The Australian Women's Register

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).

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.

Miss Francine Ruggero was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1970.

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
Fellow of the University of Sydney Senate, 1 December 2005 – 30 November 2009.

Elizabeth Murphy was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1978.

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.

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.

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.

Gabrielle O’Connor was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1973.

Patricia O’Hara was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1963.

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.

Anne McMillan was the founder of the Justice for Juveniles organisation and later the Youth Advocacy Centre in Brisbane.

Her Honour Margaret O’Toole retired as a Judge of the District Court of New South Wales in 2012.

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.

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.

From 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.

Gail was awarded an OAM for services to the law on Australia Day 2006.

Gail is currently ranked by Best Lawyers® 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.

Francine McNiff was a major benefactor of the University of
Melbourne, funding Chairs in Human Rights (Law School) and in Criminology (Arts) and a Scholarship Fund for doctoral
researchers in medical jurisprudence.

McNiff 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.

Alice Joan Palfreyman was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1969.

Bek McPaul was admitted to the New South Wales in 1948 and worked at the Law Book Company from the 1950s onwards.

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.

Marie McRae was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1974.

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.

Gabrielle Morgan was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1978.

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.

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.