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). In 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). Dalton was featured in 'A Woman's Place: 100 years of Queensland Women Lawyers', published by the Supreme Court Library Queensland in 2005. On 25 February 2011, Dalton was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland.