John Peden, the Law Dean of Sydney University. Henry Davis & Co agreed to employ Marie in a role as managing clerk.\nShe was also active in the United Associations of Women and the National Council of Women of New South Wales.\nBy the 1930s, the practice employed five other women and sought to obtain the services of female barristers when they were available, including Sibyl Morrison. The legal practice dealt with matters of probate, conveyancing and debt recovery.\nIn 1952 Marie became the first female master solicitor when articled clerk Margaret Crawley joined her practice. By this time, the work premises were inappropriate and Marie created a private company to purchase land at 2A Hillview Avenue, Eastwood. Here she built the Berangie Chambers, an Aboriginal word meaning 'friend'. Marie designed the building to ensure the space was airy and filled with light. The practice moved here in 1953. In the late 1950s, she continued to consciously employ married women and promoted their professional development. Marie even offered to sponsor her law clerks to study for the Solicitors' Admission Board exams.\nIn 1970, she sold her business to Helen Larcombe, who had been the first female solicitor to practise in Newcastle in 1957.\nIn 1974, Marie celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of becoming a solicitor, and shared the occasion with two eminent judges, Judge Elizabeth Evatt and Judge Mary Gaudron.\n", "Events": "Career in journalism active (1920 - 1960)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/byles-marie-beuzeville-1910-1979\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-womens-pages-australian-women-and-journalism-since-1850-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-women-in-the-legal-profession-in-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Whitmont, Debbie", "Entry ID": "AWE2781", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whitmont-debbie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Journalist, Lawyer, Television Journalist", "Summary": "Debbie Whitmont graduated in Arts and Law from Sydney University and practised as a lawyer in legal aid and then for government.\nShe joined ABC television's Four Corners as a researcher in 1986 and was later awarded a cadetship at the ABC. She worked in ABC News before spending a short time in commercial TV, as both a reporter and a producer.\nReturning to Four Corners in 1989, she was a producer, reporter and later an Associate Producer. As a producer she won the Gold Medal at the New York Film Festival and was nominated for an Emmy Award for \"The Forgotten Famine\" (with Mark Colvin). She also won a Logie for \"Other People's Money\" (with Paul Barry).\nFrom 1993 to 1996 Debbie was ABC TV's Middle East Correspondent, based in Jordan and then in Jerusalem; reporting from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Pakistan among others; filing stories for News, Foreign Correspondent, Lateline and The 7.30 Report.\nSince 1998, Debbie has been a Four Corners reporter. She is the author of the book \"An Extreme Event\", about the fatal 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race.\nIn 2003 she won a Walkley award for her Four Corners' report \"About Woomera\".\nFor two consecutive years Debbie has won the Human Rights Commission Award for Journalism: in 2002 for \"Inside Story\", about the Villawood Detention Centre; and for her report \"About Woomera\" in 2003.\n", "Events": "Televsion Current Affairs, feature, documentary or Special (More than Twenty Minutes) with Morag Ramsay, 'The Newman Case', Four Corners ABC Television (2008 - 2008) \nTV Current Affairs, Feature, Documentary Or Special (More Than 20 Minutes), with Jo Puccini - 'About Woomera', Australian Broadcasting Corporation (2003 - 2003)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-womens-pages-australian-women-and-journalism-since-1850-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Henderson, Sarah Moya", "Entry ID": "AWE2875", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/henderson-sarah-moya\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Geelong, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Journalist, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Print journalist, Radio Journalist, Television Journalist", "Summary": "Sarah Henderson was elected Member for Corangamite representing the Liberal Party in the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament at the September 2013 election.\nBefore her election to Parliament she worked as a broadcast journalist and lawyer.\n", "Events": "Best Coverage of a Current Story (Television), 'Lynne's Story', Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (with Mike Swinson) (1996 - 1996)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-womens-pages-australian-women-and-journalism-since-1850-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Jackson, Liz", "Entry ID": "AWE2879", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jackson-liz\/", "Type": "Person", "Death Place": "Greece", "Occupations": "Bureaucrat, Journalist, Lawyer, Television Journalist", "Summary": "Liz Jackson was a multi-award winning journalist who came relatively late to the profession. After working as a lawyer, and then as a 'femocrat' in the New South Wales Public Service, at the age of thirty-three she turned her hand to journalism. In 2005 she became the first female host of ABC Television's Media Watch program. She left the ABC in 2013.\nJackson passed away in 2018, having struggled with Parkinson's Disease since she was diagnosed in 2014.\n", "Details": "Liz Jackson grew up in Parkville, near the University of Melbourne. In the 1970s, after completing an arts degree, she travelled to London where she studied to be a barrister. On her return to Australia she worked for the New South Wales Government.\nIt was during this time that Liz Jackson moved into a home full of journalists, eventually shifting into journalism herself. 'My life as a public servant seemed a lot less interesting than theirs as journalists,' she said. 'No one seemed to want to know what I did that day.'\nJackson joined the ABC in 1987. After spending seven years in radio, at Radio National and 2JJJ, she joined Four Corners as a reporter. In 2005 she became host of Media Watch and was also known for her work on 4 Corners.\n", "Events": "'A Sense of Self' - ABC TV (with Martin Butler, Bentley Dean and Tania Nehme) (2017 - 2017) \n'Stoking the Fires', 4 Corners, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (with Lin Buckfield and Peter Cronau) (2006 - 2006) \nBest Application of the Television Medium to Journalism, 'Telling His Story' Australian Broadcasting Corporation (with Ashley Smith) (1996 - 1996) \nBest International Report, 'Somalia. Dying for Relief', Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1993 - 1993) \nCoverage of Indigenous Affairs, 'Go to Jail', Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (with Lin Buckfield) (2000 - 2000) \nCoverage of Sport, 'Fixing Cricket', Australian Broadcasting Corporation, (with Lin Buckfield & Peter Cronau) (2000 - 2000) \nCoverage of the Asia-Pacific Region, 'Stoking the Fires', 4 Corners, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (with Lin Buckfield) (2006 - 2006) \nSocial Equity Journalism (Highly Commended), 'Putting The Children At Risk', Australian Broadcasting Corporation (with Morag Ramsay & Jo Puccini) (2002 - 2002)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/liz-jackson\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-womens-pages-australian-women-and-journalism-since-1850-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Firth, Verity Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE2925", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/firth-verity-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Local government councillor, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "A councillor for the City of Sydney, Verity Firth stood as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party in the seat of Balmain at the New South Wales state election, which was held on 24 March 2007. She was elected and held the ministerial portfolios of Women, Science and Medical research. In addition she was Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Cancer) and Minister Assisting the Minister for Climate Change Environment and Water (Environment). She was defeated at the 2011 election.\nVerity Firth was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2023 for significant service to the Parliament of NSW, and to social inclusion.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Tranter, Kellie", "Entry ID": "AWE2980", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tranter-kellie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Kellie Tranter stood as an Independent candidate in the seat of Maitland in the Legislative Assembly at the New South Wales state election, which was held on 24 March 2007.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/putting-skirts-on-the-sacred-benches-women-candidates-for-the-new-south-wales-parliament-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mirabella, Sophie", "Entry ID": "AWE3107", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mirabella-sophie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Sophie Mirabella was elected to the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia in 2001 as the Member for Indi. A member of the Liberal party of Australia, she was re-elected at the 2004, 2007 and 2010 federal elections. Before her election to Parliament she was a delegate to the Australian Constitutional Convention in 1998 and argued strongly against the proposal for Australia to become a republic. She was defeated at the 2013 election.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Jollie-Smith, Christian Brynhild Ochiltree", "Entry ID": "AWE3705", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jollie-smith-christian-brynhild-ochiltree\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Communist, Lawyer, social activist, Solicitor", "Summary": "Christian Brynhild Ochiltree Jollie-Smith studied law at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1911. She was admitted as a barrister and solicitor by the Supreme Court of Victoria on 1 October 1912. She practiced as a solicitor in Melbourne from 1914, was appointed professional assistant in the Crown Solicitor's Office, Melbourne.\nJollie-Smith was a foundation committee-member of the Communist Party of Australia. A socialist and member of the Communist Party, Jollie-Smith published the Australian Communist journal. Her own work, The Japanese Labour Movement, was published in 1919. After moving to Sydney, Jollie-Smith established her own successful legal practice. In 1924 she became the second woman admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales. Jollie-Smith mainly dealt with political and industrial cases, and championed the working class. She was often employed by trade unions, or by those engaged in anti-eviction disputes during the depression years. Jollie-Smith regularly contributed to the Communist publication, Workers' Weekly, and to Tribune.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/200-australian-women-a-redress-anthology\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-japanese-labor-movement\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jollie-smith-christian-1885-1963\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/christian-jollie-smith-a-life\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rosanove, Joan Mavis", "Entry ID": "AWE3769", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rosanove-joan-mavis\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Ballarat, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Frankston, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "Joan Rosanove completed her legal studies at the University of Melbourne, and was admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor in June 1919. In 1923 she became the first woman in Victoria to sign the Victorian Bar roll. The bulk of her work was in criminal and matrimonial cases. Rosanove was appointed Q.C. in 1965, and took silk in New South Wales two years later. She made a significant contribution to legal reform, particularly as it concerned the status of women.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rosanove-joan-mavis-1896-1974\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-complete-book-of-great-australian-women-thirty-six-women-who-changed-the-course-of-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-barristers-in-victoria-then-and-now\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rogers, Mary Catherine", "Entry ID": "AWE3955", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rogers-mary-catherine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Richmond Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Local government councillor, Magistrate, Political party organiser, Trade unionist", "Summary": "Mary Rogers became the first woman councillor in Victoria when she was elected to the Richmond City Council in 1920. She was appointed as organiser for the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party.\n", "Details": "Mary Rogers was raised in East Melbourne, where she attended a local Catholic school. In 1900 she married Patrick Denis Rogers and the pair had five children, though one died in infancy. Patrick, an upholsterer, had been president of the Furniture Trades Union. Mary, employed as a cleaner after the death of her husband in 1910, became president of the Women Office Cleaners' Union, and later vice-president of the Miscellaneous Workers' Union.\nRogers maintained a long-term involvement with the Australian Labor Party, becoming organiser for its Victorian Branch in 1918, and president of its Women's Organizing Committee. In 1920 she was elected to the Richmond City Council at a by-election, making her Victoria's first woman councillor, and worked to improve the living conditions of Richmond's poor. Rogers was also one of the first women appointed as a justice of the peace in Victoria and became a special magistrate at the Children's Court in Richmond. She served for some time as secretary of the welfare committee of the Catholic Women's Social Guild.\nMary Rogers died of cancer in 1932, and was buried at Boroondara cemetery, Kew.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rogers-mary-catherine-1872-1932\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-in-australian-parliaments-and-local-governments-past-and-present-a-survey\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/woman-to-light-up-pedestrian-lights-for-the-first-time\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Chapman, Vickie", "Entry ID": "AWE4036", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/chapman-vickie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Kangaroo Island, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Vickie Chapman was elected to the seat of Bragg in the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia at the election which was held on 9 February 2002. She was re-elected in 2006 and in 2010. She was Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 2006-09. Educated at the Parndana Area School, Pembroke School and Adelaide University, Vickie ran her own small legal firm before entering Parliament.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-in-politics-a-forum-in-the-centenary-year-of-womens-suffrage-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Redmond, Isobel", "Entry ID": "AWE4039", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/redmond-isobel\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Isobel Redmond was elected to the seat of Heysen in the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia at the election, which was held on 9 February 2002. She was re-elected in 2006 and 2010. She was elected leader of the Opposition in July 2009.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bishop, Julie Isabel", "Entry ID": "AWE4130", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bishop-julie-isabel\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Lobethal, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Julie Bishop was elected to the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Australia as the Member for Curtin, Western Australia in 1998. She was re-elected in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013. During the period of the Howard Government her ministerial appointments included Ageing, Education, Science and Training, and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues. After the defeat of the Howard Government in November 2007, she was elected Deputy Leader of the Opposition and was a member of the Shadow Ministry. After the 2010 election, she retained the Deputy Leadership of the Opposition and was Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. On the election of the Coalition Government in September 2013, Bishop remained Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and became Minister for Foreign Affairs.\n", "Details": "Julie Bishop was educated at St Peter's Collegiate Girls School in Adelaide, South Australia and at the University of Adelaide where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1978.\nBishop practised as a barrister and solicitor from 1979-1998, initially with the Adelaide firm, Mangan, Ey and Bishop in which she was a Partner. In 1983 she moved to Perth, Western Australia and practised as a commercial litigation solicitor at Robinson Cox, later to become Clayton Utz and became a Partner in 1985. By 1994 she was Managing Partner of the Perth office.\nDuring that time she was a member of the legal team which defended the claims against CSR by asbestos mining workers who had contracted mesothelioma as a result of their work for the company.\nIn 1996 she spent eight weeks at the Harvard Business School completing an Advanced Management Program ( Senior Managers).\nIn 1998 she was appointed delegate to the Constitutional Convention which was convened in Canberra to discuss the idea of Australia becoming a republic.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bishops-gambit-whats-next-for-the-perpetual-deputy\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-julie-bishop-lawyer-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Livermore, Kirsten Fiona", "Entry ID": "AWE4135", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/livermore-kirsten-fiona\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Mackay, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor, Union organiser", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Kirsten Livermore was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Capricornia, Queensland in 1998. She was re-elected in 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-kirsten-livermore-politician-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Neal, Belinda Jane", "Entry ID": "AWE4150", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/neal-belinda-jane\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Belinda Neal was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Robertson, New South Wales, in 2007. She was appointed to the Australian Senate in 1994, serving until 1998, when she resigned to contest the seat of Robertson in the House of Representatives. She was unsuccessful on that occasion. Before entering the federal political arena, she served in local government as Councillor for the Gosford City Council from 1991-95. She was not a candidate at the 2010 election as she lost pre-selection for the seat.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Parke, Melissa", "Entry ID": "AWE4151", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/parke-melissa\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Melissa Parke was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as the Member for Fremantle, Western Australia, in 2007. She unsuccessfully contested the state seat of Mitchell at the 1996 election. Before entering the federal parliament she served as a lawyer with the United Nations from 1999 until 2007. She was re-elected in 2010 and 2013 but retired prior to the 2016 general elections.\nA complete record of her parliamentary service, including a link to her first speech, can be found in the Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia (see below).\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/parke-the-hon-melissa\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Newman, Jocelyn Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE4166", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/newman-jocelyn-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Berry, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Farmer, Hotelier, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor, Volunteer", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Jocelyn Newman served as a Senator for Tasmania in the Senate of the Australian Parliament from 1986 until 2002, when she resigned. She held the Ministerial portfolios in the Howard Government of Social Security from 1996-98; Family and Community Services from 1998-2001. She held the portfolio of Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women for two separate periods, from 1996-97 and from 1998-2001.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-in-politics-voices-from-the-commonwealth\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/so-many-firsts-liberal-women-from-enid-lyons-to-the-turnbull-era\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-jocelyn-margaret-newman-politician-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-jocelyn-newman-1975-2000-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jocelyn-newman-interviewed-by-norman-abjorensen-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-jocelyn-and-kevin-newman-1975-2001-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/subject-files-compiled-in-the-course-of-parliamentary-duties\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-senator-jocelyn-newman\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Payne, Marise Ann", "Entry ID": "AWE4177", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/payne-marise-ann\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Advisor, Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Marise Payne was appointed to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia, representing the state of New South Wales, in 1997. She was elected in 2001 and re-elected in 2007. She held various Shadow portfolios from December 2007 until September 2013, was Minister for Human Services (2013-15) and appointed Minister for Defence in September 2015.\n", "Details": "\"After growing up in Sydney and the NSW Southern Highlands, Marise Payne went on to complete her education at MLC School, Burwood and her Bachelor of Arts and Laws at the University of NSW.\nA member of the Liberal Party since 1982, Marise was the National Young Liberal Movement's first female President. She also served on the NSW Liberal State Executive for 10 years and at branch and electorate levels.\nHaving served as a political adviser to some of the most significant figures in Liberal politics of their time, Marise went on to a career as a public affairs adviser in the finance industry.\nIn 1997 Marise filled a casual vacancy to represent the people of New South Wales in the Australian Senate, making her inaugural speech on 2 September 1997. She was then elected in 2001, 2007 and 2013.\"\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-marise-payne-politician-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kirk, Linda Jean", "Entry ID": "AWE4178", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kirk-linda-jean\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Industrial officer, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor, University teacher", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Linda Kirk was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia representing South Australia in 2001. She served for one term only as she lost Party pre-selection for the 2007 federal election. She held the position of Deputy Opposition Leader in the Senate from July 2005 until February 2008. She retired from the Senate in June 2008. Before entering parliament, she served as a councillor on the Adelaide City Council from 1998-2000.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wong, Penny", "Entry ID": "AWE4188", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wong-penny\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Industrial officer, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Senator, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Penny Wong was elected as a Senator for South Australia in the Senate of the Australian Parliament in 2001. She was re-elected in 2007 and held the Ministerial portfolio of Climate Change and Water from December 2007 until August 2010. She held the portfolio of Finance and Deregulation from 2010. Wong was re-elected in 2013, and elected Leader of the Government in the Senate. Since the change of government in 2013, she has been Leader of the Opposition in the Senate - 'the first woman to hold both of these roles'.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Fierravanti-Wells, Concetta (Connie) Anna", "Entry ID": "AWE4189", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fierravanti-wells-concetta-connie-anna\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Policy adviser", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Connie Fierravanti-Wells was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia representing New South Wales in 2004. She was re-elected in 2010 and 2016, and retired at the expiration of her term in 2022.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cash, Michaelia Clare", "Entry ID": "AWE4206", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cash-michaelia-clare\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia since 1988, Michaelia Cash was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia as a Senator for Western Australia at the federal election held on 24 November 2007.\nCash was re-elected in 2013 and appointed a Minister in the new Liberal National Party government led by Tony Abbott. She holds the positions of Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women and Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.\nA solicitor by profession, prior to her election to the Senate Cash worked at the law firm Freehills between 1999 and 2008. Her father, George Cash, served as a Liberal MP and MLC in the Western Australian state government for many years.\n", "Events": "Elected to Federal Parliament (2007 - 2007) \nRe-elected to Federal Parliament (2013 - 2013) \nAppointed Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Women (2013 - 2013)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bryce, Quentin", "Entry ID": "AWE4213", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bryce-quentin\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Governor, Governor-General, Lawyer", "Summary": "On the September 5, 2008, Quentin Bryce assumed the office of Governor-General of Australia, the twenty-fifth person to hold the office, but the first woman.\nThe appointment was the latest in a long line of 'firsts' for Bryce. A graduate from the University of Queensland with degrees in arts and law, she was one of the first Queensland women to be admitted to the Queensland Bar. In 1968 she became the first woman to be a faculty member of the Law school where she had studied. In 1984 she was appointed inaugural Director of the Queensland Women's Information Service, Office of the Status of Women, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. In the period 1993 to 1996, she was founding Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the National Childcare Accreditation Council. In 2003, she became the second woman to be appointed to the position of Governor of Queensland. She has also served as Queensland director of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. In 1989 she became the Sex Discrimination Commissioner on the commission. And she was one of the first women to serve on the National Women's Advisory Council, established by the commonwealth government in 1978.\nFrom country stock, raised in a series of small towns scattered around central-west Queensland, Bryce was home schooled by her mother before being packed off to board at Brisbane's Moreton Bay College, attending the University of Queensland subsequently. At university she reacquainted herself with an architecture student, Michael Bryce, whom she had first met as a nine-year- old. They started dating and married in 1964. They now have two daughters, three sons and five grandchildren.\nOf his decision to recommend Quentin Bryce to the role of Governor-General, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008 said:\nIt's obvious that we needed to have a governor-general for Australia who captures the spirit of modern Australia, and the spirit of modern Australia is many things. Giving proper voice to people from the bush and the regions, giving proper voice to the rights of women, giving proper voice to the proper place of women in modern Australia and proper place to someone committed to the lives of, improving the lives for Indigenous Australians. These are all considerations in shaping my recommendation to her Majesty the Queen.\nOf her own appointment as Governor-General, Quentin Bryce has remarked:\nI grew up in a little bush town in Queensland of 200 people and what this day says to Australian women and to Australian girls is that you can do anything, you can be anything, and it makes my heart sing to see women in so many diverse roles across our country and Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/exclusive-interview-with-quentin-bryce\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/to-the-manor-born\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/polished-trailblazer\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/quentin-bryce-to-become-nations-first-woman-g-g\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/on-the-occasion-of-the-fifth-anniversary-of-the-federal-sex-discrimination-act-1984-an-address-to-the-national-status-of-women-committee-by-quentin-bryce\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/from-lady-denman-to-katy-gallagher-a-century-of-womens-contributions-to-canberra\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-the-hon-quentin-bryce\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-quentin-bryce-chairman-of-the-womens-advisory-council-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/speeches-by-staff-members-single-number-series\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pat-richardson-scrapbooks-relating-to-the-womens-electoral-lobby-and-womens-events-1977-2002\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Lavarch, Linda Denise", "Entry ID": "AWE4235", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lavarch-linda-denise\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Attorney General, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "Linda Lavarch was the first female lawyer elected to the Parliament of Queensland, Australia. In July 2005 she was appointed Minister for Justice and Attorney-General - the first woman to be Attorney-General in Queensland. As Attorney-General she oversaw the introduction of permanent drug courts in Queensland and the creation of the offence of identity theft. Retiring from state politics in 2009, Lavarch became involved in medical research and the not-for-profit sector, chairing the Not-For-Profit Sector Reform Council. Lavarch stood as the Labor candidate for the Queensland seat of Dickson in the 2016 Australian federal election.\nLinda Lavarch was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Linda Lavarch was born in 1958 in Brisbane, Queensland. After completing her secondary schooling at Miami High School on the Gold Coast, she attended Queensland University of Technology where she obtained a Bachelor of Laws. She has credited the Whitlam Government reforms which abolished up-front university fees and introduced a living allowance for students with giving her the opportunity to receive a tertiary education [JSchool]. Lavarch's political awareness developed early; she joined the Australian Labor Party in 1982 and while at university was involved in protests against the Bjelke-Petersen government [JSchool]. In 1984 she married her (now former) husband Michael Lavarch, who become Federal Attorney-General in the Keating Government (1993-1996). Together they have two children.\nAfter graduating, Lavarch practised as a solicitor in Strathpine, Caboolture and Redcliffe; she also volunteered at the Petrie Community Legal Centre (now the Pine Rivers Community Legal Service) [Linda Lavarch]. In the early 1990s she worked with Legal Aid, chairing family conferences and working to resolve family disputes. In 1993, Lavarch became advisor to State Attorney-General Dean Wells on Legal Aid and Community Legal Centres [Proctor]. She entered state politics in 1997 as the successful Labor candidate for the seat of Kurwongbah. In doing so, she became the first female lawyer elected to the Queensland Parliament. From 2001 to 2004 Lavarch was chair of the Fishing Industry Development Council and deputy chair of the Small Business Advisory Council.\nLavarch was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for State Development and Innovation in 2004; in 2005 she served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Energy and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy. In July 2005 Lavarch was also appointed Minister for Justice and Attorney-General - the first woman to be Attorney-General in Queensland. She would also assume responsibility for the portfolio of Minister for Women. Coincidentally, Lavarch became Attorney-General in the year marking the centenary of the Legal Practitioners Act 1905, which allowed women to practise as barristers and solicitors in Queensland for the first time [Proctor].\nUpon her appointment as Attorney-General, Lavarch noted about herself that she possessed \"a strong interest in ensuring public confidence in our legal system, and also in enhancing access to justice\" [Cole]. As Attorney-General, Lavarch concentrated on community justice initiatives and the treatment of vulnerable people in the criminal justice system. She was responsible for the establishment of permanent drug courts in Queensland and for creating the specific offence of identity theft [FindLaw; Innisfail Advocate]. Suffering ill-health, Lavarch resigned as Attorney-General in 2006.\nRemaining a backbencher in the Queensland Parliament, Lavarch turned her attentions to medical research and sporting initiatives. From 2007 to 2009 she was Director of the Princess Alexandra Foundation, assisting in raising funds and awarding research grants to support scientists whose budding work has directly led to break-throughs in the areas of transplantation, cancer, diabetes, melanoma and Parkinson's disease. In 2007 Lavarch was the Director of Hockey Queensland, chaired the Legal, Planning and Facilities Committee, and also headed the Hockey Judiciary [Company Directors].\nLavarch retired from state politics in 2009 and returned to private practice as a solicitor at Michael Hefford Solicitors. In 2010 Lavarch was appointed a Research Fellow with the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Non-profit Studies at Queensland University of Technology; here she was involved in developing model laws for the legal structures of, and activities undertaken by, charities and non-profit organisations. In 2014 she was appointed a Member of the Advisory Board [Pro Bono].\nLavarch's involvement in the not-for-profit sector continued between 2010 and 2013, and included a role as chair of the Coast2Bay Housing Company, which provides affordable housing on the Sunshine Coast and in the Moreton Bay region of Queensland. She was Chair of the Not-For-Profit (NFP) Sector Reform Council, established by the Federal Government in 2010 to provide high-level sector advice on proposed reforms to improve the regulatory environment for the NFP sector in Australia. In 2012 Lavarch chaired and delivered a final report for the Not-For-Profit Tax Concessions Working Group, established to consider ideas for better delivery of the support provided through tax concessions to the NFP sector [Sydney Morning Herald].\nLavarch is currently the Director of Member & Specialist Services for the Queensland Nurses Union, a position she has held since January 2015. She is also Deputy Chair and a Director of the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation. She stood as the Labor candidate for the Queensland seat of Dickson in the Australian federal election held on 2 July 2016 [Linda Lavarch].\nAcross legal, parliamentary and board roles, Lavarch has promoted and contributed to access to justice, medical research and reforms to maximise the impact of the philanthropic sector in Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/elizabeth-hamilton-hart\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/matter-of-privilege-referred-by-the-speaker-on-9-october-2008-relating-to-an-alleged-deliberate-misleading-of-the-house-by-a-member\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/linda-lavarch-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Palaszczuk, Annastacia", "Entry ID": "AWE4272", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/palaszczuk-annastacia\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Political advisor", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Annastacia Palaszczuk was elected to the Parliament of Queensland as the Member for Inala in 2006. She was a minister in the Bligh government, and was elected Leader of the Opposition in March 2012 after the landslide defeat of the Labor Government. After the collapse of the Liberal National Party Government at the 2015 election she became Premier and led the Government for nearly nine years. She resigned as Premier on 15 December 2023 and resigned from Parliament on 31 December that year.\n", "Details": "Annastacia Palaszczuk was born on 25 July 1969, in Brisbane, Queensland. She grew up in the Brisbane suburb of Durack and attended Jaboree Heights State School and St Mary's Catholic College, Ipswich. She graduated from the University of Queensland with degrees in Arts and Law and completed a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the Australian National University. She followed that up with a British Council Chevening academic scholarship at London University in 1996.\nIn 2006 she was admitted to practise as a lawyer two weeks after she was elected to the Queensland Parliament, having made the decision to embark on a parliamentary career to make the laws rather than interpret them. She followed her father, Henry Palaszczuk, into politics by standing for the seat of Inala on his retirement and was re-elected at each election from 2009 to 2020. Having been Leader of the Opposition since March 2012 in January 2015 Annastacia Palaszczuk led the Labor Party to an unexpected victory, becoming the first woman to take a party from opposition into government when she became Premier on 14 February 2015 and she led the first majority female cabinet in Australian federal and state and history. She resigned as Premier in December 2023 and from Parliament later that month. A complete record of her parliamentary service, including a link to her first speech, can be found on the Queensland Parliament site (see link below).\nBefore entering politics, Palaszczuk worked as a part-time sales assistant, a tutor with the Aboriginal and Island Students Service at the University of Queensland, a tutor at the Australian National University, and as an advisor to federal and state members of parliament and ministers. After leaving parliament she was appointed to the Board of Australia Post in August 2024, and from May 2025 has been an Adjunct Professor in the School of Political Science International Studies at the the University of Queensland. In October 2025 Palaszczuk was elected to the Senate of that university.\nIn the 2026 Australia Day Honours she was appointed as Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) 'for eminent service to the people and Parliament of Queensland, particularly as Premier, to educational equity, to multiculturalism, and to public health.'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/annastacia-palaszczuk-queenslands-accidental-premier\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/annastacia-palaszczuk-wikipedia-entry\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-honourable-annastacia-palaszczuk-mp-official-correspondence-2013\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/palaszczuk-annastacia-correspondence-2018-2019-2020\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ministerial-diaries-of-annastacia-palaszczuk-mp\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Goodwin, Vanessa", "Entry ID": "AWE4340", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/goodwin-vanessa\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Hobart, Tasmania, Australia", "Occupations": "Attorney General, Criminologist, Lawyer, Politician", "Summary": "Vanessa Goodwin is the Tasmanian Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Minister for Corrections, Minister for the Arts and Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council. She was elected to the Legislative Council as the Member for Pembroke in August 2009 and was the Shadow Attorney General and Shadow Minister for Corrections from September 2009 until the State Election in March 2014, after which she was appointed to her current roles.\n", "Details": "Vanessa Goodwin was born in Hobart in 1969, the only child of Edyth and Grant Goodwin. She attended St Michael's Collegiate School and then completed an Arts\/Law degree at the University of Tasmania, followed by the Legal Practice Course. She spent two years as a Judge's Associate to then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania, the Honourable Sir Guy Green AC KBE CVO, before being admitted as a legal practitioner in 1995.\nAfter working briefly for the Tasmanian Branch of the Australian Hotels Association, Goodwin worked full-time in the family boarding kennel and cattery business while her mother was undergoing treatment for cancer. In January 1996 she was employed as the research assistant to then Governor, Sir Guy Green and continued in that role until September 1996 when she commenced her Master of Philosophy (Criminology) at the University of Cambridge.\nAfter successfully completing her Masters in Criminology, Goodwin returned to Tasmania and commenced working within the Department of Police and Emergency Management (DPEM), where she remained until her election to Parliament in 2009. During this period, Goodwin completed her PhD, Residential Burglary and Repeat Victimisation in Tasmania, through the University of Tasmania. As part of her research, she conducted interviews with 60 imprisoned burglars, with the findings from her interviews attracting national media interest.\nGoodwin played a key role in the development and implementation of the U-Turn program in Tasmania. This program targeted young people aged 15-20 who were at risk of, or involved in, motor vehicle theft. The core of the program was a 10-week automotive training course, with case management to address risk factors and a focus on literacy and numeracy support. The program was delivered by Mission Australia, under contract to DPEM, and based on a best practice model developed by the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council.\nIn addition to her work managing crime prevention projects and developing policy advice at DPEM, Goodwin conducted post-doctoral research on intergenerational crime through the Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies. The criminal histories of six extended families over at least three generations were examined to determine the extent to which crime was concentrated in these families and to explore the linkages with other problem behaviours, including child abuse and neglect. Goodwin collaborated with the Australian Institute of Criminology to explore the role of gender in the intergenerational transfer of criminality within the families.\nGoodwin has a strong interest in sentencing and prison reform. She is pursuing legislative reforms in relation to sex offender sentencing, family violence, alternative sentencing options and to update Tasmania's dangerous criminal provisions. She has also committed to the establishment of a Tasmanian Custodial Inspectorate.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Le, Tan", "Entry ID": "AWE4341", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/le-tan\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Community worker, Company director, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Mai Ho arrived in Australia in December 1982 with two small daughters and sixteen dollars. By 1997 she was Mayor of Maribyrnong. Twelve months later her daughter, Tan Le, was voted Young Australian of the Year.\n", "Details": "Raised in Saigon's District 5 at the outbreak of the Vietnam War, Mai's childhood was characterised by constant threats to safety in the midst of tremendous political unrest. Mai was strongly influenced by her anti-communist father, who published a controversial bilingual political magazine for American and Vietnamese soldiers. He encouraged her to understand and help others, and urged her to consider the possibility of escape from Vietnam.\nAged sixteen, Mai married a wealthy pharmacist eighteen years her senior. By 1981 she was preparing to escape Vietnam by boat. In early morning darkness, she left with her daughters Tan and Min, her mother, sister and brother, and 161 fellow passengers. Her husband was to join her a fortnight later. An indescribably awful journey ended with rescue by an English vessel and transport to a Malaysian camp. Here Mai worked as a translator before gaining passage with her family to Australia.\nHoused in the Midway Hostel, Maribyrnong, Mai began work picking fruit to support her family. Her husband, she learned, did not intend to join her after all. The family moved to Footscray, where sheer persistence obtained for Mai a position in Quality Control for the Holden factory. She was the first female inspector at Fishermen's Bend, Port Melbourne, where she earned more than the Vietnamese men working on the factory line. While raising two children and working full time, Mai took on and completed a Bachelor of Arts (human resource management) and tertiary qualifications in computer operations and health science (beauty therapy). In 1987 she opened her own computer business and prospered. By 1990 she felt secure enough to open her own beauty salon.\nMeanwhile, conscious of the struggles of those in her position, Mai set up a Vietnamese community support service. With her own savings she co-financed a venue, electricity and a telephone. At the age of twelve, her eldest daughter Tan was manning the telephone and helping people to fill out government forms. By 1992, Mai decided to stand for the local election. With strong support, she was defeated due to hundreds of uncounted informal votes. The following year she joined the Labor Party, and this time was victorious. She returned to her country of birth in 1995 with the Australian Consultative Delegation to Vietnam, the first delegation to investigate human rights there. By 1997 Mai Ho was Mayor of Maribyrnong.\nThe same twelve-year-old Tan who was answering the telephone would become president of the Australian Vietnamese Services Resource Centre (as it is now known) by the age of eighteen. In this role she implemented counselling, training and employment programs, and refuge services for Vietnamese women. Despite some racist ridicule at school, Tan had maintained outstanding academic results and graduated to university at the age of sixteen. Awarded a KPMG Accounting Scholarship in 1997, she went on to complete a combined Bachelor of Commerce\/Laws at Monash University in 1998 and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor two years later.\nIn 1998, Tan's contribution to community service was recognised nationally and internationally when she was awarded Young Australian of the Year.\nIn 2000 she co-founded a wireless technology company, SASme. The company has grown to become a leading wireless technology provider in Australia, with branches in Asia and Europe. Still young, Tan's has already been a distinguished career with appointments on the Australian Citizenship Council and the National Committee for Human Rights Education in Australia; as Ambassador for the Status of Women and Ambassador for Aboriginal Reconciliation; and as Patron of the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development Program. Her strong public profile and breadth of experience mean she is frequently called upon for public speaking engagements.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Carney, Jodeen Terese", "Entry ID": "AWE4381", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/carney-jodeen-terese\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Country Liberal Party, Jodeen Carney was elected to the Northern Territory Assembly representing the electorate of Araluen in 2001. She was re-elected in 2005 and 2008. She held the position of Leader of the Opposition from 2005 until 2008.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/carneys-chronicle\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mahlab, Eve", "Entry ID": "AWE4421", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mahlab-eve\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Vienna, Austria", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Lawyer, Philanthropist, Women's rights activist", "Summary": "A lawyer by training, Eve Mahlab is a successful businesswoman who has worked to improve the lives of women in Australia. A member of the Co-ordinating committee of the Women's Electoral Lobby in Victoria from 1972-1976, and again after 1980, she was a member of the Victorian Government Committee of Inquiry into the Status of Women from 1975-76. She was an active member of the Liberal Party, having stood for pre-selection unsuccessfully on a number of occasions. She was named Businesswoman of the Year in 1982 and in 1998 was awarded an Order of Australia in the Officer category for 'service to government, business and the community, particularly to women'. In 2001 she was awarded a Centenary Medal 'for service to the community through business and commerce'.\nEve Mahlab was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-feminism-a-companion\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/making-women-count-a-history-of-the-womens-electoral-lobby-in-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/eve-mahlab-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-pilot-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-eve-mahlab-businesswoman-and-director-of-westpac-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-eve-mahlab-1951-2010-bulk-1972-2010-manuscript\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Scutt, Jocelynne Annette", "Entry ID": "AWE4429", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/scutt-jocelynne-annette\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Activist, Barrister, Lawyer, Writer", "Summary": "Jocelynne Scutt has worked consistently in her capacity as lawyer, activist and writer to improve the lives of women generally and by changing the laws on rape and domestic violence. She founded the feminist publisher, Artemis and was a member of the Women's Electoral Lobby in both Canberra and Sydney.\nA graduate in law from the University of Western Australia in 1969, Scutt undertook postgraduate studies in law at the University of Sydney, Southern Methodist University and the University of Michigan in the United States, and Cambridge University in England. She has worked with the Australian Institute of Criminology and as director of research with the Legal and Constitutional Committee of the parliament of Victoria. From 1981-82 she worked at the Sydney Bar and then was Deputy Chairperson of the Law Reform Commission, Victoria. In 1986 she returned to private practice in Melbourne. She served as the first Anti-Discrimination Commissioner of Tasmania from 1999-2004. In 2007 she accepted a judicial post on the Fiji High Court.\nScutt is a member of the UN Committee Against Trafficking, a International Alliance of Women (IAW) representative on International Criminal Court Coalition (ICC Coalition) and a board member of the Women's History Network in the United Kingdom. She was called to the English Bar in 2014.\nJocelynne Scutt was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "An essay detailing Jocelynne Scutt's career is in development.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-feminism-a-companion\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/breaking-through-women-work-and-careers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/as-a-woman-writing-womens-lives\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/glorious-age-growing-older-gloriously\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/different-lives\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rape-law-reform\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/womens-voices-womens-lives\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/living-generously-women-mentoring-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jocelynne-scutt-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-jocelynne-scutt-1982-2010-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-jocelynne-scutt-lawyer-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Walpole, Susan", "Entry ID": "AWE4431", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/walpole-susan\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "Sue Walpole was appointed the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 1993, becoming well-known in the role. She assisted with education campaigns which were designed to make the Sex Discrimination Act more accessible and available to women. She held the position until 1997.\n", "Details": "Sue Walpole completed her tertiary education in New South Wales. She qualified in Law and Jurisprudence at the University of New South Wales in 1977 and in 1987 completed a Diploma in Media Management at Macquarie University's Graduate School of Management.\nShe has worked in Industrial Relations as a national industrial officer with the Administrative and Clerical Officers Association. In 1985 she was employed as a Commonwealth public servant before accepting a position with the Australian Broadcasting Commission as Federal Head of Human Resources for Television.\nOn completion of her role as Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 1997, in 1999 she took on the position of Manager of the Industry Fund and Business Development at SuperPartners. In 2002 she held the position of Chief Executive Officer of the Legal Practice Board of Victoria and in 2006 she was appointed General Counsel and Company Secretary at UniSuper. At the same time she was a member of several boards including the Nurses Board of Victoria, Westernport Water Board, Victoria Legal Aid, Zena Women's Services and VicForests. She is currently a Member of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/federal-sex-discrimination-act\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/from-lady-denman-to-katy-gallagher-a-century-of-womens-contributions-to-canberra\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-sue-walpole-lawyer-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Archer, Elise Nicole", "Entry ID": "AWE4515", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/archer-elise-nicole\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Launceston, Tasmania, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Elise Archer was elected as a Member for Denison in the House of Assembly at the Tasmanian state election, which was held in March 2010. She served as an Alderman on the Hobart City Council from October 2007 until April 2010.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Burke, Shirley Olga", "Entry ID": "AWE4520", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/burke-shirley-olga\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Warragul, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Parkdale?, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Local government councillor, Mayor, Solicitor", "Summary": "Shirley Burke was elected to the Mordialloc City Council in 1958, representing the Ward of Parkdale. She served as its mayor from 1961-62 and resigned from Council in 1964. The Shirley Burke Theatre in Parkdale is named in her honour.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-in-australian-parliaments-and-local-governments-past-and-present-a-survey\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/shirley-olga-burke-solicitor-and-councillor\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Waters, Larissa", "Entry ID": "AWE4582", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/waters-larissa\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "A member of the Greens Party, Larissa Waters was elected to the Senate of the Australian Parliament representing the state of Queensland at the federal election, which was held on 21 August 2010. She took her seat in the Senate on 1 July 2011.\nShe became Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Australian Greens on 15 May 2025.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mills-mines-and-other-controversies-the-environmental-assessment-of-major-projects\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wright, Penelope (Penny) Lesley", "Entry ID": "AWE4583", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wright-penelope-penny-lesley\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Red Cliffs, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Environmentalist, Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Penny Wright, a member of the Australian Greens party, was elected to the Senate of the Parliament of Australia representing the state of South Australia. She took her seat in the Senate on 1 July 2011, resigning on 10 September 2015.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "O'Dwyer, Kelly Megan", "Entry ID": "AWE4585", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/odwyer-kelly-megan\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Box Hill, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Political advisor", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, Kelly O'Dwyer was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament at a by-election for the electorate of Higgins, Victoria, which was held on 5 December 2009, on the retirement of Peter Costello, former Treasurer in the Howard Government. She was re-elected at the election, which was held on 21 August 2010 and again in 2013, when the Liberal Party, in coalition with the National Party, won government. She was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer from December 2014 to September 2015, when she became Minister for Small Business and Assistant Treasurer.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Smyth, Laura", "Entry ID": "AWE4600", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/smyth-laura\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Laura Smyth was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as Member for La Trobe, Victoria at the federal election, which was held on 21 August 2010.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rowland, Michelle Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE4601", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rowland-michelle-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Blacktown, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Michelle Rowland was elected to the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament as Member for Greenway, New South Wales at the federal election, which was held on 21 August 2010. Before her election to the federal Parliament, she had served as a local government councillor and deputy mayor of Blacktown from 2004-2008.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hennessy, Jill", "Entry ID": "AWE4729", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hennessy-jill\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Jill Hennessy was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria representing the electorate of Altona at a by-election, which was held on 2 February 2010. She replaced Lynne Kosky, who resigned from the parliament. She was re-elected at the state election, which was held on 27 November 2010 and again in 2014 when the Labor Party regained power. She currently holds the ministerial portfolios of Health and Ambulance Services.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Heenan, Joan Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE4799", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/heenan-joan-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Fremantle, Australia", "Death Place": "Perth, Australia", "Occupations": "Electoral campaign manager, Lawyer", "Summary": "Joan Heenan studied law in Western Australia in the 1930s, moving to Kalgoorlie after her marriage in 1937. She was a partner in the Heenan and Heenan law firm, and was the only permanent lawyer in Kalgoorlie during the war years. She is particularly remembered for her assistance to Italian internees during this period.\n", "Details": "Joan Heenan was born in Fremantle in 1910 to Jessie Grace Townsend, a nurse, and Ezekial Benoni McKenna, an accountant for Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR). Joan's maternal grandfather was Mayor of Bulong and her paternal grandfather a police inspector in Kalgoorlie, so she had familial links to the goldfields. Jessie McKenna volunteered to return to nursing in Fremantle during WWI, setting up the 8th AGH, for the wounded from Gallipoli, so Joan spent time being cared for by her paternal grandparents.\nShe completed her schooling at Sacred Heart Convent in Highgate, where the nuns encouraged their pupil's ambitions. As Joan recalled in an interview in 1989 the idea was '\u2026if you had ability\u2026you should use it'.\nShe studied Arts at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 1927 and after graduation in 1930 worked as a primary school teacher. After experiencing teaching and deciding it was not for her, she enrolled to study Law at UWA in 1931, completing articles with O'Dea and O'Dea, staying with the firm until December 1936. Some firms in Perth would not engage women lawyers, so it was not easy to find a firm at which was willing to allow a woman complete articles. Despite the Depression there was plenty of work at O'Dea and O'Dea, who were at that time acting for prominent goldfields identity Claude de Bernales.\nJoan married Eric Heenan on 14 January 1937 and moved to Kalgoorlie. Eric had already been elected as Labor MLC for the North East province in 1936, taking in areas of what were then the Kalgoorlie and Murchison gold mining districts. Joan moved immediately into the '\u2026midst of a very busy legal practice' at Heenan and Heenan Law firm in Kalgoorlie as well as being closely involved in his electoral campaigns. She assisted her husband in court and carried out other legal work in the office. When war was declared, many men enlisted and Joan remained the only permanent lawyer in Kalgoorlie.\nWork in Kalgoorlie, which she described as a 'man's town', was a formative experience for her. Joan's clients were the workingmen and women of Kalgoorlie, and she is particularly remembered for her assistance to Italian internees during WWII. Although elections were postponed during the war she remained involved in the electorate and she encouraged her clients and local residents to enrol to vote.\nA son Eric was born in 1945. After his birth, Joan worked spasmodically at the Kalgoorlie offices and in 1950 the family moved to Perth, '\u2026Kalgoorlie was no place for a woman', and for her son's education. She purchased new practice premises in 70 St Georges Terrace and with her husband's encouragement, set up EM Heenan & Co, in Perth and also became the agent for the Kalgoorlie firm Heenan, Hartrey & Co. Eric continued to travel and work in the Parliament in Perth and in his Kalgoorlie electorate and legal practice. He left politics in 1968 but continued to practice law.\nIn 1983 the family practice merged with Northmore Hale Davey and Lake and Joan continued to practice law until her retirement in 1991.\nShe died in Perth January 2002.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/karlkurla-gold-a-history-of-the-women-of-kalgoorlie-boulder\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-with-joan-heenan-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Burton, Pamela Melrose", "Entry ID": "AWE4850", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/burton-pamela-melrose\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia", "Occupations": "Author, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Pamela Burton, lawyer and author, was born and brought up in Canberra. Apart from working holidays in London in 1964 and 1970, Pamela has lived her life in the Canberra and the Bungendore district. After studying law at the Australian National University she worked on a range of cases involving environmental and social justice issues and has been involved in various government tribunals and committees. She was one of the first women to establish a legal firm in Canberra, following Mrs Bruna Romano and Margaret Elizabeth Reid. In 2010 Burton's biography of the first woman high court justice, Mary Gaudron, was published.\nPamela Burton was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia catalogue record.\n", "Details": "Pamela Melrose Burton was born in Canberra on 30 June 1946, the third and youngest daughter of Cecily Margaret Wear (born Nixon, later Parker) (1916-2007), psychologist and John Wear Burton (1915-2010), Head of the Department of External Affairs (1947-1950).\nAlong with her older sisters Meredith (1941-) and Clare (1942-1998), Pamela grew up on farms at Tuggeranong and in the old Weetangera district. She attended Telopea Park Primary and High School, initially travelling there and back on dirt roads in old Commer van buses run by the federal government.\nThe Burton family lived a strong Methodist ethic extending back to the days of John Wesley himself through Pamela's paternal grandfather, Methodist Minister and President of the Methodist Conference (from 1931), Rev. John Wear Burton (1875-1970). Pamela and her sisters were involved in National Methodist Church (now Wesley Uniting Church, Forrest) through their teens, for the ethos and community rather than dogma or religiosity. Family life was imbued with a strong sense of social justice and respect for all people regardless of social status. The farm often buzzed with guests from Canberra's political and academic community with lively political conversation and enjoyment of John Burton's home-brewed beer.\nAs an Australian National University (ANU) student, Pamela worked summers in Papua New Guinea. As a law student, she assisted on the magistrates' training course. One the course's first students later became prime minister of Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Somare.\nWhile working in Papua New Guinea Pamela fell in love with geographer Dan Coward (now Huon). They married in Canberra in 1968 and Pamela used the name Coward for the next decade.\nPamela Coward graduated BA (1968), Bachelor of Laws (Hons.) (1970) and Master of Laws (1976) from the Australian National University and commenced practice as an employed solicitor in 1971.\nIn 1973-74 Pamela acted for the group that, on ecological and aesthetic grounds, challenged the Federal Government's right to construct a telecommunications tower on Black Mountain near central Canberra. The High Court found in favour of the government and construction went ahead however the case made legal history as the first environmental law case of its kind to be launched on a 'class-actions' basis on behalf of the local community. She played a major role in implementing the Cooperative Housing Initiative for quality affordable community housing in Canberra out of which 'Urambi' the first cooperative housing development was born.\nFaced with barriers to women becoming partners in legal firms, in 1976 Pamela founded her own firm, Pamela Coward & Associates. She was keen to provide more accessible legal advice for the vulnerable and financially challenged members of the Canberra community. As a woman, she was unable to borrow money so Pamela and her then husband, Dan Coward, mortgaged their family home to establish the firm. Encouraged and assisted by Dan, she aimed to create a legal practice that was people-focussed. She established a warm, welcoming atmosphere aided by Dan's bright paintings and a policy that there would be no desks or barriers during interviews between client and lawyer. It was important to her that the practice was egalitarian; she shared the care for the joeys she brought into work from her farm with the young woman who was the office 'gopher'.\nTwo men and a woman joined Pamela in partnership; solicitor Adrienne O'Connor becoming the first female partner engaged as a principal of a Canberra law firm.\nWord rapidly spread around Canberra that Pamela Coward & Associates was willing to act for people on legal aid, social security recipients, injured workers, the disadvantaged, victims of discrimination and environmental groups; the firm grew rapidly and taking on a 'no-win no-fee approach, forced test cases in matters such as passive smoking and repetitive strain injuries. The firm developed a large practice in workers' compensation and family law.\nIn order to be in a position to offer affordable services Pamela computerised her firm to provide the necessary efficiencies; Pamela Coward and Associates became one of Australia's first fully computerised law firms. Her commitment to low-cost conveyancing led to public clashes with other firms before the Canberra legal profession abandoned its minimum fee scales and moved ACT legal firms into a competitive era which benefited clients.\nYears later, Pamela met a business studies lecturer from the University of Canberra who told her that they used Pamela Coward & Associates as a case study for a successful alternative business model. Pamela said she was dumbfounded: \"I didn't think in business models - I just wanted to bring law to the people, make it more accessible and affordable.\"\nIn the late 1970s Pamela Burton and Dan Coward adopted sisters Amanda and Cassandra Rowland, aged 6 and 7, whose parents had died. Pamela and Dan now enjoy three grandchildren.\nPamela's marriage to Dan Coward ended in the early 1980s and she lived with Canberra journalist Alan Ramsey for close to a decade. In 1986 Pamela was diagnosed with advanced secondary breast cancer. Wishing to see Pamela Coward & Associates continue to thrive she worked right through 18 months of radiation and chemotherapy treatment, celebrating the end of treatment with 10 days on a Greek Island with her sister Meredith and niece.\nPamela sold Pamela Coward & Associates in 1990 to practise as a barrister of the ACT Supreme Court. Two significant accidents had followed her cancer treatment which saw her going to the Bar on crutches. As a barrister she specialised in litigation, acting for both plaintiffs and defendants, and some large medical negligence cases on behalf of the ACT Government and its medical professionals.\nPamela's concern for achieving better and fairer outcomes in citizen-government disputes led her to accept part-time appointments to a range of government tribunals and committees. Appointments included the role of Chair of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal in its first ten years of existence from 1976, Senior Member of the Federal Administrative Appeals Tribunal from 1995 and member of the ACT Parole Board from 1991-2001. Since 2006 Pamela has been an ACT Mental Health Official Visitor.\nFrom 2000, Pamela spent five years as legal counsel for the national Australian Medical Association assisting in the resolution of the medical indemnity crisis and rolling out an education program on the new privacy laws for medical practitioners.\nFrom Moree to Mabo: the Mary Gaudron story, Pamela's biography of Australia's first woman High Court Justice Mary Gaudron, was published in 2010 by UWA Publishing. In November 2012 The Waterlow Killings: A Portrait of a Family Tragedy, was published. It is the true story of the tragic death of art curator, Nick Waterlow and his daughter Chloe Waterlow. In April 2016 Pamela's novel A Foreign Affair was published by Ginninderra Press.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-waterlow-killings-a-portrait-of-a-family-tragedy\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/from-moree-to-mabo-the-mary-gaudron-story\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/deviant\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/environmental-law-in-sydney-the-law-relating-to-pollution-control-and-waste-management-in-the-sydney-metropolitan-region-1970-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-law-and-the-citizen\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-battle-of-black-mountain-an-episode-of-canberras-environmental-history\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pamela-burton\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pamela-burton-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/burton-was-a-patriotic-public-servant-not-a-traitor\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pamela-burtons-defence-of-her-father\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rev-j-w-burton-new-methodist-president\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-power-of-sisterhood\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/from-lady-denman-to-katy-gallagher-a-century-of-womens-contributions-to-canberra\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pamela-burton-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-pam-burton-lawyer-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Doogan, Maria Krystyna", "Entry ID": "AWE4851", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/doogan-maria-krystyna\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Coroner, Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Born in Germany in 1947 to Polish parents who had been forced by the Nazis into farm labour in Germany during World War 2, Maria Doogan came to Australia with her parents in 1950 under the International Refugee Organisation's Displaced Persons scheme. In 1998 she became the first person to be appointed to the ACT Magistracy from a non-English speaking background. Maria Doogan is best known by Canberrans for her role as Coroner in the controversial Coronial Inquiry into the catastrophic 2003 Canberra bushfires.\n", "Details": "Maria Doogan was born Miroslawa Krystyna Kowal on 27 October 1947 in a Displaced Persons Camp in Frille, near Minden, Germany. Her parents, Stefan Kowal (1923-1997) and Wiktoria Kucharska (1915-1973), had been forcibly removed from Poland to Germany during World War 2 to work as farm labourers. They met and married in Germany and at the end of the war, they became part of the Displaced Persons scheme established by the International Refugee Organisation (IRO) for people who were unable or unwilling to return to home countries occupied by the USSR army. In 1947 the Australian Commonwealth entered into an agreement with the IRO for the resettlement of European Displaced Persons in Australia. Maria Doogan and her parents were three of the 182,000 people who came to Australia under the scheme that was later known as the DP Group Resettlement (or 'Mass Resettlement'). (60,000 Poles migrated to Australia; 320,000 European migrants moved through Bonegilla, the largest of the camps; 2 million migrants arrived in Australia between 1945 and 1965, 182,000 of these were sponsored by the IRO.)\nDoogan and her parents travelled to Australia with \"a big metal chest with all their possessions\" on 'Flying Tiger' Aus\/169 Syd 9, a former American warplane (Sydney Morning Herald, 30 March 2012). They departed from Bremen, Germany on 1 November 1950 and flew via Cairo, Ceylon, Darwin and Sydney, arriving in Melbourne on 6 November 1950. Along with many other European migrants of the time, Doogan's first place of residence in Australia was the largest of the migrant camps - Bonegilla Migrant Hostel in Victoria. Doogan and her mother were later moved to Cowra NSW, to a migrant camp that had been a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War 2. Her father was sent to Sydney to work for the then NSW Water Board (now Sydney Water) as a plumber and drainlayer doing hard physical work digging ditches for sewerage pipes. Her mother picked vegetables for Edgell on Cowra farms.\nDoogan's first brother, Edward, died in Germany. Her younger brother, George, was born in Cowra. When Doogan and her mother and brother George were eventually reunited with her father in Sydney, they settled in Sydney's western suburbs where Doogan was educated by the Sisters of Charity at Sacred Heart, Cabramatta and then Saint Mary's, Liverpool before completing her Leaving Certificate at Bethlehem College, Ashfield. While Doogan's father continued his work as a plumber, her mother sewed paper cement sacks in a Sydenham factory. Doogan vividly recalls her mother leaving home on freezing cold early mornings to walk to the station and catch a train to work.\nA champion athlete at school, there was talk of Doogan as an Olympic sprint hopeful but she pursued a career instead, winning a Commonwealth Scholarship to Sydney University where she studied arts for one year before taking a job with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). In 1970 Doogan moved to Canberra where she worked for the ATO (1970-1971), the then Department of Trade (1971-1977) and the then Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce (1977-1988).\nOn 22 May 1974 in Canberra, Maria Kowal married Christopher Doogan, a lawyer who rose to become the High Court of Australia's first Chief Executive and Principal Registrar. They have three children and three grandchildren.\nEncouraged by her husband, in 1985 Doogan fulfilled a long-held desire and began studying for a law degree. She did this externally through Macquarie University, while continuing to work with the Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce, graduating with a Bachelor of Legal Studies in 1988. Doogan later reflected on this time, \"Now that I look back, it was incredibly tough juggling work, children and a big study load and sometimes I felt like quitting.\" (Sirius, 2003) She often found herself working on assignments after midnight when her children were asleep (Sirius, 2003).\nAfter graduation, in 1989 Doogan joined the then Commonwealth Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. She rose to become a senior prosecutor and chose to transfer to the ACT Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions when it was created a few years after self-government was introduced into the Territory. She worked on high-profile cases including the initial investigation and trial of ANU law student Anu Singh for the alleged murder of her boyfriend, 26-year-old engineer Joe Cinque, and the trial of Frank Del Castillo for the 1991 alleged murder of his former wife's lover, Christopher Wilder.\nDoogan is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Australia, a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the ACT, Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and a Member of the Bar Association of the ACT. She completed the Legal Workshop at the Australian National University (ANU) and the Mediation Workshop at Harvard University, Boston, USA.\nIn 1998 Doogan was appointed Magistrate and Coroner to the Australian Capital Territory Magistrates Court. As Magistrate she handled general criminal cases, civil cases, workers' compensation, children's cases, mental health, guardianship, domestic violence protection orders and restraining orders.\nIn addition to being Magistrate and Coroner, Doogan held judicial positions on several tribunals including the Mental Health Tribunal, Guardianship Tribunal, Discrimination Tribunal and the Health Professionals Tribunal.\nBy dint of being on duty when the disastrous Canberra bushfires of 8-18 January 2003 erupted, Doogan was the Coroner presiding over the inquest into the resulting loss of life and property. As Coroner, her job was to find out and report on what had happened and make recommendations (Sirius, 2003). Doogan's role was particularly significant because of the scale of the loss and destruction. Four people died - Dorothy McGrath, Alison Mary Tener, Douglas John Fraser and Peter Brabazon Brooke. 435 people were injured, 487 homes destroyed, 23 commercial and government premises destroyed, 215 homes, commercial premises, government buildings and outbuildings damaged, the Australian National University's Mt Stromlo observatory - an internationally renowned institution - was destroyed, an inestimable number of animals were killed or injured; almost 70% of the ACT (157,170 hectares) was burnt. Resulting financial losses were estimated to be close to $1 billion (Doogan, The Canberra Firestorm, 2006).\nThe inquest was dogged by controversy and delayed for almost a year when the ACT Government tried to force Doogan's removal on the grounds of apprehended bias, alleging, among other things, that she favoured certain expert witnesses who were critical of the government. The Canberra public mobilised in support of Doogan, organising a \"Save Maria Doogan\" rally on the steps of the ACT Supreme Court in February 2005 where placards such as \"let Maria fan the flames of honesty\" were displayed. The full Supreme Court bench backed Doogan and she remained as Coroner on the inquiry (Rudra, Canberra Times, 30 March 2012).\nAfter 103 days of evidence had been heard involving 95 witnesses, 28 legal counsel, 40,762 documents totalling 88,470 pages, 20,000 audio files, 1,081 maps and over 10,000 pages of real-time transcripts, the inquiry ended on 26 July 2006 and Doogan delivered her findings on 19 December 2006. The report - The Canberra Firestorm: inquests and inquiry into four deaths and four fires between 8 and 18 January 2003 - was publicised internationally, as far away as Russia and on the Al Jazeera network.\nOn the first pages of the two-volume document, Doogan's letter to the ACT Attorney General sets the scene for the damning report:\nit is a miracle that no more than four people died \u2026On the evidence before the inquiry, I conclude that the failure to warn the community - despite senior personnel of the Emergency Services Bureau having knowledge that the fires would burn into the suburbs - was a factor that exacerbated the property losses and resulted in panic and confusion throughout the affected suburbs on the day of the firestorm (Doogan, The Canberra Firestorm, 2006, Vol. 1, covering letter to ACT Attorney General).\nFurther into the document she reports that while it was perhaps impossible to say whether the catastrophe could have been prevented, it could \"be said that the firestorm's severity and impact could have been mitigated\". (Doogan, The Canberra Firestorm, 2006, Vol. 1, Ch 1, p. 3) Doogan rejected inquiry submissions that the fires could not have been foreseen, citing Australia's recorded history of fire events dating back to at least 1851 and CSIRO fire expert Mr Phil Cheney's prediction, based on seven inquiries since 1986 into aspects of the ACT emergency services, of a conflagration of the type experienced in January 2003. (Doogan, The Canberra Firestorm, Vol. 1, Ch 1, p. 3) She emphasised the importance of learning from the catastrophe and expressed the hope that her findings and recommendations would be acted on and \"not relegated to the archives to gather dust - as has occurred with the reports of several of the previous inquiries.\" (Doogan, The Canberra Firestorm, Vol. 1, Ch 1, p. 4)\nWhile damning the inaction of some, Doogan praised the efforts and bravery of many, commenting that evidence:\nrevealed that those in authority could, and should, have done many things to reduce the extent of disaster and loss. The evidence revealed highly commendable efforts - and, indeed, bravery - on the part of volunteer, rural and urban firefighters, parks and forestry staff, the rural landholders, the police, ambulance personnel, the many people who came from interstate to help and, not least, the large number of people in the ACT community who came together to help one another in the face of a terrible event. (Doogan, The Canberra Firestorm, Vol. 1, Ch 1, p. 4)\nIn a Canberra Times article published on the announcement of her retirement in March 2012, Doogan provides insight into her perception of the significance of the coroner's role for the community and demonstrates the compassion and clarity she brought to the Coronial Inquiry:\nInvestigations into coronial matters are very important - it's the last act that the community can do for somebody, to determine how they died. It's an overused word, closure, but the families really look for closure from coronials (Rudra, Canberra Times, 30 March 2012)\nMaria Doogan resigned from the magistracy in March 2012. She lives in Canberra.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hard-won-rise-from-humble-start\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-canberra-firestorm-inquests-and-inquiry-into-four-deaths-and-four-fires-between-8-and-18-january-2006\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/doogan-maria-krystyna-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/defence-lawyer-concedes-coroner-used-emotive-language\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/god-bless-coroner-maria-doogan\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/down-time-for-straight-talking-magistrate\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/maria-doogan\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/from-lady-denman-to-katy-gallagher-a-century-of-womens-contributions-to-canberra\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kowal-stefan-born-2-march-1923-wiktoria-born-11-november-1915-miroslawa-born-27-october-1947\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bolger, Irene", "Entry ID": "AWE4913", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bolger-irene\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Nurse, Nurse educator, Trade unionist", "Summary": "Irene Bolger was Branch Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) from 1986 - the year of the Victorian Nurses' Strike - to 1989.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-blueprint-for-union-organising-multiplying-the-membership-in-the-australian-nursing-federation-victorian-branch-1989-2012\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Le Roy, Katherine Jane (Katy)", "Entry ID": "AWE4943", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/le-roy-katherine-jane-katy\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Consultant, Lawyer, Parliamentary Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "Dr Katy Le Roy is Parliamentary Counsel in the New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Office. An expert in constitutional law, federalism, governance and Pacific legal systems, she has undertaken a number of consultancies for the United Nations Development Program. Le Roy was formerly Consultant Legal Counsel and Parliamentary Counsel for Nauru.\nKaty Le Roy was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Dr Katy Le Roy was born in 1974 and spent her early life in Bayside Melbourne. She attended Mt Eliza Primary School before receiving her secondary education at Mt Eliza High School and St Margaret's School, in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Berwick.\nIn 1993 Le Roy enrolled in arts and law degrees at the University of Melbourne. While studying, she worked as a research assistant to Bryan Keon-Cohen QC, compiling and annotating archives of Mabo, the watershed Indigenous land rights case, which were subsequently presented to the National Library of Australia. She was also engaged as an editorial assistant on the Public Law Review and undertook research with the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies, working closely with the then Director, Professor Cheryl Saunders AO. Collectively, these experiences fuelled her deepening interest in public law. Enjoying the exposure to student politics that university life offered, she became interested in the Resistance and Labor Parties, and was ultimately elected President of the Law Students' Society.\nAfter graduating with an LLB (Hons) and a BA, she spent a period in Japan, Europe and South Africa before returning to Australia and beginning articles of clerkship at law firm Holding Redlich. She was articled to managing partner Peter Redlich AO, and worked mainly on personal injury claims. While completing her articles of clerkship full-time, Le Roy also did her honours year in Arts, majoring in politics and public policy. During this period she continued to work part time for the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies.\nIn 1999, a few months after her admission as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Le Roy left Holding Redlich and moved to Germany, where she commenced as legal counsel with Allianz Asset Management. Intent on a career in public law, however, in 2002 she returned to Australia to take up the position of Assistant Director at the University of Melbourne's Institute for Comparative and International Law (now Institute for International Law & the Humanities). In 2003, encouraged by Saunders, Le Roy began a PhD at the University on the topic of public participation in constitution-making in Fiji and the Solomon Islands. She became a Senior Fellow in the Law School's Graduate Program, lecturing in Common Law and Constitution Making.\nFrom 2006 Le Roy's career took her back overseas, her PhD research instrumental in her assuming the role of adviser to Nauru's Standing Committee on Constitutional Review on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme [University of Melbourne]. She also undertook further consultancies on Nauru's Constitutional Review Project, and on Federalism in Sri Lanka. During this time Le Roy met her new partner, a member of the Nauru Parliament and later Minister for Education in the Nauruan Government, Roland Kun, and moved to live in Nauru.\nIn 2007-2008 Le Roy was retained by the Institute of Federalism at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) to undertake a project from her new homebase in Nauru, translating a legal treatise from German to English (T Fleiner and L Basta-Fleiner, A General Theory of State: constitutional democracy in a multicultural and globalised world, Springer Books 2009). In 2008 Le Roy also worked as Consultant Legal Counsel to the Nauru Government. She provided legal advice to Cabinet and the Minister for Justice on a range of legal issues, including legal policy and legislation. In October 2008 Le Roy took on the full-time role of Parliamentary Counsel: she was head of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and responsible for legislative drafting; she also provided legal advice to the Speaker, parliamentary committees and government. In a piece published by the University of Melbourne Law School in their alumni magazine, Le Roy remarked that \"the workload is unwieldly but there's never a dull moment\" [University of Melbourne].\nIn 2010 the people of Nauru held a referendum on some of the proposed amendments arising from the Constitutional Review Project which Le Roy had conducted for the United Nations in 2006. When the referendum failed, Le Roy was philosophical: \"In Australia we know it is notoriously difficult to pass a referendum. In Nauru the requirement is the approval of two thirds, which is an even higher bar. But throughout the constitutional review process, ordinary Nauruan citizens have been engaged; they have learned about their existing constitution and thought about new possibilities. Many people now have a much better understanding of responsible government and how their system ought to work. That is a huge gain for Nauru, and that alone might result in improvements in the way politics operates, because politicians are going to have to account to a more informed public. Hopefully it will become a good example of the wonders of education\" [University of Melbourne].\nThe valuable reform work undertaken by Le Roy in Nauru found further expression when she oversaw the Legal Information Access Project from 2010 to 2012. This project aimed to strengthen human rights and good governance in Nauru; to strengthen the capacity of Nauru's legal and judicial system; and to improve access to Nauruan legal information [OPC Annual Report 2011-12]. It resulted in, among other things, a complete consolidation of the laws of Nauru and a new government website hosting a free online database containing up-to-date, official versions of all laws in force in Nauru. It was towards the end of this project, in 2012, that Le Roy also submitted her PhD thesis.\nIn 2013 Le Roy's role as Parliamentary Counsel for Nauru came to an abrupt end a few weeks after the election of the Waqa government. Following the removal of the Secretary for Justice and the Police Commissioner (both Australians), Le Roy too was removed from her position. Several senior public servants in Nauru were effectively forced to resign around the same time.\nLater in 2013, Le Roy travelled to Melbourne to do consulting work for Bendigo Bank, and to give birth to her third child. At the very beginning of 2014, while she was in Melbourne with her newborn baby and the rest of her family, Le Roy learned that her Nauruan residence visa had been cancelled. In her absence, the Government of Nauru declared her a prohibited immigrant, thus preventing her return to the country. The Nauruan Government also expelled its Resident Magistrate (an Australian national) and would not permit its Chief Justice (also an Australian) to return [Lee].\nUnable to return to Nauru, Le Roy accepted a permanent position as Parliamentary Counsel in Wellington, New Zealand, and moved to live in New Zealand with Kun and their 3 children in May 2014.\nA week after arriving in New Zealand Kun, an opposition MP, was suspended from Parliament after criticising the Nauru Government's removal of judicial officers [Lee]. He and other opposition members remained suspended for more than 2 years of the 3 year parliamentary term they had been elected to serve.\nIn June 2015, Le Roy's husband Kun travelled to Nauru for a 4 day visit, primarily to talk to the Speaker of Parliament about the situation of the suspended members. During the visit, the government of Nauru cancelled his Nauruan passport. Kun became stranded on Nauru for more than 12 months, effectively a political prisoner [Taylor].\nLegal academics from Australia and New Zealand wrote to their respective countries' foreign ministers to urge them to intervene to reunite Kun and Le Roy, expressing concern for the infringement of Kun's international human rights and for the deterioration of the rule of law in Nauru [Lee]. On 10 July 2016, Kun slipped out of Nauru on a New Zealand passport, finally able to join Le Roy and their children back in their Wellington home.\nAn elected member of the Council of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (CALC) since 2011, Le Roy has commended that CALC provides important opportunities for Pacific members to further improve the standard of legislative drafting in the Pacific [OPC]. Le Roy is currently serving a 2 year term as Vice President of CALC, and is chair of its conference program committee.\nIn 2015, Le Roy co-taught a third year LLB subject on legislation in the Law School at Victoria University of Wellington, and will likely to continue to teach in this program in alternating years.\nLe Roy has previously served as chair of the Working Group on The Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute (PacLII) and was a member of the interim board of the PacLII Foundation. She has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Pacific Islands Law Officers' Network and a member and founding treasurer and legal officer of the Australian Association for the Advancement of Pacific Studies.\nLe Roy has made a significant contribution, at an early stage of her career, to the study of comparative public law and systems of governance in the Pacific region. She has demonstrated immense dedication to education and public participation in government reform, transparency and access to government information, and to the rule of law. Her commitment to reforming constitutional systems in the Pacific and holding the Government of Nauru to account to maintain the rule of law has come at a heavy personal cost to her family.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/katy-le-roy-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Behrendt, Larissa", "Entry ID": "AWE4977", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/behrendt-larissa\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Cooma, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer, Writer", "Summary": "Larissa Behrendt, AO, is a Eualeyai\/Kamillaroi woman, born in Cooma, New South Wales, in 1969. She was educated at Kirrawee High School before studying law at the University of New South Wales and then at Harvard Law School. She was the first Indigenous Australian to graduate from Harvard Law School.\nBehrendt was appointed an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2020for distinguished service to Indigenous education and research, to the law, and to the visual and performing arts. \nRead more about Larissa Behrendt in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-larissa-behrendt-1992-2006-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-larissa-behrendt-first-aborigine-to-go-to-the-harvard-law-school-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/larissa-behrendt-interviewed-by-peter-read-and-jackie-huggins-in-2011-for-the-seven-years-on-continuing-life-histories-of-aboriginal-leaders-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/larissa-behrendt-interviewed-by-peter-read-in-2012-for-the-seven-years-on-continuing-life-histories-of-aboriginal-leaders-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/larissa-behrendt-interviewed-by-peter-read-in-2016-for-the-seven-years-on-continuing-life-histories-of-aboriginal-leaders-oral-history-project\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/larissa-behrendt-interviewed-by-peter-read-in-1995-for-the-seven-years-on-continuing-life-histories-of-aboriginal-leaders-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/larissa-behrendt-interviewed-by-peter-read-and-jackie-huggins-in-2002-for-the-seven-years-on-continuing-life-histories-of-aboriginal-leaders-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Chalmers, Millicent Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE5013", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/chalmers-millicent-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Environmentalist, Lawyer", "Summary": "Millicent Chalmers graduated in law at Sydney University in 1952, at a time when very few women were studying and practising law. Undaunted, Millicent practised law until her children were born, then moved on to work in legal publishing. Upon moving to Millers Point she became involved in the Millers Point Resident Action Group, which has provided an active voice for conservation of Millers Point, Dawes Point and The Rocks. Among a host of other successful activities in the area, Millicent played an active part in the local group that set up the Darling House aged care hostel. In recognition of her significant contribution to her community, Millicent was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to the community and to aged care in the January 2010 Australia Day Honours.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Davis, Megan", "Entry ID": "AWE5048", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/davis-megan\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Megan Davis is a Cobble Cobble woman from Queensland. She was educated at the University of Queensland and the Australian National University. In 2006, she became the Director of the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of New South Wales. In 2010, she became the first Indigenous Australian woman to be elected to a United Nations body when she was appointed to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.\nShe was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in January 2025 for eminent service to the law and to social justice, to the national and international advocacy of the rights of Indigenous peoples, and to the community.\nMegan Davis was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Pilot Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/megan-davis-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-pilot-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "French, Valerie", "Entry ID": "AWE5087", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/french-valerie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "In 1975 Valerie French became the first woman to sign the Western Australia Bar Roll and became the first woman to practise as a barrister in Western Australia. From that time, French's professional appointments and legal career have continued to serve as a guide for women entering into the legal profession in Western Australia. Beyond her impact on the legal profession as a 'first' at the Bar, her substantive legal practice has also influenced Australian law and legal policy, particularly in the field of criminal justice.\nRead more about Valerie French in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.\nValerie French was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/valerie-french-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-pilot-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Greig, Flos", "Entry ID": "AWE5106", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/greig-flos\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Ferry, Scotland", "Death Place": "MoorabbinMoorabbin, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Flos Greig was a remarkable pioneer whose determination to practise as a solicitor advanced gender equality in the legal profession in Australia in the early twentieth century. The first woman to be admitted to legal practice in Australia, Greig was at the vanguard of 'the graceful incoming of a revolution' as described by then Chief Justice Sir John Madden, as he presided over the ceremony granting her admission to the Victorian bar in August 1905 (The Advertiser, 1905).\nRead more about Flos Greig in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-brief-history-of-the-greig-sisters\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Haynes, Edith Annie Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5122", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/haynes-edith-annie-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Law clerk, Lawyer", "Summary": "Edith Haynes was born in Sydney in 1876 and moved with her family to Western Australia in 1891. In 1900, having worked at her uncle's law firm, she applied to the Barristers Board of Western Australia to sit the examinations necessary to practise as a lawyer. The board refused her request on the grounds that a woman was not a 'person' under the Legal Practitioners Act 1893. Haynes challenged the decision in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, but it was upheld; she was never admitted to practice. Edith Haynes died in 1968.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pavy, Emily Dorothea", "Entry ID": "AWE5263", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pavy-emily-dorothea\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Death Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Activist, Lawyer, Social theorist, Solicitor", "Summary": "Emily Dorothea Pavy was an advocate for the welfare of factory workers before becoming a lawyer to pursue women's issues. Known for her dedicated and meticulous work, Pavy was a trailblazer both as a sociologist and a lawyer.\nRead more about Emily Dorothea Pavy in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.\n", "Details": "Dorothea was born on 19 June 1885 at North Adelaide. Her parents were strong advocates for women's rights. Dorothea's mother had been a non-graduating student at the University of Adelaide before women were admitted to degrees and her father advocated higher education for women. She completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Adelaide in 1906 and became a teacher. At this time she was active in the Progressive Club for factory girls.\nIn 1912 Dorothea Proud won the first Catherine Helen Spence scholarship for sociology. She left next year for the London School of Economics where she investigated the industrial conditions of female factory workers, graduating from her Doctor of Science in 1916. She believed that welfare measures could enhance the 'recognition of individuality' and the standard of living. Dorothea drew her research from factory visits across Britain and observations in Australia and New Zealand. Proud's thesis contained an enthusiastic preface from Prime Minister Lloyd George, then Minister for Munitions. When Lloyd George asked Seebohm Rowntree to organise the welfare section of the Ministry of Munitions, Dorothea was appointed to assist in 1915-1919. In 1917 the British government appointed her CBE.\nDorothea married Lieutenant Gordon Augustus Pavy from Adelaide on 10 November 1917 in London and had two children. Two years after they married, the Pavys returned to Australia and Dorothea began legal studies at the University of Adelaide. She was articled to her husband, a lawyer, from 1924, and admitted to the Bar in 1928. The Pavys shared a partnership in general legal practice. Dorothea was a member of the Catherine Helen Spence scholarship selection committee until 1962 and convened the law committee of the State branch of the National Council of Women. She lectured social science and worked on a study of divorcees' children. She retired in 1953 and died on 8 September 1967.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pavy-emily-dorothea-1885-1967\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pung, Alice", "Entry ID": "AWE5273", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pung-alice\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Footscray, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Writer", "Summary": "Alice Pung was born in 1981 in Footscray, Victoria to Cambodian refugee parents. Her first book, the memoir Unpolished Gem, was published in 2006. In 2008, she edited Growing up Asian in Australia and in 2011 published her third book, Her Father's Daughter. Pung is a lawyer and works as a legal researcher in the area of minimum wages and pay equity.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rubenstein, Kim", "Entry ID": "AWE5289", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rubenstein-kim\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Kim Rubenstein (pronounced Ruben-steen), a leading legal academic, practitioner and professor at the Australian National University, is Professor and Director of the Centre for International and Public Law at the Australian National University, a position she has held since 2006. In addition she was the inaugural Convenor (2011-2012) of the ANU Gender Institute. She is Australia's citizenship law expert and was one of the early instigators of feminist scholarly approaches to Australian constitutional law.\nRead more about Kim Rubenstein in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kiefel-appointment-is-refreshing-but-greater-diversity-is-an-ongoing-task\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Schwartz, Carol Judith", "Entry ID": "AWE5299", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/schwartz-carol-judith\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Lawyer, Philanthropist, Property developer", "Summary": "Carol Schwartz is a Melbourne business woman who has been a leading figure in the Victorian not-for-profit and corporate sectors for roughly twenty-five years. She holds one of the country's most diverse portfolios of board appointments. Schwartz studied law\/arts at Monash University.\nRead more about Carol Schwartz in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2011 - 2011) \nOfficer of the Order of Australia (AO): For distinguished service to the community as a supporter of women in leadership roles, to social justice advocacy, and to business. (2019 - 2019)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australia-day-honours-david-walsh-and-elizabeth-broderick-among-recipients\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Smith, Fiona", "Entry ID": "AWE5311", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/smith-fiona\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Disability rights activist, Lawyer", "Summary": "Born with a disability, Fiona Smith has tried throughout her life to use her 'personal experiences to build bridges with other people whilst guarding against being typecast' (Our Community Leaders website). A qualified barrister and mediator she has played a leading role in many community and government organisations including as Chair, Equal Opportunity Commission (Victoria) (2004 to 2008) and Executive Chair, Business Licensing Authority (Victoria). She is a patron of the Victorian Immigrant & Refugee Women's Coalition, a Non-Executive Director of Yooralla and Policy and Research Advisor with Trust for Nature.\n", "Events": "Business Licensing Authority (Victoria) (1998 - 2009) \nInducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2012 - 2012) \nReceived for her contribution to the Victorian justice system (2003 - 2003) \nReceived for significant service to the community as an advocate for human rights and social justice issues. (2017 - 2017) \nResources Building for Small Organisations Project (1985 - 1988) \nVictorian Equal Opportunity Commission of Victoria (2003 - 2008)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Tay, Alice Erh-Soon", "Entry ID": "AWE5328", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tay-alice-erh-soon\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Singapore", "Death Place": "Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Human rights activist, Lawyer", "Summary": "Alice Erh-Soon Tay was born in Singapore in 1934. She practised as a criminal lawyer before completing her PhD in Soviet Russia, and then arriving in Australia in the 1960s to take up a position at the Australian National University. Among the highlights of Tay's distinguished career as an academic lawyer at the University of Sydney, was her appointment as president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC), a position she occupied from 1998 to 2003.\nRead more about Alice Erh-Soon Tay in our sister publication The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Chong, Patti", "Entry ID": "AWE5371", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/chong-patti\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Batu Pahat, Johore, Malaysia", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Lawyer, Philanthropist, Solicitor", "Summary": "Patti Chong is a Perth based legal practitioner with thirty-five years experience in both private and public practice. Born and educated in Batu Pahat, in the state of Johore, Malaysia, she came to Perth in 1973, studied law at the University of Western Australia and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Laws in 1980. She was the only Chinese woman in her class, one of only four women in total. In 2006 she established her own practice, working in a wide variety of areas. She has a commitment to mentoring young lawyers and legal students.\nPatti Chong was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Patti Chong is a Perth based legal practitioner with thirty-five years experience in both private and public practice. Born and educated in Batu Pahat, in the state of Johore, Malaysia, she came to Perth in 1973, studied law at the University of Western Australia and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Laws in 1980. She was the only Chinese woman in her class, one of only four women in total.\nThe tenth of eleven children brought up in a traditional Chinese family, Patti was lucky enough to have a mother who encouraged her to get an education; which would be her 'ticket to freedom'. She suspects that her mother, who was married at fourteen, 'would have been a force to be reckoned with if she had received an education'. Patti did not initially migrate to Australia as a student but once she arrived, she took full advantage of the opportunities offered by the free tertiary education system introduced by the Australian Government in the 1970s.\nProving herself a capable student by studying the pre-law in BA in the first instance, she was accepted into the Faculty of Law in 1977 and completed her degree in 1980. Her ethnicity and gender combined to create a sense of isolation through her undergraduate years. The various support systems available for international students that exist now were non-existent in the 1970s, including services that helped students to develop English language skills. Difficulty in comprehending Australian accented English was hard enough, but time helped to improve her ability in this area. Lack of competence in spoken English was not as easily fixed, and held her back. Early in her career, Patti undertook speech therapy to improve her English annunciation, doing what she could to remove that impediment to her career progression.\nDespite having no access to the legal networks available to many of her classmates, Patti found an interesting training environment to complete her articles with the Director of Legal Aid. She was admitted to practice in 1981, and left Legal Aid soon afterwards in 1982, joining the Australian Government Solicitor's (AGS) Office in 1983. Regarded at the time by many corporate lawyers as 'the poor cousin' to the big, commercial firms in Perth the AGS offered Patti a wide range of legal experience and, as it turned out, the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the big names in Perth legal and business circles.\nA particular highlight in 1984 was briefing the Honourable Robert French, then a senior barrister, as part of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal Inquiry into the granting of a third TV licence for Perth. What was supposed to be six weeks worth of hearings ended up being closer to eighteen months work, bringing her into contact with notable Perth identities such as Alan Bond, Robert Holmes a Court, Martin Bennett and Carmel McLure. 'It was a highlight of my life,' says Patti. 'The big guns were out and here was little Patti Chong'. Working in that environment gave Patti a sense of her own strengths as a lawyer. Never a 'black letter lawyer', she was a good, 'practical, effects person', a lawyer who established great rapport with juries, using the evidence to create a narrative to present to the court. Furthermore, despite Patti's early problems with English expression, she now regards her capacity for communication to be one of her strengths. Her experience with the AGS and then, in 1992, the newly established Western Australian Office of the State Director of Public Prosecutions gave her the ability to work with people across all social contexts. 'I pride myself,' she says, 'that I can speak to a billionaire like Kerry Stokes, to an intellectual giant like Robert French, to the criminals I see in prison\u2026and the refugees and non-English-speaking migrants. Not everyone has that ability.'\nWhile working in the AGS, Patti met her second husband, Ken Bates, with whom she had three children, but not before she had adopted her brother's three children, in accordance with her sister-in-law's dying wish, after a long, protracted legal battle that saw her appearing in the Malaysian High Court while she took on Australian Immigration authorities. In 1992, she joined the newly established office of the WA Director of Public Prosecutions as a Crown Prosecutor, where she gained broad experience across a whole range of criminal offences in the Supreme, District and Children's courts. Whilst working for the AGS, she was also involved in some important non-criminal matters, including handling asbestosis claims against the government, and handling claims for Australian Government statutory authorities, such as Australia Post.\nIn November 2004, Patti was appointed the inaugural General Counsel to the Corruption and Crime Commission. She held this appointment until December 2005 when she returned to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. In 2006 she decided to set up her own private practice, where she continues to work. A significant feature of her practice is to offer mentoring and internship opportunities to young lawyers and undergraduate students in their penultimate and final years, hoping that the experience will help them build the networks and opportunities that she missed out on as a young lawyer.\nIn addition to her professional practice and family responsibilities, Patti has been active in a large number of community causes and organisations. She sat on a number of Law Society committees and was, for a number of years, on the Committee of Women Lawyers Western Australia. On their behalf, she organised the collection of pre-loved clothes from women lawyers and staff for donation to the Banksia Pre-release Centre to assist women prisoners prepare themselves for job interviews, attendance in court and release from prison, by having appropriate clothes for such occasions. She has served as a Vice-President of the W.A. Chinese Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Chung Wah Association, a board member of Constable Care, a board member of Celebrate W.A., a board member of W.A. Ballet, and a trustee of the Simon Lee Foundation. In March 2006 Patti became Patron of the Dyslexia-Speld Foundation and in September 2006 a fund-raising Ambassador for the Leukaemia Foundation.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/newsmaker-patti-chong\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/about-patti-chong\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australasian-legal-information-institute\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/patti-chong-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Battye, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5382", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/battye-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Subiaco, Western Australia, Australia", "Death Place": "Subiaco, Western Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Political party organiser, Solicitor, Women's rights activist", "Summary": "Margaret Battye was the only child of Nellie May (n\u00e9e Robertson) and Charles Battye, a librarian. She graduated from the University of Western Australia (LL.B., 1931; B.A., 1933) and was admitted to the Bar in 1933. In June of 1933 she reputedly became the first woman to represent a client in a Western Australian court of law, and in so doing, according to the presiding magistrate, 'created legal history' by being the first woman to appear before him as a barrister. She won the case. From 1936 she practised on her own as a barrister and solicitor, and from 1939 worked for the Council for Civil Liberties.\nBattye was active in several Western Australian women's organisations, including the local branch of the Australian Federation of University Women, the Women's Services Guilds, the Perth Business and Professional Women's Club, the Karrakatta and the Soroptimist Clubs. She acted as honorary legal adviser to almost all the women's organisations in Perth during the 1930s and 40s. She was also active in the Liberal Party of Australia's Western Australian division and was given responsibility for the foundation of the State women's committee. She chaired a national committee for the United Nations' commission into the status of women\nShe became ill with Grave's disease and passed away in 1949.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/battye-margaret-1919-1949\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/creating-legal-history-miss-margaret-battyes-debut\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nationality-of-women-address-by-margaret-battye\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/miss-battye-remembered\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hart, Elizabeth Hamilton", "Entry ID": "AWE5383", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hart-elizabeth-hamilton\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Indooroopilly, Queensland, Australia", "Death Place": "Clayfield, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Elizabeth Hart was the second woman to be admitted a solicitor in Queensland and went on to enjoy a career that spanned five decades. She was a partner for thirty-four years and then a senior partner for twenty-one at the major Brisbane firm, Flower and Hart.\n", "Details": "Elizabeth Hamilton Hart was born into the law. There have been six generations of the Hart family working as lawyers in Queensland since 1863, when Elizabeth's grandfather, Graham Lloyd Hart was admitted. The firm she worked for, for her entire life, Flower and Hart, was established in 1876 by her grandfather and his partner John Henry Flower. The firm remains one of Brisbane's leading commercial law firms. Other family members, including her father, William Hamilton Hart, had careers in the law, including her uncle, Percy Lloyd Hart, who served as an acting judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland.\nBorn in Indooroopilly, Brisbane in 1904, Hart attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School where she excelled academically. She was a good sportswoman, and particularly enjoyed basketball (now netball) where she enjoyed a significant height advantage. She went on to complete a BA at the University of Queensland, graduating in 1924 with Honours in Modern Language and Literature.\nStraight out of university, in 1925, she entered into Articles of Clerkship with her father at Flower and Hart. On 1 October 1929, she became only the second woman admitted as a solicitor in Queensland. She was a hard worker, a straight talker, reliable, well-spoken and was rewarded with a partnership in the firm in November 1938. When her father passed away in 1951 she became senior partner.\nIt is said that Hart would ask colleagues and partners to view her just as 'a fellow practitioner' and 'not to think of her as a woman'. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that gender had an impact on her reception by the business community at large. Her brother Bill, younger than her by eight years and a partner in the firm while she was a senior partner, was invited to sit on the boards of a variety of Queensland companies, including the Queensland Board of the National Bank, when she was not.\nA pioneering woman in the Queensland legal world, Elizabeth Hart provided jobs to several women who went on to have prominent careers. She gave Naida Haxton, Queensland's first practising female barrister, her start in 1963, although Haxton's decision after three years to pursue a career at the Bar after three years saw her dismissed for breach of contract, which required three years' service with the firm post-Articles. Haxton recalls Hart as being a somewhat 'daunting and engaging' woman who trained her young lawyers to 'be careful to the point of pedantry'.\nHart maintained a busy commercial practice and did the odd bit of pro bono work if the cause suited her. She was respected and liked by her colleagues and her retirement came about largely through bad health; she had a fall at work in 1971 and broke her hip. She retired on December 31, 1971, continuing to work as a consultant for two more years before retiring completely.\nHart never married and lived with her elder sister, Eleanor, who also never married. She was not particularly interested in professional social events, preferring to mix with members of the Moreton Club, a women's club established in 1924, of which she became a member in 1929. She was a devoted aunt to her six nieces and nephews and is remembered fondly by them for her generosity. She died on Christmas Day in 1925. Never an active feminist or political activist on behalf of women, her legacy to women lawyers who came after her is the longevity of her career. Certainly, the advantages of her family position in Brisbane legal circles made a legal career accessible. But a fifty-five year career, regardless of her gender, is worthy of celebration.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/elizabeth-hamilton-hart\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-woman-lawyer\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/called-to-the-bar\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bennett, Annabelle", "Entry ID": "AWE5384", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bennett-annabelle\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Senior Counsel, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "The Honourable Justice Annabelle Bennett AO was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia in 2003. She is also an additional judge of the Supreme Court of the ACT. Prior to joining the bench of the Federal Court, she was a barrister and then Senior Counsel specialising in intellectual property law. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2005. In July 2011 her Honour was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of the University by the ANU.\nJustice Bennett completed her BSc (Hons) and PhD in Biochemistry (the latter in the Faculty of Vet Science) at Sydney University and later obtained her law degree at the University of New South Wales. Her interest in biological sciences has led to membership of the Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committee, the Biotechnology Task Force, the Pharmacy Board of New South Wales and the Eastern Sydney Area Health Service. She is a member of several other boards and tribunals.\n", "Details": "Justice Bennett is President of the Copyright Tribunal of Australia; Chair of the National Health and Medical Research Council; a Presidential Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal; Arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport; member of Chief Executive Women; member of the Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences; and member of the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Law at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.\nHer Honour has also served as Pro-Chancellor of the Australian National University for 13 years. In addition she has been a member of the Gene Patenting Advisory Committee of the Australian Law Reform Commission; member of the Advisory Group for the Dean of Medicine at The University of Sydney; Trustee of the Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust; Director of the Sydney Children's Hospital Foundation; President of the Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences; President of Chief Executive Women; as well as a member of the Reference Group for the APEC Women Leaders' Network Meeting 2007 and the Head of Delegation to the APEC Women Leaders' Network Meeting 2008 in Peru.\n", "Events": "Companion (AC) in the General Division, Order of Australia: For eminent service to the law, and to the judiciary, particularly in the field of intellectual property, to higher education, and to sports arbitration. (2019 - 2019)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-hon-annabelle-claire-bennett-ao\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/anu-pro-chancellor-annabelle-bennetts-correspondence\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Couchman, Ariel", "Entry ID": "AWE5386", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/couchman-ariel\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Director, Feminist, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Ariel Couchman is a lawyer and women's rights activist who works in the not for profit sector. She is (2015) the director of the Young People's Legal Rights Centre (Youthlaw).\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Ariel Couchman for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Ariel Couchman and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nAriel Couchman was inspired to study law at Monash University as part of her journey as a women's rights activist. On campus in student politics, as a young lawyer being admitted and in the legal and non-legal positions she used the law to highlight and challenge inequality and discrimination and bring about social justice.\nIn 1987, on admission as a lawyer, she and her feminist friend, Meredith Carter, challenged the discrimination experienced at the time by women lawyers by wearing pants and requesting the title of Ms. There was much media coverage at the time and women barristers would stop them both many years later to thank them.\nCouchman and Carter both also campaigned with well known feminist lawyer, Jocelynne Scutt, to have rape in marriage criminalised and for broader rape law reform. Both had previously joined Women Against Rape in the early 80's. This collective of women supported rape victims and campaigned about the treatment of rape victims by police and the courts. Women Against Rape was represented on the Premier's Rape study advisory group. Much to the chagrin of government bureaucrats different members of the collective would appear at each meeting.\nIn the 1990s Ariel was the first legal officer at the Domestic Violence and Incest Resource Centre. She initiated a broad campaign supported by lawyers, barristers and members of the judiciary to have two young women (the Collis sisters) exonerated and pardoned. The young women were convicted of perjury for withdrawing their complaints of incest against their father after being pressured to do so by their father and by his solicitor. They were finally pardoned and a solicitor involved disciplined. The case brought public attention to the experience of incest victims in the legal system.\nIn the years that followed, Couchman and others formed the Coalition Against Family Violence and campaigned to bring to public attention the number of domestic violence homicides. They wrote a book - Blood on Whose Hands? documenting the experience of domestic homicide victims from the perspective of their family members. One of these family members, Phil Cleary, has been an outspoken advocate for women rights and domestic violence law reform since the death of his sister Vicki.\nCouchman was a lawyer for over ten years and then took up various policy and management positions with a focus on social justice and human rights. She is a registered Family law mediator and is a strong advocate for mediation options in the legal system.\nIn 2014 Couchman was invited to the Monash University Student Association Alumni Awards Night and was awarded the inaugural Tony Lang Award for Excellence in Advocacy.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lawyer-scared-the-pants-of-the-establishment\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/blood-on-whose-hands-the-killing-of-women-and-children-in-domestic-homicides\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Exel, Audette", "Entry ID": "AWE5387", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/exel-audette\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Dunedin \/ Ng\u0101i Tahu, Otago, New Zealand", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Lawyer, Managing Director, Philanthropist", "Summary": "Elected a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, Audette Exel is a founder of the Adara Group, established in 1998, and Chief Executive Officer of its Australian private placement and corporate advisory business, Adara Advisors. A qualified lawyer, she has used her knowledge of corporate law to establish not for profit businesses that help to generate wealth for women and children in developing nations.\nHer business success has seen her recognised with multiple awards over the years. She was the recipient of the Economic Justice and Community Impact Award from the Young Presidents Organisation Social Enterprise Networks in 2010. In 2012, Exel won the Telstra 2012 NSW Commonwealth Bank Business Owner Award, and she was the winner of the 2012 NSW Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award. She was also one of The Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence in Australia in 2012. In 2013, Exel was awarded an honorary Order of Australia for 'service to humanity through the establishment of the Adara Group to provide specialist care to women and children in Uganda and Nepal' and was recognised by Forbes as a 'Hero of Philanthropy' in 2014.\n", "Details": "Audette Exel was born in New Zealand in 1963, the second child of Mary and David Exel. Her father, journalist David Exel, covered the Vietnam War for the New Zealand Press Association in the 1960s and early 1970s, during which time his family was based in Singapore. This gave Exel the opportunity to experience multiculturalism first hand. It had a great impact on her.\nFollowing her schooling, Exel, undertook a law degree in Australia at the University of Melbourne. Already a passionate advocate for a variety of social justice issues (she was particularly active in the anti-apartheid rallies that coincided with the 1981 Springbok World tour), Exel realised during her time at university that if she was going to create significant change for people in need, she needed to understand the worlds of business, money and power. To the shock of many of her friends, who assumed Exel would use her Arts\/Law degree to work in the field of Human Rights, she instead began a career in corporate law at Allen, Allen and Hemsley in Sydney. This was followed by a stint in Hong Kong with UK law firm Linklaters & Paines. She quickly developed a reputation as a specialist in international finance, an interest that would see her move to Bermuda in 1992.\nExel began her time in Bermuda working with a small law firm, but at age 30, she became one of the youngest women ever to run a publicly traded bank when she became Managing Director of Bermuda Commercial Bank (BCB), one of Bermuda's three banks. During her tenure, she managed to bring the then failing bank to profitability, returning an average increase in profits of over 75% p.a., increasing assets by US$280 million, and increasing the assets under administration, custody and trust by over US$2 billion to US$4.5 billion. With Exel at the helm, the BCB became the best performing bank on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX). During 1995 and 1996, Exel was also Chairman of the BSX, and from 1999 to 2005, she was on the Board of the Bermuda Monetary Authority, Bermuda's central financial services regulator, and was Chair of its Investment Committee.\nDespite her great success at BCB, by 1997 Exel was yearning to return to her social justice roots. She began to think of ways she could use the skills she had developed over her career to help people in need. She spent the next year travelling and learning about development work before beginning the Adara Group (formerly the ISIS Group).\nThe Adara Group was born from Exel trying to reimagine ways of achieving equality, wealth, security and hope in the world, and was driven by two underlying philosophies. The first was the belief that all people deserve good quality health and education services, no matter where they live. The second is that the halls of business and power have incredible potential for creating change for communities in need.\nGiven these guiding principles, Adara Development implements international development work, undertaking projects in three main areas of expertise: maternal infant child health, remote and rural community development, and care, support, and reintegration of children at risk. Adara also conducts detailed research to ensure projects are always evidence-based, and shares the knowledge it has gained locally, nationally and globally in the hope of making a greater impact. It is estimated that since the group began in 1998 the organisation has reached hundreds of thousands of people.\nThe principles also inform the operations of Adara Advisors which Exel describes as 'a business for purpose rather than profit'. It exists solely to fund Adara Development's administration costs and emergency project costs. At the end of 2014, Adara Advisors had donated more than US$6.89 million (AU$8.3 million) to Adara Development. This innovative partnership model allows 100% of all other donations received by Adara Development to go directly to improving health and education for women, children and communities living in poverty.\nAlongside her work with Adara, Exel is also the Vice Chairman of the Board of Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association Trustee (Bermuda) Limited. Steamship Mutual is one of the world's largest Protection and Indemnity clubs for the shipping industry. She is also a Non-Executive Director of Suncorp Group Limited, an ASX 20 company.\nExel's achievements through the Adara Group have seen her recognised with multiple awards over the years. She was the recipient of the Economic Justice and Community Impact Award from the Young Presidents Organisation Social Enterprise Networks in 2010. In 2012, Exel won the Telstra 2012 NSW Commonwealth Bank Business Owner Award, and she was the winner of the 2012 NSW Telstra Business Woman of the Year Award. She was also one of The Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence in Australia in 2012. In 2013, Exel was awarded an honorary Order of Australia for 'service to humanity through the establishment of the Adara Group to provide specialist care to women and children in Uganda and Nepal' and was recognised by Forbes as a \"Hero of Philanthropy\" in 2014.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rebel-with-a-cause-how-audette-exel-is-bridging-worlds\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/audette-exel-high-flyer\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/banker-saves-20000-from-nepal-to-uganda-with-her-profits\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Glass, Deborah", "Entry ID": "AWE5388", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/glass-deborah\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Bega, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Banker, Lawyer, Ombudsman, Public servant", "Summary": "The Victorian Ombudsman, Deborah Glass, left Monash University Law School in the early 1980s, never imagining that thirty years later she would be honoured with an OBE for her services to law and order. A law graduate who hasn't practised since 1984, with the benefit of hindsight she nevertheless saw the legal training she received as a valuable foundation for supporting the various twists and turns her career has taken over the last thirty years.\nAfter graduating in 1982, Deborah Glass began her professional career as a lawyer based in Melbourne, but relocated to Switzerland to work for Citicorp, a US Investment Bank. She then transferred into the financial regulation sector, pursuing a career with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. Returning to Europe, she was appointed Chief Executive of the Investment Management Regulatory Organisation in 1998. Under her stewardship it was successfully subsumed into the London based Financial Services Authority. She also worked as an Independent custody visitor, someone who visits people who are detained in police stations in the United Kingdom to ensure that they are being treated properly, between 1999 and 2005.\nBetween 2001 and 2004 she was a member of the Police Complaints Authority, and it was from here that she was appointed to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in London. At the IPCC she was responsible, among other things, for many high profile criminal and misconduct investigations and decisions involving the police. These included decisions in relation to the police response to the phone-hacking affair and the decision to launch an independent investigation into the aftermath of the Hillsborough football stadium disaster.\nShe was awarded an OBE for services to the IPCC in 2012. She left the IPCC in March 2014, having completed a ten year term with the organization and returned to Melbourne to take up the position of Victorian Ombudsman. She is the first woman to ever hold the position\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Deborah Glass for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Deborah Glass and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nMy initial response to being asked to contribute to a project on women lawyers was to say: I am not a lawyer! I may have studied law, but I haven't practised since 1984. I would get embarrassingly lost in a law library these days. And please don't ask me to cite any cases.\nBut I was told no, that was the point, the project was also about where women who studied law ended up, and I had ended up as the Victorian Ombudsman, rather to my surprise a member of the 'FW2 Club': First Woman To be in the role. To which my reaction had been amazement that it had taken forty-one years.\nSo let me reflect on the journey from law student, more interested in the freedom of university life than the interior of the law library, to Victorian Ombudsman.\nI did enjoy studying law, despite some periods of inattention, but as a young lawyer on William Street in the early 1980s it felt like you had to be better than a man to get to the same place. Which meant you had to really want to be a lawyer. I am not going to dwell on my brief experience as a practising lawyer as I decided very quickly the law was not for me. Although it proved an invaluable training ground for what I went on to do I didn't realise it at the time, as I left Melbourne on a one-way ticket to Europe with a small pot of savings and dreams of being a great travel writer.\nI realised pretty swiftly that was not even going to pay for repairs to my rucksack, so when the money ran out in Switzerland I noticed an advertisement in the local paper for management trainees with an international investment bank. They were looking for graduates in finance, accounting or law. Although I have never quite understood the relevance of my Australian law degree, rather to my surprise I got the job.\nSometimes you go for things because they are unknown, or because the other options, like waitressing or going back to Australia, seem so much worse.\nIt was in fact a dynamic time working with many very clever people, and an intense training ground in both financial markets and management. But I found after several years and the same number of promotions that I did not really care enough about corporate profits to be a good banker.\nThus began my long career in the public sector. First, I joined the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission at its inception. Knowing how the corporate world worked, but using that knowledge to promote the public interest within a rapidly changing marketplace, was immensely rewarding. Why Hong Kong? It was exciting - a Chinese New York - and the opportunity to join a new statutory agency at the outset and shape its policy-making was unbeatable.\nSometimes you go for things because you just know they will be right for you.\nFinancial services regulation was my life for the next dozen or so years, and an exhilarating one it was, with periodic scandals and upheavals requiring deft handling and occasionally unique policy responses. In that time I left Hong Kong for London, where I took on the role of Chief Executive of the Investment Management Regulatory Organisation as it was being merged with the new Financial Services Authority.\nIn London after the merger came one of those mid-career points when it is a good idea to take stock. Whether I was finished with financial services or financial services was finished with me, I knew I needed to do something different. I had no fixed notions about what that might be, other than it was important it involve the public interest. So I applied for, and was appointed to the Police Complaints Authority. Three years later, I became a Commissioner with the newly established Independent Police Complaints Commission, and five years after that, its Deputy Chair with operational responsibility for Commissioners across England and Wales.\nSometimes you go for things because of what they are not. Not corporate, not financial services. But I learned rapidly about the world of police complaints and investigations, allegations ranging from the most serious and substantiated misconduct, to the misplaced or downright vexatious. Dealing with grieving and often angry families bereaved following a death in police custody, which can affect whole communities. Handling hostile and occasionally unco-operative police officers. Responding to a media and political environment at times more interested in headlines than facts. And through all of it, the challenge of independent, robust and proportionate investigation, the importance of evidence-based decision-making, and the sensitive communication of difficult decisions. Decisions are often criticised by both parties to an outcome - such roles will never win a popularity contest.\nBut it is better to be right than popular, and justice is its own reward - although sometimes, when the brickbats are flying thick and fast, you wonder if it is all worth it. But you stay with it, because it is.\nSo I came to the end of a 10 year term at the IPCC, and as TS Eliot said:\n We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.\nAnd so after 29 years I am back in Melbourne, knowing the place, and myself, so much better than I did.\nThis time, I applied for a job because I knew it was right - my ideal job, to deal with complaints about public services in Victoria, not including the police.\nSo the journey continues - in the current role, I trust, until 2024. As I said to my staff on my first day, you do not start a 10 year term with a plan. You start with a set of values and beliefs - in integrity, fairness, social justice and human rights - and in the way you work. I believe in working with people wherever possible to achieve change - and that the most impactful powers are the ones you don't need to use because everyone knows you have them.\nIt is a rare and wonderful privilege to be a constitutionally independent officer of Parliament, making decisions in the interests of justice. The opportunities to make a meaningful difference are incalculable.\nSometimes you go on a journey with no destination in mind, but looking back down the road it all makes sense.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/power-to-the-people\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/deborah-glass\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hocking, Barbara", "Entry ID": "AWE5422", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hocking-barbara\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "Barbara Hocking graduated in Arts\/Law at Melbourne University in 1962 and quickly demonstrated her life-long commitment to social justice issues, particularly Indigenous land rights. She completed her LL M degree at Monash University in 1970 focusing on this topic. Barbara was admitted to practice in Victoria in November 1975 and in the ACT in December 1975. She signed the Victorian Bar Roll in March 1976 and read with Leonard Ostrowski, later QC and a Judge of the County Court.\nIn 1982 Barbara Hocking became the first barrister briefed in the Mabo case which would finally right the legal fiction of 'terra nullius' and recognise native title in common law. She was a long-standing and active member of the Australian Labor Party and maintained her political commitments until her death. In 1986 Barbara became a Senior Member of the Commonwealth Veterans Review Tribunal and Chairperson of the Medicare Participation Review Committee, and in 2004 she was appointed to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Barbara Ann Hocking and Jenny Hocking about their mother for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Barbara Ann Hocking and Jenny Hocking and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nPREFACE\n'If ever I need a good lawyer I'll get you, you're terrific!' These were the words of a kindly social worker to our mother, Barbara Hocking, following a harrowing 'discharge meeting' at a Melbourne hospital, to determine the residential fate of our aged father. Our distressed 85 year old mother had argued powerfully and passionately before a barrage of decision-making hospital staff, and rogue family members jostling for power, as her husband of over 60 years was taken from the family home against her wishes and placed in managed care. Within a week of this unforgivable final injustice our mother suffered a fatal stroke, dying just 3 weeks later, on 6 December 2013.\nBarbara Hocking graduated in Arts\/Law at Melbourne University in 1962 and quickly demonstrated her life-long commitment to social justice issues, particularly Indigenous land rights. She completed her LL M degree at Monash University in 1970 focusing on this topic. Barbara was admitted to practice in Victoria in November 1975 and in the ACT in December 1975. She signed the Victorian Bar Roll in March 1976 and read with Leonard Ostrowski, later QC and a Judge of the County Court. In 1982 Barbara Hocking became the first barrister briefed in the Mabo case which would finally right the legal fiction of 'terra nullius' and recognise native title in common law. She was a long-standing and active member of the Australian Labor Party and maintained her political commitments until her death. In 1986 Barbara became a Senior Member of the Commonwealth Veterans Review Tribunal and Chairperson of the Medicare Participation Review Committee, and in 2004 she was appointed to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.\nOur mother's life's work had been spent in the pursuit of justice, rights and equality before the law, specifically for indigenous land rights through the recognition of native title in common law. In this singular goal Barbara Hocking's body of legal reasoning, her writings and her work with the plaintiffs in the Mabo case, was profoundly significant and highly original. It was also, with the High Court's historic Mabo decision in 1992, ultimately successful.\nCHILDHOOD\nOur mother was born Barbara Joyce Browning, on 28 June 1928, into a family marked by her parents' acrimonious divorce which scarred her childhood and of which she rarely spoke. She drew upon her close relationship with her brother Billo, together with her love of books, study and dogs, to provide her with great comfort in often difficult times. In one of the many incongruities of her long life, some of Barbara's happiest childhood memories were experienced during the Second World War when, with the contingencies of war, the family shared a house with several aunts and numerous cousins. Barbara revelled in this extended family life with noisy children, dogs and loving aunts, even as they were all too aware of and concerned by the absence of men in their day-to-day lives away at the war.\nSTUDYING LAW\nIn 1947 Barbara Hocking began an Arts\/Law course at Melbourne University and moved into University Women's College, thriving in the close almost family environment and making life-long friends. These women, whom Barbara first met during her university days, remained an important part of her life and they continued to meet over lunch for decades to come, still calling themselves 'the University Women's College girls' even into their 80s.\nIt was also at University that Barbara met the man who would become her life partner, Frederick Hocking, who was then studying medicine. Fred's war-time experience had contrasted markedly with her own. He had enlisted with the RAAF at the age of 18 having already lost his best mate who had enlisted as an under-age recruit. Fred had left school at the age of 14 and had been a grateful beneficiary of Labor Prime Minister John Curtin's post-war Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme which enabled him to return to school after the war and to begin a medical degree at the University of Melbourne. Fred and Barbara Hocking were married on 18 May 1951.\nWith an impressive undergraduate program of 4 years of her law studies completed, Barbara's studies were interrupted by the arrival of four children within ten years, before she was even thirty years old. She did not forget her love of study and of the law and, with 4 children under the age of 10, showed her trademark determination and returned to university to finish her law degree. If it was unusual for a woman to be studying law in the 1940s, it was even more unusual for a woman with four young children to be finishing her law degree more than 10 years later. But this she did, and in 1962 Barbara Hocking graduated with Arts and Law from the University of Melbourne.\nFor decades, Barbara put her husband's career first, supporting him through a year's sabbatical working on a Doctorate in Medicine in 1964, which year was spent, with the four children in tow, in the quintessentially quaint village of Woodstock, living in a large old English stone house opposite Blenheim palace and its wonderful gardens designed by Capability Brown which, as a keen gardener herself, Barbara loved. Both Barbara and Fred embraced the English pub tradition, becoming regulars at the famous Bear Inn in Woodstock with local friends. It was a time of challenge for both of them and Barbara, incongruously enough again, taught mathematics (of which she admitted to knowing little) at the local secondary school and began a brief career as a lollypop lady, showing children safely across the road to and from the village primary school!\nTHE GENESIS AND AFTERMATH OF MABO\nOn her return to Melbourne, Barbara resumed her law studies and began a Master of Law at Monash University. Fuelled by what she perceived to be a neglect of Indigenous property rights in the law curriculum, coupled with a neglect of colonial legal history that would explain the incorrect application of the doctrine of 'terra nullius' to Australia, she completed a preliminary MA thesis at Monash University on 'Aboriginal Land Rights: An Australian Injustice'. In 1971 Barbara Hocking was awarded an LLM, also at Monash University, for her ground-breaking thesis Native Land Rights. With the academic legal groundwork done, she commenced work on what was to be the most rewarding part of her career in the law and began what has since been recognised as a body of work of the greatest legal and political significance. In those theses, and in her books, articles, reports and conference papers over many years, Barbara presented what was then an unprecedented argument, later vindicated by the High Court in its historic Mabo decisions, concerning the recognition at common law of a form of native title ownership in Australia.\nIn September 1981, Barbara Hocking presented a paper at a Land Rights conference at James Cook University, Townsville. The conference, Land Rights and Future Australian Race Relations, was organised by the Townsville chapter of the Aboriginal Treaty Committee and co-chaired by Eddie Mabo and Professor Noel Loos of James Cook University. Barbara Hocking's paper, subsequently published in Olbrei, (ed) Black Australians, was entitled 'Is Might Right? An Argument for the Recognition of Traditional Aboriginal Title to Land in the Australian Courts' and argued that a case should be taken to the High Court of Australian in pursuit of the recognition of native title in Australian common law. In this powerful and prescient piece Barbara propounded that the High Court be asked to determine whether indigenous Australians had a 'just and legal' claim to their lands, to overturn the specious notion of 'terra nullius' (embedded in Australian law since the Privy Council decision in Cooper v Stuart in 1889) and that it was time for the common law to be 'put to rights'. Even if such a case were not to succeed, Barbara argued, it would surely serve as a catalyst for political action: 'A test case brought by a group of Queensland Aboriginals who still live on their tribal lands, could influence the attitudes of white Australians \u2026. It might for example lead to the establishment of a Court of Claims and an Aboriginal Claims Commission.'\nAt the conference Eddie Mabo and Father Dave Passi - the two lead plaintiffs in what became known as the Mabo case - then gave instructions to Barbara Hocking as barrister and solicitor Greg McIntyre to pursue precisely such a case in the High Court, to establish recognition of traditional rights to land in Australian common law. Barbara well understood the potential significance of this case and for the next ten years it would be the central goal of her legal work as she made the Mabo case the highest priority in her practice at the bar. The writ and the statement of claim initiating the case were issued in the Brisbane Registry of the High Court in May 1982 on behalf of the plaintiffs Eddie Mabo, Dave Passi, Sam Passi, James Rice and Celuia Mapo Salee. Barbara prepared the first draft of this historic statement of claim which drew heavily on her expertise in indigenous land rights, law and tenure, especially in the framing of the legal issues, all guided by her deep academic knowledge of this area of law.\nBarbara Hocking appeared in the High Court as a member of the plaintiffs' legal team to argue what became Mabo (No 1). The High Court's Final Judgment, in Mabo (No 2), was handed down on 3rd June 1992, finally recognizing a new property right, 'native title' in common law. The High Court judgments essentially accepted the arguments put forward in her work including her 1988 book International Law and Aboriginal Human Rights. She had begun this work at a time when such an analysis was politically and academically new and challenging and she was to see her interpretation of the law in this area achieve mainstream acceptance. What drove her was a concern for justice and human rights and a fundamental belief in the law - specifically that the previous application of the law was simply wrong and that it should be, in her words, 'put right'. She was overjoyed when then Prime Minister Paul Keating took carriage of the implications of the historic Mabo decision and risked his political career to bring about the Native Title Act 1993. As Barbara's Canadian colleagues, Professor Peter Russell and Professor Wes Pue remarked: her intellectual input was indeed 'terrific'. Regretfully, the 'principle hero' of the Mabo case, Eddie Mabo, died before the High Court handed down its decision.\nIn 1992 Barbara Hocking, along with the five plaintiff's in the Mabo Case, was awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission paying tribute to her foundational role in the recognition of native title and for 'her contribution to the Mabo case and\u2026work over many years to gain legal recognition for indigenous people's rights.' She later described this as her 'professional life's work.' Barbara was honoured again the following year when she was awarded the inaugural Monash University Distinguished Alumni Award for her 'visionary groundbreaking work on aboriginal land rights [which] was, through the High Court of Australia's Mabo decisions, recognised as a body of work of immense legal and political significance and an important milestone in Australian history'.\nAmong the highlights of her role on the Mabo case, she later told ABC Radio, was a visit to the Torres Strait Islands, meeting the Torres Strait Islander plaintiffs, their community and their families. Barbara was to look back on those halcyon days with great pride and fondness, retaining a life-long interest in the role of law in pursuit of justice, never losing faith in law's transformative role, and retaining the faith and spirit to argue the case for justice even up to the month before her sudden death.\nTerrific indeed!\n\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2006 - 2006)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/review-of-peter-h-russell-recognizing-aboriginal-title-the-mabo-case-and-indigenous-resistance-to-english-settler-colonialism\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wilson, Bethia (Beth)", "Entry ID": "AWE5423", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wilson-bethia-beth\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Public servant, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "Dr Beth Wilson AM is a former senior public servant who retired in December 2012 after serving as Victoria's Health Services Commissioner for 15 years (1997-2012). In this role, Dr Wilson managed complaints made against health service providers.\nAfter graduating from Monash University (BA 1975, LLB 1977), Dr Wilson worked in administrative law with a particular interest in medico-legal and ethical issues.\nPrior to her role as Health Services Commissioner Dr Wilson was president of the Mental Health Review Board, a senior legal member of the Social Security Appeals Board and legal member of the WorkCare Appeals Board. She has also held various positions with the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, the Law Reform Commission, the Victoria Law Foundation and Telecom (now Telstra).\nIn 2001 Monash University acknowledged Dr Wilson by presenting her with a Distinguished Alumni Award. The award celebrated her contribution to research, public administration and ethical practice in the areas of law and health.\nIn 2003 Dr Wilson was recognised for her services to health with a Centenary Medal.\nShe received an Honorary Doctorate in 2004 from RMIT for her contributions to health education.\nIn 2008 Dr Wilson was named on the 2008 Victorian Women's Honour Roll.\nOn Australia Day 2013 she received a Member of the Order of Australia 'for significant service to the community of Victoria through the provision of dispute resolution in the area of health services'.\n", "Details": "The fourth of five children of Isa May Wilson 'deserted wife', Beth Wilson grew up in Hastings, Victoria. She left school at age 15 because she had holes in her school shoes and no money to pay for new ones. Beth worked in shops, factories, fruit picking and fishing until she returned to night school at Prahran High School in 1970. Beth worked at Pict Frozen Pea factory in Notting Hill during the day. She was assisted by a Commonwealth Scholarship to Monash University and later, Gough Whitlam's abolition of university fees. At night school Beth met the feminist activist Mary Owen who became a dear friend and influence on her strong sense of social justice and women's rights.\nAt Monash Beth studied Arts and Law and later Librarianship at RMIT. She worked in the Library at Telecom and then as librarian\/researcher to the Victoria Law Foundation and the Law reform Commission of Victoria. She is currently a mentor for Monash University students.\nIn the mid 1980s Feminist Lawyers was re-formed and Beth and her colleagues assisted two young women, Sandra and Tracey Collis who had been charged with perjury and jailed for withdrawing their claims of incest by their father. Convinced that these two young women were victims not offenders Feminist Lawyers worked with the Domestic Violence and Incest Resources Centre to launch a successful appeal to have the Collis sisters released from prison and later to have their convictions erased through a Pardon.\nFeminist Lawyers sought the assistance of Barrister John Dixon (pro bono) and Fitzroy Legal Centre (Angela Palombo) to lodge a complaint to the then Solicitor's Disciplinary Board against the lawyer who represented the Collis sisters and their father. Not surprisingly the Board found there was a conflict of interest and upheld the complaint against Robert John Gallbally. John Dixon later assisted the Collis sisters in a civil suit against Robert Gallbally.\nBeth worked in the legal and policy section of the Department of Health with Feminist Lawyers founder, Bebe Loff. It was an exciting time for policy as recent major reforms had been made with the establishment of the Heath Services Commissioner, the Guardianship and Administration Board and the Mental Health Review Board. She also joined the editorial collective of the Legal Services Bulletin that later became the Alternative Law Journal and she established its long running column 'Sit Down Girlie'.\nBeth was appointed to the Social Security Appeals Board in 1985, the WorkCare Appeals Board in 1990 and became President of the Mental Health Review Board in 1992. She is a past President of the Victorian Branch of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law.\nIn 1997 she became Victoria's Health Services Commissioner, a position she held until 2012. Highlights included an Inquiry into The Royal Melbourne Hospital, an investigation into the activities of a disgraced dentist turned cancer quack Noel Campbell and an Investigation into Peter DeAngelis aka Thunder Eagle a sham 'shaman'. Beth also assisted the very brave Ercan Tekin, a man with cerebral palsy who had been 'ripped off' by a chiropractor who claimed to be able to 'cure' cerebral palsy with hyperbaric treatment. Ercan's story was featured on The Law Report ABC Radio National, 16 June 2009 and in Beth's exit interview on The Law Report on 11 December 2012).\nIn 2006 Beth led an Australian Delegation for HREOC assessing the progress of China's human rights obligations in family planning held in Urumqui, Xiang Jing Autonomous Region, North West China. Beth travelled twice to Sri Lanka with AusMat to assist victims of the 2004 Tsunami and in 2014 she travelled to Canada to speak at an international conference on health complaints. Beth was a member of the Disability Services Board from 2007 to 2012 and she is a respected person of the Tarwirri Indigenous Law Students and Lawyers Association of Victoria.\nFollowing her retirement from the HSC in 2012 Beth became Patron of the Continence Foundation of Australia, Patron of The Satellite Foundation, Member of the Board of Directors of Women and Mentoring, Independent Chair of the Royal Children's Hospital Travancore Child and Adolescent Health Service's Community Reference Group, Victorian AIDS Council (VAC) volunteer and Independent Chair of the VAC, Cabrini Hospital's Patient and Resident Advisory Council, Victoria Legal Aid Community Consultative Committee and is a member of Breacan's Community Advisory Group.\nAustralia has committed to the United Nations Declaration commitment to the Greater Involvement of People Living With HIV\/AIDS (GIPA) and Beth is the Independent Chair of the VAC committee which is implementing GIPA. Beth is also a part time Legal Member of the Mental Health Tribunal.\nBeth has her own business Lawfully Funny and is a popular public speaker and part time member of the Mental Health tribunal. She is also a member of Wild at Heart which brings the creative arts to the mental health community and performed in their play The Mental Health Act. In 2013 and 2014 she appeared in The Vagina Monologues.\nBeth was a member of Joan Kirner's Women's Advisory Group in the 1980s and has continued to campaign for women's health reproductive rights. She also advocates on a range of social justice issues including euthanasia, women's rights, mental health, inequality and disability.\n", "Events": "Health Services Commissioner (Victoria) (1997 - 2012) \nInducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2008 - 2008)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Evans, Carolyn", "Entry ID": "AWE5424", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/evans-carolyn\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Dean, Lawyer", "Summary": "Carolyn Evans was born in 1970. She grew up in the outer suburb of Greensborough with father Terry, a printer, and mother Tess (then a primary school teacher, in more recent years a novelist) and younger brothers Tim and Julian. She attended St Mary's Primary School Greensborough and Catholic Ladies' College Eltham. At secondary school, she was particularly involved in public speaking competitions competing in several national and state level competitions.\nShe commenced at Melbourne University in 1989 and graduated with an LLB (hons) and BA. While at university, Evans was involved in debating and was Vice-President of the Melbourne University Debating Society. She participated in a wide range of mooting competitions, winning the Australasian Law Students Society Mooting Competition (at which she was also awarded Best Speaker), coming runner up in the International Final of the Jessup Mooting Competition (including winning best speaker in the international final), and winning the Governor-General's Mooting Competition.\nAfter graduating, Evans commenced Articles at Blake Dawson Waldron (as it then was) in 1994 and was admitted to practice in the following year. She worked across Banking and Finance, Property and Government law as an articled clerk and then solicitor in 1994-95.\nEvans was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship for Victoria for 1995 and read for a DPhil in Law at Exeter College, Oxford. Her doctoral work on religious freedom was published as 'Religious Freedom Under the European Convention on Human Rights' by Oxford University Press in 2001. During her time at Oxford, Evans was appointed to a Stipendiary Lectureship in Law at Exeter College for two years.\nIn 2000, Evans returned to Australia and took up sessional work at Melbourne Law School where she was later appointed to a Senior Lectureship. She was promoted to Professor at age thirty-eight on the basis of her internationally recognized expertise in human rights law, particularly religious freedom and institutional protections of human rights. She was shortlisted by the United Nations for the position of Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2010. In the same year, Evans was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholarship to allow her to travel as a Visiting Fellow at American and Emory Universities to examine questions of comparative religious freedom.\nEvans is the author of 'Religious Freedom under the European Court of Human Rights' (OUP 2001) and 'The Legal Protection of Religious Freedom in Australia' (Federation Press: 2012). She is co-author of 'Australian Bills of Rights: The Law of the Victorian Charter and the ACT Human Rights Act' (LexisNexis 2008). She is co-editor of 'Religion and International Law' (1999, Kluwer); 'Mixed Blessings: Laws, Religions and Women's Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region' (2006 Martinus Nijhoff) and 'Law and Religion in Historical and Theoretical Perspective' (CUP 2008). She is an internationally recognised expert on religious freedom and the relationship between law and religion and has spoken on these topics in the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, Greece, Vietnam, India, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Malaysia, Nepal and Australia.\nIn 2011, Evans was appointed as the first female Dean of Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne. Prior to this she had held administrative roles including Associate Dean Research and Deputy Director, Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies. During her time as Dean, she has overseen the final years of the LLB and the growth of the Juris Doctor program. She led the development of a clinical and experiential set of subjects through the Public Interest Law Initiative and oversaw a major Campaign that raised millions of dollars for the Law School, including a funded chair in Human Rights.\nEvans is married to Dr Stephen Donaghue Q.C. and they have two children, Caitlin and Michael Donaghue-Evans.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Holmes, Catherine", "Entry ID": "AWE5425", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/holmes-catherine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Senior Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "Catherine Ena \"Cate\" Holmes, AC, assumed the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland on 11 September 2015.She holds the degrees of B.Econ (ANU), B.A. (Hons), LLB, LLM (Advanced) (UQ).\nHolmes was admitted as a solicitor in 1982 and as a barrister in 1984, taking silk in 1999. While in practice, Justice Holmes was at various times a part time member of the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, Deputy President of the Queensland Community Corrections Board and, during 1998 and 1999, Counsel assisting the Forde Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse. Her Honour was appointed to the Supreme Court of Queensland in March 2000. She was the judge overseeing the Court's criminal list for some years, and was the judge constituting the Mental Health Court from February 2005 until May 2006, when she was appointed to the Court of Appeal. From 16 January 2011 until 16 March 2012, Justice Holmes was the Commissioner of the Commission of Inquiry into the Queensland Floods 2010-2011.\nJustice Holmes AC was made a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia on Australia Day in 2020, for eminent service to the judiciary, notably to criminal, administrative, and mental health law, and to the community of Queensland. She was a founding member of the Queensland Women's Legal Service in 1984.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-womans-place-100-years-of-queensland-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/who-is-catherine-holmes-queenslands-first-female-chief-justice\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Ordway, Catherine", "Entry ID": "AWE5426", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ordway-catherine\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Fencer, Handball Player, Lawyer, Rugby player, Solicitor, Sports administrator, Sportswoman, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "Catherine Ordway is a highly respected sports lawyer, sports administrator, lecturer and consultant. In recognition of her strong reputation for regulatory review in the international sport integrity field, Catherine has recently been awarded an academic appointment at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Victoria as Professor of Practice (Sports Management). As well as her academic appointment, Catherine holds a position as Special Counsel at Snedden Hall & Gallop (SHG Sport) in Canberra.\nOrdway's expertise in assisting organisations to strengthen integrity in sport programs has led to her consultancy services being highly sought after by National Anti-Doping Organisations and countries bidding to host Summer or Winter Olympic Games. She is regularly requested to present at conferences and seminars, and to comment in the media on sports law, gender equity and integrity issues.\n", "Details": "Catherine Ordway has a Bachelor of Arts (Jurisprudence) and Law from the University of Adelaide; a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the University of South Australia; and a Graduate Diploma in Investigations Management from Charles Sturt University. She has been admitted as a solicitor in the High Court, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales. Catherine lectures at the Masters level in sports law and sports management subjects: at La Trobe University (risk management), the University of New South Wales (anti-doping), the University of Melbourne (sports integrity and investigations) and the University of Canberra (performance integrity). She has also taught undergraduate sports management units as Senior Lecturer at the University of Canberra.\nCatherine Ordway is currently completing her PhD in governance, leadership and sports integrity. The Australian Sports Commission has mandated a 40% gender inclusion policy and intends that this should lead to better integrity outcomes. Her research involves gathering data and consulting stakeholders to determine whether this new regulatory initiative is likely to have the desired effect.\nA former national level handballer, Catherine Ordway has competed for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in rugby union, and at intervarsity level in fencing. Her professional interest in integrity in sport began when, as a solicitor working for Browne & Co from 1997, her primary client was the Australian Olympic Committee. She appeared in over thirty anti-doping hearings, before the Court of Arbitration for Sport or National Sports Dispute Centre, in the lead up to the Sydney Olympic Games. (Catherine understands that she was the first Australian female lawyer to 'prosecute' athletes under the relevant anti-doping policies, and remains one of the few women world-wide to do so.) At that time, Catherine had conducted one third of all international anti-doping cases. After living and working in Europe and the Middle East for five years developing national and international anti-doping programs, she returned to Canberra to work at the Senior Executive level at the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA).\nOrdway has represented and chaired tribunals in sports as diverse as: archery, athletics, baseball, combat sports, cricket, cycling, football, softball and swimming in a variety of selection, anti-doping and code of conduct disputes. Catherine has also served as a board member of Australian Canoeing and Capital Football. Catherine is on the International Sports Law Journal (ISLJ) Editorial and Advisory Board and is an Expert Contributor to the Australian Sports Commission Clearinghouse. Catherine is also an Ethics and Integrity Panel member for Triathlon Australia.\nAWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS\n\nBrazilian Olympic Award, as a consultant contributing to the IOC awarding hosting rights to Rio for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games\n World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), legal paper prize\nAustralian and New Zealand Sports Law Association (ANZSLA), legal paper prize\nRepresented WADA at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games in the WADA Outreach team\nRepresented WADA at the 2007 Rio Pan-American Games as a WADA Independent Observer\n\nCURRENT (2015) TRIBUNAL AND BOARD MEMBERSHIPS\n\nInternational Sports Law Journal (ISLJ) Editorial Board\n International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Medical & Anti-Doping representative for Australia\n International Cricket Council (ICC) Anti-Doping Panel\nWorld Baseball-Softball Confederation (WBSC), Baseball Division, Medical and Anti-Doping Commission [formerly IBAF] -Expert\nSportAccord Members Doping Hearing Panel\n West Indies Cricket Board's Independent Review Board \nAustralian Sports Commission, Clearinghouse, Expert Contributor\nTriathlon Australia, Ethics and Integrity Panel member\nAustralian & New Zealand Sports Law Association (ANZSLA) Member, 1996- The only lawyer asked by ANZSLA to present in five capital cities as part of the 2013 national roadshow on the Australian Football League and Australian Sport Anti-Doping Authority investigation into the Essendon Football Club: \"Doping Issues in Sport and the ACC Report\"\nWomen on Boards (WOB) Co-Founder, 2001- The WOB network was co-founded by Ruth Medd and myself to connect interested and talented women with, initially sports, corporate and not-for-profit boards to increase the gender and skills diversity in decision-making. It now has almost 22,000 subscribers from all sectors and industries including rural, mining, and the public service. The network has many qualified, female executives from legal, financial, IT, sales and marketing, human resources, business development and project management backgrounds who are looking for a Board career. WOB has recently expanded into the UK and Hong Kong.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bennett-Borlase, Deborah", "Entry ID": "AWE5427", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bennett-borlase-deborah\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "In 1987 Deborah Bennett-Borlase became the first woman appointed as a Magistrate to the Perth Courts of Petty Sessions in Western Australia\n", "Details": "Born at a private hospital in Claremont (the building later occupied by solicitors), Deborah Bennett-Borlase was raised and educated in Perth. She married a farmer in the North Eastern Wheatbelt of Western Australia and, in her words, was somewhat surprised to discover that milk did not come in bottles, nor bread (a catastrophe when made by herself) already sliced for selection. She did learn, however, how to keep the sheep up for the shearers in the sheds, to keep the fires burning on the wind rows of timber cleared by the bulldozers for new paddocks and to drive a tractor and seed crops when necessity required.\nTwo children and then, later, education became a priority and a move to Perth occurred. With time on her hands Bennett-Borlase enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Western Australia. Study, lectures and tutorials were slotted into half the week and the balance driving 200 miles (320km) back to the farm for other duties. Bitten by the study bug after the successful completion of the BA she enrolled in the Law Faculty. On completion of this degree she undertook articles which were split between David Smith of Slee, Anderson and Pidgeon and subsequently Ian Mossenson of Mossenson, Skarlz and Corser & Corser, undertaking mainly criminal matters.\nIn 1987 she was appointed a magistrate in the Perth Court of Petty Sessions and was welcomed with offers of assistance from generous brother magistrates.\nHer circuit was one week at Rockingham and one week in the North East Kimberly region. The latter entailed a lot of road and air travel to Derby, Halls Creek, Balgo Hills, Kununarra and Wyndam. At Rockingham she became the subject of interest of the local chapter of a bikie club whose members tried to follow her from court to her home in Perth several times - this attempt at intimidation failed.\nConsternation and amusement arose at her first sitting in Kununarra when a slightly tipsy gentleman came up from the cells and called out \"Whd youse coin up there misses? You'd better get down before SM finds you\". The Prosecutor and orderlies, all spruced up for her visit went rigid with embarrassment and she struggled not to laugh.\nThe experience in the Kimberley was one of the most enjoyable and enriching experiences in her life. The exposure to the Aboriginal people and their problems and joys, along with meeting some of the white pioneers of this area while being exposed to the rugged beauty of the Kimberley landscapes will stay with her forever.\nBennett-Borlase was later posted back to the Perth Court of Petty Sessions and retired in 2002.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mullins, Debra Ann", "Entry ID": "AWE5428", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mullins-debra-ann\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Senior Counsel, Solicitor, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "Debra Mullins is a Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland, a Trustee of the Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation and the Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane. She is the patron of Justice and the Law Society based at the University of Queensland and a member of the Visiting Committee of the Griffith Law School. She is also extensively involved in judicial education through her work with the National Judicial College of Australia.\n", "Details": "Debra Mullins was born in 1957 in Sydney, to Ken Curtis, bookmaker, and Laurina Curtis (n\u00e9e Holz). She has two sisters, Karen Curtis and Roslyn Curtis. She attended Coorparoo State High School from 1969 until 1973, where she was dux of her year. Debra was interested in a career in the law and enrolled in a dual degree of Commerce and Law at the University of Queensland in 1974. Throughout this period and into her professional life, Debra was strongly supported and encouraged by her family.\nDebra completed her undergraduate degrees at the University of Queensland in Commerce in 1977 and in Law with Honours in 1980. During her university years, she taught speech and drama.\nDebra was admitted as a solicitor in 1980. She had completed her articles of clerkship at Kinsey Bennett and Gill, where she then worked as a solicitor until 1984. During this period, she worked closely with her master, Graham Macdonald, who greatly influenced the development of her areas of expertise in the law, particularly in property law and landlord\/tenant law.\nDebra married Patrick Mullins in 1981. They have three children. Debra describes her husband Pat, who is also a lawyer, as her greatest supporter. Debra went on to complete a Master of Laws in 1987, again at the University of Queensland, which was upgraded to a Master of Laws (Advanced) in 1999.\nIn 1984, Debra was admitted to the Bar, where she worked predominantly in commercial, property and estate matters. She did experience occasional reluctance of clients and solicitors to brief female barristers, but considered they were the losers by depriving themselves of complete choice from the available pool of talent at the Bar.\nThere was an underrepresentation of women at the Bar, and Debra sought to remedy this through involvement with the Law Council of Australia's Equalising Opportunities in the Law Committee, as well as chairing a similar committee for the Bar Association of Queensland, and through her mentoring of junior women barristers. Debra became a member of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland in 1980 and has continued to be a loyal supporter of its activities.\nIn 1998, Debra was appointed Senior Counsel. She performed duties as a part time member of the Queensland Building Tribunal and as a part time member of the Queensland Law Reform Commission.\nDebra was appointed to the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Queensland on 16 March 2000.\nDuring her career on the bench, Debra has continued to be involved in the legal community through a variety of organisations. As well as involvement with her judicial peers through the National Judicial College of Australia, Debra regularly assists with the Bar Practice Course, assessing and encouraging trainee barristers. She also regularly volunteers her time to assist lawyers in furthering their professional development, presenting on a wide range of topics.\nMentoring has also been a part of Debra's activities. Through mentoring the young law students from Justice and the Law Society, acting as a judge in moots, to staying in touch with her long list of former associates, Debra is much involved with assisting subsequent generations of legal professionals. Debra was the inaugural Judge in Residence at the Griffith Law School for a week in September 2014.\nDebra's life is also marked by her Christian faith and her involvement in the Anglican Church. In 2004, Debra was appointed Deputy Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane, a position which she held until appointed Chancellor in July 2014. Debra has been a member of the Chapter of St John's Cathedral, Brisbane, since 2002.\nIn 2009 the Queensland Law Society awarded Debra the Agnes McWhinney Award in recognition of outstanding achievement by a female practitioner.\nIn 2010 Debra was admitted by Griffith University to the honorary degree of Doctor of the University for her contribution through her membership of the Griffith Law School Visiting Committee to the development and maintenance of close relations between the Griffith Law School and the legal profession.\n", "Events": "Officer of the Order of Australia (AO): For distinguished service to the law, and to the judiciary, to professional development and legal education, and to women. (2019 - 2019)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/debra-mullins\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bolton, Elizabeth Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5429", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bolton-elizabeth-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "When Elizabeth Bolton was appointed South Australian Chief Magistrate in 2007, she became the first woman to head a court jurisdiction in the history of South Australia.\nAfter completing a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) majoring in English Literature and then a Master of Arts degree at the University of Adelaide, Elizabeth Bolton subsequently completed a Law degree at the same university before commencing practice as a lawyer in 1985.\nAfter periods as a prosecutor firstly with the state Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and then with the Commonwealth DPP, she was appointed as a magistrate in December 1999. She began with two years sitting in Elizabeth, where she also went on circuit to Tanunda, Clare, Peterborough and Berri. In 2004 she was appointed the regional manager at the Christies Beach Magistrates Court.\nShe became Chief Magistrate in 2007. This role was changed by legislation to be both Chief Magistrate and a Judge of the S.A. District Court in July 2013.\nChief Magistrate Elizabeth Bolton resigned from the position in July 2015 due to ill health.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ill-health-forces-first-female-south-australia-chief-magistrate-elizabeth-bolton-to-resign-after-eight-years\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Shaw, Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5430", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/shaw-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Advisor, Advocate, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Elizabeth Shaw is a qualified company director and holds degrees in arts and law as well as a Masters of Public Policy. She currently (2015) serves as the President of UN Women Australia, Deputy Chair of Global Voices, and as a Director of Inclusion WA. She has been recognised with an Australian Leadership Award from the Australian Davos Connection, and a West Australian of the Year Award.\n", "Details": "Elizabeth Shaw works as a Manager in KPMG's Advisory practice. She also holds leadership roles in the not-for-profit sector, currently serving as the President of the Australian National Committee for UN Women and the Deputy Chair of Inclusion WA.\nElizabeth's role as President of the Australian National Committee for UN Women reflects her long-term commitment to increasing gender equality, in Australia and around the world. She has presented at sessions at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York and written on gender issues for the Australian Financial Review and The West Australian.\nElizabeth completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Western Australia, where she served as the President of the Law Students' Society, Editor of the UWA Student Newspaper and Editor of the UWA Law Review.\nElizabeth started her career as a solicitor for the State Solicitor's Office in Western Australia (2007 - 2010), winning the Golden Gavel competition in 2010.\nIn 2008, Elizabeth was selected to be the Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations, consulting with over 5,000 young Australians before presenting her findings at the UN General Assembly in New York.\nElizabeth's passion for engaging young people in the community continued through her support of organisations working with young people, including her work as a director of ReachOut.Com (2009 - 2013), a Trustee of the UN Youth Foundation (2013 - 2014) and Deputy Chair of Global Voices (2013 - 2015).\nElizabeth worked as the Executive Director of the UN Association of Australia (2010 - 2014). During this time, she completed a Masters in Public Policy at the ANU, receiving a scholarship to complete coursework at the University of Oxford and interning for United States Senator Richard G. Lugar.\nElizabeth has a keen interest in politics and international relations, and was selected to participate in the State Department's International Visitors Leadership Program, the Australia American Leadership Dialogue and the Australia India Youth Dialogue.\nElizabeth has been recognised with an Australian Leadership Award from the Australian Davos Connection, a West Australian of the Year Award (Youth) from Celebrate WA and as a 'Global Leader of Tomorrow' by the University of St Gallen in Switzerland.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bolton, Genevieve", "Entry ID": "AWE5431", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bolton-genevieve\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Bendigo, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Genevieve Bolton was born in Bendigo Victoria but spent most of her childhood growing up in Brisbane. After graduating from Mount Saint Michael's College in Ashgrove, Brisbane she undertook her Bachelor of Law Degree at the Queensland University of Technology graduating in 1994.\nShe then spent a year in Melbourne undertaking a social justice volunteer placement run by the Jesuits and Sisters of Mercy where she was placed with the then Refugee and Advice Casework Service now Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre (RILC). In that role, she provided legal assistance to onshore asylum seekers and people seeking to sponsor relatives from refugee situations abroad.\nShe quickly learnt that she wanted to pursue a career in the community legal sector. In 1995, she completed her legal practical training at the Leo Cussen Institute in Melbourne and was admitted as a Solicitor and Barrister in Victoria and obtained her first paid legal job with then the Victorian Immigration Advice and Rights Centre now known as RILC. Genevieve has also been admitted as a Solicitor in Queensland and the ACT and is on the High Court roll.\nGenevieve Bolton is currently (2015) the Co-ordinator\/Principal Solicitor at Canberra Community Law which provides free legal services to disadvantaged and vulnerable people.\n", "Details": "Genevieve Bolton was born in Bendigo Victoria but spent most of her childhood growing up in Brisbane. On graduating from Mount Saint Michael's College in Ashgrove, Brisbane she undertook her Bachelor of Law Degree at the Queensland University of Technology graduating in 1994.\nYearning to find a satisfying and rewarding path which would enable her to make a difference, she spent a year in Melbourne undertaking a social justice volunteer placement run by the Jesuits and Sisters of Mercy where she was placed with the then Refugee and Advice Casework Service now Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre (RILC). In that role, she provided legal assistance to onshore asylum seekers and people seeking to sponsor relatives from refugee situations abroad and quickly learnt that she wanted to pursue a career in the community legal sector.\nIn 1995, she completed her legal practical training at the Leo Cussen Institute in Melbourne and was admitted as a Solicitor and Barrister in Victoria and obtained her first paid legal job with the then Victorian Immigration Advice and Rights Centre now known as RILC. Genevieve has also been admitted as a Solicitor in Queensland and the ACT and is on the High Court roll.\nDuring the period 2000 to 2003, Genevieve was the Principal Solicitor of the then Welfare Rights Centre in Brisbane, now known as Basic Rights Queensland. During this time she managed a large casework practice and ran several test cases in the Social Security jurisdiction. During this period she was also an active member of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service's Management Committee and was one of two integral members who put together a migration training program for the services' migration agent volunteers.\nCurrently, Genevieve is the Co-ordinator\/Principal Solicitor at Canberra Community Law which provides free legal services to disadvantaged and vulnerable people. In this role she manages the Centre and its legal practice whilst continuing to provide front line legal services to some of the most marginalised and disadvantaged people in the ACT community. Under her leadership, Canberra Community Law has successfully established a number of innovative programs including the Street Law program and a multi-disciplinary practice model which combines legal and social work advocacy to prevent homelessness. Genevieve was also instrumental in the establishment of the Centre's Community Law Clinical Program in partnership with the Australian National University (ANU) and has led the ongoing development of the program. The program is regarded as the ANU's flagship clinical program.\nGenevieve is currently the chair of the ACT Community Legal Centres Association and a member of the National Association of Community Legal Centre's (NACLC) Advisory Council. She has recently been appointed as a Commissioner to the Legal Aid ACT Commission Board.\nGenevieve was an inaugural member of the National Welfare Rights Network Inc (NWRN) from 2002 to 2008 and played a leading role in the establishment of NWRN as a national peak body in the area of Social Security law. Whilst NWRN's National Liaison Officer, Genevieve also undertook a scoping study on legal need in the Northern Territory in 2007 which resulted in the funding of four welfare rights worker positions in the two Aboriginal Legal Services in the Northern Territory.\nGenevieve helped set up the Pro Bono Clearing House in the ACT in 2005 and continues to serve on its Management Committee. She is currently the Secretary of the Tenants Union (ACT) Management Committee and the ACT Representative on the NACLC's Professional Indemnity Insurance subcommittee.\n", "Events": "Medal (OAM) in the General Division, Order of Australia: For service to the law, particularly to welfare rights. (2016 - 2016)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Durham, Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE5432", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/durham-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Mt Isa, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Feminist, Human rights activist, Lawyer", "Summary": "Dr Helen Durham is a leading international lawyer, focusing on international humanitarian law (IHL or the laws of war). With a passion for the protections afforded to civilians during times of armed conflict (in particular women) Helen has had a long term career with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. In 2014 she was appointed as the Director of International Law and Policy for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) headquarters in Geneva Switzerland and is the first woman to occupy this role in the institution's 150 year history.\nIn 2017, Helen Durham was made an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia 'for distinguished service to international relations in the area of humanitarian and criminal law, to the protection of women during times of armed conflict, and to legal education'.\n", "Details": "Studying Arts\/Law at Melbourne University in the late 1980s Helen was always active in matters of local and global justice, doing voluntary work with a number of Non-Government Organisations (NGOs), an internship in Bangkok and becoming interested in the need to create legal clarity around rape and sexual violence as war crimes. Starting her career as an articled clerk with the Labor law firm Holding Redlich and then moving to work for Asialink, she established a leadership program and explored the different ways human rights are understood by business and culture. Concurrently she commenced a doctorate in international law at Melbourne Law School examining the role of community groups and NGOs in international criminal prosecutions with the emphasis on cases dealing with sexual violence. After obtaining a Queens Trust Scholarship she was able to complete her studies at New York University and engage directly with the discussions being held at the United Nations on the creation of an International Criminal Court.\nIn 1997 she commenced with Australian Red Cross as National Manager of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) program, working closely with Professor Tim McCormack and her team to build a stronger understanding and respect for IHL within the Australian academic sector, government, militaries and the general public. She was part of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegation to the negotiations for the Statute of the International Criminal Court in Rome in 1998 and did a number of short missions for ICRC in the field to places such as Burma, Aceh, the Philippines and the Pacific.\nIn 2002 Helen became Head of Office for ICRC in Australia based in Sydney and regional legal adviser for the Mission of the ICRC in the Pacific. For the next three years she travelled extensively in the Pacific, assisting governments ratify IHL treaties, implement these laws domestically as well as training military officers and non-state armed groups on matters such as the conduct of hostilities. Due to family commitments (son Alexander born in 2001 and daughter Hannah in 2004) Helen returned to Melbourne and took up the part time position as Director of Research for the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law at Melbourne Law School, teaching in the Masters of Law program (Women, War and Peacebuilding) and also supervising a number of PhDs in international law.\nAfter a few years in academia Helen went back to Australian Red Cross as Director of International Law and Strategy, whilst continuing to teach and publish in the area of IHL as a Senior Fellow of Melbourne Law School. Combining her practical field experience and the 'grass root' work of the Red Cross during conflict and her research allowed Helen to focus upon bridging the gap between legal practitioners in the humanitarian sector and the academic community. In 2014 she was appointed to the Directorate of the ICRC in Geneva, with a portfolio which includes the legal division, armed forces delegates, academic outreach and policy\/multilateral engagement. Presenting to the Security Council of the United Nations on the needs of women during war, visiting detainees in Iraq, lecturing at military institutes in Europe and Americas and providing training to diplomats in New York - her current position builds upon her experiences and the support gained from many over the years. In 2014 Helen was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women and in 2015 she was honoured with a Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Centenary PeaceWomen Award.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2014 - 2014)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Murrell, Helen Gay", "Entry ID": "AWE5433", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/murrell-helen-gay\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Senior Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "Helen Gay Murrell was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Supreme Court on 28 October 2013, thus becoming the ACT's first female Supreme Court Chief Justice.\nMurrell was first enrolled as a solicitor in 1977, working in the then Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's Office and the New South Wales (NSW) Legal Aid Commission. She was called to the NSW Bar in 1981, appointed silk in 1995, and has practised across criminal law, administrative law, environmental law, common law and equity.\nIn 1996, Judge Murrell was appointed a NSW District Court Judge in 1996. She is former president of the NSW Equal Opportunity Tribunal and set up the first NSW Drug Court in 1998\n", "Details": "Her Honour, Chief Justice Helen Murrell, attended the University of New South Wales, from which she graduated in 1976 with Bachelor Arts\/Bachelor Laws degree. In 1981 her Honour attended the University of Sydney and obtained a Diploma of Criminology.\nHer Honour was admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1977. From 1977 to 1981 her Honour practised at the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's Office and NSW Legal Aid Commission. From 1981 to 1996 Her Honour practised as a Barrister in criminal law, administrative law, environmental law, common law and equity. From 1994 to 1996 her Honour was the first Environmental Counsel for the NSW Environment Protection Authority. In 1995 her Honour was appointed Senior Counsel in New South Wales.\nFrom 1996 to 2013 her Honour was a Judge of the District Court of New South Wales. In 1996 her Honour was also an Acting Judge in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales. From 1997 to 1999 her Honour was President of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal of New South Wales and then Deputy President of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal of New South Wales, Head of the Equal Opportunity Division.\nFrom 1998 to 2003 her Honour was the first Senior Judge of the Drug Court of New South Wales. In 1999 her Honour was a member of the United Nations Expert Working Group on Drug Courts, Vienna. From 2005 to 2013 her Honour was Deputy Chairperson of the New South Wales Medical Tribunal.\nHer Honour has had a longstanding involvement in judicial education and is currently active within the National Judicial College of Australia (NJCA).\nHer Honour was appointed Honorary Air Commodore of No 28 (City of Canberra) Squadron in April 2014.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/introducing-the-acts-first-female-supreme-court-chief-justice\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Macdonnell, Jane", "Entry ID": "AWE5434", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/macdonnell-jane\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "North Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "Jane Macdonnell is a lawyer with extensive experience in public sector administration. She grew up in North Queensland and is a graduate of the James Cook University and of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).\nMacdonnell's public sector career commenced as a graduate clerk with the Department of Defence in 1975 and thereafter she advanced to senior managerial positions in internal audit, corporate services, disability services and aged care programs in the then Departments of Social Security; Community Services; Community Services and Health. She was the first woman appointed to many of those positions.\nMacdonnell was admitted to practise as a barrister in 1987 and was the recipient of the James Archibald Douglas prize for the outstanding reader of her Bar Practice Course. Having accepted an offer of employment with Henderson Trout, she was admitted as a solicitor in 1989. In 1990, she became the first head of the Queensland Office of State Revenue and served in that role for five years. She subsequently served as a General Manger of Victoria Legal Aid before returning to Queensland in 1998 as Director-General of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.\nIn 2000, Macdonnell was named the Outstanding Alumni for Law by QUT. At the end of 2000, she returned to Victoria as a partner with Clayton Utz before joining the Victorian Bar in 2003 where she continued to practise public law. In 2010, Macdonnell was appointed the Principal Member of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT) and served in that role until the SSAT amalgamated with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on 1 July 2015.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jane-mcdonnell\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hogg, Margaret Mary Judy (Judy)", "Entry ID": "AWE5435", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hogg-margaret-mary-judy-judy\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Community activist, Feminist, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Judy Hogg has had a lifelong concern for the socially disadvantaged leading to her interest in law and political reform, and her involvement in the women's movement in Victoria where she was a founding Member of the Kew Women's Liberation Group. She returned to university after having children and was fortunate to graduate from Law School as the Family Law Act came into operation in 1976. As she had written a thesis on this legislation, she was placed in a strong position for entering the work force in that jurisdiction.\nAfter working for several law firms, both large and small, and for Legal Aid, Hogg started her own firm in 1985. She invited her friend Janet Reid to join her and they formed Hogg and Reid (which amalgamated as Carew Counsel incorporating Hogg and Reid in 2013). The prime focus was Family Law which was dealt with in a non-sexist manner. Her philosophy was to ensure that the law was available to redress imbalances of power.\nHogg has always contributed beyond her professional role, and has served in a voluntary capacity on many committees and boards of management, including those of\n\n Fitzroy Legal Service\nParents anonymous\nTwin Care\n Domestic Violence Committee, Rotary\n\nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Judy Hogg for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Julie Hogg and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\nJudy Hogg, an only child, was born in Melbourne in 1937. Her father, Peter Spier, was a successful Melbourne architect. During her childhood, he served in the Middle East and New Guinea in the Second World War, initially in the Infantry and then in the Engineers. He attained the rank of Major. After the War he was a Director of the Australian War Graves Commission and his work took him to Japan, other areas of the Pacific, and South East Asia. He was frequently absent from home. Her mother was not in paid employment.\nJudy attended Tintern and Melbourne Girls' Grammar School (MGGS) (Merton Hall). Both were progressive schools. Ms D.J. Ross, the inspirational head of MGGS was a particular influence.\nJudy has had a lifelong concern for the socially disadvantaged leading to her interest in law and political reform, and her involvement in the women's movement in Victoria where she was a founding Member of the Kew Women's Liberation Group.\nJudy decided early in life that she wanted to have a career; she did not want to follow in her mother's example of home duties. However, in the late 1950's, she found the Law School at the University of Melbourne discouraging of women and did not complete her degree at this stage. She later returned to university after having children. She was fortunate to be graduating from Law School as the Family Law Act came into operation. As she had written a thesis on this legislation, she was placed in a strong position for entering the work force in that jurisdiction.\nAfter working for several law firms, both large and small, and for Legal Aid, Judy started her own firm in 1985. She invited her friend Janet Reid to join her and they formed Hogg and Reid (which amalgamated as Carew Counsel incorporating Hogg and Reid in 2013). The prime focus was Family Law which was dealt with in a non-sexist manner. Her philosophy being that the law was available to redress imbalances of power. She has, for example, successfully obtained orders for fathers to be the primary carers of children, and for women to obtain the control of a business.\nThe objective of the firm has always been to resolve matters in a conciliatory manner with a minimum of expense and stress to the parties and to focus on the future needs of the children and their parents.\nJudy has always regarded it as important that the firm should provide a supportive environment for employees and in particular women returning to work after absence from work due to domestic responsibilities. She has had a number of articled clerks, continues to be a mentor to junior solicitors, and has had numerous work experience students. Many of these who have had such associations have achieved distinction in their careers.\nJudy has always contributed beyond her professional role. At the suggestion of a publisher friend, she wrote 'Splitting Up', a vital hand book for people facing separation and divorce in Australia\", now in its fourth edition. The book was designed to prevent people from making decisions based on incorrect assumptions about the law, to help them through a difficult period, and to put them in touch with resources.\n\u2003\nAs well as the voluntary roles, that she has occupied, listed above, Judy has held the following appointments:\n\nVarious positions on Committees at the Law Institute of Victoria\n Founding member of the Family Law and Psychology Association of Australasia\n Instructor in Family Law at the Leo Cussens Institute for Continuing Legal Education\nMember of the Social Secretary Appeals Tribunal\nMember of the Equal Opportunity Board of Victoria\nBoard Member of Relationships Australia\n Board Member of Women's Health Victoria\n Board Member of Peter McCallum Cancer Institute\nRoyal Women's Hospital Committee\nBreast Screen Victoria Committees\nMember of Panel of Expert Lawyers advising Mediators as to the state of Family Law\n\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Dick, Julie Maree", "Entry ID": "AWE5436", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dick-julie-maree\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Senior Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "Justice Julie Dick is a judge of the District Court of Queensland, having been appointed to the bench in 2000. She has also served as an acting Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland. She served as president of the Queensland Children's Court 2007 - 2011, having been appointed a judge of that court in 2001.\nJudge Dick was an articled clerk between 1973 and 1975. She was admitted to the bar in December 1975 and appointed Senior Counsel in November 1997. She had an extensive practice in criminal law, appearing in nearly fifty murder trials and many other high profile criminal matters.\nJudge Dick was a member of the Law Reform Commission (Criminal Law Subdivision), a member of the Committee of the Queensland Bar Association and a member of the committee overseeing the 1997 Review of the Criminal Code. She was the inaugural Parliamentary Criminal Justice Commissioner between 1998 and December 2000 when she was appointed a District Court Judge. She was the President of the Children's Court of Queensland from 2007 to 2011, Acting Supreme Court Judge in 2011 and a member of the Higher Courts Benchbook Committee since 2000.\nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Helen Moye about Julie Dick for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Julie Dick and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nIt was about a quarter to five in the afternoon. People were streaming out of the Brisbane Law Courts complex in George Street. Bridget was heading off to the park with her father, while her mother took the baby, who was due to be breast-fed. This was part of the daily ritual. That day, though, Bridget noticed something interesting in the rush of people going about the business of the law.\n\"Mum, did you know that boys can be barristers too?\"\nYes, she did know. Julie Dick, barrister-at-law, knew that very well. Since being called to the Queensland Bar in 1975, she had been one of that body of legal professionals of whom, even in 2005, only 15.6 per cent are women. This is despite the fact that in recent years women have comprised at least half of the law graduates from Queensland universities.\nIn 1997, Julie, the then newly appointed Senior Counsel had expressed optimism that the developing institution of women at the Bar would offer encouragement to other women. She was, however, also on record as acknowledging the continuing difficulties experienced by women in being briefed, particularly by larger firms, and particularly in the area of criminal law. Today, with the perspective of over four years on the Bench, her concerns have not abated. \"Since I have been a judge, I have seen many, many female prosecutors, in fact sometimes it seems as though they are in the majority, but I still do not see an equal number of women appearing for the defence.\" It has been her observation that, for women, hard work and creditable performance are not, in themselves, sufficient to guarantee recognition and further opportunity. A complicating factor has been those female practitioners who, perhaps in response to perceived prejudice, \"[do] not really dare to be women lawyers.\" In such an environment, it can also be the case that women do not \"dare\" to recognise or encourage other women. In the end, the career of Judge Julie Dick does not reflect that experience. In the words of Roberta Devereaux, this is a woman and a lawyer \"confident and happy in her own skin,\" successful on her own terms, and one who has been \"a great supporter of other women.\"\nIn her turn, Judge Dick acknowledges the example and support of Barbara Newton, who, as Public Defender, ensured that she was briefed regularly and in high\u00ad profile matters when she returned to practice in 1989 after a break in which she gave birth to four children.\nThe break showed no signs of upsetting the rhythm of a career well on track. After marrying in 1984, Julie had given birth to Michael in 1985 and then daughters Jennifer (1986), Christy (1988) and Bridget (1989). Her return to practice saw her appearing in a number of significant trials (usually funded by the then Public Defender's Office). In 1992, three days' after the conclusion of a five-week robbery trial, her youngest daughter Kathleen was born. An hour after the caesarean birth, Julie received a phone call from the Legal Aid office, checking her availability for another trial, set down for three weeks time. She accepted the brief.\nHer support network at that time consisted of a nanny and her husband, solicitor Terry Mellifont. The nanny stayed until Kathleen commenced primary school, but Terry has remained a constant, ever since Julie started work as his articled clerk in January 1973. Julie acknowledges the enormous contribution he has made to her being able to pursue her career, and to the \"wonderful children\" and \"warm, loving home\" they share.\nTJ Mellifont and Company was a small, busy general practice, with Terry as sole practitioner. Dealing with a wide range of matters, including industrial, criminal, civil, defamation and family law, it offered Julie exposure to a cross-section of the law, as well as considerable in-court experience, from the Magistrates Court to the Federal Court on circuit from Sydney. She recalls days on which there might be 12 or 13 appearances to coordinate in various courts on the one morning. Increasingly, within this spectrum of activity and high energy, the role of solicitor sitting in the office seemed to lack the allure and excitement of what she saw and experienced in court. She became engrossed in the \"complete theatre\" of court and litigation practice, the tactics and legal argument, and \"loved everything about criminal trials, from the picking of the jury through to the verdict.\"\nProfessionally, this experience inspired her move to the Bar. Personally, it was an eye-opener for a young woman who had spent most of her childhood in a home where \"the pantry was full and everyone was happy.\" Working in that practice, Julie Dick first realised that not everyone shared her comfortable circumstances; and it was in this period that she realised there was more she could do to help her clients-such as the young single mother, pregnant, with toddler in tow-than to lend them money, only to find it being spent immediately on cigarettes.\nJulie Maree Dick was born on 21 June 1952 in Brisbane, the third-born (and first daughter) of the nine children of Frank and Norma Dick. When Julie was young, the family moved to the Gold Coast, where Frank, an electrician by trade, expanded into the building industry and flourished in the first wave of development to hit the area. It was a life that offered freedom and security. The only address needed for a taxi-ride from Coolangatta to home was \"Frank Dick's house.\" Sundays meant a trip to the beach with Dad, while Mum had some peace and quiet at home. There was \u00b7sailing, singing around the pianola, and teenage socialising with siblings and their friends. There were two memorable holidays-to South Molle Island and Fiji-and there was school.\nJulie's mother and father had both been educated in Brisbane, at Lourdes Hill College and at St Laurence's College respectively. Her own education began in 1957 at St Augustine's Catholic Primary School in Coolangatta. From 1965 to 1968 she attended high school at Star of the Sea in Southport, during which time her scholastic ability became evident. She received academic awards and each year there was happy competition with friend Josephine Morton for dux of the class. She remembers in particular the encouragement of her class teacher from Grades Eight to Ten, Sister Xaviera.\nHigh achievement in Junior (Grade Ten) meant inevitable streaming into the sciences for the final school years. However, Science and Maths classes had to be undertaken at the local Brothers college because so few girls enrolled in those subjects. This unconventional arrangement was bypassed in favour of Julie's transfer to St Rita's College in Brisbane, where she completed her secondary schooling as a boarder-a chronically homesick one. It was quickly obvious to her that this was a far bigger pond than the one in which she had swum to date: there was more competition. It was also only one of many ponds-there was a much larger world out there with people from different backgrounds. She was also finding her science-based subjects difficult. Her father encouraged her educational pursuits and aspirations, but their talk of a career in medicine or pharmacy was pragmatic rather than heartfelt; this was a student who craved the humanities. Nonetheless, Julie excelled at St Rita's and became a prefect.\nNorma Dick's preference for her daughter would have been hairdressing, \"a wonderful profession for a young woman;\" however, having won a Commonwealth Scholarship, Julie enrolled in Arts Law at the University of Queensland in 1970. For the next three years she enjoyed the safe and sociable environment of Duchesne College, becoming involved in the college committee, including one year as social secretary.\nIn second year, Julie decided to pursue law studies exclusively. There was no identifiable prompt for law either as a course of study or a profession, and no family connection to it. The character of Sir Thomas More in the Robert Bolt play A Man for All Seasons had mesmerised her in high school: his bravery, his scholarship, his ethics and his commitment to the law. She also remembers reading Great Trials of the Twentieth Century as a child, and To Kill a Mockingbird (many times). It was the court scenes which captured her imagination and, again, the private introduction to lives so different from her own.\nOnce at university, Jurisprudence provided a first insight into what the law was really all about. However, it was only after commencing as an articled clerk that Julie's practical experience of the law and of those seeking its help enlivened her sense of justice. With that came a growing appreciation of human weakness and miscalculation-rather than evil intent -in some of the matters needing resolution.\nAs an articled clerk, living alone for the first time and working long hours, Julie started to feel overwhelmed. She felt she needed to tweak her direction, to refocus and re-energise. On the urging of Terry and Tom Quirk, then a junior counsel and later a District Court judge, Julie relinquished university study in favour of the Bar Board examinations, which she successfully completed in 1975. She was admitted as a barrister on 18 December 1975 (and later, in 1992, as a practitioner of the High Court and Federal Court of Australia). In March 1976, she completed her Articles.\nIt was a bold move, she concedes, going to the Bar so early, and she pays tribute to the friendship, professionalism and high ethical standards of each of her original colleagues in chambers-John Jerrard, Kiernan Dorney and Frank Wilkie-and Basil Martin, her pupil master. Indeed, one of Julie's particular concerns with the profession today is the frequent apparent ignorance (or avoidance) of the basic ethical rules which characterised the behaviour and practices of colleagues such as these.\nNotwithstanding the support of her colleagues, Julie suffered \"the usual difficulties\" -such as developing sufficient self-confidence, engendering the confidence of briefing solicitors and managing a business. Then there were the slightly less usual difficulties-those attached to being a woman at the Bar. With few other women in active practice at the time, there were even fewer with long experience who could serve as role models. There was also discrimination, and Julie notes that, even after establishing an extensive criminal practice, she was \"very rarely briefed by firms in crime with private clients. Most of my work came from the Public Defender's Office.\" Still, her advice today to women coming to the Bar is to cultivate the habits of persistence and hard work and to avoid thinking that \"to have a practice like a man, you have to act like a man.\"\nHer personal style reflects a certain self-sufficiency, directness and honesty. Her professional style is characterised by intelligence and wit, \"a good forensic mind,\" commonsense and an ability to empathise with clients and yet maintain an appropriate professional distance. Not surprisingly, as her confidence and experience developed, so did her practice. It also shifted from a general practice to a criminal practice, partly the result perhaps of the amount of work she was undertaking with legally aided clients through regular briefing by the Public Defender and, later, the Legal Aid Office. At a time when other colleagues made the decision that to accept such matters would inhibit their career and their income, her readiness to do so was not entirely self-serving, although the high volume of work in itself did provide a valuable basis for developing her skills and expertise. Julie Dick soon came to believe that it is the responsibility of practitioners and governments to ensure that those who come before the courts, charged by the State, receive the defence to which all are entitled. Significantly, her own workload reflected that commitment to the rights of legal aid clients.\nThis philosophy of fairness, compassion and contribution is evident in the record of her dealings with clients, colleagues, the broader profession and the community over the years. She served as a member of the Bar Association Committee from 1995 to 1998; a member of the Litigation Reform Commission (Criminal Law Subdivision) until it was disbanded in 1997; and has served as a member of the International Law Reform Commission since being introduced by former High Court Justice Mary Gaudron in 1998. She was the Bar representative on the Criminal Case Management Committee chaired by Justice Margaret White, which resulted in the successful Committals Project. In 1997 she contributed as a member of the Advisory Working Group for the Criminal Code Review which passed into legislation; and she was the government-appointed legal representative on the Podiatrists Board of Queensland from 1995 to 1998.\nSince her elevation to the Bench, she has served as a member and convenor of both the District Court Criminal Law and Conference Committees, and as a member of the District Court Strategic Planning and Benchbook Committees. She particularly counts her participation in the Benchbook Committee among her positive achievements. The Benchbook, a manual for guidance in Court proceedings, assists judges in ensuring, for example, that appropriate matters are taken into account in summing up at trial. It is equally relevant (and available) to others, such as legal practitioners and juries, who can be assisted in their understanding of procedures and protocols and, by extension, the execution of their responsibilities. In addition, she has made an active contribution to continuing legal education for both solicitors and barristers, including presenting papers, conducting seminars, and acting as facilitator and judge in moot and advocacy programs for several Queensland university law schools and the Bar Practice Course. She has strong views on the importance of continuing education for all, including judges, and is vocal in her response to criticisms directed at judicial travel to conferences, many of which are held overseas. She stresses the importance of promoting and utilising opportunities to network with peers and colleagues from other jurisdictions as a means of learning from and contributing to the international judicial community and, by extension, the administration of justice. Julie actively endeavours to broaden her knowledge, in order to minimise the risk of developing an insular or insulated perspective. She points out that conferences also provide exposure to broader areas of concern than strictly \"black letter law\" issues-recent examples being genetics and ethical investments-which are likely at some stage to be directly or indirectly relevant to the range of issues and people coming before the courts.\nFrom her early years, Julie was a practitioner who went the extra mile, for example, when those working with her needed flexible employment arrangements to care for children; or when she managed to appear for a client, having split her lip in an accident en route to court on the North Coast and having had 12 stitches. That memorable day continued with her driving back to Brisbane, calling home for the cutting of her child's birthday cake, and then dropping her instructing solicitor back at the office.\nSuch stories add a telling dimension to a career which began auspiciously as a barrister with 13 not-guilty verdicts in her first 13 trials and went on to include over 40 murder trials (many of them \"leading cases in this jurisdiction\") and other high\u00ad profile and complex matters across the range of rape, robbery, arson, drug trafficking, fraud, corruption and perjury. In 1980 Julie had received a commission to prosecute on behalf of the Crown and in that capacity had appeared frequently before the District and Supreme Courts. By the mid-1990s her practice had begun to diversify and she was also appearing regularly in the Medical Assessment Tribunal, the Industrial Court of Australia and Administrative Appeals Tribunal, as well as in disciplinary tribunals such as the Queensland Nursing Council and Psychologists Board of Queensland.\nIn 1998 Julie was approached by the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee (PCJC) to take the newly created role of Parliamentary Criminal Justice Commissioner for Queensland the first such role in Australia. Broadly, the function of the Commissioner was, \"Upon request, [to assist] the PCJC to discharge its role in monitoring and reviewing the activities of the CJC [Criminal Justice Commission],\" as well as functions in relation to the Queensland Crime Commission and the Queensland Police Service. The concept and practice of civilian oversight of law enforcement authorities was innovative and relatively untried at the time, and the role of Commissioner was an important and powerful one. It was not the time for a token gesture in the direction of political correctness. So it was particularly significant that the first incumbent was a woman, and one whose appointment had the enthusiastic support of a bipartisan committee. This was an appointment based clearly on merit.\nAt the time, Julie expressed the view that wherever there is great power vested in an organisation, there is a need for commensurate accountability. She saw her role as charged with managing that accountability. Initially, however, she was faced with the practicalities of establishing an office, engaging staff and developing documentation and procedures. She recalls the first three months as being an isolated, lonely time, as she and her sole staff member confronted the challenge of making it all happen. Later, her team consisted of two solicitors\/investigators, a document controller and a personal assistant. Meanwhile, she was learning about managing staff, adapting to a working environment which involved strict reporting responsibilities and an unfamiliar administrative framework, and coming to grips with the finer points of administrative law. In her two years in the role, she conducted 27 investigations during a time which was highly politically charged and fraught with controversy.\nThe Queensland Criminal Justice Commission was still reeling from the investigation into it, known as the Connolly-Ryan Inquiry. Having inherited that inquisitorial responsibility, Commissioner Dick found herself reviewing the extensive records of the Inquiry, as well as interviewing the approximately one hundred and fifty complainants. Her investigations, and the confidentiality requirements attaching to them, were strictly circumscribed by the legislation. This did not prevent complaints (which might have been better directed towards the legislation) assuming the force of projectiles targeting the role of the Commissioner. Most notably, the investigation into alleged leaks from the CJC to the Courier-Mail-and the parties' responses to that investigation\u00ad contributed to the difficult situation.\nThe death of both of Julie's parents during the period of her appointment further challenged her resilience. She describes herself as \"pretty robust,\" but was conscious that she could not always protect others from the consequences of her position. She later learnt that her appointment to the Bench of the District Court of Queensland on 14 December 2000 had brought private tears of relief, as much as of congratulation, from her oldest daughter.\nIt had started as an attraction to the excitement of criminal law, to \"the discipline. . . And the predictability of the Criminal Code,\" and the rules of evidence which support it. This fascination continues to underpin Julie's work. \"I am there to act within the law,\" she says; policy matters are outside the jurisdiction of judges, whose responsibility it is to administer justice. This is not to suggest that the law-or judges- should be static, or ignore the changing world, with its advances in technology and evolving social imperatives. Judge Dick has been involved in the most recent review of the Queensland Criminal Code; daily, she sees ways in which technology can be deployed in the operations of the court (for example, the pre-recording of evidence by children); and progressively, she sees trends in the types of offences that come before her.\nAs a judge of the Children's Court since 2001 (and with the perspective and experience that comes from being the mother of teenagers), Julie Dick worries that children are growing up too fast. She believes that the nature of material available on television, music video and film is creating in child viewers a false perception of reality, mortality and accountability: the beaten victim gets up to fight on, or reappears in the sequel; the perpetrator is defiant and proud; but the consequences appear in soft focus, if at all. What she is now seeing is a flow-on effect of that distorted perception, an increase in sexual offences in the Children's Court. The \"new problem,\" she says, is crimes \"by kids against kids.\"\nHer experience also suggests that, more broadly, crimes involving street violence and amphetamine addiction are on the increase, and \"getting uglier.\" In the face of these trends, her particular concern is for the education of children, suggesting a front-end program of education and information, since \"penalties aren't going to solve the problem.\" She suggests that such programs might involve not just medical and legal professionals going into schools, but children actually attending court to see the consequences of violence and drug use first-hand.\nAt the other end of the spectrum are jurors, who have no choice but to confront the horrors which often unfold during the course of a trial. Judge Dick is sensitive to the impact this can have on individuals; she has adopted the practice of forewarning jurors that they can expect to be challenged and affected by what they see and hear, and that no front of bravado is necessary. Counselling has recently become available for jurors at the conclusion of trials.\nJudge Dick says that nothing much surprises or unsettles her in the courtroom. Her early training, during which she learnt to approach each matter with special attention to detail, and the years of experience which taught her how to read and manage people, are serving their purpose. She also brings a certain style and attitude to the role, reflected in her wry comment that \"there's always fun in the law.\" Perhaps this refers to the sharp minds and quick wits of those who, daily, need to consider weighty matters with compassion; detachment and efficiency. And perhaps it can also partly be attributed to \"the happy and loving family life . . . [which] puts everything into perspective.\"\nJudge Julie Dick does not see a career in law through rose-coloured glasses. She advises young women wanting to combine a legal career and a family to consider the sacrifices that both they, and their families, will need to make. Young men might benefit from that same advice. She keenly anticipates the benefits to society of a judiciary which is representative of the women and men who are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices and who exhibit the necessary merit.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/julie-dick\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Auty, Kate", "Entry ID": "AWE5437", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/auty-kate\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Commissioner, Lawyer, Magistrate, Public servant, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "Born in Brisbane, Kate Auty was educated, and has worked, all over Australia. The former Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability, she is now an academic who continues to work as a barrister.\nAuty was the inaugural Koori Court magistrate (Victoria) and Aboriginal sentencing court magistrate in the goldfields and western desert (WA). She has been a Mining Warden (WA). She was also a senior solicitor for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (Vic, Tas., WA).\nOther diverse roles have involved developing justice e-technology in remote and regional settings, and chairing the Ministerial Council on Climate Change Adaptation (Victoria). Auty's board memberships extend to having chaired the National Rural Law and Justice Alliance. She presently chairs the Boards of NeCTAR, the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne and a La Trobe Research Focus Area. She is a member of the advisory boards of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority Advisory Committee on Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences, the University of Melbourne Community and Industry Board for the Office of Environmental Programs and the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Kate Auty for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Kate Auty and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nKate Auty is a Queenslander by birth but has lived and worked all over Australia. Her parents moved around Australia as her father worked in veterinary and agricultural contexts and Kate has continued to explore the country both in employment settings and leisure activities with her partner Charlie Brydon.\nKate's first schooling was received at the Ord River Research Station where she was exposed to Aboriginal culture through other students and the grand and profound Indigenous art and iconography of the region. From the Ord River, schools as diverse as Surfers Paradise (Qld) and Parap (NT) Primary Schools and the Darwin and Balwyn (Vic) High Schools provided a sound public school education, notwithstanding state and territory vagaries.\nThe benefits of a well-travelled education and a family interested in reading and contemporary issues played out in awards of a Commonwealth Secondary Scholarship in Darwin and a Commonwealth Tertiary Scholarship in Victoria.\nInterest in Australia, as a cultural geography and a landscape, were instilled in Kate (and her three siblings) as a function of the family's highly mobile lifestyle, travel for pleasure, and working on a cattle station south of Darwin on weekends and during school holidays (1967-1970). When the family left the Northern Territory to relocate to Melbourne, Kate's older brother Peter (who had just completed his matriculation with distinction) set out to ride the family's stock horses to Melbourne. He did this, for the most part, by himself, occasionally picking up with droving teams, until Kate joined him at Bourke (NSW) from where together they continued overland to Melbourne (1971-72 Christmas school holidays).\nKate's tertiary education commenced with the study of arts (history) and law as a dual degree at the University of Melbourne.\nDuring her time at university Kate was an active member of the Feminist Lawyers group at Melbourne and through this group she formed enduring friendships with women who were studying at Monash. Kate was also a member of the Folk Music Club at the university.\nIt was at Melbourne that Kate renewed her interest in Aboriginal issues, meeting Sandra Bailey (the first Yorta Yorta woman to gain a law degree) and Rochelle Patten (a senior Yorta Yorta woman who has been instrumental in the genesis of the Yorta Yorta Climate Change Group and the Shepparton Koori Court). These two women have remained significant others in Kate's life since 1980. Both of these great women have been pivotal in informing Kate's views about Indigenous exposure to the Australian colonial and post-colonial legal systems.\nUpon graduation Kate worked for a small criminal law firm in the western suburbs of Melbourne and it was there that she became more exposed to the iniquities of the legal system as it played out in the lives of the working poor of a large metropolis. Lessons from that time, about access to justice, continue to provoke Kate in her work.\nKate now (2015) holds the following qualifications:\n\n2012 Graduate\/Member, Australian Institute of Company Directors.\n2006 Graduate Diploma International Environmental Law, UNITAR.\n2000 Doctor of Philosophy, La Trobe University, shortlisted Margaret Medcalfe awards for research excellence (WA).\n1999 Certificate of Refugee Interview Training.\n1994 Masters of Environmental Science, Monash University.\n1979 Bachelor of Arts (honours)\/Bachelor of Laws, University of Melbourne.\n\nKate's Masters in Environmental Science has promoted significant career shifts into roles in academia and as the Victorian Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability (2009-2014). Her interest in taking up this study was prompted by a discussion with another important woman in her life - Louise Kyle, who was also a public school scholarship law student and feminist law student at the University of Melbourne.\nKate's doctorate arose out of her Arts (honours) thesis which explored the 1927 Royal Commission into the Killing and Burning of Aboriginal People in the Forrest River District of the Kimberley in 1926. It also built upon some research undertaken when appointed as to advise Commissioner Patrick Dodson in the RCIADIC in WA. Kate was encouraged to undertake this study by another important woman in her life, Professor Sandy Toussaint, anthropologist. In each of these post graduate endeavours Kate had the support of her mother Jean (an interlocutor, typist and proof reader) and of family members who took a keen interest in the research she did.\nAs you might expect Kate's employment history has been varied. From 1980-1999 she held the following positions:\n\nSolicitor Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (1980-1983) - here she worked as a solicitor-advocate across the whole state and was involved in the early efforts to attain the repatriation of cultural material and skeletal remains and early land rights discussions. She remains a close friend of the first ALS CEO, Jim Berg - himself a pathfinder and mentor. \n Solicitor VLA (Superior Courts) (1983). \nSelf-employed principal in legal firm Auty and Popovic - Kate and Jelena Popovic established a welfare law practice in inner Melbourne which represented many women's refuge clients and Aboriginal people.\nSenior Solicitor RCIADIC Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia (1988-1991) - this role saw Kate work all over Victoria, Tasmania, into New South Wales and across Western Australia where she was involved in re-examining specific cases, establishing community conferencing models for discussion of justice issues, and liaising with multiple government departments and agencies and organizing commission hearings and witnesses as with any case preparation. Once her role in the eastern states concluded Kate was invited to join the staff of Commissioner Patrick Dodson to develop the Western Australian RCIADIC community conferencing model and draft report content for the Commissioner.\nLecturer and cross-cultural course-developer of the Graduate Diploma\/Certificate in Environmental Heritage and Interpretation (Deakin University 1992-1994).\n Barrister (1992-ongoing, currently Academic List) - a practice in criminal law and administrative law.\n\nAfter the death of her mother in 1999 Kate was appointed a magistrate in Victoria. Initially she worked in Melbourne where she was delegated to the role of the magistrate involved in the development of the Aboriginal Justice Agreement (whilst continuing to work in the ordinary jurisdictions of the court). In 2001 Kate assumed the role of senior coordinating magistrate in the north east, based in Shepparton. It was there that the first Koori Court was ultimately established, in collaboration with the Yorta Yorta people with whom Kate had continued long friendships from her time at the University of Melbourne. This work also drew upon her involvement in community consultation and built upon models derived from the RCIADIC work of the previous decade.\nThe north east Magistrates Court region comprises nine courts - Corryong, Wodonga, Cobram, Mansfield, Myrtleford, Wangaratta, Benalla, Shepparton, Seymour - and whilst acting as the regional Co-ordinating Magistrate and building the Koori Court work Kate worked in all the jurisdictions of the region including as:\n\nMagistrate - criminal, civil and family matters.\nInaugural Koori Court Magistrate.\n Coroner.\n Children's Court Magistrate - criminal and family matters.\n Member, Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.\n\nIn this role Kate contributed to the ordinary and extraneous work of the court in the following manner:\n\nCoordinating Magistrate - establishment of significant community consultation processes and the Koori Court (Shepparton) and the Aboriginal Bail Justices program and Aboriginal Liaison Officer position (Melbourne), setting up the protocols and providing guidance about the creation of the position of Aboriginal Justice Worker attached to Koori Courts.\nPreparing Senate Select Committee oral and written submissions on justice and regional contexts.\nContributing to discussions, papers and seminars on law reform initiatives in sentencing diversion, family group conferencing, the adult corrections cautioning program,\nmental health court trials, and the disability court pilot program.\n Production of materials for cross cultural awareness and professional development for Magistrates and County Court Judges.\nEngagement with diverse community projects involving the Royal Children's Hospital Intellectual Disability Project , Goulburn Valley Community Health Service, Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative , Wangaratta Family Violence Integration Project, and the Human Rights Commission.\n\nKate resigned from her Victorian position once the Koori Court was well bedded down and went to work in the Western Australian Magistracy and as a WA Mining Warden where she remained until 2009. Her interest in doing this arose out of the RCIADIC work and her research interests. It also simply looked interesting. Kate and her partner Charlie Brydon both moved to Kalgoorlie, with Charlie taking up positions with the Goldfields Land and Sea Council as a lawyer and the WA WorkCover Directorate as an arbitrator.\nThe region where Kate worked in WA also comprised nine courts - Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie, Norseman, Esperance, Laverton, Leonora, Warburton, Warrakurna, Kiwikurra). Her formal appointments included:\n\n Magistrate.\nAboriginal Sentencing Court Magistrate.\n Industrial Magistrate.\nCoroner.\nMining Warden.\nChildren's Court Magistrate.\n\nIn this role Kate contributed to the ordinary and extraneous work of the court in the following manner:\n\nCommunity conferencing to establish the Aboriginal Community Courts in Norseman and Kalgoorlie.\nDevelopment of cross cultural training for court staff.\nDevelopment of sentencing training materials for and delivery of the information to senior Aboriginal people involved in the Aboriginal Community Courts.\nDevelopment of WA Aboriginal Bench Book.\nCommentary on reports by the Auditor General, Equal Opportunity Commission; and the reference on 'Aboriginal Customary Law ' by WA Law Reform Commission.\nPresentation to the Commonwealth Bail Act Reform Initiative, Steering Committee of Attorneys General.\n\nBoards and other memberships in WA during her time as a magistrate\/mining warden :\n\nMember, Under Secretary of Treasury Policy Round Table.\nMember, Chief Justice's Cultural Awareness Committee.\nMember National Judicial Council Australia, Aboriginal cultural awareness committee.\nChair, Kalgoorlie Courts redevelopment committee collaborating with University of Melbourne, Hassells Architects, WA Department of Justice, regional Aboriginal court user organizations.\nChair, DotAG Aboriginal Justice Committee - establishment of Aboriginal sentencing courts.\nMember, DOIR Mining Act (WA) review committee.\nMember, Australian Institute of Judicial Administration - Aboriginal cultural awareness committee and steering committee Aboriginal Sentencing Courts conference (Mildura 2007) and steering committee Aboriginal Cultural Awareness conference (Qld 2009).\nMember, Australian Research Council Linkage Projects: Universities Canberra and Melbourne - Information Technology and Remote Western Australian Courts and Designing Safe Courts (architecture, sociology and justice).\nMember, COAG Tri-state Justice (WA, SA, NT) Project - developing inter jurisdictional legislative and procedural programs in remote courts in collaboration with contiguous jurisdictions and judicial officers.\nMember, WA Magistrates Courts modernization of courts' technology committee.\n\nReturning from WA and in the period 2008-2009 in Victoria Kate was appointed as:\n\nInaugural Charles La Trobe Fellow, La Trobe University - examining cross cultural community development, courts, and Indigenous women's participation in processes.\nChair, Ministerial Reference Council on Climate Change Adaptation.\n Member, Premier's Climate Change Adaptation Advisory Committee.\nMember, Department of Treasury and Finance Green Procurement Task Force.\n\nCurrently Kate is appointed to the following positions:\n\n2014-2017 - University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor's Fellow.\n2010-ongoing - Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Law and Business, La Trobe University.\n2014 - ongoing - Member of the Victorian Bar, Academic.\n\nFrom the period 2009 Kate has been or continues as a member of the following boards\/committees:\n2009 - ongoing\n\n Member, Murray Darling Basin Authority Advisory Committee on Social, Economic and Environmental Sciences.\nChair, National eResearch Collaborative Tools and Research Board (Commonwealth Super Science initiative - University of Melbourne host organisation).\nChair, Humanities Research Focus Advisory Board, La Trobe University.\nChair, Melbourne Sustainable Societies Institute Advisory Board, University of Melbourne.\n Member Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network Board (Commonwealth Super Science initiative - University of Melbourne host organisation).\nMember University of Melbourne Office of Environmental Programs Community and Industry Advisory Board.\nMember, Sustainability Research Focus Advisory Board, La Trobe University.\nMember, Faculty of Law and Business Advisory Council, La Trobe University.\n Member, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).\n\nRetired positions 2009-2014:\n\nMember, Education for Sustainability Advisory Committee, Monash University (retired 2014).\n Member, La Trobe University Institute for Social and Environmental Sustainability External Industry and Community Advisory Board and Internal Advisory Board (retired 2012 when the Institute ceased due to a university restructure).\nMember, RMIT-UN Global Compact, Cities Program.\nMember, Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand.\n Inaugural Chairperson, National Rural Law and Justice Alliance (2012-2014).\n\nKate continues to engage in pro bono public speaking on issues of Aboriginal justice and environment. This takes her all over the state and she is fortunate to have the Vice Chancellor's Fellow appointment as a backstop for this work.\nOn a community level Kate is a member of the group Strathbogie Voices in the north east of Victoria where she currently lives and she also enjoys membership of the Euroa Environment Group and Euroa Arboretum. In her community she is actively working with other volunteers promoting a discussion about environment and climate change (see www.strathbogievoices.com.au). In 2015 this community development work has produced the Euroa Environment Series and, from 2014 into the future her energies (when not being expended in board and other appointments) will be directed to the encouragement of participation in all our democratic processes.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kate-auty\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Eastman, Kate", "Entry ID": "AWE5438", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/eastman-kate\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Lawyer, Senior Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "Kate Eastman has practised as a barrister in Sydney since 1998. She practises in the areas of human rights, discrimination, employment and public law. Previously, she worked as a solicitor at Allen Allen & Hemsley and as a senior legal officer at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. She holds a BA\/LLB (UNSW), LLM (UCL London), LLM (UTS) and a Diploma of International Human Rights Law (EUI Italy).\nKate Eastman has been actively involved in a number of human rights and international law organisations. She was a co-founder and president of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights. She has taught human rights\/civil liberties and international law at the University of Technology (Sydney) and the University of Sydney, as well as a number of international programs.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Kate Eastman for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Kate Eastman and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nI was born in Sydney but lived in London and Canberra as a child. Apart from a brief period when I wanted to be a marine biologist, I wanted to be a lawyer working in human rights law.\nI completed my secondary education at Loreto College Normanhurst. During my time at school I developed a passion for human rights. I was profoundly moved by The Diary of Anne Frank, To Kill a Mockingbird and biographies of human rights activists in Chile in the 1970s. I joined Amnesty International. I did my work experience with the late Paul Flannery QC, then a barrister and later a District Court judge.\nWe had no lawyers in our family. I did not know any lawyers when I started a BA\/LLB at UNSW in 1985. I loved law from the start. I still have clear memories of the lecturers and classes on torts, contracts, criminal law, admin law and the like. But when I discovered mooting in my first year at Law School, I secretly harboured a wish to become a barrister. One of my highlights at UNSW was mooting in the Jessup International Law Moot in Canberra and then representing Australia at the international competition in Washington DC.\nImmediately after completing the BA\/LLB I went to London to study international human rights law and private international law at University College London. What a terrific year. I spent every Thursday in a human rights lecture with Dame Roslyn Higgins QC, later to become the President of the International Court of Justice. I did volunteer work with NGOs such as Article 19. I achieved a LLM with Distinction ranking in the top 1 - 2% of candidates.\nMy academic interests continued when I returned to Sydney. I undertook another LLM at UTS. I started as a casual lecturer at UTS in 1995 teaching human rights. I have now taught LLB, LLM and JD subjects in the areas of human rights and international law continuously since 1995 at UTS, The University of Sydney and Monash. I have been a Senior Fellow at Monash for a number of years. I have also undertaken human rights teaching programs in Burma in the 1990s - early 2000s and in Afghanistan in 2003.\nMy non-academic career has followed the traditional path - being a research assistant at the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) for the then Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Dame Quentin Bryce AC and the Privacy Commissioner. I did a summer clerkship followed by a graduate position at Allen Allen & Hemsley. I worked at Allens for three years in the corporate and litigation departments. I learnt the art and craft of being a good lawyer. I also had opportunities to undertake pro bono refugee work in Port Hedland and at Kingsford Legal Centre. In 1994, I moved to my dream job (which I thought I might do for life!) as a senior legal officer at HREOC. My three years at HREOC were formative years. I worked with remote Indigenous communities, and saw first-hand the impact of discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. One cannot underestimate the value of working with the best human rights lawyers and practitioners. We worked closely with the late Sir Ronald Wilson and hearing commissioners, many of whom went on to senior judicial positions. I did human rights advocacy. The opportunity to be counsel assisting HREOC or appear for the HREOC firmed my resolve to seek a career at the Bar.\nI was terrified (and sometimes remain so) with the idea of being a barrister. It is now over 17 years since I joined the NSW Bar. I was appointed Senior Counsel in 2012. I wanted to have a human rights practice at the Bar. I was told 'there was no such thing' or it was 'fringe'. However, I have a practice in the area of, human rights, discrimination, employment and public law. Over the 17 years of practice I have worked with a wide range of clients in many and varied industries Human rights issues touch on both the public and private sector. Some of the cases have been high profile - The Tampa, David Hicks, transgender marriage, same sex marriage, Royal Commissions and headline grabbing workplace sexual harassment and discrimination matters. Pro bono work remains an important part of my practice. I was privileged to receive a Law Foundation Justice Award for my contribution to pro bono work.\nThe Bar is still one of the male dominated areas of legal practice. This makes it a great challenge but also presents great opportunities for women.\nI have also maintained my involvement with NGO work. In 1992, I co-founded Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) with the purpose of making human rights relevant to every day legal practice. I was the only Australian NGO representative accredited to participate in the UN negotiations for the establishment of the International Criminal Court in Rome 1998. I participate in a number of law related bodies working on human rights and gender issues for lawyers.\nWhen I reflect on my 25 years in legal practice and the progress of women, I am struck by the importance of having strong, respected women role models. Trailblazers are important. Some trails are the 'firsts' but for many of us, trailblazing occurs in smaller ways. We ensure the trails remain open and we reinforce that all women have a place, not just those exceptional women. For the women following, having access to the trailblazers and discovering that they are human too is important. A kind word of encouragement from a trailblazer can have a profound effect in giving another woman the confidence to follow her path.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sampson, Katherine", "Entry ID": "AWE5439", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sampson-katherine\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Director, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Katherine Sampson is the Managing Director of Mahlab Recruitment (Vic) Pty Ltd. In addition to partner and senior level search, she advises clients on mergers, strategic partner selection, law firm management and legal department structures and often speaks at industry conferences and seminars.\nKatherine serves on a number of boards and committees in both legal and non-legal spheres. In May 2014 she was appointed as a trustee director of industry superannuation fund CareSuper.\nOther extra curricular roles have included executive committee member of Australian Corporate Lawyers Association (ACLA), board member of Craft Victoria (1995 to 1997), Deputy Chair of the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute Ethics Committee (1991 to 2002), board member of the Melbourne International Arts Festival (1998 to 2004) , Deputy Chair of The Australian Press Council (2002-2011) and, until recently, board member of the Monash Law School Foundation.\nKatherine undertook the Williamson Community Leadership program (Leadership Victoria) in 1996. She was a participant in the 2020 Summit, Governance section.\nShe joined Mahlab Recruitment in 1985 after a career in law at (the then) Corr & Corr. She holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and a Bachelor of Laws from Monash University and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST).\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Vickers, Laura", "Entry ID": "AWE5440", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/vickers-laura\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Lawyer, Solicitor, Writer", "Summary": "Laura Vickers is the founder of Nest Legal, Australia's first online after-hours law firm. She graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2006 with first class honours in law and since then has practised law in everything from conveyancing to High Court appeals.\nVickers has worked as a Principal Solicitor with the Victorian Government Solicitor's Office, where she represented the State of Victoria in the constitutional challenge to chaplains in schools and was the legal advisor to the Victorian Floods Review, assisting former Chief Commissioner Neil Comrie AO, APM. She has also worked for top 20 firm Maddocks and local Clifton Hill law firm Elliott Stafford & Associates, taught undergraduate law at La Trobe University, chaired the Constitutional and Administrative Review Committee at the Law Institute of Victoria and volunteered with the Fitzroy Legal Service.\nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Laura Vickers for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Laura Vickers in June 2015.\n\nLaura Vickers is the founder of Nest Legal, Australia's first online after-hours law firm.\nLaura grew up in Castlemaine, Victoria. She ran a number of businesses as a child, including a roadside egg stall, coordinating birthday parties and playing functions with her string quartet. In 2000, she moved to Melbourne for university to study a double degree in law and communications.\nThroughout her university studies, Laura worked as a skincare consultant, copywriter, pyjama model, secretary and conveyancing clerk in Melbourne and London. She had planned to finish her degrees, get admitted as a lawyer and then return to Europe to pursue a career in communications.\nShe graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2006 with first class honours in law. She then lived for three months in Paris at Shakespeare & Co bookshop, supplementing her writing income by teaching French children to sing English nursery rhymes.\nIn 2007, she undertook her articled clerkship at Maddocks, coordinated the marketing for the inaugural Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, and wrote a column for Richard Ackland's Justinian. By the time of her admission to the legal profession in 2008, she had made three discoveries that adjusted her life plans: it was a hard slog earning an income as a writer, she didn't mind legal practice and she was rather fond of a handsome prosecutor in the firm's Construction Law team.\nIn 2009, when the global financial crisis hit and Laura's state government commercial practice dried up, the prosecutor (who she would ultimately marry) helped her develop a practice prosecuting dog and brothel owners for local councils. After the novelty of this wore off and the prosecutor went to the Victorian Bar, Laura accepted a position as a constitutional lawyer with the Victorian Government Solicitor's Office (VGSO).\nLaura worked at the VGSO from 2009 until 2013, during which time she acted as the legal adviser to the Victorian Floods Review, taught undergraduate law at La Trobe University, performed with her band at various Melbourne live music venues, completed a Graduate Diploma in Government Law and chaired the Constitutional and Administrative Review Committee of the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV). In 2013, her son Rufus was born. Whilst he slept, Laura created and managed the VGSO blog.\nAt the end of 2013, unable to secure enough childcare to enable her to return to fulltime work at the VGSO, Laura started Nest Legal. Its services are designed to meet the needs of busy working parents who do not have time to visit a lawyer's office during the day. It provides after-hours Skype consultations, advertises its fixed fees online and obtains initial instructions via secure web forms, which can be provided at the client's convenience. This not only suits her client base but enables Laura to do the bulk of her work at times when her son is asleep or her husband is home to assist with childcare. The firm's law clerks collaborate with Laura via the cloud, working at times that suit their own personal commitments. The firm grows through word of mouth on social media.\nNest Legal has been heralded as a blueprint for lawyers thinking creatively about technology to better serve their clients and parents continuing to practice law meaningfully after having children. In 2014, Nest Legal received the LexisNexis Legal Innovation Index award and in 2015 was shortlisted for the Law Institute of Victoria's Law Firm of the Year (less than 50 partners). Laura now mentors other lawyers wanting to develop online law firms and sits on the LIV's Technology and the Law Committee, which guides the profession on the use of technology.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Makiv, Lydia", "Entry ID": "AWE5441", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/makiv-lydia\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Adelaide, South Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Lydia Makiv is a South Australian Magistrate who developed a reputation for expertise in Child Protection Law and in 2010 was appointed a Magistrate in the Adelaide Youth Court. She graduated with an LLB from Adelaide University, LLB (1972-1975) and was awarded a GDLP from the University of South Australia in 1976.\nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Alan Moss about Lydia Makiv for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Alan Moss and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nLydia Makiv is a first generation Ukrainian Australian whose parents migrated to South Australia in 1949. They had fled Western Ukraine in the latter stages of World War 11 and finally ended up in a refugee camp in Germany. Her parents' new life in Australia was not initially easy as they had no English or money upon arrival and were forced to take on long term unskilled work as the father's university studies in Europe were not recognised.\nLydia's parents were determined that Lydia and her older brother, Emilian, would have a good education and made sacrifices to ensure that occurred. Emilian became a dentist and practised in Victoria and Lydia became a lawyer. She believes that her parents' example and opportunities at university motivated her to succeed.\nLydia joined the South Australian Crown Solicitor's Office in 1977 when the Office had a strong reputation for professional excellence. It provided a high standard of ethical and professional training for its practitioners and produced many of the State's judges and magistrates. Lydia valued the strong mentorship within the Office and subsequently, became a generous and committed mentor to junior practitioners. She remained at the Crown for nearly 30 years, steadily rising through the ranks to become a senior solicitor.\nAlthough her experience there was very broad and included administrative law and appellate work, it was in the area of child protection law that Lydia excelled and established a strong professional reputation acting both as solicitor and counsel in her cases. She conducted numerous lengthy, complex and sometimes controversial trials, earning in the process the respect of social workers, doctors and psychologists, the courts and opposing practitioners who knew that her word could be completely relied upon. Lydia also conducted a large number of international child abduction cases and represented South Australia at national conferences on child abduction.\nIn 2007, Lydia was appointed a magistrate and in 2010, a magistrate at the Adelaide Youth Court where she works in both the criminal and child protection jurisdictions of the court. In 2014, Lydia was elected national secretary of the Australian Association of Magistrates. She is also a member of the Adelaide Chorus, the Ukrainian Women's Association in SA and the Australian Women's Judges Association.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Schiftan, Lynnette Rochelle", "Entry ID": "AWE5442", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/schiftan-lynnette-rochelle\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, General Manager, Judge, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "Lynnette Schiftan was the ninth woman to sign the Victorian Bar Roll (1967) and the second Victorian woman to take silk (1983). In 1985 she was appointed a Judge of the County Court of Victoria - the first woman to be appointed to a Victorian State Court.\nA Victorian Bar News article published at the time of Schiftan's appointment to the bench quoted her reflections on the early days of her legal career:\n'I experienced a great deal of prejudice as a female barrister, from the community generally, from solicitors and from the Bench. However, I suffered no such prejudice from other members of the Bar, who formed a protective barrier around me, which I remember with great affection.'\nShe was also treated well by the majority of her 'brother judges', several of whom 'were accepting and helpful particularly as it was a Court in which I had never practiced. I had three judges come to me separately unbeknownst to the other two and say, \"you haven't done much crime like this, have you. Okay how about you come at 7:30 in the morning and I'll help you.\" All offered a list of things to consider.'\nWhen Schiftan resigned from the bench in 1988, she was still the only female member of the Victorian State Judiciary. In March 1988 she joined Coles Myer as General Manager Legislative Affairs, a role requiring her to monitor the company's compliance with relevant legislation and to represent the company in an advocacy role as necessary.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Lynne Schiftan for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Lynnette Schiftan and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nI was born on 6 March 1942 and grew up in an Australian Jewish house; conservative middle class and if anything with an English slant. It was a close and very sheltered household in all sorts of ways. We observed Shabbat every Friday. It was a small gathering of family members; we lit candles, had a simple meal and talked to each other. We were liberal Jews and that identity informed our values. I attended Methodist Ladies College and the experiences there reinforced the conservatism of our home.\nThe year I was born was also the year my father, Philip Opas, signed the Victorian Bar Roll, thus becoming a barrister. My earliest memories, of the law and the Bar were at the age of five or six. My father babysat often. When he worked on weekends my sister and I would accompany him to Selbourne Chambers. These particular Chambers were built over an old wine cellar. The old wine smell remained combined with musty books it left an indelible memory - decades on I still remember quite clearly. The floors had brown linoleum floors with diamond patterns and highly polished banisters that made for a good slide for two little girls. The chambers became a playground for my sister and me. We tried on wigs, dressed up in gowns and saw grown men, colleagues and friends of my father's dressed up just like us. I also recall the rushing around, the noise and finally doors shut because serious conversations were taking place. When I returned as an adult and a barrister the building had been demolished and replaced by new chambers opposite the Supreme Court.\nBy the time I was a young teenager, I was a well-seasoned observer of the theatre of Court. When the Courts went on circuit to regional centres such as Bendigo, Ballarat, Horsham and Mildura during School Holidays, the family would accompany him. I sat in the Court and listened. By then I had a real knowledge of the roles and importance of the various individuals necessary for the operation of a Court. I absorbed it all and thought it was exactly what I wanted to do in later life. When the time came my parents were adamantly opposed to my entering a Law Course. In that time the solution was easy - I obtained a Commonwealth Scholarship and entered Melbourne University Law School. My father was concerned that if I did Law I would fail and my mother was certain that a female lawyer would never marry. I graduated with a very average LLB from Melbourne University in 1965.\nIn 1966 at the age of 24 I began my legal career journey. As it happened I returned to a very familiar regional city to do my articles. I was articled to Bruce Garde of Hillard Rice and Garde in Mildura in northwest Victoria - a well-established and regarded firm in the region. I was paid a salary of $70 per week, which covered board and a car much needed for local work and also my trips home to Melbourne every weekend. The firm's main client was the Council, it also acted for local businesses such as wineries, orchardists, cooperatives and very occasionally took general legal work and some petty crime alleged against family members of major clients.\nJust as it is today, greater numbers of Indigenous Australians lived in regional rather than metropolitan areas. For the first time I witnessed the challenges facing Aboriginal Australians. There was a community living in humpies on the banks of the Wentworth River at Dareton NSW. I was shocked to my bootstraps at the conditions and began to realise that life for some people was a terrible struggle. There was a disproportionate representation of Aboriginal Australians charged with a range of offences mainly alcohol related including drunkenness in a public place, graduating to theft, crimes of violence and murder. The local Wentworth Magistrate seemed to be constantly fighting authorities trying to keep young Aboriginal Australians, in particular, out of jail. He succeeded if the offence of drunkenness in a public place, drunk and disorderly or similar offence was a first time appearance but for \"regulars\" there was no alternative. The women and children I saw were listless and lacking any reasonable support. I also became aware that violence against women and children was commonplace. An issue that I came to learn beset both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. Unbeknownst to me it was also an issue that would define my career in years to come.\nIn 1967 I returned to Melbourne to complete my Articles at Ridgeway Pierce Freedman and Murray. It also happened to be a leading firm in divorce. I didn't know anyone who was divorced. No one in my parents' circle was divorced. Handling these cases further unveiled what was until then the closeted world of the marital home and domestic violence.\nThe day after I was admitted to practice, I signed the Bar roll on 12 October 1967. I was 25 years old, I was the ninth woman ever to do so and the first to join the Bar without some years' experience as a solicitor. I joined the Bar unhampered by legal practice or maturity but there was no plan B - I was going to be a barrister. I was \"taken in\" by my father's clerk - Mr Jim Foley (I always called him \"Mr Jim\".) I read in the chambers of Mr. Austin Asche (as he then was - later a Family Court Judge and Administrator of the Northern Territory - his practice was solely Matrimonial Causes).\n\"Mr. Jim\" accepted me on condition that I took no work other than Magistrates' Court for two years. He promised that he would then ensure I had a practice. I was sent all over Melbourne doing mainly very minor accident cases but gradually the work changed and I began to appear for what was then known as \"deserted wives\", usually seeking or enforcing maintenance orders.\nI was as 'green' as could possibly be and Mr. Jim was incredibly supportive and very generous with advice. One of his offerings was. He told me that no matter what I was never to cry in front of anyone and if overcome I should go quickly to the \"ladies\"! He didn't want anyone to see me as being weak. But when it came to the matters of child custody or inter family violence the learning curve was steep.\nOne way of ensuring work in the earliest days as a barrister was to appear in cases pro bono and this I did as often as possible. My clients were mainly \"deserted\" wives\" - a terrible term -as they were mainly women and children fleeing domestic violence.\nI married Peter Schiftan on 2 November 1968. Peter brought his four years-old son, Daniel, into the marriage. Shortly thereafter the three of us went to the Territory of Papua New Guinea for almost two years. There, in 1969 I was admitted to practice and opened the Law Office of Cyril P McCubbery on Bougainville Island ( in our kitchen in a woven matting house) where we were living. Peter worked for Bougainville Copper as a General Manager and I was approached by the consortium of Bechtel Western Knapp Engineering to become a Contracts Engineer with responsibility for translating contracts from American English to Australian English whilst also retaining the right of private practice. I frequently appeared in the \"Kiap Court\" (local Court) defending expatriate men accused of various criminal offences. The penalties to be applied were usually fines or expulsion from the mine lease and repatriation back to Australia. There were Australian Maintenance Orders to be enforced - not very successfully as Bougainville was a fairly tough place and the expatriate men were seriously tough individuals. Wage garnishee orders worked for a time but the men simply moved on to defeat the effect. There were serious work related accidents and as the Papuan workforce was drawn from various warring New Guinea Tribes a great deal of inter-tribal violence including murder.\nWe returned to Australia in 1970 and immediately resumed practice at the Bar in my own Chambers. I developed a Matrimonial Causes Act practice - doing undefended divorces. It was a pragmatic decision because the list of cases would be completed in the morning and I could then collect our child, Daniel, from Kindergarten\/ School. There was no tax deduction for child minding and in (1972) HCA 49 Lodge v Commissioner of Taxation that situation was reinforced - child minding expenses incurred to enable a woman to derive assessable income were held to be domestic in nature and therefore not a tax deduction. We could not afford any alternative but at least I was at the Bar.\nIn 1972, at 29 years of age and after our daughter, Kate, was born I again returned to the Bar. By this stage we could afford home help and that also allowed me to take on more complex work that involved days of hearing at a time. During the mid-1970s there were a few more women practising at the Bar. I was senior enough to take on readers. There were six readers in all :- Julia Langslow, Elizabeth Curtain (later Justice Elizabeth Curtain Supreme Court of Victoria) Sue Blashki (later a Magistrate in the Magistrates Court of Victoria) Carolyn Douglas (later Judge Carolyn Douglas of the County Court of Victoria) Clare Grey and Mary Slade. The work at the Bar was increasing and becoming more complex. It was a very busy but good time.\nBy this stage my involvement in Law relating to families had spanned 18 years, I was well established and pursued interests outside the bar. I made myself available to the Centre Against Sexual Assault (CASA). There were other ad hoc groups providing emergency accommodation after family violence to women and children. These services were woefully inadequate. I appeared for many of these women seeking Protection Orders and Maintenance whenever possible. By the time I became involved with CASA it was known that I had a particular interest in sexual assault and that led to me chairing the sub-committee at the Bar on sexual assault. I became the patron of Inner East Foster Care.\nWorking extensively in the general area of laws relating to \"family\", it became obvious that the provisions of The Matrimonial Causes Act 1959 no longer met the needs of a changing society. Men and women were disadvantaged by the stringency and limitations of the grounds for divorce as provided by the Act and the 'fault concept\" within the Act did not assist parties to have suitable ongoing relationships where children's custody and access were involved. Simply put, marriage was an institution still seen through the prism of religious requirements.\nI became actively involved in lobbying for change and was a foundation member of a group ultimately named Family Lawyers Association of Australia. There were many papers presented, articles written and politicians lobbied on the need for change.\nAfter a year of intense lobbying, the Family Law Act of the Commonwealth of Australia (FLA) was finally enacted in 1975. The FLA meant couples no longer needed to show grounds for divorce, but instead, just that their relationship had suffered an irreconcilable breakdown and that they had lived separately for a period of one year. Thereafter, I regularly lectured on various aspects of Family Law Act:-Leo Cussen Institute of Continuing Legal Education, Melbourne and Monash Universities as well as presenting papers at conferences in Australia, United States and Canada.\nIn 1976, I was appointed to the Bishop Committee Inquiry into the Maltreatment of Children. At the time there was no suggestion of endemic Institutional sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse was not a focus of the inquiry and it was only mentioned in the context of domestic violence. We had no submissions then or at a later committee on endemic institutional abuse. It is a stark contrast to the current (2015) Royal Commission into sexual abuse. The revelations are deeply distressing .From 1986 I was among those advocating mandatory reporting of sexual and all forms of abuse of children.\nIn Vitro Fertilisation or IVF research and advancement had made great leaps in a decade and by the time I was appointed to the Waller Committee Inquiry in 1982. It took us two years to deliver a report to the Victorian government, permitting IVF to be legalised for the benefit of married couples. Legislation then followed. It is interesting to now note that no comment was made concerning a child's right to know the identity of a donor and no provision was considered to give families the medical history of the donor. Amendments in recent years now facilitate that option. My extra-curricular interests continued with appointments to the Ethics Committee of the Victorian Bar - Family Law (1983-984), member of the Commonwealth Family Law Council (1984) and convenor of the Sexual Abuse Sub Committee of that Council (1986).\nBy late 1984, I became one of three female QCs in then practising in Australia. Joan Rosanove QC was appointed a QC in 1954 - there were no other women silks in Victoria between Mrs Rosenove and me. South Australia appointed the first female QC, Roma Mitchell, in 1962. It took almost two decades before the second female silk was appointed - that is Mary Gaudron in NSW, and the State of Victoria followed three years later with my appointment as one of her Majesty's Counsel. It is particularly pleasing to see many women now with most senior roles in the law. There is no Court without a woman. Bar Societies are or have been chaired by women but the proportion of women appointees is far below their proportion of the profession as a whole. There is a dearth of appointees from the migrant population of practising Lawyers and no Aboriginal Australian on any senior Court of record.\nAlmost two decades since I embarked on a legal career, I was appointed a Judge of the County Court of Victoria - the first woman to be appointed to a Victorian State Court. My appointment did not meet with universal approval. At the private swearing in the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court strode into the room and ignoring my husband and our two children, instructed me to take the Bible in my right hand, administered the Oath of Office and left without another word. In the County Court matters were not much better as far as the Chief Judge was concerned. I never had Chambers of my own in 3 \u00bd years. I was moved from Chambers to Chambers occupying Chambers belonging to a Judge on leave. My personal books and belongings were never unpacked.\nThere were no toilet facilities for any woman on the floors occupied by Judges. There were \"Judges\" toilets and \"Associates\" toilets on each floor. I asked for provision of facilities but was told there was no budget for such provision. I went home and did not return until I invited the Chief Judge to a press conference I was about to call on day three. Facilities were provided at my insistence for all women on that floor with a door label that said \"Women\".\nBut as I said in the 1984 autumn issue of the 'Victorian Bar News', \"I experienced a great deal of prejudice as a female barrister, from the community generally, from solicitors and from the Bench. However, I suffered no such prejudice from other members of the Bar, who formed a protective barrier around me, which I remember with great affection.\" Similarly, several of my brother Judges were accepting and helpful particularly as it was a Court in which I had never practiced. I had three judges come to me separately unbeknownst to the other two and say, \"you haven't done much crime like this, have you. Okay how about you come at 7:30 in the morning and I'll help you.\" All offered a list of things to consider.\nI was continuously sent to Circuits in the Latrobe Valley. At that time Latrobe Valley had the highest crime rate in the State and according to police data, this remains today with domestic violence topping the list followed by drugs.\nThe next three years brought more appointments and responsibilities: The Advisory Board to the Standing Committee for the Centre of Human Bioethics Monash University (1985), Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (1985), deputy president of The Accident Compensation Tribunal (1986), Convenor of the Sexual Abuse Sub-Committee of the Family Law Council (1986), of which I was still a member, Board Member of Queen Victoria Hospital Prince Henry's Hospital and an Inaugural Board member of Monash Medical Centre. I chaired the non - clinical Ethics Committee in each hospital at which I was a board member.\nAt 46 years of age I was a County Court judge, a wife, a mother, a weekend farmer - serious farmer. We were working seven days a week; we had children who had sports activity from one end of Victoria to the other. I had obligations to my family as a whole, I insisted on doing everything so no one could say I was a bad mother but, it was exhausting.\nThree and a half years after my appointment to the County court I remained the only female member of the State Judiciary and in early 1988 I resigned. My resignation unleashed a tsunami of disapproval. Amongst the criticisms was that I 'set back the course for advancement for women for generations.' This came from women lawyers and the members of the press. I didn't see myself as responsible for all women and I wasn't prepared to accept that responsibility. At the end of all of this I was absolutely rung out and I no longer held interest in fighting constant battles with the Court. I did not enjoy the work of a judge. At the Bar there was a collegiate environment that was absent from the bench, there was also excitement and competition.\nI had no idea what I wanted to do or could do.\nIn March 1988 I joined Coles Myer as General Manager Legislative Affairs requiring monitoring the company's compliance with relevant legislation and to represent the company in an advocacy role as necessary. I appeared at Industry Enquiries and oversaw he legal services of the various businesses. I dealt with Trade Practices issues and the like and was appointed an Associate Director of Coles Myer Ltd and a Member of the 16 person Executive Committee responsible for the running of the businesses and reporting to the Board. There were no other women on the Executive Committee and it appeared to me that that was unlikely to change within a reasonable time. At the time I left in 1998 the aggregate businesses had a turnover of $17 Billion with a workforce of 165,000 people.\nI have found that the Law provides extraordinary opportunities in many diverse ways. It is my belief that the analytical training which forms an integral part of every Law Course can be massaged into any activity one desires to pursue. Even the Court process of advocacy for one's client within strict ethical boundaries allows an understanding of issues in dispute which in the best scenario modifies extremes and displays a recognition of outcomes which although may not satisfy the protagonists absolutely, gives rise to a solution which serves the parties well.\nIn the criminal sphere robust advocacy and rejoinder permit the revelation of weaknesses and strengths, which allows juries to deliberate with a clear understanding of facts. That of course is the ideal and activities do not always lead to such results but to my mind the process is sound.\nIt is distressing that more than 40 years after I signed the Victorian Bar Roll, an exercise such as this is deemed necessary. It was always my hope that by now, 2015, there would no longer be a need for discussions concerning equality of opportunity within or outside the Law. There are Judges who happen to be women in all Courts but their number is far less than the community presence would dictate. There is no Aboriginal judge in any senior court of record and we have yet to see representation from migrant groups to the extent that they are represented in the community at large. The State Bars have many women as members and in some States women chair their Bar Council. Solicitors firms have an ongoing underrepresentation of women at senior partnership level. It is all taking too long. There seems to be little political or legal fraternity will in ensuring more rapid change via judicial appointments, senior partnerships and representation of all parts of the Community - being the Community the Law is required to serve.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/victorian-bar-news\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-barristers-in-victoria-then-and-now\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-family-law-act-in-practice\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lynne-joins-her-father-in-the-ranks-of-qcs\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-lynne-opas-family-court-barrister-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McMurdo, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5443", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcmurdo-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Feminist, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Justice Margaret McMurdo AC is the President of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland. She was the first woman appointed as the presiding judge of an appellate court in Australia.\nMcMurdo was born in 1954 in Brisbane, the youngest of six children born to Gina, a homemaker, and Joe, a commercial law solicitor and ultimately senior partner at Thynne & Macartney. She attended New Farm State School and Brisbane Girls Grammar School (1967 - 1971) before studying law at the University of Queensland. During her university years, she volunteered at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service. She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1975.\nOn 16 December 1976, McMurdo was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland. She worked in the Public Defender's Office (1976-89), holding the office of assistant public defender (1978-89). McMurdo then practised at the private bar in Brisbane (1989-91), holding a commission to prosecute. She was a part-time member of the Criminal Justice Commission Misconduct Tribunal (1990-91). McMurdo was a founding committee member (1978-82) and then president (1980-81) of the Women Lawyers Association and a founding member of the Department of Children's Services Serious Offenders Review Panel (1978-83). McMurdo was appointed a judge of the District Court of Queensland on 29 January 1991, being the first woman to be appointed to the court. She also served as a judge of the Children's Court of Queensland from 1993.\nOn 30 July 1998, McMurdo was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the second president of the Court of Appeal. She was the first woman appointed as the presiding judge of an appellate court in Australia. McMurdo was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2007 and awarded the Centenary Medal in 2003. She was awarded the Queensland Law Society's Agnes McWhinney Award in 2006. She was awarded the degree of Doctor of the University by Griffith University (2000) and by the Queensland University of Technology (2009). McMurdo was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws of the University of Queensland (2012). She has also served as a trustee of Brisbane Girls Grammar School (1994-98) and a member of the council of Griffith University (from 2003).\nOn 23 January 1976, McMurdo married Philip Donald McMurdo who later became a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland. They have four adult children.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Anne Crittall, Associate to the Honourable Justice Margaret McMurdo AC, 2014 - 2015, and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nJustice Margaret McMurdo AC is the President of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Queensland.\nMargaret Anne Hoare was born in 1954 in Brisbane. Her father (Joseph Harold Hoare) was a commercial law solicitor and ultimately senior partner at Thynne & Macartney. She was the youngest of six children. She attended New Farm State School and Brisbane Girls Grammar School (1967 - 1971) before studying law at the University of Queensland. During her university years, she volunteered at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service. She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1975. On 23 January 1976, she married Philip Donald McMurdo who later became a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland. They have four adult children.\nFrom 1975 to 1976 she worked as associate to his Honour Judge Alan Demack, later the Honourable Justice Demack, first in the District Court of Queensland and then in the Family Court of Australia. On 16 December 1976 she was admitted as a barrister. She joined the Public Defender's Office as its first female paralegal. She was an assistant public defender from 1978 to 1989 appearing regularly in high profile cases in all Queensland courts and on two occasions in the High Court of Australia. She was also a founding member of the Department of Children's Services Serious Offenders Review Panel (1978 - 1983). In 1989 she commenced practice at the private bar in Brisbane where she practiced primarily in criminal defence work. She also held a commission to prosecute and developed a growing civil practice.\nIn January 1991 she became the first woman appointed a judge of the District Court of Queensland. At 36, she was also the youngest judge ever commissioned to the Queensland District Court. She convened the District Court Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee. From 1993 she also served as a judge of the Children's Court of Queensland, the first woman to be appointed to that role.\nJustice McMurdo was appointed President of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Queensland in July 1998. She was its second president and the first woman appointed as the presiding judge of an appellate court in Australia.\nHer Honour has a deep commitment to education, serving as a trustee of the Brisbane Girls Grammar School (1994 - 1998), a member of the Queensland University of Technology Faculty of Law Advisory Council (1991 - 2011) and a member of the Griffith University Council (2003 - 2013).\nJustice McMurdo has been awarded the Centenary Medal (2003) and the Queensland Law Society's Agnes McWhinney Award (2006). In 2007 she was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for \"service to the law and judicial administration in Queensland, particularly in the areas of legal education and women's issues, to the support of a range of legal organisations, and to the community.\"\nHer contribution to the law has also been recognised by a number of tertiary institutions. She was awarded the degrees of Doctor of the University by Griffith University (2000) and by the Queensland University of Technology (2009), and an honorary Doctorate of Laws by the University of Queensland (2012).\nShe is a founding fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a member of the American Law Institute, and a Queensland committee member of the Australian Association of Women Judges (2014 - 2015).\nJustice McMurdo's passion for social justice has permeated her career. In 1978 she co-founded the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland (WLAQ) and was its president from 1980 to 1981. Her Honour was patron of Southside Education Centre, a school for disadvantaged young women who have not flourished in mainstream education (2001 -2009). She mentors Indigenous law students from Queensland universities through regular work experience placements. Her Honour is currently patron of both the Women's Legal Service and QPILCH's Civil Justice Fund. She has been a member of the Zonta Club of Brisbane for over 35 years.\nHer Honour's leadership in promoting excellence in judicial administration, legal professional ethics, protection of the rule of law, judicial independence, and the advancement of women and disadvantaged groups are evidenced by her published articles and speeches.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/margaret-mcmurdo\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/judicial-papers-and-judicial-profile-of-the-honourable-justice-margaret-a-mcmurdo-ac\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rizkalla, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5444", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rizkalla-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "In 1985, Margaret Rizkalla was appointed a magistrate in the state of Victoria, the first woman to be appointed to the position. Changes to the appointment criteria, which introduced a Law Degree as a requirement for new appointments in the Victorian Magistrates Act, rather than a progression from the rank of Clerks of Courts, enabled this appointment. Rizkalla graduated with a law degree from the University of Melbourne in 1975 and completed the Leo Cussen Legal Education course as an alternative to completing articles in 1976. She was admitted to practice as a solicitor and barrister in Victoria in 1976.\nRizkalla practised at the Victorian Bar until December 1984, when she was appointed a Member of the Small Claims and Residential Tenancy Tribunal of Victoria. Her appointment to the magistracy occurred in September 1985.\nWhilst a sitting magistrate, Rizkalla was also appointed Chair of the Police Disciplinary Board of Victoria. In June 1988, she was appointed President of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Board and Deputy President of the Victorian Administrative Appeals Tribunal.\nIn June 1994, Rizkalla was appointed a Judge of the County Court of Victoria. She retired from this position in February 2013.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Margaret Rizkalla for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Margaret Rizkalla and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nI retired from the County Court in February 2013 after spending all my adult years in the Law -28 years in all and I can truly say that despite the pressures both emotional and intellectual, that were presented over that time, there wasn't a day that I didn't find my work fulfilling . It is still amazing to me that a young girl from the country who hadn't even met a lawyer prior to entering the Law Course at Melbourne University was able to have such a fulfilling successful career in the Law. Sometimes Ignorance Is Bliss! I didn't imagine any obstacles in pursing Law, and didn't really have any formed idea as to what I would do once I graduated -I simply trusted that life and circumstances would dictate my path. And they did!\nI had no intention of studying Law until a perceptive friend of my parents spoke to me the year I finished school and after much discussion announced he thought I would make a good lawyer. He then proceeded to direct me as to how to change my University preferences from Arts to Law and set me on a path that I have loved ever since. Once I finished my degree the Leo Cussen Institute in Victoria was beginning an alternative to Articles Course which suited me perfectly, as I was by then married and had a small son. Here, via the instructors from the Victorian Bar, I learnt of the life at the Bar, and was encouraged to apply to join the Bar, which I did. So at the ripe old age of 23 years I signed the Bar Roll in November 1976 and began reading with David Byrne (later Justice Byrne of the Victorian Supreme Court) , who accepted me sight unseen on the basis of a request from David Ross Q.C. then a director of Leo Cussen Institute. And so I was on the path.\nI loved my years at the Bar doing anything and everything my Clerk could rustle up. There were not many women practising at the Bar then (I think about 15 or so) and I guess we were regarded by the majority as a bit of an oddity. This didn't manifest itself directly, although I know solicitors took a bit of convincing to proffer briefs until \"we had proved ourselves\". Ironically, I think it was more problematic for women in the profession once they were obvious in numbers and hence seen as genuine competition by some of their male counterparts.\nAfter nine years or so I decided I would look for part time work whilst I had my second child, so applied for a position at the Small Claims and Residential Tenancy Tribunal. I was successful in obtaining a position as a Member adjudicating on all sorts of disputes; mostly where the parties represented themselves, so active participation was very necessary. Despite the fact that it wasn't really a part time position, I realised that I thrived on deciding disputes, even more than I did arguing for one side or the other. Hence, when I received a call from the Attorney General asking if I would be interested in an appointment to the Magistrates' Court of Victoria as one of the first Law Graduates to be appointed, and as it turned out, the first woman, I jumped at it.\nThereafter I had three fantastic years in the old City Magistrates' Court in Melbourne before I was offered the challenge of taking up the position of President of the Equal Opportunity Board for a three year contract period with my security of tenure attached to a dual position as Deputy President Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Victoria. Once again I had been handed another interesting opportunity and I grabbed it, not really knowing what was in store. It was a fascinating and challenging job, involved in determining all disputes which were brought under the Anti-Discrimination Legislation.\nIt goes without saying that it was a controversial area and often involved Government agencies as Respondent. At that time the President sat on cases with two other members who came from legal and lay backgrounds, and this in it was a challenge which I came to love. Discussing the case with other members really did mean I had to be clear on my thinking and non-lawyers especially challenged how far a body such as this should go in determining the way members of the community treated each other, in terms of the areas covered in the Legislation. Sparks did fly a few times as discussions were argued with feeling and determination. After a second three year term I was then offered an appointment to the County Court as a Trial Judge and by this time I was ready to return to what I called the \"straight law\". And so in 1994 I started on the County Court bench and remained there until retirement.\nI suppose when I look back on my experience I think there is a lesson for others in not being deterred from taking a course which might at first appear outside the areas you have thought would be your career. In my case if I had done that I would never have experienced a fulfilling life in the Law. When we are young, it seems to me the main thing, especially for women, is to have an open mind and be prepared to accept challenges life presents.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-barristers-in-victoria-then-and-now\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Warner, Catherine Ann (Kate)", "Entry ID": "AWE5445", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/warner-catherine-ann-kate\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Hobart, Tasmania, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Commissioner, Governor, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Catherine Ann 'Kate' Warner AM is an Australian lawyer, legal academic, and the current (2015) Governor of Tasmania. She was sworn in as Tasmania's twentieth-eighth Governor at Government House on Wednesday 10 December 2014.\nIn 2017, Kate Warner was made a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia 'for eminent service to the people of Tasmania through leading contributions to the legal community, particularly to law reform, to higher education as an academic, researcher and publisher, and as a supporter of the arts, and environmental and social justice initiatives'.\n", "Details": "Professor Kate Warner was born in Hobart, and attended St Michael's Collegiate School and the University of Tasmania, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws with Honours on 15 April 1970, and with a Master of Laws by research thesis on 7 December 1978. Her LLM thesis focussed on 'Presentence Psychiatric Reports in Tasmania'.\nAfter graduation, she worked as Associate to (then) Chief Justice of Tasmania Sir Stanley Burbury at the Supreme Court of Tasmania and was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor in 1971. Following completion of her LLM thesis in 1978, she commenced her lengthy career as an academic at the University of Tasmania Law School. She was promoted to Lecturer in 1981, to Senior Lecturer in 1989, Associate Professor in 1993, and Professor in 1996.\nIn 1992, she was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Law and later was appointed Head of the School of Law (the first woman to hold these positions at the University of Tasmania). She was promoted to Professor in 1996 and in 2002 was appointed as foundation Director of the Tasmania Law Reform Institute.\nBefore her appointment as Governor for the State of Tasmania, Warner was Professor, Faculty of Law, at the University of Tasmania and Director of the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute. She had also, in her career at the University, held the positions of Dean, Faculty of Law, and Head of School.\nProfessor Warner's teaching interests were in Criminal Law, Evidence, Criminology and Sentencing, and her research interests included Sentencing and Criminal Justice, areas in which she has a significant publications record.\nProfessor Warner was a Commissioner of the Tasmanian Gaming Commission, with a particular interest in regulation, gaming policy and harm minimisation. She had also been a Member of the Sentencing Advisory Council since 2010, and had assisted with the preparation of the Council's discussion papers and reports. She was a Member of the Board of Legal Education; a Member of the Council of Law Reporting; and Director, Centre for Legal Studies.\nIn addition to working with the Tasmania Law Reform Institute on its projects, Professor Warner had been involved in providing advice and submissions on rape law reform, drug diversion and mental health diversion programs and abortion law reform. She also assisted other law reform bodies nationally, including the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and the Australian Law Reform Commission.\nAs President of the Alcorso Foundation, Her Excellency supports social and cultural advancement in the community through its programs in the Arts, Environment and Social Justice.\nProfessor Warner has received a number of awards and fellowships, including Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law in 2007; Visiting Fellow All Souls College Oxford in 2009; the University of Tasmania Distinguished Service Medal in 2013; and the Women Lawyers Award for Leadership in 2013. She has been nominated as a finalist in the Tasmanian Australian of the Year Awards for her contributions to the law, law reform and legal education.\nOn 26 January 2014 Her Excellency was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) for her significant service to the law, particularly in the areas of law reform and education.\nHer Excellency is married to Richard Warner, and has two daughters. Richard was the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship in 1999, and is actively involved in the Derwent Valley community. He is a keen horticulturalist, and interested in the re-use of redundant heritage buildings in Tasmania.\nShe is grandmother to five grandchildren, a passionate gardener, keen bushwalker and occasional cyclist.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kate-warner-to-be-appointed-first-female-governor-of-tasmania\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/curriculum-vitae-of-the-governor-her-excellency-professor-the-honourable-kate-warner-am\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sentencing-in-tasmania\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/criminal-process-and-human-rights\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/equality-before-the-law-and-equal-impact-of-sanctions-doing-justice-to-difference-in-wealth-and-employment-status\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/public-judgement-on-sentencing-final-results-from-the-tasmanian-jury-sentencing-study\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/using-jurors-to-explore-public-attitudes-to-sentencing\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-role-of-guideline-judgments-in-the-law-and-order-debate\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sentencing\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gang-rape-in-sydney-crime-the-media-politics-race-and-sentencing\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Upton, Gabrielle", "Entry ID": "AWE5446", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/upton-gabrielle\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Attorney General, Banker, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Politician, Solicitor", "Summary": "Born and raised in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Gabrielle Upton is a Liberal party Member of the House of Assembly, for the seat of Vaucluse, in the Parliament of New South Wales. On 2 April 2015, she was appointed as Attorney General for New South Wales, having previously held the position of Minister for Family and Community Services between 23 April 2014 until 2 April 2015. Prior to that she served as Minister for Sport and Recreation from August 2013 until April 2014 and Parliamentary Secretary for Tertiary Education and Skills, from May 2011 until August 2013. She was first elected to parliament in 2011.\n", "Details": "Gabrielle Upton was born and raised in the eastern suburbs of Sydney where she attended Brigidine College in Randwick and the University of New South Wales, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. Her legal career began as a banking and finance lawyer with legal firms Freehill, Hollingdale & Page and Phillips Fox, after being admitted as a Solicitor to the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia in 1988.\nGabrielle and Alex Sundich married in 1990 and in 1993 they moved to New York where Gabrielle completed a Masters of Business Administration (Finance Management) at New York University's Leonard Stern School of Business.\nUpon completing her MBA, Gabrielle worked as a banker with Deutsche Bank and Toronto Dominion Bank in New York financing the energy sector.\nReturning to Sydney in 1999 with her family, Gabrielle began the role of Legal Counsel at the Australian Institute of Company Directors.\nGabrielle served as Deputy Chancellor at the University of New South Wales from 2006 until 2009, and on the University's Council from 2002 to 2010.\nFrom 2005 to 2011 Gabrielle was the Deputy Chair of the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards in Australia. She was also a board member of Neuroscience Research Australia, one of Australia's largest research centres on the brain and nervous system, from 2007 to 2011.\nGabrielle gained a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales, and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.\nGabrielle and Alex live in Darling Point with their two children.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/webpage-of-the-honourable-gabrielle-upton-mp-member-for-vaucluse\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Atkinson, Roslyn Gay", "Entry ID": "AWE5447", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/atkinson-roslyn-gay\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Arts administrator, Barrister, Educator, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor, Teacher", "Summary": "Roslyn Gay Atkinson AO is a Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland, having been appointed to that position in 1998. In 2002 she also became the Chairperson of the Queensland Law Reform Commission, and served in that role until her retirement in 2013.\n", "Details": "Roslyn Gay Atkinson was born in November 1948 in Brisbane, to Oliver John Scott (Jock) Atkinson, DFC, and Heather Noelle Atkinson. She attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School (1962-1965), before graduating Bachelor of Arts with Honours in English language and Literature (1970) and Bachelor of Educational Studies (1975) from the University of Queensland. She obtained a graduate certificate in Speech and Drama at Rose Bruford College in the United Kingdom.\nJustice Atkinson initially pursued careers in the arts and education. She was a teacher from 1970 to 1974 and then became an Actor and Theatre Administrator from 1974 to 1978, before becoming a Lecturer of Literature, Drama, Film and Australian Studies at the Queensland Institute of Technology. In 1985 she entered the legal profession by becoming an Articled Clerk at Feez Ruthning. The following year she was an Associate to the Honourable Justice Brennan, then a Justice of the High Court of Australia. She was admitted to the bar in 1987 and practised there until her appointment to the Supreme Court.\nJustice Atkinson then completed a Bachelor of Laws degree with first class honours at the University of Queensland (1985). She received the Feez Ruthning Prize in Company Law (1983), the Ruthning Memorial Scholarship (1984), the Women Lawyers Prize (1984), the Virgil Power Prize (1984), the Morris Fletcher & Cross Prize (1984) and the Wilkinson Memorial Prize (1984). She commenced articles of clerkship at the Brisbane firm, Feez Ruthning (1985), and then served as Associate to Brennan J of the High Court of Australia (1986).\nOn 23 February 1987, she was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland and commenced practice at the bar in Brisbane. Whilst in practice at the bar, Justice Atkinson also served as a member of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (1988-1990), a member (1990-1996) and deputy chair (1994-96) of the Queensland Law Reform Commission, a member of the advisory committee to the Law Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology (from 1991), a member (1992-94) and later inaugural president (1994-1997) of the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, and a hearing commissioner for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (1994-1997). She also served as a member of the management committee of the Caxton Legal Service and as subeditor of the Queensland Reports.\nOn 3 September 1998, Justice Atkinson was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland. Thereafter she also served as chair of the Queensland Law Reform Commission (2002-2014).\nJustice Atkinson has made contributions to the development and strengthening of judicial institutions internationally. Her Honour served as President of the International Commission of Jurists (Queensland) from 2000 to 2013. Her Honour led a delegation to South Africa in 1999 to advise with regard to the implementation of Equality Courts and presented at Anti-Discrimination Law workshops for the South African judiciary in 2000. In 2005, Justice Atkinson gave presentations at a training workshop for Iraqi Judges on International Human Rights Law. Justice Atkinson was Delegation Leader for the International Bar Association's Report on Independence of the Judiciary in Fiji. Her Honour is a Vice-President of the International Association of Judges' Study Commission on the Independence of the Judiciary.\nHer Honour is a Member of the National Judicial College of Australia's National Indigenous Justice Committee. In that role, she led a project in 2013 that was aimed at better informing courts and the legal profession in Queensland about many urban, remote and regional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Her Honour is also Co-Editor of the Equal Treatment Bench Book of the Supreme Court of Queensland.\nIn 2015, Justice Atkinson was made an Officer of the Order of Australia 'For distinguished service to the judiciary and to law reform in Queensland, through contributions to the legal profession and to promoting awareness of issues of injustice and inequality in Australia and internationally.'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/judicial-profile-of-the-honourable-justice-roslyn-g-atkinson-ao\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/roslyn-atkinson\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kilkenny, Sonia", "Entry ID": "AWE5481", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kilkenny-sonia\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "A member of the Australian Labor Party, Sonia Kilkenny was elected Member for Carrum in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria at the election which was held in November 2014.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sheed, Suzanna", "Entry ID": "AWE5509", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sheed-suzanna\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Riverina, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Suzanna Sheed was elected Member for Shepparton as an Independent in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria at the November 2014 election and held the seat until 2022. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2024 for significant service to the people and Parliament of Victoria, and to the community.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Shing, Harriet", "Entry ID": "AWE5510", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/shing-harriet\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Harriet Shing was elected the Australian Labor Party Member for Eastern Victoria in the Legislative Council of the Parliament of Victoria at the November 2014 election.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Williams, Gabrielle", "Entry ID": "AWE5518", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/williams-gabrielle\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Australia", "Occupations": "Advisor, Lawyer", "Summary": "Gabrielle Williams was elected the Australian Labor Party Member for Dandenong in the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Victoria at the November 2014 election.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Payne, Vivien Claire", "Entry ID": "AWE5525", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/payne-vivien-claire\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "London, England", "Death Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Vivien Payne was born and educated in London, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London in 1948. She completed her articles with her father and was admitted as a solicitor in 1951. She practised in London until 1963, when she and her husband migrated to Perth, Australia. She became one of only a handful of women practising law in Perth at the time, and only the second to enter private practice. In 1982 she became founding President of the Women Lawyers of Western Australia Inc.\nPerth based women barristers forging their careers in the 1970s and 80s, such as Val French and Antoinette Kennedy, have noted her support for them, especially through the provision of briefs.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written about Vivien Payne for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Vivien Payne and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\nVivien Claire Payne was born in London on 13 July 1927.\nShe graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of London in 1948 and completed her articles over three years with her father.\nShe was admitted as a solicitor in London in 1951 and continued to practice in London until she left for Australia.\nIn 1963, with her husband Douglas, and their four children they moved to Perth, Western Australia, where Douglas had been invited to take up the position of visiting Professor of Law at the University of Western Australia's Law School. Vivien spent her first two years in Australia working at a well known Perth law firm, and in 1965 she opened her own practice, Vivien C Payne, practicing mainly in family and common law. She managed to balance the busy life of a wife and mother of four, with working full time as a practicing lawyer. During these years, in Perth there were only four or five female lawyers practicing of whom Vivien was the second one in private practice.\nIn her career, she did not experience discrimination on the basis of her sex although there were requirements, such as when appearing before the Summary Relief Court (now the Magistrates Court), to be granted a right of appearance, she was required to wear a hat, while the same was not required of male lawyers.\nDuring the late 1970's as the number of women practicing law increased, Vivien and a number of fellow women lawyers began meeting and decided that a women lawyers association should be established, to promote the interests of women in law and women generally, as there were parallel bodies in the Eastern States. In 1982, the Women Lawyers of Western Australia Inc. was founded, and she was its first president. The State Government at once began sending bills of all kinds to the association for comment.\nVivien maintained an influential position on a number of Committees and Boards during her career. In June 1980 she was the first female commissioner to join the Legal Aid Commission and was a longstanding member of the Legal Aid Review Committee. She was on the Perth Zoo Board from 1988 to 1991 and was there during the opening of several new areas. She was a member of the Dental Board of Western Australia (now the Dental Board of Australia) for a year but resigned because of pressure of work.\nTwo of her children pursue careers in law, as do two of her grandchildren.\nVivien retired from full time practice in 1989.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/why-the-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bryant, Diana", "Entry ID": "AWE5526", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bryant-diana\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate, Queen's Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "The Honourable Diana Bryant is an Australian jurist. She was appointed Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia on 5 July 2004. Before this, she was the inaugural Chief Federal Magistrate of the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia (now the Federal Circuit Court of Australia) from 2000-2004.\nHer Honour's appointment to the bench followed many years practising in family law in both Perth and Victoria. In Perth, she was a partner with the firm Phillips Fox; in Melbourne she was a founding member of Chancery Chambers. Known to be 'a brilliant lawyer', with an 'innate sense of justice and fairness,' her time as a barrister was marked by her preparedness to pursue both on behalf of her clients even at her own cost.\nHer Honour has long been committed to advocating on behalf of women in the legal profession, having been a founding member of the Women Lawyers Association of Western Australia. She is currently Patron of Australian Women Lawyers and a committee member of The Australian Association of Women Judges.\nBorn into a family of legal professionals (her mother was a lawyer, as was her grandfather), Her Honour has witnessed considerable change across the course of her professional life, with regards to the status of women in the legal profession. In a 2016 address at the Australian Women Lawyers conference, she noted, '[a]although there are further mountains to climb for women lawyers, the progress is encouraging, 'suggesting that one of the most 'encouraging signs' was greater acceptance of the need for 'different work policies and practices which do not impede the path to success.'\nDiana Bryant was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "A more detailed essay about Her Honour's career is in development.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cool-head-leaps-into-legal-hot-seat\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-view-from-the-top-of-the-hill-a-retrospective-by-an-activist-woman-lawyer\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/diana-bryant-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kennedy, Antoinette", "Entry ID": "AWE5527", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kennedy-antoinette\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Antoinette Kennedy was the first woman judge to be appointed in Western Australia when appointed to the Bench of the District Court in 1985.\n", "Details": "Justice Antoinette Kennedy has been a leader and a mentor in the legal profession and has achieved many 'firsts' that have allowed others to follow in her footsteps.\nThese include:\n\nShe was the only woman from her year at high school to attend university\nShe was the only woman from her graduating class at the University of Western Australia to gain articles of clerkship\nShe was the second woman to join the Independent Bar in Perth to practise as a barrister\nShe was the first woman judge to be appointed in Western Australia when appointed to the Bench of the District Court in 1985\nShe was a founding member of Women Lawyers of Western Australia Inc. (she ahs been a Patron of that group since 1999)\nShe was the first woman to be appointed Chief Judge of the District Court of Western Australia in 2004.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/an-interview-with-chief-judge-antoinette-kennedy\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Evans, Ada Emily", "Entry ID": "AWE5543", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/evans-ada-emily\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Essex, England", "Death Place": "Kurkulla, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Teacher", "Summary": "Ada Emily Evans began her professional life as a teacher, but later blazed a trail for women in the legal profession. In 1902, at the University of Sydney, she was the first woman in Australia to earn a Bachelor of Laws, graduating at a time when New South Wales law did not allow her to practise. She was admitted to the NSW Bar in 1921 after changes to the legislation, thus becoming the first woman to be admitted to the bar in New South Wales.\n", "Details": "Ada Emily Evans was born on 17 May 1872 in Essex, England. Ada and her family immigrated to Sydney in 1883. Her mother came from a legal family and Ada was convinced of the necessity for women lawyers to remedy the prejudices of the entirely male legal system. When Ada enrolled in the Sydney University Faculty of Law, the Dean, Professor Pitt Cobbett, would not accept women law students. Ada enrolled when he was absent on leave and could not prevent her entry. Upon his return, Professor Cobbett told Ada that 'her frame was so light that she should become a doctor'. Nevertheless, Ada continued her studies and in 1902 became the first Australian woman to complete her law degree.\nAda Evans applied to be registered at the Supreme Court as a student-at-law. She was rejected on the basis that a legal practitioner had to be a \"person of good fame and repute\" and the legal definition of \"person\" did not include being a woman. From 1902 until 1918, Ada campaigned for her admission. During those years, she wrote articles on women's issues for the Australian Star newspaper under the pen-name \"A.L.B\", postulated to be an acronym for \"a lady barrister\".\nIn 1918, legislation was passed to allow women to enter the legal profession in New South Wales. In 1921, Ada Evans became the first woman to be admitted to the New South Wales Bar. Ada never practised due to the lapse of time since her graduation, poor health and family commitments. Confident and intelligent, Ada Evans was also an expert pistol shot and golf player. She died at Kurkulla on 27 December 1947.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/evans-ada-emily-1872-1947\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ada-evans-biography\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-women-in-the-legal-profession-in-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Morrison, Sibyl Enid Vera Munro", "Entry ID": "AWE5544", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/morrison-sibyl-enid-vera-munro\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Petersham, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Collaroy, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Sibyl Enid Vera Munro Morrison became the first female barrister in New South Wales in June 1924. She was often briefed by fellow pioneering female lawyers, Christian Jollie Smith and Marie Byles, to whom she referred as her 'sisters-in-law'.\n", "Details": "Sibyl Morrison (nee Gibbs) was born on 18 August 1895 at Petersham, Sydney. She had an uncle and half-brother who were lawyers, and graduated from law at the University of Sydney in 1924. She interrupted her legal studies to visit Britain in 1923 where she married a ranch owner, Charles Carlisle Morrison. Known for her fashionable dresses, Morrison asserted that 'the law is one of the best professions you can take up and one for which women are particularly suited'. She was a member of the National Council of Women of New South Wales and convener of their laws committee. In 1926, when the National Council of Women was advocating uniform Federal marriage and divorce laws, she presented a paper on divorce in Australia.\nSibyl divorced Charles Morrison in 1928 and travelled to London where she was called to the Bar in 1930. She returned to Sydney and married architect Carlyle Greenwell in 1937. After her marriage she ceased to practice as a barrister. In 1940 she was first president of the Law School Comforts Fund, becoming a life vice-president in 1942. She was also involved with the Business and Professional Women's Club of Sydney. Sibyl Morrison died at Collaroy on 29 December 1961.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sybil-morrison-biography\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/morrison-sibyl-enid-vera-munro-1895-1961\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McGregor, Katharine Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5545", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcgregor-katharine-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Death Place": "Kangaroo Point, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Katharine McGregor 'looked a picturesque figure in the traditional wig and gown', when she became the first woman in Queensland to be admitted as a barrister, although she never actually practiced as one. She was admitted as a solicitor and a barrister by the Supreme Court of Queensland in October 1926.\n", "Details": "Born on 16 May 1903 in South Brisbane, Katharine McGregor received a strict upbringing from her lawyer father. Upon completing her schooling at Brisbane Girls' Grammar School, Katharine won an open scholarship to the University of Queensland where she studied classics. She graduated with first-class honours in 1923, completed a thesis on 'The Island of Samos' for her masterate, and served as honorary secretary of the short-lived Queensland Classical Society.\nPersuaded by her father to carry on the family's legal tradition, Katharine sat the sat the Barristers' Board examinations. As a barrister, she became friends with trailblazing lawyer Agnes McWhinney. Katharine joined her father's law firm where she practised as a solicitor and became a partner in the firm. Katharine set up her own firm in September 1935. From 1939, Katharine worked as a private tutor in Greek and Latin, and as an examiner in classics at secondary and tertiary levels. Softly spoken and nervous, Katharine McGregor was an avid reader. She died on 25 June 1979 in Kangaroo Point.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcgregor-katharine-elizabeth-1913-1979\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-womans-place-100-years-of-queensland-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Donkin, Beryl Killeen", "Entry ID": "AWE5546", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/donkin-beryl-killeen\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Death Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Legal secretary", "Summary": "Although she was not a lawyer, Beryl Donkin was a prominent administrator and facilitator. She was born in 1920 in Brisbane but grew up in Melbourne. After working in the Queensland public service, she was appointed on 24 April 1941 to the position of the Queensland Law Society's assistant secretary. This position was particularly demanding as the Society was experiencing financial difficulty and many key members had left to attend military service during World War Two.\nShe was the Queensland Law Society's first full-time employee and continued to serve the Society for 13 years before assuming the statutory position of Secretary in 1954, a position she held until 1981 when she retired. Her commitment and service to Queensland lawyers - including by being the first female secretary of any Law Society in the Commonwealth - was honoured in 1975 when she received an OBE at Buckingham Palace.\nAs secretary, Beryl's responsibilities included coordination of complaints; the organisation of practising certificates; administration of sub-committees; and financial duties. Beryl Donkin was awarded Order of the British Empire in 1975 for 'her devoted and untiring service to the Queensland Law Society'. Beryl Donkin was a key mentor and source of support to trailblazer Joan Bennett. Beryl died in 1991, and several legal prizes have been named in her honour.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-womans-place-100-years-of-queensland-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Eggleston, Elizabeth Moulton", "Entry ID": "AWE5547", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/eggleston-elizabeth-moulton\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Armadale, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Activist, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Motivated by a burning sense of injustice, Elizabeth Eggleston was a trailblazer in advocating justice for Aboriginal people. An academic lawyer and activist - she was the first doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Law at Monash University - Eggleston's research revealed systematic discrimination of Indigenous peoples in the administration of justice. She was a founder of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service in 1972.\n", "Details": "Elizabeth Moulton Eggleston was born on 6 November 1934 at Armadale, Melbourne. Her father, Sir Richard Moulton Eggleston, was a barrister who became a judge and chancellor of Monash University. Elizabeth graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (second-class honours) from the University of Melbourne in 1956. At university Elizabeth was active in the Australian \/Student Christian Movement, the Students' Representative Council, a voluntary legal-aid service and the editorial board of the legal journal, Res Judicatae. After briefly practising law in Melbourne, Eggleston studied her Master of Laws at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating in 1958. She returned to Melbourne in 1961 and practised as a solicitor. Elizabeth completed an arts degree at the University of Melbourne in 1964.\nIn 1965, Eggleston became the first doctoral candidate in the faculty of law at Monash University. Her PhD focussed on Aboriginal people and the administration of justice. In 1969 Eggleston began lecturing at Monash University, where she established new courses. In 1971 she became part time director of the University's Centre for Research into Aboriginal Affairs. The Centre generated research, organized conferences, established a course in Black Australian Studies, provided resources for Aboriginal groups and individuals, and liaised with government and overseas bodies.\nEggleston was a founder of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service in 1972. She conducted a discussion group with Aboriginal people in Pentridge gaol and advised Aboriginal communities. In addition to publishing articles, Elizabeth made submissions to government inquiries and parliamentary committees. Eggleston returned to North America in 1972 and undertook research in Native American communities. Her major publication, Fear, Favour or Affection (Canberra, 1976), was acclaimed for revealing systemic discrimination against Aboriginal people in the administration of criminal justice. She died on 24 March 1976 in East Melbourne and Aboriginal friends sang at her memorial service.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/eggleston-elizabeth-moulton-1934-1976\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/personal-archives-eggleston-elizabeth-moulton-1934-1976\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Murphy, Isla Victoria", "Entry ID": "AWE5548", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/murphy-isla-victoria\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "St Kilda, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Toorak, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Army officer (former), Lawyer, Women\u201a\u00c4\u00f4s advocacy", "Summary": "Isla Victoria Murphy was born on 17 July 1913 at St Kilda. After graduating as dux from the Presentation convent school, she attended the University of Melbourne. In 1933, Isla completed her Bachelor of Arts (Hons). She completed her Bachelor of Laws in 1934 and her Masters the following year. Isla was admitted to the Bar on 1 May 1936. She practised with her uncle's firm and was described as 'the best man in the office'. During this time, she also served on the Victorian committee of the St Joan's Social and Political Alliance, an international organization committed to an active role in society for lay Catholic women.\nIsla joined the Australian Women's Army Service on 21 November 1941, where she attended the first A.W.A.S. officers' course and became captain. In 1943 she was promoted to major and appointed deputy assistant adjutant-general (women's services) at Land Headquarters. In September 1944 she became assistant adjutant-general (women's services) and was made temporary lieutenant colonel. Murphy assisted with the rehabilitation of servicewomen before transferring to the Reserve of Officers on 7 September 1946.\nWith the intention of resuming her legal career, she attended a refresher course at the University of Melbourne, where she met solicitor Horace Arthur Wimpole, who had also served in the Australian Imperial Force, and been a prisoner of war. They were married on 16 September 1947, and Isla did not recommence her practice. In 1957-60 Isla was vice-president of the Lyceum Club. She died on 4 January 1967.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/murphy-isla-victoria-1913-1967\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-the-lyceum-club-melbourne\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-at-war\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Gaudron, Mary Genevieve", "Entry ID": "AWE5567", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gaudron-mary-genevieve\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Moree, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer, Public servant, Queen's Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "Mary Genevieve Gaudron, born 5 January 1943, was the first female justice of the High Court of Australia, and the only one in the Court's first 100 years. She was born into outback NSW Moree's working class railway community adjacent to a camp of dispossessed Aboriginal Australians. Both communities held the status of battlers, somewhat apart from the rich white business community on the other side of the Mehi River. Fittingly, she became one of the High Court justices who decided Eddie Mabo's landmark case on Aboriginal land rights.\nThroughout her career Gaudron, a colourful and lively personality, remained down-to-earth, proud of her working class origins, and humble about her achievements.\nOn her retirement from the High Court in 2003, Gaudron accepted a part-time appointment on the International Labour Organisation's Administrative Tribunal in Geneva. She served a term as its President before retiring in 2012 to her Sydney home.\nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Pamela Burton for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Pamela Burton and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\nMary Gaudron was the first child of Edward and Grace (n\u00e9e Mawkes). Her father, known as Ted, worked on the State railways. Mary's mother, known as Bonnie, was dux at the Intermediate level of the Moree Public School in 1933. She and Ted married at St Henry's Catholic Church, East Moree, in 1942. Unfortunately, the couple lost their second child, a boy, as a baby from illness. They had two more girls and a boy.\nMary's childhood was an unlikely one for a future High Court justice. However, the town and her church were good to her. Whilst at St Francis Xavier primary school, she won a Diocesan Bursary that funded her high school education as a boarder at St Ursula's College, Armidale. She matriculated with straight 'A's and, at just sixteen, secured a Commonwealth scholarship to attend the University of Sydney in 1959. She was further assisted by a \u00a350 prize from the Moree and Bullaroo Council.\nGaudron's life reads as a list of successful 'firsts' and 'youngests'. With determination and brilliance she confronted and overcame many obstacles to women embarking on professional careers. She married Ben Nurse in 1962 and received her BA the same year. She graduated in Law with first class honours in 1966, becoming the first part-time student to be awarded the University medal in law, and only the second woman. Even more remarkable, she was also working full-time and was a mother, Danielle having been born in 1964.\nThere were fortuitous events and circumstances that fostered her ambition to become a lawyer. Doc (H.V.) Evatt's visit to Moree in 1951 was an impetus. He was campaigning from the back of a blue Holden Ute for the 'no' vote which would block a Constitutional amendment to outlaw the Communist Party. Mary was a curious kid who wanted to know what a Constitution was. From the crowd, she put her hand up and asked him. The exchange between the driven man and the young girl resulted in Evatt sending her a copy of the Constitution. She waved it around at school telling the kids that she 'knew' what she was going to be when she grew up - a lawyer. Not just a lawyer, but a barrister. When she was later told by a local solicitor that she was aiming too high - girls don't do law and she should consider a job in the telephone exchange - she wanted to prove him wrong.\nGaudron commenced practise at the Sydney Bar in October 1968, and in 1972, became the first woman appointed to the NSW Bar Council. Sadness beset her when, like her mother, she, too, lost her second child. Ben died in 1971, aged two; just weeks before her second daughter, Julienne, was born.\nIn 1972 Gaudron successfully appeared in the Equal Pay Case before the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, becoming the first woman to appear for the Commonwealth in a national wage case. In 1974, aged 31, Gaudron was appointed to that Commission as a deputy president, the youngest person to become a federal court judge. While there, another career highlight was her participation in the 1978 Maternity Leave Case.\nIt can be argued that, for Mary Gaudron, a 'disadvantaged' working class environment aided her in this success; it gave her cause to think; to question things she observed around her. Both her family and her Catholic education encouraged that. From a young age she was curious about the way the world worked and how people behaved. It also helped that, as a child, she had the benefit of being immersed in a sub-community that was welded together by union solidarity; something she no doubt recalled when resolving workers' wage disputes as a judge of the Commission.\nIn early 1981, at only 38, she was appointed NSW Solicitor-General, the first female State solicitor-general and she became Gaudron, QC. She married her second husband, John Fogarty, and later that year, their son, Patrick, was born. \nNSW State solicitor-general was a job she enjoyed, despite some rocky moments. She was attracted to the Wran government's agenda of social reform but it was sidetracked by crime and corruption issues that would not go away. This was the time when the so-called 'Age tapes' revealed dicey dealings of magistrates, police and politicians with crime bosses, gamblers and drug dealers. Gaudron became a controversial figure. Yet an analysis of her opinions confirms that she was 'frank and fearless' in the advice she gave. Those who worked with her marvelled at the speed with which she could carefully study and absorb mountains of briefing material, arrive at the essence of a problem, and provide firm and correct opinions. Premier Neville Wran always followed her advice. 'Gaudron's law' was a powerful force behind the scenes.\nIn this role Gaudron displayed a high level of understanding and expertise in Australian federalism and the interaction of State and Commonwealth powers - a capacity that became one of the reasons why she was later recognised as suitable for appointment to the High Court. She appeared before the High Court in several significant constitutional cases. In 1982 in the Commonwealth v Hospital Contribution Fund, a case concerning the arrangements within the State courts for the exercise of federal jurisdiction, she persuaded the court to overrule the two previous High Court decisions on the point. Other significant constitutional cases in which she appeared before the High Court included Hematite Petroleum v Victoria and Stack v Coast Securities (No 9) in 1983 and Gosford Meats Pty Ltd v New South Wales in 1985. She also appeared in Miller v TCN Channel Nine in 1985, a case concerning the constitutional guarantee of free trade and commerce between the states (section 92). Importantly, she appeared in the Tasmanian Dam case in 1983, a landmark in Australia's constitutional history over the use of the Commonwealth's external affairs power.\nIn February 1987 Gaudron was appointed to the High Court of Australia by the Hawke Labor Government. She participated in many cases contributing significantly to the development of Australian law. A number of her decisions were recognitions that discrimination, often disguised or indirect, had to be exposed and eliminated, and that due process had to be followed, if a fair system of justice was to be achieved.\nShe did some deep thinking about the meaning of equality, and how it differed from 'sameness'. She incorporated the concept of discrimination to develop the notion that people with differences that mattered should not be dealt with in the same manner if equality was to be achieved, and that differences that didn't matter, should be disregarded in order to give equal justice. Put simply,\" 'Equal justice' is justice that is blind to differences that don't matter but is appropriately adapted to those that do.\" In 1998 she stated frankly that the racism she saw directed towards indigenous Australians while she was growing up sensitised her towards all forms of discrimination.\nWhile legalistic in her approach, not liking to strain the language of enactments, and obedient to precedent, she was noted for reaching many decisions that represented a shift in the law that accorded with current social expectations. By way of example here, her joint majority judgement with Justice Deane in the case of Banovic provided a legal analysis of indirect discrimination which demonstrated that equal treatment did not equate with non-discrimination. The case concerned the employer's practice of 'last on, first off' for retrenching workers. On the surface it was not discriminatory, as more men than women were retrenched. However, a group of eight retrenched female workers successfully claimed they were discriminated against because of the employer's preference for recruiting men. They waited longer to be employed and lacked employment seniority, and were therefore more vulnerable to retrenchment. The majority of the court agreed that the 'last on, first off' formula was flawed in a workforce that was predominately male.\nGaudron was also attuned to discrimination against women in domestic situations, and in the case of Van Gervan v Fenton she added persuasion to her reasoning. In that case the Court considered the method of assessing the notional value of the time spent by a wife who provided attendant care services to her injured husband. The majority held that compensation should be measured by reference to the market value of the services provided rather than to the family member's forgone earnings. Gaudron agreed, but took the opportunity of strongly dispelling assumptions behind the argument that deduction from the market value should be made for the domestic services previously provided by the injured man's wife. She said that the argument that services given by his wife before the accident were 'needed' by her husband, rather than being part of a normal domestic relationship was an assumption that implies 'incompetence and selfishness of a very high order.' The argument was that the injured man already had the services of a wife and, therefore, to the extent that the accident gave rise to a need for those services, no requirement for compensation for those services arose. 'At best', she said,' that equates a wife to an indentured domestic servant - which she is certainly not'.\nGaudron's legalistic approach permitted an effective block to various attempts by the Federal Government to restrict the right of review of administrative decisions concerning immigration. She was influential on later courts in developing reasoning to the effect that, if an administrative decision ignored principles of procedural fairness, it was not a 'decision' from which a review could be prohibited under Commonwealth law. Helpful here was what she called the 'genius' of the Constitution - ss 75(v). This gives to everyone in Australia the right to approach the High Court to compel Commonwealth authorities to perform their constitutional and statutory duties, and to prevent them from acting in excess of their powers. Understanding its intricacies is not easy, she conceded, as this 'small subsection \u2026 has been known to reduce grown men to tears'. In its application it 'guarantees the rule of law' in Australia, because it operates to ensure that the right to a hearing is not thwarted by arbitrary decisions. She has enshrined ss 75(v) by having her few words about it stencilled into the portrait commissioned from artist Sally Robinson by the NSW Bar Association.\nThroughout her career, Gaudron remained troubled by the way Australia treated its Aboriginal peoples. Perhaps the most publicised case of this time is Mabo No 2 about which so much has been written. Justices Deane and Gaudron came under particular criticism for what has been described as a 'moralising tone' in their joint judgement in describing the dispossession of the Aboriginal peoples of most of their traditional lands as a 'national legacy of unutterable shame', and 'the darkest aspect' of Australian history. The Aboriginal land rights case of Wik followed, and was perhaps more important in practical effect. Gaudron, like Justice Gummow, utilised her special knowledge of equity principles in their application to real property rights and entitlements, and in her separate majority judgement demonstrated her analytic textual approach and application of logic to reach what might be described as a social justice-oriented outcome.\nA more insightful perspective on Gaudron's life is that, from childhood onwards, she developed a set of guiding values that remained with her throughout her professional life, strongly influencing her decisions as both lawyer and judge, and serendipitously, shaping the opportunities which came her way. While it was a driving motivation throughout her legal career to prove she was intellectually equal to the best of the men who had made it, there was more. She wanted to achieve social change, and recognised the law as a tool for achieving social justice. Her complex personality and her strong views on how people should treat each other have their roots in a colourful and extraordinary life story.\nGaudron's decisions on immigration, citizenship and refugees are amongst many where applications of her principles have effected increased protection for the vulnerable. Gaudron's analysis and development of concepts of 'equal justice' and the intertwining notion of 'discrimination'; decisions concerning implied rights in the Constitution; and her concern for fair trials and procedural fairness are part of her legacy to Australia's legal history.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mary-gaudron\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pioneering-women-at-the-nsw-bar-1921-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/from-moree-to-mabo-the-mary-gaudron-story\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/justice-left-hanging-in-the-breeze\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cohen, Nerida Josephine", "Entry ID": "AWE5569", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cohen-nerida-josephine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Chairperson, Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor, Women's rights activist", "Summary": "Nerida Josephine Cohen (later Goodman) was the second woman (and first Jewish woman) to practise at the New South Wales (NSW) Bar. Amongst her early mentors were Professor Gladys Marks and feminist leaders Jessie Street and Ruby Rich. She was admitted to the NSW bar in 1935.\nShe built her business steadily throughout the 1930s and 40s, particularly in the area of divorce and industrial law, because she had an abiding interest in advancing the rights of women in the domestic and industrial spheres.\nDuring WWII, Nerida left the Bar to play a part in the war effort by working firstly with the Women's Employment Board and then with the NSW Department of Labour and Industry as a legal officer. She was chairman of the Council for Women in War Work, which collected records of the achievements of women during the war.\nIn 1952, she was invited to be the inaugural president of the Women Lawyers Association of New South Wales.\n", "Details": "Nerida Goodman (nee Cohen) entered the University of Sydney at the age of 15, an outstanding scholar and violinist; she resided at the Women's College while studying Arts and Law. In the final years of her degree she was articled to Pigott Stinson Macgregor & Palmer. Following her admission on 26 July 1935, she became the second woman, and first Jewish woman, to practise at the New South Wales Bar. Her practice reflected her dedication to advancing women's rights in the domestic and industrial settings. With mentor Jessie Street, she campaigned for equal pay for women; another preoccupation was divorce law reform. During the Second World War, she left the Bar to work with the Women's Employment Board and later with the New South Wales Department of Labour and Industry. In 1943 she chaired the newly-established Council for Women in War Network. Marrying Bernard Goodman in 1946, she shortly afterwards ceased to practise at the Bar. Goodman was the inaugural president of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales in 1952 and the first woman to serve on the NSW Board of Jewish Education. She also served on the provisional executive of the Liberal Party when it was formed and in 1948 became vice-president of the Party's Darlinghurst branch. An MBE granted in 1980 recognised her service to women's affairs and the Jewish community.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jonathan-goodman-interview-jonathan-goodman-interviewed-by-juliette-brodsky-28-june-2010\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/street-jessie-mary-grey-1889-1970\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nerida-cohen-biography\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-women-in-the-legal-profession-in-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nerida-goodman-interviewed-by-hazel-de-berg-in-the-hazel-de-berg-collection-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pike, Veronica", "Entry ID": "AWE5572", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pike-veronica\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Gosford, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "In May 1940, when Veronica Pike was admitted as a solicitor, there were very few woman solicitors in New South Wales. A pioneering woman lawyer, Pike was active in the International Federation of Women Lawyers and the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales, of which she was a founding member.\n", "Details": "Veronica Pike was born on 8 December 1900 in Sydney. Pike's sister discouraged her from going to university because she would 'only be a schoolteacher', so she joined the New South Wales public service as a shorthand writer and typist. In 1927 she resigned and enrolled in the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music.\nAfter her brother, Vincent, was admitted as a solicitor in 1929, Pike became his articled clerk. She interrupted her Solicitors' Admission Board studies in 1935 to travel. Upon her return, Vincent was obliged to leave his practice for medical reasons. Although still unqualified, Veronica conducted the practice under the supervision of the prothonotary. She was admitted as a solicitor on 24 May 1940 and entered into a partnership with her brother. Unusually for a female solicitor, she undertook conveyancing, building and tenancy cases.\nPike helped found the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales. She was president in 1960 and became an honorary life member in 1986. In 1952 she attended the convention of the International Federation of Women Lawyers in Istanbul, Turkey, and was elected vice-president. She attended another convention in New Mexico, USA in 1979. Pike was also a delegate to a women's law conference in Iran in 1974. Pike enjoyed gardening and playing golf, as a member of the Australian Golf Club. A Catholic, she served on the council of the St Thomas More Society in the early 1970s. She died on 2 October 1986 at Gosford.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pike-veronica-1900-1986\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mayo, Marylyn", "Entry ID": "AWE5573", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mayo-marylyn\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "New Zealand", "Death Place": "Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Marylyn Mayo was an inspirational teacher to many female law students, and encouraged them in their legal careers. She established a full law degree at James Cook University and was influential on many of the University's boards and committees. Marylyn graduated with Bachelor degrees in Law and Arts as one of a small group of female law graduates at the University of Auckland in the 1960. After being admitted as a barrister and solicitor by the Supreme Court of New Zealand, she worked in private practice before joining the Ministry of Works as Auckland District Solicitor.\n", "Details": "Marylyn Mayo graduated with Bachelor degrees in Law and Arts as one of a small group of female law graduates at the University of Auckland in New Zealand in the 1960s. After being admitted as a barrister and solicitor by the Supreme Court of New Zealand, she worked in private practice before joining the Ministry of Works as Auckland District Solicitor.\nMayo began lecturing in law in 1969 at Queensland's Townsville University College, which later became James Cook University of North Queensland. As a woman in a predominately male academic field, she was an inspirational mentor for many women in North Queensland. She realised her dream of establishing a full law degree at James Cook University in 1989 and was the Foundation Head of the School of Law and acting Dean until 1990, after which she continued lecturing. Marylyn was deputy Dean until 1993. In addition to lecturing, she published articles and presented at conferences. She retired from academic life in 1996.\nMarylyn served on several boards and committees, including the Chair of the Townsville Hospital Ethics Committee, and membership of the University and National Health and Medical Research Council Ethics Committee. She also served on various university committees, including the University Council, Academic Board and Promotions Committee. She was president of James Cook University Staff Association and an active member of the James Cook University Branch of the National Tertiary Education Union. Marylyn died in 2002 and has several lectures and scholarships named in her honour.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-womans-place-100-years-of-queensland-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kavanagh, Tricia Marie", "Entry ID": "AWE5574", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kavanagh-tricia-marie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Arbitration commissioner, Barrister, Commissioner, Industrial officer, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor, Teacher", "Summary": "The Hon Dr Tricia Marie Kavanagh is a trailblazing Judge, Barrister and Arbitrator, particularly in the areas of sport and industrial relations.\n", "Details": "The Hon Dr Tricia Marie Kavanagh is a trailblazing judge, barrister and arbitrator, particularly in the areas of sport and industrial relations. An Irish Australian, Kavanagh began her career as a teacher in 1962, but five years later moved to New York to work for the Australian Consulate. Following her return to Australia, Kavanagh was Industrial Officer of the Shop Assistants Union from 1971 to 1973. She served as Childcare Commissioner on the Commonwealth Children's Commission from 1973 until 1975. In 1975, Tricia married the Hon Laurie Brereton, a Company Director and Former Cabinet Minister of Australia and New South Wales. She has two sons.\nKavanagh worked as Industrial Officer of the Australian Workers Union from 1976 to 1980 whilst she studied her Bachelor of Laws at University of Technology Sydney. She graduated and was admitted to the Bar in 1981 where she worked in employment law, workers compensation law and administrative law.\nIn 1998, Kavanagh completed her PhD thesis on legal issues relating to drugs in sport. The same year, she was appointed to a joint Commission as a Justice of the New South Wales Industrial Court and Deputy President of the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission. During these years, she sat on the New South Wales Racing Appeals Tribunal and as Deputy Chair of the New South Wales Medical Tribunal. She retired in 2012.\nSince its inception in 2000, Tricia has presided as an Arbitrator on the Court of Arbitration for Sport. She was the Australian nominated Arbitrator on the Court's Ad-hoc Division for the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Tricia is currently Governor of the University of Notre Dame, a position she has held since 2010. She has been Director of Transplant Australia since 2009. A recipient of a liver transplant, Tricia is passionate about improving the clinical system of organ and tissue donation. In 2012, Tricia also became the Director of the Kolling foundation, the fundraising foundation for the Royal North Shore and Ryde Hospitals and the Kolling Institute.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/justice-left-hanging-in-the-breeze\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Williams, Tammy", "Entry ID": "AWE5575", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/williams-tammy\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Aboriginal rights activist, Barrister, Human rights activist, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Tammy Williams is a trailblazing Indigenous and human rights advocate. She is a practising barrister, founding director of Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships, and a leading advisor on Indigenous issues.\nAdmitted as a barrister in 2002, her legal career includes Commonwealth prosecutor and appointments to quasi-judicial bodies. She has been a member of the National Human Rights Consultative Committee and in 2003 was named the Queensland Women Lawyers Association Emergent Lawyer of the Year.\n", "Details": "Tammy Williams is a Murri Lawyer whose family is originally from the Cherbourg Aboriginal Community. She grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Gympie, Queensland. After her father's tragic death by suicide when she was six years old, she moved with her family into a Queensland housing commission home.\nWhen she was seventeen, Williams wrote an award-winning essay on injustice for an international competition. The prize included travelling to the USA to meet Michael Jackson at his Neverland Ranch for a youth conference, a defining experience for her. During these years, she helped her mother, Lesley Williams, to win her stolen wages claim against the Queensland government .\nIn 1995, Tammy was a delegate to the United Nations World Summit of Children and its Committee on the Rights of the Child. She attended the State of the World forum the following year and in 1997 was awarded the National Human Rights (Youth) Award. In 2000 Tammy received the Law Council of Australia's Koowarta Reconciliation Scholarship, and was guest speaker at the opening ceremony of the Australian Reconciliation Convention.\nTammy was awarded her law degree in 2001 from the Queensland University of Technology and was admitted to the Queensland Bar the following year. Between 2003 and 2007, Tammy was a founding member of the federal government's National Indigenous Council which provided advice on Indigenous issues to Minister Mal Brough and the Ministerial Taskforce on Indigenous Affairs. In 2003 Tammy was awarded by the Queensland Women Law Association, the \"Emergent Lawyer of the Year\". She was a member of Senator Vanstone's Indigenous Women's Advisory Group and the Youth Pathways Action Plan of Public Prosecutions in Queensland.\nIn 2004, Tammy took leave from her position at the Department of Public Prosecutions to take up a scholarship at Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships, where she is director and legal and strategic manager. The following year, Tammy was part of the Australian delegation to the UN committee on the Status of Women in New York. Tammy served as a Member of the National Indigenous Council and National Human Rights Consultation Committee before moving into Tribunal work in 2008 with the Children Services Tribunal. She has been a Sessional Member of the Queensland Civil and Administration Tribunal (QCAT) since 2009. Tammy won Queensland University of Technology's 2009 Outstanding Young Alumni Award.\nIn 2015, Tammy co-authored 'Not Just Black and White' with her mother, a memoir of their fight against the injustices and discrimination faced by Indigenous Australians. Tammy is married with one child.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-womans-place-100-years-of-queensland-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/not-just-black-and-white-a-conversation-between-a-mother-and-daughter\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Symon, Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE5576", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/symon-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "Helen Symon QC is a leading advocate with wide experience in taxation law as well as commercial and administrative law. She appears regularly in the High Court of Australia, the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria. One of the most experienced taxation silks in Australia, Symon has been, professionally, 'outstandingly successful - for a woman. That,' she says, 'sums up both my professional achievements and my professional frustrations.'\n", "Details": "Helen Symon graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Hons) at the University of Melbourne. She was admitted to practice in April 1984 and has progressed since to become one of Australia's leading advocates in taxation, commercial and administrative law. She was appointed silk on 28 November 2000 and appears regularly in the High Court of Australia, the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Victoria. Despite this, or perhaps, because of this, she has encountered the frustrations of gender discrimination along the way. In an interview in 2007 she said, 'Women know that they are seen in a different light, or their skills are seen in a different light, or they're not recognised to the same degree that some of the men are and it is a real frustration because you've got this little voice in your head saying, 'Well I'm okay, I'm doing a good job.\"\nSymon has been active in professional associations. In 1996, she was the third convenor of the Women Barristers' Association and has campaigned on such matters as rental subsidies on chambers for women with young children. She was an advocate member of the Legal Profession Tribunal from 1997 to 1999 and a member of the Victorian Bar's Readers' Course Committee from 1988 to 1999. She was involved in teaching advocacy from as early as 1987, first in the Victorian Bar Readers' Course and, from its inception, at the Australian Advocacy Institute. She was Chair of the Leo Cussen Institute (now Leo Cussen Centre for Law) from 2009 to 2013, during which time the Institute's government funding was withdrawn and it was re-invented as a business.\nSymon was a member of the Victorian Bar Pro Bono Committee from 2006 to 2008. In 2016 she is Chair of the Victorian Bar Ethics Committee and a member of the Federal Court Users' Committee. From 1999 to 2002, she was President of the Buoyancy Foundation of Victoria which provides drug and alcohol counselling services. She has also served as Chair of the Hunger Project Australia. From 2008 to 2014, Helen served on the board of the Australian Art Orchestra.\nDuring the 1998 Constitutional Convention, Symon was a Candidate on the Women's Ticket - An Equal Say. She was an elected Board member of the Victorian Women's Trust from 1999 to 2002.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/even-it-up-a-conversation-with-past-and-present-wba-convenors\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Proust, Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5578", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/proust-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Chairperson, Chief Executive Officer, Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "Elizabeth Proust is one of Melbourne, Victoria's leading business figures, having held leadership roles in the private and public sectors in Australia for over 30 years. She is Chairman of Nestle Australia Ltd, Chairman of Bank of Melbourne, a director of Perpetual Ltd, Spotless Ltd, Insurance Manufacturers Australia Pty Ltd, Sinclair Knight Merz Holdings Pty Ltd, and of Sports Australia Hall of Fame. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of JP Morgan, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.\nPrior to taking on roles as a non-executive director, Elizabeth spent eight years with the ANZ Group, including four years as Managing Director of Esanda. At ANZ itself, she held the positions of Managing Director, Metrobanking and Group General Manager, Human Resources, Corporate Affairs and Management Services. She was global head of HR at ANZ at a time when the bank was represented in some 43 countries.\nBefore joining ANZ, Proust was Secretary of the Victorian Department of the Premier and Cabinet and Chief Executive of the City of Melbourne. She had previously been appointed Secretary of the Victorian Attorney General's Department. Proust's first role after graduation was in public affairs at BP Australia.\nEducated by the Good Samaritan sisters in Balmain and Wollongong, Proust worked for the Young Catholic Students' movement after leaving school. She has a BA (Hons) from La Trobe University and a Law degree from the University of Melbourne.\nProust was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2010 for distinguished service to public administration and to business, through leadership roles in government and private enterprise, as a mentor to women, and to the community through contributions to arts, charitable and educational bodies. Previous board roles include Chairman of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Chairman of the Centre for Dialogue at La Trobe University and a director of Nonprofit Australia.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Elizabeth Proust for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Elizabeth Proust and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nI had a very traditional Catholic upbringing and education at primary and secondary schools (primary schools were in Orange, Wagga Wagga and Balmain) and I completed my secondary education in 1968 at St Mary's Wollongong. My parents expected that all 9 of us would go to university and the nuns who taught me and my sisters reinforced this.\nIn 1969, I did what would now be called a \"gap year\" and worked for the Young Catholic Students movement in Melbourne. My future husband, Brian Lawrence, was working there, taking 2 years off between finishing his law degree at Melbourne University and starting articles.\nI then spent 2 years at Sydney University starting an Arts degree (Government, Psychology, Anthropology and English). Most of my class mates from Wollongong did teaching or nursing and I started Arts without a clear idea of where this might lead.\nTo my parents' horror I married at 21 and moved back to Melbourne. I completed a B.A (Hons) at La Trobe University, the only university in Melbourne to recognise some of my second year subjects. I had a daughter and started post graduate studies. These have never been completed because I started a law degree at Melbourne University in 1979 and never went back to my post graduate work.\nI should explain that my Honours thesis was on the (then) Workers' Compensation Board and the relationship between barristers and their clients in that jurisdiction (my husband by this time was a barrister, but not in this jurisdiction). My post graduate studies were intended to expand on this work but I became more interested in the law, and far less interested in either sociology or an academic career.\nMy Law degree was all undertaken part time as finances dictated that I needed to work. Generous employers (BP Australia, BP International and the Victorian Government) allowed me time off work and covered tuition costs but getting to lectures (held then only between 9 and 4) was always a struggle and I owe a debt of gratitude to the many people who took notes for me and assisted in many other ways. I sat my final exams on London, overseen by Sam Ricketson who was on sabbatical at the time.\nSo, it was an unusual way to complete a Law degree and I sometimes think that the part time nature of my degree, and my disconnect from much of campus life probably led me away from a life in the law. I never undertook summer school subjects nor sought articles, as, somewhere in the 8 years it took me to graduate, I realised that there were other interesting career options.\nWhen I graduated in 1986 I was 36 and becoming senior in the Victorian public service. Articles seemed a big backward step, both in career terms and financially.\nHowever, the degree has never felt anything but integral to what I have done. As a company director today, a working knowledge of many aspects of the law (corporations law, work health and safety, employment law, etc) is vital to much of what I do.\nBut it has always been relevant. I was Secretary of the (then) Attorney-General's Department in the late 1980's and being accepted as a lawyer (even if it was only as a very junior one) was important. This was especially so as the then Attorney-General, Andrew McCutcheon, was an architect by training, the State of Victoria's first, and I think, only, non \"legal\" Attorney-General.\nThen as Secretary to the Department of Premier and Cabinet, a working knowledge of the law was an advantage. The Cabinet Office was, and is, in this department so that much of the business of the Department is the production of legislation for Parliament.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lunch-with-elizabeth-proust\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Petinos, Eleni Marie", "Entry ID": "AWE5593", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/petinos-eleni-marie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Political advisor", "Summary": "Eleni Petinos was elected as the Member for Miranda representing the Liberal Party of Australia in the Legislative Assembly of the New South Wales Parliament in 2015.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Smith, Tamara Francine", "Entry ID": "AWE5595", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/smith-tamara-francine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor, Teacher", "Summary": "Tamara Smith was elected as the Member for Ballina representing the Greens Party in the Legislative Assembly of the New South Wales Parliament in 2015.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Washington, Kate Rebecca", "Entry ID": "AWE5596", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/washington-kate-rebecca\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Kate Washington was elected as the Member for Port Stephens representing the Australian Labor Party in the Legislative Assembly of the New South Wales Parliament in 2015.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Brown, Sally", "Entry ID": "AWE5597", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/brown-sally\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Chairperson, Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Sally Brown was at the forefront of women advancing in the Victorian judiciary, as one of the first female magistrates appointed in Victoria in 1985. She was appointed Chief Magistrate in 1990, and then a Judge of the Family Court of Australia in 1993. She has served on a number of boards, including as Chair of the Australian Institute of Criminology.\n", "Details": "After time as a solicitor, tertiary lecturer and barrister, Sally Brown was appointed a magistrate in Victoria in 1985; in 1990 she was appointed Chief Magistrate, the first woman to head a Victorian Court. Between November 1993 and June 2010 she was a judge of the Family Court of Australia and for much of that time was the Judge Administrator for the Southern Region, which included Tasmania and South Australia.\nBrown was instrumental in the development and delivery of judicial education in Australia, particularly education relating to gender and culture, and the incidence and impact of family violence. She has maintained a long-standing interest in juvenile justice, child protection and children's rights. Other interests, pursued through a range of organizations, relate to support of the marginalised and disenfranchised, including the homeless and prisoners after release, and maintenance of the rule of law.\nIn 2003 she was appointed to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women and in 2006 was made a member of the Order of Australia. She has been a member or chair of the board of numerous organizations including the Alfred Hospital, the Australian Institute of Criminology, the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration, the Australian Drug and Alcohol Foundation, the International Commission of Jurists (Victorian Chapter), the National Judicial College and the Australian Community Support Organisation.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2003 - 2003)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-barristers-in-victoria-then-and-now\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sally-brown-interviewed-by-ruth-campbell-in-the-law-in-australian-society-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Budavari, Rosemary", "Entry ID": "AWE5599", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/budavari-rosemary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "Rosemary Budavari is currently (2016) the Senior Solicitor for Disability Discrimination Law at Canberra Community Law, a position she has held since 2013. She has played an important role in Australian community law services and, in 2010, she was recognised for this role when she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the law through the advancement of human rights and through the Women's Legal Centre of the ACT.\nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Rosemary Budavari for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Rosemary Budavri and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nRosemary was born in Sydney in September 1957, the youngest of three daughters of Alajos and Rozalia Budavari, who had come to Australia as Hungarian refugees in 1949. Alajos had a doctorate in law from the University of Pecs in Hungary and had practised as a lawyer in Europe. However this was not recognised for admission as a legal practitioner in Australia and his circumstances were such that he was not in a position to complete admission requirements. However, he completed a librarianship degree and became the Law Librarian at the University of Sydney. He and Rozalia were immensely proud when Rosemary decided to pursue a career in law.\nRosemary was educated at Our Lady of Mercy College in Parramatta and completed her Higher School Certificate in 1975. She completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1978 at Macquarie University. In 1979 and 1980 she worked for the Tertiary Catholic Federation of Australia, the national representative body for Catholic students in Australian tertiary institutions. She returned to Macquarie University and completed her Law degree in 1982 and was the recipient of five academic prizes that year.\nWhile studying at Macquarie University, Rosemary became involved with a group of academics and students who established the Macquarie Legal Centre in Parramatta. This involvement began a long association with community legal centres and other forms of legal assistance to vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians. It also reflected a strong commitment to social justice and the Australian community. Rosemary volunteered at Macquarie Legal Centre and was a member of its Management Committee during her studies.\nOn completion of her studies and Practical legal Training Certificate, Rosemary moved to Alice Springs with her husband Paul Burke, a fellow young lawyer, who was working at the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Service. Rosemary commenced work as a Legal Officer at the Australian Legal Aid Office in Alice Springs in 1983. She appeared as a duty lawyer daily in the Alice Springs Court of Summary Jurisdiction in criminal matters and also conducted summary proceedings in that court. She also conducted pleas; appeals from the Court of Summary Jurisdiction and family law matters in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory and instructed counsel in serious criminal trials in that court.\nIn 1987, Rosemary and Paul's first child, Mark was born and their second child, Helen was born in 1990.\nIn 1989 and 1990 Rosemary worked in private practice with Dittons in Alice Springs conducting a range of civil and family law matters.\nIn 1991, Rosemary taught a number of law subjects at the Alice Springs College of TAFE.\nIn 1992, Rosemary and Paul moved to Canberra to be closer to their families. Rosemary undertook a Master of Laws degree by thesis at the Australian National University. Her thesis, \"SuperMabo Orders: An Analysis of the Federal Scheme for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection\" reflected Rosemary's interest in environmental law and the close relationships that she and Paul had developed with several Aboriginal families in Alice Springs. One of the case studies in Rosemary's thesis related to the protection of a sacred site in Alice Springs that would have been destroyed by the development of a dam there.\nIn 1997 Rosemary was able to pursue her interests in environmental protection and the community legal centre sector further when she commenced work as the Co-Ordinator and Solicitor at the Environmental Defender's Office in Canberra. She advised individuals and groups who were seeking to protect the environment in the ACT. She prepared law reform submissions and appeared before ACT Parliamentary Committees in relation to reviews of environmental impact assessment, nature conservation, utilities and tree protection legislation. She prepared a comprehensive set of Fact Sheets on ACT environmental legislation and policies. She actively participated in the national network of Environmental Defenders' Offices. She was a member of the Planning and Environment Committee of the ACT Law Society and a committee member of the National Environmental Law Association during this time.\nIn 2000, Rosemary took up a position as Co-Ordinator and Principal Solicitor of the Women's Legal Centre in Canberra. She supervised a number of staff and volunteer solicitors in this community legal centre which focussed on discrimination, employment, family law and victims' compensation matters. She supervised the preparation of law reform submissions in relation to bail, discrimination, employment, family, human rights, restorative justice and victims' compensation laws. She appeared at parliamentary inquiries in relation to these submissions and represented the centre at meetings with the ACT Government in relation to these issues. She also supervised the centre's community legal education activities including a 'Lawsupport' course for community workers about domestic violence and family law and the centre's annual public 'Women and Justice Forum'.\nDuring her time at the Women's Legal Centre, Rosemary also contributed to a number of ACT and national committees and groups including as:\n\nConvenor of the National Network of Women's Legal Services from 2000 to 2002\nACT Representative and Treasurer for the National Association of Community Legal Centres from 2000 to 2006\n A Member of the ACT Government Intersectoral Expert Reference Group on Women and Corrections from 2001 to 2004\nA member of the National Relationship Support Network from 2003 to 2007\nA member of the ACT Law Society's Pro Bono Clearinghouse Steering Committee and Law Week Committee from 2004 to 2007\nA member of the ACT Family Pathways Network and the ACT Domestic Violence Prevention Council Law Reform Sub-Committee from 2004 to 2007\nA member of the Family Court Self-Represented Litigants Committee and Chief Justice's Consultative Committee in 2005\n\nIn 2007, Rosemary took up a position as a policy lawyer at the Law Council of Australia, the peak representative body for Australian lawyers. She prepared policy statements and submissions in a range of civil law matters before moving into the criminal law and human rights division where she became a Co-Director in 2008. She undertook advocacy in relation to anti-terrorism laws; anti-money laundering legislation; and serious and organised crime legislation. She also undertook advocacy in relation to anti-discrimination legislation, immigration and other human rights legislation. She was involved in the Law Council's advocacy in the cases of David Hicks and Mohammed Haneef.\nIn 2010, Rosemary was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the law through the advancement of human rights and through the Women's Legal Centre of the ACT.\nIn 2013, Rosemary returned to the community legal centre sector in her current position as the Senior Solicitor, Disability Discrimination Law at Canberra Community Law. She represents people with disability in discrimination complaints to the ACT and Australian Human Rights Commissions and in proceedings before the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/canberrans-awarded-for-service-to-the-community\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "de Jong, Tania", "Entry ID": "AWE5600", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/de-jong-tania\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Arnhem, Holland", "Occupations": "Entrepreneur, Lawyer, Opera singer", "Summary": "Tania de Jong has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Melbourne and is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts in opera, music theatre and voice.\nShe is a leading Australian soprano, social entrepreneur, innovation catalyst and international keynote speaker on leadership, creativity and innovation. She founded Creativity Australia and Creative Universe and works with disadvantaged communities through the 'With One Voice' choir social inclusion programs.\nShe is also the Founder of Creative Innovation Global and Executive Producer of the Ci2010-Ci2016 conferences, online charity campaign Sing for Good, acclaimed Australian singing group Pot-Pourri and MTA Entertainment & Events.\nDe Jong was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2008 for service to the Arts as a performer and entrepreneur and through the establishment and development of music and arts enrichment programs for schools and communities.\nThrough her work, de Jong has received numerous awards including Ernst and Young Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year as Founder of The Song Room, a Churchill Fellowship and she was named Brainlink Woman of Achievement in 2009. She was a Finalist in the Telstra Business Women's Awards and was inducted into the AGSE Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia.\nIn 2015 de Jong released her first solo CD entitled Heaven on Earth. She has recently founded a co-working space called Dimension5 in Melbourne to drive social innovation and collaboration.\nDe Jong says her mission, 'is to change the world\u2026one voice at a time!'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/how-singing-together-changes-the-brain-tania-de-jong-am-at-tedxmelbourne\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sievers, Sally", "Entry ID": "AWE5601", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sievers-sally\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Near Launceston, Tasmania, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Commissioner, Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor, Sportswoman", "Summary": "Sally Sievers has been a lawyer in the Northern Territory since 1988, practising within government, in private practice and as a Relieving Magistrate from time to time. She was appointed the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner for the Northern Territory in January 2013. As commissioner, she has focused the Commission's activities in the areas of race and disability discrimination and women's equality, in particular the impact of discrimination against women and families. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in January 2025 for distinguished service to the law, to social justice and human rights, and to the community of the Northern Territory.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Sally Sievers for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Sally Sievers and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\nI was born in 1965, the third child of a young Tasmanian family, which over the next six years would increase from three children to six.\nI grew up in the rural surrounds of Launceston with my brothers and sisters and an array of foster children coming through our home. It was a happy and secure childhood with a stay at home Mum and Dad working in sales.\nI attended a variety of local public primary schools and then the local high school when we moved into Launceston city.\nThere was no expectation that I would attend school past year 10 as my older siblings and vast number of cousins had not. Tasmania's low high school retention rate remains an issue even today.\nI had always been a very active and physical child, which paid off when my ability to kick a ball a country mile was noticed by the school hockey coach, and thus my involvement in hockey began. Hockey at both school and club level gave me an exposure to a whole different world of opportunities. Most influential were a number of young women, including Penny Gray who returned to Launceston after being away at university with stories of adventure and plans for the future.\nLuckily for me, dual Olympian Penny Gray, whose history I was unaware of at this time, picked me up and ran me to and from hockey training. In our conversation on the way to and from training a whole array of options opened up for me and as a result for the first time I began to entertain the idea of university.\nFrom there my journey to university was set. It began with convincing my family that attending a matriculation college was a good idea.\nIt was in my second year at Alanvale Community College that I came across legal studies. The course was presented in an engaging way, with newspaper clippings of cases which peaked my interest in law and justice. Not having any idea where my access to education would take me, I asked the teacher what I would need to do to become a legal studies teacher like him. He responded that if I was not going to consider being a lawyer he wasn't sure who in the class would. It was all the encouragement I needed, although I had never met a lawyer at that stage, nor did I until I started at the University of Tasmania.\nThe University of Tasmania at that time only had a campus in Hobart. A big hurdle for my family in my decision to go to university was leaving home to study; until that time my older siblings had only left home once married.\nAnother considerable factor was how this was to be funded. I am totally the beneficiary of the very limited window in Australia's history of free education. As a child from a low income family, with no income after my father lost his last paid employment a week or so into my university degree, my studies were largely funded by Austudy, holiday jobs and living very frugally.\nOnly two or three other students from Alanvale ended up with me at residential college and at the University of Tasmania in 1982. Over the next five years I completed a pretty conservative arts\/law degree. It was a time of social change in Tasmania the rise of environmental movements such as the Franklin Dam blockades etc. I was exposed to many great lecturers, including present Tasmanian Governor Kate Warner.\nHockey was still a very significant feature in my life, providing role models, strong women and also opportunities to travel in representative teams. Fortunately for me this included a trip to Darwin in my last year at university, playing hockey for Tasmania. I did not play a lot of hockey being second goalkeeper to the current Australian keeper. However in this time I decide that Darwin was the place for me to begin my professional life.\nIn the 1980s the Northern Territory (NT) offered an articles program over twelve months, far better than what was on offer to me in Tasmania. I was not sure how I would fare in the established legal fraternity in Tasmania as, apart from my lecturers and a few hockey-playing lawyers, I had still never met a working lawyer or been to chambers or an office.\nI was offered and took up articles with the NT Department of Law. There were four article clerks that year. We rotated through different areas of the Department including, commercial, litigation, policy and prosecutions. I also took up the opportunity to spend three months in the Alice Springs' office.\nMy time in Alice Springs coincided with sittings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in Alice. I had the opportunity to observe great advocates. I also had the opportunity to do some very minor appearance work in Coronial Inquest. This was a great first exposure to Central Australia, which included travelling with the court to Yulara, with Magistrate Denny Barrett (famous for his involvement in the Chamberlain matter and part of NT legal history). A unique feature of NT practise at this time was the solicitor in charge of the Department of Justice offices had his Harley Davidson in pieces in library of the office.\nI returned to Darwin at the start of 1989 and was admitted to practise as a Barrister and Solicitor in the NT in April 1989.\nThe first years of my career were as a prosecutor for NT prosecutions and then Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. This was a tough environment for a 23\/24 year old appearing in summary prosecutions and travelling to bush courts. There were very few women prosecutors. I observed what worked best in a male dominated work place and with an array of police officers. Lindy Jenkins now a Western Australian Judge, was the only senior female prosecutor, a great example of integrity and hard work.\nSally Thomas was then the Chief Magistrate and I appeared in front of her frequently. She was always courteous, generous and instructive in the reasons for her decisions. I have been extremely fortunate that my career has intersected with hers on many occasions prior to her recent retirement as Administrator of NT. She signed my current appointment.\nThe police prosecutors and senior prosecutor Dick Wallace were generous with their time, skills and knowledge during this time.\nAs my skills developed I was being allocated a lot of child sexual assault indecent dealing matters. The memory of sitting under a tree in Katherine, trying to establish rapport to elicit evidence from a young, eleven-year-old girl who had been sexually assaulted and whose life was changed forever still sticks with me. There is a spot in Katherine that I still find very difficult to walk past.\nI was steered away from this area of practice by Dick Wallace who let me instruct him in a fraud, white collar crime cases. I then prosecuted these cases myself.\nThis was an area I enjoyed as preparation of documentary cases does not take such an emotional toll. Once prepared the evidence does not change. We worked our way through a number of scams that existed in the NT at this time.\nAn opportunity then arose to move and work at the Australian Government Solicitor's offices conducting Commonwealth prosecutions in 1994. The cases were very diverse: arguing cases re: the scope of Australian's jurisdiction for fishers, tax fraud, dental fraud etc. I had the opportunity to work and travel to Kakadu, Broome, Uluru and Christmas Island training various agencies.\nDuring this time in my life hockey took a back seat as I discovered the joy and flexibility of triathlons.\nWhilst working for the Commonwealth I worked on a large heroin importation matter. I worked with in my opinion one of the best Counsel I have ever seen current Supreme Court Judge of NSW, Elizabeth Fullerton. She was always prepared to share her knowledge, strategy and approach to the case, during the conduct of the lengthy Supreme Court trial. However there were also extensive preparations, committal, trial and then guilty pleas of the remaining accused, which consumed a good year, and half of my life. I was awarded the Attorney-General's Australia Day Award for my work on this matter.\nAs well as generously sharing her legal skills, Judge Fullerton also swung into action, helping me decide what my next career move would be. After exploring numerous options she paved the way for my introduction to David Farquhar who would be my professional mentor and good friend for the next 10 years as we worked together at Cridlands, a private firm in the NT. The work was again diverse, as the practise of law is in NT.\nDavid Farquhar and I first worked together as counsel assisting the Coroner in a series of deaths in custody in Alice Springs, and then on numerous health matters including for the medical and health professional boards. With his guidance I moved through the ranks to special Counsel over the next 10 years.\nDuring this time I was also involved in a number of community organisations. Between 1998 and 2003 I filled numerous roles on the Top End Women's Legal Services management committee. I was a Tribunal Commissioner for the AFL NT Tribunal, and member of the Legal Aid Review Committee. I was also Director and Secretary NT Division - National Heart Foundation.\nEarly in my time at Cridlands I was given the opportunity to Relieve as a magistrate.\nDuring this time I also had two children, and was well supported by the firm and given great flexibility. This ranged from going home for naps during the day in the last months of pregnancy and then signing on remotely, to the very practical gift of six months nappy service for my second child.\nWhile working at Cridlands my clients, primarily in the health and allied health field, were also incredibly supportive during each of my pregnancies and my return to work part time.\nI was Counsel in numerous coronial inquests into deaths of those in the mental health system, and also appeared in matters in the Supreme Court where people with a disability or people with a mental health diagnosis had come into contact with the criminal justice system I was also involved in medical negligence matters, a review of the mental health legislation and work health matters both prosecuting and defending, companies after work place deaths\nDuring my ten years at Cridlands my knowledge and interest in the areas of mental health and disability increased. The issues colleagues and other women around me faced after having children and returning to the work force also piqued my interest. The experiences were so variable.\nIn 2008 I followed the work I had been doing back into government, working again primarily in health law, mental health, disability and medical negligence matters.\nDuring 2012 and the beginning of 2013 I also had two long periods as a Relieving Magistrate with the privilege of working in the alcohol and drug court, using a therapeutic model. I also spent time in the youth court, as well as travelling to remote communities for circuit court.\nOn 30 January 2013 I was appointed to my current role as NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner. It has been a challenge; I took over in a time of change for the small office. I have concentrated on establishing relationships and determining and focussing on key priorities for the small team; passionately using social media and also modernising the ADC's webpage.\nIt has been a great privilege to be appointed as Principal Community Visitor a program I had come across previously in my work with mental health matters. This program has expanding into disability and during the first 12 months of my appointment has taken up the role of monitoring and oversight of the NT's Alcohol Mandatory Treatment Program.\nThe Community Visitor Program (CVP) ensures those who would not usually complain to bodies such as the ADC are given a voice. Access to mechanisms on a day-to-day basis to resolve issues they have at the lowest possible level. The CVP advocates to ensure those compulsorily detained have their human rights respected.\nDedicated people with a service focus staff both the ADC and CVP teams.\nLast year with great buy-in from the NT community, we launch the Inaugural NT Human Rights Awards \"The Fitzgerald's\", partly to honour the memory and achievements of long term NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Tony Fitzgerald and to recognise the amazing work being done on a day to day basis by people and groups in the NT. It was also established to raise the profile of human rights in a time when they seem to be under attack across the community.\nThe people I have met through my role are leaders in their fields, and have been generous with their support and knowledge. I would like to thank Graeme Innes OA for social media tips and numerous visits to the NT, and Liz Broderick who has shared her experience and approaches to difficult issues.\nI would also like to thank people in the NT willing to share knowledge and experience such as Priscilla Collins, the head of NAAJA and Brenda Monaghan, fellow Independent Commissioner for Information and Open Disclosures.\nI look forward to the challenges of a career of great diversity over the next twenty years as our four girls make their way through school and university.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Thomas, Sally Gordon", "Entry ID": "AWE5602", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/thomas-sally-gordon\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Cambridge, England", "Occupations": "Administrator, Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "The Honourable Sally Thomas was the first woman to serve as a judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, serving from 1992 to 2009. She had previously been Chief Magistrate from 1986. After retiring from the bench, she was appointed Chief Administrator of the Northern Territory, being sworn in on 31 October 2011 at Parliament House, Darwin, by the then Governor-General of Australia, Ms Quentin Bryce AC.\nAs well as having a distinguished career in the judicial system, Her Honour was Chair of the Legal Aid Commission from 1990 to 1996, Chair of the Northern Territory Winston Churchill Fellowship Committee from 1992 to 2004 and in 2004 she was appointed Deputy National Chair Fellowship, of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. Commenting on her appointment as Chancellor of Charles Darwin University (CDU) on 1 January 2010, Vice Chancellor Barney Glover noted that '[h]er strong leadership, coupled with her extensive experience as a committed reformer and contributor to social justice within Australia and beyond will bring a new perspective to CDU.'\nSally Thomas was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-honourable-sally-thomas-ac\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/farewell-ceremonial-sitting-for-the-honourable-justice-sally-thomas-transcript-of-proceedings\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sally-thomas-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Owens, Rosemary", "Entry ID": "AWE5603", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/owens-rosemary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer, Volunteer", "Summary": "Emerita Professor Rosemary Owens AO was formerly Dame Roma Mitchell Chair of Law (2008-2015) and served as Dean of Law (2007 - 2011) at the University of Adelaide. She was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Australia in January 2014 for her distinguished service to the law, as an academic and administrator, to international and national labour organizations, and to women. Professor Owens is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.\nAcknowledged internationally as a leader in her field, Professor Owens has held many significant appointments during her academic career. In 2010 she was appointed to the International Labour Organisation's Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR), which comprises 20 leading experts from around the world appointed on the basis of their independence and integrity as well as knowledge of their discipline.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Rosemary Owens for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Rosemary Owens and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nFrom an early age I knew I would go to university. Looking back now I realize how remarkable that was, as none of my forebears had ever had that privilege. However, my parents, Peter Edward Landers and Patricia Marjorie Irwin believed in the value of a good education and encouraged me from the outset to follow my dreams. After I completed my secondary schooling at Marymount College, SA, I enrolled at the University of Adelaide in a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in English and History, and later taking Honours in the latter, and then a Diploma of Education. At that point in time I was destined to become a secondary school teacher. However, after the birth of my three children, and a stint working in a voluntary capacity for Amnesty International, I felt at a crossroads in terms of a return to paid work. With the strong encouragement of my husband, Lewis William Owens, I returned to University to study law. So in conventional terms, I came to law somewhat 'late' in life.\nTo paraphrase the Beatles' song - 'a career is what happens when you're busy making other plans'. During my student days at Law School I harboured thoughts of going to the bar. With the Angas Parsons Prize for the most meritorious Honours student and a cluster of other academic awards, I thought with hard work I might make a success of it. But the nearer I came to the completion of my LLB studies the more I also realised what a tough choice it would be with three still young children. As luck would have it, a tutorship in law was advertised at The University of Adelaide just after I had completed my LLB. Knowing it offered more flexibility for managing work and family responsibilities, I was overjoyed to be the successful applicant. When I took up the position I thought it might be a short term option before I embarked on my real passion to go to the bar when the children were a little older. Nearly three decades later I retired from my academic position at Adelaide Law School - with the enormous satisfaction of having a career which has been more fulfilling than anything I could ever have planned or even imagined.\nA career as a legal academic provided me with a wide array of opportunities. First, amongst them were the teaching and research which are the mainstay of an academic's working life. I always loved teaching - and the chance to engage with some of the brightest young minds has been a great privilege. I taught a wide variety of subjects during my career, but two of the constants were those in the public law area, especially constitutional law, and those dealing with the law regulating work. It was in the latter area that I came to focus my research. One of the greatest privileges of the academic life is the capacity to determine your own research agenda. I was especially interested in law's impact on the working lives of women - the way in which it constructed and structured those lives, and the things that were both visible and invisible to it. Most particularly I was interested in the potential of law to deliver decent work and the impact that has on whole communities. The effects of globalisation, which has wrought enormous transformations in the world, not least the world of work, during the three decades I spent as an academic, meant my research inevitably became also focused on the role and potential of international labour law. Because I never thought of law as something that existed simply in books, in the judgments of courts or on the statute books, but as something that was integral to the lives of people in a community, I also benefitted enormously from the opportunity being an academic gave me to engage with organisations, such as the Working Women's Centre, which exposed me to the operation of the law which often does not make it into the books.\nWhile I never had any particular ambition to take on a senior administrative role at the University, I was deeply honoured to be appointed to the role of Dean of Law at Adelaide Law School at the beginning of 2007. In that role I came to appreciate to a much greater depth the colleagues with whom I worked both in the Law School and also the wider university. The Deanship also provided the opportunity to think more strategically about the role of legal education and the place of the Law School in the University and the wider community. As Dean I served on a number of committees that were comprised predominantly of members of the legal profession - judges, barristers and solicitors - giving me the opportunity to work with new and different groups and to witness first-hand their professionalism and generosity to the Law School and to legal education. During the period as Dean I also travelled widely, not only throughout Australia, but also internationally to other countries, such as Malaysia from where many of our international students came, and to Shanghai, China, as part of the Australian legal delegation to the 2010 Expo. However, administration had never been my passion in life, and the job of Dean is certainly the most difficult one I have ever undertaken.\nSo at the end of my term as Dean in 2011, I was relieved to be able to step down and back into the role of an ordinary law academic. I continued in that role with the further honour of appointment to a named chair in law, the inaugural Dame Roma Mitchell Chair in Law which I held from 2008 until my retirement in 2015. This award was particularly cherished by me because, of all Australian women in the law, Dame Roma is surely the 'first among equals'. I did not know her personally, but I heard her speak on many occasions. She was always wise. I remember her once saying something to the following effect: 'don't assume there were no disappointments in my career. Everyone has disappointments. The important thing is what you do in overcoming them.' Little wonder that Dame Roma has provided inspiration not only to me, but also to many generations of women in law at The University of Adelaide and beyond.\nIn 2015 the University of Adelaide bestowed on me the title of Emerita Professor, with attendant benefits such as an office and access to the library and technology services of the University, meaning that the decision to retire from my full-time academic position would not be a leaving of the law and so tinged with no sadness. I continue to conduct research - working with a range of wonderful colleagues both in Australia and around the world.\nFurthermore, I continue my work as a member of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) of the International Labour Organization (ILO), a position to which I was first appointed in 2010 by the ILO's Governing Body. The CEACR is part of the ILO's regular supervisory system, and comprises 20 eminent jurists, judges and academics, from around the world - an extraordinary group of people and I am most humbled by the great honour that has been bestowed upon me in being appointed to work with them. The values and ideals that are at the heart of the ILO continue to be as relevant now as they were when the ILO was first established nearly 100 years ago.\nLooking back over my life in the law, I am reminded that (as in the rest of life) there is much that is determined by luck and timing. In my career in the law, I was very lucky and my timing was fortuitous. When I returned to University to study law in 1981 there were no fees and tertiary education was 'free'. Given my family's financial circumstances at the time, I am not sure I would have ever gone back to study if there had been an additional cost burden in the form of fees to do so. When I began my academic career my main interest was constitutional law, but early on a colleague who taught labour law took leave from the University and the responsibility for the subject was transferred to me. It wouldn't then have been my first choice, but it was not long before the place of work in people's lives made me realise its importance and interest - and the move into this area of the law was also the happiest and most rewarding developments in my career.\nMy life in the law has only been possible because of the encouragement and support of others. First amongst these are my family. As well as support for my education, my parents also instilled in me the importance of hard work ('if a thing's worth doing', my mother would say, 'it's worth doing well') and, more importantly, a passion for social justice and a sense of responsibility to do all in one's power to achieve it. My husband and all my children have encouraged and supported me throughout my career - all of them pulled their weight in the family showing an understanding that all of us, regardless of gender, have a right to have a fulfilling and rewarding career and a responsibility to do work in the home.\nIn the workplace I have had the support of many - both men and women in my own university and beyond. However, it is true to say that the friendship and support from other women who were themselves also forging impressive careers in the law made things much easier for me. At Adelaide Law School I was fortunate to be in the company of many other strong feminists. Of those who preceded me, the hardships and setbacks they endured made life easier for me and my contemporaries. During my years at Adelaide Law School, extraordinary women, such as Marcia Neave and Hilary Charlesworth, held professorial and leadership positions providing both example and leadership. In the early 1990s a large group of us at Adelaide Law School formed a feminist legal theory reading group. All of us were passionate about achieving equality for women, and the support the members of the group provided in both intellectual and other ways was a significant factor in enabling me to flourish as an academic. Links with other women academics with whom I collaborated, both in Australia and internationally, further encouraged and supported my career. The impressive work of women practitioners in the legal profession, such Justice Robyn Layton and Justice Margaret Nyland, provided further inspiration. Without them all I could never have lived such a wonderful career in the law.\nFor this reason I see my appointment an Officer in the Order of Australia in January 2014 for 'distinguished service to the law, particularly to legal education as an academic and administrator, to national and international employment and labour organisations, and to women' as a tribute to my family and to all those with whom I have worked and whose support has enriched my life in the law. I am deeply grateful to them all.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Neave, Marcia", "Entry ID": "AWE5604", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/neave-marcia\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "The Honourable Marcia Neave AO was a judge of the Court of Appeal until her appointment as the Chair of the Royal Commission into Family Violence in February 2015.\nCommissioner Neave has been a professor at three Australian universities and has always had an interest in the way the law responds to the needs of women. She taught family law at Monash University.\nShe was the foundation Chair of the Victorian Law Reform Commission, which worked on projects including Defences to Homicide, Sexual Offences and Reproductive Technology. In the early 1980s she was Research Director and a part-time Commissioner at the New South Wales Law Reform Commission.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2006 - 2006)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Charlesworth, Hilary", "Entry ID": "AWE5605", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/charlesworth-hilary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Hilary Charlesworth is a Melbourne Laureate Professor at Melbourne Law School. She is also a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University. Her research includes the structure of the international legal system, peacebuilding, human rights law and international humanitarian law and international legal theory, particularly feminist approaches to international law. Hilary received the American Society of International Law's award for creative legal scholarship for her book, co-authored with Christine Chinkin, The Boundaries of International Law. She was also awarded, with Christine Chinkin, the American Society of International Law's Goler T. Butcher award for 'outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights law'. Hilary has held both an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship (2005-2010) and an ARC Laureate Fellowship (2010-2015).\nHilary has been a visiting professor at various institutions including Harvard Law School, New York University Global Law School, UCLA, Paris I and the London School of Economics. She is a member of the Executive Council of the Asian Society of International Law and a past President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law. Hilary was appointed by the Australian government in 2015 to a second term as a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. She is an associate member of the Institut de Droit International and served as judge ad hoc in the International Court of Justice in the Whaling in the Antarctic Case (2011-2014). In 2016 Hilary was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Universit\u00e9 Catholique de Louvain in Belgium.\nShe was President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (1997-2001). She is on the editorial boards of a number of international law journals and served as Co-Editor of the Australian Yearbook of International Law from1996-2006 and a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law 1999-2009. She was joint winner of the American Society of International Law's 2006 Goler T Butcher Medal in recognition of 'outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights law'.\nShe has worked with various non-governmental human rights organisations on ways to implement international human rights standards and was chair of the Australian Capital Territory government's inquiry into an ACT bill of rights, which led to the adoption of the ACT Human Rights Act 2004. In 2016, Hilary is teaching in the University of Melbourne's Masters of Law Program.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/records-relating-to-the-pamela-denoon-lecture-series-1989-2013\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Layton, Robyn", "Entry ID": "AWE5606", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/layton-robyn\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "The Hon. Dr Robyn Layton has been a champion of social justice and rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, refugees, women and children. A former Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia, Layton was the third woman to take silk in the State. She is a former Judge and Deputy President of the South Australian Industrial Court and Commission, and a former Deputy President of the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal. She was the reporter and author of the landmark Child Protection Review into South Australian Child Protection Laws in 2003. Layton has the distinction of having been the first Australian to be appointed as a member of the International Labour Organization's Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, and its first female Chair. In 2012 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for services to the law and to the judiciary, particularly through the Supreme Court of South Australia, as an advocate for Indigenous, refugee and children's rights, and to the community.\nRobyn Layton was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Robyn Layton graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Laws in 1967. Admitted in 1968, she worked in private practice, predominantly in the areas of industrial, criminal, civil, personal injury and family law. She commenced her court work acting pro bono for demonstrators and conscientious objectors to conscription during the Vietnam war and later for Aboriginal people charged with criminal offences.\nIn 1972, Layton was appointed by the Commonwealth as solicitor to the Central Aboriginal Land Rights team; the experience kindled in Layton what would be a life-long commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the law. The team's achievements would also make a valuable contribution to the later work of the Central and Northern Land Councils. The following year, in a departure from her usual legal work, Layton accepted an offer from the Rolling Stones' tour promoter: \"to shadow the Rolling Stones on their tour of Adelaide, and provide any legal advice if needed\". While Layton remembers it as a 'surreal' experience, it was said that \"[d]espite the legal safety net created, the tour went off almost without a hitch\" [ABC News].\nIn 1978 Layton was appointed a Judge and Deputy President of the South Australian Industrial Court and Commission; in 1985 she became the Deputy President of the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal. She returned to the legal profession and the South Australian Bar and was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1992, the third woman to take silk in South Australia [UNI SA].\nLayton was the first Australian to be appointed as a member of International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, and its first female Chair. This prestigious Committee of international jurists monitors and reports on government practices on international labour standards world-wide. She sat on this body in Geneva from 1993 to 2008. [UNI SA].\nBetween 2002 and 2003 Layton reviewed and reported on a whole of state government response to child protection in the landmark Child Protection Review into South Australian. This Report found that Family and Youth Services was ill-equipped to deal with child abuse and called for more funding for child protection and major reforms, including a paedophile register [MX]. In June 2004 the South Australian Premier commended Layton's report, committed further funding to her recommendations and observed that her comprehensive review had provided a guide to rebuilding child protection in South Australia [Weatherill].\nLayton was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 2005, the fourth female judge in South Australia. A year later she and two fellow female judges made legal history in South Australia when they sat - an all-female bench of three - in the State's Court of Criminal Appeal [James]. During her time at the Supreme Court Layton developed an international reputation as an expert in the field of education for judges and lawyers on labour standards [The Australian]. She was also active nationally on judicial and legal education on the issues concerning children in court. In 2010 Layton resigned from the Supreme Court. In her farewell speech Layton advocated for more funding for judicial education and indicated her commitment to continue her efforts in this area [The Australian]. In 2011, Layton continued in her judicial education capacity internationally with ILO.\nIn relation to a judge's role, Layton has observed that it increasingly complex: \"It is not just knowing the law and how to apply the law in an academic sense\", \"[t]here is now a greater need to connect with the community, to keep public confidence; the need to have the public feel that the judicial system is part of their community, to make decision making understandable to people other than lawyers. In particular in the criminal law, to ensure that the sentencing process is fair and it is understood both by the defendants and victims\" [Hunt].\nIn 2012 Layton was also appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for her services to the law and to the judiciary, particularly through the Supreme Court of South Australia, as an advocate for Indigenous, refugee and children's rights, and to the community. In the same year she was recognised in the Australian of the Year Awards as the \"South Australian of the Year\" for her social justice advocacy for Aboriginal people, children and refugees. Thereafter, further awards followed in 2013, an Honorary Doctorate, D.Univ. University of South Australia and the Justice Award by the Law Society of South Australia; and in 2016 the Australian Woman Lawyer of the Year by the Australian Women Lawyers Association.\nLayton's skills were further extended to benefit not only Australians but women in communities further afield, as evidenced in 2012 to 2013, when she became the team leader for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Project on good legal, social and economic practices to reduce poverty and increase employment for women in Kazakhstan, Cambodia and the Philippines [The Australian].\nIn 2014 Layton became Chair of the Panel for the Review of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act 1981. This Review required undertaking an intensive consultative approach to report on recommendations to reform the governance of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yunkunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands). Many visits were made to the APY Lands to obtain views on how Anangu people wanted governance structures to operate on the APY Lands [SBS].\nLayton is a patron of the Australian Migrant Resource Centre, Junction Australia, Women's Legal Services SA, and the International Women's Day Committee. She chairs the Advisory Council for the Australian Centre for Child Protection and the Justice Reinvestment SA Committee. She is also member of many bodies and organisations concerned with social justice and is active at the University of South Australia as an Adjunct Professor in the Law School.\nDuring her lifetime, Layton has made a considerable contribution in the areas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights, the rights of refugees and children, and the advancement of women's economic empowerment. She has done much to increase the profile of judicial and legal education in Australia and is internationally recognised as an expert in the field of international labour law.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/robyn-layton-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Nyland, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5607", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nyland-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "The Hon. Margaret Nyland AM was the second woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of South Australia. One of only three women admitted to practice in the State in 1965, Nyland obtained articles and in time became the senior partner in her own law firm. She later enjoyed a successful career, where her area of specialisation was family law. Subsequent appointments included Inaugural Chairperson of the Commonwealth Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SA) (1975 to 1987); Chair of the South Australian Sex Discrimination Board (1985); Deputy Presiding Officer of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal (1986); District Court Judge (1987) and Supreme Court Judge (1993). After retiring from the Supreme Court in 2012, in 2014 Nyland was appointed Commissioner to the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission (SA). Nyland was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to the judiciary, human rights and the equal status of women, and to the community through a range of cultural organisations.\nMargaret Nyland was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "The Hon. Margaret Nyland was born into a family which was keenly aware of the power of education to change society. Nyland's father was a self-educated and prominent trade unionist who was awarded an Order of Australia for his services to trade unionism. From early on, Nyland benefited from being surrounded by strong, high achieving women, beginning with her teachers at Gilles Street Primary School, and later, at Adelaide Girls' High School [McNamara].\nNyland undertook a Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Adelaide; she was one of just 15 female undergraduates in the Law School at the time [Attorney-General]. At university her Family Law lecturer was Roma Mitchell (later Dame); in time the two would became close friends and Mitchell a mentor to Nyland. Upon graduating in 1965, Nyland was one of only three women admitted to practice that year, the other two being Jenny Litchfield and Jay Sandow. In the same year Roma Mitchell's place in Australian legal history was cemented and an inspiring example for aspiring female lawyers set, when she became the first woman to be appointed to a Supreme Court bench in Australia [Attorney-General].\nNyland was articled to Pam Cleland; theirs would be a long partnership and close friendship at a time when it was difficult for women to undertake a legal career [Attorney-General; Maguire]. In 1966 Cleland established her own practice and Nyland joined her as a solicitor and later became a partner in that firm. When Cleland left the firm to join the separate bar, Nyland took over the practice and conducted the successful family law practice of Nyland, Haines & Co. From 1975 to 1987 Nyland was Chairperson of the Commonwealth Social Security Appeals Tribunal in South Australia and in from 1985 to 1987 was Chair of the South Australian Sex Discrimination Board and subsequently Deputy Presiding Officer of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal (SA).\nIn 1987 Nyland was the second woman to the District Court of South Australia. An appointment to the Supreme Court of South Australia followed in 1993. Nyland became the second woman after Roma Mitchell to serve on that court.\nIn her judicial capacity she was Director of the Australian Association of Women Judges (1994 to 2001) and was Chair of the Law Foundation for 17 years. In the Supreme Court she participated in all aspects of the work of that Court but her particular expertise was in the criminal jurisdiction where she presided over many high profile trials, including that of Peter Liddy, a magistrate charged with historical sexual offences against children. In 2000 Nyland made history at the Supreme Court when she employed the first female tipstaff. She made history again in 2006 when, together with Justice Ann Vanstone and Justice Robyn Layton, she presided over the first all-female bench of the State's Court of Criminal Appeal.\nIn 2005 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her service to the judiciary, human rights and the equal status of women, and to the community through a range of cultural organisations. Coincidentally, Nyland was honoured with this recognition 25 years after her father, Jack Nyland, received his Order of Australia for services to trade unionism [Maguire].\nIn 2011 Nyland chaired the Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission (SA) before retiring from the Supreme Court of South Australia in November 2012, thus bringing to an end 19 years on the Supreme Court bench. On her retirement the Attorney-General remarked on Nyland's 'sensitivity and skill' when dealing with 'the convoluted human problems to be solved in people's lives' and also observed how Nyland's listening skills, diplomacy and humour combined to give her \"a superb ability to very effectively manage people in [the courtroom] environment\" [Attorney-General].\nIn 2009 she was awarded the Woman of Achievement Award for services to the legal profession. In 2013 she was made an Alumni Fellow of the University of Adelaide in recognition of her contribution to the John Bray Law Alumni. Nyland was appointed to the South Australian Women's Honour Roll in 2013; like her mentor, Dame Roma, Nyland was chosen for her efforts to support and recognise the contribution of women in diverse roles in the community, as parents, carers and community members. She was also recognised for demonstrating great compassion and respect in her engagement with women in the community.\nPerennially encouraging of the progress being made by women in the legal profession, Nyland was critical of the state of judicial equality in South Australia in 2013. Observing a decrease in the number of female Supreme Court judges since her retirement, she remarked: \"It's all very well to sit back and say the situation will change in time. The problem is this - there have been more women coming out of law school for years\u2026 a lot of time seems to have passed without a great deal of change\" [Akerman].\nIn 2014 Nyland, together with Professor John Williams, was instrumental in establishing the Dean of Law's Fund at the Adelaide Law School to assist students who may be in crisis as a result of straitened financial circumstances. Nyland continues to be the Chair of that Fund.\nOn education, Nyland has noted that: \"learning is not a static experience but a lifelong commitment\" [Adelaide].\nNyland's retirement from the judiciary was short-lived, as in August 2014 she was appointed to lead the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission. Her report to reform the child protection system in South Australia was delivered on 5 August 2016. [Novak].\nNyland's service to the legal community includes her former role as Chair of the Commonwealth Social Security Appeals Tribunal; Chair of the South Australian Sex Discrimination Board; Deputy Presiding Officer of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal; Chairperson of the Law Foundation of SA Inc; Former President of the Australian Association of Women Judges; current Fellow, Australian Academy of Law; and Individual Member, JusticeNet. She is past President of the John Bray Law Chapter and is current Patron of the Women Lawyers' Association South Australia and Roma Mitchell Community Legal Centre.\nNyland's interests beyond the law can be seen in her roles as former Chairperson and Inaugural Life Member of the Australian Dance Theatre [Taylor]. She was on the Board of the Art Gallery of South Australia for four years; she is a current Advisory Member to the Kennedy Arts Foundation and is the Patron of the Adelaide High School Old Scholars' Association. A long time follower of the South Adelaide Football Club, Nyland is a patron of the Panthers Club and was a Member of the SANFL Boundaries Commission in 2013 She was also a long-serving Council Member and subsequent Fellow of St Ann's College and in 2016 became a Governor of the St Ann's College Foundation.\nWell-known for her trailblazing example, and as mentor to young female lawyers, Nyland at her retirement sitting commented while Dame Roma Mitchell (as the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of South Australia) undoubtedly did it better, she - that is Margaret Nyland - with 19 years of service, was able to say that she at least did it longer.[Fewster].\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/margaret-nyland-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hunter, Rosemary", "Entry ID": "AWE5608", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hunter-rosemary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Rosemary Hunter is a feminist legal academic who, through her research, writing, leadership and activism has worked to support women in legal and academic careers, as well as to promote more generally women's equality, women's access to justice, and justice for women.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Rosemary Hunter for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Rosemary Hunter and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nRosemary Hunter was born in Sydney but moved to Melbourne with her parents as a child. She attended Montmorency Primary School (1967-73) and Presbyterian Ladies' College (1974-79). During 1980 she took a gap year and travelled around the UK, before returning to study Arts part-time at Melbourne University, while working to support herself as a junior typist in the University's English Department. In 1982 she switched to Arts-Law at Melbourne, and in 1983 moved to full-time study, with the benefit of free higher education and a student living allowance on which it was almost possible to live. She supplemented her income with freelance typing work and also volunteered on the literary magazine Scripsi, through which she met the poet Laurie Duggan, whom she married in 1987. She completed University in 1988 with first class honours in Arts (History with English) and 2A honours in Law. During her final years at Law School she finally developed an interest in the study of Law, helped by inspirational teachers such as Hilary Charlesworth, with whom she studied international human rights law and for whom she worked as a research assistant, and Jenny Morgan, who had just introduced a course in feminist legal theory to Melbourne Law School.\nWith no interest in practising law but an aptitude for research, Hunter was offered a post as a Research Fellow in the Melbourne Law School, and the following year was appointed to a Lectureship in Law. She lectured at Melbourne from 1990-1997, but during that time took a year's leave to undertake a Master's degree and enrol in a doctorate at Stanford University in the USA. Stanford had been one of the centres of the Critical Legal Studies movement, and her supervisor was the well-known feminist legal scholar Deborah Rhode. After the year away Hunter returned to Melbourne to undertake fieldwork for her doctorate, spending many hours sitting at the back of Magistrates Courts and the Family Court observing domestic violence cases. Subsequent moves interrupted work on her thesis, and she did not finally complete the doctorate until 2006.\nIn 1997-98 Hunter took a further two years' leave of absence to take up the post of Principal Researcher at the Justice Research Centre (JRC) in Sydney. The JRC was an independent, interdisciplinary, public-interest research organisation and she relished the opportunity to devise and conduct large empirical research projects, learn new research skills, and work with a team from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds. At the conclusion of that period, rather than returning to Melbourne, she moved to Griffith University in Brisbane, where she became the Director of the Law Faculty's Socio-Legal Research Centre (2000-2002) and subsequently Dean of Law (2003-2004). Looking for a new challenge, she decided to move to the UK in 2006, working first at the University of Kent (2006-2014) as a member of the AHRC Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality, and afterwards at Queen Mary University of London (2014-present).\nThroughout her academic career Hunter has actively engaged in university equality and diversity activities. At Melbourne she founded the position of Koori student liaison officer and was a member and sometime Chair of the Law Faculty's Equal Opportunity Committee, as well as being a member of the University's Union Affirmative Action Consultative Group, Equal Opportunity Standing Committee, Aboriginal Education Committee and Students with Disabilities Advisory Working Group. At Griffith she chaired the Law Faculty's Equity Committee and was a member of the University's Equity Committee and the Task Group on Women in Senior Academic Positions which succeeded in almost doubling the number of women professors employed by the University over a two year period. In recognition of her expertise in this area she was appointed Acting Pro-Vice Chancellor (Equity) for a short period. At both universities she and colleagues undertook significant research projects concerned to identify and address the needs of a diverse student body.\nIn Australia Hunter was also actively involved in women lawyer organisations - Feminist Lawyers in Melbourne and Women Lawyers in Queensland. In 2002 she was named Queensland Woman Lawyer of the Year. She played a significant role in supporting the former Chief Magistrate of Queensland, Diane Fingleton, who was wrongly convicted and imprisoned for alleged misfeasance in her handling of personnel matters within the Queensland magistracy. Hunter wrote articles and gave media interviews expressing the view that Fingleton was a victim of gendered injustice and would not have been treated the same way if she had been a man.\nHunter's early teaching and research focused on anti-discrimination law, particularly sex discrimination and pay equity. Her first book, Indirect Discrimination in the Workplace (Federation Press, 1992) remains the only book-length treatment of indirect discrimination internationally, and she was also the first to investigate the process and outcomes of conciliation in sex discrimination cases. She made numerous law reform submissions on equal opportunity and anti-discrimination law, including a successful argument for the redrafting of the definition of indirect discrimination in the federal Sex Discrimination Act 1984. Her work on pay equity included membership of the National Pay Equity Coalition, contributions to the NSW and Queensland Pay Equity Inquiries, and collaborative research on the reproduction of pay inequity in emerging occupations. In 1999 she was invited to give the inaugural Clare Burton memorial lecture series, with her lecture addressing historical attempts to achieve pay equity for Australian women and the promising new approach to the undervaluation of women's work adopted by the recent state pay equity inquiries.\nA second strand of Hunter's research has been on access to justice, beginning with studies on legal aid and litigants in person in family law cases, and access to justice for discrimination complainants commenced while working at the Justice Research Centre. At Griffith she continued to work on legal aid, including an ARC-funded project on service innovations in legal aid provision, consultancies for National Legal Aid and the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department, and a study in collaboration with Legal Aid Queensland which sought to identify why some of the most disadvantaged women were denied legal aid for family law, domestic violence and discrimination matters, which resulted in changes to policy and practice. Work on this theme has continued in the UK with a team project on litigants in person in private family law proceedings for the Ministry of Justice, training for family judges on litigants in person, and research and submissions related to major legal aid cuts in 2013. In 2012 she was invited to become a Council member of JUSTICE, a prominent law reform and human rights organisation working to strengthen the justice system in the UK.\nA third, overlapping strand of research has been on family law, family justice processes and domestic violence. Her doctoral thesis investigated the implementation of feminist law reforms around domestic violence and the experiences of women seeking to invoke these laws in State Magistrates Courts and the Family Court of Australia. The thesis was subsequently published as Domestic Violence Law Reform and Women's Experience in Court: The Implementation of Feminist Reforms in Civil Proceedings (Cambria Press, 2008). At Griffith she undertook evaluations of Legal Aid Commissions' primary dispute resolution programs in family law and of the Family Court of Australia's Children's Cases Pilot Program. In the UK she was invited to join the Kent Family Justice Council (subsequently Family Justice Board), as well as the national Family Justice Council's Domestic Abuse Committee. For the latter she undertook research with Adrienne Barnett on the courts' approach to allegations of domestic violence in residence and contact cases. Among other things, this research contributed to revisions to the Domestic Violence Practice Direction which specifies the procedures to be followed in cases raising allegations of violence. With colleagues at the University of Exeter, she also undertook a three-year study of out-of-court dispute resolution processes in family cases, 'Mapping Paths to Family Justice', funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, which has influenced policy and practice on family dispute resolution.\nA fourth strand of research has been on women in the legal profession and the judiciary. In 1997-98, Hunter and Helen McKelvie undertook research for the Victorian Bar Council on barriers to the advancement of women at the Victorian Bar. Their report, Equality of Opportunity for Women at the Victorian Bar (1998) has had an ongoing impact in terms of its recommendations on briefing practices, the culture of the Bar and attrition rates. Hunter's support for Diane Fingleton sparked an interest in women judges and judicial appointments. In the UK she was one of the organisers of the pioneering Feminist Judgments Project, a project which took its cue from the Women's Court of Canada in rewriting judgments from a feminist perspective, and which has in turn been emulated in other parts of the world including Australia, Ireland, the USA and New Zealand, and in international law. Hunter has co-edited two of the books arising from these projects: Feminist Judgments: From Theory to Practice (with Clare McGlynn and Erika Rackley, Hart Publishing, 2010) and Australian Feminist Judgments: Righting and Rewriting Law (with Heather Douglas, Francesca Bartlett and Trish Luker, Hart Publishing, 2014). She has published further theoretical and empirical work on feminist judging, and is also a member of the Equal Justices Initiative, a lobby group whose aim is to promote the equal participation of men and women in the judiciary in England and Wales.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/equality-of-opportunity-for-women-at-the-victorian-bar-a-report-to-the-victorian-bar-council\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Fingleton, Diane", "Entry ID": "AWE5609", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fingleton-diane\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "Diane Fingleton is a retired Queensland Magistrates Court judge. Appointed a magistrate in 1995, she became a senior magistrate three years later. In 1999 she was appointed to the position of Chief Magistrate, the first woman to ever hold the position.\nFingleton approached the appointment with a reformist agenda, introducing important initiatives such as specialist courts for Queensland Aboriginal people (Murri Courts) and programs to assist victims of domestic violence to stay in their homes. Response from her colleagues to initiatives to encourage inclusiveness, such as issuing a formal apology to Indigenous people and performing reconciliation ceremonies, varied from enthusiastic approval to vicious criticism. The views of Indigenous people mattered most to her; a spokesperson from the Aboriginal Legal Service telling her: 'You can have no idea what a difference this made.'\nHer reformist agenda as Chief Magistrate brought challenges with it, none greater than one which began as a magistrate's transfer dispute, leading to her trial and imprisonment on a charge of retaliating against a witness. In 2005, following a failed appeal to the Queensland Supreme Court, the High Court of Australia quashed her conviction, with Justice McHugh arguing 'it would be hard to imagine a stronger case of a miscarriage of justice in the particular circumstances of the case'. Later that year, she was again appointed and sworn in as a magistrate of the Caloundra Magistrates Court.\nFingleton retired in May 2010, with hopes that the positive measures she undertook to deliver justice to Queenslanders 'before she was interrupted', would be acknowledged. While it is important to note the impact of the miscarriage of justice upon Diane Fingleton, it is more important to ensure that her legacy is not defined by it.\nDiane Fingleton was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "A longer essay detailing Di Fingleton's career is in development.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/diane-fingleton\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nothing-to-do-with-justice-the-di-fingleton-story\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/diane-fingleton-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mak, Sandy", "Entry ID": "AWE5610", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mak-sandy\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Malaysia", "Occupations": "Chairperson, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Sandy Mak is currently (2016) a corporate partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, specialising in mergers & acquisitions. In 2013 she won Female Partner Award at the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards. At the awards, she was described as 'a leading light, 'a dynamo' and 'a champion of women lawyers inside and outside Corrs, a driver of change in gender diversity, a role model and mentor to young lawyers, a critical member of our leadership team and a formidable corporate M&A lawyer'.\n", "Details": "Sandy Mak was born in Malaysia in 1973 to Chinese Malaysian parents. Formally known as Hueih-Hsien Mak, she completed her primary and secondary school education at SMK Convent Klang. Sandy arrived in Australia in 1994 to undertake a Bachelor of Laws\/Commerce (Accounting) at the University of New South Wales.\nUpon finishing her degree, she commenced her legal career at what was then Freehill Hollingdale & Page in Sydney. At Freehills, she worked with renowned mergers and acquisitions partner, Braddon Jolley, who became her mentor and who set her on the path to becoming a mergers and acquisitions practitioner.\nAfter some time at Freehills, Sandy left for London to work in the corporate team at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where she met her husband. She was then seconded to Freshfields' Hong Kong offices for a short period before returning to Freehills in Sydney in 2006.\nSandy left Freehills in 2008 to join Corrs Chambers Westgarth as a corporate partner. She has since been involved in some of the largest and most high profile transactions in regulated and unregulated mergers & acquisitions. In 2013 Sandy was awarded \"Female Partner of the Year\" by Lawyers Weekly and was profiled in 2014 by Australasian Lawyer Magazine as a \"Hot 40 Lawyer\" for her contribution to the legal community.\nIn addition to her practice as a corporate lawyer, Sandy is currently the co-chair of the Diversity Council and a member of the executive leadership team at Corrs. As an Asian female in a highly male dominated field, diversity within the legal workforce is a key focus for Sandy. She has developed the firm's diversity strategy to retain and expand its pool of female talent and to remove barriers to women's progression to senior positions, including partnership. Under Sandy's leadership, the diversity programmes at Corrs are aimed at providing staff with flexibility in their working arrangements and creating a more inclusive working environment.\nSandy spends a significant amount of her time on the education and mentoring of junior lawyers both within the firm and without. She is actively involved in the recruitment programme for lawyers at the firm and passionate about nurturing young legal talent.\nAt the time of writing (2015), Sandy was a lecturer at Sydney University's Law School in the area of Corporate and Securities Regulation and a guest lecturer at the University of New South Wales on schemes of arrangement, as well as the editor of the chapters in Halsbury's Laws of Australia in Takeovers, Acquisitions and Fundraising.\nSandy lives in Sydney and is married with three children.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/corrs-leading-light-sandy-mak-is-australias-finest-female-partner\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/partner-profile-sandy-mak\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bailey, Sandra", "Entry ID": "AWE5611", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bailey-sandra\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Chief Executive Officer, Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "Sandra Bailey, a member of the Yorta Yorta nation from southern NSW and Victoria, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW (AH&MRC), the peak representative organisation and advocate for Aboriginal communities on health and has a membership comprising of nearly 50 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) who deliver culturally appropriate primary health care services to Aboriginal people across NSW.\nA graduate of Melbourne Law School, Sandra has worked as a Solicitor for the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and Head of the Victorian Aboriginal Issues Unit of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and gained extensive experience working in partnership with Aboriginal community organisations in the areas of the advocacy and support of Aboriginal self-determination, building on the strengths of Aboriginal community development, legal and health inequalities and the preservation of cultural heritage.\nSandra's current role incudes representing members interests through the provision of member services support, effective policy and program development within the sector and building on State and Commonwealth partnerships to ensure appropriate Aboriginal primary health care service delivery to achieve better health outcomes for Aboriginal people. Another significant role includes working in the broader health system with external partners in government and non-government agencies to promote engagement with the AH&MRC and ACCHSs in policy planning and service delivery at state, regional and local levels.\nSandra has held her current position since 1992 and with the support of an Aboriginal community-elected Board of Directors, the AH&MRC has expanded to include support for nearly 50 ACCHSs through various activities delivered through Public Health Units which assists members with clinic services, cancer care, child & maternal health services, chronic disease management, tobacco cessation, drug\/alcohol use and harm minimisation; a Business Development Unit supporting members with service and clinical accreditation, governance, IT infrastructure & information management systems; a Social and Emotional Wellbeing Workforce Support Unit assisting AHWs; Research & Data Support; an Aboriginal Health College to provide education and training for current and future sector workers; and auspicing an Aboriginal Ethics Committee that ensures culturally appropriate ethical review of Aboriginal health research projects in NSW.\nSandra is a co-chair of the NSW Aboriginal Health Partnership, which is strengthened by a formal agreement between the NSW Government and the AH&MRC, and has served on a number of Ministerial Advisory Committees and boards. She has also been involved in a number of research projects in Aboriginal health including in the areas of child health and resilience.\nIn recognition of her service in the Aboriginal health sector, Sandra was awarded the Australian Government Centenary Medal for Contribution to Health in 2003. In 2014 Sandra was again acknowledged for her service to the Aboriginal health sector, receiving the Hall of Fame award at the 2014 NSW Health Aboriginal Health Awards.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Webb, Raelene", "Entry ID": "AWE5612", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/webb-raelene\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Gawler, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Chairperson, Lawyer, President, Public speaker, Queen's Counsel, Solicitor, Teacher, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "Raelene Webb QC holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Physics from the University of Adelaide and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland. She was admitted to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory and the High Court of Australia in 1992. In 2004, she was appointed Queen's Counsel. Prior to her five year appointment on 1 April 2013 by the Attorney General, as President of the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT), Raelene was named as one of the leading native title silks in Australia. She has appeared as lead counsel in many native title and Aboriginal land matters and has advised upon and appeared in the High Court in most land-mark cases on the judicial interpretation and development of native title\/Aboriginal land law since the decision of Mabo V Queensland (No 2).\nRaelene became a fellow of the Australia Academy of Law in August 2013 and delivered the Annual Richard Cooper Memorial Lecture at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, at the end of September 2013. She was a recipient of the 2014 Law Council of Australia President's Medal, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the legal profession in Australia.\nOn receipt of the award, Raelene encouraged other women thinking of taking risks with their careers to be brave.\n'I marvel how it is that a shy country girl coming to the law in mid-life, finds herself here receiving this prestigious award and in the company of so many distinguished lawyers who have themselves contributed so much to the legal profession, both personally and through their work with the Law Council of Australia.\nMy advice to all who are contemplating scaling the walls of the legal profession, and particularly to women: be courageous, be bold, and above all, be passionate about the law.'\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Raelene Webb for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Raelene Webb and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nMs Raelene Webb QC holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Physics from the University of Adelaide and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland. She was admitted to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory and the High Court of Australia in 1992. In 2004, she was appointed Queens Counsel.\nRaelene was born at Gawler, South Australia in 1951, the elder of two children of Ray and Joyce Webb. At that time her father was teaching at nearby Reeves Plains. Shortly thereafter Raelene's family moved to Batchelor in the Northern Territory where Ray had been appointed the first headmaster of the Batchelor Area School. Her family returned to South Australia in 1955 where Raelene commenced her education, graduating from Adelaide University in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science (Honours), majoring in physics.\nRaelene then returned to the Northern Territory and taught at Alice Springs High School, transferring to Casuarina High School around 1972. Both of her sons were born in Darwin (in 1974 and 1977) but the advent of Cyclone Tracy led to a temporary relocation back to Adelaide in 1975. After returning to Darwin in 1976, in addition to managing several small businesses, Raelene also lectured part-time at the Darwin Community College in mathematics. She was then appointed Acting Head of Commercial Studies on a full-time basis, establishing an Education Program for Unemployed Youth at the College during that period.\nAfter completing half of the Bachelor of Accounting Course at Darwin Institute of Technology, Raelene commenced law studies in 1986 externally with Queensland University. She continued to lecture part-time at the Darwin Institute of Technology in building science and mathematics, and then worked for 18 months as a management trainer\/consultant with the Northern Territory Centre for Management Training.\nIn August 1989 Raelene commenced her legal career as an associate to his Honour Sir William Kearney, then Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, before moving to the Department of Law (now the Department of Justice) where she commenced articles in 1991; also completed her Bachelor of Laws in that year. During 1990-1991 Raelene lectured for several semesters in Taxation Law for the Bachelor of Business course at the Northern Territory University, calling in aid her previous business\/management and accounting experience as well as legal training.\nRaelene was admitted to legal practice in the Northern Territory in 1992. From that time and until joining William Forster Chambers in March 1999, Raelene practiced, in effect, as a member of Counsel in Chambers with Mr Tom Pauling QC, the Solicitor General for the Northern Territory and Mr Graham Nicholson, previously Senior Crown Counsel and Constitutional Advisor to the Northern Territory Government. Her position as Crown Counsel was formalized in 1994 although she had been acting in that capacity since 1992.\nAs Crown Counsel Raelene gave legal advice to the Northern Territory Government on a wide range of complex legal matters, including administrative law, constitutional law, government contracts, torts generally and particularly liability of public authorities, medical negligence, mining law, native title and Aboriginal land matters.\nThe particular demands of Crown Counsel required that Raelene rapidly develop the advocacy skills necessary to research, prepare and present complex cases, many of which were destined to be finally determined by the High Court where Raelene made numerous appearances as junior counsel with the Solicitor General for the Northern Territory, and with other leading senior counsel, particularly in constitutional matters and later in native title\/Aboriginal land matters. During her period as Crown Counsel, Raelene also deputised for the Solicitor General on a number of occasions at meetings of Solicitors General.\nRaelene's move to the private bar in Darwin in 1999 allowed her to expand her practice, and she rapidly developed a national practice, appearing for and advising clients in most States and Territories. Between 1999 and 2011 Raelene practiced from William Forster Chambers. From 2009 she was Head of William Forster Chambers, before she left to establish Magayamirr Chambers in July 2011.\nFrom 2010 to 2012, Raelene was President of the Northern Territory Bar Association, and a Director of the Law Council of Australia. She held the position of Honorary Treasurer of the Australian Bar Association in 2012 and was Vice President of that association in the following year, prior to her appointment. In 2011 Raelene was awarded a Board Diversity Scholarship and undertook governance training with the Australian Institute of Company Directors to assist her in these roles.\nA significant part of Raelene's practice at the private bar was in the Federal Court and the High Court, first addressing a Full Bench of the High Court in 2001. In August 2001 the Honourable Justice Michael Kirby, in a speech to the Victorian Women Lawyers' Association, lamented the few speaking parts of women before the High Court in Australia, naming Raelene as one of only 6 women who had addressed the High Court from the central rostrum during his term of office. Over the next two decades, Raelene continued to argue matters in the High Court, advising upon and appearing in most land-mark cases on the judicial interpretation and development of native title\/Aboriginal land law since the decision of Mabo v Queensland (No 2) in 1992. Just prior to her appointment Raelene was named as one of the leading native title silks in Australia.\nRaelene became a fellow of the Australian Academy of Law in August 2013 and delivered the Annual Richard Cooper Memorial Lecture at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland, at the end of September 2013. She was a recipient of the 2014 Law Council of Australia President's Medal, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the legal profession in Australia. Raelene is in great demand as a public speaker on a range of topics, native title matters especially, and has presented or chaired sessions at various conferences throughout Australia and internationally, including at the Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty held in Washington DC in March 2015. In April 2015 Raelene gave a number of public lectures at Canadian universities and was a guest speaker at the University of Northern British Columbia's Global Fridays Speakers Series.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/congratulations-to-president-raelene-webb-qc\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Young, Tamara (Tammy) Leonie", "Entry ID": "AWE5613", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/young-tamara-tammy-leonie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Businesswoman, Chief Executive Officer, Law clerk, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Tammy Young is the founder and owner of Young's List, a boutique barristers' clerking service in Victoria. Combining a passion for practice management and a keen interest in business, Young sought to build upon the expertise she acquired in commercial law, when she launched Young's List in 2012. Of the thirteen Victorian based barristers' clerks, Tammy is the sole female business owner, and one of only two female CEOs.\nAs a young, single parent of two small children, Tammy completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons), majoring in history, at the University of Melbourne. She then commenced undergraduate studies in law, which she completed with honours in two and a half years. Young then undertook her articles of clerkship at Minter Ellison where she worked predominantly in taxation. She subsequently completed an associateship at the Federal Court of Australia where she gained experience in both migration and native title law.\nYoung later worked at Freehills in mergers and acquisitions, and commercial litigation at Cornwall Stodart Lawyers. She signed the Victorian Bar Roll in 2008.\nAfter the birth of her fourth child, Tammy left the Bar and took the unprecedented step of joining Foley's List as a barristers' clerk. This inspired her to start her own list of barristers, with an emphasis on commercial law.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Davies, Rebecca", "Entry ID": "AWE5614", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/davies-rebecca\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer, Partner, Solicitor", "Summary": "After working at ANU law school, as an associate to a High Court judge and a brief stint with Michael Kirby at the Australian Law Reform Commission, Rebecca Davies joined Freehills as an articled clerk, with Kim Santow as her master solicitor.\nJust under three years after her admission she became the third female partner at a major Australian law firm.\nDavies practised as a litigator and a commercial lawyer working in both the Sydney and Melbourne offices of the firm, managing a range of high profile cases and projects.\nShe was a member of the firm's board and chair of the Women at Freehills steering committee.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Rebecca Davies for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Rebecca Davies and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nBecoming a lawyer was not something I positively set out to do. There were no lawyers in my family. My mother had been a nurse prior to having four children, of whom I was the first. My dad had been in the merchant navy and then went into business.\nI went to an all girls' government high school, and although we higher achieving girls were encouraged to succeed, there was still an expectation in those days (late 60's) that girls would either leave in Year 10, and maybe become hairdressers, or if they stayed to year 12, the vast majority would become teachers and then marry.\nI had become involved in various political activities during school (Women's Lib, anti Vietnam activities, 18 year old voting etc.) and so my ambitions were more in the political arena. I thought studying politics and economics would be the way into that field, and ANU in Canberra made sense, not only because Canberra was the centre of federal politics, but also it was a way to leave home and spread my fledging wings.\nAnd somewhere in the background, were the stories my mother told about some of the women in her own family, who had been real pioneers in the early 20th century; the first policewoman in South Australia, the first female professor of psychology at Adelaide University, the political activist wife of the editor of the Adelaide Advertiser and others. Real role models of women who made a positive contribution to their communities.\nJust before doing the HSC in 1971, I went to the Vocational Guidance Centre in the city with three friends to do the IQ and physiological tests then on offer. It was suggested for me that law was a possible career and that made me consider this option for the first time. It was attractive as I could do both an economics and law degree together at ANU, and was a reasonable stepping stone into politics. Of course, on discussing our experiences, it seemed the Vocational Guidance people may have been pushing students into law at that time, maybe particularly women, as that advice was given to three of the four of us! I was the only one who did take that path in the end. So in early 1972 I left home in Sydney and moved into Bruce Hall, one of the residential colleges at ANU.\nDuring my University life, I enjoyed my law studies, but there were frankly more exciting things going on around me with the election of the Whitlam government and the tumultuous events of the following few years. I became involved with environmental issues and other campus activities, and also enjoyed the freedom of being away from home and in a mixed sex environment. They were heady days!\nI was probably not totally engaged in my legal studies until the final year where I really enjoyed Constitutional Law under Professor Leslie Zines, who was super tough but intellectually challenging. And of course we had witnessed at close hand the constitution under challenge with the dramatic dismissal of the Whitlam government.\nAfter finishing my law and economics degrees in 1976, I then needed a job. Being in Canberra, the public sector was an obvious choice and for a short while I worked in defence superannuation, but soon realised that this was not a realistic long term option for me. Luckily a position back at the Law School came up and I spent the next year or two working as a research assistant back in the Faculty of Law.\nOne of the fun things from that time was working on the Legal Services Bulletin, the 'alternative' law journal, which meant working with some great people, who I later saw move into very important positions. People like Peter Hanks, Gareth Evans, Mark Richardson, John Basten and Jack Goldring were particularly impressive. But it's also interesting to note, that here I was a young woman among lots of men, so very much in a minority- a feature common to much of the next 20 years of my career.\nThen a faculty colleague suggested I become Associate to Sir Kenneth Jacobs at the High Court; a job he had had himself, and without a formal application, I took up that role and worked for Sir Kenneth until his retirement due to illness. It was a great experience, working at the very top of the legal system, and many of the lessons I learned then have stood me in great stead over the years.\nI then decided it was time, maybe, to try practicing law rather than thinking and writing about it. A totally unscientific process, as being in Canberra I didn't really have much idea about private law firms. So I went through the phone book and wrote to firms who had bold entries in the listing- figuring that this might mean they were larger ones!\nThis was 1979. And the interview process was pretty ghastly. I was asked when I was going to get married, if I was engaged, told I should be happy with small salary - 'you just need pin money' - and ignored by many firms, despite having a pretty good degree and having been a High Court Associate.\nFeeling that I might need to look further afield or go back to academia, I then got lucky and was interviewed by Kim Santow, the great late Court of Appeal judge, then a senior partner at Freehill, Hollingdale and Page (FHP) in Sydney. We had a most engaging and entertaining interview and I was hired as an articled clerk at the salary of $9000 pa, about half what I had earned at the High Court.\nFHP was a leader in many ways. There was a woman partner, Helen Brown and other senior women, people from varying backgrounds - not just the traditional Catholics - and David Gonski had just been promoted to partner as the youngest in a major law firm. The firm was also expanding beyond the boundaries of one city; again in the forefront of that national, and then international expansion. As for me, although I was initially apprehensive about moving to the dark side - working at the big end of town - I discovered pretty quickly that I actually really enjoyed the work, the people, the clients, the issues. And, to my surprise, I discovered that I was also ambitious.\nIt's funny to reflect on the things that can motivate you. One thing that really spurred me on was working with another lawyer, around my age but an admitted solicitor, on a piece of research. He told me my work was 'quite good really.' Given I had spent the previous few years writing and assisting senior academics and a High Court judge with research, this was a bit rich! I remember deciding then and there that I was going to get to be a partner in the firm, and I was going to get there at least as fast as any of the men, particularly this one! So I set my mind to that goal and achieved it, just under 3 years after being admitted in 1980. I think I achieved that by working hard and smart and being up front about what I was looking to achieve, although I was still surprised when it happened as quickly as it did.\nI then continued to build my practice, being the third woman partner in a major law firm in Australia, and I think the first who was a commercial litigator. Made a partner before I was 30 and looking much younger than that, a major challenge was getting people to take me seriously. I became quite adept at reading the signs from the senior business people I was dealing with that they were thinking 'what is this girl doing running this major piece of litigation for my company', and knowing how to quickly win their confidence. Again, because I had to overcome the assumptions people made based on my age and gender, I worked out that I needed to be better prepared and find the best way to connect with the clients. And that turned out not to be so hard as I found I was really interested in what clients were doing, the challenges they faced and them as people. That I think was key to success in being a business acquirer, so after a few years I had one of the most successful practices in the firm.\nMostly I found, after the initial shock on meeting me, that clients trusted me and enjoyed working with me. I do, though, recall one setback in particular. We had a US based client, and I was running the case with a smart male lawyer assisting me. One day my assistant confessed to me that the client had said he really didn't want to work with a woman leading the team. That was a real blow to my confidence. And I felt let down by some of my male colleagues who took over the case rather than standing up for me. The client, though, was a complete pain, and not too long after the partner who had taken over from me actually sacked the client! Small comfort, but I remember being quite depressed as I thought that my youth was a disadvantage that time would deal with, but being female wasn't going to change.\nThen in 1987 I was asked to move to our Melbourne office, the firm having recently linked up with a Melbourne firm. The Sydney office thought the Melbourne litigation team needed to become more commercial and that was the task I was given. I was very apprehensive about that step, and was concerned that the main reason I was asked was because I was single, so relatively easily moved. When I arrived in Melbourne, there was some resentment of the Sydney 'spy', and at that time I was also the only female partner in the Melbourne office. There was a bit of a 'freeze' applied, and it was quite lonely to start with.\nAnyway, I used the skills I had learned in winning people over, and again developed one of the highest billing practices in the firm and was able to sponsor a number of young lawyers, including young women, into the Melbourne firm.\nI moved back to Sydney in 1989, and not long after getting back home I met the man who a year later became my husband. I think by this stage there may have been other women partners who were married; certainly over the 80's there was a big increase in the % of women In the partnership. I continued to have a very significant commercial litigation practice, and given my seniority was able to maintain that practice during two periods of maternity leave and some part time work when I had my two children in 1991 and 1993.\nAlthough partner maternity leave was included in the partnership agreement, part time work wasn't and I think I was the first partner to ask to do part time work. This was quite controversial as some felt that as a partner you needed to demonstrate 100% commitment and the only way you could do that was being present and billing at a minimum of 5 days a week. There was certainly a strong macho culture of working long hours and spending little time at home, so giving priority to family wasn't playing the game by the accepted rules. I guess being relatively senior and having a very successful practice gave me the influence to ensure this worked for me, and hopefully that helped pave the way for others who followed after.\nThe cases I worked on were some of the most interesting around at the time and I had the opportunity to work with amazing people; clients, barristers, opponents and most importantly, the members of my own teams. Major cases included Estate Mortgage, Burns Philp Trustees, Christopher Scase and Qintex, Linter, Alan Bond and Bell Resources.\nOn my return to full time practice, there was a period of increasing management responsibility within the firm. I was elected as the first female member of the firm's board. I had wider responsibilities for the litigation group as a whole and for risk management and professional indemnity insurance for the firm. It was a time when law firms, ours included, were subject to a number of very large claims resulting from corporate collapses in the late 80's early 90's, and I had the job of successfully managing the firm's defence of those claims.\nI then decided to move out of litigation and became a corporate lawyer for several years, focussing on IT issues in particular. I led the Freehills team running the successful demutualisation of the NRMA, acting for the insurance arm of the operation. But my real love was litigation, so I moved back into that field in the early 2000's and stayed in that area until I retired as a partner in 2009. Highlights were acting for Kerry Stokes on a range of major cases, some successful, and some less so, but all amazing challenges from which I learned a great deal.\nAlthough I have really enjoyed all the things I've done since I left full time legal practice, I look back on my legal career with great satisfaction. I acted on some of the Australia's biggest and most complex cases, worked with wonderful people all around the world and was able to make an impact on a range of business and policy issues. I mentored many young lawyers, and brought many into the partnership. As a working mother, I was able to provide one model to young women of how a successful legal career might be achieved. As a champion for women inside law firms, ours in particular, I saw an increasing percentage of women partners in the firm, and talented women taking other senior roles in the firm. I was proud to talk about those successes both locally and internationally, showing what was possible and hopefully encouraging others.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rana, Rashda", "Entry ID": "AWE5615", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rana-rashda\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Arbitrator, Barrister, Educator, Lawyer, Senior Counsel", "Summary": "Rashda Rana SC is a Barrister, Arbitrator and Mediator. She has worked at the Bar in London, in various states in Australia and in the Asia Pacific region, notably Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and China, for the past 20 years. Most recently, she was the General Counsel for Lend Lease Project Management & Construction. Rashda is also an Adjunct Professor at The Sydney University Law School. She was appointed Senior Counsel in 2014.\nRana is the President of ArbitralWomen, the Immediate Past President of the Australian branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), the Founding Member and former Vice Chair of the Society of Construction Law Australia, a Fellow and former Director of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (ACICA), Fellow of Institute of Arbitrators & Mediators Australia (IAMA), Fellow of Commercial Law Association of Australia (CLAA) and the Australian representative to the ICC Taskforce on Subcontracting and the ICC Taskforce on Public Procurement.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Rashda Rana for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Rashda, Rana and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nEvents in life, some brought about deliberately, others by happenstance, often give rise to circumstances that lead to the generation of new and sometimes surprising passions or the development of a passion that otherwise lies latent. My passion turned out to be initially international arbitration and then as a necessary off-shoot which emerged through experience, the need for diversity and equality in the legal profession, more specifically, gender diversity and equality in the worldwide dispute resolution industry.\nMost astounding for me has been the slow realisation that in the first quarter of the 21st Century we are still talking about gender equality and trying to find ways to achieve it at all levels of society. After decades of supposed equality, however, a recurring and disturbing issue in the workplace remains the differential and unequal treatment of and responses to women in the workplace. How does a woman deal with that if, like me, your job depends on being heard?\nEverything I do professionally depends entirely on my voice being heard. I have three main professional roles: as advocate, as arbitrator and as teacher. The most critical demand made by each role is clear, effective and persuasive oral communication.\nAs an advocate, I am the mouthpiece of my client. I might be appearing before 1, 3, 5, 7 or 10 judges or 1 or 3 arbitrators. They are usually of the pale, male and stale variety. Usually, I am the only woman in the room or the court. In this role, the most significant rule that applies to the proceedings is that parties are afforded natural justice. This is usually understood to mean that the parties are entitled to have their dispute determined by an impartial and independent decision maker and that they have the right to be heard. In order to fulfil this role properly and effectively not only do I, on behalf of my client, need to ensure that I am heard but that I am actively heard such that I can persuade the listener of my point of view, my submission, my case theory.\nNext, as an arbitrator either with 2 other co-arbitrators and a number of advocates appearing before me (all usually male), my voice also needs to be heard. In this role, I am required to control the proceedings and make decisions which the parties are required to follow or comply with. Unlike the position of a judge, who has coercive powers to ensure compliance the role of arbitrator does not have coercive powers and does not necessarily bring with it authority. The authority has to be imposed by deed or demand.\nThirdly, I am also a teacher, a role that relies heavily on the teacher being heard. In the 21st century, the real test of a good teacher, whether make or female, is to get across the message without the use of visual aids! I have seen panic on the faces of students when I say we are going to listen, think and discuss as opposed to type like automata everything the teacher is saying without switching on the brain cells!\nThe legal profession is not the only profession in which women experience unequal treatment. Discrimination or gender bias, whether deliberate or unconscious, is everywhere.\nFor a long time now, I have been the only Australian female barrister actively involved in international arbitration outside Australia. I am, for instance, the only Australian female barrister listed on the arbitration panels of a number of significant regional arbitral institutions. In 2013, I was the first female President of the Australian branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.\nIt is not a new organisation. The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators is celebrating its centenary this year (2015). It is an elite, international dispute resolution body with members from all over the world. I don't know why I should have been the first female President as late as 2013 when there are so many highly competent women in the field of dispute resolution. I don't know why I am the only female barrister listed on arbitration panels around the world. It seems that women are still required to be better than their male counterparts in order to be heard, seen or accepted.\nI have never doubted my ability to perform as well as my male colleagues. Likewise, I never doubted the capabilities of my female peers in the law. I have tried to accept people on merit alone no matter what their background, race or gender. It was not until the last few years of the 20th Century, that the true plight of female lawyers dawned on me. Women lawyers were experiencing hurdles and problems in their careers as a result of gender bias. I had not myself been consciously aware that I had ever been discriminated against because of my gender. What was more apparent to me (especially when I arrived in Australia) was the constant references to racial differences as if that attribute might affect one's ability to perform.\nOf course, I possess many attributes which can readily be the subject of discrimination. The most obvious is that I am a woman. But my Indian heritage makes me a target too. When I first arrived in Australia many people, especially taxi drivers (those great arbiters of social commentary) would ask, 'where are you from?' I'd say that I was from London (because I learnt very quickly that the way I pronounced 'England' sounded very much like India to them or perhaps that's what they wanted to hear). Anyway, to this response I'd often get (and still do) 'But, where are you really from?' Thus, the conversation would continue along those lines for a few more minutes, with some even braving the absurd line, 'but you don't look like you're English'. Of course, what they were referring to was my ethnic background, which, of course is an entirely different matter.\nIf I had been aware of gender bias then I had dismissed it as being an 'excuse'. After all, we lived in an enlightened world. The first meeting I attended of the Equal Opportunities Committee of the NSW Bar Association, chaired by Michael Slattery QC (as then was, now Justice Slattery of the NSW Supreme Court), however, opened my eyes to the true depth of a problem I had not even conceived existed. I resolved there and then to do what I could to bring the problem to light and to deal with it as best I could. The first project I got involved in was the emergency child care scheme for barristers. There was no one better suited to delving into this problem since my husband & I both worked and we had no family to support us in Australia (my family were all in London and my husband's in Ireland) and any friends who would otherwise be willing to help also worked.\nHow did I get to where I am?\nMy focus has always been to do things about which I am passionate. For that I must thank my family, particularly my father. I was lucky to have been brought up in a family environment in which everyone was encouraged to be themselves and to do what they enjoyed. After all, success follows those who follow their passions. With 2 older rough-and-tumble, rugger-bugger brothers and a father who treated each of us in the same way, I never noticed that my life had to be different from my brothers or male friends just because I was a girl. I remember my mother's horror at my father's suggestion that I should read for a conceptually based degree such as philosophy rather than mathematics which was my initial choice since that's where my interests seemed to lie. He was absolutely right. He never dictated to us. He guided us. It was always a discussion of the pros and cons of our proposed actions or decisions that he investigated with us. He taught us analysis and introspection.\nPhilosophy also helped me to think with clarity and reason persuasively - skills which have proved very useful in my career as a barrister. Loss of an academic grant made me switch from a life in academia to a vocational course in law that culminated in qualification as a barrister at the Bar of England & Wales.\nI was persuaded by a highly regarded silk at the English Bar that being an advocate was not dissimilar to being an academic and so my life would not necessarily be that different in substance: barristers receive issues in a brief; academics think of them in the course of their work; barristers research the point in issue, as do academics; barristers prepare submissions as academics prepare papers or articles; barristers present the issue as set out in their submissions to a court of 1 or 3 or more judges who have some interest in what you are saying, academics present to 200 snotty nosed students who do not generally care what you are saying; barristers get an answer by way of a judgment; academics get 200 essays, none of which may have anything useful to say. I switched fairly readily.\nThe love of teaching, however, has never left me and so I have continued to teach at various levels from undergraduates to apex court judges.\nThen came marriage to an Irishman who did not then want to live in London so we traversed the seas to Sydney where he had been living and where I knew there was an independent private Bar and so I could continue doing what I had been trained to do. It was not at all common in Sydney then (nor is it now) for people to go straight to the Bar. In England, after a straight law degree and Bar School, one could be a fully qualified barrister at about 23. In England it was also the practice to choose either the path of a solicitor or a barrister and to stick to that choice for life. There was very little movement between the professions. There is much more now. In Sydney, there has always been movement between the professions.\nThe admissions board did not make it easy for me, requiring me to sit 11 exams which I sat over 2 semesters. Apparently, the Admissions Board simply could not understand how I could possibly have got any kind of practising certificate with a Diploma Course in Law. The lady I spoke to at the Board was incredulous and actually said to me over and over again, 'But I don't understand how you could've got the practising certificates. You don't have a law degree!'.\nThe Diploma Course in question is one designed for graduates who wish to convert to law. Successful completion of the Diploma course then puts candidates on par with law graduates. It's a one year intensive course in the 6 core subjects. In order to become a barrister, one is required to undertake the Bar Practice Training Course as well which is also over a year and includes a number of substantive legal subjects. If I recall correctly, out of the 100 students in my conversion course over 80% went on to become barristers.\nThe figures for barristers in London with that background is also approximately 80%. So, it was a very common path to becoming a barrister in London. But not so in Sydney. Indeed, I think I was the first barrister from England who wanted to go to the NSW Bar. When Stuart Littlemore modelled his female protagonist in the Curry Murder Books on me, I pointed out to him that, unlike his fictional character, Arabella Engineer, I did not come to Sydney because I had \"failed as a barrister in London\"!\nI passed the tests.\nDuring that time, my husband and I decided that it would probably be better to have our first child before I got going afresh, as it were, at the Bar in NSW. So our daughter arrived on 2 February 1994. 2nd February happens to be the date by which the beginning of the Bar Term is set. A few years later, my son would be born on the last day of the Bar Term that year. So, my children are truly Bar children.\nThings progressed well and my international arbitration career continued to grow steadily. On one occasion, some 15 years ago, I was chastised by a senior member of the Bar for appearing in international arbitrations, that is to say, appearing before arbitrators (1 or 3) when I should be appearing before 'real' judges. Having been weaned on the dual tracks of the court system and arbitration, I could not quite understand his objection. Arbitrators before whom I was appearing in international arbitrations were eminent jurists in their own right. The same people might switch from being arbitrators to taking an appointment as a judge. I did not and do not think that judges are clothed with any magical powers (or divine inspiration) that makes them better decision makers than arbitrators. I sit as an arbitrator and I know my Awards are every bit as good as the judgments of my judge peers. Suffice it so say that this same senior practitioner has in the past few years been haranguing me to get him into international arbitrations!\nIn this time, the urge to do something about gender bias started to grow. As well as continuing my work at the NSW Bar Association and participating in mentoring schemes at the Bar, the Universities, and industry organisations, I joined ArbitralWomen. ArbitralWomen is an international networking organisation committed to promoting women in dispute resolution around the world. It was beginning to take a foothold then. Last year, in 2014, we celebrated 20 years and I became the President of ArbitralWomen. My column in the ArbitralWomen Newsletter regularly points to achievements in this field as well to failures which need rectification in the name of equality.\nI know that, for me, the single most important factor in any success I may have achieved has been the support I have received from my male colleagues and most importantly my husband. It is because of the fact that my support came from male not female mentors that I have been actively promoting the importance of mentoring for women by women in dispute resolution. The mentoring program at ArbitralWomen is a very successful one. There are more and more women at higher echelons of the dispute resolution ladder who are prepared to give up their time freely to help others. There are, unfortunately, also plenty at the higher reaches who do not want to help, their mantra being, 'I did it myself so let them learn how to do it by themselves'. What these women forget is that men help each other all the time and in helping others promote themselves. What they also forget is what Madeleine Albright once said, 'There is a special place in hell for women who do not help other women!'\nThe last thing on one's mind when one makes the choice of a life partner is whether you will enjoy the same support from that person as you might be prepared to give back. The support can oftentimes be one way - support by the wife for the husband's needs, desires and goals. None of what I've done would have been possible without my husband's support and willingness to take over things, to pick up the running of the house, the care of the children every time I had to leave the country for work and his generally positive attitude to my goals. He also shares with me the drive to eradicate gender bias in all its forms.\nIt is not just my interest in gender diversity and equality that has been growing. The problem of gender bias and the need for diversity and equality has mushroomed in the past few years in many parts of the world. For instance, my old college (Pembroke) at Cambridge University has been celebrating 30 years of women at the College. The celebrations are timely and significant. This is a great achievement in itself, but to put it in context, this is 30 years in the life of a college that has existed as male only domain for over 800 years. I was invited back to talk about women in the workplace to current and former students of the college as well as others from the University.\nIn addition, as part of my work with ArbitralWomen, we prepared a Special Issue on 'Dealing with Diversity in International Arbitration' jointly with Transnational Dispute Management.\nIt is well acknowledged that the high demand for arbitration services has driven many governments to cultivate a pro-arbitration environment through new arbitration legislation and other mechanisms, and has led to the proliferation of international arbitral centres throughout the world. Likewise, many global law firms have also responded to this increased demand by aggressively entering new markets and deploying significant resources to those emerging regions. The expansion of international arbitration into new regions as well as steady growth in more established markets has not, however, been reflected in the greater participation of more women. Women are not getting the same opportunities as men, regardless of background.\nStatistics published by arbitral institutions indicate quite strongly that, more generally, there is a severe imbalance in the vast number of appointments whether by the parties or by the institution concerned-for instance, the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) annual report for 2013 shows that in 2013, 9.8% of the 162 appointees selected by the LCIA and 6.9% of the 160 appointees selected by the parties were female. The LCIA is the only institution which actively pushes for the appointment of female chairs of tribunals. The appointment of European and American arbitrators usually account for a large chunk of the pie, within that the thinnest, barely visible slivers represent female arbitrators. Further analysis of the numbers indicates that things are not really improving.\nThere are many studies which indicate there is a huge gender gap-for instance, the Institute for Continuing Legal Education in California has carried out studies which show that 85% of the women lawyers surveyed perceived a subtle, but pervasive, gender bias within the legal profession. Almost two-thirds agreed women lawyers are not accepted as equals by their male peers (see also 'Implicit Gender Bias in the Legal Profession: An Empirical Study' by Justin D Levinson & Danielle Young, Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy Volume 18:1 2010). Despite the fact that approximately 60% of all law graduates are women, this figure steadily decreases over time and rank, such that, by the time we get to the managing partner level, only 4% are women.\nThe gender gap is to some extent perpetuated by deep-rooted cultural perceptions and misperceptions. In every field unconscious bias is evident and perpetuated. Many studies (for example 'Science faculty's subtle gender biases favour male students'-Moss-Racusina, PNAS, 2012) show categorically that unconsciously, we tend to like people who look like us, think like us and come from backgrounds similar to ours. This means that white men choose white men for board rooms, as counsel, as arbitrators, as judges. The bias clearly is not always unconscious-sometimes it is deliberate negative bias.\nIn the same report by the Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the findings were that 76% of those surveyed reported feelings of negative bias were from opposing counsel, 64% from clients, 48% from superiors, and 43% from peers. It is interesting to note that most feelings of negative bias were from opposing counsel, and the least was from peers. While 65% did not make any career changes due to these perceptions of negative bias, it is statistically significant that 35% did, and that 37% made no career changes because they believed it would not be any better elsewhere.\nAffirmative action has and can effect change. It has been pioneered in many different sectors including; the political arena for numbers of MPs in any one party, the commercial arena, with demands on boards of organisations to have a certain percentage of female directors, in model briefing policies for female counsel to be briefed on cases and in the judiciary for numbers of female judges. For instance, women now account for 20.7% of board members in FTSE 100 companies.\nIn Australia, the latest percentage of women on ASX 200 boards is 19.8%. In the US, the percentage of S&P 500 companies with at least one female director is just over 90%, yet 10% of these companies still do not have women directors and 28% have just one. The European Commission aims to attain a 40% 'objective' of women in non-executive board member positions in large publicly listed companies by 2020 (see further EU Directive on Women on Boards in 2012). Even that is not enough. There are ways of introducing affirmative action in law and in particular arbitration, but it has to be accepted and taken up by lawyers (young and old) advising their clients, the clients themselves and other counsel and arbitrators. A cultural shift is needed, not just time, to get there.\nTo women 'coming through the ranks' in arbitration, I would say - persevere! Surround yourself with supportive people: family, friends, colleagues, bosses, mentors. Find support for your ideas, yourself, your career path.\nMen overestimate their abilities and capabilities which, in itself, leads to greater confidence, confidence building in others, promotion, pay rises and so on, with their prospects shooting upwards. Women, on the other hand, routinely underestimate themselves leading to a lack of confidence and consequently others doubting their ability, slower promotion, less pay and so on, with their prospects spiralling downwards.\nWomen need to reverse that trend by helping themselves and helping others. They should be assertive without being aggressive, promote their skills and expertise. They should remember they don't need to mimic male behaviour, and, more importantly, they should be themselves.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/prominent-barrister-to-lead-arbitration-body\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Tate, Pamela Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5616", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tate-pamela-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Dunedin, New Zealand", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Senior Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "The Honourable Justice Pamela Tate was appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 14 September 2010. She was appointed to the role of Solicitor-General for Victoria in 2003, the first woman to receive the appointment, and served in the role until 2010, representing the State of Victoria in constitutional challenges in the High Court of Australia. During her tenure, she was appointed Special Counsel to the Human Rights Consultation Committee that recommended the enactment in Victoria of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities. She is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and was the Winner, Women Lawyers Achievement Awards (Victoria) in 2010. In June 2007 she was a Visiting Fellow, Centre for the Study of Human Rights, at the London School of Economics.\n", "Details": "Pamela Tate was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, and graduated from Otago University in 1979 with first class Honours in Philosophy. She received a three-year Commonwealth scholarship from the British Council and undertook postgraduate study in Philosophy under the supervision of Professor Michael Dummett at Oxford University, United Kingdom, graduating with a B.Phil. Pamela returned to New Zealand and taught Philosophy at Otago University before moving to Australia to live. While teaching Philosophy at Monash University, she graduated with a first class Honours degree in Law from Monash University in 1988.\nShe joined the Victorian Bar in 1991, having served as an associate to Sir Daryl Dawson of the High Court of Australia for two years. At the private Bar she specialized in Constitutional law, Administrative law, and the law of trade practices. She appeared regularly in constitutional law cases before the High Court and in constitutional and public law cases before the Supreme Court. In 1999-2000 she was Convenor of the Women Barristers' Association. She was appointed Senior Counsel in 2002.\nShe is a judicial representative on the External Professional Advisory Committee of the Faculty of Law of Monash University. She is a member of the Judicial Conference of Australia; the Australian Association of Constitutional Law; the Australian Institute of Administrative Law; the Australian Association of Women Judges; the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration; and the International Commission of Jurists. She is a Fellow of Monash University and the Patron of the Australasian Association of Philosophy.\nJustice Tate retired from the Court of Appeal in 2021 and in May 2021 became adjunct professor of law at Monash University. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2023 for significant service to the judiciary, to the law, and to legal education.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-honourable-justice-pamela-tate-llbhons-1988\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Blumer, Noor", "Entry ID": "AWE5617", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/blumer-noor\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Malacca, Malaysia", "Occupations": "Civil Libertarian, Director, Lawyer, Litigator, Solicitor", "Summary": "Women's advocate and civil libertarian Noor (Nooraini) Blumer (Dip Law (LPAB) LLM, GAICD) is a Director at Blumer's Personal Injuries Lawyers. She has served as President of Australian Women Lawyers (2005-2006), Chair of the Equalising Opportunities in the Law Committee of the Law Council of Australia (2007-2010) and President of the Law (2011-2012. She has also served as Vice-President of Civil Liberties Australia. In the 2026 Australia Day Honours she was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) 'for significant service to the law, to the legal profession, and to the community.'\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Noor Blumer for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Noor Blumer and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nI was born in Malacca in 1962 to a Malay father and my mother Dianne who had grown up in Perth.\nThe law played a part on my life even then. When I was 5 months old, my mother wanted to leave Malaysia without my father's knowledge and take me with her to Perth permanently. In those days, a child under the age of one did not need a separate passport and could travel on their mother's passport. Thus she was able to make the escape, which in recent years we have come to understand could be called an abduction, particularly under Malay law where the children are the property of the father.\nI grew up happily in Perth but was usually the only Asian in my class. I used to forget I was Asian and get a shock when I saw myself in the mirror! I did well at school and my burning desire was to be a lawyer or a journalist.\nI finished school at 16 and when I was 17 had my first child in 1979. I had the support of the father, who is still my husband, and I went to the University of WA with a view to studying law. In those days to gain entry to Law you had to pass first year Arts with suitable marks. I did this, but that year demand was high and the entrance marks requirement, which I had easily made, was raised and I missed out. I was devastated. I then embarked on second year Arts, but lacked enthusiasm.\nMy husband Mark came from Griffith NSW where his father was a lawyer and his father before him. Mark was not then a lawyer, but in 1982 we made the decision to go and live in Griffith, work for the family law firm as clerks and study the SAB by correspondence, now the LPAB.\nI had trouble filling in the application to apply to become a 'student-at-law' as the form assumed that applicants would be male and a lot of 'Mr, he and his' had to be crossed out to accommodate me.\nI didn't get to work as a law clerk, but eventually managed to get a job in the public service as an employment officer, which I enjoyed.\nThe study was very hard. In Griffith, we were 7 hours' drive from Sydney. There was no access to a law library and there was no internet. Fortunately, in those days, most solicitors firms had their own basic libraries. To qualify to sit the exams one had to complete a series of assignments. The exams were always 3 hours and closed book. This meant learning by rote the names of the 100 -150 cases necessary for each subject, a feat in itself, without also having to remember the relevant point they turned on.\nThe closest examination centre was about 4 hours away by car, so we often sat them in different locations. The first was in Broken Hill, a fantastic drive in 1982 just before the drought broke.\nLectures were held in Sydney, twice for each subject over a weekend. The SAB was easy to get into but notoriously hard to complete. I remember that the first lecture was held in a large lecture theatre at the University of Sydney; there would have been 200 students. Towards the end of the course I attended the family law lecture and it was just me and the lecturer, so we had a nice 'one to one'.\nI continued to work full time and study and we had another 3 children along the way, as one does in the country! My progress was slow and I suffered more than a few failures along the way, mainly because the time I had to study was very limited and I did not have the luxury of aiming for fancy results. We were pretty poor at the time and we both needed to work full time. Also, I had real difficulty coping with subjects such as 'Practice and Procedure' with no experience working in a legal environment.\nAnother obstacle was attending the College of Law in St Leonards. I had to do it in 3 blocks of 4 and 6 weeks. This was difficult and expensive with a young family and the lecturers were notoriously un-family friendly- I could do a whole essay on that one! While the block course was supposed to be for the benefit of country students, it was really for the benefit of those working for fancy Sydney law firms who could turn up, leave at lunch time and go to work and get their billable hours.\nI was finally admitted in 1992, just after the birth of our fourth child and I started the practice of law at Cater & Blumer in Griffith NSW.\nI was so relieved to have finally finished I had not given the slightest thought as to what kind of law I wanted to practice. That decision was made for me as there was need for another litigation lawyer and that turned out well as I really loved it. At that time, I was the only female lawyer in Griffith, but the local lawyers were always supportive and helpful.\nI remember sitting at the bar table one day when the magistrate came on the bench and said 'Good morning Gentlemen' He then looked at my sheepishly and apologised. I said, with bravado, that it was OK, I did like to think I was a gentleman in some respects.\nIn 1998 I became the first ever female partner of a law firm in the Riverina Law Society district. This was sufficiently noteworthy to warrant an article in the NSW Law Society journal, which came out, embarrassingly, just after Mark and I had decided to leave Griffith.\nIn late 1998 we moved to Canberra and I was branch manager of a plaintiff personal injury firm which Mark and I took over in 2000 and have operated ever since, Blumers Personal Injury Lawyers.\nIt was in Canberra that I became involved with the Women Lawyers Association of the ACT and served as President for several years. Through that, I served on the board of Australian Women Lawyers (AWL) and was President in 2004\/2005. What a wonderful journey that was for me, I still have good friends throughout Australia.\nAt that time AWL was pressing for a more formalised and transparent process for judicial appointments. Also, we were working on having a model equitable briefing policy for large firms and government. What a hoot it was to be talking to Attorneys General and Chief Justices about such matters.\nAlso the AWL had instigated the first survey of appearances by gender in Australian courts, which was important in demonstrating that women barristers were not getting a fair share of the work in the higher courts and were mainly working in the lower courts with less lucrative work. Much time was spent with my fellow board members manually collating the thousands of check sheets that had been provided from all around Australia.\nAfter the retirement of Justice Gaudron in 2003 there were no women on the High Court until the appointment of the Hon. Susan Crennan in 2005. It was a very difficult time as there were more women than men entering the profession, but no visible signs that a woman had a decent chance of achieving such an appointment. Fortunately that position has considerably improved with the subsequent appointments of Justices Kiefer, Bell and Gordon.\nAfter my year as President of AWL, my family were concerned that with nothing to distract me I might become a nuisance to them, so at their urging I undertook a Master of Laws at ANU. It was a pleasure to finally be attending university in a normal way and to take subjects which interested me. When I first applied I was refused entry to the course because they 'did not recognize my qualifications'. This was a bit embarrassing, and would have been more so had they actually seen my transcript, but I wrote a letter pointing out my experience and there was no problem. I finished this in about 2008.\nI also served for several years as Chair of the Equalising Opportunities in the Law, a standing committee of the Law Council of Australia (LCA). This involved further work in developing the Equitable Briefing Policy and conducting a professional survey of court appearances by agenda.\nIn 2011 I was elected President of the ACT Law Society, only the 2nd woman to hold that position. I served 2 years as President as well as a Director of the LCA and loved nearly every minute of it.\nWhen I ran for President, my electioneering material had clearly stated that I was Vice-President of Civil Liberties Australia and that I was interested in human rights. What a joy it was to discover that when speaking as President of the ACT Law Society on legal issues, taking a civil liberties stance was seen as appropriate. While there may have been some murmurs, not one of our members ever took issue with that approach. I learned that lawyers mostly care deeply about such issues and appreciate it when their peak bodies are vocal in upholding and explaining the law.\nThere were so many issues in the past in the ACT where I had thought to myself, 'Well, no one ever asks me what I think about \u2026\u2026.', but having the job of President put paid to that complaint. I was asked about everything and had real input into legal issues including proposed legislation and the work of the courts.\nI continue to be a director of Blumers Lawyers with my husband Mark and the fun continues. As my colleague John Eades said to me in the Griffith Local Court 23 years ago, 'Noor, litigation, it's the only game for adults'. Working on cases continues to excite my interest and enthusiasm.\nI strongly believe that both the public and the profession wants to have the law explained to them by lawyers, not by journalists. It is great to see that most professional conduct rules allow such public discussions to take place.\nAs well as personal injury litigation, I have been privileged to act for the ACT Human Rights commission from time - to - time and this has given me an insight into the application of a modern Human Rights Act.\nThe law is not for everyone, but I continue to derive pleasure from litigation, drafting pleadings, being privy to the lives of clients, which are rarely boring or ordinary. It is also a privilege to work with some great minds, grappling with problems and finding solutions to help everyday people. There is also the joy of running a business, having a wonderful staff and being constantly impressed by the knowledge, skill and enthusiasm of younger lawyers.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hall, Marlene Ann", "Entry ID": "AWE5618", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hall-marlene-ann\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Public servant, Teacher", "Summary": "Marlene Hall rose to become a highly regarded specialist in the field of aged care law, and the first person to be appointed as Special Counsel Aged Care Law in the Commonwealth Department of Health. Hall came to the law after a career as an English teacher; studying for a Bachelor of Laws degree at night school in order to graduate, she attributes her background in English language and literature, and her work at weekends in nursing homes over the years, to the later success she experienced in her dealings in complex aged care law matters. She made a significant contribution to public sector law, including through the national 'Living Longer Living Better' aged care policy reforms.\nMarlene Hall was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Marlene Hall received her primary education at St Felix School in the southwestern Sydney suburb of Bankstown, before attending (with the assistance of a state bursary) Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta, in central western Sydney, for two years. She later graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in English.\nAfter marrying a fellow student, she worked as a tutor in the English Department at the University of Sydney before travelling to Europe, she and her husband intending to complete postgraduate degrees in English in the United Kingdom. Shortly before leaving Australia, however, Hall impulsively applied for scholarships for the couple to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Upon arriving in London, Hall and her husband received correspondence from the Hebrew University informing them of their success and so, in 1968, they went to Israel to begin further studies.\nThe year which she spent in Israel gave Hall a chance to reflect on her career and she decided she would study medicine when she came home. In March 1969 she gave birth to a son. Following her return to Australia, Hall's marriage ended. As a single parent, the option to study medicine was not possible and she returned to tutoring, this time in the English Department at the University of New South Wales. She completed a Diploma in Education by correspondence from the University of New England; she also obtained a Master of Arts degree with first class honours in English from the University of Sydney.\nOver the next 16 years Hall enjoyed a rewarding career as a high school English teacher at Kincoppal Rose Bay Convent of the Sacred Heart, Newington College and Queenwood School. However, she perceived drawbacks to remaining a teacher, including the need to rely on the aged pension in retirement because of the lack of superannuation in the private school system, and she enrolled at the University of Technology Sydney in a Bachelor of Laws degree which could be undertaken part-time in the evenings.\nAfter graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree, Hall joined the Commonwealth Department of Health as a Graduate Administrative Assistant in 1995. A secondment to Parliament House as Departmental Liaison Officer in the Parliamentary Secretary's Office provided Hall with critical insight into how laws are made and how the Senate operates. In the Department of Health, Hall worked in Aboriginal health and the hearing services program before obtaining a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and moving to the Department's Legal Services Branch. Shortly afterwards she embarked upon a Master of Laws degree in public and commercial law at the Australian National University. Hall was soon invited to join the Complaints and Compliance Taskforce Legal Unit, a new taskforce which would deal with aged care compliance matters.\nIn the ensuing 14 years before she retired, Hall applied her expertise in aged care law, the position of Special Counsel Aged Care Law being specially created to allow her to concentrate on the more complex aged care law matters in the Department of Health. Hall's legal training enabled her to have an immediate and practical impact on the quality of life of extremely vulnerable older people, including advising on compliance action against nursing home operators who were providing poor quality care. Together with Departmental officers, members of the aged care law team and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, Hall went on to deliver the 'Living Longer Living Better' aged care policy reforms for the nation.\nThe following additional information was provided by Marlene Hall and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\nIf I were asked to name a book that has had the most influence on my life, it would be a brochure published in the 1950s called Careers for Graduates of the Faculty of Arts.\nAlong with my classmates in third year (year 9) at St Felix School, Bankstown, I had undertaken a vocational guidance test conducted by the Vocational Guidance Service and I had nominated nursing as my chosen career. Nursing was an attainable career for working class girls from Bankstown with the Intermediate Certificate awarded at the end of third year. We knew (or thought we knew) what nurses did and nurses were trained on the job and were paid while they trained.\nWhen we received the results of our vocational guidance tests, other girls who had nominated nursing received packages of information about how to apply for training positions. I received a letter stating: \"While your own choice of nursing is well within your capabilities, we suggest that you consider careers available to graduates of the Faculty of Arts\". Enclosed was a brochure setting out information about careers such as teaching and journalism and, crucially for me, matriculation requirements for entry to Sydney University.\nI had only ever met one person who had been to university - Sister Justinian, who taught our class in first year (year 7). Sister Justinian had taken me aside one day and suggested that I should consider going to university. She explained that I would need to study Latin, as it was an entry requirement, and offered to teach me Latin at lunch time while she supervised the tuckshop queue. I had turned up hopefully a few times for the promised Latin lessons, but it appeared that she had forgotten our conversation. (It became increasingly evident, as the year wore on and the first year classroom became more and more chaotic, that Sister Justinian was suffering from early stage dementia.)\nI had kept alive for a few months the hope of attending university by borrowing a book called Teach Yourself Latin from Bankstown Municipal Library and working my way through the exercises, but eventually I had to face the fact that I would not be able to reach matriculation standard by my own unaided efforts. Now, two years later, reading Careers for Graduates of the Faculty of Arts, I found to my surprise that Latin was no longer a matriculation requirement. (It had ceased to be a requirement in 1945.)\nA new potential stumbling block presented itself. At least one science subject was required for matriculation and St Felix School, along with many other parish schools for Catholic girls in the 1950s, lacked the resources to teach any science subjects. There was a window of opportunity, however, in that geography would be taken to meet this requirement for a few more years - just long enough, as it happened, for me to meet the matriculation requirements if I sat for the Leaving Certificate in 1961. Our third year teacher, Sister Bonaventure, was willing to teach geography after school to any girl who chose to sit for the externally examined Intermediate Certificate with the aim of winning a state bursary. I studied geography after school with the wonderful, irascible, Sister Bonaventure, sat for the external Intermediate Certificate and was awarded a state bursary to pay for two more years of schooling.\nThe bursary paid my school fees at Our Lady of Mercy College, Parramatta. I sat for the Leaving Certificate in 1961 and obtained what used to be called a 'maximum pass'. With financial support from a Commonwealth scholarship and a state bursary awarded on the basis of my Leaving Certificate results, I enrolled in the Faculty of Arts at Sydney University to study English, modern history and philosophy.\nOn the eve of my enrolment my father, who was a factory worker, suggested that I study medicine. I didn't think this would be possible given that (geography notwithstanding) I had not studied any science subjects. The thought of studying law never crossed my mind. I don't think anyone I knew had ever met a lawyer. Although there must have been lawyers practising in Bankstown, I don't recollect ever walking past a lawyer's office. In the years I spent at Sydney University, law students were not part of the campus milieu because the Sydney University law school was located down town, in Phillip Street. This meant that informal opportunities to get to know what was involved in the study of law, such as discussions with law students over coffee in the Union, did not exist.\nI graduated with first class honours in English, married a fellow student and we both worked as tutors (ie associate lecturers) in English at Sydney University before setting off for Europe with the idea of completing postgraduate degrees in English in the UK. Shortly before embarking on the Galileo Galilei, however, I saw a notice in the Sydney Morning Herald about scholarships to study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. On a whim, I submitted applications for both of us. After back-packing from Genoa to London we found, waiting at Poste Restante in Trafalgar Square, letters from the Hebrew University offering us scholarships. The lure of adventure was too great and, abandoning plans to study in England, we consulted an atlas in a public library to ascertain where Israel was and set off on our pilgrimage to Jerusalem.\nThe scholarships were designed to give recipients the opportunity to experience life in Israel rather than to obtain a formal postgraduate qualification. We were encouraged to take an intensive course in Hebrew and to enrol in any other subject that appealed to us. I chose to take a course in American social history taught by a visiting professor from Columbia University. This course has influenced my thinking ever since.\nThe year in Israel gave us an opportunity to take stock and we decided not to pursue academic careers in English but to change direction and study medicine when we returned to Australia. We also decided that the time was right to have a child and our son was born in Jerusalem in March 1969.\nOn our return to Australia, I became a high school English teacher to support my husband while he studied medicine. The plan was that, when he graduated, he would support me while I studied medicine. Our marriage broke up, however, and as a single parent who needed to work full time I had no real prospect of being able to study medicine, although I did commence studying science by correspondence in the hope that I might be able to work out a way to do so.\nI became a tutor in the English department at the University of New South Wales, completed a Diploma in Education by correspondence from the University of New England, Armidale, and commenced work towards a Master of Arts in English at Sydney University. I was awarded a Master of Arts degree with first class honours.\nOne of my colleagues in the English department at UNSW was Michael Crennan. His wife, Susan, had been an English teacher and was completing a law degree at Sydney University. It was through Sue Crennan that I became interested in studying law. She invited me to accompany her to a Women in the Law lunch and I realised that a career in law might be possible. I made enquiries about enrolling in the Solicitors Admissions Board course by correspondence, but I was told that the correspondence option was only available to students who did not live in the Sydney metropolitan area. I would have had to attend evening lectures, but as my son was too young to be left alone at night this was not an option.\nFor the next twelve years I had an interesting and rewarding career as a high school English teacher, becoming head of English at Newington College and at Queenwood School. I realised, however, that there were virtually no opportunities for progression beyond head of department level in the private school system for a teacher without a religious affiliation. In addition, with no access to a superannuation scheme in the private school system, I would need to rely on the aged pension in retirement if I continued in my teaching career. I again explored the possibility of studying law while continuing in my very demanding full time job.\nI found that the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) offered a law degree that could be studied part time in the evenings. The information booklet stipulated, however, that students must be able to attend classes on at least one afternoon each week in addition to evening lectures. This would not have been possible for me because the school at which I taught had a rotating timetable. Even if I had been able to negotiate a free afternoon it would have been on a different day each week.\nIt occurred to me that the requirement to attend on one afternoon each week might not be quite as rigid as the information booklet suggested. I rang the UTS switchboard and asked to be put through to any lecturer in the law faculty who was available. I asked the lecturer whether it would be possible to complete a law degree at UTS without attending any afternoon classes. He said that he thought that it would be possible, but it might restrict my choice of units.\nOn that basis I enrolled in the LLB course at UTS. I spent the next four years working full time each day teaching English and attending evening classes at law school from 5pm to 9pm on three or four nights each week. On arriving home, I would mark English essays and prepare lessons until midnight, then take my law books to bed and read, often until 2 or 3am. Weekends were spent marking English essays and completing law assignments.\nDespite the rigours of this regime, I loved what I was doing. I loved the way the common law worked by analogy, from precedent to precedent. It was like poetry. I loved the logic and precision of legislative drafting and the dry wit of judicial judgments. My fellow students were a bunch of desperadoes with whom I could empathise - ABC presenters preparing for the day when their contracts would not be renewed, politicians whose careers could end at the next election and legal secretaries who had come to realise that they were more intelligent than the men from whom they took dictation.\nI graduated from UTS and joined the Commonwealth Department of Health in 1995 as a Graduate Administrative Assistant (GAA). This gave me the opportunity to learn the ropes by moving around the department and learning how things are done in the public service. When there was a change of government in 1996, I was sent across to Parliament House as Departmental Liaison Officer in the Parliamentary Secretary's office. This was an immensely valuable experience as it gave me an insider's perspective on how the Senate works - how political deals are done and laws are made.\nOn returning to the department I worked in Aboriginal health, as a member of the project team setting up the Office of Hearing Services and as the legislation project officer for the introduction of Lifetime Health Cover. While working on these projects I completed a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice at the Australian National University. On completion of the Lifetime Health Cover project, which involved working closely with legislative drafters, I was offered a position as a legal officer in the Department's Legal Services Branch.\nI realised that, because I had got off to a late start in my legal career, I needed to fast track my acquisition of knowledge of public and commercial law. Therefore I enrolled in a Master of Laws degree at the Australian National University soon after joining Legal Services Branch. I found this course gave me valuable insights that I was able to draw upon on a daily basis.\nShortly after I joined Legal Services Branch, a taskforce was being formed within the department to deal with aged care compliance issues. I was asked to join the Complaints and Compliance Taskforce Legal Unit, which would be co-located with the taskforce, participate in aged care policy development and provide immediate and practical legal advice, day or night, when compliance issues arose. I jumped at the chance.\nAs an undergraduate at Sydney University, I had worked over the Christmas breaks in various nursing homes as an assistant in nursing. Since then, whenever I needed to earn extra money to keep on top of my mortgage, I had worked on weekends in nursing homes. I felt that the invitation to join the taskforce was an opportunity to work in an area of the law where my work could have an immediate practical impact on the quality of life of extremely vulnerable older people. For the next fourteen years, until my retirement, I specialised in aged care law. I became the section head responsible for the work of the aged care law team until the position of Special Counsel Aged Care Law was created to enable me to concentrate on the more complex aged care law matters in my final years with the Department.\nThe eyes of young law graduates assigned to Legal Services Branch would generally glaze over when they were offered the opportunity to join the aged care law team for a rotation. They imagined that aged care law was a sleepy backwater. This was far from being the case. Taking compliance action against a nursing home operator who was providing poor quality care often led to hard-fought challenges in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal or the Federal Court. The day to day work of an aged care lawyer included advising on multi-million dollar contracts, sorting out complex administrative law matters, drafting legislative instruments and working with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel on the reform of primary legislation. I particularly enjoyed providing legal awareness training to line officers, the department's executive and the Minister's advisers as this often helped to nip problems in the bud.\nLooking back on my career as an aged care lawyer, I gain most satisfaction from the knowledge that, by working with counsel to defend the Department's compliance action in courts and tribunals, I have assisted in removing some of the worst operators from the aged care industry. Providing advice on complaints about aged care providers was also particularly rewarding. It often required lateral thinking to resolve seemingly intractable disputes and I was able to draw on my first-hand experience of working in aged care to come up with practical solutions.\nLegislative reform was the focus of my work in the final years before my retirement. Legislative drafting requires a feel for the English language, for such things as the weight of a word and the effect of a parenthesis, which I had developed through my study of English literature. Drawing on these English language skills together with my knowledge of the existing aged care legislative scheme, how the legislation had been interpreted over the years by courts and tribunals and the practical realities of how aged care is delivered drew together the various strands of my academic studies and working life. Working with Departmental officers, members of the aged care law team and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel on delivering the Living Longer Living Better aged care reforms was a satisfying way to end my legal career.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/marlene-hall-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "L'Estrange, Noela", "Entry ID": "AWE5619", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lestrange-noela\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Chief Executive Officer, Director, Lawyer, Manager, Public Education Advocate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Noela L'Estrange was awarded a Bachelor of Arts with a major in English Literature from Monash University, and continued her studies at The University of Queensland obtaining her LLB. She then studied for a Masters of Business Administration focusing on Professional Services and Quality Assurance.\nProfessionally, L'Estrange decided to take an alternative approach within the legal services industry. Instead of joining a firm and taking the mainstream route, Noela decided to use her Law Degree within the Corporate and Governance sector specializing in managerial roles and dealing with strategic planning, marketing, client development and human resources.\nL'Estrange is a highly experienced Director in both public and private sectors, specializing in governance and leadership, corporate, learning and development. She is a member of the AuSAE, ALPMA, ACC, AIM, AICD, ACLA, FCAQ, Queensland Law Society, and was a founding member of the Women's Lawyers Association of Queensland (WLAQ). She was a foundation Chair of the Women in Management group at the Australian Institute of Management in Brisbane, and one of the first women to be made a Fellow of the AIM.\nIn 2009, she was appointed as CEO of the Queensland Law Society, the first female to hold the position. She retired from that position in June 2015, but remains an active member of the Society. She also remains active in WLAQ, which honoured her with an Honorary Membership in early 2015.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Noela L'Estrange for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Noela L'Estrange and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nI grew up in the burgeoning eastern suburbs of Melbourne in the late fifties and early sixties, after we moved there from Brisbane at the start of 1956. I did well at school, which I enjoyed, though the classes were very full. My grade 2 photo has 92 children in it. I'm sure that some would have been absent on the photo day. There was no assistance (or time to assess) anyone who might have had learning difficulties, and I always felt sorry for those who were at the bottom of the class, when, as a general exercise at the start of each term, everyone in the class was called out in order of academic merit to stand on the platform at the front of the class. It seemed to me, even as a child, that it was unfair to single out people who did not achieve well academically. Together with my parents' continual encouragement to gain a good education, my love of learning for a purpose in life remains a constant.\nWhen I was in secondary school, I rather liked the idea of becoming a micro-biologist. But as biology was the only science subject offered, entering the general sciences was a dim prospect. I was always involved in debating, which people thought was an indication of a legal bent. In my final year of school, my parents asked the parish priest if there was someone we could talk to about law as a profession, as we had no connection with the profession. We duly attended at the home of the recommended worthy parishioner, who harrumphed gently and said dismissively \"Girls ought not do law - they are not suited to it\". There was probably no greater spur for a young woman who had been taught by nuns - and informed by family - that it was an obligation to make the most of one's talents! Then I had to win a place in university, which I did for Arts at the very new Monash University in 1968. My scholarship was for Arts, but after submission, they agreed that if I did well in first year, then they would support me changing to a combined Arts\/Law degree.\nI loved university, and had a Soldiers' Children Education Scholarship which paid my fees, purchased all compulsory textbooks and paid a very small allowance fortnightly. This was luxury in comparison to many of my fellow students who had to work part-time to support themselves. The down-side was that the scholarship was only available because my father was a Totally and Permanently Invalid pensioner, arising from war injuries. My mother and my 3 siblings and I were well used to spending weekends visiting my father when he was regularly hospitalised at the (then) Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital. Dad unfortunately died a fortnight after my 18th birthday, and just before my first year results came out, leaving Mum widowed at 44 with 4 children. But Dad would have been very pleased, as I did do well - sufficiently to be invited to do English Honours, which I accepted, and the combined Arts\/Law degree.\nI was active in the Monash Association of Debaters (MAD), regularly participating in lunchtime debates and becoming President in third year. Starting the combined degree, I loved the very new law School. Wonderful surroundings, state of the art (then) facilities and great, young, enthusiastic teachers - as well as some notable \"elders\" like Professor Enid Campbell. I completed a BA with Honours in English. Mum had decided to move back to Queensland, where all our extended family lived. So I reluctantly left Monash and came to complete my law degree at University of Queensland. What a cultural shock that was for me. It had little of the multi-cultural life of Monash, it was housed in a noble but internally unattractive building, and the staff-student ratio was much larger than what I was used to. I joined the Law Students Association, and began to talk about what other law schools were doing, and how courses were structured - with more tutorials, and less emphasis on lectures as the sole method of teaching. This did not make me the most popular student with the staff. But gradually things did change.\nMales dominated in the law school, both as students and on the staff. In most classes there were 2 or 3 females. This male attitude applied to the social scene, where, once on the committee of the UQLS, I strenuously objected to the funding of the annual Beer and Prawn (and strippers) event. This was a shock as it was a standard event, and no one had ever before objected. There were no strippers that year - or I think again.\nI later became the first female president of the UQLS. There were also no female toilets anywhere near the Law School. The closest ones were in the French Department, at the other end of the building. Petitions and requests were made, and eventually, it was agreed that the male toilets on the ground level could become female toilets. There was much ceremony with the changing of the gold-lettered, silky oak panel on the door from \"Men\" to \"Ladies\". Once we were granted entry, nothing inside had been altered, with a long row of urinals remaining along one wall. However, above them, there was a neat sign: \"Ladies, please do not use\". That was regarded as a challenge by some. One small step\u2026\nAt the end of my third year, I suddenly realised that I was supposed to be applying for articles of clerkship so that I could be admitted. I knew no one in the profession. Most students had some connections. I got the student advice about which firms simply did not interview females at all; and which were the firms which asked about your school; and which did not employ Catholics (or Protestants). One of my friends had been offered a place in a very good firm, but had decided to take a tutorship, as he was married with a young family, and couldn't survive on clerk's salary. He suggested that I should contact them, as they would now have a vacancy. This I did, and was interviewed by a delightful commercial partner. I received an offer, which I accepted. There is a lot about my career which is serendipitous - and this was certainly one of those moments.\nThe firm was Cannan & Peterson, and long-standing and highly successful firm, and one of the large firms in Brisbane at the time. I undertook 2 years of articles with them, and learned an enormous amount. I made friends - clerks, partners and support staff - who remain so today. I started work the week after the 1974 Brisbane floods. The office was on the 17th and 18th floors. The lifts weren't working, as the basement had flooded. Nor was there any air conditioning - in January in Brisbane. I took my lunch to work, and whenever you had to go to court or to the registries, you made very sure you had everything you needed. No mobile phones for the call back to the office. The clerks were very fit by the end of the three or four weeks it took to get the lifts working.\nWhen I finished articles, I took a position with the then Public Curator (now Public Trustee) in the will-making section. I had one subject to complete my degree - Conveyancing and Drafting. I enjoyed the work, which involved taking instructions from the public for their wills and drafting the wills for execution. There were no other women in the legal area. I learned a lot from the very experienced lawyers, and I gradually convinced most of them that I could be trusted with drafting work. I could draft all sort of clauses automatically - which was very useful when I sat the drafting exam at the end of the year. I finished way ahead of time, and got a distinction. I was expecting our first child, which was of some consternation to the front office staff, who would insist on bringing the clients into the office, rather than me escorting them from the waiting lounge. Some of the clients were similarly concerned, including one who asked, as I stood to welcome him - \"Are you all right to do this?\" There were so many possible responses - but I simply assured him that I was.\nIn 1976, there was no maternity leave. In Queensland, there was not even any discrimination legislation, so I had to resign my position. There was no such thing as part-time practice, except if you were in your own firm, and I was in no financial position - or experienced enough - to do that. So I was left with a new baby and no job. Then I heard that the new Law School at the (then) Queensland Institute of Technology was seeking part-time tutors. I applied, and the week prior to the interview, I had 4 wisdom teeth removed. I thought that I scrubbed up fairly well, though my face was still a little swollen. It was only afterwards that one of the interviewers said \"You looked so awful. We felt sorry for you\". He hastened to add that I had got the job on merit.\nIt was in that initial interview that some of the attitudes of the profession came to bear. The interview panel was two of the foundation staff members, and a very senior solicitor. All proceeded well, until the solicitor asked \"I see you have a child. Do you really need to work? Have you made appropriate arrangements?\" All sorts of responses shot through my head, but I really needed a job. Resisting the temptation to say that I had organised fresh water and a running leash, I stated that I able to do the work, and had relevant qualifications. The two academics had looked appalled when the question was posed, so I realised that my response wouldn't have a major influence in the assessment. But the fact that it was asked - and was clearly something that that practitioner would normally ask at an interview - was a sign that the profession had a way to go in dealing with women and family responsibilities.\nSo I began my legal teaching career with part-time tutoring in the evenings, when my teacher husband could look after our daughter. I enjoyed the work - and the interaction. The evening classes were part-time students, as QIT (now QUT) offered the first part-time law degree in Queensland. So my students were public servants, police, teachers, and five year articled clerks all of whom worked full-time. They were interested, challenging and wanting to work in the law. Many of them, certainly from the first few years, when the intakes were smaller, became - and remain - friends. There was quite a close relationship between the staff and students which diminished over time as intakes and staff numbers grew. There were sessions at the pub, and cricket matches on back lawns.\nOver the years, my teaching loads increased, and I began to take on lecturing as well as tutoring. I had two more daughters - one timed for the mid-semester break, and the other not quite so, resulting in a semester off. It was only many years afterwards that one of my students said \"We saw you teaching and working when you were pregnant, and thought yes, see - it can be done\". Over the 11 years I was in the law school, I lectured and tutored in Introduction to Law, Land Law, Torts, and Succession. I wrote articles for the Law Society Journal and for the ALJR.\nDuring this time, I was also highly involved in the establishment of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland, and was a foundation member in 1978, later becoming Social Secretary, Vice-President and President. There was a lot to do to address some of the attitudinal issues in the profession. Much of it related to the fact that women in the profession were still regarded as something of an exception. When the Queensland Law Society negotiated a disability insurance cover for practitioners, we took a close look at it, and discovered that there was a penalty premium for women. We approached the Society to explain the basis, having done some research ourselves on the actuarial information. The Society's initial response was that they hadn't \"noticed\" the penalty. When pressed for action, they did take it up with the insurers, who had to admit that there was no actuarial basis for the penalty, and revised the policy to remove it. If WLAQ hadn't read the policy and taken action, women practitioners would have paid more for no reason other than they were women. There was also a notable brouhaha when the Society one year published its Symposium program, which included a sponge making session for the \"accompanying persons\". It was time to accept that women were an increasing part of the profession, and ought not be treated as oddities.\nIn 1988, I wrote the cover story for Proctor, the Law Society journal, analysing the numbers of practitioners and asking why so few women were making it to partner level in firms. I received a furious phone call from the then President of the Society, demanding to know where I had got the figures from. I assured him that the Society had provided me with the data, and that I had simply done the calculations which were not undertaken or published then by the Society. Whilst he was still unhappy, he couldn't dispute the numbers.\nI also worked as an honorary solicitor, and board member for an increasing number of voluntary and community organisations, putting my legal knowledge to work where it helped. At one stage, I could put together a constitution for a kindergarten in my sleep. I worked for a number of years on the board of the Foster Parents Association as they dealt with difficulties in child protection and the police.\nIn 1998, my old firm advertised for someone to design and conduct their internal professional development and recruitment. I successfully applied, and was appointed the first Human Resources Lawyer in Queensland, and I think at that time, in Australasia. I was responsible for designing and implementing the recruitment and in-house professional development for clerks, lawyers and partners, including designing and facilitating national strategy meetings and retreats - or as I preferred to call them, \"advances\". Whilst with the firm, I became increasingly involved and interested in law firm management, particularly in managing legal services and risk.\nThe Managing Partner asked if I would look at how the firm could gain Quality Assurance certification, which was then a requirement for appointment to Queensland Government legal panels. And so I learned everything I could about QA, and worked with the CFO to design and implement QA in a law firm. In 1993, the firm (now Norton Rose Fulbright) became the first law firm to achieve external QA certification. During this time, I also undertook part-time, a Master of Administration, as I was managing more than practising, and my thesis was on measuring service quality in a professional firm.\nAt that time, there were very few legal practice managers, there were no law firm marketers, and few HR managers - and none of them were qualified lawyers. I was able to bring to those diverse disciplines my knowledge and understanding of the law, how lawyers were trained and thought, how the legal system worked, and how the disciplines of management and legal practice - in particular client relationship management and practice risk management were at the heart of what was needed for the challenges of the new century ahead. I had a level of acceptance at partner level in firms as a lawyer speaking about management issues. I could provide support with personal professional experience about the issues of law firm management \"from the inside\".\nI was a foundation member of Australian Law Practice Managers Association in Queensland and of the Queensland Association of Law Firm Marketers. I was an active participant in Continuing Legal Education Association of Australasia. I led writing about legal practice management and seminars for the QLS. But my professional training was always the touchstone for what would be practical.\nI saw a market opportunity, and started my own consultancy firm, and spent the next 6 years working with professional service firms all over Australia and New Zealand to implement QA, develop and deliver professional development, undertake strategic planning, and implement practice risk management. I became involved in the AIM, as my work was increasingly law firm management rather than legal practice.\nI also became involved in the National Council of Women of Australia in Queensland, when the then President invited me to assist in the policy submissions for the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Act in 1991-2. I then became a member of Queensland Committee, and then National Vice-President. In 1994, I was invited to become a member of the Australian Council for Women, a consultative body established by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as part of the preparations for the UN Conference on Women to be held in Beijing in September 1995. Not only did I assist with conducting consultation sessions for women all over Australia - from Burnie to Darwin - but I was also fortunate to then be nominated as the NCWA delegate to the not-for-profit section of conference in Beijing, as well as attending some of the Conference Plenary sessions - an experience I will always treasure.\nIn 2009, I was recruited to a Senior Executive national business development role at the Australian Government Solicitor (AGS) in Canberra, as part of moving the organisation from the public service into a fully competitive national law firm. At the time AGS was one of the largest law firms in Australia, with an office in every capital city and more than 700 lawyers. All work (apart from a limited area of cabinet and security work) became fully competitive through tender. I was responsible for developing and implementing innovative approaches to client service management, including a national client service management model that was so successful that it became part of the requirements in many Departments' legal panel tender processes. I applied my marketing and knowledge management skills to support AGS in being a highly successful participant of the national legal market. I designed, developed and implemented a national practice standard for applied practice risk management.\nWhilst in Canberra, I was one of the initiators in establishing the ACT chapter of Australian Corporate Lawyers Association (ACLA). I served as vice-president of ACLA for 5 years, during which time the chapter grew from an initial membership of 25 to over 450, becoming the third largest chapter in Australia. I was also a National Director for ACLA. ACLA in the ACT was dominated, unsurprisingly, by public sector lawyers, and it was at my instigation that ACLA (now ACC) extended their awards to include one for public sector lawyers. That continues to this day.\nI also became a Director of the AICD, the first woman to be appointed in the ACT. I was already a Fellow of the AICD, which I had achieved in 1993, when I was a Director of Powerlink Queensland. I was initially appointed because AICD wanted a lawyer - but they also got someone who was keenly interested in the (then) emerging area of corporate governance and director training. I remained on that Council until 2009. My legal training and experience was recognised as important in ensuring the development of appropriate Director training on the legal aspects of directorship; in ensuring that the challenges of being a director of a government owned corporation or business enterprise were included in the curriculum. My understanding of practical ethics contributed to the development of the conflicts area of director training.\nI was a foundation Chair of the Women in Management group at the Australian Institute of Management in Brisbane, and I was one of the first women to be made a Fellow of the AIM - though at the time, I did joke that perhaps they should instigate \"Sheilas of the Institute\" as becoming a fellow had never been a high priority for me as a female.\nMy major achievement for AIM was to instigate the Women in Management Great Debates, the first of which was held in Brisbane in 1997. This event is now the largest AIM event, attracting annual attendances of over 2000 in the Brisbane Convention Centre in the week of International Women's Day. When I moved to Canberra, I took the Debate idea south, with similarly spectacular success - it became the largest event in the ACT, with more than 1200 attendees. In 2015, the event was also held in Melbourne and Sydney. In Canberra, I was also responsible for establishing the first AIM mentoring program for women in management.\nThroughout my work with other professional organisations, I became well known as a lawyer who was vitally interested in management, in progressing women through corporate ranks and in tackling the challenges of managing professionals and professional cultures. I was regularly called on for comment or to write about successful approaches to managing professional staff and firms.\nIn 2009, I was appointed as CEO of the Queensland Law Society, the first female to hold that position. As the peak professional body for solicitors, it was warming to return to where I really started my professional career. I was constantly impressed by the amount of pro bono work that lawyers undertook. Not just the high profile and important representation in court, but the daily contributions made to help individuals and communities across the state. One of my major achievements was to implement a measure for the hours of pro bono which practitioners undertook annually. The number was enormous, and represented millions of dollars of value. We used that information with Government and with the press to push for recognition of the extent and financial value of that contribution by lawyers across the State.\nOver the six years I was CEO, we worked closely with the WLAQ to ensure that the Society was offering services to women in the profession. We established the Flexibility Working Group, which regularly publishes personal stories of how flexible approaches can work in the profession. Increasingly, the importance of wellbeing in the profession was raised as a critical issue, and I was pleased to be able to instigate the Society's support mechanisms to assist practitioners, with free sessions, the extension of the LawCare program and the establishment of the Resilience Working Group as well as being the first Law Society to become a signatory to the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation Guidelines for wellbeing.\nThrough just over 40 years in my professional career, I have seen enormous changes. Most are for the better. The growth of women in the legal profession to almost 50% (from 15.5% in 1988) poses current and future challenges to ensure that this significant feminisation brings positive and creative results for clients, firms and for the individual members of the profession.\nI retired as CEO in June 2015, but I remain an active member of the Society, and of WLAQ, which honoured me with an Honorary Membership in early 2015. I have had a most enjoyable and very rewarding professional life, though one at a slight tangent from the usual profession life in practice. The chief lessons I have learned are that no learning is ever lost; to take up opportunities, even if they are not necessarily mainstream; to maintain a strong sense of humour and to practice the key touchstones of professional courtesy and strong ethics in everything you do. As a personal benefit, I treasure my many valuable, lifelong friendships, and have always been proud to be a lawyer. I hope to keep contributing whilst I have something useful to offer.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-womans-place-100-years-of-queensland-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rooney, Kim M.", "Entry ID": "AWE5620", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rooney-kim-m\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Arbitrator, Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Kim Rooney is an Australian barrister and international arbitrator who has been practicing in Asia, based in Hong Kong, since 1990. She is regularly appointed as an arbitrator in international arbitrations involving banking and finance, commercial, corporate, construction and infrastructure, energy, power and resources, infrastructure, investment, IT and technology licensing and trade disputes, and is on the panel of various arbitral institutions.\nSince the 1990s, as counsel, Kim has represented clients in a wide range of international banking and finance, commercial, corporate, construction, energy, infrastructure and investment disputes in Asia, Europe and Latin America under the laws of civil and common law jurisdictions and investment treaties.\nKim is the Chair of the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission's Sub-Committee on Third Party Funding for Arbitration, a member of the Hong Kong Government's Committee on Provision of Space in the Legal Hub and of its Advisory Committee on Promotion of Arbitration. She is also a member of the Hong Kong Bar Association's Council and Chair of its Special Committee on International Practice. She writes and speaks regularly about international dispute resolution.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Kim Rooney for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Kim Rooney and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nIn 1976 women students constituted a significant number of the entry class at the Law School of the University of Western Australia (UWA) for the first time, albeit a minority at around 30%. When leaving school in 1974 I had wanted to be an archaeologist, inspired by my mother's study of anthropology as a mature age student at UWA. However my experience during an internship at the WA Museum in 1974\/75 of participating in one dig at Devils Lair in the heat of a Western Australian summer, while filling me with admiration for the dedicated archaeologists whom I had accompanied, made me realize that I should reconsider my career. I decided to enroll in law, motivated by a desire to be an advocate and a general desire to \"make a difference\" (a desire I still hear expressed by many law students and young lawyers).\n I had had the good fortune to been born to parents who valued education. We moved from Sydney when I was 3 months old to live in England for 5 years while my father studied for a higher degree in medicine. (My mother had previously lived in England in the 1950s while a nurse and then a BOAC airhostess). After returning to Sydney in 1963 we moved with my younger brother Mark and sister Rosie to Perth in 1968. Having attended 7 primary schools in NSW and WA (3 in grade l), I attended Loreto Claremont for high-school where I received an excellent high school education from teachers who encouraged us to believe we could undertake any career we wished. I topped the state in English in my final exams (with a Loreto friend) and was also awarded a special exhibition.\nThe 1970s were an exciting time to be studying law; law reforms were being implemented at a federal level in a diverse range of areas, important constitutional cases were being heard, and the student body was composed of a diverse group of students of widely diverging political and social views. There was far less pressure on law students than today . Our university education was free, the cost of living was low and we all thought we would be able to practice as lawyers if we wanted to; every one of my graduating class of 1979 who applied for articles eventually obtained them. Less pressure allowed time for extra-curricular activities. The 47 Fairway Legal Counselling and Advisory Service was set up by a group of academics, students and lawyers in the late 1970's and I served as its convenor for a year. While at law school I mooted -Peter Van Hattem and I were grand finalists in the 1977 National Mooting competition conducted by the Australian and New Zealand Law Students Association. I was also the representative of the Law Student's Blackstone Society on the Faculty of Law in 1979.\nFrom 1980-1981 I served my articles and restricted practice year at Lavan & Walsh (later Philips Fox) where I had the good fortune to be trained by some very able lawyers in civil, commercial and family law litigation including by Kevin Hammond and by Diana Bryant SC (now Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia). Western Australia is a fused profession and there were many opportunities as a young advocate to appear in chambers and in court, as well as in pretrial conference in various courts and tribunal. As part of the Firm's pro bono services I also did work for a women's refuge.\n In January 1982 I moved to the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) where about 90% of my practice was as a criminal advocate for adults and children working with many talented and committed advocates and field officers in cases involving clients from around Western Australia. These ranged from wilful murder charges (junioring Lloyd Davies QC) to children's court charges and involved appearing in multiple courts often on the same day.\nWhile I was at the ALS David K Malcolm QC (who later became the Chief Justice of Western Australia) offered me an opportunity to be his pupil. I served my pupillage with him in the second half of 1983. In my early years at the Bar I worked part time as a university tutor, as duty counsel and as the \"Moot Master\" at the UWA Law School. While at the Bar I met Valerie French who had been the first woman in WA to practice exclusively as a barrister; she generously gave me excellent advice. I admired her professionally and her ability to juggle her practice with family commitments. A number of other colleagues also gave encouragement I had the opportunity to work with various more senior barristers including Eric Heenan QC and Geoffrey Miller QC, as well as with David Malcolm. The focus of my practice shifted from criminal to commercial, administrative and media law.\nIn 1980 I had been elected as the articled clerk representative on the Council of the Law Society of Western Australia. I served as an elected member of its council for many years during the 1980's. Among other roles, I was chair of the Law Society's Equal Opportunity Committee and moved the motion passed by the Law Society Council that made it unprofessional conduct to discriminate on the basis of gender or race. I also served for some time on the Council of the Western Australian Bar Association. Both Associations regarded law as a profession. Moira Rayner was among the women who were active in the Law Society and generally in pro bono and public service in Perth in the 1980's -she rejoined the Bar during that time.\nIn 1982, Vivien Payne, Antoinette (Toni) Kennedy, Diana Bryant, Anne Payne, Christine Wheeler, Rhonda Griffiths, Becky Vidler and I established the Women Lawyers' Association of Western Australia. Vivian Payne was its first president. I later served as its Vice President. In the 1980's my appointments included serving on the Social Securities Appeal Tribunal (as a part time legal member), as a visitor to Heathcote Psychiatric Hospital, and as a member of the WA Standing Committee for Publications (the WA Censorship Board). In the mid 1980's I was among a small group of young lawyers and social workers who wrote and published a guide for victims of domestic violence which we arranged to publish, translate into 10 or so languages and distribute.\nIn 1987 I married my husband David Parker who had one daughter Kate; our daughter Madeleine was born in 1989. By 1990 David and I had decided to move to Hong Kong. We have lived and worked in Hong Kong since July 1990. My husband has been very supportive of my work as a lawyer, and we shared parenting, with the invaluable assistance of child carers.\nHong Kong is a divided legal profession. In 1990, as I was not permitted to practice as a barrister in Hong Kong until I had lived in Hong Kong for 7 years I decided to qualify and work as a Hong Kong solicitor. From 1990-1992 I worked at Baker & McKenzie in insolvency litigation on the Carrian cases. Whilst at Baker & McKenzie I qualified as an English solicitor in late 1991 and as a Hong Kong solicitor in 1992.\nIn 1993 I joined the newly established Hong Kong office of White & Case LLP an international law firm headquartered in New York. George Crozer was the head of the Hong Kong White & Case office. Originally from the US he is a project finance lawyer with a profound knowledge of Asian legal practice. I became a partner of White & Case LLP and head of its Asian dispute resolution practice. It was during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 that I started working in international arbitration; many of the arbitrations involved disputes arising from infrastructure projects around Asia. In the late 1990's I undertook a law reform project funded by the World Bank on the Lao international arbitration law. My other extracurricular activities were focused on arbitration related areas including the ICC Arbitration Commission and the ICC Hong Kong Arbitration Committee and judging mooting.\nIn 2006 I received my first appointment as an arbitrator. In late 2009 I left White & Case LLP to qualify as a Hong Kong barrister. I now primarily work as an international arbitration with some work as arbitration counsel in international arbitration of disputes involving parties and law from Asia, Europe and the Americas. I am also engaged in law reform in Hong Kong and Indonesia, in Hong Kong chairing the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission's sub-committee on Third Party Funding for Arbitration and in Indonesia working in an EU-funded Alternative Dispute Resolution Project in the public sector. Among other extracurricular activities, I am a member of the Council of the Hong Kong Bar Association and Chair of the Hong Kong Bar Association's Special Committee on International Practice, as well as a member of the Hong Kong Government's Advisory Committee on Promotion of Arbitration in Hong Kong and of its Committee on the Provision of Space in the Legal Hub. I continue to participate in the work of the ICC Arbitration Commission, and am on the editorial committee of the International Bar Associates \"International Dispute Resolution\" journal among others. I still regularly judge mooting competitions around Asia, and speak and write about international dispute resolution.\nMy generation of law students were fortunate to study law at a time when the practice of law seemed exciting, fresh and relevant, and to commence practice at a time of great opportunity. Most of us thought we would spend our professional lives working in Perth. In fact a number of us moved to study and work interstate and overseas. We had the chance to practice in different areas of the law before we specialized and to move between different branches of the law. For those of us who wished to be advocates we had the chance to be continually on our feet in various courts and tribunals.\nLegal practice has become more specialized in the past few decades. The internet has emerged as a major factor in efficient and effective practice while adding time pressure. The ways that law can be practiced have increased exponentially and international work has greatly expanded.\nYet many of the present generation of law students are anxious about whether they will have an opportunity to practice, even if they have the academic credentials and the personal qualities needed, having found the financial resources to complete a law degree. There are many more law graduates, less funding of the non-profit sectors and bottle-necks to access to opportunities to gain the experience needed to practice. There is also pressure to specialize much earlier.\nWhile it is easy to romantize the past, my impression is that those of us who starting to practice in the early 1980's generally had much easier access to practicing law, more time and opportunity to find a fulfilling area of practice and to juggle work and extra curricular activities as young lawyers.\nMentoring was important for my career development and for that of a number of my friends. My peers and myself now have the chance to act as mentors. It is important that we do so, whether directly as mentors, including by providing internships, or by participating in legal education, mooting and other student related activities, to ensure that society continues to be served by dedicated, accomplished and principled lawyers.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Fryar, Karen Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5622", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fryar-karen-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "When Karen Fryar was appointed as a magistrate of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Magistrates Court on 6 September 1993, she became the first woman to be appointed to the judiciary in the ACT. In 2008 she was awarded the ACT International Women's Day Women's Award. On 26 January 2010 she was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia 'for service to the community of the ACT as a magistrate and through contributions to the prevention of family violence'.\nPlease click 'Details\" below to read an essay written by Karen Fryar for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Karen Fryar and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nKaren Fryar was born in Sydney in 1956, the eldest child, her father a fireman and her mother on home duties. She attended Albury High School (of which she was later School Captain) after her father was transferred to the NSW border town, and in 1972 spent a year as a Rotary Exchange Student in Japan, an experience that she describes as significantly influential for her future. Upon her return home she continued to study Japanese by correspondence for her HSC and had set her heart on studying the language at university. In 1975 she enrolled in a combined Arts (Asian Studies) \/ Law course at the Australian National University and in 1979 completed her Honours year in Japanese. In 1981 Karen graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (some years later she also achieved a Graduate Diploma in Public Law with Merit) and was admitted to practice in 1982.\nAlthough she had previously assumed she would pursue a career involving Japanese, Karen took a position as an articled clerk and then as a solicitor with a large Canberra firm of solicitors and fell in love with litigation. A few years in private practice (married a semi-local in the meantime), a short stint at the then Deputy Crown Solicitor's Office and she then moved to the Litigation Division in the Commonwealth Attorney General's Department, the area that would subsequently become the Australian Government Solicitor.\nDuring the 6 years she was engaged there, Karen worked on significant Commonwealth litigation including the last attempted appeal to the Privy Council (Commonwealth v Finch (1984)155 CLR 107) and the attempt by Queensland to have the proclamation under the World Heritage Properties Conservation Act 1983 concerning the Daintree Rainforest declared as invalid (Queensland v Commonwealth (1989)167 CLR 232) and with such eminent lawyers as (the former Solicitor General) Gavin Griffith QC, (the former Chief Justice of the Federal Court) Michael Black QC and Justice Stephen Gageler (of the High Court)).\nFrom 1989 to 1993 Karen was the Assistant Executive Officer of the Legal Aid Commission (ACT) and during her employment there she also held an appointment as a Deputy President of the Guardianship and Management of Property Tribunal.\nKaren was appointed as a magistrate (and coroner) of the ACT Magistrates Court in 1993, being the first woman appointed to the judiciary in the ACT. At this time her youngest (of three) daughter was only 4 months old. In 1994 she was also appointed as Deputy President of the Mental Health Tribunal. As a magistrate she has regularly presided over matters in each of the court's civil and criminal jurisdictions, including matters that in other jurisdictions would normally be heard in District or County Courts.\nFrom 2000 to 2010 (and subsequently since 2014) Karen presided over the dedicated Family Violence list of the court and played a supervisory role in the ACT's award winning Family Violence Intervention Programme, which had been independently evaluated as \"world's best practice\" for its co-operative criminal justice inter-agency approach to the ongoing issue of family violence. Pursuing her interest and leadership in this area, from 2005 Karen was also an active member of the National Leadership Group for White Ribbon Day in Australia. Karen has also regularly lectured at the College of Law at the Australian University and the University of Canberra on such subjects as Advocacy, Sentencing, Court Practice and Procedure, Criminal Law, Court Etiquette, Family Violence and Therapeutic Jurisprudence. She continues to be sought after as a speaker on such issues as gender balance and family violence.\nKaren has been the Children's Court Magistrate in the ACT since 1 March 2010, work that she finds challenging but extremely awarding. In this role she deals with young people charged with all manner of criminal offences, and also applications in the care and protection jurisdiction. She has been responsible for a number of initiatives in this area, including a Youth Drug and Alcohol Court to assist with young offenders and their substance abuse problems in the Children's Court. During this period Karen has been a member of the South Pacific Council of Youth and Children's Courts.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/honour-for-act-magistrate\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Peirce, Judith", "Entry ID": "AWE5623", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/peirce-judith\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Commissioner, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Judith Peirce has been an important figure in community legal centres and law reform in Victoria for over forty years. With Lynne Opas she lobbied government in the 1970s to adopt the proposed new Family Law Act; once enacted, she was active on the Family Law Committee of the Law Institute.\nPeirce also served as the Community Legal Services representative on the Law Institute Council, eventually becoming an Executive Member as Treasurer and then Vice - President of the Law Institute (1999- 2003.)\nJust as she was about to take on the presidency of the Law Institute her career took another path. Her work in family violence, experience with the Courts in seeking protection for women, and the inadequate nature of a response to violence against women by police, courts and our community led to her appointment as a Commissioner of the Victorian Law Reform Commission to conduct the review into family violence law and systems.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Judith Peirce for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Judith Peirce and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nRecognition of the impacts of class and gender on law students and practising lawyers was largely absent from any consideration in the world of the Melbourne University Faculty of Law in 1964. I entered into this world as a young, migrant, working class, financially very poor woman. At first naivet\u00e9 was my savior as I started my studies. However, it soon became apparent that I could no longer deny the significance of these disadvantages. There were obvious discrepancies between myself and the majority of students - money and contacts being the two most important. I had left home with my sister before I finished school, moving to North Melbourne in order to qualify for a place at University High School, a selective state high school. We looked after ourselves, worked during University holidays and rented a flat. If I wanted a day off I wrote the note to the school myself.\nStudying, assignments and exams took second place to cooking, washing, cleaning and working, activities which many students share today but that were unusual then. I became a \"crammer\". I knew nothing of good studying habits. My goal was to pass matriculation and get a place in the law faculty. I achieved those aims together with the all- important Commonwealth Scholarship, which provided a living allowance and paid fees. It was a night to remember when I received the news as I clocked off work as a waitress and housemaid at the Koonya Hotel in Sorrento, Victoria.\nThe attainment of this ambition was almost solely due to my English teacher at Preston Girls High School. An elegant and reserved woman, she completely surprised me when she suggested that I should go to the careers night at Melbourne University. She even arranged to take me there. Unheard of intervention! Although I remember almost nothing of what I learnt that evening I decided that I would become lawyer. I actually had little idea of what a lawyer did but I knew I did not want to be a teacher or a nurse the most obvious prospects then open to educated young women.\nI had a lonely and unhappy time at University. I didn't make many friends and I took a break after a few years to become a full time secondary teacher of English and history. I received no training at all. Two years of teaching confirmed to me that my original decision not to teach was the correct one. I returned to the Law School to complete my degree.\nThe next challenge was to get articles in order to qualify to practise. This was the point at which the twin disadvantages of gender and class really came into play. I did not know anyone who was a lawyer and had no contacts or any one who could advise. I made many applications to no avail. Then I remembered that my sister had once had a boyfriend whose father was a solicitor. I went to see him and he took me on. He was a fascinating character, an active member of the Communist Party who assured that my articles were interesting, different and unusual as he had a wide practice with many colourful clients. Wharfies and women came by for their divorces, doctors and nurses in abortion practices were defended, workers were ably assisted in their compo claims, some well- known criminal \"personalities\" hung around the waiting room. I interviewed one client who had been convicted of armed robbery and prepared a statement for him along the lines of \"if you are reading this I will be dead\u2026 .\" He subsequently disappeared and although his body has never been found he is presumed dead. However we also did bread and butter work - conveyancing, wills, probate, company incorporations. There were skilled typists and secretaries who could cut a perfect stencil for the Gestetener machine.\nI was already a member of the fledging Fitzroy Legal Service and went on the roster of providing legal advice and assistance. Many now well- known and established lawyers worked there and it prospers to this day.\nAnother ambition took over and I decided to become a barrister. I did the rounds of the Barrister's Clerks to obtain a position but only one Clerk, Dave Calnin, was prepared to take me on. David Willshire, a barrister with a diverse practice, accepted me as his reader. So it was that in 1973 I signed the Bar Roll, the 21st woman to do so. There were then about 8-9 women in active practice. Naturally I was mainly briefed in \"matrimonial\" work, although there was other \"crash and bash\" work, driving offences and the like. I had been active in divorce law reform before this and I continued to seek and support reform in this area. Injustices to women were rife, particularly those of violence and lack of financial support for themselves and their children. I had steady work which produced interesting and challenging times in the Magistrates Courts and the Supreme Court, then the jurisdiction for matrimonial work. I was a close friend of Lillian Lieder (later QC), who became a formidable criminal law barrister. We shared a set of robes and a wig as we didn't have enough resources to buy a set each.\nOne incident in the Supreme Court startled me. While I was addressing the Court, the Judge's Associate handed a note to me. Thinking I was doing something terribly wrong I became alarmed. However the note read, \"Madam you are undressed.\" Even more alarmed I hastily checked my robes. Apparently some of my long hair had escaped from under my wig!\nI was married and pregnant at this stage which led to some confusion in the Magistrates Court as many times I was mistaken for the Applicant. During this time my interest in law reform led me to travel to Canberra with Lynne Opas (later QC), a high profile matrimonial lawyer, to lobby politicians to support the proposed new and radical Family Law Act. Again a pregnant woman doing this work was an object of curiosity.\nThe barrister's life was never very well suited to raising a baby without significant day-to-day assistance. Briefs come in late in the day, babies wake frequently and courts don't wait for a child to be ready or a babysitter to turn up. When I was expecting my second child I knew it was time for a change so I decided that a solicitor's practice would be more suitable, subsequently joining my previous employer, Cedric Ralph, in his practice when he wanted to start winding down his work hours. I was later invited to join a medium sized firm as a partner, to support their family law practice, working with Patricia Clancy AM. The practice was split into commercial law and litigation and family law and was one of the first to introduce computerized systems for tracking and costing.\nDuring these years I was also active on the Family Law Committee of the Law Institute, and with a few other family lawyers started a movement to introduce and develop children's contact centres. These programs are designed to protect children and women at the point of changeover of children who are required to spend time with another parent in accordance with Family Court Orders. We formed a national association, conducted conferences, wrote standards, lobbied the Federal Government for funds. I received a travelling fellowship with the Australian and New Zealand Trust to examine these centres in New Zealand. I spoke at large international conferences in Paris and San Francisco about these issues. Eventually our group was successful in obtaining funding. My early experience in Family Law Reform was instrumental in understanding the process of getting government to listen. These centres continue to operate across Australia providing protection for women and children subjected to violence and abuse.\nThroughout this time I gave sessional lectures to law students at Leo Cussen Institute (an alternative way to do articles) and wrote materials for them in family law. I also lectured in family law for private legal education companies. I had remarried by this time and my husband was a barrister. I often briefed him in difficult family law cases. We worked well together and had some significant results. We had one case which went to the High Court and forever defined the law in that area, although we lost the case! In 1990 he was appointed as a Justice of the Family Court, retiring 21 years later.\nMy interests in the area of violence against women and in community legal centres led me to leave the more lucrative area of private practice and to join a western suburbs community centre (Brimbank Community Centre, later Community West,) to manage the legal service. Before undertaking this position I studied for a Graduate Diploma in Equal Opportunity Administration. As part of these studies I undertook a comparison of promotion to partnership between male and female lawyers in medium sized legal firms in the CBD. No surprises that opportunities for promotion for women were few and far between and that there has been only modest improvement since then. I undertook interviews with the senior partners of these legal practices and was dismayed but not surprised at the discriminatory comments which were made with impunity.\nI eventually took on the management of the community centre, which provided nine government funded programs to the seriously disadvantaged residents in the west. This was a very challenging position, working in poor and cramped conditions. I was responsible for project management, program development and accountability, financial management, human resources and networking. I became the Community Legal Services representative on the Law Institute Council, eventually becoming an Executive Member as Treasurer and then Vice - President of the Law Institute (1999- 2003.) I joined PILCH (The Public Interest Law Clearing House) as a Board member - this organization matches people without funds with law firms and barristers who would undertake the work without payment.\nJust as I was due to become a full time President of the Law Institute I took a different direction.\nMy work in family violence, experience with the Courts in seeking protection for women, and the inadequate nature of a response to violence against women by police, courts and our community led to my appointment as a Commissioner of the Victorian Law Reform Commission to conduct the review into family violence law and systems. In a few years we produced a large body of work, conducted hundreds of consultations, released a number of publications and the final Report. Most of our recommendations were implemented in legislation by the government. Our extensive definition of family violence was enacted and subsequently adopted by the Family Court of Australia.\nAt the conclusion of my appointment I had serious injury and for the first time in years had a break of sorts before taking on a role as a part time in-house counsel for a family law firm which did mainly legal aid work. It was full circle, legal aid and court appearance work.\nThese days, although I no longer practice law, it has become second nature to me, analyzing arguments about current policy issues and providing support to community organisations, friends and acquaintances. A strong sense of justice and fairness remains with me. One of the most important things that I have learnt is that the rule of law is fundamental to the proper functioning of an enlightened, morally aware democratic society.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Maxwell, Josephine", "Entry ID": "AWE5624", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/maxwell-josephine\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "In June 1976, Josephine Maxwell was one of four women appointed to the Bench of the then brand new Family Court of Australia, which was headed by its first Chief Judge Justice Elizabeth Evatt.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Josephine Maxwell for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Hon. Josephine Maxwell and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nIn June 1976, I was one of four women appointed to the Bench of the then brand new Family Court of Australia, which was headed by its first Chief Judge Justice Elizabeth Evatt.\nI came from the Solicitors' branch of the Profession and my appointment and that of Bryce Ross-Jones made at the same time, was the first time that a Solicitor had been appointed to the Bench in New South Wales.\nAt the time of my appointment, I was thirty-eight, and a sole practitioner practising under the name of T.J. McFadden, Maxwell & Co, in the Trust Building on the corner of King and Castlereagh Streets, Sydney. Teague Joseph McFadden had been my 'Master Solicitor' when I commenced five-year articles in April 1955. When he died on 18 July 1970 he bequeathed me his legal practice, which I then amalgamated with my own practice.\nAt the time of my appointment in 1976 I was conducting this practice with the assistance of an employed solicitor and clerical staff, and undertaking work in conveyancing, probate, divorce (as Family Law was then classified) and other litigation as it arose. Many of my clients had been clients of the firm since my articled clerk days.\nAs well as running a busy and varied practice I was mother of three children, who were 16, 15 and 12 at the time of my appointment. My husband Frederic, whom I had married in 1959, was at that time a property lawyer with the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's office in Sydney.\nUpon my swearing-in on 21 June 1976 I sat at the Sydney Registry of the Court, then operating at 220 George Street Sydney. There was no time for preliminaries such as judicial education - one was sworn in at 4 pm one afternoon and had a substantial list the next day, as the volume of work coming into the Court was enormous.\nA few months later I went to sit at the brand new Parramatta registry of the Court. This building had been erected as commercial premises and was at the end of Charles Street adjacent to the Parramatta River, close to where the ferry wharf now stands. The Parramatta River was a very different sight then from today. It was dirty, muddy rocky and decorated with abandoned car bodies. The Senior Judge was Raymond Sanders Watson, one of the architects of the controversial Family Law Act of 1975.\nThe extraordinary difficulties and history of the development of this brand new and innovative Court, conceived in the era before 11 November 1975 and painfully born in quite a different era on 5 January 1976, have been discussed at some length in 'Born in Hope-The Early Years of the Family Court of Australia' by Shurlee Swain and need not be further explored here. Suffice it to say that it was a most interesting time. It was exciting and a privilege to be part of this large and disparate group of people, judges and other personnel from various disciplines, brought together in a Court setting for the first time.\nMost were enthusiastic and focussed on making this brand new Court work under difficult circumstances, including antagonism from sections of the legal profession, the media and others. On the other hand, with few exceptions, the legal practitioners in this new and controversial setting rallied around to make it work.\nRules, procedures and precedents had to be developed 'from scratch', and the Court was absolutely deluged with clients from its opening day. Many of these people had been waiting for years for this new 'no fault' divorce court and hundreds had their cases transferred to the new Court from the Supreme Courts, which had previously had jurisdiction over matrimonial matters.\nI was particularly attracted to the 'no fault' ground because as a solicitor I had seen at first hand the distress of parties in failed, sometimes violent and destructive, marriages who had to fit the details of their unhappy situations into one of the bases of fault such as cruelty, desertion or adultery. However I do think there may have been some basis for making the required period of separation two years instead of one year. Perhaps the ardent critics might have found that more acceptable.\nWhile the public may have been focussed on the changed ground for divorce, there were many other changes introduced by the Family Law Act. It put beyond question that the welfare of the child was paramount in relation to all matters involving children. Most significantly, and certainly for the first time in this country, there were appropriately qualified counsellors, either psychologists or social workers, working within the Court framework. Their work involved not only counselling parties about custody and access (as the issues were then called) but also preparing reports for the Court where appropriate in contested cases. These reports, and those prepared by experts on the instructions of children's representatives, looked at the family structure as a whole, rather than each party producing competing reports by experts who had seen only one side, as had occurred under the old system. This produced a much better outcome from the children's perspective.\nDisputes about property were also dealt with in a more equitable fashion, as the Court could consider contributions other than directly financial and could consider a broad range of factors to produce a fairer result.\nIn July 1978 I returned to the Sydney Registry then at Temple Court, 99 Elizabeth Street, Sydney and later the Registry moved to purpose built premises in Goulburn Street.\nAlthough appointed for life (life appointments ceased after the amendments to the Constitution in 1977), I retired from the Bench in July 1999 after 23 years on the Family Court Bench.\nBy this time the vast majority of cases settled either before Court and with or without the assistance of their legal practitioners, or within the Court's mediation and conciliation services. The five or six per cent of cases that remained in dispute were mostly bitterly fought and full of conflict and contention. Sadly this was proof that human nature cannot be changed by an Act of Parliament, however well intentioned.\nFor several years after my retirement I sat on the Guardianship Tribunal. Since then I have continued a busy life with a variety of activities, not least of which include my three grandsons.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/born-in-hope-the-early-years-of-the-family-court-of-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Dodd, Moya", "Entry ID": "AWE5632", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dodd-moya\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Lawyer, Soccer player, Solicitor, Sports administrator, Sportswoman", "Summary": "Moya Dodd is a lawyer and former international footballer with the Matildas, now making a contribution to sports governance in Australia and internationally. She was named one of World Soccer magazine's People of the Year in 2013, and listed in the top 100 Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review in 2012 and 2014.\n", "Details": "Born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia at a time when organised sport for girls was very limited, Moya Dodd discovered football (soccer) when her family bought a television set when she was 10. Within a few years she was playing enthusiastically for her local team, Port Adelaide, later joining the Adelaide University Soccer Club when she enrolled in Law at age 16. She edited the university student newspaper On dit (1986), and gained an Honours degree in Law, before working as the Associate to Justice Michael White at the Supreme Court of SA (1988). It was during this time that she participated in FIFA's first ever World Tournament for women in China 1988, helping Australia to a famous 1-0 victory over Brazil and achieving a quarter-final placing.\nIn 1989 she moved to her mother's home town of Sydney where she completed her admission requirements and worked at Mallesons Stephen Jaques, while continuing to play on the national football team. She later worked as in-house counsel at Telstra, including as General Counsel of Telstra's Multimedia business unit during the rollout of pay TV in Australia and the establishment of the FOXTEL joint venture with News Corporation.\nAfter an ACL knee injury in 1995, she retired from the Matildas and completed an Executive MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management. Her interest in media and telecommunications converged in the dot-com boom, when she took up a business role at leading publisher Fairfax, including serving as Content Director for masthead websites smh.com.au and theage.com.au.\nAfter a period working as an economics consultant, Moya returned to the law in 2007, joining Gilbert+Tobin as Special Counsel (later Partner) and working extensively on broadband, mobile and NBN issues both in Australia and overseas.\nDuring this period she also joined the board of Football Federation Australia, which was re-establishing the game in Australia under chairman Frank Lowy following the demise of the former national governing body. Australia had moved to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which co-incidentally had just created quota positions for women in each region. Moya was co-opted onto the AFC Executive Committee, and later elected as the confederation's first female Vice President, and the first woman in the world to hold such a role. She also joined AFC's Legal Committee and Women's Football Committee, serving through a difficult period of corruption allegations during which the AFC President received a life ban. She also worked with then FIFA Vice-President Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, in overturning FIFA's ban on women wearing the hijab (headscarf) in international matches.\nIn 2013, FIFA held its first ever election for a female Executive Committee member. Moya was nominated as Asia's candidate and ran second in the ballot, but was appointed as a co-opted member of the FIFA Executive Committee where she became a vocal advocate for women in football, chairing FIFA's Women's Football Task Force and presenting ten key principles for women's football development to the approval of the 2014 FIFA Congress.\nShe also travelled extensively to developing football regions to advocate for greater women's participation in sport, including to a refugee camp near the Jordan-Syria border; and to Tehran, where she and FIFA President Sepp Blatter spoke out against the bar on women entering football stadiums.\nWhile scandals consumed much of the media airtime about FIFA, she became known as one of only three members of the FIFA Executive Committee who did not accept $25,000 gift watches while in Brazil for the FIFA World Cup in 2014.\nIn 2014 she joined the International Council for the Arbitration of Sport (the governing body of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, chaired by John Coates AC) as an athlete representative.\nMoya was named as one of World Soccer magazine's People of the Year in 2013, and listed in the top 100 Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review in 2012 and 2014. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2023 for distinguished service to football as a player and administrator at the national and international level, as a role model to women, and to the law.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-finally-receive-call-up-to-footballs-top-team\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/moya-dodd-is-goal-driven\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/moya-dodd-scores-for-womens-soccer\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Shelton, Ann", "Entry ID": "AWE5633", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/shelton-ann\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Shepparton, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Ann Shelton graduated in 1964, winning the Anna Brennan Memorial Prize for the woman placed highest in the final year law class at the University of Melbourne. She went on to be Victorian Parliamentary Counsel, where she worked with the legendary John Finemore.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Ann Shelton for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Ann Shelton and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nI was born in Shepparton in 1942. My father, John Riordan, was a solicitor there.\nAfter 4 years as a boarder at Genazzano College, I matriculated and received a Commonwealth Scholarship. Prior to receiving the scholarship I had always thought 'If I were a boy I would do Law'! I find this extraordinary now, but, I guess, being a country girl with no knowledge of any female lawyers, it wasn't so silly at the time. I am eternally grateful I received that scholarship! In 1960, I commenced the Law course at Melbourne University (the only Law Course in Victoria at that time).\nIn 1962 I was invited to join the Melbourne University Law Review, which of course I accepted. I completed my course in 1963 and on graduating in March 1964 I was awarded the Anna Brennan prize for the top female law student. I was delighted when, at this time, Columb Brennan gave me the wig of his aunt, Anna Brennan. Anna Brennan was the second woman, and the first Australian-born woman, admitted to practise in Victoria.\nI did Articles with my father, in Shepparton and stayed on there for another approximately 12 months. I loved my time there with Dad and it was all a great experience .\nBack in Melbourne, I worked for a short time, approximately 12 months, as one of the Solicitors in the free legal service of the RACV - and for the first and only time in my life, became an expert in one area of law - Road Traffic Law!\nFrom there, in the latter part of 1967, I moved to the Parliamentary Draftman's Office, as it was then called. It was subsequently renamed the Parliamentary Counsel's Office, and after this title change, the lawyers in the office all signed the Bar Roll.\nDuring my time in the PCO, John Finemore was the Chief. He was a great teacher and boss. I loved the work and John gave me many wonderful opportunities.\nI was part of the Victorian support team at meetings of the Standing Committee of Attorneys General. I found this interesting - both the work and the personalities involved. And I enjoyed the interstate travel it entailed.\nIn 1970 I took 6 months leave of absence to travel in Europe. After about 4 months I was in Norway and received a letter from John Finemore asking me to stay on in London for approximately 6 extra months to do research. After some hesitation - I was all geared to be home after 6, not 12 months - I agreed. Thank God I did, as I loved every minute of that 6 months and it was an experience of a lifetime.\nIn London I worked primarily in the Public Records Office, by the Silver Vaults. I was also in the Foreign & Commonwealth Library, opposite 10 Downing Street, and did some research in the Duchy of Cornwall Offices both in London and Cornwall.\nMy research was into early correspondence between the Colonial Office and the various Australian states with a view to discerning the attitude at that time into ownership of the offshore areas of the country.\nI reported to Professor Daniel O'Connell in Adelaide and after my return home I flew to Adelaide to assist in sorting out the relevant parts of my reports. This resulted in a book, authored by Professor O'Connell & me, entitled \"Opinions on Imperial Constitutional Law\", published by the Law Book Company of Victoria in 1971.\nIn 1973, I was sent to the USA & Canada to study their Federal systems. I took my annual leave at the same time, and en route spent 2 weeks in London. Whilst there, I was roped into doing some more research - I don't recall by whom or into what. But I thoroughly enjoyed being back in London and briefly working there again, and felt it made my whole trip worthwhile - at that time I had no interest at all in the USA and Canada.\nBefore leaving Australia I had bought a Visit USA air ticket, for $50 US. With this ticket, before starting work, I flew all round the States, including Alaska, & by the time I'd finished, I was fascinated by the States & had quite forgotten London!\nMy research work there took me up the east coast of the USA and to Ottawa and Toronto in Canada. I loved it all and again it was a wonderful experience, perhaps all the more so because I was there in the middle of the Watergate hearings! In addition to the interesting work and personalities, I was struck by the extraordinary hospitality I experienced. Although very much on the move from city to city, I was invited home for dinner virtually every night, until in the end, exhausted, I had to refuse!\nLater that year I was secretary to the Victorian delegation to the Constitutional Convention in Sydney. The purpose of the Convention was to look at the modern day working of our Constitution i.e. the reality at that time of the power sharing under the Constitution between the Commonwealth and States. John Finemore was very involved in the organisation of the Convention. It was a huge affair, including the Prime Minister and Federal Opposition leader, the Premiers and Opposition leaders of each State and numerous other elected representatives from government and opposition in the various Parliaments across the country - plus, of course numerous support staff. It was a huge amount of work but again, another wonderful and fascinating experience for me!\nIn 1974 I married Frank Shelton, a lawyer who later became a County Court judge. Quite sadly, I retired from the Parliamentary Counsel's Office in 1975, just before the birth of our first child.\nI continued doing some drafting work at home, but, to my surprise, despite enjoying the work, I found working from home very sterile, and I realised it wasn't just the work I enjoyed but the whole scene.\nSome years later, I did some work at home for Monash University. Then in 1998 I began part -time work in the Monash University Solicitor's Office, drafting the statutes & vetting the regulations of the University. This was the perfect job for an otherwise busy mother of 5 and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I finally retired in 2009.\nFrom my father, I believe, I inherited a love of the law. And I wasn't the only one of our family to do so. We were a family of 6 children, and 4 of us became lawyers. The youngest, Peter, was recently appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria. And this love of the law has even gone down to the next generation - we have two daughters in the Law, and my three legal brothers each have one or two young lawyers in their family.\nThe law has certainly been very good to me and I am most grateful for all the wonderful experiences and enjoyment it has given me and for the continuing interest it provides.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wallbank, Rachael", "Entry ID": "AWE5634", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wallbank-rachael\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Human Rights Advocate, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Rachael Wallbank is an Accredited Specialist (Family Law - LSNSW) and principal of the legal practice Wallbanks Legal.\nWallbank represented and appeared on behalf of 'Kevin' and 'Jennifer' at trial in Re Kevin: Validity of Marriage of Transsexual (2001) 28 Fam LR 158 and on appeal in The Attorney-General for the Commonwealth & \"Kevin and Jennifer\" & Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission [2003] FamCA 94 whereby Australians who experience diversity or difference in sexual formation, including Transsexualism, gained the right to legally marry in their affirmed sex.\nWallbank also acted and appeared for the Applicant Parents in Re Bernadette [2010] FamCA 94; the first case in Australia to authorise Phase 1 Treatment to suspend puberty for an adolescent living with the condition of Transsexualism (as an interim order in 2005) and the first case to challenge the Australian legal regime initiated by Re Alex (2004) FLC 93-175 which requires court authorisation of Phase 1 and 2 Treatments as a precondition to treatment.\nWallbank is a member of the Legal Issues Committee of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and a founding member of the Australian and New Zealand Professional Association for Transgender Health (ANZPATH).\nWallbank has written academically, undertakes lectures and presentations on the subject of the legal and human rights of people who experience diversity or difference in sexual formation and gender expression, especially with regard to Australia, and appears in the media as a public advocate and legal expert on the subject.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Rachael Wallbank and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\nBorn on 4 March 1956, as Richard Wallbank, Rachael attended St Patrick's College Strathfield in Sydney and the University of New South Wales. Rachael was admitted to practise as a solicitor on 4 July 1980. Rachael has three adult children.\nAfter having worked as a junior solicitor and later rising to Associate at Messrs Fred A. and John F. Newnham of Sydney, Rachael established her own legal practice, Wallbanks Legal, on 1 July 1985. Wallbanks Legal is a specialist practice concerned with Family, Wills & Estates and Succession Law.\nAs is typical for those who experience the condition of Transsexualism, Rachael was aware of her female self in childhood. In the circumstances of the times, however, and although she was referred to doctors by her parents for being found dressing in her sister's clothes and telling them \"I'm really a girl\" at about 7 years of age, the condition remained an untreated shame to be consciously ignored by all concerned. Rachael's adolescence and young adulthood were extremely confusing, painful and shame-filled.\nRachael publicly affirmed her female sex on 4 July 1994, undertook sex affirmation procedures including genital surgery and had her Legal Sex reassigned to female in New South Wales pursuant to that State's births, deaths and marriages laws on 17 July 1997.\nRachael is grateful that her life and legal career have presented her with the opportunity to achieve significant legal and human rights reform and to advance the understanding of Transsexualism as a naturally occurring form of diversity in human sexual formation and a form of intersexual disorder of sexual development with a clearly therapeutic medical treatment protocol and not a mental disorder or a psychological phenomenon.\nRe Kevin has been relied upon in several landmark international decisions; including I v The United Kingdom and Christine Goodwin v The United Kingdom, decided by the European Court of Human Rights. These decisions, which quote Justice Chisholm's decision in Re Kevin at length and with approval, finally determined that there had been violations of articles 8, 12, 13 and 14 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in respect of the legal status of people who had experienced Transsexualism in the United Kingdom and, in particular, such people's treatment in the spheres of employment, social security, pensions and marriage. As a result of these decisions the government of the United Kingdom introduced the Gender Recognition Act 2004.\nRe Kevin was also relied upon in the landmark decision of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, Pasco County, Florida, in the United States of America in The Marriage of Kantaras. At page 673 of that decision Justice O'Brien said: '\u2026it is essential that Kevin not be given a mere \"citation\" but studied for what it represents in the law. It is one of the most important cases on Transsexualism to come on the scene of foreign jurisprudence.'\nRachael continues to advocate for the abandonment of the requirement imposed by the Family Court of Australia requiring court authorisation of time critical therapeutic hormonal treatment for Australian adolescents who experience Transsexualism; with all the unnecessary suffering from non-treatment and self harm that inevitably results. Rachael deeply appreciates the fact that her children and her former wife were all obliged to share in the social and personal suffering associated with her Difference and her public affirmation of her innate female self and that, without the love and support of many people, and especially her children, this entry would not exist.\nRachael's favourite saying is that of Helen Keller who said \"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.\" Enjoying her 21st birthday as an affirmed female in 2015, Rachael is grateful to be recognised amongst the wonderful Australian women lawyers in this exhibition and to finally be one of those lucky people who no longer care if the family parrot falls into the hands of the town gossip.\nSignificant presentations by Rachael Wallbank:\n\nA Critique of Re Jamie and the Role of the Family Court in Determining the Access to Medical Treatment of Young Australians Living With Transsexualism for the 30th QLD Family Law Residential 2015.\nThe inaugural (2013) Isabelle Lake Memorial Lecture for the Equal Opportunity Commission Western Australia and The University of Western Australia\n'Medico\/Legal Issues in the Treatment of Young People With Transsexualism\", XVIII World Congress of the World Association of Sexual Health (WAS) - 1st World Congress For Sexual Health (April 2007) Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia.\n'Human Rights and Diversity in Sexual Formation and Expression', XXIII ILGA World Conference (March 2006) Geneva, Switzerland.\n'Children with Transsexualism - From Difference to Disorder', The Fourth World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights (2005), Cape Town, South Africa.\n'The Different Roads to Reform' presented at the 6th International Congress on Sex and Gender Diversity (2004) The School of Law, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.\n'Difference on Trial' presentation and paper, 11th National Biennial Conference of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia 2004, Conference Handbook (2004) TEN, GPO Box 61A Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia'\n\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/re-kevin-in-perspective\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/re-alex-through-a-looking-glass\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/speaking-secrets-sex-and-sexuality-as-public-property\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McIntyre, Anthea", "Entry ID": "AWE5635", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcintyre-anthea\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Lawyer, Policy adviser, Solicitor", "Summary": "Anthea McIntyre is a lawyer, sole practitioner, business woman, writer, and strong supporter of mothers as lawyers.\nAnthea was formerly a Senior Associate at Australia's top tier law firm, Herbert Smith Freehills, where she specialised in Commercial Litigation and Corporate Governance law. She then worked as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Australian Institute of Company Directors where she established Australia's first ASX200 chairmen's mentoring program designed to increase the number of women on Australian listed company boards. The program was a huge success and assisted in significantly increasing the number of women appointed to boards as well as raising the profile of the importance of gender balance in boardrooms as well as in business generally. Anthea was also the author of the book \"Tomorrow's Boards: Creating balanced and effective boards\".\nFollowing the birth of her two daughters, Anthea established a support group for lawyers who are mothers called \"Lawyer Mums Australia\" comprising almost 700 of Australia's top lawyers. In 2014, Anthea also established her own law firm, McIntyre Legal Pty Ltd, which specialises in Wills, Estates & Succession Planning.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Yates, Heidi", "Entry ID": "AWE5636", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/yates-heidi\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Heidi Yates is Head of General Practice at Legal Aid ACT, a position she has held since 2015. A well-known solicitor and human rights advocate, Heidi has been appointed to roles including Executive Director of the ACT Women's Legal Centre, advisor to the ACT Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner and a Clinical Education Convenor at the ANU College of Law.\nHeidi's professional reputation is well-established at a national level as an advocate for the development and funding of free legal services across Australia (particularly for victims of family violence) and as a trailblazer in gender-related law reform.\nHeidi has also been a spokesperson and advocate at a local and federal level for the removal of legislative discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. She has undertaken this work through roles including spokesperson for the community law reform group 'Good Process' and as the inaugural chair of the ACT LGBTIQ Ministerial Advisory Council.\nAfter just two years of practice, her work was recognised when she won the ACT Law Society's Young Lawyer Award in 2008. In 2011, Heidi was also a state finalist in the Young Australian of the Year Awards.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Heidi Yates for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Heidi Yates and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nThe principles of social justice have been a constant in my life, taking root early and ultimately informing my decision to pursue a career as a legal practitioner and law reform advocate. Born in Canberra, the second of four children, I grew up in a supportive family and community where the big questions were asked and debate was encouraged. I was a curious small person, and I asked a lot of questions.\nSchool should have been a good fit for me and although I did well academically, the experience was not without its challenges. In third grade we were asked to count how many corners there were in different geometric shapes. When we got to circles, a classmate quickly volunteered that a circle did not contain any corners. I put my hand up and alternatively suggested that circles have infinite corners, but that they are too hard to count because they are so close together. I was hauled in front of the class and told that 'nobody likes little girls who are too smart for their own good.'\nLooking back, I recognise I was only one of an infinite number of girls and young women who were 'put in their place' for providing an insightful response. Although it was an upsetting experience as a 9 year old, it ultimately revealed to me a more complex world, and marked the beginning of my aspirations to 'level the playing field' for those who may otherwise go unheard.\nI completed my education in the ACT and, like many of my peers, took a gap year after Year 12. I worked as an administrator, a piano teacher, an academic tutor, a netball coach and a boarding house 'mum' at a small boarding school in Suffolk before returning to Australia in 2000 to study Arts\/Law at the Australian National University (including an exchange year at McGill University, Montreal in 2002-03).\nLegal Practice\nI had tossed up between doing social work or law at University. I settled on Arts\/Law with a Women's Studies Major, but never intended to practise as a lawyer. Instead of applying for a corporate clerkship at the end of my fourth year of law studies, I obtained an internship at the ACT Office of the Community Advocate. I had heard about the Office through my mother's work and it sparked my interest as a place where 'non-lawyers' undertook community-based advocacy for vulnerable clients.\nIn 2005, I was accepted into a graduate program in the Australian Public Service. I had applied to the department in which my father, a career public servant, had spent the bulk of his working life, keen to understand that world and the workings of government. It was the era of WorkChoices and when I found myself tasked with contributing to the creation of industrial relations policy aimed at stripping rights and entitlements from vulnerable workers, something had to give. I began seeking other options.\nIn mid-2005 I joined the Legal Aid Office (ACT) as the Primary Dispute Resolution Program Manager. The interview panel noted that I had limited experience for the role but, in part due to my raw enthusiasm, offered to let me 'give it a crack'. I began my Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice whilst managing the program and subsequently took on my first solicitor's role in the Legal Aid Domestic Violence and Protection Orders Unit.\nWorking on the 'treadmill' of cases churning in and out of the Magistrates Court, I became keenly aware of the systemic issues impacting the operation of the Domestic Violence Order system. In 2007, I joined the Women's Legal Centre (ACT & Region) as a solicitor, welcoming an environment where my client work could be complemented by law reform and community education roles. The holistic approach of Community Legal Centres has always appealed to my sense of efficiency. It makes good sense when doing casework to identify recurring legal problems and then develop community education and law reform proposals to prevent and mitigate them. The efficacy of grassroots organisations pushing to improve systems, rather than tackling cases one at a time, has consistently driven my interest in law reform.\nIn 2013, I spent an inspiring year working as an Advisor to ACT Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Helen Watchirs, before being appointed as the Women's Legal Centre (ACT & Region) Executive Director. In this role, I fought hard (and successfully) to safeguard the Centre when the Federal Government brought the axe down on funding for the legal assistance sector. My work was part of a national campaign, highlighting the appalling social and economic consequences of cutting legal support for vulnerable Australians. In particular, I advocated the essential role of specialist, front-line legal services for women subjected to Domestic and Sexual Violence.\nIn 2015, I returned to Legal Aid ACT as Head of the Commission's General Law Practice. The position offered the opportunity to increase delivery and coordination of education, outreach and duty legal services to vulnerable clients across the region, particularly those isolated due to experiences of domestic violence, trauma and\/or cultural marginalisation.\nLaw Reform \nI have had an enduring interest in the intersections between gender, sexuality and the law that has driven my systemic law reform work. I work from the premise that Australia's federal system provides unique opportunities for lawyers to work together, either as a unified voice for federal change, or as colleagues exchanging expertise to inform incremental state reform. Such reform is often 'organically' improved as individual jurisdictions observe the operation of new law or policy and seek to address any weaknesses or inconsistencies in their subsequent implementation. In this context, I have worked with colleagues across Australia to improve law relating to issues including relationship recognition, domestic violence and gender identity.\nI have been appointed to a range of national law reform roles including as convenor of the National Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC) Human Rights Network; convenor of the NACLC Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex( LGBTI) Network; and convener of Women's Legal Services Australia, the peak national body for women's legal services in Australia. I have also been appointed to various government advisory bodies including the ACT Victims Advisory Board, the ACT Law Reform Advisory Council and as the inaugural Chair of the ACT LGBTIQ Ministerial Advisory Council.\nMy professional engagement with law reform has been complemented and augmented by my involvement in community-based advocacy. In 2002 when I was undertaking my Arts\/Law degree, the ACT Assembly passed a motion to remove legislative discrimination against LGBTI people. I joined a group of local community members intent on making this motion a reality. As a media spokesperson, community facilitator and legal consultant for the 'Good Process' lobby group, I was one of many Canberrans who rode the wave of political controversy surrounding parenting laws, discrimination legislation and Federal overturn of the 2006 Civil Unions Act.\nIn 2014, the ACT became the first Australian jurisdiction to remove the requirement for sexual reassignment surgery as a prerequisite for change of legal sex, and to introduce a third legal sex category. My involvement in the 10 year push for this reform included representing transgender discrimination complainants; sitting as a member of the Law Reform Advisory Council tasked by the ACT Government to consider these issues; volunteering as a legal consultant to community-based intersex and transgender organisation 'A Gender Agenda'; and chairing the ACT LGBTIQ Ministerial Advisory Council whose advice was sought on the details of the amending legislation. The passing of amendments to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2013 with bipartisan support in March 2013 was monumental, setting a new bar for recognition of sex and gender in Australian law.\nLegal Education and Good Governance\nSince 2008, I have been regularly involved in the teaching work of the ANU College of Law. As a course convenor, guest lecturer, tutor and assessor I have welcomed the opportunity to engage future colleagues in various aspects of social justice, in particular, about how experiences of intersectional disadvantage can impact an individual's experience of the law. Reflecting the 'hands-on' focus of other client-focused degrees such as medicine and allied health, I believe that clinical law programs provide a crucial opportunity for students to 'practise' legal practice and better understand how the law is experienced by different parts of the community. Clinical courses are also a great opportunity to promote pro bono work with community legal centres as part of a well-rounded legal education and indeed, a well-rounded legal career.\nI have also made significant contributions to the broader community through volunteer board and committee work. Although a strong interest in corporations law may not generally be considered a 'natural fit' for a social justice lawyer, I have become a strong advocate of good governance. In 2012, I was fortunate to receive a scholarship from the ACT Office for Women to undertake the Australian Institute of Company Directors 'Company Directors Course' and have since worked as a consultant and facilitator with a range of organisations to streamline their risk-management and strategic frameworks. My board roles have included the National LGBTI Health Alliance Ltd, the Welfare Rights and Legal Centre Ltd and more than a decade on the ACT Domestic Violence Crisis Service Board including three years as Chair during a time of significant organisational change.\nThe future\nToday, I commute to work in Canberra from the home I share with my partner, child, dog (on loan) and a growing number of chickens in Gundaroo Village, NSW. My work spans casework; community education and engagement; working with community and government on law reform; education of future lawyers; upskilling of community organisations to achieve their goals through good governance; and experimenting with our unruly vegetable patch.\nI haven't stopped asking questions.\n\nWhat are the limitations of an adversarial system where one party can't access legal representation? \nHow can the law recognise the diversity and lived experience of sex and gender? \nHow can the law protect survivors of domestic violence, and how can legal services best empower survivors to stay safe and move forward? \n\nThese are questions that are unlikely to be answered in my lifetime, but I value the chance to be an active part of the dialogue.\n\n", "Events": "Winner - ACT Law Society Young Lawyer of the Year Award (2008 - 2008) \nFinalist - Young Australian of the Year (2011 - 2011) \nSpeaker - 10th Anniversary of the Human Rights Act event (2014 - 2014)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Power, Jane", "Entry ID": "AWE5637", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/power-jane\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Associate Professor Jane Power completed her Law Degree at The University of Western Australia in 1983. She immediately commenced practice as an Articled Clerk with the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia, specialising mainly in the area of Family Law. Jane continued to work in a part time capacity after the birth of the first of her three children, again concentrating in Family Law but also Juvenile Justice and minor Criminal Law. In addition to working for the Commission in Perth, she spent a number of years assisting as Duty Counsel and in the Advice Bureau in the Fremantle jurisdiction. She has also worked for a medium sized local firm and a sole practitioner.\nJane currently holds the position of Director, Professional Legal Education at the Law School of The University of Notre Dame Australia (Fremantle Campus) having commenced the position in January 2012. She was previously the Associate Dean (Students) from 2004 - 2007, and Dean from 2008 - 2011. She was the second female Law Dean in Western Australia. She is responsible for the School's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme, for practitioners and serves on numerous practitioner related bodies. She continues to hold her Practice Certificate.\n", "Details": "Jane Power is the eldest daughter (and third of five siblings) of Joan and Ken Mckenna and attended school at Iona Presentation College (where she was a prefect) before studying law at the University of Western Australia; she was admitted to practice in 1984 having completed her Articles at Legal Aid Western Australia. She was the first law graduate of Iona Presentation College. Between 1984 and 2002 she practised mainly in the areas of Family Law and Juvenile Justice in both a full time and part time capacity with Legal Aid and a small private firm. She is married to barrister Tony Power of Francis Burt Chambers and has three adult children.\nJane has always maintained a passion for pro bono and volunteer legal work and has held her practice certificate for this reason continuously since her entry into academia in 2002. She maintains a specific interest in the education of women at both secondary and tertiary level, and served on the school board (as Chair for nine years) of an all-girls school. Her PhD, conferred in December 2015, included Education Law. From 2005 - 2010 she held various positions with the Curriculum Council of Western Australia in relation to writing and marking year 12 exams in Politics and the Law. She is, or has recently been, a member of the following:\n\n Law Society of Western Australia (LSWA)\nWomen Lawyers of Western Australia (WLWA)\nWLWA Gender Bias Taskforce Report Review Committee\nGraduate Recruitment Advisory Group (Convener)\nLaw Society's Graduate and Academic Standards Committee (Deputy Convener)\nLaw Society's Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee\nLaw Society's Francis Burt Law Education Committee\nAustralian and New Zealand Education Law Association (ANZELA, Vice President WA Chapter)\n Australian Law Teacher's Association (ALTA)\nAustralian and New Zealand Legal History Association (ANZLHS)\n\nAs a member of Women Lawyers of Western Australia Jane was co-convener of Chapter 2 of the Chief Justice's Gender Bias Report Review 2014 ('the Review', published in October 2014), a member of the Standing Committee of the Review and is currently a member of the Review's Implementation Committee. She is committed to advancing the prospects of women in the law and ensuring a fair and equitable participation in practice. She was nominated for Senior Woman Lawyer of the Year by the WLWA and Woman Lawyer of the Year by the Law Society in 2012.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McKimm, Catherine", "Entry ID": "AWE5638", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mckimm-catherine\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor, Teacher", "Summary": "Catherine McKimm graduated from the Australian National University (ANU) College of Law in 1975; one of the 10% of her class who were women. After spending a short period of time developing her litigation skills as an insurance lawyer, she decided to strike out on her own. She moved to Northern New South Wales where she and a friend established their own legal practice. While not always lucrative, running her own practice meant she could work in areas that truly interested her and fulfil her sense of social justice through the law. Some examples of the work she did include a Land and Environmental Court action acting on behalf of a local community organisation who were endeavouring to stop the development of a hard rock quarry in a river which formed the headwaters of the local town water supply and a Federal Court action involving a single mother who sued one of the big four banks after her husband lost their life savings gambling on the foreign currency market.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Catherine McKimm for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Catherine McKimm and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nIn the 1960s when I was young, women became nurses and teachers not doctors and lawyers. I had the good fortune to be brought up in a home where it was not only accepted, but expected, that I go to university, despite being female. I had the added advantage of attending a convent school where we were actively encouraged to pursue a university education. Consequently I found myself stepping into the Law Faculty at the Australian National University in March 1971. There weren't many women among my peers. At my graduation 6 years later there were even less. I recall that, out of about 80 law graduates in the graduating class of 1975, only about 10% of us were women.\nAfter attending the ANU College of Law and an abbreviated gap year, I returned to Australia to start looking for work in the private profession. It was a demoralising time. I sent out at least 50 - 60 applications and received only limited responses and, on rare occasions, I was invited to an interview. One interview I recall well was with a Canberra firm where the two male partners adopted a particularly intimidatory approach to the interview process. Whilst one stood behind me, the other fired questions at me, many of a personal nature. My patience was exhausted when the partner standing behind me spoke for the first time: \"So when is the first one due?\" I stood, turned to look at him and replied, \"Thank you for your time. I don't think this firm is for me\". As I walked out of the room they both appeared shocked by my impudence, leaving me with some small satisfaction.\nIt took about 6 months to find a job. I was lucky enough to take a position with the anachronistically named Abbott Tout Creer & Wilkinson. The Canberra firm was led by two particularly progressive partners, Robert McCourt and David Harper. I remain indebted to them for their confidence in me, their guidance in the law, their tutelage and their ethics. Over the next two years I was thrown in at the deep end, encouraged to run my own litigation, appear before various magistrates and judges - some cranky, some kindly - and to rapidly develop my skills as a litigation lawyer.\nUltimately insurance law was not for me. My family had been highly politicised by the Vietnam War which embedded in me a strong commitment to social justice. I decided that the best way that I could fulfil that sense of social justice through the law was to start my own legal practice. 1979 saw myself and a close friend from A.N.U. making our way to the north coast of New South Wales to open our own legal practice. Although initially derided as the 'hippie lawyers' by colleagues in town and by the local business world, we gradually managed to gain sufficient respect to grow our business into a strong and healthy legal practice.\nOver the ensuing 32 years, the freedom of being a partner in my own firm gave me the opportunity to pursue cases that were not always financially sustainable but that were to me, more importantly, morally sustainable. Some of these cases were very time and resource consuming without being particularly monetarily rewarding. A few examples: a Land and Environmental Court action acting on behalf of a local community organisation who were endeavouring to stop the development of a hard rock quarry in a river which formed the headwaters of the local town water supply; a plethora of cases arising from a dispute between a neighbouring landowner and a recently established lesbian feminist cooperative; a Federal Court action involving a single mother who sued one of the big four banks after her husband lost their life savings gambling on the foreign currency market. As well there were the many victims' compensation claims, in which I worked primarily for victims of child sexual assault. It was not always easy to rationalise the payment of compensation for a young life damaged and often destroyed but there was an indefinable sense of fulfilment in helping these young people to receive recognition for the crimes committed against them.\nI see these as my major achievements but there were numerous other cases which I was able to take on and which proved to be morally satisfying and which sustained my commitment to social justice issues.\nThe Federal Court action also offered me the opportunity to become a published author. In the early 1990s the case attracted a significant amount of media attention, following not too long after the Amadio decision, and addressing similar issues arising from the manner in which big banks dealt with their customers. The legal arguments revolved around a bank's obligations and responsibilities to women holding joint accounts with their husbands. The case was literally settled on the Court room steps. Later my client, who had become a close friend, encouraged me to co-author a book with her about the litigation and our mutual experiences running the case. The book was published in 2005 by Random House under the title 'Til Debt Do Us Part', a title used as a headline by the journalist, Anne Lampe, in her newspaper coverage.\nI also gained satisfaction from my involvement in voluntary community education programs, various governing boards in the fields of health, education and women's issues. I urge all new lawyers to actively participate in their communities, not only for the work that it brings into your firm, nor only for the benefits that this work offers to the community at large, but also for the personal fulfilment that is gained through such 'extra-curricular' activities . As a senior counsel said to me many years ago, \"It's good for your soul.\"\nThroughout this I managed to raise four strong and independent daughters. Like many women of my generation, I suffered the guilt of the working mother. For many years I was in the office on more weekends than I was in the home and there were many times when I questioned my choices and my commitment to my career. Now, my daughters, in their late 20s and early 30s, frequently express their gratitude for the role model that I offered them during their childhood. Their gratitude soothes my disquiet.\nAfter 34 years in private legal practice, the time came to take down my shingle and settle into a kind of retirement. My children had left home and were travelling the world. Our home seemed too quiet and empty so my partner and I decided to close my legal practice and take a belated gap year of our own. By age 58 I had graduated with a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of New England and completed a CELTA program in Berlin in Germany. For the past 4 years I have been a teacher of business English and academic English in Istanbul, Turkey, and continue to do a little legal consulting work on the side for a software development company. I have a strong sense that it has been a life well led. Perhaps one day in the future I will retire and find the time to finish that partially written crime novel that I started years ago.\nFor newcomers to the profession, I strongly advise breaking away from the traditional mould. Such a choice can make blending parenthood (if that is one's choice) and career less demanding but also, importantly, offers a freedom to pursue one's own personal career interests. These days more than 50% of law graduates are women but still there are many hurdles for women to overcome within the profession. To branch out on one's own is one way for women to avoid the strictures of the male-dominated, top-heavy large city legal practices.\n\"Life shrinks and expands according to one's courage.\" -Anais Nin\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sheedy, Joan", "Entry ID": "AWE5639", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sheedy-joan\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Port Augusta, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Policy adviser, Public servant", "Summary": "During a long career in the Australian Public Service in the Attorney-General's Department and in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Joan Sheedy held a number of senior positions responsible for the provision of legal policy advice on, and the development of legislation in the fields of human rights, privacy, copyright and freedom of information. She was involved in the development of many major legislative reforms including the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986, the Privacy Act 1988 (and subsequent reforms in the privacy area), the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000, the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000 and the significant Commonwealth FOI reforms of 2009 and 2010. She also represented Australia in negotiations at the United Nations in Geneva and Vienna on human rights, at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva on copyright and at the EU in Brussels on privacy.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bisley, Paulette", "Entry ID": "AWE5642", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bisley-paulette\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor, Volunteer", "Summary": "In 1968, Paulette Bisley (nee Parkinson) became the tenth woman to sign the Victorian Bar Roll. Although she spent most of her career pursuing activities outside the legal profession, she credits the legal training and experience she received for helping to 'shape and define different parts of my life. It made me stronger and helped find my voice that I could use to help others.'\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Paulette Bisley for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Paulette Bisley and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nMy career at the Bar was fuelled by ignorance and optimism.\nI attended Elwood High School, a newly established high school, and matriculated in 1962. I received a Commonwealth Scholarship to attend University. My elder sister went to Monash University to become a teacher but I chose to go to Melbourne University to study law. The University appealed to my love of history.\nThe Law School was somewhat confronting. There were very few women and they were mostly private school girls. There has always been snobbishness in Melbourne about schools but up until then it did not concern me. At Law school, indeed at the University, the refrain was often, \"but tell us where did you really did go to school\". My parents had decided that a University education was better than paying for a private school - the stipulation being \"unless we were brainless\" and then they would have to use connections to find a vocation.\nI confess to enjoying myself at Law School to the detriment of my studies. I met my future husband at University. I passed, but many law books were left unread.\nAs a High School girl without inspiring marks it was very difficult to get Articles. I ended up, through my husband's family connections, to be Articled in Dandenong. I was set to work with an unqualified Law Clerk in Common Law. The practice was commercial and the partners largely left the Law clerk to his own devices. This was my first experience of being marginalised by a male. The clerk corrected every sentence I wrote and I dumbly believed he was helping. He hid my work and made me appear foolish in front of the partners. He was later sacked when he did this to a male colleague.\nThe politics of the office left me cold and the Bar beckoned. My inspiration came from the young barristers whom I had briefed. I knew I was bright and with the arrogance of youth and lots of encouragement thought I would become a Barrister. My admission to practice was moved by Richard McGarvie QC. Since I was a woman it was decided that I would most likely only succeed in a practice in Domestic Relations. Bear in mind I had no connections whatsoever with the legal profession, and no old school ties to help. But encouraged by a family that believed women could do anything, and with the financial and positive support of my husband, I was prepared to have a try. My Master was a specialist in Matrimonial Causes as it was then. There was no formal training to be a barrister and you relied on learning from your Master. I signed the Bar Roll and was told that a Bar Council meeting was held to determine the length of my dress. I was never sure if that was true or not. My borrowed wig (when I needed one) perched upon the bouffant sixties hair.\nI engaged a Clerk, put a desk in the corner of my Master's room, and awaited a brief. My Clerk was very supportive and encouraging. The only woman at the Bar then was Molly Kingston. I was too much in awe of her to seek any advice and she certainly did not make any attempt to welcome me. The other women were absent as Joan Rosenove had retired and Lynne Opas was in New Guinea. My Master had no idea what he should do with me so did nothing. Not once did he help, just kept saying \"have a go, have a go\". I quickly realized this was largely because work I received was nothing to do with Domestic Relations. It was largely motor accident damages described in those days as 'crash and bash', drunk driving, petty crime and the Imprisonment of Fraudulent debtors. The cases were mostly in the Court of Petty Sessions but sometimes in the County Court and rarely in the Supreme Court. None were to do with Matrimonial Causes. Cramming at night, I survived and learnt much from the men on my floor who were very supportive and helpful. I was known as Bisley Mrs.\nI could never pluck up the courage to eat in the Dining Room which was on the top floor of Owen Dixon Chambers. I could not eat in my room as my Master I discovered, to my horror, spent his lunch hour reading girlie magazines. I was appalled. Most barristers were supportive but many thought it would be fun to tease and make suggestive remarks. I was often asked what was in my brief case, was it the shopping and did I carry my books in a shopping bag. I was often asked out but I learnt quickly to say no as their motives were less than honourable.\nI duly finished my six months, slightly terrified but exhilarated at the same time.\nI set up Chambers in Tait Chambers. I was often told that \"this case is hopeless but since you are a woman you can talk the magistrate\/judge around.\" I was also advised, tongue in cheek (I thought so), to wear a low cut dress in front of some Magistrates. I did not.\nWithout adequate training and lack of support of a Master, as my practice started to build up I was becoming out of my depth. Supreme Court appearances to do with Company Law, which I had not studied, were fearful. I was and am still indebted to Harry Emery, Kevin Mahony, Charles Wheeler, Graeme Uren and the other men on my Floor for their support at this time. My biggest fear was that they would be on the other side of a case and could not help.\nDespite the loving support of my husband who believes that women can do anything, I had what is called an anxiety state. I was supplied with a prescription and told to continue working. Neither of those options was a match and I decided it was time to leave practice to start a family. My thought being that I would have children, resume study and then go back to work. However it transpired that an overseas posting when my youngest child was in prep meant I had to make alternative plans. We stayed away eleven years but my legal career was my passport to many different roles.\nMy husband worked for Exxon Chemical Company and we went first to Connecticut, USA. I learnt quickly that I could not work for money (no visa) but could do volunteer work. American women were not ashamed to put volunteer work down on their CVs. I learnt to do the same. I became involved in their Newcomer Group, that was very active as most of the population of our town was itinerant. American women moved at least every three years. These were often professional women who gave up a lot for their husband's career. My law degree was highly respected and gave me entr\u00e9e to many interesting and exciting activities including being a docent at the Wilton historical society. I could say it helped define me and my time at the Bar gave me confidence to express myself. From Connecticut we went to Hong Kong.\nI was never a lady who 'lunched'. It was important to me that the social issues that arose for women in the expat life be addressed and support systems put in place. In Hong Kong I became the Secretary of the English Speaking Members Department of the Young Womens' Christian Association (YWCA). In this role I determined the activities of the organisation.\nMy law degree was highly regarded by the Board of the Association, the members of whom were all Chinese. Indeed when it came time to leave because we were moving to Tokyo they refused to take me off their books. They even suggested that I fly back to Hong Kong weekly. On $6000 Hong Kong dollars a month I did not think so. I was told that the Chinese husbands would allow their wives to attend this very British department because I was a barrister.\nThe YWCA with its 'At Home' programme for newcomers taught me how to understand the problems relating to relocation. There were many issues, particularly for women who had had busy professional lives but now could not work and lacked friendship groups, family and an inability to network. Asia in those days was very trying for intelligent western women. In the programs we developed we were able to provide the framework from which they could launch themselves into a productive life. Again I became involved with history and museums as I had done in America.\nIn Japan I had to really stand on my own two feet as my husband was often away and we relocated into a largely Japanese community. Very little English was spoken in the 1980's. Friends were made through the Australian-Japan Association. Again my law degree opened doors and earned me initial respect. I was asked at one stage to speak on the role of women in Australia - I had not lived in Australia for some years so I spoke to academics at Latrobe University who had completed research in this area. I was a bit depressed as women had not progressed very far.\nI returned to Australia hoping to study for a social work degree and to prepare I decided to volunteer and do the course for the Citizens Advice Bureau. It was from this role that I was nominated to sit on the Legal Aid Review Panel.\nThen life changed again. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995. And in 1997 we left for Singapore for a final posting. In the meantime we had started a vineyard in the Yarra Valley which was demanding my attention.\nIn Singapore I again looked to museums to hold my interest. I became a docent and trained with Singaporean colleagues. Believe it or not they were the first ever Singaporeans trained as docents for their museum (the first Museum was started in 1819). Again my law degree was my currency. I also worked with the Australian Association and worked towards making life easier for newcomers. Depression and anxiety were common among many women. Many were successful in their careers but had chosen to accompany their spouse, take a few years holiday and have a bit of fun. However many found that it was very difficult to start a new life. This was where my experience at the YWCA proved helpful. I also worked on the Magazine committee of the Tanglin Club where my Law degree gave me entr\u00e9e.\nWe returned home to Australia in 2001 and since then I have been involved in the vineyard and my three acre garden which is open often for the public for charities. I am now Chairman of the Trust of the Regional Museum of the Shire of Yarra Ranges amongst other interests.\nWhile I left the Bar many years ago the experience helped shape and define different parts of my life. It made me stronger and helped find my voice that I could use to help others. It has proved to be my entr\u00e9e to a very different life than I had imaged when I first entered the courts in my borrowed wig.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-barristers-in-victoria-then-and-now\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Croucher, Rosalind Frances", "Entry ID": "AWE5643", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/croucher-rosalind-frances\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Commissioner, Lawyer, Musician, Solicitor", "Summary": "Professor Rosalind Croucher AM is a leading legal academic and current (2016) president of the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC). In 2014, she was the inaugural winner of the Australian Woman Lawyer (AWL) Award. She was described as:\n'an inspirational leader in the legal community, making a distinct contribution to law reform and legal education across the national stage. She has enthusiastically taken on 'tough' roles with great success and is a true institution builder. Prof Croucher restored the reputation of Macquarie Law School and successfully steered the ALRC through two inquiries which threatened the ALRC's very existence. At the ALRC she has led seven inquiries of great public policy significance, including on family violence, older workers, and disability. She is also an exceptional mentor, with a deep and abiding commitment to fostering the careers of others, particularly women.'\nProfessor Croucher was appointed President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, 30 July 2017, for a seven year term.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Rosalind Croucher and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nEarly years\nI was born on 14 November 1954, at Rosslyn Hospital, Arncliffe, Sydney, the eldest of four girls born to Frank Roland McGrath AM OBE and Amy Gladys McGrath (n\u00e9e Cumpston) OAM, and a Scorpio.\nI grew up with the value of education imprinted in my DNA-particularly on the maternal side. My mother is one of four sisters and three brothers. Her father, Dr John Howard Lidgett Cumpston CMG, was the first Commonwealth Director General of Public Health-the numberplate ACT 4 is still in the family. His mother, Elizabeth (n\u00e9e Newman) was a pioneer kindergarten teacher. Sadly, my grandfather died the year I was born so I never got to know him. He had a profound commitment to education-and that his daughters would have the same opportunities as his sons. For women in the 1930s and early 1940s this was still pretty unusual. My grandfather said to his children that he could not leave them 'capital', but he would give them an education. In my mother's generation this was an exceptional standard to create as 'the norm' for his children. This is not 'normal' for many, but it did influence me profoundly. Three of them gained PhDs (the eldest, in 1998, at the age of 82), one became a Reader in History at Birkbeck College, University of London (Dr Ina Mary Cumptson); one an entomologist and researcher in PNG on mosquitoes, with her medical doctor husband (Dr Margaret Spencer OAM); another, my mother, a poet, playwright, novelist and all-round extraordinary woman. The youngest, Maeva Elizabeth Galloway BEM, had the prospect of doing medicine, but, as she said to me, she wanted to get married and medical study was not amenable to married women at the time, so she did physiotherapy instead. Later she spent many years managing the Canberra Symphony Orchestra.\nI was named after the character Rosalind in Shakespeare's play, As You Like It. It was Shakespeare's largest role for a female character and one in which she is even given the Epilogue. (My sister Leone Celia Lorrimer, was also named after a character in the play, Rosalind's cousin, Celia. She is an architect and now CEO of a large architectural practice in Australia.)\nWhen I was four years old we moved from Grand Parade, Brighton-le-Sands to 'Purfleet', in Billyard Avenue, Elizabeth Bay, an historic house on the waterfront side of Arthur McElhone Reserve and Elizabeth Bay House (although not on the waterfront).\nAfter attending kindergarten in Rushcutter's Bay, opposite Trumper Park in Roslyn Gardens, Sydney, I went to Sydney Church of England Girls School in Darlinghurst until the end of third class. I remember catching the bus from our home in Elizabeth Bay to William Street and then walking up Forbes Street. I took my younger sister, Leone, who was in the class behind me. We would only have been about 7 and 8.Our mother had two small children, our younger sisters Eloise and Vivian, so she trusted us to be responsible in getting ourselves to and from school. For the most part we were, although I do recall our walking up a gutter full of rainwater. (If you had wet shoes you were allowed to take them off!) My mother tells me that the Headmistress suggested I should go to a school where I could get more competition-or perhaps she wanted to get rid of me! One of my school chums from my SCEGGS days was Jenny Morgan, now Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne.\nI did move school, to Woollahra Demonstration School, in fourth class. My teacher was Mr Miller. The cane was still used regularly, even for girls (although very rarely by Mr Miller). I participated in lots of extra things, the Gould League (for bird lovers), the junior Red Cross, which had a lovely uniform, and the school choir, led by Mr Armstrong. (At Sunday School at All Saints Church, Woollahra, I joined the Girls' Friendly Society-yet another uniform that mother happily purchased).\nI was once summoned to the Headmaster's office at Woollahra (Mr Nicholson). I had thrown a blackboard duster at a boy who was being a bit of a wag, but the dust had got in his eyes and caused him suffering. I remember the sickening feeling both of knowing I had caused injury but also of that conversation in the Headmaster's office.\nThe test in fourth class saw me catapulted into the Opportunity Class for the final two years of primary. The two years with Miss Conlon were a wonderful experience. I was also elected girls Vice-Captain in 6th class. Two of my classmates I still see regularly-the Hon Justice Anna Katzmann of the Federal Court and Professor Vivienne Bath of the University of Sydney.\nAt the end of my years at Woollahra I went to Ascham school in Edgecliff, while my peers went in different directions-a number to Sydney Girls High and some also to SCEGGS. My years at Ascham were a wonderful period. (It could have begun much earlier, however. My mother said that she took me for an interview when I was very small and that, after somersaulting off the chair in the Headmistress's office, or other antics, I was not enthusiastically given that first opportunity of enrolment). I ended as dux of the school and Chairman of the School Committee. We didn't have 'prefects' and 'school captain' but we had a School Committee, with a Chairman and Secretary. I remember one particular meeting of the School Committee that I chaired. There was quite a lively discussion and, to inject some order into the proceedings, I said, 'would you please direct your questions through the chair!' The Headmistress, Miss Roberts, was quite surprised. What she didn't know was that I was an avid listener of parliament. My 'dream job' in my teenage imaginings was to be Speaker of the House. Music was largely whatever the music master, Mr Ken Robbins, could arrange. Choir was always fun, especially the joint choral works we did with a boys school, Cranbrook or Sydney Grammar. Mr Robbins also organised an 'orchestra', a handful of those who played something. I had played recorder at Woollahra and volunteered. There was a senior girl who played oboe, and I thought the sound was wonderful. A Canberra cousin of mine had an oboe and lent it to me and I was hooked. My first experience playing oboe in the orchestra was very challenging: 'He who would valiant be', in Eb major-three flats. But it got easier. The first big, and paid, 'gig' I did was to play in the orchestra for 'The Mikado', being performed by Sydney University Musical Society (SUMS). By the HSC I undertook 1st Level Music as an independent study, as I could not do it at school. Throughout high school I attended as many music camps as my holidays would allow, first at Sydney Grammar School under the music leadership of Peter Seymour, and then national music camp. I completed what would now be regarded as a huge load for my HSC, and all at 1st level: English, German, Geography, Modern History, Maths and Music, plus the General Studies subject that everyone had to do.\nAll through my high school years two things I remember, apart from school things, were my mother's PhD and the theatres. Mum won a scholarship, about the same time as father was appointed a judge, to undertake the history of medical organisation in Australia. From this emerged a whole range of whitegoods (clothes dryer etc) and school holiday trips in our red and white Volkswagen microbus to all parts of Australia where mum did research on her thesis. She used a manual typewriter. The tap-tapping of the keys punctuated many evenings over many years. She graduated in 1977.\nThe second thing was that mother had a theatre in our backyard-the Mews Playhouse-as a tryout theatre for Australian playwrights, once we moved from Elizabeth Bay to Centennial Park. I recall actors like Lex Marinos, Lynne Rainbow and John Meillon, to name but a few, performing in plays. My sister Leone and I often helped with stage management. (One mistake was to use real whiskey instead of cold tea, which is the usual stage substitute!). The Mews developed into a much bigger project with the establishment of the Australian Theatre in Newtown. Playwrights like David Williamson and the Indigenous writer, Kevin Gilbert, had try-outs of their plays either at our home in Martin Road, Centennial Park (down the road from Patrick White), or in Newtown. The opera director, David Freeman, was assisted in the beginnings of his career when he directed when of mother's music theatre pieces on Sir Walter Ralegh, and another on the Children's Crusade. I performed in a couple of the musicals at the Australian Theatre: 'Crusade' and 'A Bunch of Ratbags', set in the 1950s. Mother was regularly organising special events, often associated with fundraising for the theatre, and on one occasion the actress, who was to read some poems, was unable to perform at the last minute. I was rapidly 'press-ganged' into the task. A huge enterprise was a music theatre symposium which saw her bringing Stephen Sondheim, Tim Rice, Alan Jay Lerner and several other incredibly famous music theatre luminaries from around the world to Sydney. That was all part of the normal of our lives at Martin Road!\nFather, meanwhile, was appointed to bench in 1966 (the Workers' Compensation Commission, later Compensation Court), chaired the Arts Council of NSW and endeavoured to get his teenage daughters into sailing, through the Double Bay Sailing Club. In the latter endeavour he was much more successful with my sister Leone, a keen and excellent sailor now, than me. (When my father retired from the bench at the age of 72, as Chief Judge of the Compensation Court, he also undertook a PhD, in history at the University of Sydney-he had been the University Medallist in history when he completed his BA).\nUniversity\nWith my HSC result I could choose whatever I wanted to do. I had no inclination to study Medicine (although many of my mother's family were doctors), but wanted to do Law, like my father. I won a much-coveted National Undergraduate Scholarship at the Australian National University, which paid for absolutely everything. I note that the dux of the year ahead of me at Ascham, Hilary Penfold (now the Hon Justice Hilary Penfold of the ACT Supreme Court), also went to ANU on these excellent scholarships). I went to Burgmann College, a co-educational college, and embarked upon Arts\/Law. I also joined the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. Just before I went to Canberra in early 1973, my oboe teacher enlisted me as her Deputy, to play in 'Jesus Christ Superstar' at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney (bedecked in mission, now 'Superstar', brown). I played the Friday and Saturday shows. I was able to continue this after going to Canberra, flying down for the purpose. (I remember the return student airfare was $14). I had underestimated what the shift to Canberra would involve and returned to Sydney at the end of first year, but keeping my options open with ANU for another year.\nIn 1974 I commenced studies at Sydney University in second year of Arts\/Law. I played in the Australian Youth Orchestra at the end of that year. During my second year of university study my musical involvement took me to audition for the ABC Training Orchestra and I won a scholarship that I took up in 1975. I also joined the Renaissance Players at the University under the amazing Winsome Evans OAM BEM. My involvement in the Training Orchestra meant that I only continued my History Honours study in third year, doing no law subjects that year. During 1975 Training Orchestra the position of second oboe\/cor anglais became available in the Elizabethan Theatre Trust Orchestra, later the Opera and Ballet orchestra, and I was successful. In 1976 I was playing in the opera house but also was undertaking History Honours. It was a very full year. After six months in the opera house orchestra I left that position, preferring the variety of musical involvement in the Renaissance Players and opting to finish my law studies. I kept playing in casual positions for the orchestra as needed for a further two years. And in 1976 I married Michael Jeffrey Atherton, a lute player and multi-instrumentalist in the Renaissance Players. I entered my final two years at law school in a minority - I was married.\nI completed History Honours, with a thesis on a renaissance diplomat, Sir Nicholas Thockmorton, continued with the Renaissance Players and plugged away at my law studies. My aim by this time was to follow my father's example and to go to the Bar, after a period of practice as a Solicitor.\nBut when I was at the College of Law, doing my Practical Legal Training course in 1980, I found out that I was pregnant. When I was admitted as a solicitor in December 1980 in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, it was not as a 'lawyer' but as 'a solicitor, proctor and attorney' of 'this honourable Court'. And Sir Laurence Street as Chief Justice had a famous invocation to any mother with a crying baby, deployed at each ceremony: 'Madam, do not feel you have to leave, this is a family occasion!'.\nWhen my daughter, Emily Alexandra McGrath Jones Atherton, was born in March 1981, I was utterly clueless about motherhood. Although I had worked two years part-time with a firm of solicitors, as successor to my classmate in my law studies at Sydney University, Susan Crennan (later Justice of the High Court), in a research\/devilling role, obtained my practising certificate, and could have continued there, the demands of motherhood came as a real shock. They were incompatible for me at that time. So I held a practising certificate for only one year. I also left the Renaissance Players. My career journey then took a different turn.\nAcademic years\nWhen my daughter was nearly a year old I applied for a position in teaching at Macquarie University. I got it. Curiously, what secured me the teaching position, at the age of 27, was none of the things that a career path would have mapped out. Not a higher degree-I hadn't even thought about that one yet, the PhD would come later, although I did have an Honours degree in History which evidenced research ability; not publications-I didn't have any of those-all essential these days even to start in the academic world. But I did have teaching experience-in music. I had taught a residential summer school in early music, with a group aged from 17 to 70. It was a great background for teaching distance students, who came in for weekends at a time on campus. It was quite an enlightened approach to appointments, by the late Professors Jack Goldring and John Peden - two inspiring men, both passing away long before they should have.\nThen the teaching was like a duck to water. I loved it. I built an academic career from that accidental starting point. I completed a PhD in legal history at the University of New South Wales, graduating in 1994-as Sir Gordon Samuels' last doctoral conferral in his role of Chancellor of UNSW before taking up the position of Governor. I embarked upon publications and became a Professor and Dean in 1999 at Macquarie University. My doctoral study took ten years, worked around fulltime work and my children, including in 1987 my second child, Marc Edward John McGrath Jones Atherton.\nThe two early years at Macquarie were during an intensely controversial time in its history. It shared the tension of left\/right arguments that had been dividing English, Economics, Politics departments as well as law schools in the US, the UK and Australia for a number of very troubled years. I was elected to Chair the School meetings, just in my second year as a Tutor-the youngest on staff. In my na\u00efvet\u00e9 it never occurred to me that this had anything other than to do with my abilities. But I did take it very seriously, learned a lot about chairing and had my eyes opened to university (and broader) politics.\nIn 1984 I was appointed to the University of New South Wales and then in 1990 to Sydney University, where I move into a number of increasingly senior leadership roles, including as Head, Department of Law (Jan 1996-Feb 1997); Acting Dean (June 1994, July 1995); and Interim Dean (Feb 1997-March 1998). In 1998, I was elected as Deputy Chair of the Academic Board of the University.\nAt the end of 1999 I took up an appointment as the first externally-appointed Dean of the Law School at Macquarie University, a position in which I served for over seven years.\nI have now done a circuit of three major Sydney law schools: two years at Macquarie, seven at UNSW, nine at Sydney and then back to Macquarie for seven. I accidentally got on another track and it opened up a whole new career path. 25 years, including the last seven years of it as Dean of Macquarie Law School, and over a year as Interim Dean at Sydney Law School (the first woman in that position).\nIn 1995 I sang in a small group of lawyers organised by the Hon Justice Peter Hidden, known as the Bar Choir. It is still going and I am still singing with them, 20 years later. (Many of the barristers who sang in the choir in the early days are now on the Bench, and many are still singing in the choir too.) In 1994 I auditioned for the Sydney Philharmonia Choir and joined the Alto section. After singing in the Symphonic choir for three years I was invited to join the Motet choir-if felt like being in 'the first eleven'. With this choir I sang at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 and as part of The Proms at Albert Hall, London, singing Mahler 8th symphony, which we had also sung in Sydney.\nIn 2001 my marriage to Michael Atherton was dissolved. In 2004 I married Professor John Sydney Croucher, a statistician, of Macquarie University, and became the second 'Professor Croucher'. (We have now been married for over eleven wonderful years.)\nAustralian Law Reform Commission\nThe opportunity to join the Australian Law Reform Commission came in 2006, after I had been Dean of Law at Macquarie for seven years. The position of Commissioner was advertised. I was appointed for three years. The Hon Philip Ruddock MP was the Attorney-General. At the end of 2009 the position of President became vacant and the then Attorney, the Hon Robert McClelland MP appointed me for five years. This was renewed by the Hon Senator George Brandis QC for a further year to December 2015. I am now up to my fifth Attorney-General! I retain my chair at Macquarie University, which has kindly given me leave for the duration of my appointment at the ALRC.\nAt the ALRC I was the Commissioner in charge of the following inquiries:\n\nCapacity, Equality and Disability in Commonwealth laws, ALRC 124, 2014\n Access All Ages-Older Workers and Commonwealth Laws, ALRC 120, 2013.\n Family Violence and Commonwealth Laws-Improving Legal Frameworks, ALRC 117, 2012.\nManaging Discovery-Discovery of Documents in Federal Courts, ALRC 115, 2011.\nFamily Violence-A National Legal Response, ALRC 114, 2010.\n Secrecy Laws and Open Government in Australia, ALRC 112, 2009.\nPrivilege in Perspective, Australian Law Reform Commission, ALRC 107, 2008.\n\nOther reports I have overseen as President, with another Commissioner in charge:\n\nConnection to country: Review of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), ALRC 126, 2015 (with Commissioner Professor Lee Godden, University of Melbourne)\nSerious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era, ALRC 123, 2014 (with Commissioner Professor Barbara McDonald, University of Sydney)\nCopyright and the Digital Economy, ALRC 122, 2013 (with Commissioner Professor Jill McKeough, UTS)\n Classification-Content Regulation and Convergent Media, ALRC 118, 2012 (with Commissioner Professor Terry Flew, QUT)\n\nI am currently leading the inquiry into encroachments on traditional rights, freedoms and privileges in Commonwealth laws. My work at the ALRC draws upon all the various aspects of my academic and management experiences and adds to it a wonderful layer of intersection with government, through its various departments, and the parliament itself-particularly the twice-yearly Senate Estimates appearances (which, perversely perhaps, I enjoy greatly).\nPro bono roles\nI have undertaken many pro bono leadership roles-including as Governor of Ascham School for nine years; Councillor of St Andrew's College; as a board member of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs; Chair of the Council of Australian Law Deans, 2002-2003; Vice-President of the International Academy of Estate and Trust law 2000-2005; and as Chair of the Projects Committee of the Australian Academy of Law 2012-. I have also been involved with the NSW Women Lawyers in committee roles over the years, particularly in relation to career aspirations.\nHonours\nI was honoured in being elected to the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law, 1993; as a Fellow, Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, 2000; a Member, Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences, 2004; a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law in 2007; and elected to the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners in 2008.\nMy contributions have also been acknowledged in a number of honorary appointments: Honorary Fellow of St Andrew's College of the University of Sydney (2002); Honorary Fellow of the Australian College of Legal Medicine (2004); 'Rapporteur' for the 8th biennial conference of the International Association of Women Judges, 2006; and honorary life membership of the Women Lawyers' Association of NSW (2013). On St Andrew's College I was the first lay woman appointed to the College Council, while the Rev Theodora Hobbes was appointed the first female member of the Presbyterian clergy-we were part of the Council that moved the College from an all-male College to a fully co-residential one. (The very-much missed Theodora, who passed away in 2011, also conducted the marriage proceedings when John and I married, by Macquarie University's lake, in 2004-the first time she had married anyone 'in a paddock', she said. I was delighted to present the St Andrew's College Lecture in 2013 in honour of her.)\nIn 2011 I was recognised as one of the 40 'inspirational alumni' of UNSW. In 2014 I was acknowledged for my contributions to public policy as one of Australia's '100 Women of Influence' in the Australian Financial Review and Westpac awards; and for 'outstanding contribution to the legal profession' in supporting and advancing women in the legal profession I was awarded the Australian Women Lawyer's award.\nIn the Australia Day Honours list, 2015, I was conferred the award of Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for 'significant service to the law as an academic, to legal reform and education, to professional development, and to the arts'. My husband, Professor John Croucher, also received an AM on the same day, 'significant service to mathematical science in the field of statistics, as an academic, author, and mentor, and to professional organisations'. 'What are the odds?', we asked each other!\nPublications\nMy text on Succession law, Succession: families, property and death, (with Prue Vines) was first published in 1996, and is now in its 4th edition (2013). I have edited seven books, including Families and Estates: A Comparative Study, Kluwer Law International, 2005; Law and Religion-God, the State and the Common Law, with Peter Radan and Denise Meyerson, Routledge Publishing, 2005; and written 20 book chapters, including most recently: 'Towards a common legislative base for inquiries', in Royal Commissions & Public Inquiries: Practice & Potential , S Prasser and H Tracey (eds), Connor Court Publishing, 2014; and 'Family law: challenges for responding to family violence in a federal system', in Families, policy and the law: Selected essays on contemporary issues for Australia, A Hayes and D Higgins (eds), Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2014. I have a long list of journal articles and conference papers as befits a University Professor.\nI have also written the lyrics for three choral works, composed by Michael Atherton:\n\n'Songs for Imberombera', with W Porter-Young and M Atherton, for work commissioned by the Gondwana Voices choir. First performed January 1997.\n 'Exhortation' Contemporary Singers. First performed July 1996. Review in Opera Australia, Aug-Sept 1996: 'splendidly poetic text'.\n'Namatjira' for work Australian Voices Choir 1996. First performed 1996. Recorded on The Listening Land - Australian Choral Music, VOICES CD 1002, 6m 11s.\n\nOther interests\nI greatly enjoy my garden, restoring and extending the garden at our Blue Mountains home, 'Weroona', a former boys' home that John and I bought in May 2013, complete with its own cricket pitch and a spare house, 'The Lodge', which my parents live in on weekends (my father still driving at age 93). I continue to find enormous pleasure in choral singing and in playing my oboe and recorder in chamber music. I am also a proud grandmother to Alessandra and Cara Montuori.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rosalind-croucher-on-the-couch\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/alrc-president-wins-legal-accolades\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/commission-welcomes-new-president\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kilroy, Debbie", "Entry ID": "AWE5644", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kilroy-debbie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Human rights activist, Lawyer, Manager, Solicitor", "Summary": "Debbie Kilroy OAM is a former prisoner, qualified social worker and practising lawyer. Debbie spent much of her teens in youth prisons, and several years in adult women's prisons, in Queensland. Since its establishment in the 1990s, she has led Sisters Inside Inc, an organisation that advocates for the human rights of criminalised women in Queensland. She was admitted as a Legal Practitioner in Queensland in 2007 - the first former prisoner to achieve this.\nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Suzi Quixley about Debbie Kilroy for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Suzi Quxley and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nDebbie Kilroy's commitment to being an agent of positive change is reflected throughout her professional career - initially as a Social Worker and Gestalt Therapist; and, since 2007, as a Legal Practitioner. She currently divides her time between being CEO of Sisters Inside and Principal Lawyer at Kilroy & Callaghan Lawyers. Debbie is Australia's leading voice on the human rights of criminalised women, and has actively contributed internationally through a variety of United Nations forums (where Sisters Inside has NGO Consultative Status) and lecture tours of the USA and Canada.\nRaised in a solid working class family in Kedron in Brisbane's north, Debbie had a rebellious streak from a young age. As she moved into puberty, she became a handful for her bewildered parents - wagging school, disputing everything, hanging out with the wrong crowd, and disappearing for days at a time. Debbie's life changed when, at age 14, she was imprisoned - not for a criminal offence, but for a four-week psychiatric assessment which, her parent hoped, would identify a 'solution' to her 'uncontrollable behaviour'. She was now under the control of the State. Hence followed a revolving door of imprisonment, progressive criminalisation and brief periods of freedom throughout her teens.\nFrom the outset, Debbie was aware of the deep injustice of her initial incarceration which continued to be reinforced by a litany of abuses within the youth 'justice' system. This fuelled her increasing anger and, ultimately, her engagement with violence and crime.\nBy age 18, Debbie was a mother herself and deeply entrenched in a violent domestic relationship. But, she did manage to stay outside the adult criminal justice system for several years. During this time, she left this violent relationship and ultimately married Joe Kilroy (to whom she is still married) in 1986. They had a further child together. Her break from the system came to an abrupt halt when Debbie was charged with drug offences and sentenced to 6 years in prison (of which she served 3 years).\nDuring this, her last period of imprisonment, Debbie became determined to improve the situation of women and children with lived prison experience. She began training as a social worker whilst in prison and following her release in 1992 set out to build an organisation to respond to the needs and human rights of criminalised women and affected children - Sisters Inside. The organisation exists to advocate for the human rights of criminalised women and respond to gaps in the services available to these women and their children. Since it was established in the early 1990s, Sisters Inside has grown from a largely voluntary group to a community-based organisation which provides services to many Queensland women and children (both inside and outside prison) each year. During this time, Debbie has completed her legal training and a Graduate Diploma in Forensic Mental Health. She was ultimately admitted as a Legal Practitioner in Queensland in 2007 - the first former prisoner to achieve this.\nDebbie's lived experienced drives the outspoken voice of Sisters Inside on issues affecting criminalised families. She is a passionate contributor to public debates and policy development impacting the human rights of criminalised women and affected children and issues of public safety.\nShe has been a tireless advocate for the rights of disadvantaged women and children on a wide variety of issues including violence, homelessness, racism, mental health, substance abuse, poverty, child protection, sexual assault, systemic failings and imprisonment. She is driven to reduce the criminalisation and imprisonment of women and children; address the serious over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women at all levels of the criminal justice system; and mitigate the impact of mothers' imprisonment on their children.\nDebbie has also contributed widely to collaborative legal and civil rights activities, including long term service as an Executive Member of the Queensland Council of Civil Liberties (since 2001) and ex-officio Chairperson of the Youth Affairs Network of Queensland (since 1997). She has served as a member of the Criminal Law Committee, Law Council of Australia; Criminal Law Committee, Queensland Law Society; Equal Rights Alliance; Australian Women Again Violence Alliance; National Coronial Reform, Federation of Community Legal Centres; and Criminal Justice Network. She has also been appointed to working groups at a state and national level in areas including remand reduction, drug policy, research, Indigenous issues, crime reduction, and homelessness. Debbie has also contributed to international forums, including meetings convened by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to develop draft UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-Custodial Measures for Women Offenders; sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women; and conferences on crime prevention and criminal justice.\nDebbie's achievements have been recognised through a variety of honours and awards, many of which were awarded to a former prisoner for the first time. These include being a shortlisted Queensland nomination for Australian of the Year (2016), Churchill Fellowship (2014), Emergent Woman Lawyer of the Year (2010), Peace Women Award (2010), Australian Human Rights Medal (2004), and Order of Australia Medal (2003). She was also the subject of an ABC Australian Story (2004), biography (2005), Archibald Award entry (2005) and portrait by Ai Wei Wei (2015).\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/list-of-resources\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/list-of-speeches\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Dwyer, Joan", "Entry ID": "AWE5646", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dwyer-joan\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Chairperson, Lawyer, Solicitor, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "Joan Dwyer OAM graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1961, signed the solicitor's roll in 1963 and came to the bar in 1978. She had a diverse and successful career that included working as a research assistant for Sir Zelman Cowen and, when in London, for solicitors to Queen Elizabeth II.\nShe was a Senior Member of the AAT (Clth) for 21 years and Chair of the Equal Opportunity Board (Vic).\nJoan Dwyer passed away peacefully in September 2019 at the age of 79, after a five-year battle with cancer.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Joan Dwyer for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Joan Dwyer and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nI attended PLC (the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne) for almost all my schooling. I finished school, aged 16, at the end of 1956. PLC, which was founded in 1875, had been a pioneer in the field of educating women, but by the time I started there in 1946, it had changed somewhat. While it still believed women could and should excel academically, it seemed to me to emphasise conformity and lady-like behaviour rather more than any rebellious pioneering spirit.\nMy parents were Jewish refugees from Hitler. My father was a businessman. He had studied a commercial course and was always interested in acquiring knowledge. Not only my mother, but also my grandmother had attended the University of Vienna. My mother had done medicine there, and my grandmother had studied mathematics and physics as one of the very early female university students. After my birth, my mother sat an exam on 6 weeks notice, the equivalent of final year medicine, to have her Viennese medical qualification recognised in Australia. She was one of the few \"foreign doctors\" who was successful at the first attempt.\nIt had always been accepted, by both my parents and school, that the next stage for me after school would be University, which I must say I saw more as a continuation of school, rather than as a step towards a career.\nDuring our last year at school there was some discussion of suitable careers, by a teacher who had responsibility for giving advice as to careers, as well as her prime responsibility as Head of Geography. My impression of her advice is that we could do teaching or nursing, both suitable careers for a girl and also a form of community service. I did not really see myself as a teacher or a nurse and, although my mother was a doctor, I did not have a scientific bent, and therefore did not have the necessary prerequisites for medicine.\nI needed special permission to enrol at University before I turned 17, but assuming that I passed that hurdle, I thought I would simply enrol for Arts and then think further about a career when I had finished that course. When my father heard what I was planning, he said that in his opinion I was being stupid. He said that I should use my time at University to obtain a career qualification, and he suggested that I do law. My mother had a patient, Lynette Barry, who was a lawyer, as well as a wife and mother to quite a large family, and it was arranged that I meet her and talk about working as a woman lawyer. Ever the obedient daughter, I applied to do Law\/Arts at University in 1957.\nI couldn't have attended very well to whatever Lynette told me. After obtaining the necessary permission to start my course, I had to apply to Arthur Turner, the sub-Dean of the Law School, to actually enrol in law. I can clearly remember him asking me why I wanted to do law. I replied, \"because my father told me to.\" He then asked me what I thought a lawyer did, and I replied that I did not know. He asked me to think about it and I thought really hard and answered that I thought if you wanted to buy or sell a house, you would use a lawyer. He said words to the effect, \"Oh well, I suppose you can drop out at the end of first year\" and let me in. I am conscious that it was a very different world then.\nTo my surprise I found I was really interested in the law subjects of my combined course, especially Introduction to Legal Method and Torts and Contracts. All went well till the end of my third year when I began to wonder what I would do when I finished the course and whether I would enjoy working in a legal office. I went to see the Dean, Professor Zelman Cowen (later The Right Honourable Sir Zelman Cowen Governor- General of Australia) and told him I was thinking of dropping out, because I did not think I would enjoy being a solicitor. He talked me into going on to complete the course and said that if I got an Honours degree I could become a tutor in the Law School. I lacked the confidence to select the Honours questions, where one had to make a selection, but did well enough for Professor Cowen to offer me a position as his research assistant with some tutoring as well.\nAfter graduation, I did my articles at Lander and Rogers, a city firm with a large insurance company client base. I worked very closely with the senior partner Hartwell George (\"Chick \") Lander. He had high standards of efficiency and was a hard taskmaster, and a difficult opponent to lawyers on the other side, but appreciated a job well done. I learnt a lot from him and have always been grateful for the basic training I received. I found I really enjoyed the litigation side of the practice, and learnt how important it was to have a carefully prepared case.\nAfter completing one year of Articles I was admitted in 1962 and shortly afterwards left for a year overseas. This had been previously arranged, with the understanding that I would then return to Lander and Rogers. In England, due to a chance meeting my parents had had in Spain with a partner in the firm, I spent some time working for Farrer and Co, Solicitors. The firm acted for the Queen and other members of the Royal Family, as well as for many of the aristocracy and landed gentry of England, and also for famous people such as Ian Fleming.\nThe contrast with practice in Australia seemed to me quite great. All was done with the appearance of a casual gentlemanly attitude towards the work. For instance when I arrived there sharp at 9am on my first morning, to show my keenness, I was told that solicitors, as distinct from staff, did not arrive until around 9.30am. Social distinctions were to be observed. One country client, to whom I had to travel by train and taxi, in order to obtain her signature on a document, was shocked when I repeated to her some comment the taxi driver had made to me. She asked in a disapproving tone, \"you spoke with the taxi driver?\" I spent a lot of time at Farrers poring over huge old parchment title documents the size of a desk, trying to determine what lands our clients owned and what parts of their estates were common land. I prepared a document indexing all the property owned by one family and all the members of that family in order to facilitate decisions as to estate planning and bequests to the National Trust.\nOn my return to Melbourne, I resumed working for Lander and Rogers as a first year litigation solicitor, but after a while I decided that I should see what it was like working in a different sort of firm, mainly for private clients rather than insurers. I moved to Oakley Thompson for about a year and then decided to try crime at Galbally and O'Bryan. I found I was mainly doing divorce and personal injury work there, but, on one occasion, I appeared robed, as \"Mr Frank's\" Junior, on the last day of the hearing of the case of Christine Aitkin, who was charged with harbouring the escaped prisoners Robert Ryan (sadly the last man hung in Victoria) and Peter Walker. I soon realised that, although I was glad I had had the experience, a life of crime, or even work in a mainly criminal law firm, was not for me, and so moved to a very different atmosphere at Whiting and Byrne.\nI enjoyed my time at Whiting and Byrne. There were about 6 partners all with different clients and specialties, and the junior solicitors could be asked by any partner to take on a particular matter or piece of research. The firm aimed to give a high standard of service and so took care not to overload new solicitors with too much work, to the extent that at first I felt quite underutilised. In some ways, especially its costing method, it was still rather old-fashioned, but the work was interesting and the partners and solicitors were helpful and approachable. I had agreed to stay two years at interview, but became pregnant and, although I stayed working part-time until 2 weeks before my daughter Bridget was born, I could not quite honour that commitment.\nAfter Bridget was born, in August 1968, I had things other than a return to work on my mind, but towards the end of that year my husband John, a barrister, saw an advertisement for tutors at Monash Law School to start in March 1969. Somewhat reluctantly I prepared an application and sent it off. I was offered part-time tutoring and by March 1969, I was glad to have the opportunity to work again. I enjoyed tutoring in Contracts and stayed at Monash until we left to go to England in mid-1970, as John had obtained a lectureship at Durham University.\nWe loved Durham. It is a beautiful university town dominated by its Norman Cathedral and old castle. The Dean of the Law School had John lecturing in many different subjects and was also happy to provide me with some part-time lecturing in Family Law to \"keep my hand in.\" He did not believe in slacking. I accepted this opportunity even though our second daughter, Tessa, was born just a couple of months after our arrival in Durham. John was able to work at home to look after the girls while I was lecturing.\nOn our return to Australia, John became a part-time lecturer at Monash, as well as continuing his practice at the Bar, and I looked for and found part-time work. This was not easy as there was, at that time, no practice of women working part-time to combine work and family responsibilities. Further, I wanted to work as a litigation solicitor and that was considered impossible because of the demands of litigation. At one stage I offered my services to a solicitor who was known to be hopelessly inefficient at managing his busy sole practice. I suggested that he needed help and I could provide it. He turned out to be too inefficient even to get back to me.\nEventually I found part-time work with AW (Junior) Foster at a small suburban practice close to home. He was concerned as to how I would cope working in litigation, if cases came on for hearing or negotiations on days I was not scheduled to work. I assured him I would be flexible and there were no problems of that nature in the 5 years or so I worked at that practice. I left temporarily because John had a sabbatical coming up as a result of his Monash position, and he had arranged to spend the time at the University of Warwick working with Professor Patrick Atiyah in the field of common law.\nIt was interesting that once other solicitors saw that my part-time work arrangement was satisfactory, they also offered me part-time work. I did not want more work myself, but did manage to place two other friends in similar work. One remained with the firm for more than 40 years until she retired from practice.\nOn our return to Melbourne, I continued to work at AW Foster and also applied for and obtained a fractional appointment as a Senior Teaching Fellow at Melbourne Law School. But, shortly after we got back, John was invited by the University of Warwick to return and take up a 12 months appointment teaching Professor Atiyah's classes, while he took time off to write The Rise and Fall of Freedom of Contract.\nI decided to look for part-time work as a solicitor while we were in England that time and, after writing many letters to local solicitors, found a position with NJL Brockbank, an idiosyncratic Dickensian solicitor who ran a one man practice from a 4 storey Victorian townhouse in Royal Leamington Spa. I had said, in my letter seeking work, that I was more interested in the varied experience than in the money, so he offered me work at one pound an hour and I accepted those terms. However, on the first morning, after I had completed all he had asked me to do, and had asked for more work once or twice, he came in and announced that he was doubling my remuneration.\nWhile in England that time, I also decided to sit the exams for an overseas solicitor to be admitted to practice as a solicitor of the High Court of Judicature. A law clerk at Mr Brockbank's office said there was no way I could pass at a first attempt, which was all I would have time for in the year we were going to spend in England. He said he himself had sat 5 or 6 times and not passed yet. This both aroused my competitive spirit and warned me that I might need to put quite a bit of effort into preparation. I found an advertisement for a crammers' course and went to London for about 3 days of intensive, first class instruction. I did pass on my first attempt, but I was very grateful to my colleague for the warning that caused me to do the London intensive course. I was pleased to see that my English admission certificate was signed by Lord Denning, the Master of the Rolls.\nWe returned to Melbourne in late 1977 and I found part-time work at Flood and Permezel in the city. I found I lost too much time travelling into the city and back for school pick ups, and decided that local work was much more flexible for a part-time solicitor. I changed to work for our friend Pat Clancy at Patricia Clancy and Associates in Camberwell.\nBy 1978 our daughters were almost 10 and 8 and established back at school. I thought I could take on a new challenge and try the Bar. I arranged to read with Ron Meldrum who had a very busy general common law practice. I was his first reader and he turned out to be a brilliant master. He has an excellent knowledge of the law, but his particular skill in my opinion is in understanding the psychology of the court, of his client and of any witnesses he would be examining or cross-examining. He too demonstrated the importance of careful preparation of any case. He is also very good company and we had a lot of fun, sometimes arriving at his client's work premises for a \"view\" with me on the back of a motorbike, at other times being taken up in a small plane by our solicitor on a country circuit. I must say on that occasion it did not seem like fun to me until we had safely landed after our joyride.\nOne day, shortly after joining the Bar, I saw a notice in a lift at Owen Dixon seeking applications from lawyers willing to be a Chairman of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (\"the SSAT\"). I did not know much about the social security legislation, but I was interested in people and in social welfare and I decided to apply. My application was successful and I found the work very interesting. We sat as a 3 member Tribunal with a public servant, a social worker and the lawyer, as the Chairman. I sat once a fortnight on a Friday afternoon. I enjoyed the mix of disciplines and learnt a lot, especially from the very experienced social worker with whom I sat. At that time our decisions were only recommendations, but so far as I know they were accepted.\nFriday afternoons were often a quiet time in Court , and the SSAT did not really interfere with my practice at the Bar. I took Chambers and developed a general practice doing some Magistrates Court \"crash and bash\", which was my least favourite type of work as I considered the results were often very random. I found it difficult to predict which driver the Magistrate would accept. I was surprised by some of my wins, as well as by some of my losses. After a time I seemed to develop specialties. I was often sent to the Childrens' Court to oppose applications that children be removed from their families, and also fought some such matters on appeal in the County Court. I did a number of Practice Court applications for an extension of time, in which to commence personal injury litigation. I did some Family Court work and some building and contract cases.\nI was pleased that I had come to the Bar as it had always had a mystique or allure, but in some ways I missed the ongoing contact that a suburban solicitor has with clients. Also there is a great deal of tension and strain in running a hotly contested matter, which may go on for several weeks. While it was great to have such work it was also stressful for me and for John and sometimes for the girls.\nThen one day in late 1980, out of the blue, I received a telephone call from Yolande Klempfner, who was, at the time, the Premier's Adviser on Womens' Affairs. She asked whether I would be interested in applying for the position of Chairman of the Equal Opportunity Board. The Equal Opportunity Act had been passed in 1977 and the term of appointment of the first Chairman was almost up. I understood that Yola was making similar calls to a number of possible applicants.\nAt first I was uncertain as to whether I wanted to leave the Bar so soon, but both John and my father thought I should definitely apply and so I went ahead. When I was told I had an interview, I bought a new dress for the occasion (\"the interview dress\", which I still have) and rather nervously entered the Department of Premier and Cabinet for the first time. The main thing I remember being asked was whether I would feel overawed if I had QC's appearing before me. I replied that as I lived with one and did his washing etc, (John having taken silk by that time) I was not likely to be overawed. I had the feeling that it was that answer which clinched the interview for me.\nI was appointed on 2 March 1981. I found my position had varied responsibilities. An important one was educating the community about the concept of equal opportunity. Rather to my surprise I found I had speaking engagements even during my first week in the job. I remember feeling it was rather like jumping into a swimming pool, to give my first lunch time talk about equal opportunity when I had had practically no time to get accustomed to the new position. But jump in I did, and I seemed to swim alright, so from that time on I enjoyed my speaking engagements. I liked meeting all the different school, country and city groups who invited me as speaker and dealing with the varied questions.\nI also had an office and staff to manage, which was another new experience for me, in which I was very much assisted by the Registrar, Karen Maynard. In my new role, I became exposed for the first time to the workings of government and endless meetings of highly paid public servants about compliance with United Nations Conventions. The aim seemed to be to do as little as possible, and say as little as possible about what we were actually doing, but to clothe that little in very precise language. Having some input into the drafting of new legislation, for instance amendments to the Equal Opportunity Act to make discrimination on the ground of disability unlawful, was more rewarding.\nI found that I very much enjoyed conducting the hearings of the Equal Opportunity Board. In some cases we had to decide whether there had been unlawful discrimination, and in others whether there was a valid reason to grant an exemption from the provisions of the Act. We always sat as a three member Board and I valued the experience my fellow members, Ian Sharp, a former Judge of the Australian and Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, and Don Ross, a former Commissioner of the State Bank and of the Housing Commission of Victoria, brought to our work. In those days there was a great deal of supportive media interest in the work of the Equal Opportunity Board, and the media was present whenever we delivered a reserved decision. Usually our decision would be reported on the news that evening.\nWhen it was coming close to the end of my three year term, there was no indication given to me as to whether or not I should expect to be reappointed. I was perhaps rather old-fashioned and felt that it was for the government to advise me of its intentions rather than for me to seek an indication. During that period I saw an advertisement for Senior Members of the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the \"AAT\"). I decided to apply. There were some delays for various reasons, but eventually I was offered and accepted a tenured appointment to age 65 as a Senior Member of the AAT. The Victorian government appeared to be surprised that I had applied for another position, and, by arrangement between the two governments, I held both positions for part of 1984, although I did not actually do any hearings for the EOB, and the Registrar and other staff ran things there and only rarely asked me for input.\n At the AAT I had found my perfect position and I stayed there for the full 21 years remaining till I turned 65. In 1984 it was very rewarding to be a Senior Member of the AAT. The work was exciting. The idea of having external merits review of the decisions of public servants was innovative, not only in Australia but internationally. After a period of some resistance among the higher echelons of the public service, the AAT, under its wise and learned first President, The Honourable Justice Gerard Brennan, had gained general acceptance, and recognition of the high standard of its decision-making.\nWhen I started, The Honourable Justice Daryl Davies had recently become the second President of the AAT. He was assisted by Deputy Presidents Alan Hall and Robert Todd. The Act required that reasons for decision be delivered and it was impressed upon the Senior Members that our work was to be of a very high standard. We were expected to take great care with, and pride in, our decision writing and to clearly set out the relevant legislative provisions as well as our reasoning leading to our findings of fact; and to explain how the legislative provisions applied to the facts as we had found them. Where we were setting aside the decision under review, it was important that we explain clearly to the decision-maker why the decision had not been the correct or preferable decision, but it was also always appropriate to write our decisions so that a lay party could understand and follow the reasoning. In order to assist us in producing work of a high standard, all full-time Senior members were entitled to a legally qualified Associate as well as a personal assistant.\nAs I had done before on the SSAT and the EOB, we usually sat as a three member tribunal and there was much to be gained from the combined experience of the many part-time members with very different specialist expertise ranging from medicine, social work, business, the armed services, aviation and other qualifications.\nI am very much a \"people sort of person\" and I felt privileged to share the life stories of the many applicants who appeared before us, either in person or with legal representation. When the legislation allowed us to right what appeared to be a wrong, that was satisfying. Where it did not, it sometimes seemed to me to be worth pointing out to the legislature in the reasons for decision, that, in the particular circumstances before us, the legislation might not serve the purpose desired, or might be able to be finely tuned to provide a more just result .\nIn the early days of my appointment, there were not very many Senior Members of the AAT, and so the Sydney and Melbourne full-time members were expected to travel quite a bit, especially to the states which had few members. It was great fun to visit and sit in Perth, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide, often for two weeks at a time, with a weekend free for sightseeing in the middle. Each state seemed to have slightly different customs or styles of advocacy and that added interest. Also meeting and sitting with, and sometimes visiting the homes of, the interstate members added to a friendly collegiate atmosphere. In later years there were more members in each state, and less interstate interchange, and I certainly travelled less.\nAnother aspect of the role of the AAT which particularly suited me, was our flexibility as to the procedures we adopted. As I have explained in a number of published articles, The AAT Act 1975, in s 33(1)(b), provided that the Tribunal should conduct its proceedings with as little formality and technicality as a proper consideration of the matters before it permitted; and, in s33(1)\u00a9, that the Tribunal was not bound by the rules of evidence and may inform itself on any matter in such manner as it thinks appropriate, always of course complying with the rules of natural justice.\nPerhaps because of my parents' continental background, and in particular my father's discussion of these matters, I have never been convinced that an adversarial system of justice is clearly preferable to an inquisitorial or investigative system of justice. The AAT Act allowed me to consider the application of some flexibility in hearings. Although some learned Presidential Members had declared that the AAT was not an inquisitorial body, there were some instances where the opposite view had been expressed. I became very interested in this issue. I sometimes suggested to the parties that certain evidence be called in order to inform the Tribunal as to a certain issue. I also started to publish papers on the powers of the AAT and its use of those powers to achieve a fair result. In that connection I also wrote about the use of expert witnesses in hearings.\nI presented papers at a number of conferences and my interests extended to cover papers on disability issues, such as one on Access to Justice for people with Severe Communication Impairment. I enjoyed the intellectual exercise of writing and presenting papers on somewhat controversial areas.\nAs I have already said, I remained a Senior Member of the AAT until my statutory retirement age of 65 in 2005. There were some changes over those 21 years, which to me did not seem to improve the independence or standing or high standards of the Tribunal, but I adopt the view of Justice Brennan in his opening address at the 1996 conference to mark the Twentieth Anniversary of the AAT:\nHaving been away from the coalface of the AAT for seventeen years, I do not presume to pontificate on what, or more significantly, who the AAT should be to-day.\nAs I came close to my statutory retirement age, I realised that although I did not mind the idea of semi-retirement, especially as John was retired by then, I did not want to give up all professional legal work. I first applied to become a member of the Aboriginal Housing Board of Victoria. It was an honorary position and after I was appointed, I learnt that I was the only applicant for the position which required legal qualifications. There were interesting aspects of the work, new people to meet and work with, and some travel to hold Board meetings in country areas and meet the local aboriginal communities. But there were also some conflicts and tensions as to management and governance issues and, after about eighteen months, I tendered my resignation.\nDuring my working career, I had realised that I was particularly interested in medico-legal issues. I had been a member of the Committee of DEAL Communication Centre (now the Ann McDonald Centre) for many years and as already mentioned had worked to have discrimination on the ground of disability made unlawful under the Equal Opportunity Act 1978 (Vic), and had written on disability issues. I decided to apply for positions on hearing panels under various health professional regulatory Acts, and to apply for appointment to the Mental Health Review Board.\nI was successful in being appointed to the list from which hearing panels were selected under the Medical Practice Act 1994 and under legislation for the regulation of Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Nurses. I was not appointed to sit on many hearings but, when I did sit, it was always interesting and challenging in many different respects. Although still eligible to sit, I have not been asked to do so since many of the Boards were brought together under the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (\"AHPRA\") in 2009.\nI found that I had a philosophical difference of opinion on the issue of the current significance attached to sexual relations between health professionals and former patients, where both were adults and there was no evidence of coercion or demonstrable undue influence. As research by others has shown, the odds of removal from practice (ie suspension or cancellation) were 22 times higher [81%] in cases in which doctors were found to have had a sexual relationship with a patient compared with all other cases, such as errors in care delivery, poor clinical judgement or lack of knowledge. ( Removal of doctors from practice for professional misconduct in Australia and New Zealand Elkin, Spittal, Elkin and Studdert BMJ Qual Saf published online July 21 2012).\nIt seemed to me that the argument that there must always be undue influence due to an imbalance of power in such relationships was more an article of faith than a matter that could be proven in each case. Eventually, I wrote and delivered a paper on the issue (Is there as much need for Protection as Health Professional Boards and Tribunals seem to believe? Delivered to the 14th Greek\/Australian Legal and Medical Conference in Greece in 2013).\nLuckily my application to become a member of the Mental Health Review Board was successful. I have now been sitting as a part-time member of the Board and, since July 2014 of its replacement, the Mental Health Tribunal, for almost ten years. I have found the work both interesting and informative as well as very rewarding. I have learnt a lot about mental illness, its causes, its treatment and the distressing consequences for those who suffer with it. Once again, the interactions with colleagues from different backgrounds have been enjoyable and it is good to still be using my legal skills in an informal hearing situation.\nThe law has provided me with very many challenges, many worries and sleepless nights, but continuing interest and intellectual stimulation and many rewarding friendships and other relationships. I am ever grateful to my parents for giving me the encouragement and advice to study law, and to Arthur Turner for letting me enrol in the Law School, in spite of my unimpressive performance at that first interview. I am also grateful to Professor Zelman Cowen for persuading and encouraging me to continue and complete my course and to all the employers and colleagues and staff who have helped me along the way.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-golden-reunion\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Yarran-Mark, Gningala", "Entry ID": "AWE5647", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/yarran-mark-gningala\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Aboriginal rights activist, Lawyer, Manager, Solicitor", "Summary": "Gningala Yarran-Mark has a law degree from the University of Western Australia and has established a successful career working in Western Australian resources companies working in management positions. In 2016 she holds the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Co-ordinator at UGL Limited, having also worked for Jacobs, Sinclair Knight Merz and BHP in similar roles. She earlier worked as Associate to Justice French at the Federal Court, the first Aboriginal law graduate in Western Australia to attain such a position, and as a Public Prosecutor for the Western Australian Department of Public Prosecutions.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Gningala Yarran-Mark for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Gningala Yarran-Mark and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\nI often get asked about role models and how important they are to the journeys we make.\nThe greatest role models in my early life consisted of a mother and father who strived to make the most of their circumstances and built the family home on strong values such as hard work, ethics, discipline, commitment and determination. My mother would often quote simple life messages that I live by, one of those quotes, \"Education is the golden key that unlocks many doors\", was a motivator for the attainment of higher education.\nMy father had the most significant influence in my decision to become a legal practitioner. Before the establishment of the Aboriginal Legal Service as we know it today my father, David Yarran and his cousin-brother Ivan Yarran were the very first Aboriginal court officers for the Aboriginal Legal Service in Perth, Western Australia. My father was quick witted and highly intelligent, in fact my mother would often refer to his stunning intellect. Sadly my father did not get the chance to go to University. My father grew up in an era where Aboriginal children were barely allowed a primary school education let alone advancement to a University qualification, in fact the primary school Principal needed to provide written permission in order that an Aboriginal young person gain entry to high school.\nMy father's advocacy functions started in my early years on the Mt Magnet Reserve in the 1960's, he was often called upon by the local police to act as mediatory between the police and many of the Aboriginal persons coming into contact with the criminal justice system to ensure our community where given an opportunity to be heard and for the police to extract information that was not forthcoming in many instances because of the mistrust of the police compounded by language barriers.\nOur household would be \"shattered\" by the untimely death of my father's dad who unfortunately died in police lock-up after having been removed from the streets for vagrancy, despite the fact that he had a fixed address and resided with my mother and father. My grandfather's death fuelled my father's determination that no other family should have to suffer the indignity of the loss of a family member in \"questionable\" circumstances. My father was a part of a delegation to the steps of old parliament house in Canberra to fight for the rights of Aboriginal Australians to have adequate legal representation at a time of heightened hostilities toward Aboriginal people who were forced to live on the periphery of society.\nI grew up witness to endless phone calls in the middle of the night from distressed Aboriginal persons in lock-up concerned for their physical well-being and a steady stream of peoples seeking advice and information from my father once the Aboriginal Legal Service was established. I remember through all of this my father maintained a brutal regime to ensure others were represented, educated, comforted and consoled. I recall as a 10yr old girl I declared that as my father was the very first Aboriginal court officer I would go on and become the first lawyer in the family. Reflecting back I can recall responding to my grade 5 teacher when quizzed on what I was going to be when I grow up, I emphatically answered that I was going to be a lawyer.\nMy household had undergone some considerable changes as a young child, my mother and father divorced, my father was deceased at age 42, mother deceased at age 49. As a result of the volatility of the household I did not go to University as originally planned, I left home early as a result of a falling out with my mother. I was married at age 19 and a mother of 5 children at age 26. Finally at the tender age of 31 I was ready for the rigours of University after having worked in a number of areas including health, education, employment and training both in government and Aboriginal community controlled organisations.\nI was accepted to the Aboriginal Pre-Law program in the summer of 1996. In that same year I bumped into my grade 5 Teacher who asked me whether I was a lawyer yet and I was able to state that I was embarking on my journey, sadly neither my mother or my father were alive to see me take this enormous leap of faith. I made it through the Pre-Law program and was offered a place at the University of Western Australia, I was ecstatic.\nThere is really no description for the enormity of the task of completing a University degree, particularly with a household full of children. Whilst I was an exceptional student at school, particularly in English, thanks to my mother and her passion for reading. I recount the story to my children about how my mother had me reading \"Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee\" as a 13 year old, not because I had to, but because she had described the horrors of a history I wanted to better understand as it was similar to the atrocities committed on my ancestors.\nMy learning journey was one hell of a ride. In my first year I failed dismally, only able to successfully complete one compulsory unit. From that day on I vowed and declared that I would apply the same commitment, dedication and attention to detail that I applied to all of the other challenges that I had faced prior to commencement. If anyone ever states that they achieved single handedly I would suggest that they may in fact be embellishing the facts, in my experience no one ever makes it on their own. Coming from a large extended Aboriginal family I had many hands to make my learning journey that much more bearable. I had brothers that would extend themselves financially to support my household, sister-cousins that would step in as 'mothers' to my children and wonderful friends that encouraged me and were gracious enough with their time to spare me a listening ear. One friend in particularly I referred to as 'my wise one', who coaxed me, consoled me, counselled me and cheered for me when I finally finished.\nFinishing was not without its ups and downs. My ups included the following;\n\n2000 Gloria Brennan Scholarship recipient\n2000- 2002 Vincent Fairfax Fellowship - inclusive of a research project in Fiji and attendance to an ASEAN Conference in Bangkok, Thailand\n2001 Aboriginal Student of the Year - UWA Aboriginal Student Corporation\n2001 University funding to attend the World Anti-Racism Conference in Durban, South Africa\n2004 Aboriginal Scholar of the Year Award for NAIDOC Perth\n\nSome of the more trying times included the commencement of divorce proceedings in 2000 and the subsequent sale of the family home meant I found myself homeless as a single mother with 5 children to care for. Fortunately for me my extended family came to my aid and I was housed for a time whilst I completed my studies in order to secure full time employment and re-entry into the labour market.\nUpon my 2002 graduation I was successful at obtaining a post as an Associate to Justice Robert French at the Federal Court, the first time an Aboriginal law graduate in Western Australia had ever attained such a position. It was particularly refreshing to receive a message from Justice French when he was appointed Chief Judge to the High Court of Australia that history had been made in that moment I was appointed. After completion of a 12 month term at the Federal Court I made application to do Articles at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and was successful. It was the first time that an Aboriginal law graduate had successfully applied to complete articles with the Director of Public Prosecutions in Western Australia. I was admitted in 2004 and completed my restricted practice whilst at the Director of Public Prosecutions in Western Australia and was the first Aboriginal State Prosecutor in Western Australia.\nUpon graduation I was aware of the need to give back to my Aboriginal community and I did this by being a Mentor with the Law Society of Western Australia. Another of my mother's pearls of wisdom was a quote that stated, \"once you have reached your goal it is incumbent on you to give back to others who may follow\". My parents had grown up in a world where our Aboriginality meant 'exclusion' and my mother was of the view that for those of our community that were resilient enough to climb to the top of their chosen profession we needed to provide support and encouragement for others to aspire to great things. My mother lived by her philosophies and I am still reminded today of how many people's lives she transformed by being a positive, outspoken, resilient remarkable women.\nI exited the legal fraternity in 2007 to embark on a new journey into the world of mining and business. My learning journey is not yet complete I will graduate with Master in Business Leadership in 2016 with the view to attain a PhD shortly thereafter. My passion for learning has inspired my 5 children to go on and complete University education. Of my 5 children I have the twins in the performing arts, one a graduate of WAAPA (WA Academy of Performing Arts) the other a final year student at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art), my eldest daughter is a Sports and Exercise Scientist who is going on to do Medicine in 2016, my second youngest daughter will finalise her Political Science and History Arts degree in 2016 and my youngest daughter will finalise her Environmental and Sustainability degree from Murdoch University in 2016.\nI continue to give back to the community by involving myself in committees and reference groups across such areas as Law and Justice, Health, Native title and business development. Legal training and experience as a legal practitioner gives you a greater understanding of technical frameworks that then allows you to create opportunities for training others across a range of disciplines. I work with a number of student support services and donate my time talking to young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about the importance of education and the importance of making a difference in your family and your community, raising the awareness about how to positively impact your own life and that of others.\nI will continue to seek out new adventures and new experiences to add to my arsenal before I exit this life. Part of my new pathway is in the presence of an amazingly supportive and inspiring husband who challenges me to challenge myself and my community. I look forward to the next part of my journey as a newly married women with a powerhouse for a husband and an empty nest now that my children have all left home.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wilson, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5648", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wilson-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "The Hon. Margaret Wilson QC was a barrister and judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland.\nShe is known for her contribution to mental health law, as the first judge of the Mental Health Court and as the Commissioner who inquired into the closure of the Barrett Adolescent Centre, as well as for the part she played in procedural and substantive law reform in Queensland through her membership of the Rules Committee and the Queensland Law Reform Commission.\n", "Details": "Margaret Wilson was born in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1953. Her parents were not lawyers - her father was a civil engineer, and her mother, a former nurse, was active in community organisations. Like many parents, they valued hard work and education, and with their encouragement, Margaret excelled in her studies. In 1970, she completed her schooling at Clayfield College as school captain and dux and won an open scholarship to study at the University of Queensland.\nInitially enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts, Margaret majored in Japanese language and culture. In her third year of study, she undertook two subjects in the TC Beirne School of Law, beginning her lifelong interest in the law. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1973, and a Bachelor of Laws with Honours in 1976, winning a number of academic prizes.\nMargaret entered the legal profession as an articled clerk at Feez Ruthning & Co (now Allens) and was admitted to the bar in 1979. She developed a broad practice, advising and appearing in all areas of civil litigation, including administrative law. In 1992, she was appointed Queen's Counsel. Outside the demands of her practice, she was a member of the Bar Association of Queensland's Committee (now Council), a Legal Aid Commissioner and board member, and a member of The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for the State of Queensland.\nIn August 1998, Margaret was appointed a judge of the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Queensland. It was a time of significant change in the composition of the court, and in the way civil and criminal cases were conducted. She was the fourth woman to join the Supreme Court.\nIn her role as a Trial Division judge, Margaret sat on a number of high-profile cases, including a civil jury trial about the sexual assault of a pupil at a boarding school in regional Queensland, and the State's first judge-alone murder trial. She was a Commercial List Judge from 2009 to 2011, and an Additional Judge of the Queensland Court of Appeal from 2011 to 2012.\nSoon after her appointment to the bench, Margaret joined the Rules Committee where she served actively for 12 years. Comprised of representatives of all levels of Queensland courts, the Registry of the Supreme and District Courts and the Department of Justice, the Rules Committee finalised Queensland's Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 - one set of rules that applied to all civil proceedings in the Magistrates, District and Supreme Courts, simplifying litigation for the benefit of all who came before the courts in their civil jurisdiction. It also formulated the Civil Proceedings Act 2011 (Qld), which updated the statutory infrastructure supporting the Supreme Court of Queensland in significant respects. It repealed and replaced an array of provisions, many dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries, about the judicature system and some aspects of substantive law, as well as provisions about the structure of the Court, its registry and its officers. Margaret was impressed by the shared commitment and co-operative approach of everyone on the Rules Committee, and she took pride in its quiet achievements under the leadership of Justice Glen Williams and then Justice John Muir.\nIn 2002, Margaret became the first judge of the Mental Health Court. That Court's primary function is to determine the sanity and fitness for trial of persons charged with criminal offences. It was set up on the inquisitorial model, constituted by a Supreme Court Judge assisted by two experienced psychiatrists acting as assessors. The new Court benefited from the legacy left by its predecessor, the Mental Health Tribunal, which had been established in 1985. As the Court's first judge, Margaret performed a pivotal role in developing new procedures, consulting Health Department officers and medical experts, and presiding over the Court as it sat in Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns.\nMargaret's interest in court architecture led to her serving on an advisory committee associated with the design of the new metropolitan courthouse for the Supreme and District Courts of Queensland. It facilitated liaison between the judges, the architects, the builders and relevant Government departments involved in what was a significant public works project. The new building was opened as the Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law in August 2012.\nMargaret retired from the Supreme Court of Queensland in April 2014. Early retirement was a big decision for her, but she felt comfortable it was the right one. As she was leaving the court, she reflected on the previous fifteen and a half years as a period of enormous privilege and continuous challenge in her life. But she had always believed that there is a time to come and a time to go in all things, not least in public office - that renewal is important for any institution and for individuals. She vowed not to lose touch with her friends in the legal world, or to forsake her interest in the law.\nLater that year Margaret was appointed as a Justice of the Solomon Islands Court of Appeal and as a part-time member of the Queensland Law Reform Commission. She embraced both of these new roles with enthusiasm and industry.\nMargaret savoured the opportunity to participate in reshaping Queensland law in response to a number of contemporary challenges. The Queensland Law Reform Commission made recommendations for reform in a number of important areas over the six years she was a commissioner. These included civil surveillance and the protection of privacy, termination of pregnancy, expunging historical gay sex convictions and extension of mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse to the early childhood education and care sector. She holds Justice David Jackson (the Commission chair), her fellow commissioners and the small team of exceptionally talented legal and administrative officers in the secretariat in the highest regard. Despite frequent and intense pressure to meet tight deadlines, they never deviated from the pursuit of legally sound and practical solutions to what were often complex issues. The Commission's reports were produced by true collaboration in a harmonious and mutually respectful environment.\nIn September 2015, Margaret was commissioned to inquire into the closure of the Barrett Adolescent Centre, a facility for the treatment and rehabilitation of young people with severe and complex mental illnesses. The Queensland Government implemented all of the recommendations in her report, including the establishment of a new facility, Jacaranda Place on the campus of Prince Charles Hospital.\nShe is presently a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne Law School, exploring sub judice contempt of court and the internet.\nIn 2019 the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland Inc conferred its Woman in Excellence award on Margaret. She is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. Her career has been, and continues to be, one of diligent service in and to the law, marked with many professional successes. She has always set high standards for herself. As a judge she strove to approach every case with an open mind and to ensure all parties were given a fair hearing and the opportunity to respond to the case against them. She worked hard to produce summings-up and reasons for judgment that were thoughtful and expressed in clear and simple terms.\nMargaret is a very private person, embarrassed by focus on her personal qualities. She is independently minded and resilient, but quick to acknowledge the contributions of others and to ensure that they feel valued personally and professionally. She has often said how much she enjoyed working with the young people who were her associates - and they have consistently commented on her generosity of spirit, patience, kindness, and ability to relieve tension in the courtroom (for her associates, counsel and court staff alike). Her unique blend of personal and professional qualities is part of the rich tapestry of Australian women lawyers.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/margaret-wilson\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bennett, Joan", "Entry ID": "AWE5649", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bennett-joan\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Home Hill, Queensland, Australia", "Death Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Joan Bennett was a trailblazing solicitor who established the first law firm in Brisbane in which one of the founding partners was female. She established several successful law firms and was prominent in the Council of the Queensland Law Society.\n", "Details": "Trailblazing solicitor Joan Bennett was born on 26 August 1942 in Home Hill, near Townsville. She had a close relationship with her father, Charles Beames, with whom she shared a brief professional association. Despite the set-back of rheumatic fever, Joan was both socially and academically outstanding at school. She was a prefect who won several scholarship awards and numerous prizes for languages. The general expectation was that Joan would marry and have children. Consequently, she did not feel pre-destined for a career in the law, despite her father and cousin being prominent lawyers. She enrolled in an Arts degree in 1961 at the University College of Townsville (later to become James Cook University). In her first year of university, Joan attended the North Queensland Law Association annual dinner with her father where she met Beryl Donkin, a trailblazer who became a generous mentor to Joan. After her first year, Joan transferred to the University's Brisbane campus to study law.\nJoan delayed her degree between 1964 and 1966, when she married medical practitioner Geoffrey Bennett and had two children. In 1966 she commenced Articles of Clerkship with her father in his practice. Joan's father sadly passed away in a car accident in 1967. Joan's mother suffered a breakdown following her husband's death and moved in with Joan and the young boys. After failing subjects, Joan made the difficult decision to leave her children in her mother's care and move to Brisbane to complete her degree. She was strongly supported by Kerry Copley - a fellow student who went on to become a Queen's Counsel.\nAs a woman, Joan was discriminated against at university. On occasion Joan, along with trailblazer Quentin Bryce were removed from cases that were \"too sensitive\" for a woman. Yet when Joan was admitted as a solicitor on 16 December 1969, she was admitted along with several other women including Elizabeth Nosworthy and Elizabeth Gill.\nJoan tried to seek employment with Crown Law in Brisbane, but was denied amidst comments that women were not welcome in the firm. As a result, Joan decided that her only option was to set up her own practice. In 1970 she went into partnership with a colleague from university, establishing the first law firm in Brisbane in which one of the founding partners was female. The same year as Joan established her practice, her son was diagnosed with leukaemia. He tragically died the following year.\nJoan's firm was successful but the partnership came to an end and Joan went into partnership with a former clerk and was joined by other partners in Bennett and Associates. Her firm quickly became one of the largest suburban practices in Brisbane. In 1984, Joan left the firm and established a practice in Mt Gravatt where she practised alone from 1992. Joan's sister, Anne was a great of support to her throughout the practices, working as Joan's bookkeeper since 1972.\nJoan was a foundation member of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland in 1978 and remained a member since that time, serving as social secretary in 1987-88, and in other capacities on the executive committee for a number of years. Joan was also an inaugural member of the Zonta Club, an organisation that advances the status of professional women. As women's issues officer in 1978-79, Joan helped to organise and run the first major women's forum in Brisbane.\nIn addition, Joan was a member of the Legal Practitioners' Admissions Board, a director for the Queensland Law Foundation and a member of the LawAsia Conference 2005. Her commitment to continuing legal education saw her chair and participate in the Queensland Law Society Symposium Committee over a number of years. In 1998, with the encouragement of existing Council member and friend Patricia Conroy, Joan nominated for and was elected as one of few women on the Council of the Queensland Law Society and was Vice-President of the Queensland Law Society's Southern District Law Association.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/joan-bennett\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Conroy, Patricia", "Entry ID": "AWE5650", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/conroy-patricia\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Death Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Community Leader, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1965, Patricia Conroy (nee Herlihy), established two partnerships with Martin Conroy in 1966 that remained steadfast - marriage in July and then a business partnership in December. In the intervening period, the couple travelled to the remote north Queensland town of Mt Isa, where they established their firm, Conroy and Conroy Solicitors. Conroy was the first woman to practise in remote north-western Queensland, and she was one half of the first husband and wife partnership to practice state-wide.\nPatricia Conroy was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Working in Mt Isa took some getting used to, and the remote location presented some challenges that practitioners from Townsville, let alone Brisbane, could never imagine, but there was plenty of work to be done and the Conroys quickly established themselves as hardworking and caring counsel. The mining town environment created a diverse professional landscape; from crime to conveyance and commercial work, the tragedy of personal injury and estate settlements and the complexity of family law, the Conroys handled the full complement of legal matters one could expect in a regional community. In so doing, it became apparent to Patricia the number of services, such as social workers, or marriage and financial guidance counsellors, Mt Isa lacked, because she seemed to be providing many of these services herself!\nSeeing community problems that needed solutions, she sought to find them. While running a successful partnership and raising a family of four children, Conroy contributed time and energy to important community initiatives. She was Foundation President of the Mount Isa Welfare Council, foundation member of the Mt Isa Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service and the Honorary Solicitor and Trustee of the Kalkadoon Aboriginal Sobriety House, to name only three organisations she contributed to. 'One of the great advantages of being a lawyer,' observes Conroy, 'especially living in a country town, is that the public observes you to have flexibility and clout\u2026' She used that clout to make a difference to the lives of Aboriginal and other marginalised people living in Mt Isa, and to women who might not have otherwise sought help in the masculine mining town.\nAnother advantage Conroy acknowledges is the importance of the support she had in the early year when she was establishing her professional practice and her community leadership. Be it the inspiration provided by her father, who left school at fourteen but with commitment and persistence became a solicitor and sole practitioner, the encouragement of her husband and partner at important moments, or the all day child care her children received from a 'wonderful woman', Conroy was conscious of the importance of support networks you could rely on, as well as the importance of trying to maintain 'work\/life balance', before the phrase was even coined.\nAfter fourteen years in Mount Isa, the Conroys moved to Gympie to practise, where Patricia continued to work for community organisations concerned with the welfare of women and children. In 1985 they moved to Brisbane where she and Martin established Conroy and Associates in Toowong, and where they practised until retirement. Patricia was a member of the Council of the Queensland Law Society from 1996 - 2004, serving as a member of the Professional Standards committee for some years. She was invited to serve on the boards of energy providers, SEQEB and Powerlink, experiences that she found challenging and inspirational as they brought her in touch with outstanding people. She was a founding member of the Queensland Women Lawyers Association.\nIf Patricia Conroy didn't coin the phrase 'women can have it all, but not all at once', she certainly endorsed its truth by example! 'The goals I set for myself,' she says, 'were to achieve a balanced life, to have a happy marriage and be a reasonable mother and at the same time have a rewarding professional life.' By any measure, including her own, she achieved those goals and made an important contribution to the legal profession, and community life in Queensland.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/patricia-conroy-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McCay, Beatrix", "Entry ID": "AWE5652", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mccay-beatrix\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Canterbury, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Volunteer", "Summary": "Beatrix (Bix) McCay was the second woman to sign the Victorian Bar Roll when she did so in 1925. Unfortunately, her career at the Bar was cut short by a diagnosis of tuberculosis and the requisite sojourn in a sanitorium and subsequent convalescence. She nevertheless went on to contribute to public life through her involvement in numerous community organisations, including the Red Cross and the Girl Guides.\nGo to 'Details' below to read a tribute to Beatrix McCay written by her daughter in 2009, for which permission to reproduce has been granted for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Sophie Quinlivan (Beatrix McCay's daughter) and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\nBeatrix (Bix) McCay was born on 8 January, 1901 in Castlemaine. Her only sibling, Mardie was 4 years older. Both spoke of a childhood in which one of the highlights was being read to by their father, both stories and verses he wrote for them and the \"Thinking\" games they would play. This 'pre-school' education in language, literature, classics and mathematics was delivered by no mean teacher - their father, James McCay was, in 1885, co-owner and co principal of Castlemaine Grammar School, was M.A., LLM., wrote for The Argus and from 1901 to 1906 was a member of the Federal Parliament, Above all, James McCay was passionate about the rights of women to obtain as good an education as their male counterparts, and he did all he could to ensure that his daughters received that good education.\nBix's early formal education was at Castlemaine with a brief interlude at the Ballarat convent. Her mother died suddenly in July, 1915, the same month that her father was wounded in Gallipoli so her latter secondary years from 1916 were spent as a border at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Burke Road, East Malvern.\nIn 1918, Bix commenced her studies at Melbourne University, initially for a Bachelor of Arts, but in 1919 began a combined Arts\/ Law course. She was in residence at Janet Clarke Hall from 1918 to 1920. She enjoyed university life, participating in many extra curricular activities including theatre, sport, particularly hockey and regular volunteer service at Yooralla Kindergarten for disabled children\nShe bought a motorbike and became a familiar figure in breeches, leggings and leather coat around the University and, after graduation, around Melbourne town itself. To quote Smith's Weekly's Sidelights on 09.01.32:\n\u2026. It was the said Bix who in her Janet Clarke Hall days used to startle the natives by careering around on a motorbike clad in breeches and leggings.\nIn 1923, Bix graduated LLB (with honours) and in 1925 graduated LLM being, at that time, only the third woman to have done so. She did her articles with Moules Solicitors.\nIn 1925, she was admitted to the 'Bar', the second woman to be admitted to the Bar, in Victoria. Bix read with Bob Menzies. She was the only woman at Selbourne Chambers at that time and it was with great joy and pleasure that she spoke of those two to three years. She had a great admiration for Menzies and I believe he respected her ability. She greatly enjoyed discussing points of law with other lawyers, was very quick mentally, was accurate in her analysis of material, had a good sense of humour and was a good speaker. I particularly admired her impromptu speaking.\nUnfortunately, her career at the Bar was cut short by a diagnosis of tuberculosis and the requisite sojourn in a sanitorium and subsequent convalescence.\nIn August 1930, she married George Reid, my father, the marriage having been delayed considerably because of her lengthy convalescence.\n.\nBix had always been very close to her father and the early completion of my parents' home-to-be enabled her to personally care for her father in his final illness until his death in October 1930. She and George actually planned the house with a view to her father's comfort, having a specially long bath to accommodate his wounded, unbending leg.\nFrom mid 1933, being a mother as well as a good wife claimed most of Bix's time. Happy memories of my early childhood included wonderful bed-time stories, poetry and thinking games (styled on her own experience, I expect). When I was older, weekend meals could be very long because of great discussions. Guests were fascinated by their length and by the number of reference books which ended up on the table!\nDuring the 1939 - 1945 war, there was some discussion as to whether Bix should return to the law, but she felt she'd been out of it for too long and her child was still quite young. She therefore volunteered for the Red Cross Transport Services, for which women drove their own car on Red Cross duties. She did this from 1941 to 1947. My mother was a good and experienced driver - prior to her marriage the motorbike had been superseded by a car which, at this time, was a 1937 Oldsmobile. Red Cross Transport did do C.B.D. \"waste collection\" using a large truck on which Volunteers did training sessions. Manipulating this through the narrow lanes of the Melbourne CBD and manipulating the bales of waste from back door to truck was a challenge my mother accepted with alacrity and really enjoyed.\nMy mother was associated with the Girl Guide movement from 1925, until the late 1960s. Initially she was a guider and later became a member of the State Council, and State Executive. She was convener of the Property Sub-committee. Also she drafted the first constitution for Victoria and was very much involved with the work relating to their Act of Parliament. On her retirement from guiding she was given the Emu Award.\nShe was a Special Magistrate of the Children's Court at Box Hill from 1937, probably up to the late 1960s. She used to sit on alternate Monday afternoons. She was an active member of the Children's Court Magistrates Association and was vice-president for at least one term.\nIn 1952, she also became an Official \"Visitor\" under the Children's Welfare Act.\nIn 1953, she was awarded a Coronation Medal.\nShe was a great believer in Mens Sana in Corpore Sano and played golf once a week at the Croydon club where she was president of the Associates for a year or so. She was also a member of the Box Hill Archery Club.\nMy mother was a great support to my father when he was a member of the Legislative Assembly. He won the seat of Box Hill in 1947, but lost it in the next election. He then regained it and held it till his retirement in 1973. People found it easy to pour out their troubles to my mother - she was a great listener and could often suggest a solution herself, and if she could see that their local Member's help was what was required, she would assist them with preparing submissions to him. She was very interested in my father's parliamentary activities and would often spend time in 'the visitors' gallery, especially when my father was speaking.\nFate may have denied my mother a stellar career at the Victorian Bar, but I think she was very satisfied with the life she had. She was absorbed in her many voluntary activities in which her special talents and legal training were invaluable. Also she had a wonderful marriage, was best friends with her only child, had a loving family and an army of friends in all walks of life.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-barristers-in-victoria-then-and-now\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Nicholas, Rhondda", "Entry ID": "AWE5653", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nicholas-rhondda\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Director, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Rhondda Nicholas is an experienced employment lawyer at Nicholas Dibb, where she is the principal solicitor. She established OzPropertyLaw; the first legal practice in Australia to offer fixed fee conveyancing services online in every state and territory.\nA graduate of the ANU Law School, Rhondda also holds a BA (Hons) in political science from ANU and a Master of Philosophy from Griffith University, Qld in Australia - Asia relations.\n", "Details": "Rhondda Nicholas recognised early the possibilities for improving client service that was offered by the Internet. She also understood that consumers wanted lawyers who delivered service in plain English and who were open and transparent about their fees.\nActing on these concerns, in June 2003 Rhondda established Australia's first online or virtual law firm, Ozpropertylaw Pty Ltd, delivering residential and commercial conveyancing services direct to consumers. In developing Ozpropertylaw, Rhondda sought to set up an online legal service that was more convenient for clients in that they could communicate with solicitors and paralegals online and access their documents 24\/7; which gave them certainty about the legal fees they would pay for the service up front; and which harnessed technology to provide a more efficient service.\nConsumers reacted by registering with Ozpropertylaw.com for their legal property services from its inception. Commencing practice in the ACT and NSW in 2003, Rhondda steadily added other states and the Northern Territory. By 2010 Ozpropertylaw Pty Ltd provided conveyancing and property legal services in each state and territory. Ozpropertylaw Pty Ltd is a pioneer of fixed fee conveyancing and consumers are able to obtain an instant online quote from its website. In 2015 that is still unusual in legal practice in conveyancing.\nRhondda attracts and maintains a multinational staff to reflect her client base and so that clients are comfortable with Ozpropertylaw's professional and administrative staff.\nRhondda spoke about the pitfalls in online law firm service delivery in March 2010 at the Sinch Online Legal Services (SOLS) Conference in Sydney, Australia. At the SOLS Conference in Sydney in March 2011 she spoke about legal costs and online consumers. In March 2012 her presentation focussed on developments in UK conveyancing and lessons for Australia and in May 2014 Rhondda spoke about the need for lawyers operating in the online environment to develop business skills.\nAs owner of the boutique law firm, Nicholas Dibb Solicitors, Rhondda advises employment law clients on difficult issues arising within the workplace and suggests solutions acceptable to all parties. Rhondda and her team have produced Fair Work compliant contracts for law firm clients and real estate agencies in several Australian states. Nicholas Dibb Solicitors practises in employment law, discrimination, commercial law and dispute resolution.\nRhondda is presently working on innovating service delivery in other legal areas to facilitate client engagement with solicitors online.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Prott, Lyndel Vivien", "Entry ID": "AWE5654", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/prott-lyndel-vivien\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Lyndel Prott (AO (1991), \u00d6st. EKWuK(i) (2000), Hon FAHA; LL.D. (honoris causa) B.A. LL.B. (University of Sydney), Licence sp\u00e9ciale en Droit international (ULB Brussels), Dr. Juris (T\u00fcbingen) and member of Gray's Inn, London, is former Director of UNESCO's Division of Cultural Heritage and former Professor of Cultural Heritage Law at the University of Sydney.\nShe has had a distinguished career in teaching, research and practice.\nAt UNESCO 1990-2002 she was responsible for the administration of UNESCO's Conventions and standard-setting Recommendations on the protection of cultural heritage and also for the negotiations on the 1999 Protocol to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict 1954 and for the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage 2001. She contributed as Observer for UNESCO to the negotiations for the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects 1995.\nShe has authored, co-authored or edited over 300 books, reports or articles, written in English, French or German and translated into 9 other languages. Currently Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland, she has taught at many universities including long distance learning courses on International Heritage Law.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-lyndel-prott-and-patrick-okeefe-1978-2003-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-lyndel-prott-1970-1990-manuscript\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kings, Kathryn", "Entry ID": "AWE5655", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kings-kathryn\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Judge Kathryn Kings is a judge of the County Court of Victoria, a position she has occupied since 2009. As of January 2015 Kathy became the judge in charge of the Court's Family Property List which includes cases relating to deceased estates. She takes an active role in managing the litigation in that List, including mediating settlement conferences. She also undertakes work in the Court's Personal Injury List, which includes cases involving workplace injuries, transport accidents and medical negligence, trial being by judge alone or by jury.\nBefore coming to the County Court, Kathy was an Associate Judge, formerly known as a Master and Listing Master of the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1993 to 2008. She was the first female judicial officer appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria. In that Court she was actively involved in the management of civil proceedings, including acting as a mediator and sat on numerous committees in relation to civil procedure.\nPrior to being appointed as a judicial officer, Kathy practised as a litigation lawyer both in city and country law firms. Immediately prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court she was an Associate at Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King & Wood Mallesons) from 1987 to 1992. She graduated from the University of Melbourne (LLB in 1974 and later LLM in 1984).\nOutside of the law, Kathy is a passionate advocate for educational institutions that provide opportunities for young women. She is currently a member of the school board of Korowa Anglican Girls' School in Glen Iris. Kathy was also a board member of Wesley College and MLC. Kathy was also the Chair of the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Royal Women's Hospital from 2004 to 2006, and a director of the Nurses Memorial Centre from 2005 to 2009.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McLure, Carmel", "Entry ID": "AWE5656", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mclure-carmel\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "The Honourable Justice McLure's career began at the University of Western Australia where she obtained a Bachelor of Jurisprudence with Honours in 1976 and a Bachelor of Laws with Honours in 1979. Amid her studies, she took on the role of assistant private secretary to Senator Durack, the former Commonwealth Attorney General, from 1977-78. She later became the private secretary to Senator Durack before departing for Oxford University where she obtained her Bachelor of Civil Law in 1983.\nUpon return to Western Australia in 1984, Justice McLure joined a corporate law firm and became a partner there in 1987. Her Honour gained wide experience in civil litigation, particularly in the areas of administrative law, corporations and trade practices law and professional negligence. She became head of the firm's litigation division in 1993.\nJustice McLure went on to practise as a barrister and in 1997 was appointed Queen's Counsel. On 23 April 2001, the Supreme Court welcomed Her Honour to the Bench. She became a member of the Court of Appeal upon its inception in 2005 and was appointed as President of the Court of Appeal in November 2009.\n", "Events": "Appointed Companion (AC) in the General Division, Order of Australia: For eminent service to the law and to the judiciary in Western Australia, to legal administration and professional development, and to the community through contributions to tertiary education and arts organisations. (2016 - 2016)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Truong, Pauline", "Entry ID": "AWE5657", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/truong-pauline\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Vietnam", "Occupations": "Entrepreneur, Lawyer", "Summary": "Pauline Truong came to Australia with her extended family as a refugee baby. She studied Science\/Law at the University of Melbourne and went on to be the first person of Vietnamese background to be awarded the prestigious Justice Lionel Murphy International Postgraduate Award for attendance at UCLA Law School to complete postgraduate studies. Her thesis (with empirical research) on international and comparative law at UCLA Law School received top score from a world-renowned and distinguished Law Professor from Columbia Law School and UCLA Law School.\nDescribed as a socio-legal entrepreneur, Pauline is working on some interesting innovations for global commercialization and impact.\n", "Details": "Honored in the Worldwide Who's Who VIP, Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in American Law and the Queen's Trust, Pauline Truong is originally a Vietnamese Boat Person with over twelve years global experience in international law, business, education, public-speaking and a track record of awards.\nShe is one of, if not the first, Australian-Vietnamese woman to receive Honorable Order (U.S.A.) for her global innovation, leadership and contribution. The prestigious honor has been including President Bill Clinton, President Ronald Reagan, President George Bush, President Johnson, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, John Glenn, George Clooney, Elvis Presley, Johnny Depp, Betty White, Muhammad Ali, Whoopi Goldberg & Billy Ray Cyrus.\nPauline is featured on Forbes (USA & Global), MOGUL (USA), Examiner (USA), The Boston Globe (USA), Postgraduate (EU), Social Media Week (USA), Nagoya News (Japan) and other media globally. She will be the first person of Australian and Vietnamese origin to be inducted into the Millennium Global Woman of Honor.\nAs a Vietnamese refugee fleeing Vietnam after the war with her extended family, Pauline is very grateful for all the opportunities that the global leaders and community have offered her. Her family first migrated from China to Vietnam, and then a generation later risked their lives to reach Malaysia from Vietnam on their family boat after the war. They were blessed to receive refugee status in Australia and expanded internationally thereafter. At each transition, it was necessary to 're-build' part of their lives and businesses. Whilst it was challenging initially, this later became an asset for the globalization of her work, businesses and lifestyle.\nAs a minority woman, Pauline studied and worked very hard, winning scholarships and awards frequently (since childhood) to attend selective schools and be with the top people around the globe. Pauline attended MacRobertson Girls' High School, winning the General Excellence, Oreads and Melbourne Community Chest Awards. Upon graduation, she studied Science and Law at the University of Melbourne, on the E. Richards Scholarship, where she was the Convener of the Cultural Collective and Polyglot Magazine.\nAt Law School, most of her friends' parents were judges, partners in law firms, owners of well established businesses and\/or other distinguished professions. As a migrant student, she realized that her career could be interesting by being 'different.' Whilst completing her studies, she undertook community and advocacy work for various state and national Ethnic Community organisations, and government organisations to promote access and equity to the law. Pauline also initiated and developed new community educational programs with the Equal Opportunity Commission. She also guest lectured at various government organisations and at Melbourne Law School whilst taking on many leadership roles and other public speaking engagements.\nAfter graduation from Melbourne Law School and a period of legal practice, Pauline was the first person of Vietnamese background to be awarded the prestigious Justice Lionel Murphy International Postgraduate Award for attendance at UCLA Law School to complete postgraduate studies. Her thesis (with empirical research) on international and comparative law at UCLA Law School received top score from a world-renowned and distinguished Law Professor from Columbia Law School and UCLA Law School.\nPauline has served as a Young Ambassador where she worked with the United Nations, State Law Office & Parliamentarians on U.N. Conventions, human rights, gender and diversity issues. She has been an Editor and Board Member of the prestigious Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs (JILFA) and Asian Pacific American Law Journal (APALJ) and Vice-Chair of the Los Angeles Bar Association.\nDescribed in Forbes (USA) as a 'Dynamic Entrepreneur Shaping the Global Economy,' Pauline is a passionate Founder and C.E.O. of Ascendo International Group and a share- and stake- holder in a conglomerate of global companies, specializing in innovations to help global clients in: Innovation & Start-Ups, International Legal, Government, Investments, Trade & Business, Strategic Internationalization, M & A's, Immigration and Real Estate. Her peers and colleagues now 'witness the business acumen, strategic vision and networking expertise she brings to her clients.' (Todd Moster - Attorney & Author)\nAs a socio-legal entrepreneur, Pauline is working on some interesting innovations for global commercialization and impact. She is also the Founder of ShePreneurs.com, a global platform endorsed by celebrities that empowers and celebrates global entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds in a 'different' way.\nMOGUL describes Pauline as having had 'a true dream career that has spanned across multiple areas' and 'an inspiration who is giving back to the community.' She is honored to be a Global Adviser to famous Public Figures, global Guest Lecturer & Public Speaker, at UCLA Law School, international universities, professional conferences & events and Philanthropist. She is also an Ambassador and regional representative for UCLA Law School for the U.S.A., Australia and Asia. Moster Esq states that 'even in a world brimming with talented people, Pauline brings a breathtaking energy level and generosity of spirit to the table that is truly unique.'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Gallagher, Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE5658", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gallagher-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer, Teacher", "Summary": "Anne Gallagher AO is a lawyer, practitioner, teacher and scholar, specialising in human rights and the administration of criminal justice. She obtained a BA and LLB from Macquarie University; a Masters of International Law from the Australian National University; and a PhD from the University of Utrecht.\nAfter teaching international law for several years at ANU, Anne sat for the national competitive examinations to enter the United Nations and was recruited in 1992 to the UN's human rights operations. From 1998 to 2002 she was Special Adviser to Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Ireland. During that time Anne was at the forefront of developing the new international legal framework around transnational organized crime, migrant smuggling and human trafficking.\nSince resigning from the UN in 2003, she has been working with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its ten Member States to strengthen legislative and criminal justice responses to human trafficking and related exploitation. This Australian-government funded program - the world's largest and most ambitious criminal justice initiative against trafficking - has been acclaimed for its impact on laws, policies and practices within and outside the ASEAN region and Anne's contribution has been widely recognized, including by the ASEAN Secretary-General.\n", "Details": "Anne has combined her career as a UN official and high-level development professional with a vocation as a teacher and independent, self-funded scholar. She has published widely in the areas of human rights and criminal justice and is, according to the United States Government, \"the leading global authority on the international law on human trafficking\". Her publications in this field include articles in major journals including Human Rights Quarterly and Virginia Journal of International Law; the official legal commentary to the UN Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking; and the sole legal reference text on this subject, The International Law of Human Trafficking, published by Cambridge University Press and awarded the 2011 American Society of International Law Certificate of Merit - Honorable Mention. The companion volume, The International Law of Migrant Smuggling, was published in 2014 to high acclaim.\nAnne continues to advise the United Nations and is the author of many UN and ASEAN documents, handbooks, research reports and training materials on human trafficking, human rights, criminal justice and the rule of law. From 2012-2015 she led in a multi-year research project, mandated by the United Nations Crime Commission, focusing on problematic elements the international legal definition of human trafficking and is currently leading a similar initiative examining the international legal definition of migrant smuggling. During the period 2011-2015 Anne was an invited guest lecturer at Cambridge University; Oxford University; the University of Glasgow; the Australian National University; the American Society of International Law; Harvard University; American University; Johns Hopkins University; Duke University; and Stanford University. In 2014 she was appointed Co-Chair of the International Bar Association's Presidential Task Force on Trafficking in Persons. Also in 2014 she was made a member of the High-level Advisory Group to the Director-General of the International Organization for Migration and, in 2015, a Member of the Track II Dialogue on Forced Migration in the Asia-Pacific Region. In 2016 Anne joined Doughty Street Chambers, the UK's leading human rights and civil liberties chambers.\nIn November 2011 Anne was awarded the inaugural Australian Freedom Award for her international work against contemporary forms of slavery. In June 2012 she was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), the country's second-highest civic honor. This appointment was made for her: \"distinguished service to the law and human rights, as a practitioner, teacher and scholar, particularly in areas of human trafficking responses and criminal justice\". Also in June 2012, Anne was named a \"2012 Hero\" by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton \"for her ambitious work in the global fight against modern slavery\". In 2013 she received the inaugural Australian National University Alumni of the Year award and, in 2015, the \"Peace Woman of the Year\" award from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-international-law-of-human-trafficking\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/anne-gallagher-worldwide-hero-class-of-2012\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "de Gruchy, Rayne", "Entry ID": "AWE5659", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/de-gruchy-rayne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Johannesburg, South Africa", "Occupations": "Chief Operating Officer, Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Rayne de Gruchy migrated as a child to Australia in 1962. She was educated at St Hilda's school in Southport, Queensland and went on to graduate with a BA (UQ) in 1975. After spending some time working and travelling overseas, de Gruchy returned to study law (LLB with honours) at the Australian National University. She was admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales and Queensland in 1981, and in Victoria in 1985.\nShe then worked in private practice and a variety of large firms throughout the 1980 and 90s:\n\nPrivate practice, property and commercial, Morris, Fletcher and Cross, Brisbane (1981-85)\nPartner and lawyer Freehill, Hollingdale and Page, Melbourne (1985-92)\nDirector, MLC Building Society (1989-95)\nCouncillor, Law Institute of Victoria (1989-95)\nPractised at Melbourne and Brisbane Bars (1992-94)\nExecutive Director Crown Law Queensland (1994-95)\nExecutive Director Australian Financial Institutions Commission (1996-99)\nCEO Australian Government Solicitor (AGS) (1999-2010)\nDeputy CEO Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) (2010-14)\nChief Operating Officer ACCC (2014- )\n\nDe Gruchy's leadership as the inaugural CEO Australian Government Solicitor was integral to the successful evolution of the AGS to a fully commercial and competitive national law firm. She was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001, a PSM in 2003 and an AM in 2008. She left the AGS in later in that year, commencing with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission where she is now Chief Operating Officer.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/de-gruchy-delivers-major-achievements\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Lusink, Margaret (Peg)", "Entry ID": "AWE5660", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lusink-margaret-peg\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Tocumwal, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Judge, Lawyer, Professor", "Summary": "Peg Lusink was the first Victorian woman appointed to the judiciary and also the second woman appointed to the Family Court, when it began operations in 1976. Prior to her judicial appointment, Peg was a Partner at Corr and Corr, working principally in the areas of matrimonial causes and family law. She briefly practiced at the Melbourne Bar before becoming a Family Court Judge. Upon retirement from the Family Court, in 1990, Peg became one of the foundational Professors in the Law Faculty at Bond University. In 1996, Peg accepted another judicial appointment, becoming the President of the Commonwealth Professional Services Review Tribunal. In that same year she was appointed AM for law for services to the Family Court and the community.\nPeg Lusink was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Peg Lusink was born in Tocumwal, New South Wales to Joan Rosanove QC and Dr Edward Rosanove. She was educated first at Loreto Mandeville Hall and then later at Merton Hall. In 1939 Peg enrolled at the University of Melbourne to study law. At age 16, she also made history by being articled to her mother, Joan Rosanove. Six months later, in 1940, she married Dr Graeme Larkins and went on to have three sons. Upon Graeme's early death in 1959, Peg returned to the University of Melbourne in 1960, as a mature aged student, and completed a Bachelor of Laws degree.\nAdmitted to the Bar in 1965, Peg went on to become a Partner at Corr and Corr, Solicitors working in the matrimonial causes area. She practised briefly at the Victorian Bar before becoming Victoria's first female judicial officer and the second woman appointed to the Family Court in 1975. In 1984 Peg was appointed the Judge Administrator of the newly established Dandenong Registry of the Family Court and pioneered a progressive counselling approach to family disputes until her retirement in 1988.\nIn 1990 Peg became one of the foundational Professors in the Law Faculty at Bond University, teaching family law and running the Moot Court Program. In 1996, Peg accepted another judicial appointment, becoming the President of the Commonwealth Professional Services Review Tribunal, and in that same year was awarded an AM for law for services to the Family Court and the community.\nThe following essay was written with the cooperation of Peg Lusink in May 2016.\nLusink, Peg (Margaret) AM\nJustice of the Family Court of Australia\nPeg Lusink was the first Victorian woman appointed to the Judiciary of a Superior Court of Record and also the second woman appointed to the Family Court of Australia, when it began operations in 1976. Prior to her judicial appointment Peg was a partner in Corr and Corr, Solicitors, working principally in the area of family law under the then Matrimonial Causes Act. She signed the Roll of Counsel and worked as a barrister for a brief period until taking up her appointment in February 1976 on the newly established Family Court of Australia, which was created within the newly introduced Commonwealth legislation, the Family Law Act 1975. In 1984, upon the opening of the new Dandenong Registry she became the Judge Administrator where she was given the opportunity by the Chief Justice of the Court, Justice Elizabeth Evatt to pioneer a more progressive approach to family disputes. Upon resignation of her commission in 1990 she became one of the foundation professors in the Law Faculty of the newly established Bond University and in 1996 accepted another judicial appointment as President of the Commonwealth Professional Services Review Tribunal. In that year Peg received the honor of an AM for law, services to the Family Court and to the community.\nPeg Lusink was born in 1922 in Tocumwal, New South Wales. Her mother was Joan Rosanove QC, the renowned trailblazing female barrister at the Victorian Bar. Her father, Edward Rosanove, was a General Practitioner in Tocumwal at the time of Peg's birth, before the family relocated to Westgarth, in the inner northern suburbs of Melbourne. Peg was raised by parents who had a 'remarkable' relationship being 'absolutely devoted to each other' in their support of each other's professional careers (Interview Rubenstein). For a significant period of time Joan Rosanove was the only woman at the Victorian Bar and was unusual in pursuing a career in law at that time. Peg particularly adored her father who she says 'allowed her mother to work and was ahead of his time' (Interview Rubenstein).\nPeg's father relocated the family to London, England in 1932 to further his studies in dermatology. Peg's younger sister Judy was born in London, and when the family returned to Melbourne they lived in Toorak. Peg was enrolled first at Loreto Mandeville Hall and then later at Merton Hall. In 1939 Peg enrolled at the University of Melbourne to study law. This event was recorded by The Daily News in Perth as 'legal history' in the making with Peg articled, aged just 16, to her mother Joan Rosanove (Daily News).\nHowever, this period of time at the University of Melbourne and undertaking articles with her mother was short lived; she studied for six months and in 1940 married 'the love of her life' Dr Graeme Larkins (Interview Rubenstein). Peg went on to have three sons with Graeme and enjoyed many happy years of marriage living in Corryong, where life as a doctor's wife in the country guaranteed much community work and a good social life. Peg returned to England, again living in London, as Graeme pursued his medical career. Graeme's early death in 1959 left Peg bereft but nonetheless a young widowed mother with the responsibility for raising three sons. While law was never high on her list of priorities, and grieving the loss of her dearest companion and husband, Peg realised she had to provide an income for her family. Supported by her son John Larkins, who was already a law student at the University of Melbourne, in 1960 she returned to her studies in law.\nCompleting her degree at the University of Melbourne as a mature aged student, Peg found support from then Dean Harold Ford and from lecturers such as Sir Zelman Cowen and Professor Robin Sharwood. Peg was one of only four female mature aged students at the Law School.\nIn this environment she met another mature aged law student, Theo Lusink, a Dutch national who had re-located to Australia after World War 2 and joined the Royal Australian Air Force. In November 1964 she and Theo married. Soon after, at the beginning of 1965, Peg's admission to practice was moved in the Supreme Court of Victoria by her mother Joan Rosanove Q.C with her son John Larkins as her Junior. As a solicitor, she commenced articles with the law firm of Corr and Corr (as it then was). Almost immediately she was asked to run the then small matrimonial practice which was conducted under the existing State legislation, the Matrimonial Causes Act. At this time Peg quickly found support and friendship with members of the legal fraternity and was inspired by many including the Hon. Esler Barber who was in the Supreme Court sitting mainly on family disputes. In the late sixties Peg was made a partner in the firm, becoming the first woman to do so in a large prestigious commercial law firm in Melbourne.\nIn June 1974 Peg was called to the Bar reading with Bill Gillard, who would later become Justice Gillard of the Supreme Court. However, her time as a Barrister was short lived, as in February 1976 she was appointed a Justice of the Family Court of Australia becoming the first woman in Victoria to be appointed under the newly introduced Commonwealth Family Law Act 1975 and the first Victorian woman to be appointed to a Superior Court of Record. Peg was mentored among others by Chief Justice Elizabeth Evatt who she describes as \"a woman of great intellect\" (Interview Rubenstein). Peg further states that she was a woman of compassion and vision.\nHowever, the Family Court was in its infancy at a time of great excitement and anticipation, the radical reform legislation having been led and introduced by the Whitlam government. Peg recalls \"\"being thrown in at the deep end being given a whole new meaning\" as a Judge of a new and unexpectedly popular Court. A court \"without any mentors or experienced judges to tell us how to do it, no precedents to follow or assist, a brand new law to interpret and rule upon behavioural scientists who had had no training in the law and lawyers who had had no training in counselling. Having done a brief year of psychology -1 I was marginally better equipped- if you'd call it that and we were plopped in this commercial building and told to be a \"nice friendly helping Court\"\" (Interview Brodsky). In the early months Peg was operating in this environment with three male judges enjoying with them the stimulation and challenge of riding a steep learning curve in the shaping of this new court and its law.\nIn 1984 Peg was appointed to be Judge Administrator of the new Registry of the Family Court, which was established at Dandenong. It was an initiative of Chief Justice Evatt who provided five counsellors to one Judge, an unheard of ratio, and a more formalized Court setting with the idea of pioneering less adversarial solutions. This proved popular and very successful leading to Judges visiting at first from Melbourne, and later a second Judge being appointed by the Attorney General Mr. Bowen. During these years Peg was also invited by the Premier of Victoria to become Foundation President of the newly established Victorian Womens' Trust.\nUntil her retirement, aged 66 in 1988, Peg shared the Family Court bench in Australia with only a handful of women with whom she was on very friendly terms. These included Chief Justice Elizabeth Evatt and Justice Josephine Hemsley-Maxwell both from Sydney and Justice Kemeri Murray from Adelaide. Of this time historian Shurlee Swain observed \"Justice Peg Lusink's excitement at the prospect of change which the Family Law Act provided is shared by many of those with whom she worked during the early years of the Family Court. However much of the dream faded over subsequent years, they remain proud of the contribution they made to reforming the way in which the breakdown of relationships was managed in Australia. Hailed as the 'fulfilment of possibly the most humane and enlightened social reform to be enacted in Australia since the Second World War\" (Swain).\nRetirement from the law was to be a brief interlude. In 1990 Peg was approached by Bond University to join its newly created Law School. In these \"exciting times\" Peg taught Family Law and was instrumental in developing the Law School's Moot Court program (Interview Rubenstein). In 1992 Peg and her husband returned to Victoria where she and some like-minded Solicitors provided mediation for matrimonial disputes as an alternative to the adversarial alternative. Although \"mediation\" was in its infancy this proved very successful. This was in Benalla in the North East of the State and was conducted whilst her husband Theo continued his passion for farming.\nFurther appointments followed in 1996 with Peg becoming the President of the Commonwealth Professional Services Review Tribunal investigating medical professionals and Medicare fraud. Peg was also appointed a Member of the Adult Parole Board of Victoria and was awarded an AM for law for services to the Family Court and the community. In 2004, Peg was honoured with induction into the Victorian Women's Hall of Fame as a leader in law, women's health and education.\nHaving spent significant periods of her life in regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, Peg has contributed enormously to the cultural fabric of rural communities, forming many lasting friendships. In 1992, she convened the Friends of the Library in Euroa and subsequently became Chairperson and Honorary Life Member of the National Friends of the Libraries of Australia. She has also been a board member of a number of local hospitals and was the representative of the Euroa Bush Nursing Hospital on the Victoria Bush Nursing Hospitals Association.\nPrincipally considered a trailblazer for her appointment as Victoria's first female Judicial Officer of the Family Court and first female Partner in a Melbourne commercial law firm, Peg has been privileged, over nine decades, to observe tremendous social change and developments in the law. However, Peg's greatest achievements must also be noted to include the deep and enduring relationship with her two adored husbands and three sons. As Peg observes of her life both inside and outside the law: 'it's a great history' and 'an extraordinary journey' (Interview Rubenstein).\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2004 - 2004)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/born-in-hope-the-early-years-of-the-family-court-of-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law-in-family\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/peg-lusink-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rayner, Moira", "Entry ID": "AWE5662", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rayner-moira\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Dunedin, New Zealand", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Lawyer, Solicitor, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "Moira Rayner is a senior lawyer with particular expertise in workplace relations and anti-discrimination law, management and policy advice and investigations with a penchant for working closely with employers who appreciate the benefits of diversity and workforce participation. She chaired the Law Reform Commission in WA; was Commissioner for Equal Opportunity for Victoria; a Hearings Commissioner for the Australian Human Rights Commission; and an Acting Anti-Corruption Commissioner.\nIn 2016 she is a practising lawyer, conciliator, mediator and educator: some of her research and other appointments have included Melbourne University (Advisory Board Labour Law Centre; Senior Fellow), Deakin (Adjunct Professor, Centre for Human Services), RMIT (Adjunct Professor School of Social Inquiry); Murdoch (Visiting Scholar), UWA (Lecturer, Senior Fellow Law School, Visiting Fellow at the Australian Centre) and Curtin (Lecturer) and Australian Institute of Family Studies (Deputy Director, Research).\nGo to 'Details' below to read a reflective essay written by Moira Rayner for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Moira Rayner and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nMoira Rayner was born and educated in New Zealand. She was raised in a family environment of high academic expectations and Presbyterian values within a large network of extended family, in Dunedin. In her childhood New Zealand was socially, if not economically, a thriving and egalitarian country gradually coming to terms with its history of dispossession of the first Polynesian inhabitants and deliberate failure to meet its obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi (1840). Moira's family had been early settlers, and her great grandfather the Minister for Native Affairs, John Bryce, who was held responsible for much of the violent confrontations between Pakeha militia and Maori and especially for the dire consequences of imprisoning pacifist activists during the second wave of Land Wars in the latter part of the 19th century.\nIn her final year at Columba College, aged 16, Moira's family moved to Western Australia. At that time Perth was and seemed to her the most isolated capital city in the world.\nThroughout her subsequent career Moira has been and remains committed to the principle that every person has and should be able to exercise fundamental human rights at any age, whatever their personal characteristic such as social origin, 'class', race, disability and gender, particularly to participate effectively in the decisions that affect their lives.\nShe established and ran her own law firm in Western Australia for 14 years, chaired the Social Security Appeals tribunal for 7; then chaired the Law Reform Commission in WA for 4 years, publishing reports on the evidence of children and other vulnerable witnesses, consent to medical treatment, laws prohibiting incitement to racial hatred and the authority of Justices of the Peace, among others.\nMoira Rayner became Victoria's Commissioner for Equal Opportunity in 1990 and then a full time consultant to the international firm now known as Norton Rose Fulbright, where she established the firm's Discrimination Law Practice, for 6 years while she was also a Hearings Commissioner of the Australian Human Rights Commission.\nAfter setting up the Office of Children's Rights Commissioner for London (2000) she was appointed to the Anti-Corruption Commission and then its successor, the Crime and Corruption Commission before she returned to Victoria.\nShe is (2016-2017) Chair of the Law Institute of Victoria's Workplace Relations Section, which has 2700 members.\nMoira represents and advises employers on managing employee and management participation in workplace decision making as a solicitor in her current Melbourne practice. She has handled thousands of complaints and grievances as investigator, conciliator, mediator and arbiter; and conducted many law reform and quasi-judicial or investigative reviews including ethics and professional standards within the Anglican and Catholic churches; is an inspiring speaker, educator and trainer; mentors and supports people affected by investigations as well as managers affected by problems, and has also published two best-selling books.\nCareer Highlights\n\nMoira established her own legal firm in WA (1975): this practice regularly provided free legal services to grossly disadvantaged people particularly mental patients, Aboriginals, migrants, children, and abused and battered women from that time, and she continued to do so at the Western Australian Bar (1985-1990).\nFounding member of the WA Association of Family Law Practitioners and of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia: as member of its then Courts (Federal) Committee was responsible for drafting the Council's recommendations on the future of the Family Court (1987) under the chairmanship of the Hon. Daryl Williams QC later Attorney General in the Howard Coalition government.\nVice Chair of the Welfare and Community Services Review (WA, 1983-1985) which, inter alia, caused a controversially adapted behaviour modification program in a children's detention centre to be abandoned, introduced the concept of community-based services for children into the Department for Community Welfare, legislation and practice, and significant reform into the then child protection system (1983-84)\nChaired the WA Child Care Planning Committee (1984-85) - this Commonwealth\/State\/non-government collaborative body was responsible for planning, implementing and coordinating the first ever provision by government of planned child care services in Western Australia. The Committee involved all three levels of government - Commonwealth (establishment and recurrent fees, sitting fees), State (provided land, architectural services and project management) and Local (support to centre management committees.) in a new collaborative model. Its Chair reported to both the Commonwealth and the State Ministers for Community Services. The Committee, with minimal resources, planned and eventually caused to be built and operate 11 community-managed child care centres\/community houses with government-provided child care services, and changed the child care regulatory and inspection structure to enable a cost-effective model and an effective matching of supply and demand for child care across the community.\nEstablished Childright Inc, a voluntary association of lawyers for children and expert social workers, whose object was to improve the quality of decision-making by courts and tribunals affecting children in Australia, in 1986, on the model of the (then) effective Guardian ad Litem network in the UK\nAfter completing a Churchill Fellowship (1987) to study legal representation of children in the UK, established (with WA Law Society funding) the first training program for lawyers representing children in Australia (1988) through Childright.\nFirst woman Commissioner (full-time) (1986) and then first woman to be twice elected to chair the Law Reform Commission in Western Australia (second woman in Australia, after Elizabeth Evatt, to chair any LRC) 1988-90\nConsultant to the HREOC Inquiry, Our Homeless Children, wrote a report on WA's compliance with the Declaration on the Rights of the Child (1988).\nHelped establish and fundraised as well as chaired the Board of Directors of the National Children's and Youth Law Centre Inc. (1993-2000) (based in Sydney) raising the profile of children's rights and advocacy of their status and participation with government, including test cases on behalf of classes of children (Mt Druitt children's successful civil action for defamation against a newspaper that profiled their 'failure') and individuals. Its website, Kidstuff, won international recognition (2000).\nResponsible for the report for the (federal) minister for Family Services, The Commonwealth's Role in Child Protection, while Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Family Services (1995)\nIn 2000, established the Office of Children's Rights Commissioner for London, which modelled effective participation of children in its own activities and at regional government level, by the Mayor of the Greater London Authority. This office also consulted effectively with children on their views of government and their city, published the first of a series of ground breaking research reports, The State of London's Children (2001) and in partnership with the Greater London Authority, created the first children's strategy for one of the world's great cities to be predicated on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (2003, 2004) and which obliged the GLA to require consultation and evaluation of all mainstream strategies in terms of the Convention right of children to participate in decisions that affect them.\nAs Acting Commissioner for Equal Opportunity, WA, 2002 introduced a public inquiry into the reasons for the persistent and rising rate of complaints by Aboriginal people about their access to public housing and allegations of discrimination against the State Housing Commission (2002)\nWas a commissioner of the WA Anti Corruption Commission (2002-2004) and an acting (occasional) commissioner of its successor, the Corruption and Crime Commission (until 2005).\n\nAs Commissioner for Equal Opportunity in Victoria (1990-1994):\n\nEstablished the first Koorie community education and conciliation program by allowing it to be devised and run by Aboriginal staff to meet the unique needs of Aboriginal and TSI community in accessing equal opportunity complaints and a responsive community education regime\nBy instituting proceedings for injunctive relief pending the resolution of the Commission's finding that women prisoners detained in men's prisons were subjected to discrimination, preserved the rights of women prisoners and ensured that government plans to close women's prisons and collocate women with male prisoners were abandoned. The then Kennett government had proposed to close women's prisons and co-locate men and women detainees in Pentridge Prison, in 1993. The Commission had conducted a formal statutory investigation into co-detention of women and men prisoners and concluded that such would be unlawful discrimination against women. Her public stand on this issue led to the proposal not being proceeded with, and her role being temporarily abolished.\n\nRayner has been a social commenter and advocate of the rights and civil liberties of all peoples to participate fully and on terms of moral equality as citizens of their chosen communities, throughout her career. She has published and participated publicly on the proper uses of power in a representative democracy, civil society, ethics, and the human rights of disadvantaged groups, particularly children.\nDetails of many of Moira Rayner's published articles, conference papers, magazine and newspaper columns and speeches can be found at or through her website.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-womens-power-handbook\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/feminist-fighter\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/foreword\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rooting-democracy-growing-the-society-we-want\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Brasch, Jacoba", "Entry ID": "AWE5663", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/brasch-jacoba\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "Jacoba Brasch was admitted to the Bar in 2000 and has developed a practice in family law, mental health law, and customs and excise. She has appeared in matters in most States and Territories of Australia and often appears in the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia. Jacoba has also appeared a number of times in the High Court of Australia with those appearances concerning customs and excise, as well as Family Law matters and the Hague Convention (child abduction).\nPrior to coming to the Bar, Jacoba spent the 1990s in law-related government jobs, including Press Secretary to an Attorney-General. In 2000, Jacoba completed an LLM at New York University as a Fulbright Scholar and NYU Graduate Merit Scholar. In 2010, Jacoba graduated with a PhD from the University of New South Wales where her doctoral thesis concerned what constitutes a fair, independent and impartial trial, using Australian courts martial as her subject matter.\nJacoba holds a Bachelor of Arts, Masters in Public Administration (UQ), a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (QUT), LLM (NYU) and PhD (UNSW).\nShe has Chambers in Brisbane, Cairns and Melbourne.\nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Jacoba Brasch for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Jacoba Brasch and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nDr Jacoba Brasch QC recalls a defining moment from her high school years - she and four other Grade 10 girls had approached the Headmistress to ask if they could continue with both French and German in Grade 11 and 12 in lieu of biology - usually, only one language was permitted and biology was compulsory. \"No!\" said the Headmistress. \"Why?\" asked one of the girls. Said the Headmistress, \"biology is a prerequisite for nursing, and you meet so many doctors that way.\"\nWithout underestimating the vital importance of nursing, the answer was seared in Jacoba's brain, and from that moment, she determined to chart her own course, not constrained by traditional expectations. Ironically, of the five girls attending on the Headmistress that day, Jacoba later won a Fulbright Scholarship and is now one of Australia's most highly respected family law barristers and a Queen's Counsel. Another was awarded the Caltex Woman of the Year Scholarship to an Oxbridge university, ultimately becoming a professor in law, and another is also a leading Queen's Counsel in criminal law. They were not allowed to drop biology. None of them married doctors.\nOn completing her secondary education, Jacoba embarked upon a long list of university degrees, whilst always working full time and supporting herself, and then her family. Indeed, Jacoba jokes she has more letters after her name, than in it - two Bachelor degrees, two Master degrees and a PhD. Her family roll their collective eyes when she raises doing another BA \"because I'd really like to know about Lady Jane Grey, who was Queen of England for 15 days.\" Asking the \"why\" question is something which has long shaped Jacoba's approach to life, an attribute she hopes she is instilling in her daughters.\nAt university, Jacoba studied politics at UQ, both at undergraduate and Master's level; her Master's thesis concerned the Role of Women in Local Government. At the same time, she worked at Channel 7 Brisbane and then for the Fitzgerald Corruption Inquiry inspired Electoral and Administrative Review Commission. Jacoba was then appointed Press Secretary to the Hon Dean Wells, Attorney-General of Queensland. This was pivotal for Jacoba, as it opened her eyes to the power, importance and symbolism of the law. Whilst working as the Attorney's Press Secretary, Jacoba started a Law Degree, studying part-time and externally at QUT.\nShe graduated with First Class Honors, and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. Consequently, she undertook an LLM at New York University.\nOn her return to Australia from New York, Jacoba was admitted to the Bar in 2000 and has developed a practice in family law, mental health law, and customs and excise. She has appeared in matters in most States and Territories of Australia and often appears in the Full Court of the Family Court of Australia. Jacoba has also appeared a number of times in the High Court of Australia with those appearances concerning customs and excise, as well as Family Law matters and the Hague Convention (Child Abduction).\nJacoba was Junior Counsel to Tim DOJ North SC in a successful High Court challenge to the standard of proof by which customs prosecutions must now be conducted (Chief Executive Officer of Customs v Labrador Liquor Wholesale Pty Ltd [2003] 216 CLR 161). Jacoba also acted for the mother (without a Silk leader) in a high profile child abduction case which also found its way to the High Court of Australia (RCB as litigation guardian of EKV, CEV, CIV and LRV v The Honourable Justice Colin James Forrest [2012] HCA 47).\nHowever, Jacoba would say that she is most proud of some of the quiet pro bono work she has undertaken, including: acting for a woman to have her birth certificate changed from male to intersex; or, acting for the parents of a woman who was killed by her husband in securing for them decision making rights with respect to their grandchildren; or, acting for a young male transgender individual, to obtain an order from the Family Court authorising him to undergo hormone replacement therapy.\nNotwithstanding a leading family law practice at the Bar, and her own growing family, Jacoba completed a PhD which she started at ANU and then transferred, with her supervisor, to UNSW. Her doctoral thesis concerned what constitutes a fair, independent and impartial trial, using Australian courts martial as the subject matter.\nUpon the completion of her PhD, and thus with a little free time, Jacoba has been actively involved in the governance and policy leadership of the Bar Association of Queensland and the Law Council of Australia. She has held, or currently holds many leadership positions, some of which include:\n\nLaw Council of Australia (\"LCA\"), National Chair, Domestic & Family Violence Taskforce;\nLCA, elected Member, Family Law Section Executive;\nLCA's representative at a roundtable held by the Royal Commission into Institution Responses to Child Sex Abuse;\nTreasurer, Bar Association of Queensland (\"BAQ\");\nMember, Bar Council, BAQ;\nChair, Family Law Committee of BAQ Council;\nBAQ Nominee to the Law Council's participation in private roundtables held by the Royal Commission into Institution Responses to Child Sex Abuse;\nBAQ Nominee to the Premier's Domestic and Family Violence Task Force Summit;\n Member, Curriculum Advisory Committee, College of Laws, for the College's Master of Applied Law (Family Law) and Master of Laws;\nDelegate, Australian Bar Association's Advocacy Delegation to Vanuatu;\nDelegate, Australian Bar Association's Advocacy Delegation to Bangladesh;\nState Judge, Fulbright Commission;\nBoard Member, QUT Law Founder's Scholarship Committee;\n Member, Quinquennial Curricula Review Committee, Bachelor of Laws, QUT.\n\nJacoba holds a Bachelor of Arts, Masters in Public Administration (UQ), Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (QUT), Masters of Law (NYU) and PhD (UNSW).\nShe took Silk in 2014.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Beazley, Margaret Joan", "Entry ID": "AWE5664", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/beazley-margaret-joan\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Hurstville, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "The Hon. Margaret Joan Beazley AO, AC was an Australian judge. She was both the first woman to sit as a Judge of Appeal on the New South Wales Court of Appeal in 1996, and the first woman to occupy the position of President of that Court in 2013. She retired from that court in 2019.\nShe has been described as a \"fierce advocate for women in the legal profession\", and in 2006 was designated an Officer of the Order of Australia for her \"service to the judiciary and the law, particularly through contributions to professional and ethical standards, to the advancement of women in the legal profession and the community.\"\nShe was sworn in as Governor of New South Wales in May 2019, and made a companion (AC) in the general division of the Order of Australia on Australia Day, 2020 for her eminent service to the people of New South Wales, particularly through leadership roles in the judiciary, and as a mentor of young women lawyers. \nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Margaret Beazley for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Margaret Beazley and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nBorn in 1951, Margaret Beazley grew up in Hurstville in the St George area. She was the middle child of Gordon and Lorna Beazley. Neither of her parents had the education that she did - growing up during the Great Depression and WWII, \"their opportunity to become educated in the formal sense irrevocably slipped by.\" Her father worked as a milkman to support his five children. Nonetheless, both of Beazley's parents were very supportive of education, and worked to ensure their children were provided with the opportunities not available to them.\nBeazley attended St Declan's Primary School, Penshurst, before moving to St Joseph's Girls High School, Kogarah for junior high school and Mount St Joseph, Milperra for senior high school. The latter two schools were run by \"Brown\" Josephite Sisters, named after the brown habits that they wore.\nThe two years that Beazley spent at Milperra were particularly formative. She was taught by a number of inspiring women, including Associate Professor Patricia Malone, who was known to her as Sister Jude, and Nora Finnucane, known as Sister Stanislaus. Beazley has described these woman as having \"immense intellects and\u2026 extraordinary vision, particularly regarding what women could do and should be doing.\" The ethos of the school was that the girls could and should be encouraged to pursue tertiary education, and to follow the career path of their choosing. Beazley demonstrated leadership from these early days, being elected captain of both her junior and senior high school.\nBeazley commenced reading for a Bachelor of Laws at Sydney University Law School in 1970. That year also coincided with the publication of Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch, and is often regarded as a turning point in the feminist movement. Women remained a minority at law school, although Beazley's class contained an unusually high number of women, many of whom went on to build very successful careers. Other notable alumni from Beazley's graduating class include Professor Margaret Somerville and Irene Moss. Beazley graduated with Honours in 1973.\nAfter graduating, Beazley completed her articles with the law firm Winter & Sharp. She was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court in February 1975, although had but the briefest career as a solicitor, being called to the Bar in March of the same year. Life at the Bar commenced for Beazley on the ninth floor of Selbourne Chambers. She read with Murray Tobias, who would later become one of her colleagues on the Court of Appeal. Beazley was the only female on her floor at that time. She has recalled the difficulty of this \"peer deprivation\" in her professional life, but developed a close camaraderie with members of the Bar and with her instructing solicitors. In particular, Beazley formed a friendship with the Honourable Justice Jane Matthews AO, the first woman to serve as a Crown Prosecutor, to be appointed as a Judge of the District Court of NSW and to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW.\n As one of the pioneering women at the Bar, other difficulties which Beazley was required to contend with included the difficulty persuading male solicitors to brief a female barrister, and the pervasive attitude that women at the Bar should only work in Family Law. However, Beazley built a flourishing practice in equity, commercial and administrative law, and was appointed as Queen's Counsel in 1989 - colloquially known as 'taking silk'. In 1991, Beazley moved to the sixth floor of Selbourne Chambers. One barrister who appeared against her described her as \"a friendly, co-operative, but also tenacious and formidable forensic opponent.\"\nWhilst still at the Bar, Beazley gained a taste of judicial life. From 1984 to 1988, she served as a judicial member of the New South Wales Equal Opportunity Tribunal. In 1990 and 1991, she served as an Acting Judge of the District Court of New South Wales. In 1991 and 1992, she served as an Assistant Commissioner of the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption.\n In January 1993, Beazley was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, the first female appointment to sit solely as a judge of that Court. Whilst on the Federal Court bench, she was a member of its Finance, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Court Liaison and Gender Awareness Committees. In 1994, she was also commissioned as an additional judge of the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court and the Industrial Relations Court of Australia.\nFrom 1994 to 1995, Beazley was a consultant to the Australian Law Reform Commission, assisting with the reference on \"Gender Bias and the Law\". This reference resulted in a substantial, two-part report addressing the failures of the law to deal effectively with violence perpetrated by men on women, and the specific laws and practices of the legal system that contribute to women's inequality.\n On 29 April 1996, Beazley was sworn in as a Judge of Appeal on the NSW Court of Appeal, the first woman to be appointed to such a position. As she joked at her swearing in, she would be sitting alongside a \"Chief Justice and eight wise men.\" This would remain the situation until the swearing in of the Honourable Justice Ruth McColl AO in 2006.\n In 2006, Beazley chaired the advisory committee of the Judicial Commission of New South Wales which prepared the \"Equality Before the Law Bench Book\", intended to enhance the ability of the courts to deliver equal justice according to law. Recognising that equality before the law will not always be achieved through treating everybody equivalently, the Bench Book provided guidance to judicial officers on taking into account different backgrounds, cultures, lifestyles and socioeconomic disadvantages.\nBeazley's abilities as a jurist and leadership within the Court of Appeal recommended her for the position of President of the Court of Appeal. She was sworn in as President in March 2013, again making legal history by being the first woman to hold this position.\n In addition to her rich judicial career, Beazley has contributed to the development of the law through her involvement in academic activities. She is the Chair of the NSW Chapter of the Australian Institute of Administrative Law, and the author of many articles on diverse areas of the law. In May 2008, she was awarded Doctor of Laws honoris causa (Hon LLD) by the University of Sydney. She is a co-author of the book \"Appeals and Appellate Courts in Australia and New Zealand\" (LexisNexis, 2014) with Dr Paul Vout and Sally Fitzgerald, and a contributor to Sappideen and Vines (eds), \"Fleming's The Law of Torts\" (Lawbook Co, 2011, 10th ed).\n Beazley has maintained strong involvement in the community, including through her positions of member of the Advisory Board of the Centenary Institute, patron of the Toongabbie Legal Centre and President of the Arts Law Centre of Australia. In October 2013, Beazley was awarded Life Membership of the NSW Bar Association for exceptional service to the Bar Association and to the profession of the law.\n Beazley has used her influence to improve the number and status of women in the law. She has set a strong example through her own career progression, becoming one of the most senior women judges in the country. She has mentored and inspired many women to become barristers, regaling them with her own tales of battling what was an unshakable old boys club, and backing them to do it successfully even if that means precariously juggling family and life commitments. In 2012, Beazley was named one of the Australian Financial Review's \"100 Women of Influence\" in the category of \"diversity\", recognising women who have dedicated themselves to advocating for a more diverse workforce and who have helped make the change happen. In 2013, Beazley was the recipient of the Women Lawyers of NSW Lifetime Achievement award.\nFor leisure, she relishes the company of her family including her two daughters and son, with whom she enjoys theatre, music and any form of sport (except boxing).\n\n", "Events": "Judge of Appeal of the New South Wales Court of Appeal (1996 - ) \nPresident of the New South Wales Court of Appeal (2013 - ) \nGraduated in law, with honours, from the University of Sydney in 1974 (1974 - 1974) \nJudicial Member of the Equal Opportunity Tribunal (1984 - 1988) \nActing District Court Judge (1990 - 1991) \nAssistant Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (1991 - 1992) \nJudge of the Federal Court of Australia (1993 - 1996) \nJudge of the Industrial Relations Court of Australia from 1994-96 (1994 - 1996) \nJudge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory (1994 - 1997)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/margaret-beazley-biography\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Segal, Jillian Shirley", "Entry ID": "AWE5665", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/segal-jillian-shirley\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa", "Occupations": "Chairperson, Commissioner, Director, Executive, Lawyer", "Summary": "Jillian Segal has held executive and non-executive positions in a variety of Australian corporations and across the financial sector. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors, Member of the Harvard Club of Australia, Member of Chief Executive Women and Founding Co-Chair, Women Corporate Directors (Australian Chapter).\n", "Details": "Jillian Segal has a BA LL.B from the University of New South Wales and an LL.M from Harvard Law School. She started her law career as a judge's associate to The Right Honourable Sir Anthony Mason at the High Court of Australia after graduating from Law School with the University Medal.\nAfter completing her Masters at Harvard Law School and working in a New York law firm, Jillian returned to Sydney to become a Senior Associate and later a partner at Allen, Allen and Hemsley in the corporate and environment fields.\nShe then become a Commissioner and later Deputy Chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). After completion of her five year term, she was a member of the Dawson Review into the Trade Practices Act. In 2003 she set out to pursue a non-executive career. Since that time, she has held a range of corporate and government advisory board positions including as \u00a0Non-Executive Director of the National Australia Bank, ASX Limited and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research; a Trustee of The Sydney Opera House , a Member of the Australian War Memorial Council and Chairman of the General Sir John Monash Foundation. Segal was Deputy Chancellor of UNSW Australia 2010 - 2019. She has also served on the Banking and Finance Ombudsman Board, the Administrative Review Council and the Federal Government's Remuneration Tribunal.\nJillian Segal was created a Member of the Order of Australia in 2005 and Officer of the Order of Australia in 2019.\nShe is a former Preisdent of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and in July 2024 was named as the first Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism in Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cameron, Leah", "Entry ID": "AWE5666", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cameron-leah\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Tasmania", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Leah Cameron is a Palawa woman from Tasmania and the Principal Solicitor and owner of Marrawah Law, a Supply Nation certified Indigenous legal practice. Her primary areas of practice are native title, cultural heritage, future acts and commercial law.\n", "Details": "Leah Cameron's passion for her work is unwavering and has assisted her in achieving six native title consent determinations to date. Her efforts were recognised in 2008 when she was awarded the Tasmanian Young Achiever of the Year Award in the category of Trade and Career Achievement. Her commitment has also led to her being awarded the Centenary Medal of Australia and the Robert Riley Law Scholarship whilst studying at the University of Tasmania. Her greatest honour was being asked to negotiate and repatriate her ancestors' remains from the British Museum in London on behalf of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.\nLeah is a regular contributor to the National Talk Black radio program presenting on topical legal issues. She is also a director of Access Community Housing and a member of the Queensland Law Society, North Queensland Law Association and the Far North Queensland Law Association.\nSome of her significant achievements in the field of law include:\n\nActing for first Indigenous homeowner (99-year lease) under Indigenous Home Ownership program in Queensland;\nActing as solicitor for the applicants in the Djiru People #2 and #3 native title consent determinations 2011; \nActing as solicitor for the applicant in Wanyurr Majay People native title consent determination 2011; \nActing as solicitor for the applicant Jirrbal People #1-#3 native title consent determination 2010; \nSupervising solicitors with the successful consent determination of the following native title matters: Muluridji, Djungan, Combined Gunggandji, Gugu Badhun, Jangga, Juru, Tableland Yidinji and Combined Mandingalbay Yidinji Gunggandji;\nSuccessfully preparing the first application for National Heritage listing for an Aboriginal site within North Queensland.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Vardanega, Louise", "Entry ID": "AWE5667", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/vardanega-louise\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Griffith, New South Wales", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "Louise Vardanega PSM is Chief Operating Officer of the Australian Government Solicitor (AGS), a role she has held since 2009.\nLouise joined AGS (then known as the Deputy Crown Solicitor's Office) in 1975, and with the exception of 6 months attending legal workshop and 3 months with the Justice and Family Law Division of the Attorney General's Department in 1977, has been with AGS throughout her career.\nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Andrew Sikorski about Louise Vardanega for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Andrew Sikorski and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nEarly life\nLouise grew up in the town of Griffith in New South Wales, where she attended Griffith High School.\nHer father Pompeo (known as Bob) Vardanega immigrated to Australia from Italy in 1928. Her mother Evelina (known as Lina) Vardanega (nee Cappello) arrived in Australia from Italy in 1938. Bob and Lina were married in 1939 amidst much celebration - the associated festivities lasted 3 days.\nBob, along with 2 partners, started a plant nursery under the name of 'Premier Nurseries', which ultimately grew to be one of the largest nursery businesses in New South Wales. Bob was also a key player in starting up the Coronation Club - an Italian social club that became the social hub for many Italian and Australian families in Griffith.\nLouise is the youngest of 3 siblings. Her brother Roger is a lawyer, who Louise credits with opening her mind to the possibility of pursuing a career in law. Her sister Silvana took over the running of Premier Nurseries when her father retired.\nEducation\nLouise studied Law at the Australian National University from 1970 to 1975, graduating Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts.\nIt was during the course of her studies at ANU that she developed a strong interest and determination to practise in government law.\nCareer at the Australian Government Solicitor\nLouise was admitted to practise as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory in 1976.\nAfter joining AGS in 1975, she spent 10 years working in various areas of law, including general litigation, administrative law and advocacy matters. Much of her practice included appearance work as counsel and the handling of significant matters in both the ACT Magistrate's and Supreme Courts. During this period, she also gained high-level expertise in handling administrative law matters for government departments and agencies in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Federal Court of Australia and High Court of Australia. She also practised for several years in the criminal law jurisdiction appearing in many prosecution matters before the ACT Magistrate and Supreme Courts.\nLouise became Director of AGS's Canberra City office in 1991, and was appointed Director AGS Canberra (incorporating the Canberra City and Barton offices) in 2000. She was also National Practice Manager of the Litigation and Dispute Management Practice Group from 1999 until mid-2003.\nFrom 2003 to 2005 Louise was National Director of AGS's Clients and Market Office. In that role she led the national team responsible for developing client relationships and coordinating the strategic marketing and business growth of AGS.\nIn 2009 AGS's corporate structure shifted to an integrated national model, and Louise was appointed to the role of Chief Operating Officer.\nProfessional associations\nLouise has always maintained a very active profile in the local professional community as a member of the ACT Law Society since 1976. She has served continuously as Secretary and a member of the Council since 1991 and has been a member of a number of the ACT Law Society's committees. In 2014, the Council of the ACT Law Society conferred Honorary Life Membership on Louise for outstanding service to the legal profession. In his speech conferring Honorary Membership on Louise, Law Society President Martin Hockridge said:\n'Through a combination of calm good sense and expert advice, she has played a central role in the stability of the Society and its effectiveness as a regulator of the professional conduct of its members, to the benefit of the profession and the community in general.'\nShe is also a member of the ACT Legal Practitioners Admissions Board, on which she has served since 2014.\nClient Service\nLouise is well-known across the government legal community for her passionate commitment to excellent client service. She is the embodiment of, and driving force behind AGS's client service culture, making it her business to ensure that all in AGS have the knowledge, tools and support they need to provide great service. Her irrepressible energy and enthusiasm are infectious, providing a rich source of motivation and inspiration to many of her colleagues.\nShe brings a formidable sense of fun and creativity to her work. Nevertheless, she takes her role in AGS, and her responsibility to the government of the day extremely seriously - a fact that is clearly apparent to anyone who comes into contact with her.\nIn 2007, she developed the AGS Client Care program and introduced the AGS client service expectations, which form a key part of initial orientation and continuous skills development for all AGS staff.\nIn 2014 she introduced the AGS Client Listening program. Designed to support all staff in understanding and meeting client needs to the highest possible standard, the program provides ongoing communication training across AGS.\nShe also publishes a regular internal blog on the topic of client care, presenting AGS staff with information and encouragement to support them in providing first-rate service.\nLouise's genuine zeal for client service, and her affection for AGS and its people are manifest in the personal warmth that permeates her interactions with colleagues and clients. Her ability to blend empathy, humour and spirit with exemplary professionalism is exceptional.\nLeadership\nLouise's legal skills are clearly evident in the many successful outcomes she achieved as legal adviser to a great variety of clients, particularly in the early stages of her career. Her qualities as a leader are equally impressive, and have long been recognised and appreciated by those around her. Louise's role in AGS has been largely that of a leader - setting AGS's strategic direction, and guiding and motivating AGS people to achieve their full potential.\nFormer Chair of the AGS Advisory Board (2000-2013), John Allen said this about Louise:\n'One of the memories that I will carry away from my twelve and a half years here is that in the number two, Louise Vardanega who has been number two all the way since I've been here, AGS has a leader - not with great titles to reflect that but clearly the number two person to both [former AGS CEOs] Rayne de Gruchy and Ian Govey. I've watched how people follow her in my classical definition of leadership. I've also watched how well she works with the number ones, both Rayne and Ian and I'm always aware of watching two leaders interacting.' (Presentation to AGS's Leadership Group, 23 May 2013)\nMentorship\nLouise takes great satisfaction from her role as a mentor to AGS staff. Although she has largely moved away from hands-on legal practise, she sees herself as a 'facilitator' of outstanding legal services to government. She makes it a priority to identify lawyers with outstanding potential, and to guide their professional development. In doing so, she is more inclined to provide people with opportunities and encourage them to stretch themselves, than to dish-out proscriptive guidance. If (as 1 AGS lawyer has said), 'a truly great mentor is someone who points you to possibilities and gives you the courage to explore them while giving you complete ownership of the choices you make', Louise certainly fits the bill.\nTom Howe QC, Chief Counsel AGS Dispute Resolution, shared the following thoughts about Louise:\n'For the whole of my 30 years in AGS I have worked closely with Louise. She leads, first and foremost, by example. Minute by minute of every day, of every week, over each of those 30 years she has been scrupulous in her judgment, unstinting in her effort, and selfless in her commitment to achieving the best outcome for the people around her. I am often asked how Louise manages to maintain her loyalty and commitment to AGS, and to public service more generally. I think part of the answer lies in the heartfelt pleasure she takes in 'growing' those around her, and then watching them take their place in the world. I am a very grateful beneficiary of this extraordinary generosity of spirit. There are innumerable others.'\nSarah Court, former Director AGS Adelaide, now an ACCC Commissioner, said:\n'\u2026the ball of energy that was Louise, motivated me, encouraged and challenged me - and gave me so many wonderful opportunities. To this day she has remained an inspiring role model and mentor, as well as a close friend.' (AGS Alumni Newsletter, December 2012)\nAwards and honours\nIn January 2000, Louise was awarded a Public Service Medal in the Australia Day 2000 Honours List for outstanding public service through leadership and management of the AGS's ACT office.\nAs Director of AGS Canberra, Louise was instrumental in AGS being named 'Best Canberra Law Firm' in the 2007 Business Review Weekly Client Choice Awards for professional services.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Balkin, Rosalie", "Entry ID": "AWE5668", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/balkin-rosalie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Johannesburg, South Africa", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Director, Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "Dr Rosalie Balkin is former Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) (London). While she held this position she also served as Secretary of IMO's Legal Committee and for a time also as IMO's Assistant Secretary-General.\nShe was previously Assistant Secretary in the Office of International Law at the Federal Attorney-General's Department in Canberra, Australia. She has held academic posts, including at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa; at the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales in Australia; and at the University of Cambridge, UK.\n", "Details": "Born in South Africa in 1950, Dr Rosalie Balkin completed her education (BA, LLB and PhD) at the University of the Witwatersrand. She emigrated to Australia in 1977, and was admitted as a Barrister, New South Wales Supreme Court and a Barrister and Solicitor, Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court in 1987.\nBetween 1977 and 1987, she held a variety of short term, academic positions in Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada.\nBetween 1987 and 1998 she worked in the Office of the Australian Attorney-General, first as Counsel; then Attorney-General Senior Government Counsel; then Assistant Secretary, Office of International Law.\nShe joined the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in August 1998 as Director, Legal Affairs and External Relations Division and was promoted in 2011 to Assistant Secretary-General. She retired on 31 December 2013.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hackett, Patricia", "Entry ID": "AWE5669", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hackett-patricia\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Actor, Barrister, Lawyer, Producer, Solicitor", "Summary": "In 1933, probably for the first time in the history of Australian Criminal Court practice, Patricia Hackett became the first woman barrister to appear in the defence of a man charged with murder.\nAfter a short career in the law, Hackett went on to open theatre company, the Torch. She went on to appear in, direct and produce many plays in Adelaide.\n", "Details": "Patricia Hackett, theatrical producer, actress and lawyer, was born on 25 January 1908 in Perth, the second of five children of (Sir) John Winthrop Hackett (d.1916), newspaper proprietor, and his wife Deborah Vernon, n\u00e9e Drake-Brockman. In 1918 Deborah remarried and the family moved to Adelaide. Educated in 1919-22 at Church of England Girls' Grammar School (The Hermitage), Geelong, Victoria, and for two months in 1923 at Woodlands Church of England Girls' Grammar School, Adelaide, Patricia matriculated by private study in 1924. Next year she passed two subjects towards a law degree at the University of Adelaide, but was dismissed for sitting her sister's Latin examination (Peoples). In 1927 Patricia went to London where she passed her final examination in law in 1929. Called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1930 and admitted to the South Australian Bar that year, she practised in Adelaide; Don Dunstan was to share her chambers from 1952 (Peoples).\nIn 1933, probably for the first time in the history of Australian Criminal Court practice, Patricia was the first woman barrister to appear in the defence of a man charged with murder. Creating intense interest, the trial of Salem Mackaad, a Syrian storekeeper, charged with the murder of Richard Joseph Supple, whose dead body was found last June on the bank of the Torrens river, commenced in Adelaide (The West Australian). Patricia acted as the defence counsel for the accused with the legal firm, Matthews and Patricia Hackett of Adelaide.\nAccording to a report from the West Australian Newspaper from July 1933, \"In her early twenties, Miss Hackett, in conjunction with her partner, Mr. L. B. Matthews, has already conducted successfully a number of cases in the Adelaide Courts but had not previously appeared in a trial of the present magnitude\" (The West Australian).\nPatricia went on to produce and perform in many plays in Adelaide. She opened her own theatre company, the Torch. She was an actress of 'remarkable purity', although her performances were occasionally marred by pretentiousness. By nature she was generous, witty, flamboyant, temperamental, outspoken and fiery. Her drive and energy were astonishing (Peoples).\nPatricia's last play, Legend, comprised much of her verse and was performed as a fringe production during Adelaide's inaugural Festival of Arts (1960). She died of coronary thrombosis on 18 August 1963 at Hackney and was cremated. In 1965 the University of Western Australia established the Patricia Hackett prize, awarded annually for the best creative writing published in Westerly magazine (Peoples).\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hackett-patricia-1918-1963\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/woman-barrister\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Doherty, Auvergne", "Entry ID": "AWE5670", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/doherty-auvergne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Death Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Farmer, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Auvergne Doherty, from Western Australia, was one of the first nine women admitted as barristers in England. She was admitted to Middle Temple in 1920 and called in 1922. Doherty did not practise and returned to Australia where she became the manager of a cattle station; her father was a wool broker.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/miss-auvergne-doherty\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-first-women-cohort-called-to-the-bar-1922\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rakoczy, Anna", "Entry ID": "AWE5671", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rakoczy-anna\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Entrepreneur, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Anna Rakoczy left a promising legal career behind to establish a business in the San Francisco area with ex-medical doctor, Chloe Chen. 'Homemade', a cooking program which focuses on making healthy food to lose weight, was launched in August 2013. It germinated as a project the pair worked on in a Stanford Business School class. After the class had ended, they continued developing the project.\nRakoczy originally travelled to the United States, courtesy of a Fulbright Scholarship she received in 2011 in order to complete a Master of Laws at Berkeley University. Her thesis made recommendations for enabling Aboriginal Australians to achieve improved economic participations levels, in terms of income and employment outcomes.\n", "Details": "Anna Rakoczy worked as a commercial litigation lawyer for seven years, and was awarded both the Australian Young Lawyer of the Year and WA Young Lawyer of the Year awards in 2008 for her outstanding contribution to the community and the legal profession.\nWhile working as a lawyer, Anna focussed on strategies to reduce Aboriginal disadvantage in Australia, specifically through improved economic participation. Her experience includes acting as the pro bono lawyer for the Australian Employment Covenant and Generation One, national movements to support equal employment and life outcomes for Aboriginal people .\nAnna has also volunteered in the Tiwi Islands Aboriginal community with the Red Cross, with the David Wirrpanda Foundation, True Blue Dreaming, the Burnaby Youth Prison and SHIFT, a New York based corporate social responsibility consultancy.\nIn 2012, Anna was awarded a John Monash Scholarship to undertake a Master of the Science of Law at Stanford Law School. Her focus was on considering the policies and laws which impact on the supply of food and resulting health implications, particularly for Indigenous peoples, minorities and underprivileged groups.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Siddique, Rabia", "Entry ID": "AWE5672", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/siddique-rabia\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Army officer (former), Barrister, Lawyer, Public speaker, Solicitor", "Summary": "Rabia Siddique is a criminal and human rights lawyer, a retired British Army officer, a former terrorism and war crimes prosecutor, a professional speaker, trainer, MC, facilitator and published author.\nIn 2006 she was awarded a Queen's commendation for her human rights work in Iraq and in 2009 was the Runner Up for Australian Woman of the Year UK.\nMore recently Rabia was named as one of the 2014 Telstra Business Women's Award Finalists and one of the 100 most influential women in Australia by Westpac and the Australian Financial Review. She was also announced as a finalist for the 2016 Australian of the Year Awards.\nAfter starting life as a criminal defence lawyer and youngest ever Federal prosecutor in Western Australia, Rabia moved to the UK in 1998 where she eventually commissioned as a Legal Officer in the British Army in 2001.\nIn a terrifying ordeal that garnered worldwide attention, along with a male colleague, Rabia assisted with the rescue of two Special Forces soldiers from Iraqi insurgents in Basra. Her male colleague received a Military Cross for outstanding bravery, while Rabia's part in the incident was covered up by the British Army and Government. In a fight for justice she brought a landmark discrimination case against the UK Ministry of Defence, and won. She went on to become a Crown Advocate in the British Counter Terrorism Division, which saw her prosecuting Al Qaeda terrorists, hate crimes and advising on war crimes prosecutions in The Hague.\nPlease click on 'Details' below to read an essay written by Rabia Siddique for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Rabia Siddique and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nRabia Siddique was born in Perth, Australia in 1971 and spent the first five years of her life in India. She is the eldest child of an Indian Muslim father and an Australian mother. In 1976 her family migrated to Perth where she then grew up, was educated and remained until her mid twenties.\nRabia's first experiences of social inequality and injustice were at a young age when she witnessed first-hand the difficulties and discrimination faced by migrants in conservative 1970s suburban Australia. At the tender and vulnerable age of nine she also experienced abuse for the first time, which quickly robbed her of her childhood and her innocence. These experiences undoubtedly informed decisions and choices Rabia later made in life.\nRabia obtained a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Western Australia and started her legal career at Legal Aid WA, where she practised predominantly as a criminal defence lawyer. She then moved to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, where she became one of the youngest federal prosecutors in Australia.\nIn 1998 Rabia moved to the United Kingdom with the intention of expanding her legal practice to the fields of International Humanitarian Law and International Criminal Law.\nIn September 2001, after re-qualifying as Solicitor Advocate of England and Wales and travelling through Eastern Africa, Europe and South America, Rabia commissioned as a Legal Officer in the British Army, a rather unexpected career choice! Her career in the Army took her to England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Germany, Italy and the Middle East.\nRabia later became the Army's recruitment 'poster girl' by promoting equality and diversity within the British Armed Forces. In a terrifying ordeal, whilst deployed to Iraq in 2005 Rabia, along with a male colleague, assisted with the rescue of two Special Forces soldiers from Iraqi insurgents during a hostage situation that garnered worldwide attention.\nAfter the Iraq hostage incident Rabia's male colleague was awarded a Military cross for outstanding bravery for his part in the incident, while Rabia's involvement was covered up by the British Army and Tony Blair's Government. In her fight for justice she brought a successful landmark race and sex discrimination case against the UK Ministry of Defence.\nIn 2008 Rabia left the British Armed Forces and went on to become a Crown Advocate in the British Counter Terrorism Division of the Crown Prosecution Service, which involved working on some of the most high profile terrorism and hate crime prosecutions, as well as advising on war crimes cases. This role also took Rabia to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.\nIn 2008 Rabia and her husband welcomed their precious triplet sons into the world. Parenting triplets was to become Rabia's biggest and most rewarding challenge yet!\nIn 2011 Rabia decided to move to back to Australia in order to provide her family with a safe, balanced and healthy lifestyle. So far the return to Australia has not disappointed! Rabia worked as a Senior Government Lawyer and in-House Counsel for both the Corruption and Crime Commission of WA and more recently Legal Counsel to the Commissioner of WA Police, whilst also juggling tutoring and guest lecturing commitments at the University of WA.\nIn 2014 Rabia transitioned from a part-time to full time professional speaker and facilitator, following the publication of her best-selling book, 'Equal Justice'. In a relatively short period of time Rabia has gained an International reputation as a passionate human rights advocate and inspiring motivational speaker. She has appeared in various television, print and radio interviews in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and the focus of her career is now on promoting Women in Leadership, resilience, values based leadership, equality and diversity in our workplaces and communities. She is passionate about the transformative effect of education, particular for girls, and sees education as the vaccine against oppression, violence and ignorance.\nRabia speaks English, French (conversational), Spanish (poorly) and Arabic (worse)! She has run the London marathon and walked a one and a half marathon for charity, undertaken human rights and community aid work in the Middle East, South America, South East Asia and Australia, was awarded a Queen's Commendation for her humanitarian work in Iraq in 2006 and was Runner Up Australian Woman of the Year UK in 2009.\nIn 2014 Rabia was a finalist in the Telstra Australian Business Women's Awards and was named as one of Australia's 100 most influential women. In October last year Rabia received a standing ovation from 1700 people at her TEDx talk entitled 'Courage Under Fire' where she spoke about the power we all have as individuals to create the change we wish to see in this world. In March 2015 Rabia was nominated for the WA Women Lawyer of the Year Award and the work she has done in the area of equality and diversity was used as a case study at the most recent UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York.\nRabia is a member of the Australian and British Red Cross, UN Women Australia, Law Society of Western Australia Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Committee, an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management (WA) and a member of the International Institute for Humanitarian Law. She is also an Ambassador of a number of Women and Children's based charities and a Board Member of Wesley College, Perth.\nRabia was recently appointed as a Director of the International Foundation of Non-Violence.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/equal-justice-my-journey-as-a-woman-a-soldier-and-a-muslim\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pirie, Catherine", "Entry ID": "AWE5673", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pirie-catherine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Cairns, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "In 1989, Catherine Pirie became the first woman of Torres Strait Islander descent to be admitted as a solicitor. She achieved another first in 2000 when she was appointed Magistrate; once again, the first Torres Strait Islander to hold the position.\n", "Details": "The oldest of six children, Catherine Pirie was born in Cairns, but the family soon moved to Garbutt in Townsville. Two of the six went on to be lawyers; Catherine and her brother, Kevin Smith. The children attended Catholic schools at both primary and secondary level; their fees paid through the assistance of their paternal grandparents, Arthur and Hannah Smith.\nAfter high school, Catherine travelled to the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane to study law, although readily admits that the only knowledge she had of the discipline was what she saw on television. Adjusting to study and life away from home was a daunting experience and by third year, she was ready to give up her studies. Fortunately, she was offered work at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service by solicitor Paul Richards, where she worked for a number of years in a variety of roles. She returned to her studies and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1988. She married David Pirie, another lawyer, in 1990.\nSince then, she and her husband have worked in Queensland and Western Australia in offices of the Aboriginal Legal Service in Townsville and Albany. She was appointed a magistrate, working mainly in the Cairns region, in 2000, becoming the first Torres Strait Islander to hold a judicial position. It was a special day for her in July 2011 when she presided in the Magistrates Court at Thursday Island.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/catherine-pirie\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bradley, Sarah", "Entry ID": "AWE5674", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bradley-sarah\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sheffield, Yorkshire, England", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Her Honour Sarah Bradley was a judge of the District Court of Queensland, Australia since 25 March 1999. She was also a judge of the Children's Court of Queensland. Described as 'an inspiration to law students and young professionals', she is known to be unstintingly generous with her time.\nHer Honour's approach to incarceration has been publicly scrutinised and criticised as she seeks alternatives to jail terms, believing that 'imprisonment as the ultimate deterrent is a myth'.\nHer Honour was the first Magistrate in Queensland to be appointed as a Judge of the District Court of Queensland.\nHer Honour retired from the courts on 30 June 2016. On 1 July 2016 she took up an appointment as an adjunct professor at Griffith Criminology Institute.\nShe was honured with an Order of Australia (AO) on Australia Day in 2020 for distinguished service to the law, and to the judiciary, to women in the legal profession, and to the community.\n", "Details": "Born in England, Sarah Bradley and her family migrated to Australia in 1968. Disembarking in Sydney, the family took a train to Queensland where they settled on the Sunshine Coast. She started secondary school at Nambour High School, and by the age of fifteen had decided she wanted to be a lawyer. Her parents sent her to a boarding school (Glennie Memorial School) in Toowoomba for her senior year. She finished school and began an Arts Law degree at the University of Queensland. She graduated with a BA (1976) and an LLB (1978). She found little to be inspired by, except from teachers like Margaret White (now a judge of the Supreme Court) and Quentin Bryce, now retired as Governor General.\nJudicial Career\n\nJudge, District Court of Queensland (1999-)\nJudge, Children's Court of Queensland (1999-)\nMagistrate, Magistrates Court (1993-1999)\n\nPre-Judicial Career\n\n Mediator, Legal Aid Office, Queensland (1991-1993)\n Part-time Member, Misconduct Tribunals, Criminal Justice Commission of Queensland (1990-1993)\nPartner, O'Dwyer and Bradley Solicitors, Woodridge (1984-1990)\nChairperson, Management Committee of South Brisbane Immigration and Community Legal Service, West End (1984-1988)\nMember, South Brisbane Immigration and Community Legal Service, West End (1982-1988)\nSolicitor, O'Dwyer and Murphy Solicitors, Woodridge (1982-1984)\nSolicitor (1979-1981)\nLegal Officer, Prosecution Section of Solicitor-General's Office, Brisbane (1978-1979)\nAdmitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland (1978)\n\nExtra Judicial Positions\n\n Chair, District Court Judges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee (2009-2012)\nMember, National Judicial College of Australia, Indigenous Justice Committee (2008-)\nPresident, Australian Association of Women Judges (2006-2014)\nMember, Council of James Cook University (2002-2009)\n Member, District Court Judges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Committee (2000-2009)\nMember International Association of Women Judges (1998-)\n Member Australian Association of Women Judges (1998-)\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sarah-bradley\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "May, Michelle", "Entry ID": "AWE5675", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/may-michelle\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "England", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Justice Michelle May is a judge of the Family Court of Australia, Appeal Division and President of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration.\nJustice May has managed to combine her stellar career in the law with raising three (triplets) children.\n", "Details": "Born in England but brought up in Brisbane, Australia, Justice Michelle May attended primary school in Coorparoo and then secondary college at St Margaret's Anglican School. She lived a simple but happy childhood, which included watching American sitcoms and television dramas of the 1960s, including the courtroom drama of Perry Mason.\nShe was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to attend the University of Queensland to study an Arts Law degree. Before starting her degree, she spent a year in the United States (1974) on a Rotary Exchange Scholarship. She attended the State University of New York, where she completed a general study year, one that influenced her greatly. During her time away she developed a great interest in political theory, so she chose to major in that when she returned to Brisbane. She was tutored in her law subjects by both Margaret White (who went on to be a justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland) and Quentin Bryce, who went on to be Australia's first woman Governor-General.\nAfter graduating with an LLB from the University of Queensland, she held the position of Associate to Judge Helman of the District Court of Queensland before being called to the Bar in 1978. Justice May was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1993. She was the first barrister with a predominately family law practice to achieve that level of seniority in Queensland.\nJustice May has served as the chairperson of the Family Law Panel of the Bar Association of Queensland and as a member of the Family Law Council. On 7 September 1995 her Honour was appointed as Judge of the Family Court of Australia, being the first female appointment to that court from Queensland.\nIn 2003 she was elevated by the Attorney-General to the Appeal Division of the Family Court. That same year, she was appointed a Co-ordinating Judge, a role entailing administrative responsibilities for Queensland, Northern New South Wales and the Northern Territory.\n Justice May became involved in the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration in 2005 when she was appointed as a Council member. She was elected as a Deputy President in 2011 and elected as President in October 2013, a position which she currently holds.\n", "Events": "Received for significant service to the law, particularly to the Family Court of Australia, to judicial administration, and to professional associations. (2017 - 2017)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/michelle-may\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cass, Mary Josephine", "Entry ID": "AWE5677", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cass-mary-josephine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Frankston, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Mary Cass, who has been described as \"a brilliant lawyer\" who was \"fit for high judicial office\" , was admitted to the New South Wales Bar on 18 October 1963. Earlier resident at Sancta Sofia College while studying full-time at the University of Sydney, she had graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1954. After serving articles with Beswick Heydon & Lochrin, she was admitted as a solicitor on 29 July 1955. She was in practice until being called to the Bar, where she demonstrated skill in all jurisdictions but came to specialise mainly in equity, as well as landlord and tenant. It has been said that she was nicknamed 'The Winner' because of the regular victories she achieved for her clients. Right up until her death in 1992, she had chambers at Wardell.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mary-cass-interview\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mary-cass-memoir\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bernard, Ann Isobel Alice (Daisy)", "Entry ID": "AWE5678", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bernard-ann-isobel-alice-daisy\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Lake Cargelligo, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Concord, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Law clerk, Lawyer, Pilot, Shooting champion, Solicitor", "Summary": "The third woman to actively practise at the New South Wales Bar, Ann Bernard (nee Davis) had a number of uncommon strings to her bow, including being a pilot and prize-winning shooter. Married to Lionel Bernard, a returned First World War serviceman, she lived in Fiji in the 1920s and '30s and worked as a law clerk to the then governor, Sir Henry Scott. In 1938, she went to Oxford to study law. Considered to have a first-rate legal mind, on 25 June 1941 she was admitted to Middle Temple amid scenes of great destruction wrought by recent Second World War bombings of the Temple's buildings. On 29 October 1941, she was called to the New South Wales Bar, whereupon she proceeded to be involved in some of that decade's high-profile cases, including acting for suffragette, Adela Pankhurst Walsh. Bernard returned to Fiji in 1954, adopted a daughter, Angela, and established a wide practice for which she gained a reputation for taking on unpopular causes. In 1973, following her retirement to Concord, Sydney in the 1960s, she was tragically killed by a car while out walking one afternoon. Bernard's portrait by Mary Edwards hangs in the New South Wales Bar Association's Common Room.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ann-bernard-biography\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pioneering-women-at-the-nsw-bar-1921-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/new-woman-barrister-was-in-bomb-blitz\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ann-bernard\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ann-bernards-photograph-album\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Adam, Margarita", "Entry ID": "AWE5679", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/adam-margarita\/", "Type": "Person", "Death Place": "Annandale, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Editor, Indexer, Lawyer", "Summary": "Margarita Adam (nee Teddo) graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1966 and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar on 18 March of that year. She had not been at the Bar long before she took up legal reporting, for which she adopted the use of a pseudonym derived from her initial and surname. Adam, whose reports appeared in the New South Wales Reports, the Argus Reports and the Australian Law Reports, remained on the practising barristers' list until the mid-1970s. She obtained work with Butterworths as an editor and indexer.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-and-new-zealand-citator-to-uk-reports-1558-1972-covering-the-law-reports-1865-1972-weekly-law-reports-1853-1972-all-england-law-reports-1558-1972-including-reprint-and-extension-volume\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/western-australian-law-reports-1865-1969-index-digest\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/all-england-law-reports-1936-1970-all-england-law-reports-reprint-1558-1935-and-all-england-law-reports-reprint-extension-volumes-1895-1935\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Barnes, Pauline St George", "Entry ID": "AWE5680", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/barnes-pauline-st-george\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Commissioner, Lawyer", "Summary": "Pauline St George Barnes was the fifth woman to be appointed as a commissioner of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, a position she held from 1 July 1978 until her retirement in 1985. Although she had completed the Barristers' Admission Board course, she did not practise as a barrister after she was admitted to the New South Wales Bar. Instead, she worked as an industrial officer in local government and shire organisations before becoming a research officer with the Association of Professional Engineers (Aust.). An involved member of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales, she was honorary secretary and also convenor of the Association's Research Committee.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bateman, Beatrice Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5681", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bateman-beatrice-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Wollstonecraft, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "One of nine children of prominent NSW Labour politician Gregory McGirr, Beatrice Bateman was the moving force behind the establishment of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales in 1952. She attended the Loreto Convent in Kirribilli and graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938, a Master of Arts in 1940 (study undertaken after she was prevented by the Law School from sitting her final exams due to being pregnant with her first child), and finally, a Bachelor of Laws in 1942. Bateman was admitted to practise on 31 July 1942, but being mother to seven meant that her practice was intermittent. She was an active fundraiser for a host of causes and represented Australia at the first International Congress of the World Movement of Mothers in 1950. During her final two years of practice at the Bar, she succeeded in defending a woman charged with murder. Bateman died suddenly in 1960 at the age of 43 following an asthma attack. Her daughter, Beatrice Gray (nee Bateman), was admitted to the Bar on 9 February 1968. A portrait of Beatrice Bateman by Sylvia Davis was a finalist in the 1942 Archibald Prize.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/beatrice-gray-interviewed-by-juliette-brodsky-1-july-2010-about-both-herself-and-her-late-mother-beatrice-bateman\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-short-history-of-the-women-lawyers-association-courtesy-of-the-women-lawyers-association\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-at-the-new-south-wales-bar-the-years-to-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bleechmore, Mary Helene Laurent", "Entry ID": "AWE5682", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bleechmore-mary-helene-laurent\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Mary Helene Laurent Bleechmore (nee Williams) graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney in 1938. She then embarked upon a Bachelor of Laws degree which she interrupted to marry Sidney John Bleechmore, a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical and Electrical) graduate, on 21 December 1940. She graduated in 1941 and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar on 30 May 1941. For a short time she worked in the Office of the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor. Her husband a member of the Permanent Army, Bleechmore accompanied him to the places where he was stationed and worked when she could. After the Second World War, she lived in Japan where the then Lt-Col Sidney Bleechmore, commanding officer of the Royal Engineers (and mentioned in despatches in 1946), was serving with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF). Two of the couple's three children were born in Japan: the birth of their second son, Ralph, on 21 September 1947 in Eta Jima, was significant for being the first birth of an Australian in the BCOF area. Their daughter, Antonia (Toni) Turnbull, born in Kure on 31 March 1950, became a doctor and activist. Their eldest child, John, was a noted defamation specialist at the Victorian Bar.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-women-in-the-legal-profession-in-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bonney, Nora Winifred", "Entry ID": "AWE5683", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bonney-nora-winifred\/", "Type": "Person", "Death Place": "Lindfield, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Nora Winifred Bonney, daughter of Mr Justice Reginald Schofield Bonney of the New South Wales Supreme Court and Lillian Bonney (nee Butler), attended Abbotsleigh Church of England School for Girls and then studied as an evening student at the University of Sydney where she excelled in History and French. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1945. In 1946, she was secretary of the Kuring-gai branch of the Australian Communist Party. She was admitted to the New South Wales Bar on Friday 8 February 1957 but did not practise as a barrister.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bowles, Lesley Roscoe", "Entry ID": "AWE5684", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bowles-lesley-roscoe\/", "Type": "Person", "Death Place": "Caringbah, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Lesley Roscoe Nield (later Bowles) graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in 1938. After undertaking articles with H. (Halse) Millett and R. C. (Robert Campbell) Cathels of Sydney, she was admitted as a solicitor on 21 November 1941. On 12 February 1954, the now Lesley Roscoe Bowles was admitted to the New South Wales Bar. She did not, however, practise as a barrister. For a number of years until his retirement in 1962, Bowles was clerk to her father, Mr Justice John Roscoe Nield of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. In 1969, Bowles graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws. She practised with the firms Greenwell & York and Hickson, Lakeman & Holcombe.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-women-in-the-legal-profession-in-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Craft, Lilian Jessie", "Entry ID": "AWE5685", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/craft-lilian-jessie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Woolwich, Kent, England", "Death Place": "Cammeray, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "Lilian Jessie Craft (nee Goldsmith) has the distinction of having been the first woman in New South Wales to become a solicitor by undertaking the Solicitors' Admission Board course. She was also the first woman solicitor to practise in the regional New South Wales city of Goulburn, when she was managing clerk to the city's firm of Ian R. Duffy and Galland in 1947. The then Goldsmith attended Fort Street Girls' High School. On 1 November 1933 a notice in The Sydney Morning Herald announced that she had been serving articles of clerkship with Keith Ewington Whitehead Solicitor of Sydney and of her intention to apply to be admitted as an attorney-solicitor and proctor. She was admitted on 17 November 1933. In 1938, she travelled overseas for a year. When she returned, she set up her own practice and also took on responsibility for the practice of Horace Archy Teakle, who went into the army. (She herself joined the Women's Royal Australian Navy Service (W.R.A.N.S.), on 10 July 1945). In the late 1940s Goldsmith worked in the State Crown Solicitor's Office. She married in 1949. With her retirement from practice as a solicitor in 1959, Craft transferred to the Bar roll as a non-practising barrister. She was appointed permanent convenor of the regular meetings of the informal Society of Women Lawyers, the forerunner to the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-women-in-the-legal-profession-in-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Davis, Daune Mary Delano", "Entry ID": "AWE5686", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/davis-daune-mary-delano\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "London, England", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "It was not until later in life that Daune Delano Davis made the decision to become a barrister. Furthermore, although her maternal uncle, John Roscoe Nield, had been a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and her cousin, Lesley Roscoe Nield (later Bowles), was a solicitor, it is Mary Gaudron, later the first woman judge to sit on the bench of the High Court of Australia, who is credited with having influenced Davis to go to the Bar. After leaving school, Davis attended East Sydney Technical College (now the National Arts School) and then embarked upon Arts at the University of Sydney. She did well but did not graduate with a degree. Turning to the law as an intellectual pursuit when her marriage failed, and with Gaudron's assurance that she had what it took, she obtained the qualification of Diploma in Law through the Barristers' Admission Board and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar on 14 June 1974. She went on to practise, predominantly in family law, using the Women Lawyers' Room at Frederick Jordan Chambers until she succeeded in being able to have her own. Notable among her cases was what may have been the last breach of promise suit. In the mid-eighties she suffered a broken leg which restricted her labours. Davis later retired due to ill health.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Frenkel, Anna", "Entry ID": "AWE5687", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/frenkel-anna\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Samara, Russia", "Death Place": "Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Anna Frenkel (nee Ginsbourg) was born in Samara, in the Pale of Settlement for Jews in Czarist Russia. Owing to political unrest following the Bolshevik Revolution, Frenkel and her parents resettled in Harbin in Manchuria. It was here that Frenkel attended high school and also met Jacob Nahum Frenkel, a graduate in civil engineering and the man she would later marry. She earned a law degree from the Law School established in Harbin by expatriate Russian academics before settling in Shanghai to work as a journalist. Among her publications during this time was Shanghai, City of Refuge; she also co-edited a Russian-Jewish publication: Our Life. After marrying Frenkel in 1938, in 1939 she gave birth to a son: Robert; following the war, she also had a daughter: Emily. Frenkel was admitted to the Bar of New South Wales on 7 February 1964. She was a member of the Research Committee of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales. At the Bar, she specialised in family law, an area in which she became an authority. In 1971, her book entitled Your Family and the Law was published. Frenkel was awarded a PhD by Macquarie University for a thesis on Soviet Jewish emigration to Australia. In 1987 she travelled to Shanghai to participate in a short film, \"Escape to the Rising Sun\", on wartime residents of Shanghai; she was also featured in the book Women of Ku-ring-gai, published by the Ku-ring-gai Historical Society in 1999. Frenkel died at the age of 90 in 2001.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jewish-wayfarers-in-modern-china-tragedy-and-splendour\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jewish-refugees-in-shanghai\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/soviet-jewish-emigrants-in-australia-problems-of-multidimensional-integration\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/marriage-in-australia-a-cultural-view-of-law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/your-family-and-the-law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-of-ku-ring-gai-a-tribute\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Joseph, Sally", "Entry ID": "AWE5688", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/joseph-sally\/", "Type": "Person", "Death Place": "Vaucluse, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Sally Joseph was one of the first solicitors to work at the Aboriginal Legal Service in Redfern, Sydney. She graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1967, the same year in which she was appointed to the Commission of the Peace for the State of New South Wales. Although admitted to the New South Wales Bar, Joseph did not practise as a barrister, instead working briefly at the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's Office before being admitted as a solicitor on 11 February 1972. She practised at the Aboriginal Legal Service and later in the eastern Sydney suburb of Vaucluse.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kinsella, Marie Patricia Germaine", "Entry ID": "AWE5689", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kinsella-marie-patricia-germaine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Waverley, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "Marie Sexton (nee Kinsella) co-drafted the constitution of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales and was the organisation's first honorary secretary. The eldest of five children of Edward Parnell (Ted) Kinsella and his Belgian wife, Marie Louise Josephine Graff, the then Kinsella matriculated from Fort Street Girls' High School and went on to earn three qualifications from the University of Sydney: a Bachelor of Arts in 1943; a Diploma in Education in 1944; and a Bachelor of Laws in 1949. (It was during a year-long stint as teaching assistant at Inverell High School in northern New South Wales that Kinsella decided that teaching was not for her, had her last day on 29 January 1945 and thence turned her sights to the study of law). She began working as an associate to her father, then Mr Justice Kinsella of the Industrial Commission of New South Wales. On 18 January 1950, Mr Justice Kinsella was elevated to the Supreme Court of New South Wales; Kinsella became clerk associate to her father and clerk of arraigns. Although admitted to the New South Wales Bar on 11 February 1949, Kinsella did not practise at the Bar. She later worked in the Department of Territories, Sydney, and the Attorney-General's Department in Canberra, producing the respected Annotated Constitution. Kinsella retired in 1980.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-women-in-the-legal-profession-in-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-pioneer-of-the-legal-profession\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kitching, Dorothy Jean", "Entry ID": "AWE5690", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kitching-dorothy-jean\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "Dorothy Jean Kitching (formerly Shearer, nee Asher) was an experienced public servant who served three terms as legislative draftsman for The Administration of Norfolk Island: the first was in 1984; the second in 1993; and the third in 2001. For a time she also carried out the role of deputy clerk for the Island. In the 1970s she had been a legal officer in the Office of the Legislative Draftsman, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. After resigning her initial post in Norfolk Island in 1987, she became assistant legislative counsel at the Australian Law Reform Commission in Sydney. She later worked in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel in Darwin. A 1946 law graduate of the University of Sydney, Kitching was admitted to the New South Wales Bar but remained on the list of non-practising barristers throughout her life.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Knox, Helen Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5691", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/knox-helen-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Journalist, Lawyer", "Summary": "Helen Knox (nee Upton) became a barrister after having worked as a journalist for more than two decades. She was educated by the Sisters of Mercy, Boorowa, in south-western New South Wales before winning a bursary to attend Our Lady of Mercy College in Goulburn. In 1927, she was enrolled in the Teachers' College in the grounds of the University of Sydney; by 1931 she had graduated with an Arts degree. In 1937 Knox was appointed to a position on the staff of the 'Sun' newspaper in Sydney; she remained with the paper throughout the Second World War. Returning to the University in 1944, she undertook a Bachelor of Laws degree and graduated in 1950. By now she was writing for Consolidated Press. Knox was admitted to the New South Wales Bar on 12 February 1960 and for a time shared chambers with Cecily Backhouse (later QC and judge of the NSW District Court). Her practice was chiefly in divorce.\n", "Events": "Career in journalism active (1937 - 1960)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cecily-backhouse-interview-cecily-backhouse-qc-interview-with-juliette-brodsky-4-july-2010\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Lidden, Mary Helen Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5692", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lidden-mary-helen-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Author, Barrister, Journalist, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Mary Helen Elizabeth Lidden (previously Appleby, nee Coleman) deserves credit for helping to increase the public's knowledge and understanding of the law through a series of articles she wrote in the 1970s for The Australian Women's Weekly, published under the name M.E. Lidden.\nMary Coleman, as she was then, graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in 1944. Admitted to the New South Wales Bar on 1 December 1950, the following month she was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Laws. By this time she was a widow - her husband, John Ambrose Mitchell Appleby, a student-at-law, had died on 28 April 1946 - and mother of a five-year-old daughter, Victoria.\nShe did not practise at the Bar and on 24 November 1967 she was admitted as a solicitor; she worked at a number of firms in Sydney. In 1976 she was appointed a legal officer in the Department of Labour and Industry where she remained until 25 August 1978. Lidden was author of a book on wills and probate and co-author of another on conveyancing. She also wrote a novel and a number of self-help books.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-vengeful-guest\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/conveyancing-can-you-do-it-yourself\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wills-and-probate-can-you-do-it-yourself\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McGarry, Kathleen Patricia", "Entry ID": "AWE5693", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcgarry-kathleen-patricia\/", "Type": "Person", "Death Place": "Bondi, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Playwright, Writer", "Summary": "Kathleen McGarry was the fourth woman to be admitted to the New South Wales Bar. The third and youngest child of Patrick McGarry, a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Murrumbidgee in south-western New South Wales, and Mary McGarry (nee Myres), McGarry lived at Ardenclutha in Hunter's Hill on Sydney's North Shore and was educated by the Sisters of Charity at St Vincent's College, Potts Point. She continued to be associated with the College after she had left, particularly through the Ex-Students' Dramatic Society. At the University of Sydney she spent time at Sancta Sophia College and was a member of the University's Catholic Women's Society. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1928 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1935. On 6 March 1936 McGarry became the first Catholic woman to be admitted to the New South Wales Bar. She did not practise, however, and after an early stint at the Parliamentary Draftsman's Office, appears to have abandoned the law and turned her attentions to the arts, producing plays and skits for the theatre and radio. McGarry had been an early student of the Independent Theatre School of Dramatic Art and impressed audiences with her prowess on the stage. She earned a number of prizes for her artistic abilities, including second prize in the Catholic broadcasting station 2SM's 'Search for Talent' competition in 1935. As a member of the Catholic Women's Association, with which she was deeply involved, she learned Braille and applied her knowledge to translate the Roman Missal. She was said to be fluent in French and German.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Maddocks, Hilda Maude", "Entry ID": "AWE5694", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/maddocks-hilda-maude\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Manly, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "Hilda Maude Maddocks, the sixth woman to be admitted to the New South Wales Bar, was educated at Fort Street Girls' High School and the University of Sydney, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1939 and was a student in the Faculty of Economics. When war broke out, she became honorary treasurer of the Law School Comforts Fund. At the time of her admission to the New South Wales Bar on 26 May 1939, she was employed in the legal branch of the Department of Road Transport & Tramways where her father, Sydney Aubrey Maddocks, himself a law graduate of the University of Sydney and formerly on the list of non-practising barristers at the New South Wales Bar, had been commissioner. Five years later, having joined the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's Office, she was admitted as a solicitor, on 26 May 1944. On 1 February 1962, Hilda Maude (now Catalano) was appointed legal officer, Crown Solicitor's Office, Department of the Attorney-General and of Justice; her designation was altered to solicitor on 1 September 1962. She retired on 7 August 1973.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-women-in-the-legal-profession-in-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-century-down-town-sydney-university-law-schools-first-hundred-years\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Malor, Jean Lewis", "Entry ID": "AWE5695", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/malor-jean-lewis\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Western Australia, Australia", "Death Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Editor, Lawyer", "Summary": "Jean Malor has the distinction of having been the first female student to graduate from the University of Sydney with first-class honours in Law. Although admitted to practise in 1937, Malor rejected going to the New South Wales Bar in favour of a career with the Law Book Company of Australasia Pty Ltd. (This may have been because her brother, Ronald, soon to be killed in the Second World War, was already a promising junior at the Bar). With the outbreak of war, she became honorary secretary of the Law School Comforts Fund. Malor remained at the Law Book Company until she was 60, rising to become senior legal advisor and senior editor and highly regarded for her knowledge and proficiency. In 1973, she was appointed chairwoman of the Commonwealth Computerisation of Legal Data Committee, one of a number of committees and professional organisations to which she gave much of her time and expertise over many years. Retained by Butterworths Pty Ltd in 1977, she was editor responsible for The Australian Current Law Digest and Commonwealth Statutes Annotations. She continued to work until she was in her 80s. On 3 June 1978, Malor's prodigious legal knowledge and lifelong dedication as an editor were recognised when she was awarded an OBE for her services to the legal profession.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jean-malor-interview-interview-with-paddy-mullin-jean-malors-daughter-by-juliette-brodsky-2-july-2010\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Moore, Patricia Audrey", "Entry ID": "AWE5696", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/moore-patricia-audrey\/", "Type": "Person", "Death Place": "East Lindfield, New South Wales", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Pharmacist", "Summary": "Patricia Audrey (Pat) Moore (formerly Voss, nee Kelly) initially worked as a pharmacist before becoming a highly regarded patent barrister of the New South Wales Bar and a senior member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. She undertook the Materia Medica course at the University of Sydney and graduated in 1946. As a teaching fellow in pharmacy at the University, for a time the then Miss Patricia Kelly was the only woman on the School's teaching staff. In 1950 she was president of the Women's Pharmacy Association, which boasted over 100 members across New South Wales. In 1953 Moore (then as the recently married Mrs John Voss) left for London with her husband, a doctor: he to attend the Royal College of Physicians; she to pursue postgraduate study in pharmacy. She was admitted to the Bar on 4 June 1971 along with friend and fellow pioneer Priscilla Flemming, who became the first woman in private practice at the New South Wales Bar to take silk. She read with Ken Handley, who later took silk and became a judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, and she was frequently briefed by Pat Hinch, a well-known woman solicitor. Moore also served as a part-time member of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-at-the-new-south-wales-bar-the-years-to-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/early-women-students\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pape, Stephanie Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE5697", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pape-stephanie-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Neutral Bay, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Lindfield, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "Stephanie Pape (nee Prouting) worked for nearly a decade in the Public Solicitor's Office in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, during which time she rose from the position of legal officer to that of deputy public solicitor. The then Prouting graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1949, followed by a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1963. Despite being admitted to the New South Wales Bar, she did not practise as a barrister, working first at the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's Office before transferring to Port Moresby in 1964. On 26 June 1966, she married Richard Pape, author of Boldness Be My Friend (1953), which was an account of his wartime experiences as a prisoner of war. After returning to Australia, she joined the Attorney-General's Department in Canberra.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-women-in-the-legal-profession-in-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rudlow, Klara", "Entry ID": "AWE5698", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rudlow-klara\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Austria", "Death Place": "Balmain, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Journalist, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Dr Klara Rudlow was a refugee who arrived in Australia on 24 September 1938 from Vienna where she had worked as a judge's associate and journalist. Despite her experience, and being equipped with a Doctor of Laws from the University of Vienna (which she had obtained in 1933), her qualifications were not recognised in New South Wales and her facility with the English language was insufficient for her to obtain articles. It was not until 4 December 1953 that Rudlow, having undertaken the Barristers' Admission Board course, was finally admitted to the Bar. In the intervening years she had worked as a translator and interpreter (she spoke several languages). Rudlow also broadcast and wrote on cultural and assimilation issues. In 1951 she travelled to Europe under the auspices of the International Refugee Organisation. She had scarce work at the Bar and coached students undertaking the Solicitors' and Barristers' Admission Board examinations as a means of augmenting her income. On 13 March 1959, Rudlow was admitted as a solicitor and from 1960 had her own practice. She subsequently lived and worked in Darling Street, Balmain for many years, volunteering for the Balmain Association and even standing for local government, although she was not successful.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-at-the-new-south-wales-bar-the-years-to-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sachs, Zena", "Entry ID": "AWE5699", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sachs-zena\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Petersham, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Lawyer, Research assistant", "Summary": "Zena Sachs made a valuable contribution to the law and its practitioners during a long career in academia. The daughter of Jewish immigrants who had originally moved from Poland, she attended North Newtown Primary School and the academically selective Sydney Girls High School. Equipped with a secretarial qualification, in 1947 she went to work for Julius Stone, the then Challis Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law at the University of Sydney. Encouraged by Stone to undertake a university course, she embarked upon a law degree in 1946, graduating in 1950. On 1 December 1950, she was admitted to the New South Wales Bar. She did not practise, however, instead becoming Stone's research (graduate) assistant and remaining with him for four decades. Stone dedicated Human Law and Human Justice (1965) to her in recognition of her inestimable support and diligent work. Sachs was a founding member and honorary secretary of the Women Lawyers' Association (WLA) of New South Wales. Made a life member, she was honoured at the WLA's 50th anniversary gala dinner at Parliament House in Sydney in 2002.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/zena-sachs-was-interviewed-by-sue-rosen\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-zena-sachs-relating-to-julius-stone-1946-2010\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Shewcroft, Joyce Eileen", "Entry ID": "AWE5700", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/shewcroft-joyce-eileen\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Bilgola Plateau, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Poet, Writer", "Summary": "Joyce Shewcroft has been described as 'the first female corporation lawyer in Australia'. She achieved the additional distinction of being the country's first female chair of a credit union when she chaired the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) credit union, which she also co-founded. She was the first woman in New South Wales to qualify for the Bar through private study and the Barristers' Admission Board examination. Admitted to the Bar on 29 May 1942 while in the employ of the ABC, she did not go into private practice until the late 1970s, instead remaining with the ABC for more than three decades, during which time she became its legal advisor. A motivated and able student, Shewcroft graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney on 15 April 1953. She was secretary-treasurer of the PEN Club (Sydney branch), wrote prize-winning poetry, and scripts for radio. She was honorary legal advisor to the NSW Medical Women's Association and the Royal Academy of Dance. Shewcroft succeeded Nerida Goodman (nee Cohen) as the second president of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales and was a member of the Association's Research Committee. On 31 December 1977 she was awarded an OBE for services to the ABC and the law. Shewcroft was later appointed by the Australian Council For Overseas Aid as a commissioner of an Independent Inquiry into East Timor.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-women-in-the-legal-profession-in-new-south-wales\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-at-the-new-south-wales-bar-the-years-to-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trailblazer-lawyer-poet-a-life-of-firsts\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Shields, Juliet Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5701", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/shields-juliet-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Wyalong, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Darwin, Northern Teritory, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "When self-government was conferred on the Northern Territory in 1978, Juliet Shields (nee Baxter), who had been employed as a clerk with the Northern Territory Administration of the Commonwealth Public Service, became responsible for the Commercial Division of the Territory's new Department of Law. In a role which spanned almost 20 years, she managed numerous of the Government's major commercial transactions. In 1951, Baxter (as she was then) was the recipient of a Commonwealth Scholarship; she was appointed as a junior clerk in the Public Trust Office in the same year. On 25 January 1954, Baxter commenced as a clerk (Professional Division) in the Crown Solicitor's Office. Two years later, she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney. She was admitted to practice as a barrister (New South Wales) and solicitor (Northern Territory and High Court of Australia). In 1959, she married and moved to Darwin, where she worked for the then Crown Law Officer, Ronald (Ron) Withnall. At one time she was a chairperson of the Agents Licensing Board. Shields enjoyed a number of creative outlets, including acting and dressmaking.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Smith, Nancy Gordon", "Entry ID": "AWE5702", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/smith-nancy-gordon\/", "Type": "Person", "Death Place": "Wollstonecraft, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Secretary, Solicitor", "Summary": "Nancy Gordon Smith graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Sydney in 1959, followed by a Master of Laws degree in 1970. Although admitted to the Bar, she did not practise as a barrister. On 16 August 1964 she was admitted as a solicitor. At the time of her death she held the positions of Senior Solicitor and Deputy Secretary to the Reserve Bank of Australia.\nThe University of Sydney awards two prizes in Smith's memory. The Nancy Gordon Smith Postgraduate Prize may be awarded annually on the recommendation of the Board of Postgraduate Studies of the Faculty of Law, University of Sydney, to the most proficient candidate for the degree of Master of Laws by coursework.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Smithurst Schlosshan, Patricia Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5703", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/smithurst-schlosshan-patricia-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Waverley, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Frankfurt am Main, Germany", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Writer", "Summary": "Patricia Smithurst Schlosshan was the daughter of Cyril Smithurst, a respected pharmacist in Gunnedah, north-eastern New South Wales, and his wife, Eileen. She attended St Mary's College, Gunnedah and the University of Sydney, receiving a Sporting Blue in athletics for 1955 and graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1956. Although admitted to the New South Wales Bar, she did not practise as a barrister. Smithurst married American lawyer Dr Bodo Schlosshan whom she had met in London in 1956 and together they lived in Paris and New York before settling in Frankfurt am Main and raising a family of six. In 1967, Smithurst received a Master of Arts from Cornell University for her dissertation entitled 'Heinrich Boll's Concept of Reality, 1949-1960'.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Trevelyan, Kathleen Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5704", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trevelyan-kathleen-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Christchurch, New Zealand", "Death Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Secretary", "Summary": "Kathleen Trevelyan (nee Hayes) was an early chairman of the Discrimination Board and also served as an alderman at the Ku-ring-gai Council in the 1960s. Trevelyan attended New Zealand's Epsom Girls' Grammar in Auckland and studied Arts at Victoria College, Wellington. In 1938, she was appointed secretary of the Wellington branch of the Society for the Promotion of the Health of Women and Children, also known as the Plunket Society. After coming to Sydney in the late 1930s, she worked in Chalfont Chambers, later becoming judge's associate to Mr Justice (later Sir) Bernard Sugerman of the Land and Valuation Court. During her associateship, she undertook a Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1959. On 29 February 1957, she became the seventh woman to sign the Bar Roll of counsel and to actively practise at the New South Wales Bar. She had a broad practice with an emphasis on family law. In time she became the head of chambers at Parramatta. In the 1960s, she was honorary secretary and then vice-president of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/excerpt-of-unpublished-memoir-supplied-by-kathleens-son-sean-trevelyan\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bicket, Robyn", "Entry ID": "AWE5705", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bicket-robyn\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Leeton, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "Robyn Bicket has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the Commonwealth public service. She has represented the Australian Government in the United Kingdom and at the United Nations in Switzerland. She was the first lawyer in the Australian Department of Immigration to be posted to the Australian High Commission in London as First Secretary Immigration. She also has the distinction of having been the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's very first chief lawyer. She has made a significant contribution to immigration and humanitarian policy, governance, public sector reform and management in Australia. In 2001 Bicket was awarded the Secretary's Public Service Medal in the Australia Day Honours List, for services to the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.\nRobyn Bicket was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Robyn Bicket was born to Matthew and Heather Bicket in the New South Wales Riverina town of Leeton in 1964; she was the youngest of six children. She retains vivid memories from her early life in that farming district of the environment and landscape - floods, droughts, scorching heat in summer and corresponding cold in winter, thunderstorms, dust storms, billowing grain crops. Her childhood recollections also include sleeping outside on the lawn in summer because it was too hot to remain indoors, the orchard, the vegetable garden, the snakes, spiders, mice plagues, swimming in the dams, bushfires, brilliant sunsets, and the starlit skies with satellites visible [Bicket].\nRaised in a religious family where reading and an interest in the wider world were strongly encouraged, Bicket's formal education began at the two-room, two-teacher local public school: Grong Grong Primary School. At the age of 11, Bicket entered Scots School in Albury as a boarder; however, she was only there for a term before the family moved to eastern New South Wales in search of a better farming climate [Bicket]. After attending Kooringal High School in Wagga Wagga, and with a budding interest in history, politics and international affairs, she enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Australian National University; she also took up a Bachelor of Laws. (At the Law School in the 1980s, she recalls few female lecturers but was impressed by those who were there, including the late Phillipa Weeks). Bicket was interested in women's issues, including the Reclaim the Night protests, and was, to some extent, politically active. She admired the work of Hannah Arendt, Jean Elstain and Helen Caldicott [Bicket].\nHaving graduated in 1987, in 1988 Bicket joined the Department of Immigration: she would devote the next 25 years of her life to working there. In 1991, in a reflection of her rapid rise within the organisation, Bicket was posted to the Australian High Commission in London as First Secretary Immigration - the first lawyer in the Department of Immigration to achieve this distinction. Although it meant she was in London during the IRA bombing campaign, Bicket enjoyed her work there and managing the cases which came across her desk, including a refusal to grant controversial historian David Irving a visa to travel to Australia [Bicket and Rubenstein].\nBicket came back to Australia in 1994 and was Director, Legal Policy Section, Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs. In 1997, she was appointed Counsellor (Immigration), Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva. At the UN, her work was concerned with humanitarian crises, including the Kosovo crisis and evacuation; conflict in East Timor; the 2001 September 11 bombings in the United States; and the Tampa crisis.\nIn 2002, Bicket returned to take up the position of Director, Asia Pacific Section, International Cooperation Branch at the Department of Immigration. In this role, she looked after regional cooperation arrangements with Indonesia as well as other regional engagements. In the same year, she was promoted to Assistant Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs; in this position, she was responsible for policy and delivery of Australian Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement programs, overseeing refugee resettlement for Africa, Nauru and Manus Island.\nA promotion in 2005 saw Bicket become the Department of Immigration and Citizenship's very first chief lawyer. Now a central member of the Department's executive, with responsibility for legal services on all immigration-related matters, including domestic and international law, advice, litigation and legislation, she also managed one of the largest - comprising 200 lawyers - in-house legal areas within the Federal Government [Bicket]. During this time (2007 and 2008), Bicket represented the Department of Immigration at a high-profile Senate hearing regarding the government's liability for the illegal detention of refugees, including Cornelia Rau, who was found to be a German-born Australian resident wrongfully held in detention [ABC].\nIn 2010 Bicket accepted a position as Chief Counsel with the Department of Human Services; this resulted in her leading legal services in the areas of social security, Medicare, child support and related government programs [Bicket]. Three years later, having overseen a service delivery reform agenda achieving savings based on restructured services in Centrelink, Bicket returned to the Department of Immigration as Special Adviser in the Refugee, Humanitarian and International Policy Division. She finally retired from the Commonwealth Public Service in 2015 [Bicket].\nThese days, Bicket is occupied writing on people movement issues and consulting on regulatory reform and immigration matters. Currently undertaking a certificate course in positive psychology with the Wholebeing Institute, USA, she is interested in using positive psychology to assist the legal profession [Bicket].\nBicket has said of her career: it \"has been wonderful and varied\" [Harrison]. She has devoted herself to managing policy, service delivery and public sector reform in the areas of immigration, refugee, international and humanitarian law. She has also applied her knowledge and skills to the important area of human services. As a senior executive in the Commonwealth public service, Robyn Bicket has made a significant contribution to immigration and humanitarian policy, governance, public sector reform and management on behalf of the Australian Government.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/robyn-bicket-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Branson, Catherine Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5706", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/branson-catherine-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer, Public servant, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "The Hon. Catherine Branson QC grew up in rural South Australia and went on to have a distinguished career in the law. The first woman in Australia (and probably in the common law world) to be appointed Crown Solicitor, she was also the first woman to be appointed permanent head of a government department in South Australia. Called to the South Australian Bar in 1989, Branson took silk in 1992. An appointment to the Federal Court of Australia followed in 1994; she served on the bench until 2008. In 2008, Branson became President of the Australian Human Rights Commission and in 2009 she was appointed Human Rights Commissioner.\nSince retiring from the Commission in 2012, Branson has continued to work in the area of human rights at a number of organisations, including the University of Adelaide Law School, where she is Adjunct Professor, and the Melbourne-based Human Rights Law Centre, of which she is Director.\nCatherine Branson was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "The Hon. Catherine Branson QC was raised on a farm near Hallett in the mid-north of South Australia. Her parents, Max and Barbara Rayner, brought her up to be resilient, independent and community-minded [Wright]. She was educated at Presbyterian Girls' College (now Seymour College) and the University of Adelaide, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws and later, a Bachelor of Arts. As a young woman, she was inspired by Roma Mitchell, who had recently become the first woman in Australia to be appointed to the judiciary, and by Mary Gaudron, who was Solicitor-General New South Wales and would later become the first woman to serve on the bench of the High Court of Australia [Lawyers Weekly].\nIn 1972, following a stint in which she tutored at the University of Adelaide's Law School, Branson travelled to the United States and undertook voluntary legal aid work in Pontiac, Michigan. This experience, which brought her face-to-face with extreme social disadvantage borne by her mostly African-American clients, sparked what would be a lasting interest in human rights [Adelaidean].\nReturning to Australia in 1973, Branson began articles of clerkship and completed her arts degree. In 1977 she entered the Department of Legal Services in South Australia, taking up a role as research assistant with the then Solicitor-General, Brian Cox QC.\nA year later, Branson, practising as a solicitor, joined the Crown Solicitor's Office. Interested in gender and equal opportunity, she became a member of the National Women's Advisory Council, advising the Prime Minister on matters concerning women. In 1984, Branson made history when a dual appointment saw her became the first woman in Australia to be appointed Crown Solicitor and the first woman to be appointed as permanent head of a government department in South Australia. She had not expected to be made the offer, and now sees it as transformative in terms of her later career [Lawyers Weekly]. Branson was called to the South Australian Bar in Adelaide in 1989; in her practice she specialised in administrative law, including discrimination law, and commercial law. In 1992, she took silk.\nAn appointment to the Federal Court of Australia followed in 1994. During her time on the bench, Branson presided over a number of significant cases, which included the Yorta Yorta appeal for a native title claim and the Wilderness Society's appeal on Gunns' pulp mill in Tasmania. Branson also delivered many papers addressing equality and gender issues, and the under-representation of women in positions of power.\nBranson served as President of the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration between 1998-2000. Her interest in judicial administration and education resulted in her travelling to a number of developing countries, including the Palestinian Territories, Indonesia and Pakistan [Trove] to work with local judges. Branson retired from the Federal Court in 2008.\nIn 2008 Branson was appointed President of the Australian Human Rights Commission. The following year she was appointed Human Rights commissioner. In her capacity as commissioner she expressed her support for a federal charter of rights and was signatory to the Australian Council of Human Rights Agencies support for civil marriage for same-sex couples; she also appealed for mandatory detention and offshore processing on Christmas Island to cease [Pelly; HRC; On Line Opinion].\nBranson's involvement with the Human Rights Commission saw her participation in human rights matters in the broader Asia region. During her presidency she travelled to Vietnam to attend an Australia-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue and to the Philippines to deliver the keynote address at the Australia-Philippines Policy Forum on Human Rights [Philippines Embassy].\nBranson has been a strong voice for those who suffer due to discrimination or disability, among them asylum seekers, children in mandatory immigration detention and Indigenous Australians. She has spoken out on the subject of violence against women and the under-representation of women in positions of power in Australia. In recognition of her tireless work as an advocate for equality, Branson was awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award by the University of Adelaide for her contribution to Australian Law and Human Rights in 2011 [Adelaidean - Award].\nBranson retired as president of the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2012. Her dedication to human rights in Australian society continues to find expression in a number of arenas, including at the Law School, University of Adelaide, where she is Adjunct Professor, and at Melbourne's Human Rights Law Centre, of which she is Director.\nIn addition to being a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, Branson is a member of the Council of the University of Adelaide; a Board member of Cancer Council SA; a member of the Advisory Board, Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law; patron, NeuroSurgical Research Foundation and the Palya Fund; chair, South Australian Selection Panel, General Sir John Monash Scholarships; and a member of the Advisory Board, Public Law and Policy Research Unit, Adelaide Law School.\nIn 2012 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by Flinders University in recognition of her 'long and esteemed career in the law' and in 2014 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by Macquarie University for her services as a passionate advocate and supporter of human rights [Macquarie].\nBranson has been quoted as advocating for a visionary society which \"allows individuals the freedom to live responsible and fulfilling lives irrespective of gender\" [Kenny]. She has been, and will continue to be, an inspiration to many in our society.\nCatherine Branson was interviewed in 2014 and 2015 by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/catherine-branson-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Broderick, Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5707", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/broderick-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Hobart, Tasmania, Australia", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Lawyer", "Summary": "Elizabeth Broderick AO was Australia's longest-serving Sex Discrimination Commissioner, from 2007 to 2015. She was also Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination from 2007 to 2011.\nA former head of legal technology at law firm Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst), where she practised for nearly two decades, she became the firm's first part-time partner and later served as a member of its board. In 2001 she was named Telstra NSW Business Woman of the Year; she also received the Centenary Medal.\nAs Commissioner, Broderick instigated the, 'Male Champions of Change' strategy, to help advance gender equality in Australia. It has since been replicated across the country and achieved international prominence, thanks in part to Broderick's subsequent appointment as Global Co-Chair of the Women's Empowerment Principles Leadership Group, a joint initiative of the UN Global Compact and UN Women.\nOn behalf of the Commission, Broderick also conducted the first independent Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force. Broderick was named overall winner of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac 2014 '100 Women of Influence Awards' in acknowledgement of her achievements while in office.\nBroderick is Principal of Elizabeth Broderick & Co., Senior Advisor to the Australian Federal Police Commissioner on cultural change and Special Advisor to the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Director of UN Women on Private Sector Engagement. She serves on a number of boards and continues to advocate for societal change. In 2016 Broderick was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. She was also named 2016 New South Wales Australian of the Year. She has honorary degrees from the University of New South Wales and The University of Sydney, and the University of Technology Sydney.\nElizabeth Broderick was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Elizabeth Broderick was born in 1961 in Hobart, Tasmania; she has a twin sister and a younger sister. When she was a child, the family moved to New South Wales. From a young age, she observed her parents, Margot and Frank Broderick, sharing the housework and supporting each other's careers. Learning from this display of equality, she also absorbed from her parents the value of community responsibility [Executive Style]. Broderick had her first taste of public leadership when she became head girl of Meriden Anglican School. She went on to graduate from the University of New South Wales with Bachelor of Arts (Computer Science) and Bachelor of Laws degrees.\nFar-sighted, Broderick recognised early on the significance which technology would have to the provision of client services; between 1985 and 1987, she worked overseas, exploring how technology could be used to manage evidence in litigation cases and complaints systems. [Gome and Ross]. After joining the research department of the Sydney office of Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst) in 1987, Broderick began employing technology to help lawyers retrieve documents more efficiently [Gome and Ross].\nIn 1991, Broderick established the firm's legal technology group, providing services in-house and externally to clients. In 1995 she broke new ground, revolutionising the firm's culture, when she became the first part-time partner, and head of legal technology and the first member of the Board to work part-time. [Executive Style].\nAn innovator, Broderick thrived on her work and her output was correspondingly prodigious: among other things, she created commercial computerised legal products in such fields as environmental law, occupational health and safety, and workplace discrimination; she also set up an online service - Virtual Lawyers - for legal enquiries. Her achievements led to her being named \"2001 Telstra NSW Business Woman of the Year\" [Gome and Ross]. She also received the Centenary Medal, for service to Australian society through business leadership.\nBetween 2003 and 2006 Broderick was a board member of Blake Dawson Waldron. When she departed the firm in 2007, 10 per cent of the partners were part-time and 20 per cent of employees had adopted flexible work arrangements [Gome and Ross].\nAppointed Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 2007, Broderick backed the prevention of domestic violence against women and sexual harassment; she also championed lifetime economic security for women. Another preoccupation was the balancing of paid work and unpaid caring responsibilities, while yet another was the promotion of women to positions of leadership. She also sought to strengthen laws relating to gender equality and agencies.\nBroderick was a strong proponent for Australia's national paid parental leave scheme [Human Rights]. Seeing the provision of opportunities for both men and women as critical to achieving a fair society, Broderick has advocated for flexible working conditions for both sexes, arguing for \"more senior part-time roles filled by men and women\" [Nader].\nIn April 2010, Broderick initiated the 'Male Champions of Change' strategy; she remains its convenor. Broderick has said of it: \"This initiative engages powerful and influential men from all sectors to stand beside women and lead tangible action to promote gender equality and social change\" [Broderick LinkedIn]. The program began with Broderick asking 12 male 'captains of industry' if they would promote gender equality within their workplace. Its success has seen it replicated around the country and also introduced to audiences overseas. Although it has been criticised for relying on men to advance women's interests, Broderick argues that: \"what we need to do is recognise where power sits in this country, and that is clearly in the hands of men. So if we want to move to a model where power is shared, we need to work with those who hold it\" [Marie-Claire].\nBroderick's work with the Commission took her around the country and across the world, including representing Australia each year at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. In 2009 she was part of an Australian delegation which included Aboriginal representatives of the Marninwarntikura Fitzroy Women's Resource Centre who attended the 53rd Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women [Human Rights Leadership]. Charged by the Australian Government with leading the first independent Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) following allegations of sexual misconduct in the ADF's Academy in 2011, Broderick tabled her fourth and final report on women within the ADF in 2014. [Sydney Morning Herald Defence].\nBroderick was twice reappointed as Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner in 2012 for 2 years and for a further year in 2014. In embarking on her new term, she sized up the state of gender equality in Australia thus: \"\u2026 the pay gap is the largest it's ever been at 18.2 per cent. Violence against women is still a significant issue: 1.2 million women today will be either currently living or have recently done so in a relationship characterised by violence. And we still have very few women at leadership level across Australia\" [Kerin].\nIn October of the same year, Broderick was named overall winner of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac 2014 '100 Women of Influence Awards'. A unanimous choice as winner, the judges were impressed by Broderick's communication skills which allowed her to engage with and influence a broad cross-section of people for the betterment of society, and what they considered her transformation of the role of Sex Discrimination Commissioner [Sydney Morning Herald Discrimination]. The following month, she was conferred with an honorary degree from the University of Sydney [University]. She also has honorary degrees from the University of New South Wales and Sydney University of Technology.\nWhen her term as Sex Discrimination Commissioner ended, in September 2015 Broderick founded Elizabeth Broderick & Co. She was later appointed 2016 New South Wales Australian of the Year.\nIn 2016, Broderick was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for her advocacy with respect to human rights and family violence [Guardian]. She was also appointed Special Advisor to the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Director of UN Women on Private Sector Engagement. In this role she is helping the UN to improve engagement with the private sector with the aim of producing more gender-diverse organisations [Huffington Post].\nBroderick is a member of the Australian Rugby Union Board, International Services of Human Rights Board, University of New South Wales Law Advisory Board, Australian Defence Force Gender Equality Advisory Board and the Victoria Police Corporate Advisory Group. She is also a Senior Adviser to McKinsey and Company. She was formerly a member of the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development and was Partner Co-Director with NATO on Women, Peace and Security.\nBroderick has garnered widespread respect for her skills as a communicator and leader with demonstrated strengths in cultural and organisational change. She has been a social innovator and visionary who has championed important matters concerning gender equality which have led to improvements in Australian society.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australia-day-honours-david-walsh-and-elizabeth-broderick-among-recipients\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/elizabeth-broderick-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Connors, Jane", "Entry ID": "AWE5708", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/connors-jane\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Advisor, Advocate, Lawyer", "Summary": "Jane Connors has had a distinguished academic career in which she has dedicated her scholarship and work as an international law practitioner to the betterment of United Nations (UN) treaty mechanisms and the rights of women and children.\nAfter studying law and arts at the Australian National University in Canberra, she taught at the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now University of Canberra) before travelling to England, United Kingdom. There, she taught at the Universities of Nottingham and Lancaster, and at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.\nDrawn to the UN, in 1996 Connors was appointed Chief, Women's Rights Section in the Division for the Advancement of Women in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN. In 2009 she became Chief, Special Procedures Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; she was also later Director of the Research and Right to Development Division. Connors retired from the UN in March 2015.\nHer commitment to international human rights continues with her role as International Advocacy Director Law and Policy for Amnesty International based in Geneva, Switzerland. She regularly teaches at universities around the globe, including at the London School of Economics where she is Visiting Professor in Practice.\nJane Connors was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Born in Sydney in 1953, Jane Connors was the first of eight children of Patricia, a nurse, and her husband, John, a surgeon. John Connors' medical studies took the family to Britain for a time; when they returned to Australia, Connors was educated in Canberra at St Benedict's Primary School, Narrabundah, followed by St Clare's College, Griffith. Encouraged by her father to choose a career which would allow her to be independent, Connors enrolled in Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts degrees at the Australian National University [Connors and Rubenstein].\nAt university in the mid-1970s, a women law students' organisation did not exist. Connors became the first woman to be elected as President of the Law Students' Association at the University. This was an exciting time to be a student on campus and being head of the Association meant Connors enjoyed a ringside seat of events. In the midst of the historic Whitlam Government dismissal, for instance, Connors (as President) invited the then Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, to be guest speaker at the Australian Law Students' Association dinner [Connors and Rubenstein].\nWhile it was commonplace for female students to leave university in order to get married, Connors avoided going down this path, crediting the late Alice Erh-Soon Tay - then her tutor in Soviet and Chinese Law - for providing her with support and encouragement to continue her studies [Connors and Rubenstein].\nHaving completed her undergraduate degrees, Connors then embarked upon a masters degree at the Australian National University, undertaking the Legal Workshop in 1979. In 1980 she began teaching in the Law Department of the Canberra College of Advanced Education (now the University of Canberra). She then went to England where she accepted teaching posts at the Universities of Nottingham (1982) and Lancaster (1983) [Connors and Rubenstein].\nKeen on the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Connors moved to London and in 1983 she began teaching at SOAS. A requirement of SOAS' academics being to specialise in a region, Connors chose Malaysia and began teaching Malaysian family law and human rights in Southeast Asia [Connors and Rubenstein]. This experience had a profound impact on the subsequent course of her career, ultimately leading her to the UN.\nIn 1987, to mark the UN Decade for Women, Connors wrote a manual which aimed to help women in Commonwealth nations to deal with sexual abuse, sexual harassment and domestic violence [Canberra Times]. Connors was also part of the Commonwealth Secretariat Delegation at the World Conference on Women, Nairobi, Kenya, and worked on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). During this period she married and had two daughters [Connors and Rubenstein].\nIn 1996 Connors was appointed Chief, Women's Rights Section in the Division for the Advancement of Women in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN, and moved to New York. Connors has written a history of this time in Commentary on CEDAW, Oxford University Press [Connors and Rubenstein].\nPursuing an interest in treaty mechanisms and women's human rights, in 2002 Connors moved to Geneva, Switzerland, where she became Senior Human Rights Officer in the Human Rights Treaties Branch. In 2009 she was promoted to Chief of the Special Procedures Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Connors then went to work as Director of the Research and Right to Development Division at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. She retired from the UN in March 2015.\nConnors' commitment to international human rights continues with her role as International Advocacy Director Law and Policy for Amnesty International based in Geneva. She also remains a trustee of the United Kingdom charity, Keeping Children Safe, and regularly teaches at universities around the world, including the London School of Economics where she is Visiting Professor in Practice.\nIn her capacity as an academic, international law practitioner, and adviser in the UN, Jane Connors has made a significant contribution to human rights treaty bodies, raising their profile to end violence against women and children and to promote the human rights of women.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jane-connors-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Eckert, Judy", "Entry ID": "AWE5710", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/eckert-judy\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Marton, New Zealand", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "A graduate of the University of Western Australia Faculty of Law, The Honourable Judy Eckert was the first woman to serve as president of the Law Society of Western Australia (1995-6). She was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1981 after completing her articles with Northmore, Hale, Davey and Leake (now Minter Ellison). In 1986, only four years after her admission, she became that firm's first female partner.\nIn 1991, Eckert joined the WA Crown Solicitors Office, where she practised for eleven years and where she conducted a major review of the WA Legal Aid Commission. She joined the WA bar in 2002, the year she was also made a Life Member of the Law Society of Western Australia. In 2005 she was appointed a Judge of the District Court of Western Australia as a prelude to her appointment as Deputy President of the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT), sitting in the Human Rights stream. Regarded as one of Western Australia's top legal minds, Eckert had a significant role to play in drafting the SAT legislation package which, at the time, was the largest piece of legislation ever to pass the WA parliament.\nIn 2011, ill health led to Eckert's early retirement. In 2012, she was honoured at Women Lawyers Western Australia's annual dinner for her contributions to advancing the status of women in the Western Australian legal profession.\nHer Honour has three children and a husband who, she says, made it possible for her to pursue her legal career as far as she did. 'I certainly would not have been able to become president of the law society if my husband hadn't stayed home with the kids,' she observed in 2004. Work\/life balance issues are not 'women's issues', she insisted: 'they are management issues'.\nJudy Eckert was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "A longer essay detailing Judy Eckert's career is in development.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/playing-the-game-on-the-front-foot\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/overview-of-the-sat-legislation\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/judy-eckert-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Fantin, Tracy", "Entry ID": "AWE5711", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fantin-tracy\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Gordonvale, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Tracy Fantin is a Cairns based barrister and mediator who practises in planning and environment, administrative, employment and discrimination, succession and commercial law. She has worked on important coronial inquests and has experience working with Indigenous organisations and in native title.\nBorn and raised near Cairns, Fantin completed her education at Gordonvale State High School in 1982. Keen to undertake a combined Arts\/Law degree, she moved to Canberra and graduated BA LLB (Hons) from ANU in 1987. She was admitted to practice as a solicitor in NSW in 1988 and practised in Sydney and London before returning to Cairns in 1994 where she became a partner and then consultant with local firm, Morrow Petersen Solicitors. She was called to the Bar in 2005. Fantin served as a sessional member of the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal for six years (2003-2009) and the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for two years (2009-2011). She was a council member of the Bar Association of Queensland in 2014-2015 and is a member of the Australian Bar Association Diversity and Equality Committee.\nFantin has a history of involvement with community and advocacy organisations. She has served as a board member of Australian Women Lawyers (2004-2007), Women Lawyers Association of Queensland (2004-2007), Arts Law Centre of Queensland (1996-2001), Cairns Community Legal Centre and local arts organisations, and is a longstanding member of the Queensland Environmental Law Association and the Environmental Defender's Office of Northern Queensland.\nIn 2016, Tracy Fantin was named the WLAQ Regional Woman Lawyer of the Year, in recognition of her promotion of women in the legal profession and her contribution to community organisations.\nTracy Fantin was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tracy-fantin-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Feller, Erika", "Entry ID": "AWE5712", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/feller-erika\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Commissioner, Diplomat, Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "Erika Feller has had an eminent career in international law, humanitarian protection and diplomacy. When she was appointed Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2006, she became the highest ranked Australian working in the United Nations at that time. In the ensuing years she undertook protection oversight missions to the large majority of the major refugee emergencies of recent years. She has been an ardent spokesperson for millions of vulnerable people throughout the world. Appointed a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in 2013, in 2014 Feller was also named as Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at her alma mater, the University of Melbourne.\nIn June 2021, Feller was awarded an AO for distinguished service to the international community, to the recognition and protection of human rights, and to refugee law.\nErika Feller was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Erika Feller was born in 1949 in Melbourne, Victoria; the second child in the family, she grew up with an older brother and a younger sister. Her father, Karl, had come out to Australia as a German refugee; a graduate in architecture from the Milan Polytechnic, to practise in Australia he had to requalify, which he did after arriving in Australia, working in a blanket factory to support his studies. Feller's mother, Elizabeth, was unconventional: a professional woman who worked as a pharmacist. Before her marriage she had led an independent and adventurous life, which included travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railway. She was said to have been disappointed that she could not volunteer as a pharmacist in the Spanish Civil War.\nKarl Feller's career took the family to Montreal, Canada, during Feller's pre-school years. When they returned, to the Melbourne suburb of Armadale, Feller entered Lauriston Girls' School - chosen by her mother because it placed emphasis on academic achievement and sending girls on to university. Feller enjoyed her time at Lauriston. As well as being good at her lessons, she was a sporty child who was happiest horse-riding and playing basketball and tennis.\nDuring Feller's adolescence, her father was away from the family for significant periods while he worked overseas. His trips, and a family holiday to the United States during her teenage years, impressed upon the young Erika that the world was not something of which to be afraid, but to be embraced enthusiastically.\nIn 1967 Feller, influenced by her mother who imparted a strong sense of social justice, began to study law and arts at the University of Melbourne. Immersing herself in student life, Feller attended Vietnam War demonstrations and became treasurer of the Australian\/African Association, raising money and collecting for Biafra. Feller wrote articles for 'Farrago', the student newspaper of which she was also news editor.\nShe also wrote for the University of Melbourne Law Students' Society's periodical, 'The Summons', which was edited by Philip Alston (now John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University School of Law). With her consciousness concerning women and the law growing, Feller wrote an article for which she interviewed Joan Rosanove, the first woman in Victoria to sign the Victorian Bar roll, about her experiences with discrimination. She was impressed by Rosanove as a professional woman.\nAt the end of her university studies, Feller declined an offer of articles of clerkship from the commercial law firm, Arthur Robinson; instead, she joined the Department of Foreign Affairs. Had she taken up Arthur Robinson's offer, Feller would have been the firm's first female articled clerk: \"I must have set the cause of feminism a few years back. The firm probably thought 'Just like a woman, always changing her mind'!\" [Hong].\n\"Lured by the promise of adventure it offered\", Feller moved to Canberra to begin her diplomatic career [Feller and Rubenstein]. Reality struck at a cocktail party signalling the end of the Department of Foreign Affairs' recruitment process; she was taken aback to be told by a distinguished ambassador that the Department accepted women because they were \"marriage fodder\" [Feller and Rubenstein]. As women were expected to resign from the Department after marrying, there were few female role models for the budding diplomat.\nFeller's first posting was to Berlin in 1973. While Berlin was not considered an important post for Australia at the time, Feller found her three years' service stimulating, surrounded by dissident artists and writers [Feller and Rubenstein]. Her responsibilities included a visit by the then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, a guest of the East German government.\nReturning to Canberra following the completion of her posting, Feller became Assistant to the Legal Adviser of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Elihu Lauterpacht. She was subsequently despatched by Lauterpacht to the Australian National University to research Australia's practice and policy in International Law. This was the first year in which Australian practice in International Law became part of the Australian Yearbook of International Law. Feller then transferred to the Department's general legal area where her responsibilities included work on the Dillingham Mining Company legal case, which involved sand mining in Fraser Island.\nIn 1980 Feller arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, after a nine-month posting in Rome to cover the Italian presidency of the European Community. In Geneva, Feller was posted as the First Secretary at the Australian Mission to the United Nations, and then promoted to Counsellor. It was here that she began to observe refugee and humanitarian concerns; she also had her first professional encounter with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Feller represented Australia as a lead drafter in the United Nations Convention against Torture. She credits this experience as being when she learnt about the power and limitations of international law. It was also here that she met and married her husband. They went on to have two children: a son and a daughter [Feller and Rubenstein].\nHer posting to Geneva completed, in 1984, with her first child, Feller returned to Canberra to lead the relatively new human rights section in the Department of Foreign Affairs. Two years later, however, desirous to reunite her family, she returned to Geneva and accepted a secondment with the Protection Division of the UNHCR; it included roles as Senior Legal Advisor and Chief of the General Legal Advice Section. She was inducted into research work and reacquainted herself with international law; however, she also wished to be in the field and so, in 1991, she was deployed on her first mission for UNHCR to Tajikistan - then in the hiatus of a civil war - assisting with drafting a law on internal and external displacement, bringing into force a regime of law protecting refugees. This mission was her first experience of the misery, generosity and hospitality of displaced people.\nFeller was steadily acquiring a reputation as an outstanding lawyer; as a result, her field rotation opportunities were becoming more limited as her legal expertise was being sought in Geneva. In 1993, the High Commissioner, Sadako Ogata, in an attempt to increase Feller's field experience, directed that Feller be posted to Malaysia to head the Program there as her Representative. Refugee matters were, at that time, very high profile, as Malaysia had declared it was closing camps and repatriating refugees to Vietnam, the announcement resulting in violent clashes inside camps. Feller saw first-hand the potential for refugee camps to be destructive to people, to erode incentive for individuals to take control of their own lives. Her experience in matters relating to resettlement in Southeast Asia galvanized her to help refugees living in protracted situations.\nIn 1996, at the age of 47, Feller returned to Geneva to re-join the Division of International Protection, as its Deputy Director. She took over management of the Division as its Director in 1999. In 2001, she initiated and managed the 2001-02 Global Consultations on International Protection, which gave rise to the Agenda for Protection, the internationally-endorsed global \"road map\" on protection policy for the years ahead [Feller and Rubenstein]. These global consultations coincided with the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, generated an agenda for protection, reconfirmed global State support for the Convention and reinforced its value through updated interpretations of key provisions. Feller co-edited a book which brought these into a consolidated form.\nIn 2006, Feller was appointed to the newly created role of Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, with the rank of Assistant Secretary General; she thereby became the highest ranked Australian working in the United Nations at that time. In the ensuing years Feller undertook protection oversight missions to the large majority of the major refugee emergencies of recent years, including in West Africa, Darfur and Chad, the Caucasus, the Balkans, Colombia, Timor and the countries which were the focus of UNHCR's Iraq Operation. During these missions, Feller was instrumental in ushering in changes to ensure that matters concerning the protection of women and children became mainstream.\nFeller seized the opportunity occasioned by the 60th Anniversary of the 1951 Convention in 2011 to again raise the profile of women, convening dialogues concerned with the issue of pervasive sexual violence against them. She also used the event to draw attention to the anniversary of another important international convention: the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Significantly, Feller raised the matter of female statelessness - where women are unable to acquire citizenship or lose their citizenship through marriage or when their husband dies - in the international community's consciousness on a number of missions.\nIn 2013 Feller resigned as Assistant Commissioner for Protection. She was appointed a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in 2013. In 2014, she was named a Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at her alma mater, the University of Melbourne.\nDuring her career, Feller has been a powerful spokesperson for millions of vulnerable people throughout the world. She has contributed to initiatives to combat certain problems that principally affect women, such as sexual and gender-based violence, in the refugee setting. As she has remarked, her endeavours in the study and practice of international law have been a tool \"for the betterment of people\" [Feller and Rubenstein].\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/erika-feller-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Ford, Norma Clare", "Entry ID": "AWE5713", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ford-norma-clare\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Norma Clare Ford was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/norma-clare-ford-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Gearin, Sally", "Entry ID": "AWE5714", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gearin-sally\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Admitted to practice in NSW in the early 1980s and having developed a strong reputation in personal injury law, Sally Gearin was recruited specifically to Darwin by the Northern Territory Attorney General's Department in 1986.\nRising through the ranks to become a senior litigation solicitor, she was called to the Bar in late 1989 by the then Head of William Forster Chambers, Trevor Riley QC, later to become Chief Justice Trevor Riley.\nRelishing the opportunity to back herself, and openly lesbian since 1978, Sally became the first woman to go to the Bar in the Northern Territory. She developed a vibrant practice and remained there for 20 years until her retirement in 2010. Having won more than 90% of her cases at trial, she was satisfied she had justified the faith of those colleagues who supported her early in her career.\nAlways active in pro bono, she worked with others to establish the first women's refuge in Darwin in 1988 and helped establish community legal services and refugee advocacy in the 1990s. In 1992 she was awarded a fellowship to travel to the USA with Judy Harrison, another woman lawyer, to research responses to domestic violence. Their subsequent book and recommendations were a blueprint for policy responses in the mid 1990s both in the Territory and nationwide.\nSally currently (in 2016) sits as a part time legal member of a number of Tribunals in the Northern Territory.\nSally Gearin was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Born in Sydney to Ellen (nee) Dempsey and Alan Louvain Tait, Sally attended St Kevin's Primary School at Eastwood and then at Our Lady Of Mercy College Parramatta. Going to boarding school at age 14, she relished the nurturing of some of the nuns, who created a community of stability, intellectual pursuit in an environment where 'daring to be different' was celebrated, not vilified.\nAwarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to attend ANU to study law in 1967, she embraced the student politics of the late 1960s together with the drug and drop out culture of the time. Returning to Sydney, Sally left her legal studies and went bush, got married and at 23 had a baby while pursuing the hippy lifestyle.\nRealizing eventually that this was not sustainable, and wanting to give her son the opportunities that had been given to her, she returned to Sydney to complete her legal studies. She became open about her sexuality in 1978 when she was 27 years old. It was perhaps the hardest thing to do, Sally says, to have the disapproval of many, including her mother, required a depth of courage in those days that steeled her for the difficult path ahead. Fortunately, she had a few wonderful male mentors in Sydney, who guided her through the often stormy waters of the male dominated profession she had chosen.\nAt the Attorney-General's Department in Darwin, she was involved in some major commercial and administrative law cases that broadened and deepened her legal experience.\nWhen Trevor Riley asked her to join the Bar at William Forster Chambers in 1989, she was well supported by the senior legal ranks of the Attorney-General's department, Peter Conran and Meredith Harrison. They made it known that if she wanted to come back to Government, she would be always welcome.\nOnce at the Bar she was initially briefed mostly by local women solicitors in the Northern Territory. Her practice at the bar soon expanded to not only personal injury work, but also administrative law, family law and human rights law. In commenting on this, Sally said \u2026 'It was difficult to know if the male solicitors did not brief you because you were a woman, because you were a lesbian, because they didn't like you or because they didn't think you were any good.' This male exclusion attitude changed after a few years as Sally started winning cases at trial.\nAs well as developing her practice, Sally was involved in important community and advocacy organisations. She was a founder of Dawn House, Darwin's first Women's Refuge, a founder of the NT Women Lawyers Association and a founder of the Australian Women Lawyers Association. She was also a founding editor of the Northern Territory Law Reports and President of the Northern Territory Chapter of the International Commission of Jurists. In this latter role she assisted with the establishment of the first Legal Aid office in Dili, Timor Leste, and was an observer at the International War Crimes Tribunals held there in during the United Nations administered transition to that country's independence in May 2002.\nAs mentioned previously, pro bono work has always been an important part of her practice, in both Sydney and Darwin. The motivation has always been quite simple, Sally says; \u2026'I developed my passion for justice mostly by seeing injustice and powerlessness and wanting to do something about it'.\nIn a 2010 reflection on how the arrival of women improved the culture of the NT Bar, Colin McDonald QC described Sally as a 'pioneer' whose arrival at chambers 'brought a maturity, a depth and a democratic legitimacy to the contemporary life of Chambers\u2026[as well as] a quality of life on a daily basis.'\nMotivated by a desire and passion for the role of women in her profession, Sally represents the strength and determination necessary to be successful as a woman barrister and trailblazer.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sally-gearin-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hill, Jenni", "Entry ID": "AWE5715", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hill-jenni\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Hobart, Tasmania, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Partner, Solicitor", "Summary": "After ten years as a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright, and four years prior to that at Bennett & Co., Jenni Hill is now (2016) a partner at the Perth office of international law firm, Clifford Chance. She is a litigation specialist, representing clients in the energy and resources sectors, and advising on corporate and shareholder disputes and investigations.\nCommitted to promoting equality of opportunity in the legal profession, Hill was a joint winner of the Western Australian Women Lawyers Association Woman Lawyer of the Year award in 2011. When at Norton Rose Fulbright, she chaired a Workplace Flexibility focus group. She is on the board of CEOs for Gender Equity, an initiative of the Western Australian Equal Opportunity Commission launched in 2014 to promote gender equity in the corporate sector. A woman who is 'astute at picking her battles' and developing strategies 'for the long term', she intends to change discriminatory corporate cultures by asserting influence from within.\nJenni Hill was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Except for a couple of years when her family lived in England, Jenni Hill grew up in Hobart, Tasmania, moving to Canberra in 1981, where she finished her schooling. Both her parents were teachers, a fact she is sure contributed to her 'not remembering a time when she didn't think she would go to university'. The excellent education she received at both the Friends Quaker School in Hobart and Canberra Church of England Girls' Grammar made it certain. Hill graduated with a BSc\/LLB (Hons) from the Australian National University in 1992. She was admitted as a solicitor in Western Australia and the High Court of Australia in 1994.\nBefore graduating, Hill received many graduate offers from Sydney based firms but decided to make the move to Perth, where she had been offered a position as associate to Justice Walsh of the WA Supreme Court. A preference for the lifestyle options available in smaller cities, along with some personal connections (her best friend from university days, (the Hon. Justice) Janine Pritchard, had moved across to Perth), convinced her to stay, rather than return to Sydney to take up her graduate offer. What she hadn't counted on was the time and effort it took to find a local firm to take her on to complete her articles; preference was given to local graduates, despite her excellent CV and experience. Fortunately, a colleague who she had worked with at the Supreme Court offered to put in a good word for her with Martin Bennett at Bennett & Co, and her career in litigation in Perth was launched. Thus, the experience of discrimination, as well as the importance of networking, were demonstrated very early as she progressed up the ladder.\nFrom her time as an associate, Hill had early exposure to criminal law but from that experience decided it wasn't for her. She, nevertheless, wanted to do court work. She had always imagined herself a litigator; she enjoyed mooting as a student (she was a member of a successful all women team in her fourth year at university) and enjoyed the process of preparing and presenting an argument. Fortunately, working at a smaller firm, like Bennett & Co. gave her the opportunity to forge a career in litigation where court appearances were common, even for less experienced lawyers. Large top tier firms were less like to give recent graduates that sort of control and experience. From those early days, she has developed a reputation in Perth that has earned the respect of colleagues and clients alike.\nWhile developing a profitable practice and seniority in the industry, Hill has also felt a deep responsibility to improve corporate and legal cultures to promote and encourage diversity, not only in terms of gender, but also with regard to ethnicity and age. Recognising that her education has created opportunities for her she feels a responsibility to 'use [her] sphere of influence to change what [I] can \u2026 to assess whether I have influence or power in a situation and then to use that for good'. This led her to be involved in initiatives such as the Workplace Flexibility task force when she was at Norton Rose Fulbright and the Western Australian Opportunity Commission project, CEOs for Gender Equality. She hopes that these types of initiatives will make combining work and family life easier for women and men coming through. She doesn't accept the view of some more senior figures, who faced challenges and 'pulling up the ladder after them' say 'well it was hard for me, it can be hard for you, too'. 'I don't accept that,' she says. 'It's like saying I got bullied at school so you should be bullied so you know what it feels like'.\nUnderstanding where she is most effective means that she might not ever end up at the Bar. 'That used to be a personal dream,' she say, 'but at the moment I actually think that my sphere of influence is probably better placed in the role that I have now.' Working in a large, global firm, 'diversity is a key issue' \u2026. There are fantastic opportunities for me to try to leave a lasting legacy.' She hopes she can be part of a change, working from within. 'I really do strongly believe that there is an obligation on\u2026 senior women to speak up and to try to change.'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jenni-hill-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hiscock, Mary Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5716", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hiscock-mary-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Chairperson, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Emeritus Professor Mary Hiscock was the first full-time female academic appointed to the Faculty of Law at the University of Melbourne. In 1972 Hiscock again made history when she became the Faculty's first female reader. She was a pioneer of the study of comparative Asian Law, introducing Asian legal systems to students at the University of Melbourne for the very first time. Hiscock was later Chair of Law at Queensland's Bond University, where she taught Contract and International Trade Law and was also Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies) from 1994 to 1997. She has been an expert adviser to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a consultant to the Asian Development Bank; in addition, she has been a delegate to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). A member of the Australian Academy of Law, Hiscock is currently Emeritus Professor of Law at Bond University.\nMary Hiscock was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Emeritus Professor Mary Hiscock's early years were spent in Melbourne, where she attended Genazzano FCJ College in Kew before graduating from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree in 1961. At university, Hiscock was involved with the 'Melbourne University Law Review'. She was awarded the Julia Flynn Memorial Prize in 1956.\nAfter graduating, Hiscock tutored briefly at Melbourne's Faculty of Law before embarking on a Doctor of Laws at the University of Chicago, supported by Ford and Fulbright fellowships. Hiscock was one of the first women at the University of Melbourne to undertake post-graduate study at a university in the United States.\nAfter declining an offer to practise law with a New York Wall Street firm, Hiscock returned to Melbourne and in 1963 accepted a position as a full-time academic in the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Law, thus becoming the first woman to be appointed to such a position there. Although contentious, and condemned by some male colleagues, the appointment had the support of such highly regarded scholars as Sir Zelman Cowen and Frank Maher [Farrar].\nIn the mid-1960s Hiscock joined forces with David Allan (later Professor David Allan AM) to conduct research into Asian contract and securities law. Hiscock and Allan went on to marry in 1980; in 1987 the couple were co-authors of Law of Contract in Australia. By now an authority on Asian law, Hiscock pioneered comparative law courses; for the first time the Melbourne Faculty of Law's curriculum gave students the opportunity to study the laws of Asia as well as traditional European legal systems.\nIn 1969, Hiscock was elected chair of the Women Lawyers' Association in Victoria. In this capacity, she was involved in the preparation of the National Council of Women Case in the historic first national Equal Pay Case with the Australian Trades Council Union [Farrar].\nIn 1972, at the young age of 33, Hiscock again made history when she became the first woman reader at the Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne [Campbell]. There were no professorial appointments at the time and it would not be until 1989 that Cheryl Saunders became the first female professor at the Law School [Timeline].\nHiscock left academia in the late 1980s to practise commercial law. She undertook articles of clerkship at Mallesons Stephen Jaques, an experience she found \"challenging and invigorating\" [Farrar]. Returning to academia, in 1993 Hiscock was appointed Chair of Law at Queensland's Bond University, where she taught Contract and International Trade Law. She also served on various committees at the University including as chair of the Research Committee. She was Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies) from 1994 to 1997 [Farrar].\nIn 1994 Hiscock was a Fellow of the University of Melbourne residential college Janet Clarke Hall. Between 1995 and 2002, Hiscock was chair of the International Law Section, Law Council Australia and chair of the International Academy Commercial and Consumer Law [Pearce]. Hiscock was also an expert adviser to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; consultant to the Asian Development Bank; and a delegate to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).\nHiscock is currently Emeritus Professor of Law at Bond University [Farrar]. She is also a member of the editorial boards of the Australian Journal of Asian Law, Melbourne Journal of International Law, and the Asia-Pacific Law Review. In addition, she is a member of the Australian Academy of Law.\nHiscock has inspired with the senior academic positions she has held, and as one of the first women to obtain post-graduate legal qualifications from a university in the United States. Her pioneering of the study of comparative Asian law saw a generation of law students benefit from the opportunity to consider legal systems other than their own. Hiscock's expertise in international trade and investment, with an emphasis on international contracts and comparative law, has been influential within academic institutions and significant international institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mary-hiscock-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-pilot-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Irwin, Rebecca", "Entry ID": "AWE5717", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/irwin-rebecca\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "Rebecca Irwin holds the position of Senior Manager Government Relations and Public Policy at the global resources company BHP Billiton. An experienced leader and negotiator, she has served in the upper echelons of Australian government, including the Attorney-General's Department and as a Senior Advisor to the Prime Minister, since graduating with first-class honours in Law from the University of Sydney in 1995. In May 2000, Ms Irwin made history when she became the first Australian woman lawyer to address an international tribunal, in her capacity as counsel for Australia in the Southern Bluefin Tuna Case against Japan. She has been a first assistant secretary in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and in the Department of Agriculture; she has also been a senior executive working on national security and law enforcement policy with the Australian Federal Police and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Canberra. A former associate to the Hon. Justice Margaret Beazley (later AO) of the Federal Court of Australia, Sydney, Ms Irwin practised as a solicitor at the law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques. The recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, she has a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School in the United States.\nRebecca Irwin was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Rebecca Irwin graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in 1993 and a Bachelor of Laws (First-class Honours) in 1995. Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and a Lionel Murphy Scholarship for 1996-7, she declined the latter in favour of the former, going on to attend Harvard Law School, where she graduated with a Master of Laws and won the Laylin Prize for best thesis in international law.\nAfter returning to Australia, Ms Irwin became associate to the Hon. Justice Margaret Beazley (now AO) of the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney. Admitted to the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia in 1997, she practised as a solicitor at Mallesons Stephen Jaques in Sydney, advising on competition law and trade practices.\nIn 1998, Ms Irwin changed direction, taking up a role as principal legal officer in the Office of International Law, Attorney-General's Department, Canberra. There, Ms Irwin advised on the consistency of government policy with international law across a range of matters and also on the implementation of international law in Australia and treaty negotiations.\nIn 2000, Ms Irwin created legal history in her capacity as counsel for Australia in the Southern Bluefin Tuna Arbitration Case against Japan. The countries were in dispute over whether southern bluefin tuna, a valuable migratory species of tuna which ranges over southern seas near the Antarctic and is prized in Japan for sashimi, was recovering from a state of severe over-fishing. The case was heard before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Hamburg, Germany, and an arbitration hearing on jurisdiction in Washington DC, USA. Ms Irwin was the first woman to have a speaking part, in presenting material, to the Tribunal - thus making her the first Australian woman lawyer to address an international tribunal. That year, Ms Irwin was awarded an Australia Day Achievement Award by the Attorney-General's Department.\nIn 2001, Ms Irwin was seconded to the Office of the Attorney-General as a departmental liaison officer. During this time she was closely involved in the Government response to 9\/11, increasingly advising the Attorney on national security issues. She then returned to the Office of International Law in the Attorney-General's Department as assistant secretary. Ms Irwin led delegations on multilateral treaty negotiations which concerned the Timor Sea treaty, Indonesian maritime boundary, United Nations (on the independence of East Timor), and commercial negotiations with the international oil and gas industry. Continuing her public international law litigation work, she also appeared as junior counsel in the PetroTimor litigation in the Federal Court of Australia.\nFrom 2005 until early 2008, Ms Irwin worked as assistant secretary responsible for domestic security, in the National Security Division, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Canberra. She built and led a branch responsible for counter terrorism and law enforcement; transport and border security; critical infrastructure and emergency management; and the National Counter Terrorism Committee Secretariat.\nDuring this period, Ms Irwin was panel chair at the American Society of International Law Conference, and participated in bilateral homeland security briefings in Washington DC. She was also a member of the Australian delegation to Indonesian Regional Counter Terrorism Conference. Ms Irwin was presented with the Australia Day Achievement Award in 2006 by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.\nIn early 2008, Ms Irwin took up the role of senior adviser in the office of the then prime minister, The Hon. Kevin Rudd MP. Ms Irwin was the lead adviser for four portfolios: Attorney-General and Home Affairs, Immigration, Special Minister of State, and the Status of Women.\nFrom 2009 until June 2010, Ms Irwin was employed by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship as first assistant secretary. In this role she drove research and analysis on medium to longer term policy issues across all areas of immigration policy and operations, including skilled migration, population, refugees and irregular maritime arrivals, border protection, citizenship and multicultural affairs, and service delivery. The result was the establishment of a research program to build policy capability within the Department.\nOnce more demonstrating her capacity to bring exceptional leadership, policy knowledge and relationship-building to bear on a new environment, Ms Irwin became national manager policy and governance in the Australian Federal Police in Canberra. Ms Irwin again managed a new division within the Australian Federal Police, developing strategic policy on law enforcement, policing and national security.\nFrom 2012 to November 2014, Ms Irwin was employed by the Department of Agriculture as first assistant secretary in the Live Animal Division. Given the task of building a new division to manage live animal export matters, Ms Irwin led and managed a national team while working closely with Australia's agricultural counsellors at overseas posts.\nSince 2014, Ms Irwin, in her role as Senior Manager Government Relations and Public Policy at BHP Billiton, has guided the company's engagement with the Australian Government in Canberra across a broad range of matters concerned with the economic, industry, environment and international policy. As part of BHP Billiton's global public policy team, Rebecca also works with her counterparts in the United States, United Kingdom and Asia on key policy matters which affect the company's operations.\nMs Irwin also works with a number of think tanks and policy analysts on emerging policy and political trends. She is a member of the Institute of Public Administration.\nLeadership and strategic policy development in the public sector, advocacy in international tribunals and lead knowledge on agriculture, immigration, international law and national security have enabled Ms Irwin to foster the important relationship between the public sector and business in Australia. Ms Irwin is an inspiring woman who drives innovation and change and has made a significant contribution to Australia's key public and commercial institutions.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rebecca-irwin-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-pilot-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kayess, Rosemary", "Entry ID": "AWE5718", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kayess-rosemary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Advisor, Disability rights activist, Lawyer", "Summary": "Rosemary Kayess has devoted her career to the study and promotion of human rights and discrimination law in Australia and internationally. She has made a significant contribution to the disability rights movement. Currently a Visiting Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, Kayess was appointed to the Australian Government delegation responsible for drafting the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.\nSince 2009 Kayess has been a member of the AusAID Disability Reference Group; in 2010 she was appointed Director of the Human Rights and Disability Project at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Kayess became Senior Research Fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW in 2011.\nRosemary Kayess was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Rosemary Kayess graduated from the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours). She also has an Associate Diploma of Management (Community Organisations) and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the College of Law.\nWhen she was twenty, Kayess was in a serious car accident in which she sustained a spinal injury. The event set her on the path to her subsequent career.\nFrom 1989 to 1995, Kayess was Director of Spinal Cord Injuries Australia while also serving on the Ethics Committee at the Benevolent Society of New South Wales and as Director of the Physical Disability Council of New South Wales.\nSince 1995, Kayess has been Chairperson of the Australian Centre for Disability Law. The Centre promotes and protects the human and legal rights of people with disabilities by providing them with access to legal advocacy. Kayess was subsequently appointed to the Disability Council of New South Wales in 1996, serving until 2000. In 1996 Kayess was honoured with a University of New South Wales Alumni Award.\nIn 2004 - 2006, Kayess was appointed to the Australian Government delegation responsible for drafting the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the Convention) [Lannen]. After the drafting process had been completed, Kayess tirelessly promoted the Convention at workshops and human rights forums, arguing for its ratification by the Australian Government. In 2008 the Rudd Government ratified the Convention, thereby providing a basis for social inclusion of people with disability in all aspects of society.\nAccording to Kayess, the timing of her involvement with the Convention was significant in setting a new direction for her academic career: \"International human rights was my area of focus and the Convention negotiations came up and it really was this one-in-a-lifetime chance and I was incredibly lucky to be involved. My academic work has sort of revolved in the past 10 years around the development of the Convention. I was appointed to the Australian Government delegation for the negotiation process and you know it's sad to say, but it really is the peak of an international lawyer's career to be involved in those types of negotiation processes\" [Lannen].\nFrom 2008 to 2009, Kayess was Director of the Disability Studies and Research Centre at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). In this role, Kayess was an advocate for the disability sector, often called upon for public comment and analysis on behalf of those with disabilities affected by unemployment and limited access to further education [ABC].\nAt UNSW's 2009 Protecting Human Rights Conference at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, Kayess spoke about the daily human rights violations which people with disabilities encounter, such as a lack of adequate accommodation, being forced to live in institutional care, and education segregation. These matters continue to occupy Kayess' work in a domestic and international context. Since 2009, Kayess has been a member of the Department Foreign Affairs and Trade Disability Reference Group; in 2010 she was appointed Director of the Human Rights and Disability Project of the Australian Human Rights Centre of the Faculty of Law, UNSW [Vision 2020].\nFrom 2010 to 2014 Kayess was the Senior Visiting Research Fellow on the Disability Rights Expanding Accessible Markets (DREAM) Project. \"The primary aim of the DREAM Project is to professionally develop and educate the next generation of disability policy researchers and entrepreneurs to assist the European Union and its Member States in their efforts to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities\" [Disability Rights]. The project provided Kayess with the opportunity to continue her ground-breaking work on the Convention at an international level.\nIn 2011 Kayess, a Visiting Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of New South Wales, was appointed Senior Research Fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.\nKayess has devoted her career to disability policy and reform. She has advised on the many issues that intersect with the disability sector, including housing, education, guardianship, employment and domestic and international human rights. An expert member of the Australian Government delegation to the United Nations negotiations for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Kayess continues to be a tireless advocate for those with disabilities in Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rosemary-kayess-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kenny, Susan", "Entry ID": "AWE5719", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kenny-susan\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Oxford, United Kingdom", "Occupations": "Barrister, Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "The Hon. Justice Susan Kenny was the first woman ever to be appointed to the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Victoria. Since 1998, she has been a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. Kenny is also a Presidential Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. An outstanding student who was educated at the Universities of Melbourne and Oxford, Kenny was associate for two years to the then justice of the High Court of Australia, the Rt Hon. Ninian Stephen. Soon after returning to the Bar, she took silk. It was while serving as a part-time commissioner for the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission that a judicial career beckoned. For many years, Kenny has worked with various administrative bodies which are concerned with judicial reform and education.\nSusan Kenny was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "The Hon. Justice Susan Kenny was born in Oxford, England in 1953. Growing up, she attended schools in the United States of America and in Australia, where she completed her secondary education at Methodist Ladies' College, Kew, before embarking upon arts and law degrees at the University of Melbourne. A brilliant student, upon completion of her studies she was placed first in History, winning the Dwight's Prize; she also shared first place in Law, thereby becoming a joint winner of the illustrious Supreme Court Prize.\nFor two years from 1979, Kenny was associate to the Rt Hon. Sir Ninian Stephen, then on the High Court of Australia. Afterwards she went into practice as a barrister. Becoming expert in the areas of constitutional and public law while also working in commercial and tax law, she took silk in 1996. During this time, she appeared in a number of prominent cases before the High Court of Australia, including the Tasmanian Dam Case and the War Crimes Case, and in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, including Portugal v Australia and Nauru v Australia.\nEarlier, in 1985, Kenny had been awarded the Menzies Scholarship in Law, followed by a grant from the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Trust. She subsequently went to Magdalen College, Oxford, where she studied comparative constitutional law under the supervision of Professor John Finnis. Her doctoral thesis, which involved a comparison of the methodology of the Australian High Court and the United States Supreme Court, was accepted in December 1988 and she graduated D.Phil (Oxon) in 1989.\nIn 1997, while serving as a part-time commissioner of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and member of the Victorian Bar Ethics Committee, Kenny was appointed to the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria: the first woman judge on the Court. Her credentials included having been president of the Administrative Review Council (1993 to 1996), counsel assisting the Solicitor-General (1991 to 1992), and a member of the Advisory Committee on Executive Government for the 1987 Australian Constitutional Commission.\nSince October 1998, Kenny has served as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. While on the bench, she has been involved in the promotion of judicial education. Kenny is also a Presidential Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and, from time to time, its Acting President under s 10(1) of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1976 (Cth). She has been a member of the Board of Governors, International Organization for Judicial Training (IOJT) (2005-2007); a member of the Executive of the IOJT (2008-2009); and regional deputy president of the IOJT (2010-2012). In Australia, she has been alternate member and member of the Council of the National Judicial College of Australia (2006-2010).\nKenny has an abiding interest in law reform and legal education. She was a part-time commissioner, Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) from 2003 until July 2012, and a member of numerous ALRC Advisory Committees in that period.. In addition, she was a member of the steering committee for the Australian Secretariat for the Asia Pacific Judicial Reform Forum from 2005 until 2008. In 2009 and 2011, under the auspices of the Australian Catholic University, Kenny co-taught the subject 'International Human Rights Law and Practice' to Burmese refugees living in a Thai refugee camp and studying for a Diploma of Liberal Studies.\nKenny is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and serves on a number of university boards and committees. She is a Fellow of St Hilda's College, University of Melbourne; a member of the Council of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration; a former long-term member of the Advisory Board of the Australian National University's Centre for International and Public Law; and a member of the Executive for Future Justice.\nKenny has written numerous articles, book chapters, and conference papers concerned with history and constitutional, administrative and taxation law.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/susan-kenny-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kossiavelos, Koula", "Entry ID": "AWE5720", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kossiavelos-koula\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Koula Kossiavelos is a magistrate of the Magistrates Court of South Australia. She has made a significant contribution to the Greek community, including as member of a long-standing steering committee which succeeded after ten years in establishing a Chair of modern Greek studies at Flinders University. She was a legal advisor and National President of the Pan-Arcadian Federation of Australia and an Australian delegate at the International Conference of Council of Hellenes Abroad. A former barrister and solicitor, she served articles with the firm Johnston, Withers, McCusker & Co before joining Martirovs, Kadis & Metanomski where she became a partner. Later establishing herself as a sole practitioner, she practised in a wide range of civil cases, including personal injury claims, family law, criminal-injuries compensation claims, civil litigation, industrial law and defamation. She continues to support community legal organisations and to promote a multicultural society.\nKoula Kossiavelos was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Koula Kossiavelos graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Adelaide in 1980, followed by a Graduate Diploma in Community Languages from the University of South Australia in 1981. In 1982, she was a participating student at the University of Athens summer school organised by Temple University of Philadelphia law school. During her university studies, Kossiavelos was a founding member of a Greek youth and music radio program. In recognition of her commitment to fostering the Greek community and the development of a broader multicultural society, Kossiavelos was granted a Commonwealth Government Australian-Greek Presidential Award in 1982 [PM]. This scholarship enabled Kossiavelos to study the legal system of Greece as it related to the Australian community.\nKossiavelos served articles with the firm Johnston, Withers, McCusker and Co. In 1984 she joined Martirovs, Kadis & Metanomski as a solicitor; in 1986 she became a partner at the firm. It was here that she developed expertise in trial work and the conduct of civil law matters. In 1987 she represented Greek-Australian graduate students in raising money to support a Chair of Modern Greek at Flinders University [Flinders]. Between 1984 and 1989 she acted as honorary legal advisor to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia and performed the voluntary role of duty solicitor at the Adelaide Magistrates' Court. She was a member of the Citizens' Advice Bureau and the Women's Legal Service. In addition, Kossiavelos volunteered as a legal adviser at Thebarton, Norwood and Parks Legal Service. She has been an Australian delegate to the International Conference of Greek Youth Abroad and President of the Greek Australian Graduates Association. She also contributed as an Executive Board member of the Alumni Association of the University of Adelaide.\nKossiavelos established herself as a sole practitioner in 1991; she practised in a wide range of civil cases, including personal injury claims, family law, criminal-injuries compensation claims, civil litigation, industrial law and defamation. During this time she was Legal Advisor and National President of the Pan-Arcadian Federation of Australia, and Australian delegate at the International Conference of Council of Hellenes Abroad in 2001 and 2003. From 2005 to 2006 Kossiavelos was the National Coordinator of the Australian Hellenic Council.\nIn 2007 Kossiavelos was appointed a Stipendiary Magistrate. The Attorney-General Michael Atkinson noted upon her appointment that Kossiavelos had \"thrown [herself] into serving others\" and that she had \"also been a stalwart of Greek organisations and migrant women's groups\" [Media Release].\nKoula Kossiavelos has made a considerable contribution to the legal system in South Australia. She continues to support community and legal organisations, which provide services to migrant women in need, and to promote a multicultural society.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/koula-kossiavelos-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mathews, Jane", "Entry ID": "AWE5722", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mathews-jane\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Woolloomoolloo, New South Wales, Aus", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "The Hon. Justice Jane Mathews AO was the first woman to be admitted to full judicial office in New South Wales, and she has continued to pave the way for women lawyers on a number of fronts. Mathews became the State's first female Supreme Court judge, as well as its first female District Court judge and its first Crown prosecutor. In addition to these positions, she has served as president of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and on the bench of the Federal Court of Australia. Other roles have included president of the International Association of Women Judges, following her involvement in establishing the Australian chapter of the organisation, and deputy chancellor of the University of New South Wales. Patron of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales, Mathews was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia for service to the judiciary, to the legal profession, to the University of New South Wales, and to music.\nMathews passed away on 31 August 2019. Recognised as a trailblazer in her field, prominent lawyers said the '\"adored\" and down-to-earth Mathews, who had a deep commitment to social justice, left an indelible mark on the legal profession and the women who followed in her footsteps.'\nJane Mathews was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "It was seeing the film 'The Winslow Boy' at an impressionable age that motivated The Hon. Justice Jane Mathews to study law. After attending Frensham School in Mittagong, she entered the University of Sydney, later graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree. At a time when there were few female lawyers in the profession, Mathews succeeded in obtaining articles of clerkship at the Sydney firm Dawson, Waldron, Edwards and Nichols (later Blake Dawson Waldron): she became the firm's first female articled clerk. After being admitted as a solicitor, Mathews practised briefly at a firm in Wollongong before returning to Sydney and joining the practice of Allen, Allen and Hemsley, where she was engaged in defamation work for the Packer Press [Jowett].\nMathews then embarked upon a career at the New South Wales Bar in Sydney; Mary Gaudron, who later became the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia, was one of only a few female contemporaries. A decision to decline family law work meant that Mathews mainly dealt with legal aid and criminal law cases at the Bar. From 1974 to 1976, Mathews was Counsel assisting the Royal Commission on Human Relationships, which looked \"at all aspects of society including the more controversial issues such as abortion, prostitution, rape, incest and homosexuality\" [Jowett].\nAt the conclusion of the royal commission, Mathews accepted the offer of a role as a Crown prosecutor in New South Wales. Again she was the first woman to hold such a position. In her work, Mathews came to focus on sexual assault prosecutions, after recognising the difference it made for female complainants to be represented by a woman prosecutor.\nIn 1980, Mathews was appointed a judge of the District Court of New South Wales, her appointment significant for being the first time in which a woman had been appointed to the Court. She enjoyed the circuit work and collegiate atmosphere of the Court. Mathews became a part-time commissioner with the New South Wales Law Reform Commission and from 1985 to 1987 she also led the New South Wales Equal Opportunity Tribunal as senior judicial member at a time when anti-discrimination legislation was new and cases ground-breaking [Jowett].\nIn 1987, in yet another 'first', Mathews became the first female judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales; she was only the second woman after Dame Roma Mitchell to be appointed to a Supreme Court in Australia [Jowett].\nIn 1989 Mathews, then the only woman serving on a Supreme Court in Australia, attended a conference in Washington DC celebrating the 10th anniversary of the American Association of Women Judges (AAWJ). The event was life-changing for Mathews, who had felt the isolation of being the only woman on the bench [Jowett]. She returned to Australia and in 1991 founded the Australian Association of Women Judges. The AAWJ conference also spawned the International Association of Women Judges and Mathews was involved as treasurer and later president of the organisation between 2004 and 2006 [Jowett]. Mathews is also involved as patron of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales.\nFrom 1992 to 1999, Mathews was deputy chancellor of the University of New South Wales [Law Council].\nIn 1994, Mathews was appointed to the role of president of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal; consequently she also became a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. Between 1994 and 1999 she was also deputy president of the National Native Title Tribunal, which had recently been established [Jowett].\nIn 2001 Mathews returned to the Supreme Court of New South Wales as an acting judge. Nearly 10 years later, she was appointed an acting judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory [Corbell].\nBeyond the law, Mathews has a great interest in music, especially that of Wagner. She is a former president of the Arts Law Centre and a continuing member of the Council of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She is also a self-described 'Italy-phile'.\nMathews has been awarded honorary degrees by the Universities of Wollongong and Sydney. She has also been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to the judiciary, to the legal profession, to the University of New South Wales, and to music.\nMathews is a true trailblazer, embodying many 'firsts' in her considerable and wide-ranging legal career spanning both state and the federal courts. She has been a generous contributor to the development and reform of legal policy and case law, to fostering judicial leadership for women on a global level, and is an inspiration for all those who aspire to work in the law.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-acting-justice-jane-mathews-ao\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/retirement-of-hon-justice-jane-hamilton-mathews-speech-by-president-of-law-council-of-australia-4-april-2001\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jane-mathews-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-pilot-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McGlade, Hannah", "Entry ID": "AWE5723", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcglade-hannah\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia", "Occupations": "Aboriginal spokesperson, Academic, Barrister, Human rights activist, Lawyer, Solicitor, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "Dr Hannah McGlade is a Nyungar human rights lawyer and academic who has published widely on many aspects of Aboriginal legal issues, especially those affecting the lives of Aboriginal women and children. Winner of the West Australian NAIDOC Student of the Year Award in 1996 (she followed this up in 2008 with the NAIDOC Outstanding Achievement Award), she was the first Aboriginal person to graduate from Murdoch University; she was also the first Aboriginal woman to graduate from a Western Australian law school when she graduated LLB (Murdoch) in 1995. She was admitted as a Solicitor and Barrister of the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1996. In July 2016 she was appointed as a Senior Indigenous Research Fellow at Curtin University. In 2016, she has been a Senior Indigenous Fellow at the United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights in Geneva, attending and assisting The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP).\nAs well as publishing prolifically, McGlade has served on many tribunals, boards and committees throughout her career, including the board of the Healing Foundation, a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation with a focus on building culturally strong, community led healing solutions to Australian Indigenous people by reconnecting them back to their culture, philosophy and spirit. She played a leading role in the return of historically significant lands, being the former Sister Kate's Children Home, where she had been a child resident, to the local community and also in the establishment of the Noongar Radio station serving as the Managing Director of Noongar Media Enterprises in 2008.\nHer tireless advocacy on behalf of Aboriginal women led in 2013 to the establishment of the first ever service in Perth for Aboriginal victims of domestic violence. Named Djinda, a Noongar word meaning stars and in memory of the women whose lives have been lost to violence, the service is delivered in conjunction with the Women's Law Centre and provides support to victims of family violence in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of metropolitan Perth. In 2016 McGlade remain an adviser to the service.\nHannah McGlade was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "An advocate for schemes that enable and prioritise Indigenous people's access to education, McGlade provides living proof of the transformative power of education. Growing up, she enjoyed learning and wanted to get a good education, but circumstances beyond her control led to McGlade leaving school before turning 16 years. A victim of abuse herself, she experienced family breakdown, homelessness and poverty and discontinued schooling to support herself and a younger brother, finding work in cafes and fast food take out places. At this time, Government initiatives to support Aboriginal access to education were fortunately available. Hannah enrolled at the Curtin University Bridging Course, and then the Bachelor of Communications degree at Curtin. She worked for the West Australia Aboriginal Media Association, reporting on Indigenous affairs and issues. In 1989, now living and working in Canberra, Hannah was admitted to the Australian National University's inaugural Aboriginal entry program, which provided places and support to study law. She returned to Perth to complete her undergraduate degree in law at Murdoch University, where she also completed a Masters in International Human Rights Law in 2001. In 2011 she graduated with a PhD from Curtin University. McGlade's research, supervised by Professor Linda Briskman, formed the basis of an award-winning book and was awarded a Vice Chancellor's commendation. McGlade extended her formal education in 2014 at Harvard University by completing a Certificate in Global Mental Health, Trauma and Recovery.\nIn 2011, McGlade received the Stanner Award for the best academic manuscript written by an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander author, for her book based on her PhD research, Our Greatest Challenge, Aboriginal children and human rights. The strength of her writing and argument comes from her ability to blend personal experience with academic expertise and the benefit of professional practice. Described as 'not a comfortable read' the book is fearless in its analysis and assessment of Australian attitudes and responses to the abuse of children in Aboriginal communities. She argues that Aboriginal human rights discourses that focus on treaties and constitutional recognition ignore the plight of indigenous women and children and have been too often been supportive of Aboriginal men's sense of entitlement. While the impact of colonization, trauma, racism and stigma is profound, ongoing and extensively documented in histories of Aboriginal Australia, the danger of these wide-ranging explanations in the context of violence in Indigenous communities is that the specific issues of child sexual abuse and domestic violence, and the human rights of Aboriginal children are lost, subsumed in the greater 'pains' of the dispossessed. It also means that the special needs and voices of abused women and children are ignored. 'Within Aboriginal rights discourse, few women are prepared to speak about Aboriginal men's violence', she says, but this should not be taken to mean that gender is irrelevant, or that women might place more emphasis on racism than on sexism as the core problem. Women who do speak out, she says, often experience intimidation, marginalization and isolation. So-called 'educated liberal' responses that violence towards women and children is part of Aboriginal 'culture' and one that has to be accommodated by 'white man's' law are seriously misguided and cannot continue.\nMcGlade has used her legal training as an activist in a practical sense. In 1999, she successfully brought a civil case against Senator Ross Lightfoot who was found to have vilified Aboriginal people in 1997 by saying publicly that some aspects of Aboriginal culture were abhorrent, and that they were 'the most primitive people on earth'. She has supported several Noongar elders and community members to assert their rights under Section 18C of Racial Discrimination Act. Her legal training has also been important to her work in the community legal sector where she was responsible for leading the establishment of the Aboriginal Family Law Services, providing legal, counselling and community education to regional Aboriginal women, families and communities experiencing high levels of family violence and sexual assault. It has also qualified her to work on a variety of tribunals. She was appointed to the State Administrative Tribunal, Human Rights stream in 2010 and later worked for four years (2012-2016) at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, starting originally at the Migration Refugee Review Tribunal, performing an important role in the review of government decision making. She continues to work as a member of the WA Mental Health Tribunal.\nHer academic writing, speaking, teaching and journalism are other channels through which she now develops her activism. Speaking on behalf of Aboriginal women is a privilege and a responsibility she takes very seriously, appreciating how the written word has power and leaves a legacy. 'Writing's been a great part of my life,' she said in a 2013 interview. 'I'm happy to have stood up for Aboriginal women - speaking up for what's important for us.'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/our-greatest-challenge-aboriginal-children-and-human-rights\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/native-title-tides-of-history-and-our-continuing-claims-for-justice-sovereignty-self-determination-and-treaty\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wa-senator-breached-race-act-court-finds\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-history-of-section-18c-and-the-racial-discrimination-act\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/review-of-our-greatest-challenge-aboriginal-children-and-human-rights\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hannah-mcglade-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Nguyen, Lyma", "Entry ID": "AWE5724", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nguyen-lyma\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Kuku Island, Indonesia", "Occupations": "Advocate, Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Lyma Nguyen, an advocate whose earliest memories stem back to the Indonesian refugee camp in which she was born, has devoted the better part of her young life to human rights; she has particularly concerned herself with advancing criminal justice domestically and in the international sphere. Nguyen practises at the Northern Territory Bar in Darwin and also appears before the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)). In 2009, Nguyen became the first Australian woman to be admitted as International Counsel for Civil Parties in the ECCC. She acts on behalf of ethnic Vietnamese Cambodians - as well as foreign nationals from Australia, New Zealand and the United States - who suffered during the Khmer Rouge regime. In recognition of indefatigable, pro bono work for the rights of ethnic minority Vietnamese in Cambodia, Nguyen was awarded an Australian Prime Minister's Executive Endeavour Award in 2013.\nLyma Nguyen was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Lyma Nguyen was born in a refugee camp on Kuku Island, Indonesia. Just days before her birth, her mother was taken from the dilapidated vessel that had borne the family from Vietnam and transported by helicopter to the Indonesian mainland. The story of Nguyen's birth and the mystery of whether she was named for the call signal 'Lima', possibly used on the helicopter that brought her to safety, are told in the book, Boat People: Personal Stories from the Vietnamese Exodus: 1975-1996, edited by Carina Hoang. Nguyen's earliest memories are of her childhood in the refugee camp, before settling in Brisbane via Perth, Australia.\nEducated first at the local primary school in Darra, Brisbane, before receiving her secondary schooling at Brigidine College, Indooroopilly, Nguyen's interest in human rights was awakened when she became president of Brigidine's Amnesty International group. In 2001, Nguyen began studying arts and law at the University of Queensland. Her law studies, focused on international law, peacekeeping and international institutions, and human rights law, would stand her in good stead for her future work, particularly at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.\nIn 2001 - the time of the International Force for East Timor, the multinational, non-United Nations peacekeeping taskforce which was organised and led by Australia - Nguyen's involvement with the United Nations' Student Association at university saw her travel to Timor-Leste to teach English to children - including orphans - in Los Palos.\nBack in Australia, in 2002 she was elected president of the University's chapter of Amnesty International. She also became a student councillor, supporting projects with the Red Cross and Oxfam. The same year, Nguyen returned to Timor-Leste, where she witnessed the withdrawal of the International Force for East Timor and the student rioting which resulted.\nIn 2004, Nguyen travelled to south-eastern Nigeria where she taught French to high school students in Anambra State. The following year, her legal studies took her to Canada's University of British Columbia. In 2006, Nguyen undertook an international clerkship with the Singaporean law firm, Drew & Napier LLC; it was here that she fatefully met Mahdev Mohan, who would introduce her to the work being undertaken at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.\nGraduating with a combined degree in 2006, Nguyen accepted a position with the Department of Immigration's Brisbane office. She was there only a short time before she felt drawn to Canberra to work as a legal officer with the International Transfer of Prisoners Scheme, International Criminal Law Division of the Attorney-General's Department.\nWhile she was at the Attorney-General's Department Mohan contacted Nguyen: he was preparing victim class action claims being heard in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal and wondered if Nguyen might be interested in assisting him. She was, and in 2008, Nguyen travelled to Cambodia where she made contact with the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organisation, which was conducting 'outreach' to the floating Vietnamese villages. Nguyen helped four complainants to fill out forms to submit to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. They would be the first of many she helped.\nAfter returning to Australia, Nguyen joined the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in a legal policy role which was concerned with human trafficking, slavery and sexual servitude offences. In 2009, seeking prosecution experience, Nguyen successfully applied for a transfer to the Darwin office of the DPP.\nThe same year, she was admitted as International Counsel for Civil Parties in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. The Tribunal was established in 2003 through an agreement between the Government of Cambodia and the United Nations and the Law on the Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; Nguyen has noted that \"[t]his was the very first time in international criminal law history that victims of crime were permitted to join the proceedings of an internationalised court as 'civil parties', with a mandate to support the prosecution, and to seek 'moral and collective reparations' for harm suffered\" [Nguyen].\nNguyen's ability to converse in French and Vietnamese has provided her with a crucial link to the minority ethnic Vietnamese Cambodians she represents at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, victims and claimants who have spoken \"of horrific crimes - mass deportation to Vietnam, torture, cannibalism, rape, the singling out of members of their group, mass executions of family members, details about the methods of killing and torture; things that would make any ordinary person wretch and cry\" [Nguyen].\nAll the time she was at the DPP, Nguyen continued to work doggedly, in her own time, at the Tribunal, initially with the non-governmental organisation, Access to Justice Asia. In 2010, with Australian Volunteers International and Legal Aid Cambodia, Nguyen prepared victim compensation claims for over 100 survivors, in cases that began before the Tribunal had finalised the trial hearings. Nguyen, working as an International Civil Party Lawyer in the Tribunal, represented a variety of victim groups, including foreign nationals from Australia, New Zealand and the United States who had lost family members through Khmer Rouge policies against foreign nationals.\nTogether with national colleagues from Legal Aid of Cambodia, she has provided pro bono\nlegal representation for victims across cases 002, 003 and 004, including for ethnic Vietnamese minority victims of Cambodia's genocide, foreign nationals who are victims of crimes at S21 (the torture centre in Phnom Penh), and members of the Cambodian diaspora.\nIn 2011 Nguyen completed a Master of Laws degree which focussed on International Law, at the Australian National University (ANU). Together with Christoph Sperfeldt of the ANU, she was author in 2012 of a research paper: 'A Boat Without Anchors: A Report on the Legal Status of Ethnic Vietnamese Minority Populations in Cambodia Under Domestic and International Laws Governing Nationality and Statelessness' [Nguyen and Sperfeldt]. The same year, Nguyen was enlisted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a Law and Justice Civilian Expert on the register of the Australian Civilian Corps, for rapid deployment to fragile or post-conflict situations.\nIn recognition of her dedication to the rights of ethnic minority Vietnamese in Cambodia, in 2013 Nguyen was honoured with an Australian Prime Minister's Executive Endeavour Award for her work representing ethnic Vietnamese victims of the Khmer Rouge [Marcham].\nIn 2014, Nguyen was awarded a Churchill Fellowship. She used the fellowship to increase her expertise in the practice of international criminal justice by examining the operation of international courts and preparing victim representation in the genocide trial before the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.\nIn June of the same year, Nguyen left her role at the DPP to read at the Northern Territory Bar in Darwin.\nBelieving that \"the ECCC could help repair race relations between Khmer and Vietnamese, in addition to finding justice for millions affected by the Khmer Rouge's murderous rule\" [Phan], Nguyen continues to have a significant impact on the lives of the Vietnamese ethnic minority and foreign national victims whom she represents in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lyma-nguyen-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Oliver, Sue", "Entry ID": "AWE5725", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/oliver-sue\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Burwood, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "A graduate of the University of Adelaide, Her Honour Judge Sue Oliver was admitted as a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1978 and then promptly moved with her (then) husband to Darwin, where she has lived ever since. She was appointed to the Northern Territory Magistrates Court (now called the Northern Territory Local Court) in 2006, after having practised law in a variety of public and private sectors contexts. As managing magistrate of the Northern Territory Youth Justice Court in the Northern Territory, she has a particular interest in and has published widely on matters relating to the complex issues surrounding the management of young offenders.\nSince arriving in the N.T., Oliver has also contributed her time and energy to a variety of community and national organisations. These include the Family Planning Association, the YWCA, the International Legal Services Advisory Council, Commissioner for the NT Legal Aid Commission, committee member NT Law Society and Board Member of the Australian Women Lawyers. She is presently a member of the Country Women's Association in Katherine.\nSue Oliver was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Sue Oliver was the first person in her family to go to university, a beneficiary of the free tertiary education system introduced by the Whitlam Labor Government elected in 1972. Nineteen years old and working her way up northern Australia at the time of the election, the prospect of free tertiary education was enough to bring her back to Adelaide, complete her Higher School Certificate, and qualify for university entrance. She originally thought about studying medicine, but realised she didn't have the maths\/science competence to get the mark required. She settled on law, and has never looked back. 'The best thing about being a lawyer, is the intellectual challenge of the law,' she says. 'The best thing about having a legal career \u2026is having the opportunity to meet people you wouldn't otherwise have met and to better understand their lives.'\nAfter completing her degree at the University of Adelaide in 1978, Oliver completed a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice as an alternative to doing articles. Not having any connections in the Adelaide legal families, she had no connection to the networks necessary to getting a position in a good firm. She never felt disadvantaged by taking this route - if anything she was glad to be moving in less conservative circles. Having once been asked by some students conducting a survey whether her background was 'Upper class, upper middle class, middle class, lower middle class, lower class,' Oliver responded with out-rage and indignation, 'Anybody ever heard of working class?' She was glad for the more progressive opportunities that the graduate diploma offered.\nDespite being admitted as a solicitor and barrister to the Supreme Court of South Australia, Oliver did not begin her career there. Her then husband was offered a job in the Northern Territory and the opportunity to move into a jurisdiction that was rebuilding and developing was too good to refuse. She began her professional legal career in 1979 as a legal adviser to the Territory Government before moving to the North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service. From there, she moved into further government work, including in the Office of the Deputy Crown Solicitor, the Social Security Appeals Tribunal and the office of the Australian Government Solicitor, before embarking on a career in academia.\nOliver is a former legal academic with a Master of Laws from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, U.S.A. (1994). In 1998, after many years in teaching and administration in the Faculty of Business at the Northern Territory Institute on Technology, she was appointed the first Dean of the Faculty of Law, Business and Arts at what was then the newly restructured Northern Territory University. Subsequently she was Director of Legal Policy and Acting Executive Director of Legal Services in the Territory's Department of Justice immediately prior to her appointment to the Bench in 2006. As an academic, her teaching areas included contract, employment law and defamation. As Director of Legal Policy she developed the Freedom of Information and Privacy legislation and the reform of the Criminal Code, including the reform of mandatory life sentencing.\nIn recent years, Oliver has been managing magistrate of the Northern Territory Youth Justice Court in the Northern Territory. In this capacity she has been working with a variety of services towards building a better framework to enable the court and services like the Department of Children and Families and the Youth Justice Division of Corrections to communicate with each other and manage cases better. Information on young people in the system has been 'siloed' for years - 'nobody's talking but everybody's got information' - and she has been working on systems that share that information between services while protecting the rights and privacy of the young person. According to some youth justice advocates familiar with the Northern Territory, Oliver's efforts with the Katherine youth court have been successful. Words like 'holistic and 'user-friendly' have been used to describe the system. According to some advocates, 'It's less punitive' with 'less onerous bail conditions', than past, and some present, court systems have been.\nIn March 2007, Oliver was one of five women who presided over Darwin courts for the first time, the largest female jurist contingent ever to sit in one place in the Northern Territory, a noteworthy occasion indeed. Justice Sally Thomas, Chief Magistrate Jenny Blokland, Acting Magistrate Tanya Fong Lim and Magistrates Melanie Little and Sue Oliver were referred to as the \"five sisters in law\" in a report in the Northern Territory News and the journal of the Northern Territory Law Society. As well as acknowledging the experience and expertise the group of five possessed, the article noted that between them, there were eleven children, with Oliver mother to four of them. Maintaining work\/life balance has involved constant juggling and even though opportunities for women to work in the legal profession have improved markedly over her time, Oliver can't see anyway around the juggling. 'I think the same challenges will always be there,' she says. 'You want an intellectual life for yourself. You want a career for yourself but you want to balance that against bringing up your children, giving them the things that they want and seeing them, you know, blossom into life. I can't see that ever changes.' With support, however, the juggling act is manageable.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sue-oliver-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Penfold, Hilary", "Entry ID": "AWE5726", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/penfold-hilary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Dunedin, New Zealand", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Parliamentary Counsel, Public servant, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "The Hon. Justice Hilary Penfold has enjoyed a distinguished career in the public service and as a member of the judiciary. After becoming the first woman in Australia to hold the position of First Parliamentary Counsel, she achieved the further distinction of becoming the first woman to be appointed as Commonwealth Queen's Counsel. She later became the first resident woman judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. Penfold's contribution to the public service, to drafting and to the development of law in Australia has been immense.\nHilary Penfold was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "The Hon. Justice Hilary Penfold was born in 1953 in Dunedin, New Zealand; she was the first of seven children. When she was three, the Penfold family immigrated to Australia and settled in Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. In 1963 Penfold's father, John, a lecturer in adult education with the University of Sydney, again moved the family - this time to Southampton in England for a 12-month sabbatical. Upon returning to Australia, the Penfolds settled in Sydney and Hilary, having won a scholarship to attend, entered Ascham School in the eastern suburb of Edgecliff.\nAfter leaving school, Hilary Penfold undertook a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws (from which she graduated with first-class honours) at the Australian National University. Residing at Garran Hall during her studies, she was involved in a range of extra-curricular activities concerned with the University's Department of Philosophy, the theatre club (of which she was secretary), the Federal Law Review (of which she was a member of the editorial board), and as a founding member of Radio ANU [Trove].\nIn 1977 Penfold began working at the Commonwealth Office of Parliamentary Counsel (OPC): she would remain there for 20 years. Early projects included taxation legislation, stevedoring industry work, and companies and securities work involving State\/Commonwealth negotiations. She was the only woman drafter at the OPC for some time and consequently became the first woman to progress to each senior level of the organisation.\nIn 1984, when she was just 30 years old, Penfold was appointed to head the Attorney-General's Department's Special Projects Division for nine months. (The Canberra Times announced that she was the youngest public servant in the new Senior Executive Service [Canberra Times]). Two years later, Penfold became Second Parliamentary Counsel.\nIn 1993, Penfold became the first woman to be appointed First Parliamentary Counsel; she would hold the position for a decade. By 1993 she had three children. She is credited as 'leading by example' when it came to balancing work and home life, and initiating such family-friendly policies as reasonable hours and part-time work options for male as well as female employees.\nPenfold's contributions to the OPC also included managing large and complex drafting projects including: the Tampa legislation, workplace relations reforms; as well as the constitutional amendments proposed to create an Australian republic in 1999 [NLA], all of which she personally drafted in whole or in part. GST legislation and the original and revised native title legislation were also drafted during her time as First Parliamentary Counsel. Penfold also promoted innovations in drafting - plain language and technology advancements and an exchange of ideas between drafting offices in Australia and overseas [NLA].\nPenfold was involved in the work of the Parliamentary Counsel's Committee (a committee of chief parliamentary counsel of Australia and New Zealand), and was President of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel from 1999 until 2003 (an association of legislative counsel from across the British Commonwealth) [ANU]. She was also a member of the Board of Taxation from 2000 until 2004 [ANU].\nIn recognition of her significant contribution to legislative drafting for the Commonwealth Government, Penfold was awarded a Public Service Medal in 2000.\nThe following year, Penfold was appointed as a Commonwealth Queen's Counsel; she was the first woman to hold such an appointment [ANU]. In 2003, she chaired the Migration Litigation Review; commissioned by the then Attorney-General, the Hon. Philip Ruddock MP, the Review examined the increasingly large numbers of migration cases before the High Court, Federal Court and Federal Magistrates Court, and the very low success rate of applicants, and made recommendations for streamlining the appeal processes.\nIn 2004 Penfold became Secretary of the newly-created Department of Parliamentary Services. At Parliament House she initiated an historic trial to determine how much water could be saved by turning down the building's air-conditioning and oversaw the introduction of child care facilities in Parliament House [Peter Martin, NLA].\nPenfold broke new ground again when, in 2007, she became the first female resident judge of the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court.\nIn 2011, in further evidence of Penfold's administrative expertise and the respect it has garnered, the Supreme Court changed aspects of its case management and listing practices with a view to reducing the time taken to finalise matters lodged in or committed to the Court, based upon her recommendation [AustLII]. There was a significant drop in waiting times for trials within the first year after the new system was implemented.\nPenfold is the Patron of the Australian Capital Territory Women Lawyers Association; Member of the Governing Council and Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of Australia; and Member of the Advisory Board, Federal Law Review. She is a past member of the Rhodes Scholarship Territories Selection Committee.\nHilary Penfold's contributions to the public service, to drafting and to the law have been considerable and inspirational.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hilary-penfold-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pritchard, Janine", "Entry ID": "AWE5727", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pritchard-janine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Gunnedah, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "The Hon. Justice Janine Pritchard was appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia on 11 June 2010. She was elevated to this position after a year as a Judge of the District Court of Western Australia, during which period she served as Deputy President of the State Administrative Tribunal. Prior to her appointment to the District Court, Justice Pritchard had worked in the WA Crown (now State) Solicitor's Office (since 1991).\nKnown for her powerful intellect and work ethic, Justice Pritchard has been an important role model for women planning to combine a career in law, and in the judiciary in particular, with family responsibilities. Her first child was present at her swearing in ceremony; her second was born after her appointment. While she acknowledges the challenges of maintaining a demanding career with a 'hands on' approach to family life, Justice Pritchard has demonstrated that working arrangements for the judiciary are capable of accommodating family friendly policies, such as maternity leave.\nJanine Pritchard was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Born in Gunnedah in New South Wales, Janine Pritchard lived in regional NSW for the first fifteen years of her life. The oldest of three sisters educated by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy, Pritchard finished her secondary education at Merici College in Canberra, after her parents made the decision to move to that city to advance their daughters' education.\nPritchard went on to complete a combined Arts\/Law degree at the Australian National University, graduating with a BA in 1990 and with a Law degree with honours in 1993. Her last two years of her law studies were completed while working full time, because in 1991 she moved to Perth to take up a position as a professional assistant to the then WA Solicitor-General, Kevin Parker AC, QC. She was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1993. She undertook more formal education in the late 1990s, completing a Graduate Diploma in Women's Studies at Murdoch University in 1997 and a Master of Laws with distinction from the University of London in 1999.\nHaving completed her articles with the then Crown Solicitor's Office, Pritchard remained in that office as a lawyer and in 2002 was appointed a Senior Assistant State Counsel. She had a very busy practice throughout this period but still found time to lecture and tutor in law at various universities in Perth. Her commitment to mentoring and supporting young lawyers is renowned, as is her active participation in organisations focussed on the advancement of women in the legal profession, including service as a board member of Australian Women Lawyers, the peak body for women lawyers' associations around Australia, and as a Committee member for Women Lawyers Western Australia (WLWA). From 2012 - 2014, she was Chair of the Steering Committee for WLWA's 20th Anniversary Review of the 1994 Chief Justice's Gender Bias Taskforce Report.\nAt her swearing in ceremony on 14 June 2010, the then Parliamentary Secretary to the WA Attorney General, Michael Mischin, listed Pritchard's many achievements, commitments and responsibilities, observing that ' [f]rankly, I don't know where you find the time!' There have been occasions when Her Honour has wondered this herself. Her motivation for pushing through her gruelling schedule stems partly from a desire to create better structures that promote gender equity throughout the legal system, allowing young boys and girls to imagine women and men in leadership roles, in equal numbers. The following extract of her own address at her swearing in, quoted at length, reflects her concerns.\nI am also conscious that regrettably it remains the case that there is something slightly out of the ordinary about the appointment of a woman Judge, and in my case the appointment of a comparatively young woman. While I think that the appointment of women to Courts and Tribunals is generally well received within the profession itself, in the broader community it is interesting that it remains something unusual or worthy of comment.\n Three things have brought this home to me in the past year. The first is that when I was appointed, one of my friends who is a lawyer and who is married to a lawyer recounted that her son who was about six years of age at the time had told her that I couldn't possibly have been appointed as a Judge \"because girls can't be Judges\".\n [M]y son, came home very confused because the tennis coach who goes to his day-care centre to teach tennis had asked the kids what their parents do. He dutifully responded that \"Mummy is a Judge and Daddy is a lawyer\", only to be told, \"No, darling. I think you must be wrong. Daddy's the Judge and Mummy's the lawyer.\"\n More recently I was bemused to see that my appointment to this Court warranted media attention, not because it increased the number of women represented on the Court or for anything to do with my individual merits but because I have a husband with a senior position in the legal profession and [that was seen to raise the question of] how I would be able to manage my new position in view of my 'hubby's' role - that was the term used. My 'hubby's' role was apparently a matter of some concern.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/janine-pritchard-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rathus, Zoe Scott", "Entry ID": "AWE5728", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rathus-zoe-scott\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "A former Australian Young Lawyer of the Year, Zoe Rathus is Director of the Clinical Legal Education Program and Senior Lecturer at Griffith University's Law School in Queensland. She was previously a solicitor, and then co-ordinator, at the Queensland Women's Legal Service, in whose establishment she played an integral part. In 2011 Rathus was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the law, particularly through contributions to the rights of women, children and the Indigenous community, to education and to professional organisations.\nZoe Rathus was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Zoe Rathus graduated from the University of Queensland with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degrees in the early 1980s. One of Rathus' Law tutors was Quentin Bryce, later Australia's first woman to hold the office of Governor-General. Bryce was also a mentor and role model to Rathus when women in such positions were few and far between for female students [The Australian].\nIn 1983, Rathus was admitted as a solicitor, working at the time for Lillie and Associates, a small suburban law firm. She practised mainly in family and criminal law. She subsequently joined the firm Goss Downey Carne. In 1984 Rathus was one of those involved in setting up the Queensland Women's Legal Service. (She recalls that Bryce, by this time the first director of the Queensland Women's Information Service in the Office of the Status of Women, was a valuable supporter of, fundraiser and networker for the nascent Legal Service) [The Australian].\nAs a solicitor with the Legal Service, Rathus was an advocate for women who experienced domestic violence. She was chairperson of the Queensland Domestic Violence Council and assisted with the defence of Dagma Stephenson who successfully pleaded self-defence after the homicide of her violent husband of 22 years [Green Left Weekly]. In 1990, Rathus received the accolade of Australian Young Lawyer of the Year, awarded by the Young Lawyers' Section of the Law Council of Australia.\nWith the matter of women in the legal system continuing to occupy her thinking, in 1993 Rathus wrote what has been described as a 'seminal' report, entitled 'Rougher than Usual Handling: Women and the Criminal Justice System'. The report was \"[b]ased on the knowledge of women's experiences before the law accrued from experience in the community legal sector, [and it was said to have] made an invaluable contribution to the reform of Queensland criminal law\" [Galloway].\nFrom 1995 to 1998 Rathus' continuing contribution to gender issues and the law acquired an international focus. She became involved in consultations concerning a key policy document seeking gender equality for South Africa: 'Justice Vision 2000\u2032 [Gender Policy].\nRathus became co-ordinator of the Queensland Women's Legal Service in 1989. In this role, she enjoined the Queensland Government to make changes to stalking laws to increase women's protection, and opposed funding cuts to Legal Aid which adversely affected women on low incomes who were involved with the Family Court [Courier Mail; Meryment].\nIn 1999, Rathus was deputy chair of the Women's Taskforce Review of Queensland's criminal justice system, which examined the impact upon women of the Queensland Criminal Code, court practices and the legal system. As a result of the Review's findings, in 2000 law reform was enacted which provided increased protection for women and children in rape and child abuse cases [Monk & Parnell].\nRathus was presented with the inaugural Queensland Woman Lawyer of the Year Award by the Women Lawyers' Association Queensland in 2001. Two years later she was the recipient of the Centenary Medal, for distinguished service to the law and women's issues in Queensland.\nIn 2005, Rathus became Director of the Clinical Legal Education Program at Griffith University. She was also appointed Senior Lecturer; she lectures on family law, particularly in relation to family violence and gender-related matters, and women and teaches ethics and professional practice, which includes consideration of diversity within the legal profession and access to justice. An inspiration to her students, in 2011 they showed their appreciation, with Rathus receiving the 'Best Lecturer-Brisbane Award' by the Golden Key International Honour Society for her work as Program Director [Griffith].\nAlso in 2011, Rathus was appointed as a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for service to the law, particularly through contributions to the rights of women, children and the Indigenous community, to education and to professional organisations. Rathus has, furthermore, been recognised with the Travis Lindenmayer Award for services to family law.\nShe is a board member of the Innocence Project and also a member of the member of the management committee of the Immigrant Women's Support Service. She was previously a board member of Legal Aid Queensland and the Legal Services Commission.\nRathus was instrumental in establishing the Queensland Women's Legal Service and her passion and longstanding advocacy for family law, for women's and children's rights and access to justice, continue to have an impact on communities across Queensland.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/zoe-rathus-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Thornton, Margaret Rose", "Entry ID": "AWE5729", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/thornton-margaret-rose\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Launceston, Tasmania, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Margaret Thornton is an acclaimed feminist academic in the field of feminist jurisprudence, discrimination, equal opportunity and gender studies at the Australian National University's College of Law. She has degrees from the Universities of Sydney and New South Wales and Yale University. A prominent thinker and legal researcher, Thornton was the first female law professor to be appointed at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia; during her academic career she demonstrated a significant commitment to the development of La Trobe's law school. Thornton founded the Feminist Legal Action Group and convened the first feminist jurisprudence conference in Australia. She has participated in numerous consultations with agencies such as the International Labour Organisation, and advised parliaments on legislation. She has also published widely. Motivated by social justice and a desire for equality, Thornton has been steadfast in her efforts to improve conditions for women in society, particularly in the workplace and in educational institutions.\nMargaret Thornton was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Margaret Thornton was born in Launceston and raised in north western Tasmania [Gender Institute]. After moving to Sydney, she attended East Sydney Technical College in order to matriculate. When the time came for her to enrol in a degree, she was discouraged from enrolling in Arts\/Law by the University of Sydney after being told that law was not an appropriate choice for a woman. She then elected to study Arts [Margaret Thornton - Women's Web].\nInterested in the possibility of a career teaching ancient history and Classics, Thornton subsequently began tutoring at Macquarie University and enrolled in a Master of Arts degree. However, influenced by the Women's Movement, she enrolled in a Bachelor of Laws at the University of New South Wales. She graduated brilliantly in 1978, winning the University Medal. She then embarked upon a PhD in discrimination law. While studying, she founded the Feminist Legal Action Group (FLAG) to run legal test cases for women. With the support of a Fulbright scholarship, Thornton moved to Yale University in the United States in 1979. There, in 1980, Thornton completed a Master of Laws.\nShe returned to Macquarie University, where lecturers were encouraged to be generalists, and taught widely across criminal, tort, constitutional, property, discrimination, migration law and research methods. She became the Foundation Chair of Women in Tertiary Institutions and a member of the Women's Advisory Council to the Premier, which advised on policy and all legislation before the New South Wales Parliament.\nThornton's dedication to discrimination law and equality in broader society, and in employment and education settings, is reflected in her active membership of the Federation of the Australian University Staff Associations at Macquarie University, the precursor to the National Tertiary Education Union. In the early 1980s, she was also Chair of the New South Wales Committee on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (a federal body set up under ILO 111), which dealt with discrimination complaints at work. In 1986, Thornton convened the first feminist jurisprudence conference in Australia.\nIn 1989 Thornton was a consultant to the Affirmative Action Agency. She was also a consultant to the International Labour Organization on pay equity in Australia.\nFrom 1990 to 2006, Thornton was Professor of Law and Legal Studies at La Trobe University, acting as Chair and Head of School 1991-92. In 2005, she was awarded a prestigious Professorial Fellowship with the Australian Research Council. At the time, Thornton's research interests included discrimination law, feminist legal theory and the place of women in the legal profession. Her trailblazing books included The Liberal Promise: Anti-discrimination Legislation in Australia (1990) and Dissonance and Distrust: Women in the Legal Profession (1996).\nWhile at La Trobe, Thornton was a member of the Committee of Australian Law Deans; Victorian Council of Legal Education; Equal Opportunity Commission Victoria (Women's Reference Group). She also served for several years on the Australian Research Council (Humanities and Social Sciences Discipline Panel, Appeals Committee and Council), in an endeavour to enhance the profile of law and legal studies in the academic community. In addition, she participated on the Comparative Commercial Law Advisory Committee at Victoria University and the UNESCO Social Sciences Network.\nThornton was a Visiting Fellow at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra (1993-1994); Fellow in Residence, New College, Oxford (1994); Visiting Fellow, Columbia University Law School, New York (1997); and, in 1988, a Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, Vancouver and Visiting Professor, University of Ottawa Law School, Ottawa. (In 2003 Thornton returned as Visiting Fellow to the Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, and to Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto; in 2008 she again returned to the Osgoode Hall Law School as the Barbara Betcherman Distinguished Visitor).\nFrom 1993 to 1996 Thornton lent her expertise as Honorary Consultant to the New South Wales Law Reform Commission's Review of Anti-Discrimination, and from 1994 to 1996 as Chair, Federal Government Advisory Committee for the Gender Issues in the Law Curriculum Project (DEETYA), a project designed to develop gender awareness among law students.\nThornton was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 1998. The following year, Macquarie University established the 'Margaret Thornton Prize in Discrimination and the Law' in her honour. In 2000, she was appointed as the inaugural Visiting Professor (Program for Women Academics - Mentor & Role Model), Victoria University, under a program which allowed each faculty to invite an experienced woman professor from another university to work for a year 'as a mentor and role model for female academics, run seminars, develop a research culture and work with VUT's advisory groups and committees' [Cook].\nIn 2001, Thornton was editor of the Australian Feminist Law Journal; she also held the PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal Visiting Chair in Women and the Law, University of Sydney. Over the next two years, Thornton continued to demonstrate her support for matters concerning women and the law, through her role as Convener, Feminist Theory Stream, Critical Legal Conference, and as a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.\nIn 2006, Thornton became President of the Association for the Public University, a lobby group designed to draw attention to governmental changes in education and which inspired Thornton's work on an Australian Research Council-funded project, the 'Neo-Liberal Legal Academy'.\nIn 2005, Thornton was invited to be a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and was a Director from 2007 to 2011, as well as Chair of the Law Editorial Board of the ANU E Press. She also occupied the role of Director of Research at the ANU College of Law.\nA long-time critical thinker on the place of universities in Australian society, Thornton's research has investigated \"the neoliberal turn in higher education, in particular the increasing marketisation of the sector and the commodification of knowledge\" and the impacts on teaching and research [Markets]. She has noted that: \"[universities] are moving away from seeing education as a public good towards seeing it as a commodity for which people pay\" [Gender Institute].\nIn 2012, Thornton's book, Privatising the Public University: The Case of Law, was published. It contained her observation that: \"Despite the general decline in morale arising from the market embrace, the overwhelming preponderance of legal academics interviewed felt privileged to be part of the academy. This is the paradox of academic life. A passion for academic ideas - a belief in the freedom to think, to pursue interesting lines of inquiry, to write, to engage with and influence future lawyers - and to change the world - compelled them to remain\u2026\" [Thornton]. At its launch, Chief Justice French of the High Court of Australia reflected that: \"[this] is a book which has the capacity to open and widen perspectives to all who are engaged in university governance and teaching and particularly the teaching of law\" [French].\nThe same year, in recognition of her contribution to academia and broader society through her critical commentary, Thornton became an ANU Public Policy Fellow. She was also identified as one of ANU's Inspiring Women in a publication of the Gender Institute at ANU.\nAlthough she acknowledges that there have been advances for women in the law since she herself graduated, Thornton has said that she does not \"support a liberal view of progress - that things are always getting better. They are not necessarily.\" She notes, for example, that \"During the years of the Howard government, we saw a retreat from the idea of equality to a focus on the individual and the market\" [Gender Institute]. She considers that unhelpful stereotypes which hark back to the late nineteenth century continue to dog women who practise law today, the result being that they may still be regarded with suspicion [Gender Institute].\nHer current research, on work\/life balance in the legal profession, has revealed, among other things, that women who juggle work and family responsibilities may be considered 'disloyal' because they are not available 24 hours a day and that this failure can result in their being overlooked when it comes to promotion and partnerships [Gender Institute]. She has warned \"\u2026 the many bright young women who think discrimination stopped with their mothers' generation\" may need to look again [Thornton - ANU].\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-with-margaret-thornton\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/privatising-the-public-university-the-case-of-law\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/margaret-thornton-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Walker, Sally", "Entry ID": "AWE5730", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/walker-sally\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Consultant, Lawyer, Solicitor, Vice-Chancellor", "Summary": "Emeritus Professor Sally Walker AM was the first female vice-chancellor and president of Australia's Deakin University. Prior to holding these appointments, she was senior deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Melbourne, where she was also president of the University's Academic Board, member of the senior executive, and pro vice-chancellor. Walker established the pioneering Centre for Media, Communications and Information Technology Law (now Centre for Media & Communications Law) at the Melbourne Law School and was its inaugural director. While at the Law School, she was Hearn Professor of Law. Walker was also secretary-general of the Law Council of Australia for a time.\nAppointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2011, in recognition of her contribution to education, to the law as an academic and to the advancement of women. In 2014 she was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women. As a Principal at Deloitte, Walker continues to consult widely on strategic and leadership matters in the higher education sector.\nSally Walker was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Emeritus Professor Sally Walker's early life was spent on farming properties managed by her father in various parts of Victoria. Winning a scholarship to be a boarder at Melbourne Church of England Girls' Grammar School (now Melbourne Girls Grammar), she was inspired to study law after the school enabled her to meet a number of successful women lawyers [Patterson]. In 1976 Walker graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours), winning the Supreme Court Prize for the highest-placed student in the final honours list, the Anna Brennan Prize and the Joan Rosanove Prize.\nWhile undertaking articles of clerkship at the Melbourne firm Gillotts Solicitors (later part of Minter Ellison), Walker completed a Master of Laws at the University of Melbourne. She left the firm soon afterwards to take up a position as an associate to the then Justice Aickin of the High Court of Australia. Following her associateship, she returned to Gillotts Solicitors and was later made an associate partner [Aiton].\nThe increasing importance of media and communication law had now captured Walker's interest. She returned to the University of Melbourne, taking up a position as a lecturer in the Faculty of Law. After being promoted to senior lecturer and then reader in the Faculty, Walker was responsible for developing a new undergraduate subject - Media Law. In the Master of Laws program she also established the Graduate Diploma of Media, Communications and Information Technology Law. She also taught Trade Practices law, Intellectual Property Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Security Law and, in the Master of Laws program, Advanced Trade Practices Law, Defamation Law and the Law of Contempt of Court.\nIn 1992 Walker was Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. She returned to the University of Melbourne the following year, and took up an appointment as the Hearn Professor of Law. Around this time Walker also became the first academic secretary to be appointed to the Victorian Attorney-General's Law Reform Advisory Council. [Patterson].\nBetween 1995 and 2000, Walker was deputy vice-president, vice-president and president of the University of Melbourne's Academic Board; she was a member of the University's senior executive and a pro vice-chancellor. Walker also established the Centre for Media, Communications and Information Technology Law (now the Centre for Media & Communications Law).\nWalker became the second most senior executive at the University of Melbourne when she was appointed to the position of Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor in July 2000. Soon she was being called upon to be acting vice-chancellor in the absence of the then vice-chancellor, the late Professor Alan Gilbert [Patterson].\nAmong her achievements as senior deputy vice-chancellor, Walker reserves her greatest pride for the role she played in the 'Academic Women in Leadership Program', which aimed to encourage women to take up leadership roles in the university [Ketchell; Royall; Cook]. On the success of this program, Walker observed that \"the more women there are in senior positions, the more other women, during the early stages of their career, will think it is possible and feasible for them, too\" [Cook].\nIn 2003, Walker became the first female vice-chancellor and president of Deakin University. In the ensuing seven years, she oversaw research endeavours with India, augmenting student enrolments, increased the University's financial reserves, and set up a new medical school. She also did much to attract and retain female staff, so successfully that she won an Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency award [Ketchell].\nFervent about higher education, Walker said of her time at Deakin that she was: \"absolutely passionate about Deakin University. Passionate about rural and regional engagement. Passionate about access and equity to higher education. Deakin is my life. I really care about the future of regional Australia\" [Aiton].\nAt the conclusion of her appointment as vice-chancellor in 2010, a scholarship was created in Walker's honour to support students from low-income backgrounds to attend Deakin University [Scholarship]. Walker was also conferred with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws for her contribution to Deakin University, to legal education and scholarship and to higher education in general [Oates] and a building was named after her on the Geelong Waterfront.\nWalker has undertaken various consultancies for federal and Victorian government departments. She was a member of the National Selection Panel for the General Sir John Monash Foundation Scholarships and she remains a member of the Felton Bequests Committee.\nShe was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2011 in recognition of her contribution to education, to the law as an academic and to the advancement of women. In 2014 Walker was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.\nNow a Principal at the international professional services firm Deloitte, she continues to provide consultancy services across the higher education sector on strategic and leadership issues. This work often draws on her legal background.\nWalker has shown leadership by driving innovation in higher education institutions and by empowering women with flexible work practices. She has also done a great deal to encourage the promotion of women into senior academic and administrative roles. Walker's contribution to law and society has been to demonstrate that education can transform lives and enrich rural and regional communities.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2014 - 2014)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/from-scholar-to-secretary-general\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sally-walker-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sally-walker-interviewed-by-ruth-campbell-in-the-law-in-australian-society-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Watson, Irene", "Entry ID": "AWE5731", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/watson-irene\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Activist, Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "A proud Tanganekald and Meintangk woman from the Coorong region and the south east of South Australia, Irene Watson was the first Aboriginal person to graduate from the University of Adelaide with a law degree, in 1985. She was also the first Aboriginal PhD graduate (2000) at the university, winning the Bonython Law Prize for best thesis. Her research motivation has been clear from the outset: to gain a better understanding of the Australian legal system that is underpinned by the unlawful foundation of Terra Nullius.\nWatson's work has made a significant impression on everyday legal practice in respect of centring an Indigenous perspective in the long processes of law reform. In 2015 she published Aboriginal Peoples, Colonialism and International Law: Raw Law the first work to assess the legality and impact of colonisation from the viewpoint of Aboriginal law, rather than from that of the dominant Western legal tradition.\nWatson has been involved in the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement in South Australia since its inception in 1973, working as a member, solicitor and director. She has taught in all three South Australian universities and was a research fellow with the University of Sydney Law School. She is currently a research Professor of Law at the University of South Australia and she continues to work as an advocate for First Nations Peoples in international law.\nWatson was involved with the drafting of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples between 1990 and 1994 and has more recently, in 2009 and 2012, made interventions before the UN Human Rights Council Expert Advisory Committee of the current position of Indigenous peoples.\nIn 2016, Watson was appointed The University of South Australia's inaugural Indigenous pro-Vice Chancellor.\nIrene Watson was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "A longer essay detailing Irene Watson's career is in development.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/irene-watson-sas-first-aboriginal-lawyer-welcomes-young-graduates\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/aboriginal-peoples-colonialism-and-international-law-raw-law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/looking-at-you-looking-at-me-an-aboriginal-history-of-the-south-east\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/irene-watson-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wilson, Nerida", "Entry ID": "AWE5732", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wilson-nerida\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Cairns, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Her Honour Nerida Wilson is a Magistrate based in the regional Queensland city of Mackay. Born, raised and educated in Cairns, her career in the law began in 1987 when she joined the Australian Federal Police, undertaking training in Canberra and then serving in Melbourne until 1994 when family circumstances brought her back to Cairns. In 1997 she fulfilled a childhood ambition to see the letters LLB beside her name by enrolling in law at Queensland University of Technology as a mature age student.\nUpon graduation, Nerida worked as a solicitor in Mackay, (where she was by co-incidence, appointed to the bench in October 2015), before moving back to Cairns to practise. Nerida was called to the Bar in February 2008 and enjoyed a diverse practice in family, criminal and civil law. She also appeared at Inquests for parties and as Counsel Assisting the Coroner.\nNerida has been engaged in a number of important local community initiatives and organisations. She is a Past President of the Far North Qld Law Association and the Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service. She lectured and tutored in family law at the Cairns campus of James Cook University. In the early 2000s Nerida developed an Annual Inter-Campus Moot Competition for students at James Cook University securing sponsorship for the event and attracting support from the local judiciary and senior legal practitioners.\nHer standing in the community at large and capacity for managing change was acknowledged when she was elected President of the Cairns Golf Club in 2014, the first woman to hold the post in the club's 90 year history.\nNerida's contribution to the legal profession was acknowledged in 2013 when she was awarded the Regional Woman Lawyer of the Year Award by the Queensland Women Lawyers Association. She participated in the Queensland Women Lawyers 'Ladder Program' as a mentor for young women lawyers.\nHer advice to all young women starting their careers in the law is to 'Surround yourself with good people. Get good mentors early on - people that you can trust'. She counts Magistrate Tina Previtera amongst her mentors and one of the many 'good people' she was fortunate to meet. Her advice to all young people, regardless of whether they plan to be lawyers or not, is to 'give life enough space to present opportunities to you. If we are too rigid, we are going to foreclose on so many rich, rich opportunities. Be open and embrace unexpected opportunities.'\nNerida Wilson was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/changing-of-the-guard\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nerida-wilson-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Withnall, Nerolie", "Entry ID": "AWE5733", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/withnall-nerolie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Chairperson, Director, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Nerolie Withnall is a leading company director overseeing the direction and transformation of large Australian companies and institutions. She was the former Director of ALS, Alchemia Limited, PanAust and Computershare Communication Services Limited. A former Partner at Minter Ellison she was Chairman, Board of Queensland Museum and a member of the Council of the Australian National Maritime Museum and Board of the Australian Rugby Union. Withnall was also a long-term Member of the Takeovers Panel. Withnall made legal history becoming the first woman President of a Law Society in Australia.\nNerolie Withnall was interviewed by Kim Rubenstein for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Encouraged by her father, a primary school teacher and headmaster, Nerolie Withnall studied for a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws at the University of Sydney. Soon after graduation Withnall married John Withnall and relocated to Darwin where she began working in the Crown Law Department. Withnall moved into private practice as a solicitor joining the family firm, R J Withnall and went on to have two children. She was also instrumental in establishing the Northern Territory Law Society. Working on cattle property transactions gave her the opportunity to travel to remote areas of the Northern Territory.\nIn 1974 Withnall survived the devastation unleashed by Cyclone Tracy on the city of Darwin. Evacuated from Darwin, Withnall was undeterred and, in an indication of her future corporate persistence, she returned to her Darwin house, working amid the rubble for the next year to rebuild her legal practice [McCulloch].\nWithnall made legal history in 1979 becoming the President of the Northern Territory Law Society and the first woman to become President of a Law Society in Australia [McCulloch]. In 1981 Withnall relocated to Brisbane and, with the support of colleagues Tony Atkinson and Elizabeth Nosworthy, she began working as a solicitor at the law firm Minters, also consulting for the firm's newly opened Darwin office. [McCulloch].\nWithnall's transition from corporate lawyer to company director began in the mid 1990s when she joined the Board of Campbell Bros, which went on to transform itself into ALS, one of the world's largest and most diversified testing services providers with sites located around the world [McCulloch]. Withnall went on to become Non-Executive Director at ALS in 1994 and Chairman and Independent Non-Executive Director in 2012; serving as the only woman on the Board [ALS Global]. In 1996 Withnall was appointed Non-Executive Director at PanAust a copper and gold producer in Southeast Asia and continued in this role until 2015. In 1999 Withnall was appointed as a Board Member of the Brisbane Institute and was later appointed Chairman of QM Technologies Limited (later acquired by Computershare Communication Services Limited).\nAt the same time as Withnall was enjoying success from her career as a company director and board member she developed a successful practice in commercial law at Minter Ellison. Withnall become a Partner specialising in corporate and commercial law, with specialist skills in the areas of corporate advice, capital raisings, securities and corporate trusts [Proctor]. Withnall retired from Minter Ellison in 2000.\nFrom 1999 until 2010, as a Member of the Takeovers Panel, Withnall's corporate legal and company advisory experience was in demand, participating in many proceedings before the Panel. This experience was also invaluable when she was appointed in 2001 as the Convenor of the Legal Sub-Committee, Member of the Companies and Markets Advisory Committee [Ministers].\nWithnall held two Board positions with significant benefit to the cultural and environmental development of her local Queensland community - Chairman, Board of Queensland Museum and a member of the Council of the Australian National Maritime Museum.\nUntil 2013 Withnall was the Director of Alchemia Limited an Australian drug discovery and development company and from 2008 until 2015 was the Non-Executive Director of Computershare Communication Services Limited.\nIn 2013, in recognition of her enormous contribution to corporate leadership, Withnall was awarded the Australian Institute of Company Directors Gold Medal [Courier Mail]. That same year Withnall was appointed to the Board of the Australian Rugby Union resigning in 2015. In 2015 Withnall resigned as Director at PanAust. In 2016 Withnall retired from her role as Non-Executive Chairman of ALS having overseen the company's transformation from a predominantly domestic manufacturing operation into a globally renowned technical testing services company [ASX].\nWithnall was the Director of the Brisbane Festival; Brisbane Transport and Director of the National Seniors Foundation and Redcape Property Fund Limited. She has also been a Board Member of Darling Downs Bacon Cooperative; is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Member of the Committee of Brisbane and Economic Development Committee.\nWithnall has occupied positions of corporate strategic leadership; with roles as Chairman and Director of many significant Australian companies and institutions during a time when female representation in such organisations has been described as \"dire\" [Crikey]. Withnall's enormous contribution to and influence over the direction of many leading Australian companies and institutions is considerable. Withnall is a leading influence as a trailblazing woman in corporate Australia proving how important it is to achieve diversity on corporate boards. Withnall demonstrates that the skills of corporate law can be used to lead and transform companies and create opportunities for communities across Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nerolie-withnall-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Yeats, Mary Ann", "Entry ID": "AWE5734", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/yeats-mary-ann\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Her Honour Mary Ann Yeats was the first US citizen admitted to practice law in Western Australia and the second woman, after Her Honour Antoinette Kennedy AO, to become a Judge of the District Court. After studying law at the University of Western Australia, she was admitted to practice in 1982 and worked in the Crown Solicitors Office, until she was appointed a judge in 1993. In 1995 she served as President of the Children's Court of Western Australia. She retired from the District Court Bench in August 2011.\nAs a judicial member of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration (AIJA) she spent 10 years as convener of the Indigenous Justice Committee, a group of judicial officers and Indigenous people working together to provide cultural awareness education to the judiciary throughout Australia. Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2014, for her significant service to the law, particularly Indigenous justice, she was initially uncomfortable about accepting the honour, feeling that the Indigenous people who helped her were not adequately recognised. She changed her mind when she realised how acceptance would draw attention to social justice issues that have been important to her throughout her personal and professional life.\nMary Ann Yeats was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1941, Mary Ann Yeats was the fourth of five children born to parents who were, in Yeats' words, 'committed to education'. Her three older brothers and younger sister were all 'exceptionally talented', having started their learning at home through their mother's Montessori teaching methods, well before they started school. 'I was reading from the time I was about three,' she says, 'and I just knew things because I was from a family that talked about things.' Dinner table conversations covered a range of issues, including politics and economics. Along with a stable and loving home and family life, another constant in her upbringing was a strong connection to the Catholic Church. Her father was a Lutheran who converted to Catholicism in order to marry her mother. They were 'good Catholics', raised in 1940s and 50s America. 'We developed a deep faith,' says Yeats.\nThe foundational importance of family and faith is crucial to any understanding of Yeats' sense of self. Growing up with three brothers, she was always confident in her capacity to move in 'a man's world' and her parents' belief in education for all their children only reinforced this. A rich spiritual life enhanced her self-belief. 'I started with my parents building my confidence,' says Yeats, 'and then faith gave me this idea that you can give your problems to God\u2026that the Holy Spirit will help you through hard times.' This is not to say that she has asked God what to do; rather, she calls upon a source of wisdom and knowledge that has given her confidence to 'think things through and make the right decisions'. This capacity to seek guidance through prayer has played an important role as she navigated difficult situations in the course of her personal and professional lives.\nHer father's work saw the family move to Chicago and then to Kansas City, where Yeats did her secondary education. She attended St Teresa's Academy for Girls in Kansas City, Missouri, a private, Catholic girls school, where she served as President of the Student Council in her final year. She graduated in 1958, received a scholarship to attend the Catholic University of America but left after only a year, much to the disappointment of her father who thought she had dashed any hopes she might have had for a brilliant career. Instead, in 1959, she decided to do 'the best thing she ever did in her life' - marry her husband, Don. She was eighteen, he was twenty and their relationship has been another source of inspiration and support, for nearly sixty years.\nMary and Don have two sons and a daughter and by 1964 the Yeats had three children under the age of four. Mary Ann did not go out to work while the children were little, except to do some tennis coaching (a good excuse to play the sport she loved and excelled at), preferring to enjoy the time with her children. Her strength was tested when her second son became gravely ill with a brain stem tumour when he was four years old. It was, naturally, a terribly distressing time for the family that triggered a deepening of their faith. He survived after extensive treatment and therapy and during that time Yeats 'sort of stopped worrying about cleaning the house or doing the ironing\u2026I sort of let it go.' She decided to focus on having fun with her children. 'Home-making was not my best skill,' she says, 'but child-raising was great fun'. Being a young mother had its benefits, she thinks, although she understands not everyone saw it that way. 'I never thought it was going to stop me from having a career,' she reflects, 'but I think a lot of people thought it would.' Yeats feels sure that coming to study later and with some accumulated wisdom, worked in her favour.\nWhen her sons started school, Yeats began to get involved in community and social activism. She joined the League of Women Voters in America and would take her daughter, by then a toddler, along to meetings. It was then that she began to sink her teeth into political issues, working with some really outstanding women at the time. This involvement developed until in 1974 she was the Missouri state chairperson for the Equal Rights Amendment - a movement to amend the US constitution to guarantee gender equality. Although the push was not successful, the process was formative for Yeats. 'Working on the ERA' she says, 'attending committee meetings, making submissions; it was all this work that made me think that if I really wanted to do something, I should study law.' The lawyers she met had 'a way of thinking that I needed to pick up.'\n1974 was the year the Yeats family migrated to Australia so that Don could take up a position to set up the English Department at the then Western Australian Institute of Technology, which became Curtin University. 'That was an exciting time!' remembers Yeats; a time made even more exciting when she discovered that tertiary education in Australia in 1974 was free. She applied and began studying law at UWA in 1975. After graduating with First Class Honours, she took up a position as Research Officer to the Solicitor-General of WA, The Honourable Sir Ronald Wilson (AC KBE CMG QC) in 1977 and later to the Honourable Kevin Parker AC. She then worked in the Crown Law Department until she was admitted to practice in 1982. She became an Australian citizen in 1986, a decision not taken lightly, but one she felt was necessary if she wanted to continue doing the high level policy work she was doing. Yeats continued her career in the Crown Law Department until she was appointed to the bench in 1993. Once she was there, she realised that the bench 'was where I'd always been headed.' Becoming a judge was one of the most important, if not the most important, events in her life.\nBecause she had chosen to grow a family before her career, Yeats was a relatively mature 'trailblazer'. Having only eighteen-odd years to leave her mark at the bench - judges must retire at 70 - she had firm views on issues she wanted to address if and when she had the chance. One was the role of Justices of the Peace in the Children's Court, who underestimated the important role they had in the administration of juvenile justice. The other was the lack of understanding amongst Aboriginal people of the justice system and their rights in law. That the misunderstanding was systemic and operated across both sides of the bench was a problem she worked to alleviate through her work as a judge and on specially established committees, such as the Cultural Awareness and Indigenous Justice Committees of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration. Judicial officers simply had to be educated to understand the culture and laws of the Indigenous people they were called upon to deal with; the risk of injustice was much too great.\nNeedless to say, there were challenges to confront as a judge, especially decisions about sentencing or hearing testimony that documented the sad and violent lives that some people experience. Despite this, Yeats loved everything about the job, especially the places it took her and the people she met. She loved doing the circuit work out on country, meeting Indigenous people and learning their concerns and problems with the criminal justice system. She has a particular regard for Aboriginal women who are trying to fix their communities and help their young people develop self respect. She has met some extraordinary people, domestically and abroad, who have enriched her life and her understanding of the law; the Honourable Justice Mary Gaudron QC, Catherine Branson QC, the Honourable Christine Wheeler AO QC, Peggy Holroyd AM and Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Claire L'Heureux-Dub\u00e9, have all had an important role to play in the person she has become. She has enjoyed the opportunity to mentor young women lawyers entering the legal profession along with Indigenous law students. When asked, she has offered experience on boards and committees beyond the legal organisations she belonged to; she served as a trustee on the Sister Kate's Home Kids Foundation, a role she has now stepped down from.\nDespite having a relatively short period on the bench, Yeats was ready to retire when she did. 'The life of a judge is full on,' she says, 'and the days are very long.' Tiredness creeps up and takes over. While there was some adjustment when she retired, it didn't take too long for her to start enjoying it. She now divides her time between Perth and the family farm near Augusta, spending time with her husband, enjoying time with their four grandchildren and, as a longtime member of the Cottesloe Tennis Club, playing as much tennis as she can. According to Her Honour, 'Life is very good and very full and goes for a long time.'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/meeting-the-demands-of-justice\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mary-ann-yeats-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Reaston, Bev", "Entry ID": "AWE5736", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/reaston-bev\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Darwin, Northern Teritory, Australia", "Occupations": "Gardener, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Bev Reaston has practised law in Cairns since 1980 and was the first lawyer in the city to combine fulltime work with mothering after she had her first child in 1983. She has practiced exclusively in the area of Family Law in Far North Queensland for over thirty years, developing expertise across a wide range of areas including complex children's matters, international relocations and high end property cases. She is (in 2016) the Queensland Representative of the Family Law Council of Australia. She was one of the first appointed Independent Children's Lawyers in Cairns.\nAs well as working in private practice (most recently in partnership with her husband, Jim, and Deanne Drummond at Reaston Drummond Law) Reaston has been engaged with a number of community organisations, ranging from local kindergarten and sporting committees to community law services. She has served terms on the management committees of the Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service, Legal Aid and the North Queensland Women's Legal Centre.\nBev Reaston was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Trailblazing comes in a variety of forms and it doesn't always involve a 'crash or crash through' moment. As befits her style and priorities, Bev Reaston's trailblazing involved quiet achievement while combining work and family responsibilities. Admitted to practice in Queensland in 1980, she moved with her husband to Cairns the same year and established her own practice. When her first child, Kelly, was born in 1983, Bev took her to work in a bassinet; formal childcare was non-existent in Cairns at the time, as was the presence of working mothers in the legal profession. Bev Reaston was the first solicitor in the city to combine full time work with being a mother, and then the first pregnant mother to practise. She is an old hand at managing the work\/family\/life balance that professional families continue to negotiate.\nThe juggling act was never an easy one, especially when her three children were babies. Memories of leaving court after giving submissions, to be told that there was baby vomit down the back of her black jacket, or of the anxiety that consent orders needed to be obtained between four hourly feeds are laughing matters thirty years later. But the arrival of each child heralded social and cultural changes that made the practicalities of combining work and family easier. The daughter Reaston took to work in a bassinet in 1983 is now a lawyer, with children of her own. 'Things are so much easier now for her, as they should be,' says Reaston, who never would have imagined that she would not only blaze a trail for working mothers in the legal profession but, perhaps, be first in a dynastic line of Far North Queensland women lawyers!\nThe only girl right in the middle of four male siblings, Bevlee Reaston (nee Waters) was born in Darwin in 1956, did her early schooling in Raymond Terrace, New South Wales and completed high school in Townsville. Her father was in the air force, hence the moving around; her mother worked on phonograms, ringing through telegrams. Sporty and quite competitive - 'that's what having four brothers does for you' - Reaston was a very good student and was school captain in her final year. She did well enough academically to earn a scholarship to ANU but her parents simply couldn't afford to send her. She was lucky enough to attend Townsville State High School, however, which ran some innovative teaching programs, including a special social justice program. The teacher who ran the program was married to a partner in a local law firm. This teacher helped Bev to get a position at the firm so that she could complete legal studies via the articled clerk route, a course undertaken by many people in regional Queensland. In 1974 she began her articles at Wilson, Ryan and Grose, making her the second woman the firm had ever taken on as an articled clerk.\nReaston knew people who went away to study law at university and doesn't think she was disadvantaged by not doing so herself. Perhaps she missed out on a bit of theoretical background, but she was well served by the practical education she received from practitioners in the region. As well as learning the nuts and bolts of the system, they were tutored by people who came up from Victoria, bringing perspective from a different jurisdiction, and local experts, some of who went on to become Supreme and District Court judges. The collegiality amongst the clerks at the firm was an added bonus. Despite being paid a pittance for the very hard work she was doing, she knew her friends at university 'weren't having the fun [she] was having as an articled clerk'.\nReaston says she never felt gender discrimination within the context of the firm; it was when she moved into the courtroom it became observable. After a certain amount of time and experience, articled clerks were allowed to appear for adjournments or consents in the Magistrates Court and that was where she saw differential treatment. Magistrates gave women representatives a 'harder time in court', and some of them struggled. 'It was a bit unfair\u2026you learnt you had to put that bit of extra mileage in to be acknowledged.' Later on, even as a lawyer with a number of years experience, she discovered that some law firms adopted discriminatory practices they would never get away with today. Hoping to return to work after her second child, a partnership offer was withdrawn when she refused to accept one of the terms; that she would not have any more children. Fortunately, an opportunity emerged with another firm where maternity was not regarded as a problem.\nOnce qualified and admitted, Reaston discovered there were still some parts of Far North Queensland where women lawyers weren't welcome. Bev married Jim Reaston, who was a year ahead of her in completing his articles at Wilson, Ryan and Grose. He was offered a job in Mackay and asked if there were any openings for Bev, who would be qualified soon. 'Oh no,' he was told, 'Mackay's not ready for a female lawyer yet!' Jim turned the job down, and Mackay's loss was Cairns' gain. A bigger centre offered more possibilities and while work didn't come to Bev immediately once they moved to Cairns in 1980, it wasn't her gender, so much as her marital status, that deterred potential employers. 'We can't have you practise with us while your husband works for another firm,' she was told. 'Clients wouldn't like it.' Gender and regionalism combined to create a difficult situation for a woman lawyer married to another lawyer, wanting to practise law in the 1980s. Fortunately, Farrellys Lawyers, who employed Jim, found her a position and this was her foothold into practice in Cairns.\nAfter Farrellys, Reaston established a general practice with Bruce Johnston. They set up a legal advice service at Rusty's market on market days, working out of a set partitions and sitting on deckchairs, building their business at a time when distances were huge and there were no such thing as computers, digital communication and the internet. Given that much of their work included Administrative Appeals work and Personal Injury cases, often for people on remote Indigenous communities, this posed significant challenges that practitioners coming to practise now could not imagine!\nReaston began to establish expertise in the field of Family Law, building upon experience she developed in Townsville even in the era determined by the Matrimonial Causes Act before the Family Law Act (1975) was passed. Many of the large Cairns firms in the 1980s referred work to her; as a labour intensive area of practice that was complicated to bill, they were happy to pass her the work, although things have changed and the large firms have big family law departments now. As a cross-vested jurisdiction, Family Law has often thrown some very complex cases her way, with many farming families owning multiple farms and trusts across the region over which decisions must be made. In more recent years, international relocation orders and custody matters have created additional complexity, as Cairns becomes a global tourist destination, attracting people who form relationships, have children, experience relationship breakdown and then want to leave. A lack of family law experience at the local bar saw her running many of the arguments herself, a situation that worried her at times. 'We had Chief Justice Nicholson coming up\u2026and [solicitors] are running arguments and I'm thinking: what do they think of the Cairns practitioners?' In time, the local experience at the bar grew and southern barristers and judges were attracted to work in the north, particularly in the winter months! Reaston notes that the family court judges and counsel who came up were struck by the complexity of the cases confronting them, especially those involving children.\nHer commitment to protecting children's interests and their rights explains why Reaston was one of the first practitioners in Cairns to take on work as an Independent Children's Lawyer. Working on behalf of the children is satisfying, but it can also be extremely frustrating as she observes the, often destructive, behaviour of the parents. There have been occasions, for instance, when she has been watching her own children playing junior sport in teams where children she represents have also been playing. It is heartbreaking when that child runs to her, instead of either parent, for help or encouragement. 'Can't they see what they are doing?' she asks. A child does not need to be the victim of abuse and argument to feel personal pain and suffering.\nIn over thirty years of practice in Cairns, Reaston has seen many changes to the way family law is practiced, some for the better and some not so beneficial. She is concerned about the amount of self-representation that happens; particularly its impact on women whose partners have been abusive. She is deeply worried about the expanding role that substance abuse has in the breakdown of families and the way this affects children. But she is glad for the focus on mediation that has become more common between opposing advocates and she is grateful for the increased levels of support - never adequate, of course! - that can be called upon from professional experts and other women practitioners. Of particular importance to her have been Townsville barrister, now retired, Wendy Pack S.C., and Brisbane based senior counsel Dr. Jacoba Brasch Q.C. and Kathryn McMillan Q.C., who will come up to run cases from time to time, offering assistance and expertise preparing complex cases, often for little recompense. 'They pick me up so much', says Reaston, 'they remind me why I am doing this work.' She now (2016) does the work in a newly established partnership with her husband, Jim Reaston and Deanne Drummond, who she met years ago when she was working at Farrellys.\nBeyond work and devotion to family, Reaston has been active in a number of Cairns community organisations, ranging from local kindergarten and sporting committees to community law services. She has served terms on the management committees of the Cairns Regional Domestic Violence Service, Legal Aid and the North Queensland Women's Legal Centre. When she needs to think or de-stress, she goes into her garden, a work of art that has featured in the local press and on national television. It has grown and evolved as her career and family life have; paths and shelters created when her children were little now accommodate a dinosaur cave built for her grandson. 'You change as you go along,' she says. And, like all gardeners, she knows that experience teaches that what might have failed in one part of the garden might work in another. Good advice for any lawyer, it would seem.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gardens-of-life\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bev-reaston-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Banks, Robin", "Entry ID": "AWE5737", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/banks-robin\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Hobart, Tasmania", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Robin Banks is the (2016) Tasmanian Equal Opportunity Commissioner, a position she has occupied since 2010.\nRobin Banks was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "A longer essay detailing Robin Bank's career is in development.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/robin-banks-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Jago, Tamara", "Entry ID": "AWE5738", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jago-tamara\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Launceston, Tasmania", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Magistrate, Senior Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "Magistrate Tamara Jago (appointed to the bench in 2016) holds the distinction of being the first woman in Tasmania to be made Senior Counsel. Honoured by the 2010 achievement, she understood her promotion to be an important one for Tasmanian women, but also believed it went a long way to dispelling the myth that Legal Aid lawyers are 'second rate options'. Furthermore, having spent the bulk of her career working as a Legal Aid lawyer in north-western Tasmania, she believed her appointment proved there was talent in regional centres, and that moving to big cities in order to 'make it' wasn't always necessary. Taking silk while working as a Legal Aid Lawyer in regional Tasmania, was 'something special,' said Jago, the mother of three young children. 'At Legal Aid there are criminal lawyers that are just as good as anyone else or better.'\nTamara Jago was interviewed by Nikki Henningham in the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of Australia CATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Born, raised and educated in Tasmania, Tamara Jago graduated BA\/LLB in 1993 from the University of Tasmania, having imagined herself as a criminal lawyer from a very young age. 'I don't know what I would have done if I wasn't accepted into law school,' she says, 'because I never had a Plan B.' Unable to explain exactly why she was always driven towards a career in the law - 'I don't recall a light bulb moment', she says - she does remember growing up with a strong sense of what was and was not fair. Issues relating to social justice and basic human rights have always concerned her, which goes some way to explaining why working with Legal Aid for the sixteen years prior to her elevation to the bench 'was her dream job'. The importance of providing justice is a central truth that all lawyers, no matter who they are defending, must remember. 'In terms of contributing to society', says Jago, Legal Aid lawyers are 'speaking up for people who, by virtue of circumstances that are sometimes so outside of their control\u2026 can't speak for themselves.' They are 'communicating the relevant information to the relevant person so the right decisions can be made,' a vital role indeed because 'the only judgment that's worth thinking about is an informed judgment'.\nJago specialised in criminal law in a private practice in Burnie before taking a position at the Legal Aid Commission in 2000, a move that many in the profession advised her was a form of 'career suicide'. Instead, she discovered that the breadth of experience and range of defence work opportunities she received has served her well, particularly the many the opportunities to lead counsel in a lot of significant trial and appeal work. Jago hopes that the experience of understanding the many struggles and challenges that defendants grapple with will help her in her own decision-making.\nAs a senior Legal Aid lawyer, Jago valued her opportunities to mentor young advocates and she hopes she will be able to continue this role from her position on the bench. In regional Tasmania, young practitioners are in danger of falling into 'bad habits' by virtue of the fact that they appear in front of the same one or two magistrates all the time. Furthermore, due to the absence of a middle court (there are only the Magistrates Court and the Supreme Court), young lawyers are unlikely to appear in front of a jury regularly. \"When they make the transition into a more significant area of work, such as in front of a jury or doing trials, they struggle,' says Jago. She hopes she will be able to assist professional development for young practitioners as a magistrate.\nLike all working mothers, Jago confronts work-life balance challenges but acknowledges that for a variety of reasons, including working for most of her career for government employers and having supportive male colleagues when she was starting out, she has found it easier than others. Timing was crucial as well. 'I've been blessed in my career by two things,' she says. 'One is that by the time I started doing law it was accepted that females in law were okay. So much of the hard work had already happened.' Specializing in criminal law in a government organisation made things more manageable too, she suspects. 'I'd be really interested to see what a female doing criminal law but not having come within a government organisation during my era has experienced,' she says. Working in an organisation like Legal Aid, 'where there were standards and expectations and parameters already set\u2026 I suspect I was able to transition into specialty criminal law without perhaps hitting some of the hiccups that other people in the private profession may have experienced.'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/legal-aid-lawyer-tamara-jago-awarded-senior-counsel-for-outstanding-work\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tamara-jago-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Tennent, Shan Eve", "Entry ID": "AWE5739", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tennent-shan-eve\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Coroner, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "The Honourable Justice Shan Tennent was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania in 2005, making her the first woman to be appointed in the state's (then) 180 year history. She is (in 2016) the second longest serving judge on the jurisdiction after the current Chief Justice The Hon Justice Alan Michael Blow, OAM.\nShan Tennent was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Born in Brisbane in 1952, Justice Tennent was brought up in St Lucia, near the University of Queensland, in Brisbane. The first in her family to attend university, she attended the local state primary school before starting her secondary education at St Aidan's Church of England Girls' School and finishing it at St Peter's Lutheran School, matriculating at the young age of 16 in 1968. Her choice to study law was somewhat accidental; as a student with a preference for humanities, she did not relish the idea of becoming a school teacher, so chose law instead. Enrolling in law in 1969 without the benefit of a scholarship (so fully funded by her parents), as a very young woman in a masculine environment, Tennent admits to being 'overwhelmed' at first. Fortunately, her response to this was to work very hard. She passed first year, while others of her school year didn't. She was rewarded for her tenacity with a Commonwealth Scholarship at the end of her first year.\nAlmost from the outset of her legal career, Justice Tennent was balancing the demands of work and home life. In second year (1970), she married and in third year, she had a child. She was permitted to complete that year over two years and a supportive family network helped her to manage, so she was able to graduate in 1973. The end of her formal study, however, marked the beginning of her gender trouble, as she applied for articles. One interview experience was particularly deflating. The man across the desk interviewing her waited ten minutes before saying to her 'Look, I'm sorry, there's no point in continuing with this. You'll never remain in the law. It's a waste of my time and effort to train you.' Her self-esteem took a huge battering as she received rejection after rejection, based on the fact that she was a married woman with a child.\nShe eventually did her two year articles with Alex Freeleagus at Henderson and Lahey, a large Brisbane firm with which she worked for another year after completing articles and being admitted. She started working in matrimonial law, an interesting area at the time, given the introduction of the Family Law Act in 1975. In 1977, Justice Tennent's husband was offered a job in Hobart and so the family moved to Tasmania. Arriving with winter just around the corner was a shock to the system for a woman from Brisbane and without a job, who admits she would have 'quite happily turned around and gone back to Brisbane.' She found work, during school hours initially, doing primarily conveyancing and commercial work. In 1978 she went back to working full time, primarily in the area of family law. She built her practice over the years, working at Hobart firm Page Seagar where she was a partner for 15 years. She was twice president of the Tasmanian Family Law Practitioners Association.\nAfter twenty years in private practice, Justice Tennent became a magistrate and coroner in 1998. She oversaw the high-profile 2001 inquest into prisoner deaths in custody at Risdon Prison, the state's largest prison. The subsequent report resulted in a number of sackings, and ultimately led to the decision to completely rebuild the prison. As a magistrate, she served as vice-president of the State branch of the Association of Australian Magistrates and secretary and treasurer of the Tasmanian Magistrates Association.\nIn 2005, Justice Tennent was named Tasmania's first female Supreme Court Judge. Said Attorney General Judy Jackson at the time of Justice Tennent's appointment 'Shan Tennent has a striking intellect and an excellent grounding in Tasmanian Law. She will be a justice of the highest order\u2026the first of many women appointed to the bench.' Said Justice Tennent, when asked what sort of judge she thought she might be, 'A fair one. It's a progression in my career and \u2026 I'm sure I will enjoy it.' It's not a bad outcome for someone who was told she wasn't worth training because she would never stay in the law.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/states-first-female-judge\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/shan-tennent-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Whitehouse, Mollie", "Entry ID": "AWE5742", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whitehouse-mollie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Queensland, Australia", "Death Place": "Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "Mary (Mollie) Eugenie Whitehouse was the sixth woman to be admitted as a solicitor in Queensland, on 26 September 1939. She served her articles between 1930 and 1939 with a firm in Warwick, Queensland (Messrs Neil O'Sullivan and Neville), completing her legal studies via correspondence while caring for her sick father. Firmly believing that all women should have an occupation, he willingly financed her training.\nWhitehouse attempted to join the armed forces during World War 2, but was excluded due to poor eyesight. After performing temporary work as a typist in an army records office, she was employed as a temporary legal officer in the newly established Crown Solicitor's office in Brisbane. She left the office when she married Eric Whitehouse in August 1944. Mollie had six children, the first of which died at birth in 1945.\nThe Whitehouses purchased the Pender and Pender (later Pender and Whitehouse) in 1951. While raising five children, Mollie worked for the firm in a variety of capacities, increasing her workload once her youngest child started school. By the time they had all completed school, she was working full-time. She continued to practise until 1989, fifty years after her admission.\nMollie Whitehouse was a founding member of the Queensland Women Lawyers Association. She always regarded herself as 'a lawyer who was a woman, not a woman lawyer'.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-womans-place-100-years-of-queensland-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "White, Margaret J.", "Entry ID": "AWE5743", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/white-margaret-j\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Hamilton, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Chairperson, Commissioner, Judge, Jurist, Lawyer, Naval officer, Solicitor", "Summary": "The Honourable Margaret J. White was, in 1992, the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Queensland. Prior to coming to the Queensland bench, she enjoyed a distinguished academic career, first in South Australia and then in Queensland after she moved there in 1970. She retired from the bench in 2013.\nIn between her South Australian and Queensland 'phases', White instructed senior naval officers of the Royal Australian Navy in international law and the law of the sea. She was commissioned as Second Officer, thus becoming the first Women's Royal Australian Navy Reserve officer to be commissioned since the end of World War Two.\n", "Details": "Margaret White was educated at the Cabra Dominican Convent, Adelaide and graduated Bachelor of Laws at the University of Adelaide in 1966. Her early career in Adelaide was an academic one; she worked as a research assistant to Professor D.P. O'Connell several times during the 1960s, as a research assistant to the state succession committee of the International Law Association, Geneva (1965-66), and as a consultant to the governments of Guyana, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago in relation to their pre-independence treaties (1966-67).\nShe met Michael William Duckett White while working for the Royal Australian Navy; they married in September 1970. The couple had three sons and one daughter. From 1970 to 1982, White was a senior tutor and lecturer in the TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland, the first of a distinguished groups of women, that included Quentin Bryce and Patsy Wolfe, to teach there in the 1970s.\nOn 18 July 1978, White was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland. In 1983, she commenced full time practice at the bar in Brisbane. On 5 March 1990, White was appointed a master of the Supreme Court of Queensland.\nOn 2 April 1992, White was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland, the first woman to achieve the honour. She served as the chair of the Supreme Court library committee (1999 - 2003), a member of the advisory committee to the Australian Law Reform Commission on the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth) (1999 - 2002), a foundation fellow of the Australian Academy of Law (2006) and a member of the visiting committee for the Bond University Law School (1993 - 2003). She was also a member of the University of Queensland senate (1993 - 2009) and deputy chancellor of the University of Queensland (2006 - 09) receiving an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Queensland in 2005. White was appointed to the Queensland Court of Appeal on 15 April 2010.\nShe was the first member of the revived WRANSR in 1968 and served as a commander in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve (2002 - 10) and deputy president of the Defence Force Discipline Appeal Tribunal (Cth) (from 2008). She was on the Board of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, Chair of the Queensland Selection Committee from 2006 and National Chairman from 2011. She was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2003.\nIn 2013 White was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia 'for distinguished service to the judiciary and to the law particularly in Queensland, as a leading contributor to legal education and reform, and to professional development and training'. She retired on 3 June 2013.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/margaret-white\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wolfe, Patricia (Patsy)", "Entry ID": "AWE5744", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wolfe-patricia-patsy\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Her Honour Patricia (Patsy) Wolfe served as Chief Judge of the District Court of Queensland between 1999 and 2014. She was the first woman to be appointed to the role. In 2014 she received the Order of Australia for her 'distinguished service to the judiciary, to the law through legal education reform and as a mentor and role model for women'.\nPatsy Wolfe came to law as a mature age student and mother, after first pursuing careers in medicine and journalism. She graduated LLB with honours from the University of Queensland in 1978 and was admitted to the Bar the same year. In 1979, she joined the Faculty of Law as a senior tutor and then went on to complete a Masters Degree in 1983. While senior tutor, she met Margaret White and Quentin Bryce and formed supportive and enduring friendships with them both.\nBefore being appointed to the District Court in 1995, Wolfe served as Deputy Commissioner of the Fitzgerald Inquiry Into Official Corruption (1988-89) and as a part-time Commissioner on the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1993-95).\nShe is well remembered for her forthright comments made when she was chair of the Queensland Women's Consultative Committee in 1992. When challenged as to why Queensland women needed such a committee, when there was no equivalent body for men, her response was direct and uncompromising. Men already had a powerful organisation, she said. 'It's called Cabinet, where men outnumber women sixteen to two\u2026That's why we need council as a direct line to the Premier.'\n", "Events": "Bachelor of Arts, University of Queensland (1974 - 1974) \nAdmitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland (1978 - 1978) \nBachelor of Laws (Honours), University of Queensland (1978 - 1978) \nSenior Tutor, University of Queensland Law School (1978 - 1980) \nIn-house, Feez Ruthning Solicitors (1981 - 1982) \nMaster of Laws, University of ueensland (1983 - 1983) \nDeputy Commissioner, Commission of Inquiry into Official Corruption (1988 - 1989) \nChair, Review into Land Policy and Administration (1990 - 1990) \nChair, Queensland Women's Consultative Council (1992 - 1994) \nPractised at the Bar in Queensland (1983 - 1995) \nPart-time Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1993 - 1995) \nMember, Visiting Committee Griffith University Law School (1991 - 1997) \nMembers, National Institute Law Ethics and Public Affairs (1992 - 1997) \nMember, Council of Stuartholme School (1986 - 1999) \nMember, Key Centre Ethics Law Justice and Governance (1999 - 2002) \nCentenary Medal (2003 - 2003) \nHon DUniv (Griffith) (2003 - 2003) \nMember, Council of Griffith University (1989 - 2003) \nOfficer of the Order of Australia (2014 - 2014) \nJudge, District Court of Queensland (1995 - 2014) \nChief Judge, District Court of Queensland (1999 - 2014) \nJudge, Planning and Environment Court (1999 - 2014)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/patricia-wolfe\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Finn, Mary Madeleine", "Entry ID": "AWE5745", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/finn-mary-madeleine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Law clerk, Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "Justice Mary Finn of the Family Court of Australia is a second-generation woman lawyer (third generation lawyer). Her mother was Clare Foley, Queensland's fourth woman solicitor, who, in turn, was the daughter of an Ipswich lawyer, Edward Pender. Appointed to the bench of the Family Court in 1990, Justice Finn retired on her seventieth birthday, in July 2016.\nFinn's reputation as a drafter and developer of legislation, established during her career in the Federal Attorney-General's office, was renowned. Lionel Bowen, federal Attorney-General 1984-1990, described her advice as both 'practical and accurate'; he was known to ask regularly, when confronted with legislative challenges, 'What would Mary think?'\nFinn is well known for her contribution to the review of the Family Law Act 1975, completed in 1980, and for her contribution to committees established to implement the report's recommendations. Her public service experience established her credentials as an expert in family law; at the time of her appointment to the bench in 1990 she was regarded as one of Australia's leading experts on the Family Law Act.\nBoth of Finn's children, Wilfred and Eugenie, are fourth generation lawyers, with Eugenie enjoying a special and rare status in Australian law as a third generation woman lawyer.\n", "Details": "Born in Brisbane in 1946, Mary Foley was educated by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart at her mother's (Clare Foley) alma mater, Stuartholme. She recalls receiving great encouragement, 'academically and intellectually' from the nuns who were 'wonderful teachers'. She loved to read and enjoyed history, but because she did not fancy either of the career options that a straight Arts degree offered women at the time - teaching and librarianship - she looked to her own family history and decided to study a combined degree in Arts Law. She started study at the University of Queensland in 1964; one of seven women among one hundred first year students in her law cohort and one of only three who graduated.\nShe completed her Arts degree three years into her six year combined course and began work as a law clerk in the Queensland Office of Crown Law. Her first public service job created a precedent; in 1967 the only public service classifications open to women in the Crown Law office were in the secretarial stream, but Mary was the first woman to be employed in the office in a legal capacity. As a legal student studying at the University of Queensland but working in the Crown Law office, according to the practice at the time, she was admitted as a barrister without the requirement of articles and with few additional requirements once her degree was completed. She was, therefore, exposed to court work during her years at Crown Law, although her superiors were reluctant to expose her to criminal law, fearing she would be upset by what she heard and saw.\n'Protected' from criminal law, Mary spent most of her time in the common law section of the Crown Law office, but she also had to the opportunity to develop her legal research skills undertaking a variety of projects for the Queensland Attorney-General, Solicitor-General and Crown Solicitor. This experience prepared her for a major part of her career to come because it involved proof-reading draft Commonwealth-state uniform legislation, being developed for the first time in the late 1960s. She was working in the Crown Law office in 1969 when she was admitted to the Queensland Bar, the sixth woman in the state to accomplish the feat.\nIn 1969, Mary Foley married Paul Finn, who had been in her year at law school. The couple travelled overseas so that Paul could further his studies. Whilst abroad in Britain, Mary found work as a legal advisor for a mining company with operations in Zambia, a job she found fascinating. When the family returned to Brisbane, she took that experience with her and worked for eighteen months as head of the mining section at solicitors Feez Ruthning.\nIn 1977, the Finns moved to Canberra; by 1979 Mary was again employed as a public servant, working on the review of the Family Law Act 1975, an area of law that was entirely new to her. Thus began her long career as a public servant dealing with family court matters, as legal researcher, adviser, expert drafter of legislation and judge. She was seconded to the Law Reform Commission in 1986 to work on matrimonial property legislative reform, holding positions at that time on the Family Law Council and Board of the Institute of Family Studies. She spent a year as Commonwealth coordinating officer for the Standing Committee of Attorneys-Genera, before moving to the Trade Practices and Competition Policy branch of the Attorney-General's department. She was a member of the Film Review Board from 1988 until her appointment as a Judge of the Family Court of Australia in 1990.\nFinn's appointment as a judge was unusual given her relative lack of experience appearing in the court as a barrister. Appointments to the Bench directly from the Attorney-General's department were rare, but Finn's considerable experience and deep knowledge of the Family Law Act were valued highly by her peers. In 1993 she was assigned to the Appeal Division of the Family Court, further testimony to 'her skill, and to the wisdom of those who appointed her'. Before her retirement in July 2016, she was the senior judge (after the Chief and Deputy Chief Justices) on the Appeals division.\nOutside her court and family responsibilities, Mary Finn contributed to external boards and tribunals. She was a member of the Council of the Australian National University between 1993 and 2002, an era of great transition and change in the Australian tertiary education sector.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/clare-foley-and-her-daughter-mary-finn\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/key-issues-in-family-law-papers-presented-at-symposium-1994-held-on-4-6-march-1994-papers-presented-by-mary-finn-phil-theobald-michael-habermann\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-justice-mary-finn-family-court-judge-in-canberra-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pack, Wendy", "Entry ID": "AWE5746", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pack-wendy\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Wolverhampton, England, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Senior Counsel, Solicitor, Teacher", "Summary": "In 2010, after thirty years at the Queensland Bar, Wendy Pack retired. The third woman barrister in Townsville when she began in 1980, she was the only woman at the Bar in North Queensland. She came to the law as a mature age student and as a mother who had already enjoyed a distinguished teaching degree.\nOnce established at the bar, Pack carved out a niche in the area of Family Law, where she became a specialist. She was an exemplar for women in the law in North Queensland, especially those who were trying to combine family life with a life at the bar.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wendy-pack\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kruger, Grace", "Entry ID": "AWE5747", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kruger-grace\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Charters Towers, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Law clerk, Lawyer, Magistrate, Secretary, Solicitor", "Summary": "In 1990 Grace Kruger became the first woman to be appointed a magistrate in Queensland.\nAfter completing Junior at the Malanda High School in far north Queensland, Grace Kruger commenced employment at the Magistrates Court Office, Ingham, as a Clerk\/Typist. She left in 1968 to travel overseas and gained temporary employment in the Premier's Department in Queensland House, in London. She was appointed to the permanent staff in 1969. Whilst in London, Grace passed the exam enabling her to become a Clerk in the Queensland Public Service.\nKruger returned to Queensland in 1972 and took up a Clerk position in Brisbane. Now eligible to sit for the Clerk of the Courts examination, she was eligible for promotion within the Magistrates Court Service. She was also then eligible to enrol with the Solicitors Board of Queensland. Kruger was admitted as a Solicitor in 1984.\nKruger served in various parts of the State taking promotion as Senior Clerk Mackay, Relieving Clerk of the Court, Clerk of the Court Munduberra\/Eidsvold, Clerk of the Court Cloncurry and Clerk of the Court Townsville. In both Cloncurry and Townsville she acted on numerous occasions as a Stipendiary Magistrate.\nKruger was appointed Stipendiary Magistrate, Kingaroy, in March 1990. She retired on 8th August, 1998.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/grace-kruger\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Clare, Leanne", "Entry ID": "AWE5748", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/clare-leanne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Ipswich, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Senior Counsel", "Summary": "In July 2000, Leanne Clare was appointed the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions - the first woman to hold this position in Queensland.\nGraduating from the Queensland University of Technology in 1984 with a Bachelor of Laws, Clare was admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland in the following year. She joined the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, in the Justice and Attorney-General's Department in 1985.\nFrom 1986 to 1989, she was with the Child Abuse Unit and became a Crown Prosecutor in 1988, becoming Senior Crown Prosecutor in 1991. Leanne became a Senior Counsel, Appeals in 1995. She stepped up to act as Director and Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions several times during 1998. During 1999 and 2000, she was an acting member of the District Court in Ipswich.\nOn the 2nd of April, 2008, she was appointed a judge of the District Court of Queensland.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/leanne-clare\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Foley, Clare", "Entry ID": "AWE5749", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/foley-clare\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Ipswich, Queensland, Australia", "Death Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Partner, Solicitor", "Summary": "Clare Foley was the fourth woman to be admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland. The daughter of an Ipswich lawyer, she commenced a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Queensland in 1931. She then began her articles of clerkship with her brother Thomas Joseph in 1933. With her two brothers, Clare established a family legal practice through the Depression and in May 1939 she was admitted as a Solicitor.\nSoon after admission, Foley became a partner with her brother in the firm of T.J. Pender & Pender until 1950, the year of her brother, Thomas Joseph's, sudden death. At that point she decided the practice should be sold, however, encouraged by friends, she carried on until the practice was bought by Mary and Eric Whitehouse in October of 1951.\nIn 1967, Clare resumed practice at the Toowong firm of Foley & Foley, where she was assisted by her husband and son, Thomas Joseph. Although Clare's son Thomas took over the firm as partner during the mid 1980s, his tragic death in 1992 forced Clare to return to work to run, then dispose of the practice.\nClare Foley was the first of a family dynasty of women lawyers. Her daughter, Mary, went on to become a Judge of the Family Court of Australia and her grand-daughter, Eugenie was admitted as a New South Wales solicitor in 2016.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/clare-foley-and-her-daughter-mary-finn\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Forbes, Anne Frances", "Entry ID": "AWE5750", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/forbes-anne-frances\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Broadcaster, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Anne Forbes was admitted to the Queensland bar in 1975, being only the nineteenth woman to gain admission. She was a founding member of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland, and took a special interest in 'wives 'n wills' and arbitration during her time at the bar.\nFollowing her career as an army reservist in the Legal Corps, Anne was appointed Chair of the Anzac Day Trust. In the 1980s she began a career as a broadcaster and feature writer on Radio 4MBS. She still practises law from time to time.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Haxton, Naida", "Entry ID": "AWE5751", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/haxton-naida\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Editor, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Naida Haxton completed degrees in arts and then law at the University of Queensland. She was admitted to practise in 1966 (the first woman to actively practise at the Queensland Bar) and almost immediately began receiving briefs. Her practice was, to begin with, \"commercial work, probate work, bankruptcy and some family law\".\nIn 1967 she received her first junior brief in the Supreme Court and in 1969, her first brief in the High Court. She read with Cedric Hampson. She also lectured at the University of Queensland in Land Law and Commercial Law, and frequently gave speeches to women's organisations.\nShe moved after marriage to Sydney and was admitted to the NSW Bar in early 1972. She read with Murray Tobias and devilled for Bob St John and Jeremy Badgery-Parker and actively practised until the late 1970s.\nFrom 1972 to 1981, Naida was editor of the Papua New Guinea Law Reports. In 1981, she was appointed Assistant Editor of the NSW Law Reports (NSWLR) until 2000 when she was made the Editor.\nNaida also lectured at the University of Sydney, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and for the Bar Association continuing education program.\nShe was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2007 for her services to the legal profession and to the judiciary, particularly as Editor of the NSWLR and as a practitioner and educator.\nHaxton Chambers in Brisbane is named in Naida's honour. She retired from the bar in 2006.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/res-gestae-things-done\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/naida-haxton\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Martin, Joan", "Entry ID": "AWE5752", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/martin-joan\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Joan Martin worked in the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's Office from 1943 to 1987. She commenced her career as a typist and became a Legal Officer, rising to the position of Principal Legal Officer.\nIn 1943 when Joan joined the newly opened Crown Solicitor's Office in Brisbane, Una Prentice and Mollie Whitehouse were Legal Officers.\nFollowing the end of the War, she saw many women give up their jobs as men returned from the War. Joan became head typist but by 1960 was concerned at the prospect of spending her life behind a typewriter. In 1960, she completed the adult matriculation course and in 1961 she enrolled as a part-time law student at the University of Queensland.\nJoan completed her studies in seven years. In December 1967 she was admitted as a barrister and was immediately appointed as a Legal Officer with the Crown Solicitor. Her work primarily involved tax and general recovery work. Joan became a Senior Legal Officer in 1973\/4 in charge of the Taxation and General Recovery Section. She was appointed a Principal Legal Officer in 1985, in charge of the expanded Tax Recovery Section.\nJoan remained in the Crown Solicitor's Office until her retirement in 1987.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-womans-place-100-years-of-queensland-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "O'Sullivan, Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE5753", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/osullivan-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Her Honour Helen O'Sullivan is a retired judge of the Queensland District Court. She began her career as a Junior Clerk in Toowoomba, prior to returning to school and graduating from a Bachelor of Commerce degree.\nFollowing her practice as a Senior Accountant in Perth, O'Sullivan graduated from a part-time Law degree and began practice as a Solicitor in Brisbane. In 1981, she was appointed Director of Continuing Legal Education at the Queensland Law Society, after which she commenced practice as a Barrister at the private bar.\nHer Honour was appointed to the District Court bench in 1991 and retired at the end of 2009. She famously declared herself 'an unapologetic feminist' at her swearing-in ceremony on 9 April 1991. The official published transcript of proceedings deleted the word 'unapologetic' - reminding us that the Queensland bench was one of society's most conservative bastions. Originally reluctant to accept a judicial appointment, O'Sullivan eventually agreed, believing it to be the best pathway with potential to change the system.\nO'Sullivan was committed to a variety of pro bono and community causes. Before accepting her judicial appointment, she acted as a duty lawyer for Legal Aid and as a volunteer at the Caxton Street Legal Service. She was a foundation member of the Women's Legal Service and volunteer lawyer there for some years. With Di Fingleton, she was the co-founder of the Financial Counselling Service.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/helen-osullivan\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McCarthy, Veronica", "Entry ID": "AWE5754", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mccarthy-veronica\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Partner, Solicitor", "Summary": "Veronica McCarthy left school at the age of 15 and joined the public service. She decided to become a librarian and completed secondary school by evening classes. However, when Myles Kane offered her articles of clerkship, she accepted.\nIn 1967 McCarthy began her articles, performed secretarial work at Roberts & Kane and attended the University of Queensland at night. In 1972 she was admitted as a solicitor, the 42nd woman to be placed on the roll. She continued to work as a solicitor at Roberts & Kane where she became a partner in 1977.\nVeronica McCarthy was the inaugural Secretary of the Women Lawyers Association, a position she continues to hold. She has served on the Law Society Grants Committee and was a member of the Supreme Court Library Committee.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-womans-place-100-years-of-queensland-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Abdel-Fattah, Randa", "Entry ID": "AWE5758", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/abdel-fattah-randa\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor, Writer", "Summary": "Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian born Muslim with Egyptian\/Palestinian heritage. She is a published author and former lawyer who has an interest in multiculturalism in Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Abraham, Wendy", "Entry ID": "AWE5759", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/abraham-wendy\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "Wendy Abraham QC is an extensively experienced barrister in the criminal law jurisdiction. Her practice is focused principally on criminal appellate cases in the states' Criminal Courts of Appeal and in the High Court of Australia. In addition to her work as a barrister, Wendy has also been an advocacy teacher since 1994.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Armitage, Elisabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5760", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/armitage-elisabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "Elisabeth Armitage was a Judge in the Northern Territory Magistrates Court (now known as the Northern Territory Local Court). Prior to May 2016, judges in this court were called Magistrates and Armitage was a Stipendiary Magistrate. On 5 January 2023, the Northern Territory Government appointed her to the position of Northern Territory Coroner.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Armstrong, Lea", "Entry ID": "AWE5761", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/armstrong-lea\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Lea Armstrong was the first female Crown Solicitor appointed in New South Wales. Attorney General Gabrielle Upton today announced the appointment of Lea Armstrong as NSW Crown Solicitor.\n\"Ms Armstrong is an outstanding solicitor with 23 years' experience in government and commercial law, including 18 years at the NSW Crown Solicitor's Office,\" Ms Upton said.\n\"Last year she became NSW Treasury's first General Counsel and today she has achieved another milestone - becoming the first woman in the state to be appointed as a Crown Solicitor.\"\nMs Armstrong has provided the NSW Government with advice on the development of the electricity network 'poles and wires' legislation passed by NSW Parliament last week. She has also advised on other major government projects including the long term leasing of the state's three largest ports: Newcastle, Botany and Port Kembla. \nDuring her previous period at the Crown Solicitor's Office, she worked as General Counsel with a focus on major commercial transactions and reform projects for a range of clients including Treasury. She also served as an Assistant Crown Solicitor in commercial law and in administrative law.\nPrior to joining the Crown Solicitor's Office in 1995, Ms Armstrong worked for a major commercial law firm for three years and spent a year as an associate for the now retired High Court judge Michael McHugh.\nMs Armstrong holds a Masters of Law from the University of NSW, a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours, First Class) from the Australian National University.\nMs Armstrong will begin serving as Crown Solicitor on 13 July 2015.\n\"I am extremely honoured to be the first female Crown Solicitor in NSW, particularly as I am following in the footsteps of the state's first female Attorney General and Treasurer,\" Ms Armstrong said.\n\"I think it is incredibly important for female lawyers and women in government to have positive role models who hold senior positions in the public service. \n\"There is no doubt it will be a huge challenge, but an exciting and rewarding one and I look forward to working broadly across the legal and government sectors over the coming months.\"\nThe Crown Solicitor is the largest provider of legal services to the NSW Government and plays a vital role in the functioning of the state. It employs over 350 legal and support staff.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/let-your-voices-be-heard-says-new-crown-solicitor\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Armstrong, Rowena Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5762", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/armstrong-rowena-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Rowena Armstrong AO QC is a consultant at Norton Rose Fulbright and focuses on government and parliamentary matters, interpretation of legislation and drafting of subordinate legislation. Before joining the Firm as a consultant, she was Chief Parliamentary Counsel for Victoria for 15 years.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Austin, Jean Phyllis Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5763", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/austin-jean-phyllis-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "In 1982, Jean Austin became one of the most senior women in the Commonwealth Public Service: after almost three decades of service (during which she had acted as principal legal officer (common law) and then assistant deputy crown solicitor), Austin had attained the position of deputy crown solicitor in New South Wales. Austin attended Fort Street Girls' High School and then went to the Deputy Crown Solicitor's Office where she was engaged as a typist. She was appointed to the Commission of the Peace for the State of New South Wales in 1953.\nAlthough she had originally wanted to be a surgeon, the relevant courses were overseas, and so she decided to study law, doing so on a part-time basis at the University of Sydney between 1950 and 1954. Her academic achievements saw her awarded the George and Matilda Harris Scholarship in both the second and third year of her degree. She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1955 and was subsequently admitted to the Bar. She did not, however, practise as a barrister, believing that the better briefs - for women practitioners - were in the Crown Solicitor's Office (now the Australian Government Solicitor). Austin was a Committee member of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales. In 1978 she was awarded an MBE for public service in the field of law.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Backhouse, Cecily", "Entry ID": "AWE5764", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/backhouse-cecily\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "Her Honour, Cecily Backhouse QC was appointed a Judge of the District Court New South Wales, retiring in 2004.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cecily-backhouse-interview-cecily-backhouse-qc-interview-with-juliette-brodsky-4-july-2010\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pioneering-women-at-the-nsw-bar-1921-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Backhouse, Harriet May", "Entry ID": "AWE5765", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/backhouse-harriet-may\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "From an early age Harriet May Hordern was encouraged to study law by her father a solicitor. It was unusual in those days, she being born in 1888, when women were still regarded as ornaments, where possible, but otherwise of little use except around the house.\nHer achievements in Melbourne University were as follows:\nBachelor of Arts - 22 April 1910 (First in all subjects plus University Medal)\nBachelor of Laws - 6 April 1914\nMaster of Laws - 23 December 1915\nMaster of Arts - 10 April 1914\nOn 20th July 1914 she became an articled clerk with James Whiteside McCay, Barrister, practising at 360-366 Collins St. Melbourne. Harriet was admitted on 1st March 1916, to practise as a Barrister and Solicitor in the Supreme Court of Victoria.\nAs to whether she was involved in cases heard in the Supreme Court I can only assume that she was, considering that she did recount some of her experiences, and was most likely called to do so between 1916 and 1918, when so many men were away at the War. My father, Rev Canon Nigel a'Beckett Talworth Backhouse and Harriet May married in 1919, soon after Nigel returned from service in the 7th Australian Light Horse Regiment.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Baczynski, Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5766", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/baczynski-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Chief Executive Officer, Lawyer", "Summary": "Mary Baczynski graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1968, a Bachelor of Arts in 1978 and Master of Laws in 1982. After practising as a solicitor Mary signed the Bar Roll in 1972 and practises principally in Criminal law, Family law and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Mary practises in all areas of family law including children's issues and child kidnapping cases. She has appeared in the High Court on issues relating to forum and jurisdiction. In the criminal area, Mary is an experienced trial advocate, appearing in trials for rape, fraud and crimes of violence. She has appeared for intellectually disabled persons in all her areas of specialization. In the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Mary has represented the Commonwealth in pension matters and work related claims. She has appeared in a variety of appeals before the State Administrative Appeals Tribunal including administrative decisions, criminal compensation and Children's Court matters. Mary gained accreditation as a commercial mediator in 1996.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Balmford, Rosemary Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE5767", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/balmford-rosemary-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Judge, Lawyer, Ornithologist", "Summary": "Rosemary Balmford was the first woman judge appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria.\n", "Details": "The Hon. Rosemary Balmford AM, daughter of judge Sir John Norris and Dame Ada Norris (nee Bickford), has been a trailblazer for women in the legal profession. Notably, she was the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria and the first to run a murder trial in the state. At the University of Melbourne she also made history by becoming the first woman to be appointed to a permanent academic position in the Faculty of Law.\nTaught by her mother to read when she was three, Rosemary Norris (as she was then) was educated at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne Church of England Girls' Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, where she won the Supreme Court Prize (at that time awarded to the LLB student placed first in the final examinations) for 1954.\nShe undertook articles of clerkship with Saf (Lt-Col Samuel Austin Frank) Pond OBE of Whiting & Byrne in 1955 and was admitted to practise as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 1 March 1956. Between 1957 and 1961 she resided at Janet Clarke Hall where she was tutor-in-law. During this period she was also employed as independent lecturer in conveyancing at the University of Melbourne (1957-62), and at Whiting & Byrne, where she was the first woman on staff to hold legal qualifications; she practised mainly in conveyancing but also liquor licensing. She became partner and later consultant before finally leaving the firm for good in 1969. By this time she had been married to fellow solicitor Peter Balmford (d. 2005) for six years and they had a young son, Christopher. She embarked on an MBA at the University of Melbourne.\nIn 1971, Rosemary Balmford became inaugural executive director of the Leo Cussen Institute for Continuing Legal Education. She spent five-and-a-half years with the Institute, before leaving to take up a role of assistant solicitor (special projects) at the University of Melbourne. In 1979, she served on the Victorian Equal Opportunity Board which heard the case of Deborah Wardley v Ansett Airlines. From 1983 to 1993, she served on the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal.\nIn July 1993 Balmford became the second woman after Lynette Schiftan (nee Opas) to be appointed a judge of the County Court of Victoria. In March 1996 she was appointed the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. She retired from the bench in 2003 and became a reserve judge. Between 1995 and 2003 she was a member of the Governing Council of the Judicial Conference of Australia.\nOutside the law, Balmford has had an enduring interest in ornithology. She has been a member of various bird organisations, including the Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union of which she was secretary between 1969 and 1972, and she has written a number of books, articles and reviews in the field. She has also been heavily involved with grassroots community organisations; in particular, those that have encouraged better parenting and breastfeeding.\nIn 1998, Monash University, Clayton, awarded Balmford an honorary Doctor of Laws. In 2012, Balmford was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia '[f]or service to the judiciary, the practice of law in Victoria, and to the study of ornithology.' Balmford's autobiography, A Funny Course for a Woman, was published in 2013.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/podcast-no-10-interview-with-rosemary-balmford\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/norris-dame-ada-may-1901-1989\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/balmford-rosemary-anne-1933\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/first-principles-the-melbourne-law-school-1857-2007\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-barristers-association-anniversary-dinner\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-funny-course-for-a-woman\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rosemary-balmford-interviewed-by-ruth-campbell-in-the-law-in-australian-society-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bell, Virginia Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5768", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bell-virginia-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer, Public defender, Senior Counsel", "Summary": "The Honourable Justice Virginia Bell AC is the fourth woman since 1901 to have been appointed to the High Court of Australia.\n", "Details": "The daughter of Mary and John, a nval officer,\u00a0 Virginia Bell was educated at Sydney Church of England Girls' Grammar School in Darlinghurst where she showed the makings of having a career in acting. She chose instead to pursue law at the University of Sydney; after graduating in 1976, she was admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales on 21 December 1977.\nA volunteer who became a paid employee of the newly established Redfern Legal Service, it was here that Bell cut her teeth as a community lawyer on tenancy, criminal law and credit law, among other areas, and also earned a name for herself as a champion of the disadvantaged (her reputation was immortalised in the song 'Police Verbals' by Sydney punk band, Mutant Death).\nIn 1978 she participated in the first Sydney Mardi Gras. Years later when she was a judge she would rule that to describe someone as gay was not defamatory. During this period she was involved with Women behind Bars and the establishment of the Prisoners' Legal Service.\nAdmitted to the New South Wales Bar on 20 December 1984, Bell read with Dean Letcher (later QC). Between 1986 and 1989 she practised as a public defender. She returned to the private Bar and on 6 November 1997 she was appointed as senior counsel. She later became counsel assisting the Wood Royal Commission into the NSW Police Force. On 25 March 1999, Bell was appointed to the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Between 2006 and 2008 she was president of the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration. In 2008, she was elevated to the Court of Appeal where she served until her appointment to the High Court of Australia, replacing the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG on 3 February 2009. She retired from the High Court in 2021.\nIn 2012 Bell was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia 'for eminent service to the judiciary and to the law through leadership in criminal law reform and public policy development, to judicial administration, and as an advocate for the economically and socially disadvantaged.'\nShe has been awarded honorary degrees from the University of Wollongong and the University of Sydney. Bell hosted ABC Radio National program Late Night Live from 1990-1991.\nIn 2022, she conducted an inquiry for the Australian Government into the appointment of the former prime minister to administer multiple departments of state.\nShe was appointed Commissioner to lead the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion in January 2026.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/speech-at-special-sitting-of-the-high-court-of-australia-to-welcome-the-hon-justice-virginia-bell-canberra\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-honourable-justice-virginia-bell-ac\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-reflection-on-justice-virginia-bell\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/address-on-the-retirement-of-the-honourable-justice-virginia-bell\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/index-to-compilation-of-speeches-delivered-by-the-hon-justice-v-bell\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Blackman, Jennifer", "Entry ID": "AWE5769", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/blackman-jennifer\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Jennifer Blackman is a retired Judge of the District Court of New South Wales. She was appointed an AO for her service to the law, particularly as a supporter of the advancement of women in the legal profession, and to the community through a range of church, youth and aged care organisations.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pioneering-women-at-the-nsw-bar-1921-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jennifer-blackman\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Blokland, Jenny May", "Entry ID": "AWE5770", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/blokland-jenny-may\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "Jenny May Blokland is a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. She was appointed to the Court on 9 April 2010. Justice Blokland is the third female appointment to the Court since it was established in 1911. At the time of her appointment, the Court for the first time had two females Judges, with Justice Judith Kelly being appointed in August 2009. At the time of her appointment Justice Blokland was the Chief Magistrate of the Northern Territory having been appointed firstly as a Magistrate in 2002 and then Chief Magistrate in 2006.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Braddock, Gillian", "Entry ID": "AWE5771", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/braddock-gillian\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Salford, Lancashire, England", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Her Honour Judge Gillian Braddock was the first woman president of the Bar Association and was appointed a Judge of the District Court of Western Australia in 2011. Braddock completed her law degree in the United Kingdom at Girton College in Cambridge and was admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales in 1981. From 1985 to 1987, she worked at the Director of Public Prosecution's chambers in Hong Kong as Crown Counsel conducting prosecutions in all jurisdictions. She moved to Perth in 1987 and practised civil litigation for two years and then moved to the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia. In 1990 Judge Braddock joined the bar and has been involved in criminal litigation in all jurisdictions, defence and prosecution, personal injuries and general litigation. She took silk in 1995.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Brandt, Kornelia", "Entry ID": "AWE5772", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/brandt-kornelia\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Kornelia Brandt was the 56th woman in Victoria to sign the Bar Roll.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Braybrook, Antoinette", "Entry ID": "AWE5773", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/braybrook-antoinette\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Chief Executive Officer, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Antoinette Braybrook is the Chief Executive Officer of Djirra (formerly the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service Victoria). She was instrumental in founding the Service and is a trailblazer for women's and Indigenous women's rights.\nShe was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2023 for significant service to the law, and to family violence prevention.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Brennan, Laura", "Entry ID": "AWE5774", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/brennan-laura\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Laura Brennan worked as a solicitor at J M Smith & Emmerton. She was an immensely interesting and accomplished person.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Brennan, Susan", "Entry ID": "AWE5775", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/brennan-susan\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Senior Counsel", "Summary": "Susan Brennan SC (BA., LL.B (Hons)) was admitted to practice in 1994 and signed the Bar Roll in 1998. Since admission Susan has specialised in town planning, local government and environmental law and prior to joining the Bar was a solicitor at Minter Ellison. \nSusan regularly appears in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, in the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation, before Advisory Committees and planning panels and in the Supreme Court of Victoria, representing developers, local councils and resident community groups. \nIn 2003, Susan was appointed to the Heritage Council of Victoria.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Brown, Anna", "Entry ID": "AWE5776", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/brown-anna\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Anna Brown has worked with the HRLC since 2011, and has led much of the Centre's work on LGBTI rights, police accountability, protester rights, and equality law reform. Her work has included strategic litigation to advance marriage equality (Cth v ACT); recognise sex and gender diversity (Norrie's case), and efforts to strengthen protection of political expression and assembly (Muldoon v Melbourne City Council; Attorney-General of SA v City of Adelaide). Major law reform projects include securing federal LGBTI discrimination protections and ongoing work to expunge historical convictions for gay sex offences in various states in Australia. Anna was named Victorian GLBTI person of the year in the inaugural GLOBE community awards in November 2014 in recognition for her contribution to the LGBTI community. Anna is Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Institute of Victoria, Co-Convener of the Victorian Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby and on the board of the National LGBTI Health Alliance and ILGA Oceania. Anna was previously an adviser to the former Victorian Attorney-General and Deputy Premier, the Hon Rob Hulls. She has also worked as a Senior Solicitor with the Victorian Government Solicitor's Office, a Senior Associate with Allens Arthur Robinson and a Federal Court associate.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cameron, Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5777", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cameron-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Ballarat, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Kew, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "A leading family lawyer in Melbourne, Mary Cameron was the principal in the firm Stedman Cameron. Mary Cameron's father was strongly against higher education. He considered universities a \"hotbed of communism\", and she had to argue long and hard before he made the grudging concession that if she were to go to university it must be to study \"something useful\".\nWhen she entered law school at the University of Melbourne in 1935, she was one of only five females studying with 95 males. On graduation in 1938 she was incensed to learn that the academic responsible for finding employment opportunities was asking the females if they also typed. She organised a protest and the academic backed down.\nMary Cameron, who was born in Ballarat on September 27, 1917, began her career with Rylah and Anderson, one of the most highly regarded law firms in Melbourne. \nShe quickly learnt that the law was pretty much a boys' club and when many male lawyers were called up for World War II she seized the opportunity for advancement. \nShe never described herself as a feminist or any sort of equal-opportunity activist, although she lived and worked through times of significant upheaval and advances in the workplace. She never spoke publicly about the prejudice she encountered as a young female lawyer but proved her mettle in the courtroom.\nIn 1955, she was elected president of the Women Lawyers' Association. \nA formidable counsel who could have progressed to the bar, Cameron chose to remain a solicitor because it enabled her to have a longer and more intimate association with her clients.\nAfter eight years at Rylah Anderson and a short stint at another firm, she struck out on her own. In her first year she grossed \u00a325 which - minus work expenses - was just enough to get by. \nIn 1952 she advertised for the creation of a partnership, signing the advertisement simply \"Lochiel\". It was answered by Colin Steadman, who was taken aback to discover that Lochiel was a woman. But their partnership prospered and Steadman Cameron became a well-regarded family law firm.\nFrom the start Cameron took on gritty common law cases and her first courtroom victory was for her uncle, who had allegedly walked against a red light. Other relatives came out of the woodwork, all wanting her to fix their grievances - even her father. But when she sent him her advice, her mother, Clara, told her: \"He does not agree with your interpretation of the law.\"\nHer father, John Cameron, had taken the family to Kenya when Mary was seven. Nuns at the Loreto Convent in Nairobi taught her to confront life. Many years later that quality enabled her to cope, with no great alarm, with the fire-bombing of her car and house by the enraged former husband of one of her clients. \nIn Kenya she also learnt Swahili.\nIn her latter years she could no longer drive and had to rely on taxis. But instead of resenting this, she used it as an opportunity for chats in fractured Swahili with African cab drivers.\nHer father's adventures probably inspired her own and, with her sister Clare, she travelled to China, Soviet Russia and elsewhere.\nCameron retired as a partner in Steadman Cameron in 1982 but remained a consultant for nearly two decades. \nIn 2007 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia. \nMary Cameron did not marry. Her sister Clare predeceased her.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Campton, Jane", "Entry ID": "AWE5778", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/campton-jane\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Jane Campton ('70) was one of a family of six girls who all attended St Catherine's School. Her ambition at school was to be a journalist and to write a deep and meaningful novel. Life, however, had other plans for Jane. \nShe graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1975 and practised as a barrister before being appointed as a County Court Judge in 2002. In between, she lived in Switzerland and London for a period and worked for the High Commission for Refugees and the World Health Organisation. In addition, Jane is an accredited Mediator, a member of the Victorian Women Lawyers' Association and has been awarded the Victorian Supreme Court Prize in Law Contract.\nJane is married with two daughters and enjoys travelling and skiing. She is passionate about the environment and appreciates wine and Aboriginal art.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Carter, Heather", "Entry ID": "AWE5779", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/carter-heather\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Justice Carter began her law career as a solicitor in 1972 and then transferred her interest to the bar in 1978 where she specialised in family law and de facto relationships.\nShe was invited to lecture at the Leo Cussen Institute in 1979\/1980 and again in 1985\/1986 and was a member of the Family Law section of the Law Council of Australia in 1985.\nIn 1989\/90 Justice Carter was the secretary of the Victorian Family Law Bar Association.\nWhile practicing in WA in the early 1990s, Justice Carter was appointed deputy registrar and magistrate of the Family Court of Western Australia. \nJustice Carter said that it is not easy being a judge in the Family Court - apart from the wide range of legal knowledge required the cases are highly emotional and one is rarely able to please both parties. \n\"When delivering judgments, I often think of the story about Owen Dixon who said that the most important person in the court is the litigant who is going to lose. That person must leave the Court satisfied with the system, satisfied that his counsel and his case had fair treatment and every chance.\"\n\"I may be one of the few judges who have had singing protesters outside this court building and posters about my judgments put up in shops but I have done my best in every case to be mindful of the litigant who is going to lose,\" Justice Carter said. \"As the cases before the Family Court become more complex, I and the other judges will miss the experience and wisdom that Justice Carter has acquired and has always been willing to share,\"\nChief Justice Bryant said.\n\"The Court wishes Justice Carter a long and happy retirement with her family and thanks her for her contribution over the years.\"\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cica, Natasha", "Entry ID": "AWE5780", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cica-natasha\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Lawyer", "Summary": "Dr Natasha Cica is the founding director of Kapacity.org.\nNatasha's professional experience spans public administration (including as a legal and policy analyst advising Australia's national parliament), crisis management, corporate law, and the higher education and non-government sectors. She has held policy-focused roles at think tanks and led strategy at start-ups in Australia and Europe - and is an award-winning author, broadcaster and public commentator.\nIn 2013 Natasha was recognized by the Australian Financial Review and Westpac banking group as one of Australia's 100 Women of Influence, in the category of innovation. She was an inaugural recipient of a Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship in 2011, rewarding outstanding talent and exceptional courage in the field of thought leadership. She was a selected participant in the Australian Future Directions Forum - a leadership forum sponsored by Telstra, Qantas, BHP Billiton, the National Australia Bank and Australia Post, under the patronage of the Prime Minister of Australia.\nUntil 2014 Natasha was founding director of the Inglis Clark Centre, which she established in 2011 to advance the University of Tasmania's engagement agenda.\nIn Europe, Natasha has provided professional services to the British Council, the Salzburg Global Seminar, the Serbian Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SIEPA) and Serbia's Commission for the Protection of Equality. She has led and supported a range of capacity-building initiatives in partnership with local entrepreneurs across the business sector and civil society.\nIn Australia, she has served as a member of the Topic Advisory Panel on Governance Progress for Measures of Australia's Progress, Australian Bureau of Statistics; as an adviser to Creative Partnerships Australia and the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce + Industry; as a member of the advisory committee to the Tasmanian Government developing a Tasmanian Cultural Policy; as a member of Tasmania's Educational Attainment Working Group; as a consultant to the Legislative Amendment Review Reference Committee established by the Tasmanian Government in response to Sharing Responsibility for Our Children, Young People and their Families; as co-founder of the Sandy Duncanson Social Justice Fund; as a member of the management committee of homeless men's shelter Bethlehem House; as a juror of the Australian Institute of Architects Architecture Awards; as adviser to the Alcorso Foundation fostering cultural exchange between Europe and Australia; as a member of the steering committee of Arts Tasmania's Design Island Program; and as an advisor to a coalition of Australian arts organisations on their successful campaign against the sedition provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Bill 2005 (Cth).\nNatasha is an adjunct professor at the ANU College of Law at the Australian National University, and has been visiting professor at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Law, and visiting academic at the Alvar Aalto Academy in Helsinki. She was the inaugural Rubin Research Fellow at the School of Public Policy at University College London.\nNatasha holds a doctorate in law from the University of Cambridge (as a WM Tapp scholar at Gonville and Caius College), a masters in law and ethics from King's College London (awarded the Professor Sir Eric Scowen Prize for the best masters candidate), and a BA LLB (Hons) from the Australian National University (awarded the Blackburn Medal for research in law, the Tillyard Prize for the honours student 'whose personal qualities and contributions to University life have been outstanding', and a Lionel Murphy Overseas Postgraduate Scholarship). In 2014 she presented the ANU College of Law graduating address as a distinguished alumna.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/julia-trubridge-freebury-further-papers-1960s-2004\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Clarke, Gay", "Entry ID": "AWE5781", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/clarke-gay\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Advisor, Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Gay Clarke (then Walker) was crowned Miss Queensland then Miss Australia in 1972. She went on to study law and was admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1982. She specialised in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution and was a legal academic at the Queensland University of Technology for 20 years.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Gay Clarke and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nI was born in Brisbane in 1951, the youngest of four children and the only daughter.\nFortunately for me my parents wanted all four of us to be well educated as they had both grown up in the country and had been denied that opportunity. My parents were insistent that I should be given the same educational advantages as my brothers which was quite unusual in those days. A lot of girls finished school in grade 10 and trained in secretarial work.\nI went to St Margaret's Anglican Girls School for 5 years of high school and was fortunate to win a full fees scholarship after the end of grade 8 based on my grades for that year. My father was delighted as it eased the financial burden on the family. I was made a Prefect and House Captain in my final year and won a Commonwealth Scholarship to go to University.\nIt was not the norm for girls to go to University in the 1960s. My plan at that stage of my life was to be a school teacher and at no time did I consider law as a possibility for study. it was never even suggested as an option by school counsellors, teachers or family.\nI enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Queensland in 1969 - the first person in my family to ever go to University.\nI studied English literature, History, French and Economics. The campus was much smaller in those days and I was delighted to have such luminaries as Geoffrey Rush and the late Bille Brown in some of my English classes.\nI graduated with my Arts degree in 1972, but in that same year I became Miss Queensland and then Miss Australia. To put this into context this was the 'old' Miss Australia Quest which ran from 1954 to 2000 and was the chief fundraising activity for the Australian Cerebral Palsy Association. Over that period the Quest raised over $90 million dollars for children with cerebral palsy. There were no swimsuits at any stage, and when I look back on past winners we were all the girl next door - not models. However, as women's rights and roles in society changed the Quest was rightly terminated in the year 2000. It was however a year when my shyness evaporated and I became an expert public speaker. In retrospect it was good training for my future career path.\nAfter that frenetic year my life changed direction when I married a Brisbane lawyer and my daughter Samantha was born. Sadly the marriage ended in divorce, but I had enrolled in the Bachelor of Laws Degree at what was then the Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT), now the Queensland University of Technology ( QUT) in 1977 which was its inaugural year.\nMy main role model at the time was Quentin Bryce (now Dame Quentin Bryce) who was then a tutor in law at the University of Queensland. She was often featured in newspaper articles and she made a career in law, particularly academia, seem a possibility.\nAfter a divorce, suddenly I was a single parent and had to become independent both financially and emotionally. With my parents support I chose to continue my law studies, so I moved back home with my baby daughter for the four years that it took to complete my degree.\nIn 1982 I graduated with 1st Class Honours and the Law Medal.\nAfter graduation I was offered a job at QIT as a law tutor and I was admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland at the end of 1982.\nMy career developed as I taught in the areas of Contract Law, Company Law and Succession Law.\nIn 1988 I was appointed a member of the Queensland State Government Domestic Violence Taskforce which resulted in a report 'Beyond These Walls' being published. This was a confronting experience, as domestic violence, although acknowledged was swept under the carpet in those days. Sadly this is an ongoing area where community and legal support is continuously needed.\nMy career developed as I was promoted to Lecturer in Law and then to Senior Lecturer. I also had part time appointments to the Austudy Review Tribunal and the Social Security Review Tribunal during these years.\nAfter studying at night I obtained a Master of Laws Degree from the University of Queensland in 1990.\nThe most satisfying phase of my career began when I became interested in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the early 1990s. This was quite revolutionary at the time, the idea of resolving disputes through Mediation rather than going to Court.\nThe best courses available in this area at that period were at Bond University and I was fortunate, along with a colleague, Lyla Davies, to get support from the Dean for a years study leave to complete both practical and theoretical instruction at Bond University.\nWe followed up this training with a course in Negotiation at Harvard University in the USA under the instruction of Professor Roger Fisher in 1993 and I completed a second Masters Degree in Law from Bond University in 1996 specialising in Alternative Dispute Resolution.\nThis training gave my colleague and I the ability to set up a new Masters subject at QUT teaching ADR Mediation and we also developed and established a 3 day Mediation Skills Training course which was accredited by the Queensland Law Society. We offered this training to practicing Solicitors and Barristers under the Law Faculty Professional Legal Training program.\nWe could not have foreseen it at the time but these courses ran for another 20 years until my retirement, and in that time we trained practising lawyers, engineers, doctors, Principals and Deputy Principals of the Catholic Education system, members of the Family Court in Sydney, Sugar Millers from North Queensland, staff from the State Ombudsman's Office, and people working in the Building and Construction Industry amongst others. This work got us out of the law school and into the broader community and was totally rewarding. Eventually Mediation was integrated into the Court processes resulting in a change in legal culture and approaches to resolving disputes.\nAs a result of my involvement in the area of ADR I was appointed as a member of the then ADR Council of the Queensland Department of Justice and to the ADR Committee of the Queensland Law Society.\nIn 1992 I was awarded a QUT Distinguished Academic Service Award for 'outstanding teaching performance and leadership in the Faculty of Law' and in 1994 was promoted to Associate Professor and Director of Teaching and Learning in the Law Faculty. I was one of the first women to be promoted into the Professorial levels in Law and I am delighted now in my retirement to see so many women Professors of Law in Faculties throughout Australia.\nIn 1995 I was appointed by the Commonwealth Attorney General for a three year term as a member of the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council (NADRAC). This was an independent non-statutory body that provided expert policy advice to the Commonwealth Attorney-General on the development of ADR and the promotion of the use of alternative dispute resolution.\nAnother Queensland appointee to NADRAC was Quentin Bryce, so I finally got to meet my role model.\nI continued my full time career at QUT for a total of 20 years. However, after having to care for elderly parents for a number of years and marrying my husband Barry Page in 2002 I decided to ease into part time work. I continued with part time lecturing as well as running the Mediation Skills Training courses for a further decade. This was a very satisfying way to end my legal career as well as giving me some valued family time.\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cohen, Judith", "Entry ID": "AWE5782", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cohen-judith\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Kew, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer, Teacher", "Summary": "Judith Cohen was the first female commissioner of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, appointed in 1975.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2002 - 2002)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/formidable-trailblazer-in-arbitration-judith-jacqueline-cohen-ao-lawyer-teacher-judge-7-2-1926-10-5-2012\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/judith-cohen-interviewed-by-ruth-campbell-in-the-law-in-australian-society-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cohen, Susan", "Entry ID": "AWE5783", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cohen-susan\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Her Honour Judge Susan Cohen was appointed to the County Court of Victoria in August 2001. Judge Cohen comes from a strong legal background. Her father, the late Senator Sam Cohen QC, was a barrister. Her mother, the Honourable Judith Cohen, was a Federal Court judge. Judge Susan Cohen is the first woman in Australia to follow her mother as a judge. During her 20 years at the Bar, Judge Cohen was a founding committee member of the Women Barristers' Association.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Coombs, Janet", "Entry ID": "AWE5784", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/coombs-janet\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Janet Coombs had the longest-running practice of any woman at the NSW Bar (until her retirement), specialising initially in petty sessions. The Women Lawyers Association of New South Wales annual lunch for new women barristers is named in her honour.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/janet-coombs-am\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/janet-coombs-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cotterell, Barbara", "Entry ID": "AWE5785", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cotterell-barbara\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "Barbara Cotterell was a Magistrate in the Victorian Magistrates Court for eighteen years before her appointment as an Acting Judge of the County Court in 2008.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cox, Suzan", "Entry ID": "AWE5786", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cox-suzan\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Public servant, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "Suzan Cox QC has been the Director of the Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission since 2002.\nFirst admitted to practice in 1979 Suzan has practised\npredominantly in criminal law. Suzan is also a University Fellow at Charles Darwin University.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Crennan, Susan Maree", "Entry ID": "AWE5787", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/crennan-susan-maree\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Susan Maree Crennan AC was appointed to the High Court of Australia in November 2005. At the time of her appointment she was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, having been appointed to that office in February 2004. She was educated at the University of Melbourne (BA and PostgradDipHist) and the University of Sydney (LLB). Justice Crennan AC was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1979 and joined the Victorian Bar in 1980. She was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1989. Justice Crennan AC was President of the Australian Bar Association 1994-95, Chairman of the Victorian Bar Council in 1993-94, and a Commissioner for Human Rights in 1992. Justice Crennan AC was appointed a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2008.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2013 - 2013)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/photo-gallery-women-with-a-lot-to-celebrate\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/susan-crennan-interviewed-by-ruth-campbell-in-the-law-in-australian-society-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Creyke, Robin Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5788", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/creyke-robin-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Robin Creyke is an Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University. She taught and researched in the ANU College of Law between 1973 and 2015.\nWhile on leave between 2009-14, Robin was a full-time Senior Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Previously Robin was a Co-Director of the ANU College of Law's military law program and she is co-author of Veterans' Entitlements and Military Compensation Law in Australia (3rd edn, The Federation Press, 2015).\nRobin has been the Integrity Adviser to the Australian Tax Office (2006-09); a member of the Administrative Review Council (1999-2009); and is member of the Law Council of Australia's Administrative Law Committee (2012- ).\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Crotty, Anna", "Entry ID": "AWE5789", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/crotty-anna\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor, Trade unionist", "Summary": "Lawyer Anna Crotty attended night classes and graduated from the University of Tasmania with an Arts\/Law Degree in 1979. She then entered an industrial relations career. Anna's trade union experience paved the way for her work on equal rights and equality for women in the workforce, with many of her cases setting a precedent for workers' rights and entitlements. The cases covered equal rights, discrimination, equal pay for equal work, class sizes, education policies, and the national registration of teachers.\nAnna represented the Tasmanian Trades and Labour Council in drafting and implementing far reaching changes to the Tasmanian Public Service, which culminated in the establishment of the State Service Act 2000, Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988\nand Industrial Relations Act 1984.\nIn 2002, Anna assisted with setting up Tasmania's Anti-Discrimination Commission and administering the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 ( Tas).\nSince 1994, Anna has operated a legal practice specialising in human rights. Some of her cases have been high-profile and ground-breaking and have led to the establishment of new law.\nAfter the devastating Pakistan earthquakes in 2005, Anna and some friends founded the charity, Tents4Peace. The charity has provided emergency shelter and necessities for children in war-torn and natural disaster areas around the world and established a 250 person orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan. To date,\nTents4Peace has provided shelter for over 10 000 children and their families.\nA dedicated environmentalist, Anna has overseen Wilderness Society campaigns such as the Wesley Vale\nPulp Mill, Farmhouse Creek and Picton protest. She has also coordinated the Great Forest Walk.\nAnna has received the following awards: the Pride of Australia Medal 2008; the ABC My Favourite Australian Unsung Hero 2008; Pride of Place National Portrait Gallery Canberra; Human Rights Medal 2010 for Tasmania and is the Tasmanian Senior Australian of the Year for 2013.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cummins, Alice Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5790", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cummins-alice-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Death Place": "Kalgoorlie , Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Brewer, Businesswoman, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Alice Cummins studied law at the University of Adelaide (LL.B., 1928). Admitted to the bar in South Australia (1928) and Western Australia (1930) she never practised. She was a businesswoman and brewer in Kalgoorlie. Death notices also stated that she was the first woman in Australia to take out a wireless transmitter's license.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cummins-alice-mary-1898-1943\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cunneen, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5791", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cunneen-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Senior Counsel", "Summary": "Margaret Cunneen is the Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor in New South Wales and has held a commission as a Crown Prosecutor since 1990. She came to prominence when she prosecuted a series of highly publicised pedophiles and several notable gang rape and murder trials. Cunneen worked as a legal clerk while studying for her Bachelor of Laws (1982) at what was then the NSW Institute of Technology (NSWIT), part of the first cohort of students in the Faculty of Law. Cunnen then took a position with the New South Wales Attorney General's Department. A post with the Public Service Board's Legal Branch followed, before joining the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, heading up their Child Sexual Assault Unit until her appointment as Crown Prosecutor. She took silk, appointed Senior Counsel in 2007.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Curtain, Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5792", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/curtain-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "The Hon Elizabeth Curtain graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws. Her Honour completed articles with Cole and O'Heare and came to the Bar in October 1978 and read with Ms Lynne Opas QC (later Judge Schiftan of the County Court.) From 1985 to 1987 her Honour was appointed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and was also a Member of the Motor Accidents Tribunal. Her Honour was appointed a Prosecutor for the Queen for the State of Victoria from 1987 to 1993 when she was appointed to the County Court. Her Honour also taught advocacy in the Bar's 1999 Trial Advocacy Workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the 2005 Advocacy Course, Port Moresby. The Hon Elizabeth Curtain was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2006. The Hon Elizabeth Curtain retired in May 2014. In 2016 her Honour became the Judge in Residence at the University of Melbourne Law School. The retired judge has fond memories of her time as a Melbourne Law School student. She graduated in 1975, which was also International Women's Year. To mark International Women's Year, the Law School selected her to be the first female graduand to deliver the valedictory speech. Her Honour recalls this moment as one of her personal highlights. As well as serving the Court, The Hon Elizabeth Curtain has sat on many committees and served the community in a variety of roles. These included Chairman of the Adult Parole Board, Alternative Chairman of the Youth Parole Board and the Youth Residential Board, and the Deputy Chairman of the Victorian Racing Appeals Tribunal. Her Honour was also a member of the Victorian Criminal Trials, Charge Book Committee, and Governing Council Member of the Judicial Conference of Australia. Outside the law she was also Director of Jesuit Social Services Limited, which conducts a range of diverse community social service programs providing assistance to those in need. She also was a founding member of the Essendon Football Club Women's Network.\nIn 2017, Elizabeth Curtain was made a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia 'for significant service to the law, and to the judiciary, in Victoria, to medico-legal and professional groups, and to the community'.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Curtis, Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE5793", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/curtis-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Anne Curtis was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1962.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Dalton, Jean Hazel", "Entry ID": "AWE5794", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dalton-jean-hazel\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Jean Hazel Dalton was born on 3 December 1964 in Brisbane. She attended Nanango and Kingaroy State High Schools and graduated Bachelor of Arts at the University of Queensland (1984) and Bachelor of Laws with first class honours and the University Medal in Law (1986). After graduating, she worked as associate to Derrington J of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1987. She then worked for two further years at the Brisbane firm of Morris Fletcher & Cross (now Minters).\nIn 1989 Dalton was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland, and commenced practice at the bar in Brisbane. She took silk on 9 November 2004. Dalton served as a part-time member (2002-04) then as president (2005-07) of the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal. She also served as a part-time member of the Land Court and of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Tribunal (2004-11). She was a member of the Bar Council of the Bar Association of Queensland (2003-05) and the Legal Practitioner Admissions Board (2004-06).\nDalton was featured in 'A Woman's Place: 100 years of Queensland Women Lawyers', published by the Supreme Court Library Queensland in 2005.\nOn 25 February 2011, Dalton was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Daly, Fay", "Entry ID": "AWE5795", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/daly-fay\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "New South Wales?, Australia", "Death Place": "Frankston, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Fay Daly signed the Victorian Bar Roll in 1970 and Eva Selig was her pupil. She was a stenographer before coming to the bar.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Deane, Shauna", "Entry ID": "AWE5796", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/deane-shauna\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "Born and educated in Perth, Justice Deane graduated in law from the University of WA in 1976 and went on to complete a postgraduate degree in Social Work, also at the University of WA.\nJustice Deane was admitted to practise as a barrister and solicitor in February, 1980 and worked within the Crown Law Department, carrying out a wide variety of work over many jurisdictions. She frequently appeared as counsel, particularly in criminal matters, and in 1992 became a founding member of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Since then she has gained extensive criminal law experience, having the carriage of many high profile prosecutions. Justice Deane has also appeared in a number of important appeals, including appearances in the High Court of Australia.\nJustice Deane was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1996.\nShe has been both chairperson and a member of the Board of Management of Centrecare Marriage and Family Service (Western Australia). Justice Deane was appointed to the District Court of Western Australia in February 1998. She was the first woman Queen's Counsel to be appointed to the District Court. Justice Deane retired from the District Court in 2014.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Dessau, Linda", "Entry ID": "AWE5797", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dessau-linda\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Governor, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Her Excellency the Hon. Linda Dessau AM was the first female Governor of Victoria, sworn in on 1 July 2015. She studied law at the University of Melbourne and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1975, signing the Victorian Bar Roll in 1978.\nIn 2017, Her Excellency was made a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia 'for eminent service to the people of Victoria through leadership roles in the judiciary, to the advancement of economic ties and business relationships, and as a supporter of charitable, sporting and arts organisations'.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2018 - 2018)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/linda-dessau-will-become-victorias-first-female-governor\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/her-excellency-the-honourable-linda-dessau-amgovernor-of-victoria\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Dick, Toni", "Entry ID": "AWE5798", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dick-toni\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Toni Dick studied for her LLB at Queensland Institute of Technology, a predecessor institution of QUT, between 1981 and 1985, and completed the Legal Practice Course in 1986. Following her admission, Toni worked in private practice, specialising in the fields of family law and alternative dispute resolution, until her untimely death from cancer in late 2000.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Dixon, Nora", "Entry ID": "AWE5799", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dixon-nora\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Nora Dixon was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in the 1960s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Douglas, Carolyn", "Entry ID": "AWE5800", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/douglas-carolyn\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Her Honour Carolyn Douglas was appointed to the County Court in 1997.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Edwards, Vivien", "Entry ID": "AWE5801", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/edwards-vivien\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Vivien Edwards was appointed a Magistrate of Western Australia in July 2003. Ms Edwards was admitted to practice in 1979, working for 12 years in the Crown Law Department where in 1981 she became the State's first female prosecutor and rose to the rank of Senior Assistant Crown Solicitor. In 1990 she moved into private practice in Albany, ultimately establishing her own successful law firm. Prior to her appointment as a Magistrate, she was a senior partner in the law firm Edwards Lewington, which has offices in both Albany and Denmark.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Fahey, Susan", "Entry ID": "AWE5802", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fahey-susan\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1999, Susan Fahey moved from private practice family law to the Women's Legal Service Tasmania (WLS) in 2002. In managing the service since 2007, Susan is an employer and mentor who encourages the notion that lawyers don't just work within the confines of the law but also have the power to use the law for everyone's benefit. Providing a free government-funded community legal service throughout Tasmania, WLS conducts community education workshops and brochures, working to make the legal system more accessible and responsive to issues affecting women. CEO and principal solicitor Susan says WLS produced the award-winning www.girlsgottaknow.com.au the largest legal information site\/app in Australia. In 2014 Susan won the Tasmanian Women Lawyers Biennial Achievement Award for outstanding contribution to the practice, development and education of law and social justice.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Feely, Nicole", "Entry ID": "AWE5803", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/feely-nicole\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "Ms Nicole Feely was appointed as Australian Capital Territory Health Director-General in 2015. Ms Feely is the former lead partner for Health at KPMG Canberra and former Chief Executive of South Metropolitan Health (Western Australia) and St Vincent's Health (Victoria).\nShe has a proven track-record of running efficient, effective health services in both Western Australia and Victoria.\nMs Feely's record as a senior leader in the health sector is outstanding.\nAs well as a strong background in delivering health services on a large scale, Ms Feely has also proven herself in other sectors; including as a General Manager for the Sydney Organising Committee for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games; as Chief Executive of the Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and as Chief of Staff to former Australian Prime Minister, the Honourable John Howard OM AC.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Fennell, Mary Lynne", "Entry ID": "AWE5804", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fennell-mary-lynne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Mary Lynne Fennell was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in the 1960s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Finocchiaro, Lia", "Entry ID": "AWE5805", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/finocchiaro-lia\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Darwin, Northern Teritory, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Politician", "Summary": "Lia Finocchiaro, born in Darwin, studied law and international studies at the University of Adelaide. She began practising as a lawyer on her return to Darwin and was a finalist in the Australian of the Year Young Achiever (NT) in 2012. She is a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the electorate of Drysdale in the Northern Territory.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lia-finocchiaro\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Flemming, Priscilla", "Entry ID": "AWE5806", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/flemming-priscilla\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Mrs Priscilla Flemming was the first woman to practise privately as a Q.C. in New South Wales.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Fogliani, Ros", "Entry ID": "AWE5807", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fogliani-ros\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Ms Fogliani was appointed and assumed the role as Western Australia's State Coroner on the 13th January 2014 and Western Australia's first female State Coroner. Ms Fogliani was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of WA in 1985.\nMs Fogliani started her career at Keall Brinsden as an articled clerk and restricted practitioner, before moving to Mallesons Stephen Jaques in 1987 as a solicitor, and then to Blake Dawson Waldron as a senior associate in 1991.\nFrom 1993 to 2011 Ms Fogliani worked at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, including 6 years as Deputy Director and Head of Office in Western Australia. In 2011 she joined the Francis\nBurt Chambers as a barrister where her areas of practice included administrative and constitutional law, coronial inquiries, corporations, criminal law, disciplinary\ntribunals, professional negligence and taxation.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Frederico, Serita", "Entry ID": "AWE5808", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/frederico-serita\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Serita Frederico signed the Victorian Bar in 1978.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "George, Kate", "Entry ID": "AWE5809", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/george-kate\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Aboriginal rights activist, Lawyer, Politician, Public servant", "Summary": "Kate George, a Putijurra woman, was the first Indigenous woman to study law at the University of Western Australia. She has worked in the area of Aboriginal affairs for many years and was inducted into the WA Women's Hall of Fame in 2011, the inaugural year of the award.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/q-and-a-with-kate-george\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kate-george\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Gerondis, Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE5810", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gerondis-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Helen Gerondis was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1965.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/helen-gerondis\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pioneering-women-at-the-nsw-bar-1921-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Glynn, Leone Carmel", "Entry ID": "AWE5811", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/glynn-leone-carmel\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer, Librarian", "Summary": "Justice Glynn was educated at St Ursula's College,\nArmidale and then completed a Bachelor of Arts at the\nUniversity of Sydney. She then studied and completed\nthe Barristers' Admission Board exams, before being\nadmitted to the Bar in NSW in 1964. She went on to become the Librarian in Chief for the New South Wales Supreme Court Library and the New South Wales Industrial Commission Library. She also\nachieved a Master of Science from Columbia\nUniversity. In 1975 she became the first woman appointed to the office of Commissioner in the Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales.\nOn 14 April 1980 her Honour was appointed as a judge of the Industrial Commission of New South Wales becoming the first woman in New South Wales, and one of the first women in Australia, to be appointed as a judge of a superior court of record.\nHer Honour was known for her compassion, attention to detail and dedication to the proper performance of her office. Whilst she heard many different kinds of cases in her time on the bench, her Honour will be particularly remembered for her important work in the Pay Equity Inquiry during 1997 and 1998. Her Honour's report to the Minister set the important framework for future consideration in industrial cases dealing with differences between the rates of pay of men and women in the State of New South Wales. Her Honour retired on 8 December 2003 following 27 years of dedicated service.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Goldberg, Peggy", "Entry ID": "AWE5812", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/goldberg-peggy\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Peggy Goldberg was admitted to the Victorian Bar in the 1970s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Gordon, Michelle Marjorie", "Entry ID": "AWE5814", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gordon-michelle-marjorie\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Senior Counsel, Solicitor", "Summary": "The Hon. Michelle Gordon is a justice of the High Court of Australia. She was appointed to the Court in June 2015 while serving as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, an appointment she had held since April 2007. Gordon attended Perth's St Mary's Anglican Girls' School and the Presbyterian Girls' College. After graduating from the University of Western Australia with bachelor degrees in jurisprudence and laws, she was admitted to practice in 1987. She served articles with Robinson Cox before joining Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks as a solicitor (1988-1992), later becoming a senior associate (1992). Called to the Victorian Bar in 1992, Gordon took silk in 2003. Her practice - in state and federal courts - was predominantly in the areas of commercial, equity, taxation and general civil matters. Between 1998 and 2007, she served as a sessional member of the Victorian Administrative and Administrative Appeals Tribunal; she was also a member of the Law Council of Australia's Taxation Committee, Business Law Section (2003-2007). In July 2015 she was appointed a Professorial Fellow of the Law School, University of Melbourne. Gordon is married to the Hon. Kenneth Hayne AC QC, himself a former justice of the High Court. They have a son.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/new-high-court-judge-michelle-gordon-lauded-as-a-fabulous-lawyer-and-jurist\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Gordon, Sue", "Entry ID": "AWE5815", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gordon-sue\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Meekatharra, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Justice of the Peace, Lawyer, Magistrate, Public servant", "Summary": "Dr Sue Gordon AM has achieved many 'firsts' during her career. In 1986, she was the first Aboriginal person to head a government department in Western Australia, as Commissioner for Aboriginal Planning; in 1988 she was WA's first Aboriginal magistrate and first full-time children's court magistrate; and in 1990 she was one of five commissioners appointed by federal Labor minister Gerry Hand to the first board of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC).\nGordon has been appointed by state and federal governments, on both sides of politics, to various positions. In 2002 she was appointed by the Premier of Western Australia, Geoff Gallop, to head an inquiry into family violence and child abuse in Western Australian Aboriginal communities. One outcome of the Gordon Inquiry was closure of the controversial Swan Valley Noongar Camp. In 2004, she was appointed Chair of the new National Indigenous Council, an advisory body to the Federal Government, following the winding down of ATSIC. She chaired the Northern Territory Emergency Response Taskforce from June 2007 to June 2008 before retiring from the bench in September 2008.\nIn retirement, Gordon has remained very active in a variety of organisations. Currently (2016) president of the Graham (Polly) Farmer Foundation and the Police and Community Youth Centres Federation of WA (PCYC) Board, to name only a couple of her appointments, her special long term project is Sister Kate's Aged Persons Project, supported by the Indigenous Land Corporation and Aboriginal Hostels Limited.\nGordon received the Order of Australia award in 1993 as acknowledgement of her work with Aboriginal people and community affairs. In 2003 she received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters (Hon. DLitt) from the University of Western Australia, the same year she was awarded the 'Centenary Medal' for service to the community, particularly the Aboriginal community.\nSue Gordon was interviewed by Nikki Henningham for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Oral History Project. For details of the interview see the National Library of AustraliaCATALOGUE RECORD.\n", "Details": "Born at Belele Station, near Meekatharra, Western Australia in 1943, Sue Gordon was separated from her mother and family at the age of four and raised at Sister Kate's home in Queens Park, Western Australia. After leaving school, she joined the army as a full-time soldier. Between 1961 and 1964 she was a full-time member of the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps (WRAAC) based mostly in the eastern states, where she worked as a cipher operator. After leaving the army she worked in various administrative positions around Australia, including as Teltype operator at Carnarvon Tracking Station. This led to more administrative work in the Pilbara region, where she worked mostly in Aboriginal Affairs with both urban and traditional people. In 1977 she was awarded a National Aboriginal Overseas Study Award to survey employment programs with a number of Native American communities in the United States.\nGordon moved back to Perth when her eldest son was about to start university and her second one was in year 12, taking on the role of Commissioner for Aboriginal Planning in 1986, and in so doing, becoming the first Aboriginal person to head a government department in Western Australia. In 1988, despite her lack of formal legal training, she was appointed the first full-time and first Aboriginal magistrate in the state's history. Appointed to the Perth Children's Court, a court of limited jurisdiction served by lay, as well a legally trained, magistrates, Gordon served for twenty years before mandatory retirement in 2008 at the age of 65.\nWhile working full time at the court, Gordon completed a law degree part-time. She started it when she was 50, it took eight years, and there were times when she wondered what she had let herself in for. Fortunately, her two sons did not allow her to give up, reminding her that there was 'a rule at our house since we were kids, 'If you started, you have to finish it.\"\nCompleting the degree gave her 'the polish that she needed'. Besides, the discipline of the law reinforced a way of life for her that she had always valued. 'I had discipline in my early life\u2026I had discipline in the army and discipline in Aboriginal Affairs \u2026I'd come from a disciplined background. I think that's what I really appreciated at the court,' she says. What's more, it's a place where 'every decision is going to impact on somebody.'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-force-for-her-people\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/my-three-families\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sue-gordon-interviewed-by-nikki-henningham-in-the-trailblazing-women-and-the-law-oral-history-project\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Grainger, Jennie", "Entry ID": "AWE5816", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/grainger-jennie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Lawyer, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "Jennie Grainger is the Director General, Enforcement and Compliance at Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. Prior to this role, Jennie was Second Commissioner Law at the Australian Tax Office, based in Canberra, Australia. She is a member of the International Monetary Fund Panel of Tax Administration experts and a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. During her time at the Australian Taxation Office she became only the second woman in Australian history to become a deputy commissioner - she was made second commissioner of compliance in 2002 after holding a number of high-profile roles across the organisation.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Gray, Beatrice", "Entry ID": "AWE5817", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gray-beatrice\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Beatrice Gray was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1968.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/beatrice-gray\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pioneering-women-at-the-nsw-bar-1921-1975\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Graycar, Regina", "Entry ID": "AWE5818", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/graycar-regina\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Commissioner, Lawyer", "Summary": "Regina Graycar was a Commissioner of the NSW Law Reform Commission (1998-2002) and a former Professor of Law at the University of NSW and University of Sydney. She is the co-author of The Hidden Gender of Law.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Green, Maureen", "Entry ID": "AWE5819", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/green-maureen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Maureen Green was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1979.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Scarparo, Eleanor Guiliana", "Entry ID": "AWE5820", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/scarparo-eleanor-guiliana\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Eleanor Guiliana Scarparo was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in the early 1960s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Guli, Mina", "Entry ID": "AWE5821", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/guli-mina\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Chief Executive Officer, Lawyer", "Summary": "Mina Guli studied law and science at Monash University and holds a Master of Laws from the University of Melbourne. She is a business woman and activist in the area of climate change, and an early pioneer in the carbon market. She is CEO and founder of Thirst, which advocates around water scarcity.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Harford, Lesbia Venner", "Entry ID": "AWE5822", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/harford-lesbia-venner\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brighton, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Activist, Lawyer, Poet, Writer", "Summary": "Lesbia Venner Harford (1891-1927), poet, was born on 9 April 1891 at Brighton, Melbourne, daughter of Edmund Joseph Keogh, a well-to-do financial agent, and his wife Helen Beatrice, n\u00e9e Moore, both born in Victoria. Her mother was related to the earl of Drogheda. About 1900 the Keoghs fell on hard times and in an effort to retrieve the family fortunes Edmund went to Western Australia, where he eventually took up farming.\nLesbia was born with a congenital heart defect which restricted her activity throughout her life. Nettie Palmer remembered her at a children's party as 'a dark-eyed little girl who sat quite still, looking on'. She was educated at Clifton, the Brigidine convent at Glen Iris, and Mary's Mount, the Loreto convent at Ballarat, but she rebelled against the family's staunch Catholicism: in 1915 she conducted services for Frederick Sinclaire's Fellowship group. \nIn 1912 she enrolled in law at the University of Melbourne, paying her way by coaching or taking art classes in schools. She graduated LL.B. In December 1916 in the same class as (Sir) Robert Menzies. During her undergraduate years she had become embroiled in the anti-war and anti-conscription agitation, forming a close friendship with Guido Baracchi (son of Pietro Baracchi) who claimed later that 'she above all' helped him to find his way 'right into the revolutionary working class movement'. \nOn graduation she chose what she considered to be a life of greater social purpose and went to work in a clothing factory. Much of her poetry belongs to this phase of her life and she shows a growing solidarity with her fellow workers and an antagonism towards those whom she saw as exploiters. She became involved in union politics and like her brother Esmond (later a Melbourne medical scientist) joined the Industrial Workers of the World. She went to Sydney where she lived with I.W.W. Friends and worked, when strong enough, in a clothing factory or as a university coach. On 23 November 1920 in Sydney she married the artist Patrick John O'Flaghartie Fingal Harford, a fellow I.W.W. Member and clicker in his father's boot factory: they moved to Melbourne where he worked with William Frater in Brooks Robinson & Co. Ltd and was a founder of the Post-Impressionist movement in Melbourne. \nFor many years Lesbia had suffered from tuberculosis. She tried to complete her legal qualifications but died in hospital on 5 July 1927. She was buried in Boroondara cemetery. \nLesbia transcribed her poems into notebooks in beautiful script; she sang many of her lyrics to tunes of her own composing. Some she showed to friends or enclosed in letters. She was first published in the May 1921 issue of Birth, the journal of the Melbourne Literary Club, and then in its 1921 annual. She provoked much interest at the time and Percival Serle included some of her poems in An Australasian Anthology (Sydney, 1927). In her review of the anthology, Nettie Palmer singled out Lesbia's poetry for special praise, and in September and October 1927 published four of her poems in tribute to her. Lesbia mistrusted publishers, explaining that she was 'in no hurry to be read'. In 1941 a collection edited by Nettie Palmer was published with Commonwealth Literary Fund assistance. No complete collection exists. On her death her father took custody of her notebooks and they were lost when his shack was destroyed by fire.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Harris-Rimmer, Susan", "Entry ID": "AWE5823", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/harris-rimmer-susan\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Dr Susan Harris Rimmer (BA(Hons)\/LLB(Hons) UQ, SJD ANU) is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University. She is also a Research Associate at the Development Policy Centre in the Crawford School. She joined Griffith Law School as an Associate Professor in July 2015. Her Future Fellow project is called 'Trading' Women's Rights in Transitions: Designing Diplomatic Interventions in Afghanistan and Myanmar. Susan is the author of Gender and Transitional Justice: The Women of Timor Leste (Routledge, 2010) and over 30 refereed academic works. Susan was chosen as the winner of the Audre Rapoport Prize for Scholarship on the Human Rights of Women for 2006. She often acts as a policy adviser to government and produces policy papers. Susan was selected as an expert for the official Australian delegation to the 58th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March 2014. She has provided policy advice on the UNSC, G20, IORA and MIKTA. Susan is the G20 correspondent for The Conversation site. She is part of the Think20 process for Australia's host year of the Group of 20 Leaders' Summit in Brisbane 2014, and attended the St Petersburg Summit in 2013 and the Brisbane Summit in 2014. Sue is one of the two Australian representatives to the W20 Turkey. Sue was awarded the Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership Award in 2002, selected as participant in the 2020 Summit 2008 by then Prime Minister Rudd, and awarded the Future Summit Leadership Award, 2008, by the Australian Davos Connection (part of the World Economic Forum). In 2014 she was named one of the Westpac and Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence in the Global category. Sue was previously the Advocacy lead at the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID). She has also worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the National Council of Churches and the Parliamentary Library.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hickey, Maureen", "Entry ID": "AWE5824", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hickey-maureen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Maureen Hickey was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1975.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hickie, Marea", "Entry ID": "AWE5825", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hickie-marea\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "A partner in the law firm Hunt and Hunt, Marea Hickie brought a successful and landmark discrimination case against the law firm. In 1998 in the case of Hickie v Hunt and Hunt, Ms Hickie alleged that the law firm Hunt and Hunt discriminated against her on the ground of sex. Ms Hickie was made a contract partner after being with the firm for seven years. At the time of being made a contract partner she was pregnant. She commenced maternity leave and later returned to work on a part-time basis. A couple of months after her return to work, Hunt and Hunt decided not to renew her contract. She was informed of the decision and on the same day she left the firm. Ms Hickie alleged discrimination in the way she was treated by the firm. The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found that there had been \"indirect sex discrimination\" within the meaning of s5(2) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth). The discrimination occurred because Ms Hickie was required to work full-time as a necessary condition to maintain her position in the firm. This requirement was a condition that disadvantaged or was likely to disadvantage women and it was not reasonable in the circumstances. Ms Hickie was awarded compensation of $95,000. This case was important in establishing precedent in the area of sex discrimination. It typifies the discrimination that women lawyers face as they attempt to balance work life and family responsibilities.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hodges, Jane", "Entry ID": "AWE5826", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hodges-jane\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer", "Summary": "Jane Hodges is the former Director of the International Labour Organisation's Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hooper, Beverley", "Entry ID": "AWE5827", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hooper-beverley\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Beverley Hooper was admitted to practice in 1955, and came to the Bar in 1972.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hribal, Mary-Louise", "Entry ID": "AWE5828", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hribal-mary-louise\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "Judge Hribal was appointed as a Magistrate in 2007 and was one of two magistrates appointed on a part-time basis - a legal first in SA.\nPrior to her appointment as the Chief Magistrate, Judge Hribal presided over criminal and civil matters in Adelaide, suburban and country courts and was Regional Manager of the Criminal Division of the Adelaide Magistrates Court. As Chief Magistrate, Judge Hribal also has a key role on the State Courts Administration Council.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hurst, Katharine", "Entry ID": "AWE5829", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hurst-katharine\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "In 1953, Katharine Hurst became the first woman prosecutor in the British colony of Kenya where she prosecuted members of the Mau Mau secret society who were responsible for many deaths during the 1950s. According to the Sun Herald Hurst was an impressive figure in Court: \"a woman barrister strode into the Githunguri Court with a revolver at her hip. Katharine Patricia Hurst, 34, wore a khaki drill skirt, mud\nspattered nylons, a man's white shirt and a cartridge belt holding the gun. Her barrister's robe went on top of all that as she opened the Crown case against five rows of manacled East African natives in the biggest mass-murder trial in Commonwealth history.\"\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Jackson, Maggie", "Entry ID": "AWE5830", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jackson-maggie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Maggie Jackson is the Head of the International Crime Cooperation Division, Attorney-General's Department.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Jenkins, Kate", "Entry ID": "AWE5831", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jenkins-kate\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Kate Jenkins held the position of Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner from February 2016 to 2023. She was previously the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights commissioner, a position she had held since 2013. Jenkins was educated at Tintern Grammar and Geelong Grammar School, followed by the University of Melbourne where she studied arts and law and graduated with double honours degrees. Between 1993 and 2013, Jenkins was partner at Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills); her areas of specialisation included equal opportunity and diversity. She is a current board member (and former director) of the Heide Museum of Modern Art and the Carlton Football Club; for many years she also served on the board of Berry Street Victoria, a charity which helps disadvantaged children, young people and families. In her role as Victorian Equal Opportunity commissioner, Jenkins conducted an independent review into sex discrimination and sexual harassment, including predatory behaviour, among Victoria Police personnel. She also convened a Victorian chapter of the 'Male Champions of Change' group, an initiative of former Federal Sex Discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick which aims to advance gender equality and increase opportunities for women in the workplace by enlisting the assistance of men in positions of power in the workplace. In 2015, Jenkins was named in the Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards.\nAs Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Jenkins delivered the 2020 Respect@Work report, the findings of a national inquiry into sexual harassment in workplaces, and in 2021 she led a review of the Parliament House workplace culture. Jenkins was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2023 for distinguished service to human rights governance, to advancing gender equity, to the promotion of inclusivity, and to the law. She was appointed the chair of the Australian Sports Commission in May 2024.\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Jenkins, Carolyn Frances (Lindy)", "Entry ID": "AWE5832", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/jenkins-carolyn-frances-lindy\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Carolyn (Lindy) Frances Jenkins was appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia on 2 February, 2004.\nBorn in April, 1959 in Sydney, NSW, Justice Jenkins graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from Macquarie University in 1981. She was admitted to practice in New South Wales in 1982, in the Northern Territory (1982), and in Western Australia (1989).\nJustice Jenkins was Crown Prosecutor in the Northern Territory from 1982 - 89, including Acting Chief Crown Prosecutor (1988 - 89). She was a Legal Officer, Western Australian Crown Solicitor's Office from 1989 - 2001, including Deputy Crown Counsel.\nShe was a member of the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia in 2000 - 2001.\nJustice Jenkins was a judge of the District Court of Western Australia from September, 2001 till her appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Johnston, Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5833", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/johnston-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Death Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Partner", "Summary": "Elizabeth Johnston was born in Adelaide on 1 October 1920. She was educated at Woodlands Church of England Girls' Grammar School at Glenelg. During her student days at Adelaide University she was secretary of the Radical Club and on the editorial staff of On Dit. She was the first female secretary of a trade union in South Australia, the partner in the law firm Johnston & Johnston and the chair of South Australia's first Sex Discrimination Board. She was an activist and member of the Australian Communist Party and was married to Justice Elliott Johnston QC. She died in 2002.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/elizabeth-johnston-papers\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kelleher, Leonie", "Entry ID": "AWE5834", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kelleher-leonie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "In over thirty years of practice, Ms Kelleher has made legal history through her involvement with test cases in the High Court, Federal Courts, Supreme Courts and one of the last Privy Council cases. She has extensive experience as an environment, planning and local government law specialist.\nMs Kelleher enjoys an international reputation for her work in property restitution in the reunification of East and West Germany and is proficient in the German language. Admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor in 1975 and qualified as a town planner, Ms Kelleher worked in one of Melbourne's leading law firms before commencing her own practice. In 1981 she joined the first group of accredited specialists in environment, planning and local government law with the Law Institute of Victoria. In 1988 Ms Kelleher won a Bicentennial Women 88 Award.\nIn 1990, Ms Kelleher became one of the very few young women ever to be awarded an Order of Australia. In 2013, she completed a PhD examining the impact of regulatory change upon entrepreneurial opportunity, with particular focus on the Native Title Act 1993 and Aboriginal entrepreneurship.\nIn recognition of her expertise, Ms Kelleher has served on the Council of the Law Institute of Victoria, Heritage Council, Trust for Nature and the Land Valuation Boards of Review. She was also a member of professional associations including the Law Institute of Victoria, Royal Australian Planning Institute, Victorian Environmental and Planning Law Association and the Environmental Institute of Australia as well as being an Accredited Mediator. She is an Honorary Life Member of The Sovereign Hill Museums Association, President of LAMP (Lawyers for the Arabunna Marree People) and Board Member of Sentir, a Jesuit Academic body.\nMs Kelleher balances her successful career with her family responsibilities and takes enormous pride and pleasure in her four children.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kelly, Patricia", "Entry ID": "AWE5835", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kelly-patricia\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Justice Patricia Kelly was a Prosecutor at the South Australian DPP and took silk in 2002. Her Honour was appointed to the District Court of South Australia in 2003 and appointed to the Supreme Court of South Australia in 2007.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kiddle, Marcelle Allayne", "Entry ID": "AWE5836", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kiddle-marcelle-allayne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Marcelle Allayne Kiddle completed two years of medicine at the University of Melbourne before her career was interrupted by marriage. \nAfter a stint as a dancer, including a contract with the BBC, she enrolled at the London School of Economics (LSE) and graduated LLB (Hons) in 1956. Allayne or \"Kiddle\" (as she preferred to be known) read for the English Bar and was admitted to the Middle Temple in London, before returning to Melbourne. After signing the Bar Roll in 1959 (the sixth woman to do so), she read with Bill Kaye. She had hoped for a broad practice, but specialised in divorce.\nDuring the 1960s, she returned to LSE to complete a Master of Laws. She appeared with Philip Opas QC at London's Privy Council during the Ronald Ryan trial in the late 1960s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/allayne-kiddle\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kiefel, Susan Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5837", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kiefel-susan-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Susan Mary Kiefel was appointed to the Court in September 2007. At the time of her appointment she was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia and the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island. She served as a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1993-94 before joining the Federal Court. She was admitted to the Queensland Bar in 1975 and was the first woman in Queensland to be appointed Queen's Counsel, in 1987. Justice Kiefel served as a part-time Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission from 2003 to 2007. She has a Master of Laws degree from Cambridge University. Justice Kiefel was appointed a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia in 2011. She was elected a titular member of the International Academy of Comparative Law in June 2013. She was elected an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn in November 2014.\nOn 29 November 2016, Justice Kiefel was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. She is the first woman to achieve the position, ending 113 years of men leading the nation's highest court.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kiefel-appointment-is-refreshing-but-greater-diversity-is-an-ongoing-task\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/susan-kiefel-becomes-australias-first-female-high-court-chief-justice\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kilpatrick, Amy", "Entry ID": "AWE5838", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kilpatrick-amy\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Amy Kilpatrick was the first full-time Executive Director\/Principal Solicitor of the Public Interest Law Clearing House in Sydney. She was formerly the Principal Solicitor at Consumer Law Centre in the Australian Capital Territory.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "King, Betty", "Entry ID": "AWE5839", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/king-betty\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "The Honourable Betty King is a former judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. She joined the Victorian Bar in 1975. In 1986 she became the first female prosecutor in Victoria, later becoming the first female Commonwealth prosecutor. In 1992 she was appointed Queen's Counsel. During the late 1990s she was a member of the National Crime Authority at one point acting as chair of the Authority. She became a judge of the County Court of Victoria in 2000 and a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2005 until her retirement in 2015.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "King, Margery", "Entry ID": "AWE5840", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/king-margery\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Margery King was the third woman in Victoria to sign the Bar Roll, in 1932.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kingston, Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5841", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kingston-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Mary Kingston, known as \"Molly\", arrived at the Victorian Bar in 1962, having first practised successfully in Western Australia - where, together with Sheila McClemans, she previously set up WA's first all-women law firm in the 1930s. Molly specialised in family law and was highly regarded by colleagues and judges alike.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sheila-a-biography-of-sheila-mary-mcclemans\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Komesaroff, Tonia", "Entry ID": "AWE5843", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/komesaroff-tonia\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Tonia Komesaroff was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1977.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Kominos, Evangel", "Entry ID": "AWE5844", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kominos-evangel\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Evangel Kominos was admitted to the Victorian Bar in the 1970s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Krejus, Lindis", "Entry ID": "AWE5845", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/krejus-lindis\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Lindis Krejus graduated LLB from the University of Melbourne and served articles with James Ryan. She was admitted to practice on 1 March 1979. She signed the Bar Roll on 24 May 1979 and read with John Dwyer (later QC). She developed a general practice including Contracts, Accident Compensation and Medical Negligence. She practised at the Bar for more than 26 years from 1979 until she transferred to the List of Retired Counsel in August 2005. Lindis served as a Legal Officer in the RAAF Reserves, attaining the rank of Squadron Leader. Throughout the 1980s, she lectured in Building Law at RMIT and in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Melbourne.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Lahey, May", "Entry ID": "AWE5846", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lahey-may\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Canungra, Queensland, Australia", "Death Place": "Los AngelesLos Angeles, California, United States of America", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "May Darlington Lahey was the first female Queenslander to practice law. Although her legal career took place overseas, Lahey can lay claim to being Australia's first female judge.\n", "Details": "Lahey was born in Queensland and attended Brisbane Grammar School, followed by Sydney University. She was said to be a feisty young woman with the gift of the gab, and it was an uncle living in California that suggested she put her skills to use in the courtroom.\nBy 1910 Lahey had moved to Los Angeles and enrolled at the University of Southern California College of Law. Lahey graduated on 11 June 1914 with an LLB (Honours). She was admitted to the Californian Bar the very next day, after which she specialised in probate law. In 1915 Lahey was appointed a Referee of the Probate Court.\nLahey became an American citizen in 1916. She was a prominent figure in women's organisations, such as the League of Women Voters and the Women Lawyers Club. It is reported that 'she was renowned for her vivacious personality, Australian accent and talent for public speaking.'\nLahey became the second female judge appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court, on Christmas Day, 1928 - only seven years after Mary O'Toole became the United States' first woman municipal judge and 37 years before Roma Mitchell's South Australian appointment. She took office on January 3, 1929. A few days later, a reception was held in her honour, whereby more than 600 guests attended, including virtually all the Los Angeles judiciary (State and Federal), many leaders of the Bar and numerous local residents.\nLahey was one of the most prominent members of the American Lawyers Club and she represented California at numerous prestigious legal conferences\nAfter 15 years on the bench, Lahey was unanimously elected the court's first female Presiding Judge. She remained at the court until her retirement in 1965.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Larcombe, Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE5847", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/larcombe-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "Helen Larcombe was the first woman Stipendiary\nMagistrate in New South Wales.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Lawrie, Mary Jane", "Entry ID": "AWE5848", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lawrie-mary-jane\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Mary Jane Lawrie was a Judge of the Family Court of Australia.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Le Sueur, Marg", "Entry ID": "AWE5849", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/le-sueur-marg\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Marg Le Sueur has worked as the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service Coordinator of the Refugee Family Reunion Program.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Lewitan, Rachelle", "Entry ID": "AWE5850", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lewitan-rachelle\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Her Honour Judge Lewitan started her legal career at Corrs, where she was made an associate partner in 1975. When she came to the Bar, she\nread with the late great Ron Castan and Peter Jordan. She was the first woman elected to the Bar Council and the inaugural convenor of the Women Barristers'\nAssociation. She has been an inspiration for many young women at the Bar. Her Honour was appointed to the County Court in 2001. In 2012 Her Honour was named as a finalist in the 100 Westpac Women of Influence in the category of Diversity.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Liddle, Lorraine", "Entry ID": "AWE5851", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/liddle-lorraine\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Lorraine Liddle is the daughter of artist Bessie Liddle and Arthur Liddle. In 1986 she became the Northern Territory's first Aboriginal legal practitioner, travelling between communities as a bush lawyer in Central Australia. She was formerly employed by the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service in Alice Springs (CAALAS) until a dispute in 1999. In 1993 Helen Chryssides wrote a book, Local Heroes, which included a profile of Liddle entitled 'Lorraine Liddle: Bush Lawyer'.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Lieder, Lillian", "Entry ID": "AWE5852", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lieder-lillian\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Munich, Germany", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "The late Lillian Lieder QC and Betty King QC (later Justice King, Supreme Court of Victoria) joined the Bar in the mid-1970s. In 1992, they were the first women barristers practising in criminal law to take silk.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-barristers-in-victoria-then-and-now\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Loban, Heron", "Entry ID": "AWE5853", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/loban-heron\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Dr Heron Loban is a Senior Lecturer at the Griffith law School. \nShe is a Torres Strait Islander woman with family connections to Mabuiag and Boigu. She is admitted to practice as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, Supreme Court of Queensland and of the High Court of Australia. Her research interests are Indigenous legal issues and consumer law.\nHer publications include:\n\"Inequities, Alternatives and Future Directions: Inside Perspectives of Indigenous Sentencing in Queensland\", (2013) Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, Vol. 20(6), pp. 812-823.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Lovett, Linda", "Entry ID": "AWE5854", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lovett-linda\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Linda Lovett was the first Indigenous woman admitted to the Victorian Bar.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/first-indigenous-woman-at-the-bar-linda-a-lovett\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mangan, Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5855", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mangan-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Mary Mangan was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1977.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Marks, Lee", "Entry ID": "AWE5856", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/marks-lee\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Lee Marks was admitted to the Victorian Bar in the 1970s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Marles, Victoria (Vicki)", "Entry ID": "AWE5857", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/marles-victoria-vicki\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Lawyer", "Summary": "Victoria was the CEO of Trust for Nature (the Victorian Conservation Trust) from 2009 to 2024. Prior to assuming this role, Victoria was Victoria's Legal Services Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Legal Services Board. As a lawyer, Victoria specialised in media and communications law and policy and was the Deputy Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and prior to that the Deputy Director of the Communications Law Centre. Victoria has a background in the arts, having graduated in Drama from the Victorian College of the Arts. She has held various board positions with such organisations as the Arts Centre, the Victorian Women's Trust and the Melbourne Writers Festival. Victoria was chair of the Circus Oz Board for 14 years, a board member of the Consumer Action Law Centre and a Director of the Australian Advertising Standards Council.\nVictoria Marles was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2022 for significant service to conservation and the environment, and to the community.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Marlow, Carmel", "Entry ID": "AWE5858", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/marlow-carmel\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Carmel Marlow was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1972.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Martin, Carolyn Elvina", "Entry ID": "AWE5859", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/martin-carolyn-elvina\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Traveller", "Summary": "Carolyn Martin's life was one of many firsts. So small and elf-like was the prematurely born Carolyn Hoare, her parents gifted her Elvina as a second name. Such prematurity however, did not impede Carolyn's intellectual development: aged five, able to read and write fluently and already showing signs of extraordinary intelligence, Carolyn was immediately placed in grade two, having arrived in WA from the UK with her family only shortly before.\nIn Grade 7, a scholarship brought Carolyn to PLC, where she was a student for the next six years. Always conscientious, and excelling at history, Latin and chemistry, Carolyn later went on to graduate with honors from the University of Western Australia. A Master of Laws at the University of London followed.\nReturning to Western Australia, Carolyn was first admitted to practice as a lawyer in 1977. After several years Carolyn joined the WA Family Court as a registrar, the first female appointee to that position.\nOther firsts followed. In 1985, Carolyn became the first female stipendiary magistrate, and in 1996, the first female judge of the Family Court of Western Australia. Adoption law called Carolyn, who became the leading authority in Western Australia, if not Australia.\nAn inveterate traveller, Carolyn notched up visits to 100 countries, many with her mother, as the pair enjoyed exploring different cultures and cuisines on annual overseas trips.\nThe Hon Justice Carolyn Martin died on 1 October, 2012. A quiet courage and extraordinary concern for others marked out this journey. Her friends remember Carolyn as a person who made the most of every day; a woman whose laughter, vibrancy and zest for life gave her a singular capacity to light up every room she entered.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Masood, Urfa", "Entry ID": "AWE5860", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/masood-urfa\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "In April 2016, Ms Urfa Masood, who is of Sri Lankan background, became the first Muslim woman to sit on the bench of any Victorian court.\nMs Masood started practising criminal law in 2003 and has worked for the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Australian Tax Office. \nShe has worked cases in the Magistrates', County, Children's, Family and Federal Courts. \nIn 2012 she became an adjunct lecturer at the College of Law, where she teaches advocacy.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Matthews, Patricia", "Entry ID": "AWE5861", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/matthews-patricia\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Patricia Matthews is a special counsel at King & Wood Mallesons in the Dispute Resolution group.\nIn 2002, Patricia was awarded the Supreme Court prize for her studies in law.\nPatricia specialises in commercial litigation, including large contractual disputes and insolvency matters. Patricia has acted for a number of the firm's key clients to resolve a broad range of commercial disputes. Patricia practises in the Federal and Supreme Courts and has had experience in High Court matters. Patricia was named the winner of the Negocio Resolutions Pro Bono Award 2013.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McIntosh, Joan", "Entry ID": "AWE5862", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcintosh-joan\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Joan McIntosh was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1966.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McIntyre, Julie", "Entry ID": "AWE5863", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcintyre-julie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Judge McIntyre graduated from Adelaide University in 1983 with an honours degree in Law. She practised as a barrister and solicitor in private practice across a range of litigious areas. She was a principal in Hartfield McIntyre Miller and was subsequently the managing partner of Sparke Helmore Lawyers in Adelaide. She was appointed to the District Court of South Australia in 2007.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/news-release-new-district-court-judge-appointed\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McKenzie, Cathryn", "Entry ID": "AWE5864", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mckenzie-cathryn\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Cathryn McKenzie was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1974.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McKevitt-Emerson, Carolyn Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5865", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mckevitt-emerson-carolyn-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Mrs Carolyn Mary McKevitt-Emerson was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in the 1960s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McMillan, Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE5866", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcmillan-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Anne McMillan was the founder of the Justice for Juveniles organisation and later the Youth Advocacy Centre in Brisbane.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McMillan, Kathryn", "Entry ID": "AWE5867", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcmillan-kathryn\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Ms McMillan is a barrister and mediator practising primarily in all aspects of Administrative Law, Family Law, Civil\/Human Rights and Discrimination and Child Protection Law. She has a long-term interest in the legal issues around bioethics as well as domestic and family violence. Ms McMillan is also an Adjunct Professor at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McNiff, Francine Valerie", "Entry ID": "AWE5868", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcniff-francine-valerie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Francine McNiff was a major benefactor of the University of\nMelbourne, funding Chairs in Human Rights (Law School) and in Criminology (Arts) and a Scholarship Fund for doctoral\nresearchers in medical jurisprudence.\nMcNiff also bequeathed a large sum to her alma mater, Monash University. It was the largest bequest the university had ever received from an alumnus. The donation established a Francine McNiff Chair in Criminal Jurisprudence and funded two PhD students from disadvantaged backgrounds annually, to study criminology.\n", "Details": "Francine McNiff was educated at Star of the Sea College. She graduated B Juris, LLB from Monash University; then did graduate work at the University\n of Edinburgh (Diploma in Criminology).\nShe returned to teach in the Law School at Monash, from which she then graduated LLM by major thesis. She taught at Monash for some 10 years and was Sub-Dean Graduate Studies.\nFrancine was admitted to practice in 1980 and was a Consultant with Martin Bartfeld & Associates, Solicitors, while still teaching at Monash. She was then a Principal Legal Officer and sometime Acting Director of the Policy & Research Division of the Victorian Law Department. On 30 August 1983 she was appointed a Children's Court Magistrate - the first woman Judicial Officer in Victoria.\nFrancine came to the Bar in November 1987 and read with Joseph Gullaci. She practised for some 23 years, and was a member of the Bar Council in Susan Crennan's year as Chairman.\nFor the last many years illness prevented active practice. In 2010 she allowed her practising certificate to lapse, and in 2014 she transferred to the List of Retired Counsel. She passed away in 2015.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McPaul, Bek", "Entry ID": "AWE5869", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcpaul-bek\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Bek McPaul was admitted to the New South Wales in 1948 and worked at the Law Book Company from the 1950s onwards.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McRae, Marie", "Entry ID": "AWE5870", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcrae-marie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Marie McRae was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1974.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Milledge, Jacqueline", "Entry ID": "AWE5871", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/milledge-jacqueline\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Coroner, Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "In 1974 Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge became one of the first two female police prosecutors in NSW and remains the only person to be appointed directly from the constabulary to the bench in 1996. Milledge has gained a profile for her role as the Coroner in the 2006 inquest into Dianne Brimble's death aboard a cruise liner; the 2003 inquest into the murders of three gay men near cliffs at Bondi; and the four-year inquest into the killing of prostitute Arron Light. Milledge entered the NSW police force the same year as Christine Nixon. She studied law as a 38-year-old and was appointed a magistrate at the age of 44.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/see-you-in-court\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Morgan, Gabrielle", "Entry ID": "AWE5872", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/morgan-gabrielle\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Gabrielle Morgan was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1978.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Moshinsky, Ada", "Entry ID": "AWE5873", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/moshinsky-ada\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Ada Moshinsky QC was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1965 and was the third woman to be appointed a Queen's Counsel in Victoria.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Moss, Irene Kwong", "Entry ID": "AWE5874", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/moss-irene-kwong\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Lawyer", "Summary": "Irene Kwong Moss AO, BA LLB Sydney LLM Harv HonLLD UNSW is a consultant, currently leading reviews of licensing in home building and prison legislation. She was Commissioner, Independent Commission Against Corruption from 1999 to 2004; and previous positions\/roles include NSW Ombudsman, Magistrate, Federal Race Discrimination Commissioner, Chair of the National Breast Cancer Centre, Board Member of SBS and Power House Museum, and Chair of the National Inquiry into Racist Violence. She received a Sydney University Testamur in 2001. She was a\nFellow of the University of Sydney Senate, 1 December 2005 - 30 November 2009.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Murphy, Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5875", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/murphy-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Elizabeth Murphy was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1978.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Nelson, Frances", "Entry ID": "AWE5876", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nelson-frances\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "Ms Frances Nelson QC was admitted to the South Australian Bar Association in 1967 becoming the second female QC in South Australia. She is also a member of the Northern Territory and Western Australian Bar Associations. She is currently the Chair of the Parole Board. Ms Nelson practises in administrative law, contract law, building disputes, criminal law, family law and civil remedies and has conducted over 400 mediations in South Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory. She has previously been a member of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, the Commercial and Private Agents Tribunal, the Board of Sport, Arts & Recreation and the Council for People with a Disability. Ms Nelson has also chaired a number of high profile inquiries on behalf of the South Australian Government.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "O'Brien, Angela", "Entry ID": "AWE5877", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/obrien-angela\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Dr Angela O'Brien was called to the Bar in 2010. She has worked primarily in the following areas: Family Law - Parenting Orders and Property; Children's Law (Family matters); Wills and Probate; Family Provision; Trusts; Family Violence; Intervention Orders; Victims of Crime; Employment disputes. She has an interest in coronial enquiry, intellectual property and disciplinary proceedings. Prior to joining the Bar, Angela was a senior academic at the University of Melbourne where she was an Associate Professor, foundation Head of the School of Creative Arts and Deputy Dean of the School of Graduate Studies. She has expertise in dispute resolution and law associated with the education sector, including workplace disputes, student disputes, education\/research contracts, intellectual property disputes and administrative review. She has undertaken research involving the use of creative activity in diversionary programs with youthful offenders and youth at risk. She was the Chief Investigator in a large four year Australia Research Council (Linkage) funded project supported by the Department of Justice, Department of Human Services, VicHealth, Arts Victoria and the Melbourne Magistrates' Court. This project won the University of Melbourne inaugural Knowledge Transfer Excellence Award in 2007. She co-authored on this project, Creative Interventions for Marginalised Youth: the Risky Business Project (2008). A volume of essays, edited by O'Brien and Donelan, The Arts and Youth at Risk: Global and Local Challenges was also published in 2008. Dr O'Brien has extensive experience in ADR. She is a graded arbitrator with the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Australia (IAMA) and was an elected member of the IAMA National Council between 2004 and 2010. She was IAMA President 2008\/9. She has been an accredited mediator since 2002 and a Nationally accredited mediator since 2008. She was a member of the National Mediator Accreditation Committee, which implemented the National Accreditation Standards in Australia. She has coached on the IAMA and Victorian Bar mediation training courses.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "O'Connor, Deirdre", "Entry ID": "AWE5878", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/oconnor-deirdre\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Kiama, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "In 1990 Justice Deirdre Frances O'Connor became the first woman to be appointed to the Federal Court. She was also the President of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/deirdre-oconnor-interviewed-by-daniel-connell-in-the-law-in-australian-society-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "O'Connor, Gabrielle", "Entry ID": "AWE5879", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/oconnor-gabrielle\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Gabrielle O'Connor was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1973.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "O'Hara, Patricia", "Entry ID": "AWE5880", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ohara-patricia\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Patricia O'Hara was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1963.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "O'Neal, Peggy Yvonne", "Entry ID": "AWE5881", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/oneal-peggy-yvonne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, President, Solicitor", "Summary": "Peggy O'Neal joined the board of the Richmond Football Club on 12 November 2005 and was elected president in 2013, becoming the first female president of an Australian Football League Club. Peggy is a lawyer and acts as a consultant to Lander & Rogers law firm, having stepped down as a partner of Freehills in 2009. She is also on the board of a number of entities in the financial services sector and was a consultant to the federal government during its review of the superannuation system. Peggy became a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2008. Peggy became a Life Member of the Richmond Football Club in 2015.\n", "Events": "Officer of the Order of Australia (AO): For distinguished service to Australian rules football, to superannuation and finance law, and to the advancement of women in leadership roles. (2019 - 2019)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "O'Toole, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5882", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/otoole-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Her Honour Margaret O'Toole retired as a Judge of the District Court of New South Wales in 2012.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Owen, Gail", "Entry ID": "AWE5883", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/owen-gail\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "In 1991, Gail Owen was appointed President of the Law Institute of Victoria - the first woman to head this institution. Gail was first admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor in Victoria in 1977 with subsequent admissions in ACT, NSW and WA. Prior to joining HWL Ebsworth in February 2008, Gail was a partner with Gadens Lawyers from 2005 to 2007 and Blake Dawson Waldron from 1987 until 2004. She has also worked as an in-house legal adviser at CRA Limited and Electrolytic Zinc Company of Australasia Limited.\nFrom February 2012 until August 2015, Gail was Deputy Chairman of the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation. She has also served as a Director of AGEST Super Pty Ltd, the trustee of the Australian Government Employees Superannuation Trust. Gail is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.\nGail was awarded an OAM for services to the law on Australia Day 2006.\nGail is currently ranked by Best Lawyers\u00ae as one of Australia's best lawyers in the fields of Energy Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Mining Law, Natural Resources Law and Oil & Gas Law. Doyle's Guide names Gail as a Recommended lawyer for Energy & Resources Law in Victoria.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Palfreyman, Alice Joan", "Entry ID": "AWE5884", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/palfreyman-alice-joan\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Alice Joan Palfreyman was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1969.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Payne, Jacqui", "Entry ID": "AWE5885", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/payne-jacqui\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Jacqui Payne was the first Indigenous woman to be admitted as a solicitor in Queensland. She worked in criminal defence for fourteen years: for the ATSI Corporation Legal Service and later in her own successful private practice. Jacqui was appointed as a Magistrate in 1999 and has presided in both the Brisbane Magistrates Court and the Murri Court.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Peachey, Noreen", "Entry ID": "AWE5886", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/peachey-noreen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Noreen Peachey was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in the 1960s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pearlman, Mahla", "Entry ID": "AWE5887", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pearlman-mahla\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Mahla Pearlman was the first woman to become chief judge of any jurisdiction within the state of New South Wales. At the time of her appointment to the NSW Land and Environment Court she stated: 'I don't think of myself as a woman lawyer. I think of myself as a lawyer. Then I get on with it! I suppose my appointment is good for me and good for women. I hope it's good for the legal profession and good for solicitors.'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pettet, Rayna", "Entry ID": "AWE5888", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pettet-rayna\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Rayna Pettet was a solicitor with the Aboriginal Legal Service in New South Wales, based in Cowra, for thirty-three years. When she started working with the Legal Service in the 1970s she was the only woman on staff.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Picard, Marguerite", "Entry ID": "AWE5889", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/picard-marguerite\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Marguerite Picard is a Melbourne-based accredited Family Law specialist, a Collaborative Lawyer and a Mediator who specialises in helping couples divorce without going to Court. She worked in litigation for many years, and has experienced firsthand the ongoing devastation that the traditional divorce process can leave in its wake, which sometimes includes irreversible damage to family ties and relationships. Marguerite realised that there had to be a better way and found it in Collaborative Practice. With her colleagues, a Psychologist and Financial Planner, she established the Melbourne Collaborative Alliance.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pincus, Gae Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5890", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pincus-gae-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge's associate, Lawyer, Politician, Public servant", "Summary": "Gae Pincus completed an LLB at the Australian National University. She went on to work in the Office of Women's Affairs; as an Associate for High Court Justice Lionel Murphy in 1982. In 1983 she returned to the Public Service to work in a legislative capacity dealing with law reform within various government departments. She went on to establish and chair the National Food Authority before working for the international body Food and Agricultural Organization.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Cathie Humphries (formerly Gregor) and is reproduced with permission in its entirety.\n\nGae was the foundation Board Chair and CEO of the then National Food Authority which commenced operations on 19 August 1991 and which was the product of the micro-economic reform agenda in the early 1990s.\nGae had the difficult and time-consuming task of guiding, and at some times, pushing the fledgling standard-setting agency to meet the high and differing expectations of government and other stakeholders at that time. In addition, the agency was committed to undertake a major review of the policy underpinning Australian food standards a no small feat considering the tangle of competing priorities.\nGae is remembered by staff who worked with her as a woman of high intellect, who gave her all to achieve what she believed in. She demanded the same commitment from everyone else. This inevitably led to tension with the competing challenges the NFA faced. Despite on-going ill-health, but with the support of a very small Board of 4 part-time members, Gae set up systems to meet those challenges which held the agency in good stead in following years.\nGae resigned from the NFA on 18 March 1995, but her pioneering vision of a combined Australia NZ food authority with a joint Code was fulfilled on 1 July 1996 with the foundation of the then Australia New Zealand Food Authority and on 20 December 2000 with gazettal of the joint Code.\nUnfortunately, Gae's passing in August 2016 meant she missed the 25th anniversary of the NFA's grandchild, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, which is still a central player in the food regulatory system in Australia and New Zealand, with an international reputation at the highest level.\nI was Gae's executive assistant (EA) from January 1992 until I went on maternity leave in December 1993. Both Gae and I had worked as parliamentary staff - which came with different workplace expectations to those in the public service at that time. Because of that shared background, we got on well from the very beginning to the surprise of NFA staff, as we came from different sides of the political spectrum. She wasn't the easiest person to work for and was extremely demanding, but there was a high level of trust between us and I very much missed not working for her when I returned to work.\nGae always loved wearing dark blue and often wore matching patterned stockings. One thing she was particularly annoyed about was that she was born on 29 February - so that she only had a birthday every 4 years. She also told me the story once about how she changed her name at school to 'Gae', as she had never really liked her first name.\nGae always remembered to buy me something special when she went overseas for work - not necessary, but always appreciated by me.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/gae-pincus-contributed-to-advancement-of-womens-affairs-and-consumer-law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-with-gae-margaret-pincus-lawyer-sound-recording-interviewer-sara-dowse\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Pitkin, Sally", "Entry ID": "AWE5891", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/pitkin-sally\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Company director, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Dr Sally Pitkin is a Company Director and Lawyer with thirty years' corporate experience. Her current portfolio of board roles include ASX 200 companies, Federal Government owned business enterprises, private companies, regulatory bodies and non-profit organizations. Sally is the President of the Queensland Division of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She holds a Doctorate in the field of governance, and is an Adjunct Professor with the UQ Business School and a Fellow of Bond University. Her skills in corporate governance, risk management, strategy and business planning, organizational culture and stakeholder engagement have been developed from her legal background, eighteen years' experience as a non-executive director and board member, and doctoral research.\nIn January 2021, Sally Pitkin was awarded an AO for distinguished service to business, to corporate governance standards and performance, to the arts, and to the advancement of women.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Politis, Kiki", "Entry ID": "AWE5892", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/politis-kiki\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Kiki Politis was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1979.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Powell, Lindy", "Entry ID": "AWE5893", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/powell-lindy\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "Lindy Powell QC graduated with an LLB from the University of Adelaide and went on to work with Johnston Withers & Co as a Barrister and Solicitor later becoming a Partner. Between 1987-1991 she was the Director of the South Australian Legal Services Commission. She served as the first female President of the Law Society of South Australia between 1998-99 and in 1994 became a QC.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/oral-histories-interview-lindy-powell-qc\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-law-unto-herself\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Power, Phillipa", "Entry ID": "AWE5894", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/power-phillipa\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Phillipa Power was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1975.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Renaud, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5895", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/renaud-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Lecturer", "Summary": "Margaret Renaud was a Judge of the Family Court of Australia. She was granted Life Membership of the Women Lawyers' Association of New South Wales. Margaret retired as a Family Court Judge in 1998. After an Arts degree, she was a university tutor. Margaret completed the Barristers Admission Board Course as a single mother and was admitted to the NSW Bar in 1974. She became a Crown Prosecutor before being appointed to the Bench of the Family Court in 1983. Following retirement she lectured in Practical Legal Training at Newcastle University and was a mediator with the Community Justice Centres.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Ridsdale, Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5896", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ridsdale-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Mary Risdale was admitted to practice as a legal practitioner in Melbourne on the 1st April, 1947. After many years as an employed solicitor and raising six children, Mary moved to Papua New Guinea in 1975.\nThere she spent six years with the Public Solicitor's Office appearing for defendants in the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea. For four years she managed the Public Solicitor's Office in Rabaul and travelled all over New Guinea on the Supreme Court Circuit.\nIn 1975, Mary was appointed as the first solicitor to the newly established Katherine Regional Aboriginal Legal Aid Service. In this capacity she appeared regularly in the Magistrates Court in Katherine and the Supreme Court in Darwin. Through her dedication and industry the service provided very comprehensive and competent legal representation for Aboriginal people living in Katherine and surrounding communities.\nMary moved to Alice Springs in 1989 to take up employment as a solicitor with Stone and Buckley, now known as Morgan Buckley. She continued in full time practice as a solicitor with this firm for 10 years.\nIn 1997 Mary was appointed as a member of the Liquor Commission, now the Racing, Gaming and Licensing Commission. She remained as a member of the Commission until 2002.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mary-risdale-sic-lawyer-since-1947\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/vale-mary-cecilia-ridsdale\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Robinson, Ann Clare", "Entry ID": "AWE5897", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/robinson-ann-clare\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Skier, Solicitor, Sportswoman", "Summary": "Ann Robinson was Chief Judge of the Youth Court of South Australia and was appointed a judge of the Family Court of Australia in 1998.\n", "Details": "Margaret Ann Clare Robinson nee Colquhoun spent most of her professional life in South Australia, but she ranks as one of the University of Melbourne's most distinguished law graduates. She took her LLB in 1967 and joined the firm of Gillott, Moir and Winneke, where she was to become a partner in 1970. Following her marriage she left in 1971 for South Australia.\nHer obituary paints the picture of a person with a zest for life and considerable energy:\nHer studies at law school were something that Ann fitted in between a hectic life devoted to skiing and social pursuits. She was the Melbourne University downhill skiing champion. She was then among the top five women skiers in Australia.[1]\nIn Adelaide Ann Robinson and her husband, an agricultural scientist, had two daughters. Rather than placing them in childcare, she took them to her office at Finlaysons, one of Adelaide's largest and leading commercial law firms, managing to look after them between clients.\nAfter many years of successful practice with Finlaysons and later at Robinson & Mason, the firm she established with Janine Mason, she left in 1997 to take up appointment as Chief Judge of the Youth Court in South Australia's District Court. In 1998 she was appointed a justice of the Family Court of Australia. As a family lawyer she was noted for her skill in negotiating custody litigation to the benefit of the children and both parents.\nAnn Robinson led a busy life outside her profession, chairing the state's Classification of Publications Board (in her own words the 'Porn Board') from 1980 to 1986 and serving on the Gaming Supervisory Authority from 1995 to 1997 and the Board of Child and Youth Health from 1996 to 1997. She was a member of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra Board for five years. She was also a member of the Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem, an international and ecumenical Christian Order of chivalry that aims to sustain and defend the Christian faith, to promote and maintain the principles of Christian chivalry, to work for Christian unity and to follow the teachings of Christ. She was an active member of the Judicial Officers' Aboriginal Awareness Committee, spending time on Aboriginal lands and with Aboriginal women.\n[1] Bruce Debelle. 'Justice Ann Robinson (20\/02\/1943-19\/06\/2002). Law Institute Journal. v. 76 no. 8(2002): 35.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/40-years-40-women-biographies-of-university-of-melbourne-women-published-to-commemorate-the-40th-anniversary-of-the-international-year-of-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Robinson, Jennifer", "Entry ID": "AWE5898", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/robinson-jennifer\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Advocate, Lawyer", "Summary": "Jennifer Robinson is Director of Legal Advocacy for the Bertha Foundation, an organisation which supports emerging public interest lawyers around the world. She is also an Adjunct Professor in Law at the University of Sydney Law School. She is an expert in human rights, media and free speech law, having worked with clients such as Julian Assange, Richard Dawkins and the New York Times. She is also active in the West Papuan independence movement: she represents the leader in exile and is the co-founder of International Lawyers for West Papua. She graduated from the Australian National University with a double degree in Law and Asian Studies, where she was University Medallist in Law and Distinguished Scholar in Asian Studies. As a Rhodes Scholar, she completed a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) and an MPhil in Public International Law.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rogers, Nanette", "Entry ID": "AWE5899", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rogers-nanette\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Appointed Crown Prosecutor, DPP Victoria in January 2013. Dr Nanette Rogers S.C. has had extensive criminal experience in Sydney as a defence barrister and in the Northern Territory as a Crown Prosecutor.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rooney, Aliki", "Entry ID": "AWE5900", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rooney-aliki\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Ms Aliki Rooney was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in the 1970s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rose, Alexandra", "Entry ID": "AWE5901", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rose-alexandra\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Excerpt from speaker biography published by the University of Technology Sydney:\nAlexandra Rose is the Company Secretary of Insurance Australia Group (IAG) Limited. Prior to this position, she was General Counsel and Company Secretary for the Benevolent Society, for which she won the Corporate Lawyer of the Year Award for 2013. She has served as director on a number of organisations including of The Law Society of NSW for six years, and chaired the Corporate Lawyers and Business Law Committees. She is a current director of Justice Connect and Women Lawyers Association of NSW. Alexandra is a Fellow of Chartered Secretaries Australia and a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors\u2026 She holds a Bachelor of Laws from UTS.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ms-alexandra-rose\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rosenbaum, Margot", "Entry ID": "AWE5902", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rosenbaum-margot\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Margot Rosenbaum was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1965.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rowlands, Julia", "Entry ID": "AWE5903", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rowlands-julia\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Julia Rowlands was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1962.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Rubensohn, Victoria", "Entry ID": "AWE5904", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/rubensohn-victoria\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Communications professional, Consultant, Lawyer", "Summary": "Victoria Rubensohn is the current Convenor of the Classification Review Board and since 1991 has been Principal of international communications consultancy Omni Media, which specialises in communications regulatory policy. She is a consumer representative member of the Mobile Premium Services Code Review Panel and is a member of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network Standing Advisory Committee. Victoria has been a Member of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal and a Member of the Immigration Review Tribunal. She is a former President of the Communications and Media Law Association and has also been a member of the Copyright Law Review Committee. Victoria holds a Bachelor of Arts (Sydney), Master of Arts [in Government] (Sydney), Bachelor of Laws (UNSW) and Master of Human Rights (Sydney).\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Ruggero, Francine", "Entry ID": "AWE5905", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ruggero-francine\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Miss Francine Ruggero was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1970.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Russell, Enid Majorie", "Entry ID": "AWE5906", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/russell-enid-majorie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Lecturer, Solicitor", "Summary": "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\nA History of the Law in Western Australia and Its Development From 1829 to 1979\n(Perth: UWA Press, 1980).\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-life-of-a-distaff-legal-pioneer\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sanders, Jay", "Entry ID": "AWE5907", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sanders-jay\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australias-first-female-magistrate-retires\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sangwell, Olga Joan", "Entry ID": "AWE5908", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sangwell-olga-joan\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Saunders, Cheryl Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE5909", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/saunders-cheryl-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Quetta, India", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer, Teacher", "Summary": "Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders AO is an eminent law teacher and legal scholar with specialist interests in constitutional law and comparative public law.\n", "Details": "The first woman to be appointed as a professor to the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Law, Cheryl Saunders' legacy lies not least in the legions of students she has taught both in Australia and around the globe. It is also evinced in the immense volume of publications she has contributed in the areas of constitutional law, administrative law, constitutional reform, comparative constitutional law, and federation. For many, Cheryl Saunders' name is synonymous with the Melbourne Law School's Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies, which she pioneered as founding director and with which she has been closely involved since its establishment in 1988.\nFor many years Saunders has been active in public debates concerning constitutional matters in Australia and also overseas. A reflection of the esteem in which her expertise is held abroad can be seen in the many occasions she has been a visiting academic; and in the involvement she has had in constitution building processes on other countries. She is author of a number of submissions and reports, of which a notable example is the 1994 report she was asked to undertake into significant Aboriginal areas in the vicinity of Goolwa and Hindmarsh during the Hindmarsh Island Bridge controversy.\nSaunders has been a member of, and held senior positions with, such organisations as the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) (2008 - current); the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL), where she has been a President Emeritus since 2007 after having been president from 2004; the Judicial Remuneration Tribunal (Vic) (2005-2010); International Association Centres for Federal Studies (president 2005 - 2010); Commonwealth Archives Council (1984 - 1988); and of the Administrative Review Council 1981 to 1993. She has been a foundation member of the Australian Academy of Law since 2007. Between 1991 and 2000, Saunders was deputy chairman of the Constitutional Centenary Foundation, chaired by the Rt Hon. Sir Ninian Stephen.\nIn 2009, in recognition of her services - particularly to the IACL and to the Universit\u00e9 Panth\u00e9on-Assas (Paris II) - France conferred upon Saunders the Chevalier de la L\u00e9gion d'Honneur. In Australia she had been awarded the Centenary Medal in 2003 \"(f)or service to constitutional law and as President of the Administrative Review Council\". She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1994 \"for service to the law and to public administration\".\nSaunders was born in Quetta, India and came to Australia in 1949. She was educated at Melbourne Church of England Girls' Grammar School and the University of Melbourne (BA 1966, LLB(Hons) 1967, PhD Law 1976). She has an honorary doctorate from the University of Cordoba, Argentina. She is married to the Hon. Ian Baker, a former Australian politician and journalist. She has two surviving children from an earlier marriage, to David Wells, and six grandchildren. In 2016, Melbourne Law School launched the 'Cheryl Saunders Scholarship' which will support students enrolled at Melbourne Law School who have demonstrated both academic merit and financial need.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/melbourne-law-school-academic-awarded-legion-dhonneur\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cheryl-saunders-scholarship-launched\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Schafer, Julie-Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE5910", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/schafer-julie-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Excerpt from the National Competition Council website:\nMs 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.\nMs 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.\nMs Schafer has a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.\nIn 1995-96 Julie-Anne Schafer became the second woman President of the Queensland Law Society.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Selig, Eva", "Entry ID": "AWE5911", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/selig-eva\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Eva Selig was one of the early women admitted to the Victorian Bar.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sidis, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5912", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sidis-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "Margaret Siddis was a Judge of the New South Wales District Court. Upon her retirement in 2012 she was appointed an Acting Justice of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sleeman, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5913", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sleeman-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "Margaret Sleeman was Australia's first female magistrate, appointed in NSW in 1970.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Slutzkin, Freda", "Entry ID": "AWE5914", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/slutzkin-freda\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "Freda Slutzkin was the first woman admitted to the Bar in Palestine in 1930. Freda was born in Australia and studied law in Palestine.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sowden, M", "Entry ID": "AWE5916", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sowden-m\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Ms M Sowden was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1965.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Spargo, Sandra", "Entry ID": "AWE5917", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/spargo-sandra\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Ms Sandra Spargo was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1974.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sparks, Jeanette", "Entry ID": "AWE5918", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sparks-jeanette\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Ms Jeanette Sparks was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1975.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Stapleton, Jane", "Entry ID": "AWE5919", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/stapleton-jane\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Lawyer, Teacher", "Summary": "Jane Stapleton was appointed Distinguished Professor of Law at the Australian National University, Canberra, in 2016.\n", "Details": "Professor Jane Stapleton has had a stellar international career in legal academia.\nIn 2016, Stapleton, who had previously served as Research Professor in Law at the ANU College of Law, Australian National University, Canberra, since 1997, was appointed Distinguished Professor of Law at the University. The appointment followed her pre-election on 1 March 2016 as the 38th Master of Christ's College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. She is due to take up the post of Master on 1 September 2016.\nStapleton is currently Ernest E. Smith Professor of Law at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law; a Statutory Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford; Honorary Bencher of Gray's Inn; a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law; a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy; and Emeritus Fellow at Balliol College. She is also a barrister of the High Court and Supreme Court of New South Wales.\nStapleton's first degrees were in science: she graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of New South Wales in 1974 and then went to the University of Adelaide, where she gained a PhD in the field of physical organic chemistry in 1977. Realising in the chemistry laboratories in Oxford's Lemsfield Road where she was undertaking post-doctoral research that she did not have a passion for science, she changed direction and entered the Australian National University, a mature-age LLB student. She went on to win the University Medal and Supreme Court Judges' Prize in 1981 before studying at the University of Oxford, where she earned a DPhil in private law in 1984 and, in 2008, was awarded a Doctorate of Civil Law.\nFollowing her graduation from the Australian National University, she worked as legal and senior legal officer in the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department before taking up a position as lecturer at the University of Sydney Law School. After a time, she went to Oxford, where she taught at Trinity College and Balliol College, before returning to teach at the ANU in 1997.\nWidely published, her research interests include private law of obligations; liability and compensations systems; comparative law; and the philosophical foundations of the common law such as causation, duty and good faith. She has held a number of visiting appointments in many jurisdictions. In 2012, Stapleton became the first woman to be appointed Honorary Fellow at St John's College, University of Cambridge.\nStapleton also has the distinction of being the only non-US recipient to have been presented with the Prosser Award (2013), bestowed by the Association of American Law Schools upon those \"who have made an outstanding contribution to the world of tort law scholarship\". Additionally, she is the only non-US Council Member of the American Law Institute.\nProfessor Stapleton is married to the law academic Professor Peter Cane.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-conversation-with-professor-jane-stapleton\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Stuart, Eileen Florence", "Entry ID": "AWE5920", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/stuart-eileen-florence\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Echuca, Victoria, Australia", "Death Place": "Canterbury, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Eileen Stuart was admitted to the Victorian Bar (Bar roll no. 1403) in 1977.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Tanner, Gwenyth", "Entry ID": "AWE5921", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tanner-gwenyth\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Miss Tanner was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in the 1960s.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Tiernan, Mary", "Entry ID": "AWE5922", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/tiernan-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Triggs, Gillian Doreen", "Entry ID": "AWE5923", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/triggs-gillian-doreen\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "London, United Kingdom", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Director, Lawyer, Solicitor, Teacher", "Summary": "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).\n", "Details": "In 1958 Gillian Triggs, then aged 12, emigrated with her parents and sister from post-war north London, where she had attended the local convent and was enjoying studying ballet, to Australia. Her father had been a major in the British Army and her mother a Wren (member of the Women's Royal Navy Service).\nTriggs attended University High School and the University of Melbourne, where she was crowned Miss University in 1966 and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1968. In 1969 she was admitted to practise as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria.\nA scholarship took her to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where she obtained a Master of Laws in 1972 and worked for the Dallas Police Department, interpreting the civil rights legislation for the Chief of Police. She returned to the University of Melbourne in 1976 and undertook a PhD in territorial sovereignty which she was awarded in 1982. She then travelled to the Antarctic where she spent just over two months under the auspices of the Australian government's Antarctic Science Advisory Council.\nBetween 1996 and 2005, Triggs was Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Law; she served as director of the Faculty's Institute for Comparative & International Law and also for the Centre for Energy & Resources Law.\nTriggs has had a long association with the law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King & Wood Mallesons), where she was Senior Counsel (International Law) in Singapore (1990-1993); Paris (1993-1996); and Melbourne (1996-2005).\nShe is the author or co-author of a number of books, chapters of books and articles concerned with such areas of law as environmental law, human rights, international law and the law of the sea.\nDuring her presidency of the Australian Human Rights Commission she was frequently in the media. She received criticism from the Abbott Government for the timing of the release of the report prepared by the Commission in 2015: The Forgotten Children: National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention. In response she received significant public support, including a censure motion, passed in the Senate against Attorney-General George Brandis over his attacks on her as the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission.\nTriggs is married to Alan Brown AM, the former Australian diplomat. Triggs was previously married to Melbourne law professor Sandy Clark, with whom she had three children.\nTriggs was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in January 2025 for eminent service to humanitarian and human rights law, to international relations, to social justice advocacy, and to tertiary legal education and research.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-year-that-made-me-gillian-triggs-1958\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/meet-gillian-triggs-the-woman-taking-on-immigration-minister-scott-morrison\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/alumni-profiles-melbourne-law-school-the-human-rights-commission-gillian-triggs\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Turnbull, Lucy", "Entry ID": "AWE5924", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/turnbull-lucy\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Politician", "Summary": "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).\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wales, Irene", "Entry ID": "AWE5925", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wales-irene\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Irene Wales is a Special Counsel in the Sydney Office of Clayton Utz.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wallace, Gail", "Entry ID": "AWE5926", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wallace-gail\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Justice of the Peace, Lawyer, Researcher", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Ward, Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE5927", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ward-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Chairperson, Lawyer", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Ward, Julie", "Entry ID": "AWE5928", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ward-julie\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/meet-judge-julie\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/female-lawyer-to-be-appointed-as-a-judge-to-the-nsw-supreme-court\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/first-woman-set-to-fast-forward-to-the-nsw-supreme-court\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Warren, Marilyn", "Entry ID": "AWE5929", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/warren-marilyn\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Lieutenant-Governor, Public servant, Solicitor", "Summary": "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.\nChief 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.\nShe 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. \nChief 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. \nShe served as a member of the Bar Council's Law Reform Committee for eight years from 1986 to 1994. In 1997 she took silk.\nIn 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.\nIn 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.\nIn 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.\nThe 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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/chief-justice-of-the-chief-justice-marilyn-warren-leads-supreme-court-into-21st-century\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Watchirs, Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE5930", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/watchirs-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Advocate, Commissioner, Lawyer", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Watson, Nicole", "Entry ID": "AWE5931", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/watson-nicole\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Author, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "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. \nNicole 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.\nNicole'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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nicole-watson-interviewed-by-peter-read-and-jackie-huggins-in-2008-for-the-seven-years-on-continuing-life-histories-of-aboriginal-leaders-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Weinberg, Rose", "Entry ID": "AWE5932", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/weinberg-rose\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Rose Weinberg was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1976.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wheeler, Christine", "Entry ID": "AWE5933", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wheeler-christine\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Whelan, Dominica", "Entry ID": "AWE5934", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whelan-dominica\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Leeton, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Judge, Lawyer", "Summary": "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.\n", "Details": "Dominica Mary Whelan was born on 10 May 1954 in Leeton NSW, one of ten children. She completed her Bachelor of Arts and Law Degree at the University of New South Wales, one of only three women, together with Pat O'Shane and Sue Walpole, in her law school class. Dominica was awarded the Dean of the Law School scholarship for postgraduate studies and, in 1976-77, worked as the Associate to Justice Elizabeth Evatt, then Chief Judge of the Family Court of Australia, conducting research for the Royal Commission on Human Relationships and the Family Law Council. Also in 1977, Dominica was admitted as a Barrister to the Supreme Court of NSW.\nIn 1978, Dominica moved to Melbourne to take up a position as a tutor with the Faculty of Law at Monash University. She was also admitted that year as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria. At Monash University, as well as tutoring in Family and Constitutional Law, and teaching Professional Practice, Dominica designed, taught and assessed students in a new course, Law of Employment. She would later complete a Masters of Law in labour relations law at the University of Melbourne in 2002, and contribute to the Law Institute of Victoria's specialist accreditation program in workplace relations law.\nEquitable access to justice was a passionate lifelong commitment for Dominica, and concurrent with her teaching duties, she helped establish the Doveton Legal Service Cooperative. Between 1978 and 1980, she worked as a solicitor for the Fitzroy Legal Service.\nIn 1982, Dominica worked as an industrial research officer with the Australian Public Services Association, before commencing, in 1985, a position at the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) as an affirmative action officer. With the mainstreaming of family and affirmative action policies, Dominica moved into an industrial officer role, promoting affirmative action as part of a broader industrial relations agenda. She was, together with Jan Marsh and Jenny Acton, among the first women to establish themselves and succeed as industrial advocates. Dominica made an outstanding contribution to the development of the model clause for persons with disabilities to assist them to move into open employment, and played a role in assisting in the development of new standards under the Disability Discrimination Act. Dominica described her work on the introduction of a supported wage systems for workers with disabilities, and the high level of consensus achieved between employer and employee peak councils in this process, as among the proudest achievements of her time at the ACTU.\nConcurrent with her work at the ACTU, Dominica held the following appointments:\n\nCommissioner of Comcare, with the Commission for the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation of Commonwealth Employees\nMember of Australia\/China Council, 1989-94, participating in two delegations to China (one with Gough and Margaret Whitlam)\nMember, Social Security Advisory Council.\n\nIn 1995, Dominica was appointed as a member of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) and, from 2009, a Commissioner of Fair Work Australia. As a Commissioner, Dominica earned a reputation as an effective, fair and balanced decision-maker. She was a firm believer in litigation as a last resort, and was highly effective in alternative dispute resolution. During her time with the AIRC, from 2004-2006, she also chaired the Victorian Gender Pay Equity Working Party.\nIn 2010, Dominica accepted an invitation by the Attorney General to join the Federal Magistrates Court. When the institution was upgraded to a full Court, Dominica became a Judge of the Federal Circuit Court. She was highly respected as a Judge. With a reputation for being knowledgeable, hard-working, unfailingly polite but always in control, she inspired confidence in those who appeared before her. She served as a member of the Policy Advisory Committee, and also as a member of the Indigenous Access Committee, being a strong supporter of the Court's Reconciliation Action Plan aimed at improving access to justice for Indigenous people.\nOutside of the law, Dominica was actively involved in education and in the arts. From 1989-91, she was a member of Footscray Institute of Technology Council; and between 1993 and 2003, she chaired the Workplace Studies Centre Advisory Committee at Victoria University. From 1989-1992, she was chairperson of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. From 1994-97, she was a member of the Australia Council for the Arts; and from 2005-07, a director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. She was also a member of the Collingwood Industrial Magpies, sponsors of Indigenous Australian Rules team, the Yuendumu Magpies.\nHer Honour Judge Whelan died of cancer on 17 February 2016. She is survived by her partner Tony Bradford and their daughter Georgia. The Dominica Whelan Endowment, administered under the auspices of Victoria University, was established in her memory to support the delivery of accessible, affordable legal services to disadvantaged women, particularly Indigenous women.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Whiting, Janet", "Entry ID": "AWE5935", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whiting-janet\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "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.\nThroughout 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.\nJanet 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.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2015 - 2015)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Willmott, Deidre", "Entry ID": "AWE5936", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/willmott-deidre\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Chief of Staff, Lawyer", "Summary": "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.\nDeidre 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.\nOther 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.\nAs Chief of Staff to Premier Colin Barnett Deidre was involved in advising on a number of key projects in the oil and gas industry.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wimpole, Margaret", "Entry ID": "AWE5937", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wimpole-margaret\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "Margaret Wimpole was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1973 and worked as Parliamentary Counsel.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wood, Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE5938", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wood-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Judge, Lawyer, Solicitor, Tribunal Member", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wood, Olive", "Entry ID": "AWE5939", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wood-olive\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "Sydney, New South Wales, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Woods, Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5940", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/woods-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Taylor, Louise", "Entry ID": "AWE5941", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/taylor-louise-2\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Judge, Lawyer, Magistrate", "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.\nTaylor was admitted as a lawyer to the\u00a0 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.\nTaylor 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\u00a0 Indigenous woman to be a superior court judge in Australia.\u00a0 In May 2026 she was appointed Chief Magistrate of the A.C.T. Magistrates Court.\nTaylor 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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McPhee, Nancy", "Entry ID": "AWE5997", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcphee-nancy\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer", "Summary": "In 1935, Nancy McPhee became the first Tasmanian woman to be admitted to the bar.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hall, Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE5998", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hall-elizabeth-2\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Magistrate, Solicitor", "Summary": "Elizabeth Hall was one of two women (the other being Judith Hoare) to become the first women lawyers appointed to the Queensland Solicitor-General's Office as legal officers. Appointed on 17 June 1976, she worked in the Conveyancing Branch. She was later appointed magistrate.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-womans-place-100-years-of-queensland-women-lawyers\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Sculthorpe, Heather", "Entry ID": "AWE5999", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sculthorpe-heather\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Chief Executive Officer, Lawyer", "Summary": "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.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Dunbar, Helen Ida", "Entry ID": "AWE6000", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dunbar-helen-ida\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "In 1931 Helen Ida Dunbar became the first woman to graduate from University of Tasmania Law School.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Winters, Sylvia", "Entry ID": "AWE6150", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/winters-sylvia\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Feminist, Lawyer", "Summary": "Sylvia Winters was a barrister at the New South Wales Bar. Winters worked as a barrister for the Women's Electoral Lobby (WEL) in 1992-1993 in the National Wage Case engaged on their campaign over the implications of enterprise bargaining on women.\n", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/edna-ryan-and-sylvia-winters-papers\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Dodds-Streeton, Julie Anne", "Entry ID": "AWE6358", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dodds-streeton-julie-anne\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Academic, Judge, Lawyer, Lecturer, Tutor", "Summary": "The Honourable Justice Julie Anne Dodds-Streeton was educated at University High School and graduated with First Class Honours in history from the University of Melbourne. After working as a tutor in the History Department, Justice Dodds-Streeton completed an Honours degree in Law and for a time was employed as a senior lecturer at the Melbourne Law School.\nJustice Dodds-Streeton took silk in 2001 and in July 2002 she was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. Alongside Marilyn Warren and Rosemary Balmford, the three women sat together as Australia's first all-female Full Court. She served as a judge in the Trial Division for over five years and as a Judge of Appeal for more than two years. In February 2012 Justice Dodd-Streeton was appointed a judge in the Federal Court of Australia. She retired from the Federal Court on April 1, 2014.\nJustice Dodd-Streeton is currently the Judge in Residence at the Melbourne Law School and the Reserve Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria.\n" }, { "Title\/Name": "Judd, Kerri Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE6380", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/judd-kerri-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "Kerri Judd is the first woman to become the Director of Public Prosecutions for the state of Victoria. Prior to this appointment, Judd served as a Senior Crown Prosecutor, an Acting Chief Crown Prosecutor, a judge's associate, a defense barrister, and also represented the state at the royal commission into the Black Saturday bushfires and child sexual abuse. She also spent a year as a Senior Legal Officer with the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Service.\n" }, { "Title\/Name": "Fitzgerald, Deidre", "Entry ID": "AWE6381", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/fitzgerald-deidre\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "Deidre Fitzgerald received a Commonwealth scholarship to attend the University of Melbourne during the 1950s. She graduated with a law degree in 1957 and, after receiving her articles the following year, went into practice in 1959.\nIn 1962, Deidre was approached by fellow graduate Lillian Cooney to become a partner in her father's law practice, as he had just passed away. Deidre accepted and took up the position in November, remaining at the firm for twelve years. This was the first female law partnership in Melbourne.\nDeidre was a member of the Women Lawyers Association (known as the Legal Women's Association prior to the 1960s) and later became their president. She was also the first female representative of the Law Institute Council.\nIn 1975 Deidre was elected to the position of deputy registrar of the new Family Court of Victoria and for a time she was also employed as the chairman of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Board.\n" }, { "Title\/Name": "Ashmor, Kate", "Entry ID": "AWE6387", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ashmor-kate\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Business owner, Community Leader, Lawyer, President", "Summary": "When Kate Ashmor was young, a family member advised her that the best way for her to channel her argumentative tendencies while earning a living was to become a lawyer. She took this advice and now Kate runs her own practice, Ashmor Legal. She has previously worked in a variety of government and corporate settings.\nAs well as running her own business Kate has a variety of community interests, applying the skills she has in her professional toolkit to leadership in not-for-profit and voluntary organisations. She is Chair of the board of Caulfield Park Bendigo Bank and has served on the boards of Alola Australia and Project Deborah. She is a Past Convenor of Victorian Women Lawyers (2010-2011) and a Past President of Australian Women Lawyers (2012-2013). She served as an elected Councillor in the City of Glen Eira from 2005-2008.\nShe combines all this with family life, but hastens to add that she doesn't want to intimidate others with her level of activity. 'I've always felt - and it's difficult for non-Jewish people to understand this - that there is a motivation that comes from deep within,' she says. 'It is like a compass - something that gets me out of bed, and navigates me through tough times. It is an obligation to those who didn't make it.' She carries that obligation, 'in the choice I have made in life to pack in as much as I can, in the types of things I've chosen to pack in and in the career risks I've chosen to take.' By 'packing it in' she doesn't assume or expect that others must do the same, but she does hope her example, and some lessons she has learned along the way, will inspire other women to take risks, take leadership opportunities and get involved.\nHer view is that if we are going to address the structural issues that work against women, then we need voices that are influential who can stand up and speak. 'There are a hell of a lot of these voices,' she says, 'but they are pushing through each day on a few hours' sleep, trying to be a million things to a million people, working full time or running their own businesses with a child on their hip.'\nMany of them are well educated, and that education creates opportunities. 'The most powerful tool that a Jewish woman can have, she says, 'is what is in their head, not what is on their fingers. Stuff just comes and goes. But the legacy you can leave by using your education is what's important to me, as a Jewish woman. It can't be taken away.'\nWho knows what lies ahead for Kate Ashmor? She certainly won't waste time moving onto it if the calling comes:\nThere are those who want to get involved to enjoy the status quo, there are those who want to change it to improve the lives of others. My adult life is to help advocate on behalf of others\u2026 I see myself as a problem solver and a change maker. I want my epitaph to be 'I did the best I could.\n" }, { "Title\/Name": "Szalmuk-Singer, Simone", "Entry ID": "AWE6389", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/szalmuk-singer-simone\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Community Leader, Lawyer, President", "Summary": "Simone Szalmuk-Singer, a lawyer by profession, has been a leader in Jewish communal organisations in Australia for nearly a decade. Her first communal leadership position was as President of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Victoria and National Vice-President of JNF Australia. In her early 40s, at the time, Simone was considered to be a relatively young leader of a major Jewish organisation. Says Simone, 'I didn't appreciate that it was a big deal to become President in my early 40s until I was congratulated by others who pointed out that I was both 'young' and 'female.\"\nA member of a new, young generation of leadership, Simone used the skills she developed in the corporate world to evolve and develop governance and innovative leadership in the Australian Jewish community. Mentored by a wonderful woman, Sara Gold, Simone now fosters young leaders, women and men, and encourages them to take up leadership opportunities in the Jewish community.\nSimone is currently Co-Chair of the Australian Jewish Funders, the network of philanthropists committed to inspiring effective philanthropy and strengthening Jewish community. She is also a board director at Jewish Care Victoria - the largest Jewish services organisation in Victoria. Simone co-founded and co-edits Jewish Women of Words - an online writers' platform for emerging and established Jewish women writers. In 2017-18, Simone is a fellow in the prestigious Schusterman Foundation Fellowship program, a global leadership development program for senior Jewish communal professionals and lay leaders.\nSimone does these things while managing the responsibilities of family and home life; experiencing the dynamic challenges posed by that juggling act along the way. In the communal space, Simone has found that she can have meaningful and profound impact on the sector whilst still able to retain work-life balance.\n" }, { "Title\/Name": "Mitchell, Roma Flinders", "Entry ID": "IMP0002", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mitchell-roma-flinders\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Adelaide, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Governor, Judge, Lawyer, Queen's Counsel", "Summary": "The Honourable Dame Roma Mitchell was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order on 1 January 2000. During her life Dame Roma achieved a number of firsts. She was the first woman Governor of an Australian State (South Australia, 1991-1996), the first woman Chancellor of a university in Australia (University of Adelaide, 1983-1990) and the first Australian woman Queen's Counsel (1962).\n", "Details": "Dame Roma Mitchell's father (Harold Mitchell) was killed in World War I. At the time her mother (Maude, n\u00e9e Wickham) had two children under the age of 10. Like many women of her time she had not been trained in any profession and she struggled to bring up her daughters.\nDame Roma was educated at St Aloysius College, Adelaide. She won the David Murray scholarship which enabled her to study law at the University of Adelaide, receiving her degree in 1934. Dame Roma supported the issues of equal pay for women and for women to sit on juries (legislated in 1966). She was recommended by Don Dunstan (Attorney-General SA) to be appointed a Supreme Court Judge of South Australia in 1965, the first woman to be so appointed. Dame Roma was still the only women judge of the Supreme Court in Australia when she retired after 18 years in the position in 1983, aged 70.\nDame Roma became the first woman Chancellor (1983-1990) in an Australian university when she was appointed to the position at the University of Adelaide. In all Dame Roma was associated with the university for over 60 years; first as a student and then a part-time lecturer in Matrimonial and Family Law for five years during the 1960s. In 1965 she became a member of the University Council. She was Senior Deputy Chancellor for 11 years from 1972. Dame Roma was awarded the degree of Doctor of the University for her distinguished service to the University in 1985. In January 1991 Dame Roma took up her appointment as Governor of South Australia (1991-1996). As well as being a member of the Queen Adelaide Club and Lyceum Club, Dame Roma was a member of the Council for the Order of Australia. Her interests included theatre, music and the visual arts and she was Vice-President of the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society (De Vries).\nIn her chapter on Roma Flinders Mitchell in Great Australian Women, author Susanna De Vries wrote: 'In June 1999, [the then] Hon. Governor-General Sir William Deane unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Dame Roma \"as a permanent tribute to her lifetime achievement in South Australia\". The statue stands in Prince Henry Gardens, in front of Government House on North Terrace.'\n", "Events": "Admitted to the Bar (1934 - 1934) \nAppointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her services to Law (1971 - 1971) \nAppointed Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) (1991 - 1991) \nAwarded the Institution of Engineers Medal (1994 - 1994) \nChair of the Ministerial Board on Ageing (South Australia) (1996 - 2000) \nChairman of the Commonwealth Human Rights Commission (1981 - 1986) \nChairman of the South Australian Parole Board (1979 - 1981) \nChancellor of the University of Adelaide (1983 - 1990) \nCreated Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her service to the community (1982 - 1982) \nFirst Australian woman appointed to the Queen's Counsel (1962 - 1962) \nFirst woman to be appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia (1965 - 1983) \nGovernor of South Australia (first woman Governor in Australia) (1991 - 1996) \nInducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001) \nMember of the Council for the Order of Australia (1981 - 1990) \nNational President of the Australian Association of the Ryder-Cheshire Foundations (1991 - 1991) \nPresident of the Winston Churchill Memerial Trust (1991 - 1991)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-of-australian-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/victorian-womens-roll-of-honour-women-shaping-the-nation\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dame-roma-glimpses-of-a-glorious-life\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/state-funeral-funeral-mass-for-the-honourable-dame-roma-mitchell-ac-dbe-cvo-1912-2000-st-francis-xavier-cathedral-adelaide-friday-10-march-2000\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/conversation-with-her-honour-justice-roma-mitchell-sound-recording-interviewer-hazel-de-berg\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/womens-liberation-and-the-law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mitchell-oration-1989-looking-back-looking-forward\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-web-of-criminal-law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-external-affairs-power-in-relation-to-united-nations-conventions-its-effect-upon-the-balance-of-power-between-commonwealth-and-states\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dame-roma-mitchell\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-matriarchs-twelve-australian-women-talk-about-their-lives-to-susan-mitchell\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/living-in-south-australia-a-social-history\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/s-a-s-greats-the-men-and-women-of-the-north-terrace-plaques\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/greater-than-their-knowing-a-glimpse-of-south-australian-women-1836-1986\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-complete-book-of-great-australian-women-thirty-six-women-who-changed-the-course-of-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/faith-hope-and-charity-australian-women-and-imperial-honours-1901-1989\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-life-of-a-distaff-legal-pioneer\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dame-roma-mitchell-summary-record\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-right-to-live-and-the-right-to-die-dame-roma-mitchell\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/interview-with-dame-roma-mitchell-sound-recording-interviewer-yvonne-abbott\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/launch-of-the-second-stage-of-the-honoured-women-oral-history-project-sound-recording\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/launch-of-the-barbara-hanrahan-memorial-exhibition-sound-recording\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hallenstein, Phillipa May", "Entry ID": "IMP0061", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hallenstein-phillipa-may\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Community worker, Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "In 1972, Phillipa Hallenstein was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the community and to women's organisations.\n", "Details": "The following is an extract of the Appreciation Dinner Speech made by Dame Phyllis Frost AC, DBE, DSocSc (Hon) for the National Council of Women of Victoria Inc. on Thursday, 18 March 1993.\nPhilippa Hallenstein was the daughter of Mr and Mrs J Plottel who were a professional couple - her father an architect and her mother a doctor of medicine. After matriculating from Melbourne Girl's Grammar School in 1935 she was in residence at Janet Clarke Hall, University of Melbourne where she successfully completed a Law degree and later obtained a Master of Laws. Whilst at the university she was an active member of the University Ski Club. She completed her Articles with Hedderwick, Fookes and Alston and in 1943 was admitted to the Bar. During the Second World War, Australian women were Australian citizens and British subjects but our Nationality Act said that when an Australian woman married, she lost her Australian nationality and took the nationality of her husband. This created enormous difficulties for Philippa as she had met her future husband, Rolf Hallenstein and wished to marry. Her intelligence made her probe and research the situation and she discovered that Germany had withdrawn citizenship for Jews and this made Rolf a stateless person, so she was able to marry in 1943 and Rolf became an Australian citizen. Philippa took an active interest in organisations and was an elected member of the National Council of Women of Victoria (NCWV) for 21 years - 1958-1979. A remarkable and outstanding woman, devoted to the cause of mankind, she was a dedicated member of NCWV for more than 35 years, being a delegate for the Victorian Women Lawyers Society. Mrs Hallenstein was President of NCWV 1968-1971 whilst at the same time being Vice President of NCW Australia from 1968-1971. She gave generously of her talents to NCW worldwide as she was Convenor of the Laws Standing Committee NCWV, as well as Vice Convenor and then Convenor of that Committee Australia-wide. From 1979-86 she convened that Committee worldwide for the International Council of Women. She always supported NCWV and its work in rural Victoria and was instrumental in founding in founding the branch in Mildura (Sunraysia). Philippa always encouraged the branch members as well as the members of the Council in Melbourne to express their views and thoughts and so benefit all of the community and society. Her contribution was outstanding and she was elected an Honorary Life Vice President of NCWA in 1991 and up until her death she was a very supportive and loyal Honorary member of NCWV. Mrs Hallenstein also took an active interest and working role in being a member of the Council of the Melbourne State College, Victorian Post Secondary Education Committee, Board Member of the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital and a Member of the Fourth University Committee. She was a member of the UN Status of Women Committee, as well as being Foundation President of the Australian Local Government Women's Association Victoria in 1963 and with her long time friend Dame Phyllis Frost she was on the Victorian Women's Prison Council for 24 years. She also lectured in Forensic Pharmacy at the Pharmacy College for 6 years. Mrs Hallenstein was a keen and vocal supporter of women being able to serve on juries, married women having a share of property and women in local government. In between all these volunteer activities she was a ruthless bridge player and devoted to her game of golf, although she had earlier played tennis and hockey. Philippa was devoted not only to her delightful husband Rolf, but also her wonderful family, Hal (State Coroner Victoria), Colin who has worked around the world mining and daughter Josephine in Family Law. Philippa was a women who gave much encouragement to younger women to explore and express their talents and was always supportive of all women whether in the workforce or working voluntarily in the community. She will be remember as a truly remarkable, outstanding and supportive women who was ahead of her time.\n", "Events": "Convenor of the Laws and Status of Women Standing Committee for the International Council of Women (1979 - 1986) \nConvenor of the Laws and Suffrage Standing Committee for the National Council of Women of Victoria (1958 - 1973) \nConvenor of the Laws and Suffrage Standing Committee of the National Council of Women of Australia (1964 - 1979) \nPresident of the National Council of Women of Victoria (1968 - 1971) \nVice-convenor of the Laws and Status of Women Standing Committee for the International Council of Women (1979 - 1986) \nVice-President of the National Council of Women of Australia (1968 - 1971)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-of-australian-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/valuing-the-volunteers-an-anthology-for-the-international-year-of-volunteers-2001\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/faith-hope-and-charity-australian-women-and-imperial-honours-1901-1989\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sit-down-girlie-obituary-phillipa-hallenstein\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-philippa-hallenstein-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Zelling, Sesca Ross", "Entry ID": "IMP0062", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/zelling-sesca-ross\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Wayville, South Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "Sesca Zelling was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1960 in recognition of her service to women and the community of South Australia.\n", "Details": "Daughter of: Donald Robert Ross and Sesca Lewin (n\u00e9e Somerville) Anderson.\nThe eldest of six children, Sesca Zelling attended Methodist Ladies College (now Annesley College) for six years. During her time at the college she was awarded the Old Scholars' Prize for qualities of leadership and contribution to the life of the school; topped the State in Leaving Botany 1934; appointed Prefect 1935; captain of B tennis team 1935; Co-dux 1935; Head Prefect 1936; captain of A netball team 1936 and member of A tennis team in 1936.\nIn 1941 she obtained her LLB from University of Adelaide and Trevor Griffin MLC in his obituary (Adelaide Advertiser 29 Dec. 2001) writes \"After her admission to legal practice in 1941, she retained her interest in university affairs, particularly those that related to young women - she was president of the Australian Federation of University Women, a member of the Council of St Ann's College and was the third woman to be appointed to the Council of the University of Adelaide. She was also involved in an official capacity with the Marriage Guidance Council and the YWCA.\"\nFrom 1942 until 1947 she was a prosecuting officer for the Deputy Commonwealth Crown Solicitor and was appointed a justice of the peace in 1945. At the time of her death she was the longest-serving woman member of the Royal Association of Justices.\nIn 1950 she married fellow lawyer Howard Edgar Zelling and they shared the same offices until 1969 when her husband became a judge of the SA Supreme Court.\nA member of the National Council of Women of SA (NCW), Sesca Zelling was president from 1957 until 1960. She had previously (1954-1957) been vice-president of the NCW of Australia and was a trustee of the NCW War Memorial Fund 1954-1976. In 1970 she was appointed honorary life president of the SA division in recognition for her work with the National Council of Women.\nAt the time of her death she was Chair (1995-2001) of The Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden, having been a trustee since 1962.\n(Source: National Council of Women SA)\n", "Events": "Australian vice-president National Council of Women (1954 - 1957) \nBoard member YWCA (1960 - 1963) \nChair The Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden (1995 - 2001) \nConvener of National Council of Women Standing committee for laws and suffrage (1946 - 1957) \nCouncil member Law Society of SA (1953 - 1956) \nGovernment appointee Women's Reception during visit to South Australia by Queen Mother (1957 - 1957) \nLife vice-president of National Council of Women SA (1970 - 2001) \nMember Lyceum Club (1942 - 2001) \nMember Queen Adelaide Club (1971 - 2001) \nPresident Liberal Women's Educational Association (1961 - 1962) \nPresident MLC Old Scholars' Association (1945 - 1949) \nPresident, National Council of Women (SA) (1957 - 1960) \nPresident, Women Graduates Association, University of Adelaide (1949 - 1951) \nProsecuting officer, Deputy Commonwealth Crown Solicitor (1942 - 1947) \nSecretary Law Society of SA (1947 - 1950) \nTrustee National Council of Women War Memorial Fund (1954 - 1976) \nTrustee The Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden (1962 - 2001) \nVice-president Marriage Guidance Council (SA) (1957 - 1960)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/greater-than-their-knowing-a-glimpse-of-south-australian-women-1836-1986\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-of-australian-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law-and-society-before-self\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-1962\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/faith-hope-and-charity-australian-women-and-imperial-honours-1901-1989\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McClemans, Sheila Mary", "Entry ID": "IMP0063", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcclemans-sheila-mary\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Claremont, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Director, Lawyer, Servicewoman", "Summary": "Sheila Mary McClemans pioneered entry into the legal profession for Western Australian women. Throughout her life, in addition to her legal career, Sheila held a range of high-level positions, including director of the Women's Royal Naval Service, and became the role model for many Australian women inside and outside the armed forces. During her lifetime Sheila's efforts never received the full recognition they deserved within the legal profession. She was denied the traditional rewards of QC, Judge or Dame. The Commonwealth, however, recognised the value of her service to the law and women's affairs, appointing her an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1951 and a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1977. She was also awarded the Silver Jubilee Medal (SJM) in 1977.\n", "Details": "I suppose that at the end of the day, it was, for lawyers, her professionalism which was her most outstanding attribute and it was that uncompromising and uncompromised professionalism which was the true source of her capacity to lead and to influence. She served the law and through the law she served ordinary men and women with an unswerving devotion \u2026 I am sure that at the end of her life she still saw herself as a debtor to her profession. And we are indebted to her.'\nSir Francis Burt, Brief, vol. 15, 5, July 1988.\nSheila Mary McClemans once threw a bucket of water over a naked couple she found making out in a convertible parked outside her house. 'That is what we do to dogs around here' she admonished, or so the story goes. Throughout her life, Sheila Mary McClemans lived by her own set of values. She was not someone who followed the rules ascribed for women, but neither did she dedicate herself to fighting the 'feminist' fight. Sheila defended women's rights if it helped her realise her own goals but she never considered herself a 'feminist'. Even so, early on in Sheila's career, male contemporaries who deplored her 'unfeminine chain-smoking and feminist ways' were quick to saddle her with the sobriquet 'Hard-as-nails McClemans'.\nSheila McClemans was the third of five daughters born to Ada Lucy Walker, the first wife of William Joseph McClemans. She was born in Claremont, Western Australia on 3 May 1909. Sheila's childhood was not an easy one. Abandoned by their alcoholic father, Sheila and her sisters were raised by their mother who was forced to work a variety of jobs and to take in boarders to make ends meet. Sheila learnt compassion for others at an early age as well as how to rely on her own resources to achieve her goals.\nAfter a series of financial and bureaucratic struggles to gain entry and complete her studies, Sheila was one of the first graduates of the law school at the University of WA in 1930 - all four graduates of the class of 1930 were female: Margaret Battye, Mary Kathleen Hartney, Mary Connor Kingston and Sheila. In 1933 Sheila was admitted to the Bar. The following year, unable to find work in a law firm, Sheila and her friend Molly Kingston formed a partnership and set up the first all woman law firm in Western Australia. After a short period as a practising solicitor, however, Sheila decided to redirect her energies to assisting the war effort. She joined the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) where her excellent leadership and administrative skills were soon recognised and rewarded. After her time in WRANS, Sheila returned once again to the legal profession, and in the 1950s and 1960s ran a solo practice, often working for nothing to help those in need if the circumstances warranted it.\nSheila pioneered entry into legal practice for Western Australian women and filled a range of high level positions, including, director of WRANS, national president of the Australian Federation of University Women, secretary of the Western Australia Law Society, foundation member of the Western Australia Legal Aid Commission; the State Parole Board, and the WA committee administering the Commonwealth Canteens Trust Fund. And yet, the legal world denied Sheila the traditional rewards of QC, Judge or Dame. As Supreme Court Judge, Antoinette Kennedy decreed, 'It was a lifetime of commitment that went largely unrewarded'. Biographer, Lloyd Davies, similarly notes: 'Sheila's aberration was to be born a female at a time and in a place when that entailed many disadvantages both by convention and law - particularly within the legal profession itself'. Sheila's tireless work was, however, eventually recognised by the Commonwealth. For her service to the law and to women's affairs, Sheila was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1951 and a Companion of the Order of St Michael & St George (CMG) in 1977. She was also awarded the Silver Jubilee Medal (SJM) in 1977.\nSheila married Frank Morrison Kenworthy (1899-1976) in 1949. She was to outlive her husband and all of her sisters. Lilly, her youngest sister, died in 1977. The following decade the remaining four McClemans sisters all died in a period spanning less than two years. Sheila died in Dalkeith, Western Australia, on 10 June 1988.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/case-of-the-conservative-sheila-and-the-lefty\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/kenworthy-sheila-mary-ran-mrs\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/sheila-a-biography-of-sheila-mary-mcclemans\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/foreword\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/london-gazette\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/commonwealth-of-australia-gazette\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/review-of-review-of-lloyd-davies-2000-sheila-a-biography-of-sheila-mary-mcclemans\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/reflections-profiles-of-150-women-who-helped-make-western-australias-history-project-of-the-womens-committee-for-the-150th-anniversary-celebrations-of-western-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcclemans-sheila-mary-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/w-r-a-n-s-the-womens-royal-australian-naval-service\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ships-belles-the-story-of-the-womens-royal-australian-naval-service-in-war-and-peace-1941-1985\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/vale-our-wartime-chief\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-on-the-warpath-feminist-of-the-first-wave\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/faith-hope-and-charity-australian-women-and-imperial-honours-1901-1989\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-life-of-a-distaff-legal-pioneer\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/members-of-the-first-wrans-officer-training-corps\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/miss-sheila-mcclemans-picture\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Miller, Mabel Flora", "Entry ID": "IMP0074", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/miller-mabel-flora\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia", "Death Place": "New Town, Tasmania, Australia", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Politician", "Summary": "Mabel Miller, who served in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) during World War II, was an active public figure in Hobart for twenty years. She was the first woman to be elected to the Hobart City Council in 1952 and later, in 1955, one of the first two women to be elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly as the Liberal member for Franklin. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for distinguished public service on January 1st, 1967.\n", "Details": "Daughter of Joseph Christian Goodhart, draper, and Alice Mary, n\u00e9e Humphries.\nMabel Miller, although born in Broken Hill, came to Adelaide as a child, and was educated at Girton House Girls' Grammar School. She later attended a finishing school in Paris, then proceeded to the University of Adelaide where she gained a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1927 and was admitted to the bar on 17 December 1927. She practised in Sydney and London before marrying Alan John Richmond Miller, a chemist, in Hobart on 24 July 1930. She had a daughter.\nDuring World War II, from 1941, she served in the WAAAF as acting section officer and reached the rank of temporary squadron officer while serving in Melbourne from 1942-1943 as deputy director of the WAAAF. She was later posted to Townsville, Queensland as staff officer, north eastern area. She completed her war service on 3 October 1944.\nAfter World War II, Miller was active in the Red Cross Society, the Queen Alexandra Hospital and the Mary Ogilvy Homes Society. Her decision to stand for election to the Hobart City Council was prompted by complaints she heard about municipal mismanagement when she was president of the National Council of Women of Tasmania from 1952-1954.\nMiller served on the Council from 1952, chaired the finance, health, building and town planning committees, and became deputy lord mayor in 1954-1956 and 1964-1970. She stood for election as mayor in 1970, but was unsuccessful and retired from the council in 1972.\nMiller was also a member of the Tasmanian State Parliament in the House of Assembly as member for Franklin from 1955 until 1964. She strongly supported proper planning measures for public housing estates, law, education, health and welfare reforms, particularly to ensure the care and protection of children.\nShe was elected vice president of the Liberal Party in 1961, but her state political career ceased on her defeat in 1964.\nMiller was known for her stylish clothes and charming personality, and continued to be involved with the United Ex-Service Women's Homes Association and the Tasmanian Right to Life Association. She assisted in the establishment of the Women's and Children's Memorial Rest Centre, Hobart and sat on the interim council of the Australian National Gallery and the Metric Conversion Board.\nIn 1967, in addition to being appointed DBE, she was the Australian representative on the United Nations' Status of Women Commission, and an Australian delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations.\nShe died on 30 December 1978 in Newtown, Tasmania.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-1968\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/miller-dame-mabel-flora-1906-1978\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/miller-dame-mabel-flora-dbe\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/miller-mabel-flora-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/faith-hope-and-charity-australian-women-and-imperial-honours-1901-1989\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/dame-mabel-miller\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Cowan, Edith Dircksey", "Entry ID": "IMP0130", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cowan-edith-dircksey\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Glengarry, near Geraldton, Western Australia, Australia", "Death Place": "Perth, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Community worker, Lawyer, Magistrate, Political activist, Politician, Public servant", "Summary": "Edith Cowan, the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament in Western Australia in 1921, was described in her entry in Australian feminism, a companion, as 'a committed, tireless and public campaigner for women's and children's rights from the early twentieth century'. Married at the age of seventeen to James Cowan, registrar and master of the Supreme Court, they had five children. She was the founding secretary in 1894 and later president of the Karrakatta Club, a women's club in Perth, which campaigned for female suffrage. Her commitment to women's well-being resulted in her active involvement in the establishment of the Western Australian National Council of Women in 1911. She was a foundation member of the Children's Protection Society in 1906 and the first woman to be appointed to the Children's Court bench in 1915. She became a Justice of the Peace in 1920. In the same year her work was acknowledged with her appointment to the Order of the British Empire for her contribution to the Western Australian division of the Red Cross Society, of which she was a founding member in 1914.\nA clock tower at the entrance to King's Park in Perth was erected to her memory in 1934 and in 1995 her portrait was printed on the Australian fifty dollar note.\n", "Events": "Inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2001 - 2001)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/reflections-profiles-of-150-women-who-helped-make-western-australias-history-project-of-the-womens-committee-for-the-150th-anniversary-celebrations-of-western-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bishop-hale-and-secondary-education\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/early-social-life-and-fashions\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/some-pioneer-women\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/breaking-the-monumental-mould-how-the-edith-cowan-clock-was-built\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/edith-cowan\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mrs-cowans-clock-the-location-of-the-edith-cowan-memorial\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cowan-edith-dircksey-1861-1932\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/edith-cowan-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-unique-position-a-biography-of-edith-dircksey-cowan-1861-1932\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-voice-of-edith-cowan-australias-first-woman-parliamentarian-1921-1924\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/cowan-edith\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-national-library-of-australias-federation-gateway\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/in-the-thick-of-every-battle-for-the-cause-of-labor-the-voluntary-work-of-the-labor-womens-organisations-in-western-australia-1900-1970\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/uphill-all-the-way-a-documentary-history-of-women-in-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/liberal-women-federation-to-1949\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-on-the-warpath-feminist-of-the-first-wave\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-complete-book-of-great-australian-women-thirty-six-women-who-changed-the-course-of-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/200-australian-women-a-redress-anthology\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/faith-hope-and-charity-australian-women-and-imperial-honours-1901-1989\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/making-a-difference-women-in-the-west-australian-parliament-1921-1999\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/no-ordinary-lives-pioneering-women-in-australian-politics\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/letter-1922-15-dec-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/minute-book-1932-1952-manuscript\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-edith-cowan-former-first-woman-member-of-an-australian-parliament-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/womens-service-guilds-of-western-australia-records\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/edith-cowan-and-cowan-family-papers\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Campbell, Enid Mona", "Entry ID": "IMP0182", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/campbell-enid-mona\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Launceston, Tasmania, Australia", "Death Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Academic, Lawyer, Professor", "Summary": "Professor Enid Campbell, a leading Australian scholar in constitutional law and administrative law, was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Civil) on 16 June 1979 for services to education in the field of law. Campbell, who was the first female dean of a law faculty in Australia, was bestowed with the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa by the University of Tasmania in 1990.\n", "Details": "Enid Campbell was born in Launceston and educated there at Methodist Ladies College where she was dux of the school. At the University of Tasmania she studied economics and law and graduated in 1955. Accepting a scholarship to Duke University (North Carolina) she completed a PhD that included the study of international law, jurisprudence and public administration.\nIn 1959, Enid Campbell returned to Tasmania and became the first female lecturer in the Law School, teaching political science. The next year she took a lecturing position at the University of Sydney and from 1965 to 1967 was Associate Professor in Law.\nIn 1967 she was appointed Sir Isaac Isaac Professor of Law at Monash University, a position she held until her retirement in 1997.\n", "Events": "Associate Professor Law at the University of Sydney (1965 - 1967) \nHonorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) at the University of Tasmania (1990 - 1990) \nLecturer at the University of Sydney (1960 - 1961) \nLecturer in Political Science, University of Tasmania (1959 - 1959) \nMember of the Constitutional Commission, Canberra (1985 - 1988) \nMember of the Council of the Australian National University, Canberra (1976 - 1978) \nMember of the Law Reform Advisory Council, Victoria (1982 - 1984) \nMember of the Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration (1974 - 1976) \nSenior Lecturer at the University of Sydney (1962 - 1965) \nSir Isaac Isaacs Professor of Law at Monash University, Melbourne (1967 - 1997)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/whos-who-in-australia-2002\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/faith-hope-and-charity-australian-women-and-imperial-honours-1901-1989\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/papers-of-enid-campbell-between-approximately-1958-and-2010\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Forde, Mary Marguerite Leneen", "Entry ID": "PR00196", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/forde-mary-marguerite-leneen\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Ottawa, Ontario, Canada", "Occupations": "Commissioner, Governor, Lawyer, Solicitor, University Chancellor", "Summary": "Mary Marguerite Leneen Forde was admitted as a solicitor in Queensland in 1970, one of only six women in her graduating class. After a distinguished legal career, she was appointed Governor of Queensland a position she held from 1992 until 1997. When she was appointed, she was only the second woman to hold the position of governor of an Australian state and the first to take on the role in Queensland. In 1998 Forde was appointed to Chair the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions. Her report was handed down in May 1999.\nGo to 'Details' below to read an essay written by Leneen Forde for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.\n", "Details": "The following additional information was provided by Leneen Forde in May 2015 for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project, and is reproduced with permission.\nThe Honourable Ms Leneen Forde AC was born Mary Marguerite Leneen Kavanagh in Ottawa, Canada in 1935. She attended St Joseph's Girls Primary School and Lisgar Collegiate, Ottawa, and received a Diploma of Medical Technology from Ottawa General Hospital in 1953.\nMoving to Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, in 1954, she secured work as a haematologist at the then General Hospital. In 1955, she married Gerry Forde whose father was the Australian High Commissioner to Canada (and previously Prime Minister of Australia for a week). Her husband ran a successful legal practice but after battling cancer for over a year, he passed away on Christmas Eve in 1966.\nFollowing her husband's death, Ms Forde commenced full-time studies for a degree in Law at the University of Queensland, graduating with a Bachelor of Law in 1970. This achievement was particularly notable not least because Ms Forde was at that time widowed with five children but also because she was one of only six women in her graduating class of 170 students.\nAdmitted as a solicitor in 1970, Ms Forde was later employed by Brisbane-based law firm Cannan & Petersen to undertake estate work. Given her own experiences, she brought great empathy to the position. And because she was a widow, she was a role model for female clients, most of whom were not used to making decisions about their lives. She became a partner in the firm in 1974.\nAs a solicitor with 22 years of practice in Queensland, Ms Forde demonstrated an ongoing commitment to the continuing development and promotion of her profession. She was a Senior Counsellor and member of the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal of the Queensland Law Society; a Committee member of the International Bar Association, Estate Division; and served as Chair of the Queensland Supreme Court Probate Rules Review Committee. She was also Chair of the Social Security Tribunal, and was the first Convenor of the Queensland Women's Consultative Committee.\nIn 1973, Ms Forde became the founding President of the Queensland Women Lawyers Association where she was instrumental in advancing and promoting women within the legal profession and combating gender discrimination in this occupational group. The Association and its members also supported Justice for Juveniles, the establishment of the Youth Advocacy Centre, changes to inheritance laws for defacto partners, and supported women victims of domestic violence.\nIn 1971, Ms Forde became a member of Zonta, a world-wide organization of executives and professionals working to support and advance the status of women through service and advocacy. In 1990, she was elected as Zonta's International President - the first Australian woman to hold this position - and presided over a board comprising members from Belgium, Switzerland, India, the USA, New Zealand and Hong Kong. Her leadership style was to discover what each member had best to offer and to encourage it.\nFollowing a distinguished legal career, Ms Forde was appointed the 22nd Governor of Queensland in 1992 - the first ever woman to be appointed to this role in Queensland, and the second only in any Australian State. During her five years as Governor, Ms Forde travelled the State extensively to meet ordinary Queenslanders, realising that she could use her role as an important conduit between communities and the Government. She was renowned for her tremendous capacity to communicate with people from all walks of life.\nIn 1998, Ms Forde was appointed Chair of the Commission of Inquiry into the Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions. She described this appointment as one of the most significant contributions that she has made to public life. The Forde Inquiry heard evidence from over three hundred people who had been abused in orphanages and detention centres across the state. Having gained the trust of those who came forward to tell their stories, Ms Forde was profoundly affected by what she heard. She was pleased that having to confront the terrible things that happened to them as children had enabled some of them to move forward with their lives.\nThe forty-two recommendations of the final report set out the ground rules for major changes in legislation, policy and practice in child protection. The community was well-served by the appointment of Ms Forde, who brought to the inquiry not only an astute legal mind but also her notable humanity and compassion. In response to the report, the Queensland Government established the Forde Foundation to assist persons who had been a ward of the state or had been a child resident at a Queensland institution.\nIn June 2000, Ms Forde was elected as the fourth Chancellor of Griffith University. She was the first female Chancellor of the University and the University's longest serving Chancellor having served for fifteen years. In this role she provided outstanding leadership and guidance to the governing body of the University and to management in developing the University's strategic direction and ensuring good governance. In addition to chairing the Griffith Council, she served on a range of key University committees, officiated at numerous graduation ceremonies in Australia and overseas, and was a wonderful ambassador for the University at a long list of international, national, and local events. Ms Forde also contributed to developing and enhancing the University's relationships with industry and with government, and forged strong links with local communities and organisations.\nActive in Australian and Queensland community life, Ms Forde has served as the Chair of the Forde Foundation Advisory Board, President of Scouts Australia, Chair of the National Defence Reserve Support Council, and as a member of the Queensland Ballet Board. She has also served as Patron of 'Rosies', the Karuna Hospice Service, the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame (Alice Springs), the Alzheimer's Association of Australia (Darling Downs and South West Inc) and the Foundation for Survivors of Domestic Violence.\nThe diversity of her interests and community involvement, together with her boundless energy, are also apparent in the list of her other accomplishments. Significant appointments have included Chair of the Board of the Office of Economic Development for the City of Brisbane, Director of the Queensland Small Business Corporation, Director of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research Trust, and a member of the Brisbane Institute, the Institute of Modern Art and the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties. She was also made an Honorary Ambassador, City of Brisbane and Office of Economic Development.\nAll these organisations have benefited from Ms Forde's support and expertise, and they have also benefited from her impeccable reputation - for honesty, for integrity and for her unshakeable commitment to social justice, equity and fairness, particularly for women and for the disadvantaged in the community.\nMs Forde's significant service to the community has been extensively recognised. In 1991 she was named Queenslander of the Year; in 1993 she was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia 'in recognition of service to the law, to improving the status of women and to economic and business development'; she was a recipient of a Centenary Medal in 2003; and in 2007 she was the recipient of a Queensland Greats award.\nMs Forde holds the honorary degree of \"Doctor of the University\" from Griffith University, the Australian Catholic University, the University of the Sunshine Coast, and the Queensland University of Technology. She has also been awarded a \"Doctor of Letters\" by the University of Queensland.\nBorn Leneen Kavanagh in Ottawa, Canada,\u00a0Leneen worked as a medical laboratory technician in Ontario and studied part-time for a Bachelor of Arts before moving to Australia in 1954. In 1955, she married Francis Gerard Forde, the son of the Right Honorable Francis Michael Forde, former Prime Minister of Australia and High Commissioner to Canada. Forde worked in the Haematology Department of Royal Brisbane Hospital for two years prior to full-time legal study following her husband's death in 1966.\nShe graduated a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland in 1970 and from 1971 was employed as a solicitor at Cannan and Peterson. In 1973, Leneen became the founding President of the Queensland Women Lawyers' Association. In 1974, she was made a partner at Cannan and Peterson and that same year, represented Queensland in the Australian Women Lawyers' Association.\nIn 1992, Leneen Forde was appointed Governor of Queensland, a position she held until 1997.\nIn 1998, she was appointed Chair of the Commission of Inquiry into the Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions, a position she held for one year.\nShe has been involved with the following groups and organisations:\n\nChair Defence Reserves Support Council 2002-06\nForde Foundation Advisory Board. 2000-07\nBoard Member Starlight Foundation since 2008\nAll Hallows School Council (Queensland) since 2008\nMember Board Governor's Queensland Community Foundation since 2008\nPresident Scouts Australia 1997-2003\nVice-President Scouts Australia since 2003\nBoard Member Queensland Ballet since 2000\nChair Queensland Government Forde Foundation 2000-06,\nBrisbane\nCollege Theology Board 1999-2000\nSt Leo's College Board 1998-2000\nBrisbane City Council Arts and Environment Trust 1999-2000\nCommissioner Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse of Children in Queensland Institutions 1998-99\nPatron Forde Foundation since 2007\nChaired Queensland Supreme Court Probate Rules Review Committee 1988-1990\nNational Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame since 1999\nPresident of the Scout Association of Australia\nConvened Queensland Women's Consultative Council 1991-1992\nChaired Office of Economic Development for the City of Brisbane 1991-1992\nMember Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal - Queensland Law Society\nMember Queensland University of Technology Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee\nMember Queensland University of Technology Council\nMember Queensland Small Business Corporation\nMember. Women Chiefs of Enterprise International since 1989\nMember Zonta Club Brisbane Inc. since 1971\nMember Zonta International Foundation Board 1986-1992\nPresident Zonta International 1990-92\nChaired Social Security Appeals Tribunal during 1980's\nMember Queensland Law Society since 1971\nMember of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties during 1970's\nFounder Queensland Women Lawyers Association 1976\nrecipient Centenary Medal 2003\nQueenslander of Year Award 1991\nWoman of Substance Award Queensland Girl Guides' Association 1990\nPaul Harris Fellow Rotary Club Brisbane 1990\n\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-who-win\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/leneen-forde-b1935\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/leneen-forde-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-international-whos-who-of-women-a-biographical-reference-guide-to-the-most-eminent-talented-and-distinguished-women-in-the-world\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/commission-of-inquiry-into-abuse-of-children-in-queensland-institutions\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/leneen-forde\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wives-of-former-governors-of-queensland-inaugural-janet-irwin-endowed-lecture-delivered-by-her-excellency-mrs-leneen-forde-a-c-governor-of-queensland-13-august-1994\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/31096-leneen-forde-papers-1990s\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "McWhinney, Agnes", "Entry ID": "PR00323", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mcwhinney-agnes\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Ravenswood Junction, Queensland, Australia", "Death Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Solicitor", "Summary": "Following the introduction of the Legal Practitioners Act of 1905, Agnes McWhinney became the first Queensland woman to be admitted as a legal practitioner in 1915. Agnes was also the first female solicitor to practise in Queensland.\n", "Details": "Agnes McWhinney wanted to be a doctor after she graduated from Townsville Grammar School. The nearest medical school was in Sydney and very expensive, therefore Agnes was persuaded by her brother Joseph, who had nearly completed his Articles of Clerkship in Townsville at Wilson and Ryan, solicitors, to take articles herself. In 1910 Wilson and Ryan accepted Agnes as an articled clerk which was a revolutionary step at the time.\nNorthern Supreme Court Judge Mr Justice Pope Cooper was not impressed with the idea of a woman entering his legal profession and became distinctly choleric at the very mention of her name. Ultimately he was unable to fault her qualifications and conduct and found himself powerless to find any basis on which to refuse her admission. On 7 December 1915 Agnes was admitted to practise as a solicitor which was sufficient to make her a part of Australian history.\nAgnes undertook work of the same complexity and importance as that of her colleagues, however, she was paid the same as the unqualified office boy. Agnes did not stand for her bosses' discrimination and her persistent protests resulted in her wage rising to 3 pounds ten shillings per week. Agnes continued to practise as a solicitor with the firm until 1919 when she married Lowell Mason Osborne on 23 March 1920. After her marriage Agnes did not undertake paid employment again but used her skills in community service. The Queensland Law Society's award, which commemorates 100 years of women in the law, is named in honour of Agnes McWhinney.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/agnes-mcwhinney\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/agnes-mcwhinney-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/agnes-mcwhinney-1891-1987\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Prentice, Una Gailey", "Entry ID": "PR00330", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/prentice-una-gailey\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Death Place": "Brisbane, Queensland, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer", "Summary": "Una Prentice (nee Bick) was the first woman law graduate admitted to the Bar of the Queensland Supreme Court, first woman admitted to the Bar of the High Court, and first female Commonwealth Prosecutor.\n", "Details": "Having already completed her Bachelor of Arts, Una Prentice (nee Bick) was one of four people to enrol in the newly established law course at the University of Queensland in 1936. On 29 April 1938 Una Prentice became the first female graduate from the Faculty of Law at the University of Queensland. Over the next two years legal firms showed no interest in her, as either a solicitor or barrister. Finally Una received an offer from the University of Queensland to catalogue the vast book collection of Sir James Blair, who had just retired as Chief Justice. This collection became the nucleus of the Law Library of the University of Queensland.\nWhen World War II broke out, and because of an associated skills shortage, Una was offered a job with the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor. In 1942 she became the first female lawyer to be employed in the Department, performing legal duties as well as being the office bookkeeper. Despite her prestigious position, Una was paid as a typist - the only salary scale the department had for women. After a few years Una eventually was paid a proportion of the legal officer's scale.\nUna joined the Brisbane firm of Stephens & Tozer in 1946. She then became Australian President of the Business and Professional Women's Association and attended an international conference, touring England for eight months talking about the status of women in Australia. Una married Tony Prentice, a barrister, in 1946 and they both practised law until Una's legal career was cut short, due to the birth of their son Roger. With no provision for working mothers at that time, Una was contented to stay home and raise her son and actively involve herself in a number of community organisations.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/una-prentice\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/una-prentice-2\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/una-prentice-3\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/una-prentice-1913-1986-queenslands-first-law-school-graduate\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/law\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-cuttings-on-una-prentice-dr-first-woman-to-graduate-in-law-from-the-university-of-queensland-containing-one-or-more-cuttings-from-newspapers-or-journals\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Anwyl, Megan Irene", "Entry ID": "PR00545", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/anwyl-megan-irene\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Advisor, Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Megan Anwyl was elected to the thirty-fourth Parliament of Western Australia for Kalgoorlie at the by-election on 16 March 1996, representing the Australian Labor Party. The election was\u00a0held to fill the vacancy consequent upon the resignation of Hon. Ian Frederick Taylor. Anwyl was re-elected in 1996, and\u00a0defeated on 10 February 2001.\n", "Details": "Megan Anwyl was born in Melbourne in 1962. Her parents, John Anwyl and Jill Blackstock, were both highly qualified professional educators with well-developed egalitarian philosophies. Megan Anwyl gained law and arts degrees from the University of Melbourne, and practised as a solicitor in Melbourne and Kalgoorlie. She was elected to the Parliament of Western Australia for Kalgoorlie on 16 March 1996, representing the Australian Labor Party. Anwyl was re-elected in 1996, and defeated on 10 February 2001.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/making-a-difference-women-in-the-west-australian-parliament-1921-1999\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Edwardes, Cheryl Lynn", "Entry ID": "PR00547", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/edwardes-cheryl-lynn\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Mount Hawthorn, Western Australia, Australia", "Occupations": "Attorney General, Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Solicitor", "Summary": "Cheryl Edwards was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. Elected to the Thirty-third Parliament of Western Australia for Kingsley (new seat) on 4 February 1989, she was re-elected in 1993, 1996, 2001. She did not contest the general election of 2005.\n", "Details": "Cheryl Duschka was born in 1950 at Mount Hawthorn, Perth, Western Australia, to Warren Duschka, a carpenter, and his wife Betty. She attended Tuart Hill Primary and Senior High School, then studied Law at the University of Western Australia, where she was awarded the Criminal Law Prize in 1980. She married Colin Edwardes in 1973. Cheryl Edwardes worked as a solicitor from 1984 to 1986, and entered Parliament in 1989 when elected to the Legislative Assembly for Kingsley. She was re-elected in 1993, 1996 and 2001, and did not contest the general election of 2005. In 1993, Edwardes became the first female Attorney General to be appointed in Western Australia.\nShe was appointed a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in June 2016 for significant service to the people and Parliament of Western Australia, to the law and to the environment, and through executive roles with business, education and community organisations. In January 2025 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to the law and social justice, to resource management and environmental sustainability, to business, and to the community.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/biographical-register-of-members-of-the-parliament-of-western-australia-vol-2-1930-1990\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/making-a-difference-women-in-the-west-australian-parliament-1921-1999\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Walker, Susan Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "PR00565", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/walker-susan-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Plymouth, United Kingdom", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Sue Walker was elected as an Independent candidate to the Legislative Assembly in the Parliament of Western Australia for the electorate of Nedlands in June 2001. She was re-elected in 2005, and contested the general election as an Independent for the electorate of Nedlands in 2008 and was defeated by William Richard Marmion.\n", "Events": "Arrived in Australia (1967 - 1967)", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "MacTiernan, Alannah Joan Geraldine", "Entry ID": "PR00580", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/mactiernan-alannah-joan-geraldine\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Mayor, Parliamentarian, Partner, Solicitor", "Summary": "Alannah MacTiernan was elected to the Thirty-Fourth Parliament of Western Australia as the Australian Labor Party member for the East Metropolitan Region (Legislative Council) on 6 February 1993 for a term commencing on 22 May 1993. She resigned on 21 November 1996. She was then elected to the Thirty-Fifth Parliament for Armadale on 14 December 1996 in succession to Hon Elsie Kay Hallahan (retired). MacTiernana was re-elected 2001, 2005, and 2008. She served as the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure from 16 February 2001 - 6 September 2008.\n", "Details": "Alannah Joan Geraldine MacTiernan was born in Melbourne in 1953, and attended St. Bernadettes Primary School in East Ivanhoe and Our Lady of Mercy College in Heidelberg. She moved to Western Australia at the age of eighteen, and worked various jobs before completing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Western Australia. She then worked in Aboriginal Employment and Training, and established and ran a suburban newspaper, before completing a law degree in 1986. MacTiernan practised with the Dwyer Durack law firm from 1987 to 1993, and became a partner of the firm in 1992. MacTiernan had joined the Australian Labor Party in 1976, and established the Highgate branch in 1981. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Parliament of Western Australia for the East Metropolitan Region (Legislative Council) on 6 February 1993 for term commencing 22 May 1993. She resigned on 21 November 1996 and was elected as member for Armadale on 14 December 1996 in succession to Hon Elsie Kay Hallahan (retired). MacTiernan was re-elected in 2001, 2005 and 2008, and was Minister for Planning and Infrastructure from 16 February 2001 - 6 September 2008.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/alannah-mactiernan-media-statements-2006-2008-online\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/making-a-difference-women-in-the-west-australian-parliament-1921-1999\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/we-hold-up-half-the-sky-the-voices-of-western-australian-alp-women-in-parliament\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Bassat, Nina", "Entry ID": "AWE6399", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/bassat-nina\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Lw\u00f3w, Poland", "Occupations": "Campaigner, Chairperson, Community activist, Community advocate, Community Leader, Jewish community leader, Lawyer, President, Solicitor, Teacher", "Summary": "Nina Bassat is a Holocaust survivor and former lawyer who was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2004 Australia Day Honours List 'for service to the community as an executive member of a range of peak Jewish organisations and through the promotion of greater community understanding'. The first woman to be president of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, she also served as president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry - the first Holocaust survivor and first woman lawyer to attain that position.\n", "Details": "Janina 'Nina' Bassat (n\u00e9e Katz) was born on 8 April 1939 to Izydor and Hadassa Katz (n\u00e9e Wargo\u0144) in Lw\u00f3w, Poland. Soon afterwards, the country was invaded - first by Germany and then by the Soviet Union - and World War II was declared. On 25 July 1941, Bassat's father, who had graduated from the University of Lw\u00f3w law school but, unable to practise law as a Jew, was instead employed at the Lw\u00f3w brewery while pursuing a doctorate, was taken away and killed. Bassat and her mother would eventually spend more than a year in Lw\u00f3w's ghettoes - Bassat once narrowly avoiding being taken to the Be\u0142\u017cec gas chambers - before escaping and going into hiding.\nAfter the War, the surviving members of Bassat's family - her mother, maternal uncle, and maternal aunt and cousin who had been interned at Auschwitz-Birkenau and then at Bergen-Belsen - and she wound up in a displaced persons camp in Bad W\u00f6rishofen, Germany. Concerned that her now eight-year-old daughter could neither read nor write, Bassat's mother arranged for her to have a governess. It proved an unhappy experience for Bassat and led to her attending the town's local convent school instead - its only Jewish pupil.\nFollowing the death of Bassat's aunt; rejection of their applications to go to what was then Palestine; and fuelled by a desire to get as far away from Europe as possible, the stateless family of four arrived in Australia in February 1949. At first, Bassat attended Hutton Street Primary School (now Thornbury Primary School), later transferring to Wales Street Primary School when her uncle bought a house for the family in Darebin Road, Northcote. After a stint at Fairfield Central, she entered University High School where she completed Years 9 to 12. While a student, she worked in the milk-bar which her mother and step-father (Abraham Teicher, whom her mother had married in 1953) owned in Brighton.\nAt 16, she met her future husband, Robert 'Bob' Bassat, who had recently finished school. Born in Egypt, Bob had lived in Belgian Congo, attended boarding school in South Africa and was about to begin studying engineering at the University of Melbourne. The couple married at the Toorak Shule on 23 February 1960, Bob having graduated the previous year. They would have three children: Sally, Andrew and Paul.\nHaving obtained a Commonwealth scholarship, Bassat embarked upon a Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Melbourne in 1957. In 1962, following the birth of Sally, Bassat deferred her law degree which she had been undertaking part-time and completed the arts degree she had also commenced. In 1965, pregnant with Andrew, she took up the postgraduate study which was then required, along with articles of clerkship, to practise law. In between having her children, Bassat taught English as a Second Language. She also lectured in Australian literature at the Council of Adult Education.\nBeing a woman who was also married and had children, Bassat struggled to find someone willing to offer her articles. Local Brighton firm William Kosky and Associates finally took her on in September 1974. Admitted to practice as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 3 May 1976, she remained with the firm for a further 18 months before setting up her own practice in 1980; she specialised in litigation, property, succession and family law. (For approximately 15 years, she was heavily involved with matters concerning gett (Jewish divorce)). She combined the running of her practice with significant involvement as an executive member of a number of peak Jewish organisations, and was active at state, federal and international levels.\nBassat was president - the first woman elected to that position - of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) (1996-1998; 2011-2014). Helping those affected by the 1997 Maccabiah bridge collapse was a preoccupation during her first term as JCCV president and during her term as president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) (1998-2001). In 2011-12, the issue of child sexual abuse galvanised Bassat and her colleagues to convene a child protection reference group to develop and implement a strategy for the community. Bassat was co-author of a submission to the Victorian government and gave evidence at the parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations in 2013. It was around this time that she also chaired Maccabi Australia's Committee of Review into Sexual Abuse Allegations.\nWith her appointment as president of the ECAJ, Bassat became the first Holocaust survivor, first woman lawyer and second woman (after Diane Shteinman) to attain that position. During her term, she was occupied with a range of matters, including the inappropriate use of Holocaust imagery, issues relating to Nazi war criminals and the promotion of Aboriginal reconciliation. An initiative during her presidency was the setting up of, with the assistance of the Pratt Foundation, an Australia-wide telephone hotline which enabled thousands of survivors across the country to make claims - particularly of slave labour - for restitution.\nBeginning in 2000, Bassat served as a board member and honorary secretary to the New York-based Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. She has been a board and planning committee member to the Claims Conference (also based in New York), that is, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany Inc, the mission of which 'has been to provide a measure of justice for Jewish Holocaust victims, and to provide them with the best possible care'. From 1998-2001, while serving on the Claims Conference board, she was also Australian Jewry's representative to the executive of the World Jewish Congress Inc.\nOther organisations to which Bassat has contributed her time and expertise over many years include Jewish Care Victoria, the International Council of Jewish Women and the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia Victoria, of which she was vice-president between 1985 and 1996. For over a decade from 1997 she was a trustee of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia Foundation. Since 2008 she has been a trustee (now director) of the Jewish Holocaust Centre Foundation. Bassat has won praise for the part she has also played in supporting interfaith projects. She was recently active in Kynnections, a program 'bringing young people from diverse religious, cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds to participate in project based activities to create social cohesion and harmony in Victoria'. She is a former deputy chair of the Parliament of the World's Religions' Melbourne board of management.\nBassat's outstanding communal service has been recognised through a number of awards. In 2000, the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia honoured Bassat with an achievement award. The following year, she was made an honorary Maccabian, 'in recognition of outstanding contribution in assisting the victims of the bridge tragedy at the 15th Maccabiah - July 1997'. In 2003, Bassat was an early inductee onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia 'for service to the community as an executive member of a range of peak Jewish organisations and through the promotion of greater community understanding' in the 2004 Australia Day Honours List. In 2007, she was named Woman of the Year by the Women's International Zionist Organisation (WIZO) Victoria, and in 2009 she received the General Sir John Monash Award for outstanding service to the Victorian Jewish community.\n", "Events": "Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (2004 - 2004) \nExecutive Council of Australian Jewry (1998 - 2001) \nGeneral Sir John Monash Award for outstanding service to the Victorian Jewish community (2009 - 2009) \nInducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2003 - 2003) \nJewish Community Council of Victoria (1996 - 1998) \nJewish Community Council of Victoria (2011 - 2014) \nJewish Holocaust Centre Foundation (2008 - ) \nNamed Woman of the Year by the Women's International Zionist Organisation Victoria (2007 - 2007) \nNational Council of Jewish Women of Australia (2000 - 2000) \nNational Council of Jewish Women of Australia Victoria (1985 - 1996)", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/nina-bassat-interviewed-by-kim-rubenstein\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Giddings, Larissa Tahireh (Lara)", "Entry ID": "AWE4326", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/giddings-larissa-tahireh\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Goroka, Papua New Guinea", "Occupations": "Electorate Officer, Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Larissa Giddings was the first female Premier of Tasmania from January 2011 until March 2014 when her government was defeated at the 2014 Tasmanian election. She held the positions of Treasurer and Minister for the Arts 2010 to 2014, Deputy Premier and Attorney-General 2008 to 2011 and Minister for Health and Human Services 2006 to 2008. She represented the Australian Labor Party in the Division of Lyons from 1996 to 1998 and then the Division of Franklin from 2002 to her retirement in 2018.\nShe was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 2024 for distinguished service to the people and Parliament of Tasmania, and to the community.\n\u00a0\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/the-encyclopedia-of-women-and-leadership-in-twentieth-century-australia\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Hain, Gladys Adeline", "Entry ID": "AWE5385", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/hain-gladys-adeline\/", "Type": "Person", "Death Place": "Carlton", "Occupations": "Barrister, Lawyer, Solicitor, Women's rights activist", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/woman-of-the-year-shes-a-crusader\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/women-barristers-in-victoria-then-and-now\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lawyer-scared-the-pants-of-the-establishment\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Conway, Helen", "Entry ID": "AWE5389", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/conway-helen\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Businesswoman, Chief Executive Officer, Lawyer, Public servant", "Summary": "Helen Conway is a lawyer with over 30 years' experience in business and, more recently, in the public sector. She spent ten years in private legal practice, including seven years as a partner in a major law firm in Sydney, and then moved into the corporate sector where she worked as a lawyer, company secretary and senior executive in the insurance, transport, energy, retail and construction industries for eighteen years. At the same time, she undertook various directorships in the health, transport and superannuation sectors.\n", "Details": "In March 2015, Conway completed her term as CEO of the Australian Government's Workplace Gender Equality Agency. During her term, she stewarded the seamless implementation of new legislation governing the Agency and led the development of the Agency's strategic vision and long-term change agenda for driving improved gender equality outcomes in Australian workplaces. This included delivering world-leading unique standardised benchmark gender data, conducting bold change campaigns and developing innovative educational resources. She re-branded the Agency, positioning it as a light-touch regulator and transforming it into a collaborative, innovative and business-focussed regulator. She took personal responsibility for raising the profile of the Agency, undertaking a broad range of speaking and media engagements and secured bilateral political support for both the Agency and ongoing gender reporting to the Agency.\nConway has a long track record of undertaking a broad range of voluntary activities including those in support of women. She was a member of the New South Wales Equal Opportunity Tribunal for ten years, including three years as its Senior Judicial Member. She is an expert in workplace gender equality.\nIn 2005, Conway was awarded the Australian Corporate Lawyer of the Year by the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association and in 2008 led the team which was awarded the In-house Legal Team of the Year. In 2015, she was inducted into the National Australia Bank\/ Women's Agenda Hall of Fame.\nConway is currently (2015) a director of ReachOut Australia, Australia's leading online mental health service for youth, and a member of the Australian Advisory Board of AON, Australia's leading provider of broking and consulting services relating to risk, insurance, human capital and financial planning. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Business and Economics at the University of Queensland.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/trove\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/how-helen-conway-took-on-the-establishment-and-left-a-valuable-pay-equity-legacy\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/laws-disappointing-gender-report-card\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/australian-women-lawyers-as-active-citizens\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Lee, Elizabeth", "Entry ID": "AWE23091122", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lee-elizabeth\/", "Type": "Person", "Birth Place": "Gwangju, South Korea", "Occupations": "Fitness instructor, Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Elizabeth Lee became Leader of the Opposition in the ACT Legislative Assembly in October 2020. She was first elected to the Assembly in 2016, representing the Canberra Liberals in the electorate of Kurrajong. Lee retained her seat at the 2020 and 2024 elections but was replaced as leader of the Canberra Liberals by Leanne Castley on 31 October 2024. Lee was the first Asian-Australian to be elected to the Assembly and the first person of Korean heritage to be elected to an Australian parliament. She is the first Asian-Australian to lead a major political party. Before being elected, Lee practised as a lawyer in government and private practice and was a law lecturer at the Australian National University and the University of Canberra. She has also worked as a fitness instructor.\nElizabeth Lee was inscribed on the ACT Women's Honour Roll in 2016.\n", "Details": "Elizabeth Lee was born in Gwangju, South Korea on 30 August 1979. She migrated to Australia with her family in 1986, aged seven. Lee has two younger sisters, Rosa and Sara. The family spoke Korean at home. Her father John worked on construction sites, as a cleaner and ran several small businesses; her mother Cecilia worked as a cleaner, in takeaway shops and as a homemaker. The family lived in Merrylands and Blacktown, in Sydney's western suburbs where Elizabeth attended Sherwood Grange, Shelley and our Lady of Lourdes Primary Schools and Girraween Selective High School. Lee has lived in Canberra since 1998 when she began tertiary studies at the Australian National University. She has a Bachelor of Law and Asian Studies (Japanese) degree, a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and a Master of Laws (Government and Commercial Law) degree.\nPrior to entering the Legislative Assembly, Lee worked in the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department, the office of the Australian Government Solicitor and as a commercial litigation lawyer at Meyer Vandenberg Lawyers. Lee lectured in law at the Australian National University and the University of Canberra. Lee served as Chair of the ACT and Australian Young Lawyers Committees and Vice President of the ACT Law Society and volunteered for the ACT Legal Advice Bureau. She also worked as a fitness instructor and is a Les Mills qualified instructor for several fitness courses.\nLee ran unsuccessfully for the Legislative Assembly electorate of Molonglo in 2012 and for the Commonwealth House of Representatives seat of Fraser in 2013. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2016, representing Kurrajong. ACT electorates have five members; Lee was the highest-polling Liberal and the only one to be elected in Kurrajong. She was the first Asian-Australian to be elected to the Assembly and the first person of Korean heritage elected to an Australian parliament. Lee delivered her inaugural speech on 13 December 2016, speaking Korean in the closing moments to acknowledge her parents' sacrifice as they sought better opportunities in Australia for their daughters. She also expressed pride in being a member of the first female majority parliament in Australia.\nLee was Assistant Speaker from December 2016 to October 2020 and has held several shadow portfolios, including for Education and Disability. The Canberra Liberals elected her as Opposition Leader in October 2020, when she became the first Asian-Australian leader of a major political party. As leader, she has held the shadow portfolios of Attorney-General (2020-22), Treasury (from 2020), Economic Development and Major Projects (from 2020), Climate Action (from 2020) and Housing Affordability and Choice (from 2022). During Leanne Castley's leadership Lee was on the backbench, but from December 2025, under the leadership of Mark Parton, Lee was once again in the shadow ministry, taking responsibility for Education, Environment and Climate Change, and Tourism and Events.\nAs Shadow Minister for the Environment, Lee successfully advocated for the Canberra Liberals agreement to achieving net zero emissions by 2045. She has consistently supported policies to improve gender equity and in 2020 introduced Australia's first anti-stealthing laws, leading to the amendment of provisions in the ACT Crimes Act providing for consent to be negated if condom use is misrepresented. Similar laws were later introduced in other Australian jurisdictions. Lee attended the March 4 Justice protest at Parliament House Canberra in 2021, having previously revealed her experience of sexual harassment. She has also spoken personally about pregnancy loss. Lee's daughter Mia was born in 2019 and her second daughter, Ava in 2023. Lee was the first Australian leader of a political party to take formal maternity leave from parliament. Her partner, Nathan Hansford, is a consultant. Lee has often spoken about the importance of being a role model, arising from her political leadership as a first generation Asian-Australian migrant: 'If I can do my small part in inspiring other young Asian-Australians to pursue a role in politics, that's a special thing \u2026 I also hope that I'm setting a good example for my girls, that women can do whatever they set their minds to and they can play leadership roles and make a lasting contribution.'\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/lee-elizabeth-legislative-assembly-for-the-australian-capital-territory\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/inaugural-speeches-lee-elizabeth-page-77-week-01-tuesday-13-december-2016\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/elizabeth-lee-named-act-opposition-leader\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/canberra-liberals-leader-elizabeth-lee-on-the-importance-of-speaking-out-about-injustice-as-a-woman-in-leadership\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/elizabeth-lee-a-letter-to-my-daughter\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/humble-lee-looks-to-building-a-better-future\/", "Archival Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/a-secondary-education-for-all-a-history-of-state-secondary-schooling-in-victoria\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/albert-park-state-school-swimming-champions\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Wilson, Jess", "Entry ID": "AWE25112172", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/wilson-jess\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian, Policy adviser", "Summary": "A member of the Liberal Party, Jess Wilson was elected for the district of Kew in the Victorian Legislative Assembly at the election held on 26 November 2022. She held the position of Shadow Treasurer until she was elected Leader of the Oppostion on 18 October 2025.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/ms-jess-wilson\/" }, { "Title\/Name": "Barry, Chiaka", "Entry ID": "AWE26020434", "Entry URL": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/barry-chiaka\/", "Type": "Person", "Occupations": "Lawyer, Parliamentarian", "Summary": "Chiaka Chioma Barry was elected to the eleventh Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory at the election held on 19 October 2024. She was one of the two Liberal Party members elected for the five-member electorate of Ginninderra.\n", "Details": "In her first term Chiaka Barry was appointed member and Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee (including its security sub-committee) on 16 June 2025, member the Social Policy Committee and its Deputy Chair on 3 December 2024. On 4 December 2025 she was appointed to the portfolios of Shadow Attorney-General, Social Housing and Homelessness and Multicultural Affairs.\nBorn of Nigerian parents in 1988 in the United Kingdom, Barry emigrated to Australia in 2008 where she studied law at the University of Canberra. She has worked as a solicitor in various roles from criminal defence and family law and in the Commonwealth Public Service as senior lawyer in the Department of Home Affairs on border protection, and in the Attorney General's Department developing child protection legislation. She has two children and, as a former victim of domestic violence, advocates for those experiencing homelessness due to hardship or domestic and family violence. In 2022 she was nominated for the Australian of the Year, Local Hero ACT award.\n", "Published Resources": "https:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/chiaka-barry-mla\/ \nhttps:\/\/www.womenaustralia.info\/entries\/chiaka-barry\/" } ]