A former Wolfson College student, who rose through the ranks after leaving school at 15, has been appointed to one of the most senior legal positions in Australia.

The Hon. Justice Susan Kiefel will become only the third female to join the Australian High Court as a judge in its history.

When she takes up her appointment on 3 September alongside Justice Susan Crennan it will be the first time Australia has had two female High Court judges at the same time.

Justice Kiefel, originally from Cairns and currently a Federal Court Justice, left school at 15 to become a secretary in a law firm and by 1973 she had obtained a position as a legal clerk. Soon afterwards she completed her senior examination and Bar Board course, the latter with honours.

It was during a sabbatical in 1984 that she studied for her LLM (Masters in Law) at Wolfson College, an experience that renewed her enthusiasm for her career.

She remains very grateful for her time at Cambridge, and to the professors who reminded a “then jaded practitioner just how important and fascinating the process of law in society is.”

During this period she developed an enduring interest in Comparative Law, and won both the University's C J Hamson Prize for Comparative Law and the Jennings Prize.

Justice Kiefel threw herself into College life, and met her husband Michael Albrecht when she became a keen member of the College rowing crew.

“Our congratulations go out to Justice Kiefel for her appointment to one of the highest ranks in the Australian judiciary system,” said Christopher Lawrence, Bursar of Wolfson College. “We are sure that she will make an outstanding contribution as a High Court judge.”

In 1987, at the age of 33 she was appointed Queensland's first woman Queen's Counsel, one of a select few then practising in Australia. She was subsequently appointed to the Commonwealth Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission in 1989, the Queensland Supreme Court in June 1993 and the Federal Court in October 1993.

Justice Kiefel returned to Wolfson as a visiting fellow in 2001, while on sabbatical leave from the Federal Court, to study the European Court of Justice and continues to maintain regular links with legal colleagues in Cambridge.

For more information about Wolfson College, click on the link at the top of the page.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.