Australia's first female High Court chief justice has thanked the blokes who helped get her there.
After leaving school at 15, Justice Susan Kiefel will fill the highest judicial role in the land, the only woman to do so in 113 years, when she is sworn in to replace the retiring Robert French on January 30.
Yet Justice Kiefel, 62, does not see her post as a break the glass ceiling appointment.
It's merely the evolution of her career path which started when she left school and gained momentum in 1993 when she became the first woman appointed as a judge to the Queensland Supreme Court .
"I wouldn't call it a glass ceiling. It's more of a natural progression when you consider I have come through the profession the way others have," Justice Kiefel told AAP.
"I can say the men at the Queensland bar were incredibly supportive. I couldn't have achieved what I did at the bar if they hadn't made sure I had got a lot of work and encouraged me."
Her achievement is all the more inspiring when you consider she left Sandgate District High School in year 10.
She later studied law at night while holding down full-time job but it's not a career path Justice Kiefel would encourage.
"I didn't like school and I didn't think I was being told what opportunities there were out there. I thought it was best to get out in the world and find out what career opportunities there were," she said.
"I would definitely counsel anyone against it. Working full-time and studying at night and not having holidays for five years is not to be recommended."
Besides being a Queensland Supreme Court judge before joining the Federal Court in 2007, Justice Kiefel also served on the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island and, in 1987, was the first woman in Queensland to be appointed Queen's Counsel .
She also served as a part-time commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission from 2003 to 2007.
By the end of January she will be the 13th Chief Justice of the High Court.
On announcing her appointment, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it showed that even paralegals and legal secretaries could make it to the top of the profession.
"They can follow in Susan Kiefel's footsteps, study well, get admitted, become the chief justice of Australia," he said.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said it was another major achievement for Queensland women, following in the footsteps of Dame Quentin Bryce who became the country's first female governor-general in 2003.
While she may discourage anyone leaving school at 15, Justice Kiefel believes her appointment proves that with perseverance and hard work, success will follow.
"I would hope my appointment makes it obvious to people that you can achieve to the highest level," she said.
"If you work hard and have some ability that anything is possible."
Share
