The Australian Women's Register

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”.

In 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.

She 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.

From 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.

Naida also lectured at the University of Sydney, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and for the Bar Association continuing education program.

She 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.

Haxton Chambers in Brisbane is named in Naida’s honour. She retired from the bar in 2006.