The Australian Women's Register

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.

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).

Hilary 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 Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium.

She 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’.

She 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.

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.

Robyn 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.

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.

Margaret 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.

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.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Rosemary Hunter for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

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.

Fingleton 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.’

Her 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.

Fingleton 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.

Diane 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.

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’.

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.

A 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.

Sandra’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.

Sandra 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.

Sandra 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.

In 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.

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).

Raelene 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.

On receipt of the award, Raelene encouraged other women thinking of taking risks with their careers to be brave.

‘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.

My 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.’

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Raelene Webb for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

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.

As 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.

Young later worked at Freehills in mergers and acquisitions, and commercial litigation at Cornwall Stodart Lawyers. She signed the Victorian Bar Roll in 2008.

After 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.

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.

Just under three years after her admission she became the third female partner at a major Australian law firm.

Davies 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.

She was a member of the firm’s board and chair of the Women at Freehills steering committee.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Rebecca Davies for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

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.

Rana 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.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Rashda Rana for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

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.

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.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Sally Sievers for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

Women’s advocate and civil libertarian Nooraini (Noor) 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.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Noor Blumer for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

The Honourable Sally Thomas was the first woman to serve as a judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, serving from 1992 – 2009. 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.

As 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.’

Sally 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.

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.

Marlene 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.

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.

Acknowledged 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.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Rosemary Owens for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

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.

Professionally, 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.

L’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.

In 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.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Noela L’Estrange for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

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.

Commissioner 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.

She 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.

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.

Since 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.

Kim 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.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Kim Rooney for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Susanne Elizabeth Schreiner (Sue) was born in Sydney in 1939 of parents who left Vienna before the outbreak of World War II. She spent her early life in Canberra and was in the year of the first graduates (in Law) of the Australian National University (ANU) in 1962. She also completed a Diploma in Criminology from the University of Sydney.

Schreiner signed the High Court roll as a barrister and solicitor in 1962, the same year she was admitted to practise at the NSW Bar. She was the first female barrister to appear in the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the fourteenth woman admitted to the NSW Bar. She had difficulty gaining articles in NSW and this led to her finally gaining employment as a solicitor in Canberra with Mr J. D. Donohoe. She stayed with him until 1964 when she went to Sydney. She practised at the Bar there until 1975 when she was appointed a NSW Magistrate. She was the second woman appointed as a NSW Magistrate and the first person to be so appointed from outside the Public Service. Her appointment caused great outcry as it heralded a big shift in the way in which NSW Magistrates were appointed.

Schreiner is the co-author (with K.B. Morgan) of ‘Probate practice and precedents’. She did some law reporting as well as research for Butterworth’s into the feasibility of an Australian version of Halsbury’s Laws of England, the existence of which is now a fact.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read a reflective essay written by Sue Schreiner for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.

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.

Go to ‘Details’ below to read an essay written by Rosemary Budavari for the Trailblazing Women and the Law Project.