You may be aware that this Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project began as a pilot project with the National Library of Australia. At that time, the National Library of Australia received financial support from women barristers of over $30,000 to assist us during that pilot stage and was invaluable for moving into the current […]
Latest Posts
Kiefel appointment is refreshing, but greater diversity is an ongoing task
Members of the Trailblazing Women and the Law project team are delighted by the appointment of Susan Kiefel as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. But as Kim Rubenstein reminds us, her cleaving of this judicial glass ceiling she not be regarded as an endpoint in the quest for greater diversity on the bench, […]
Susan Kiefel becomes Australia’s first female High Court chief justice
Susan Kiefel has been named as the next Chief Justice of the High Court, the first woman to take on the role. She replace Chief Justice Robert French who will stand down in January, ahead of his 70th birthday and in order to allow his successor to be in place for the start of the new year sittings on January […]
Australian Women Lawyers As Active Citizens Exhibition Launched.
Australian Women Lawyers As Active Citizens is the newest exhibition to be supported by the Australian Women’s Archives Project. It was launched at the National Library of Australia on November 16, 2016 with the help of over 100 guests, many of them women, or the relatives of women, who were featured in the exhibition. The launch was […]
Changing the Question: what must the legal industry do to achieve real equality?
Diversity remains a hot-button issue in the legal profession. Women dominate numbers at the lower ranks of firms but they remain under-represented at partner level and at the bar. Surely enough time has passed now for that gap to be narrower than it is? Lara Bullock of Lawyers Weekly reports on a meeting involving some high-profile members of […]
Congratulations, Chief Justice Catherine Holmes!
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has appointed a new Chief Justice, Catherine Holmes. A founding member of the Queensland Women’s Legal Service, Holmes has enjoyed a prominent profile in Queensland legal circles for many years and is ‘widely considered as one of [Queensland’s] foremost legal minds and practitioners’. She is the first woman to be appointed to the position. As […]
In Conversation With…Justice Daphne Barak Erez and Professor Kim Rubenstein
The Gender Institute, the Centre for International and Public Law and the ANU Law Students Society welcome students and interested academics around the campus to come and hear Professor Kim Rubenstein in conversation with Justice Daphne Barak Erez, a woman on Israel’s Supreme Court. Professor Rubenstein will draw from her experience as Chief Investigator for […]
Women of the Law! The Salvos Legal Lecture Series tackles equitable briefing at the NSW Bar
By Christabel Richards Neville In a recent speech welcoming new women silks to the NSW Bar Michelle Painter SC remarked: “Each of the women being honoured tonight has achieved on her own terms, but also has received the benefit of the trailblazing work done by the women and men who preceded us… Their legacy and […]
Rethink needed as new High Court Justice appointment seems to maintain gender imbalance
Justice Susan Crennan announced her early retirement from the High Court of Australia on November 25th, 2014, effective February 3, 2015. On Thursday December 4th, the Victorian Court of Appeal’s Justice Geoffrey Nettle was appointed as her replacement. Praised for his intellect and fairness, he appears to be an excellent choice. As Fiona McLeod, SC, […]
Congratulations, Elizabeth Broderick, on being Australia’s overall ‘Woman of Influence’ for 2014.
One of Australia’s most high profile lawyers, Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, has been acknowledged for her leadership in 2014 as the overall ‘Woman of Influence’ at the The Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards. Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly commended Broderick for her far-reaching work as Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner. “Her dedication to […]