Julie Bishop was educated at St Peter's Collegiate Girls School in Adelaide, South Australia and at the University of Adelaide where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1978.

Bishop practised as a barrister and solicitor from 1979-1998, initially with the Adelaide firm, Mangan, Ey and Bishop in which she was a Partner. In 1983 she moved to Perth, Western Australia and practised as a commercial litigation solicitor at Robinson Cox, later to become Clayton Utz and became a Partner in 1985. By 1994 she was Managing Partner of the Perth office.

During that time she was a member of the legal team which defended the claims against CSR by asbestos mining workers who had contracted mesothelioma as a result of their work for the company.

In 1996 she spent eight weeks at the Harvard Business School completing an Advanced Management Program ( Senior Managers).

In 1998 she was appointed delegate to the Constitutional Convention which was convened in Canberra to discuss the idea of Australia becoming a republic.

Sources used to compile this entry: [Biographical cuttings on Julie Bishop, Lawyer], BIOG; National Library of Australia; Smart, Judith and Swain, Shurlee (eds), 'Bishop, Julie Isabel', The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia, Australian Women's Archives Project, 2 May 2014, http://www.womenaustralia.info/leaders/biogs/WLE0319b.htm; Wallace, Chris, 'Bishops' Gambit: What's next for the perpetual deputy?', The Monthly, April 2015; http://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=83P.