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Susan Kiefel appointed Australia’s first female Chief Justice of the High Court

The ABC’s Matthew Doran reports (29.11.16) on the appointment of a new Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, Queenslander Justice Susan Kiefel.

‘From leaving school at age 15 to the High Court Chief Justice, Susan Kiefel will become the first female appointed to the highest judicial office in the land.

‘Justice Kiefel will replace the outgoing Chief Justice Robert French, who ends his term on the High Court bench because he has reached the mandatory retirement age of 70.

‘In making the announcement, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Justice Kiefel’s legal career should serve as an “inspiration” to aspiring lawyers across the country.

‘Justice Kiefel was appointed to the High Court in September 2007, having already served as a judge in the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of Queensland.

‘She completed her high school studies part-time while working as a legal secretary, studied law part-time before being admitted to the Queensland Bar in 1975, and later became the first woman in Queensland to be appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1987.’

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