The Australian Women's Register

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.

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.

Margery King was the third woman in Victoria to sign the Bar Roll, in 1932.

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.

Tonia Komesaroff was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1977.

Evangel Kominos was admitted to the Victorian Bar in the 1970s.

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.

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.

Helen Larcombe was the first woman Stipendiary
Magistrate in New South Wales.

Mary Jane Lawrie was a Judge of the Family Court of Australia.

Marg Le Sueur has worked as the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service Coordinator of the Refugee Family Reunion Program.

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
read 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’
Association. 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.

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’.

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.

Dr Heron Loban is a Senior Lecturer at the Griffith law School.

She 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.

Her publications include:
“Inequities, Alternatives and Future Directions: Inside Perspectives of Indigenous Sentencing in Queensland”, (2013) Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, Vol. 20(6), pp. 812-823.

Linda Lovett was the first Indigenous woman admitted to the Victorian Bar.

Mary Mangan was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1977.

Lee Marks was admitted to the Victorian Bar in the 1970s.

Victoria is currently the CEO of Trust for Nature (the Victorian Conservation Trust), a position she has held since late 2009. 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 organizations 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 and is currently a board member of the Consumer Action Law Centre and a Director of the Australian Advertising Standards Council.

Carmel Marlow was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1972.

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.

In 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.

Returning 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.

Other 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.

An 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.

The 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.

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.

Ms Masood started practising criminal law in 2003 and has worked for the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and the Australian Tax Office.

She has worked cases in the Magistrates’, County, Children’s, Family and Federal Courts.

In 2012 she became an adjunct lecturer at the College of Law, where she teaches advocacy.

Patricia Matthews is a special counsel at King & Wood Mallesons in the Dispute Resolution group.

In 2002, Patricia was awarded the Supreme Court prize for her studies in law.

Patricia 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.

Joan McIntosh was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1966.

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.

Cathryn McKenzie was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1974.

Mrs Carolyn Mary McKevitt-Emerson was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in the 1960s.