Francine Valerie McNiff (24 March 1948 - 2 April 2015) was a legal scholar, and was the first female state magistrate in Victoria, Australia.
She completed a thesis in 1977 regarding children's court establishment in Victoria, at Monash University. [1] In 1979 she produced a guide to the children's court practice. [2]
She was appointed Children's Court Stipendary Magistrate in August 1983 after working as a senior legal officer within the Victorian public service. [3] In November 2013, the University of Melbourne created the Francine V McNiff Chair in Human Rights Law, in recognition of her contributions to the field. [4] [5]
The purpose of the Monash University Faculty of Arts is 'the pursuit, advancement and application of knowledge in the humanities, social and environmental sciences and creative and performing arts'. It offers degrees from undergraduate to PhD level. Entrance into the undergraduate Bachelor of Arts program is competitive, as it is the most popular Arts degree among university applicants in Victoria.
Susan Maree Crennan is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.
Diana Bryant is an Australian jurist who served as Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia from 5 July 2004 to 12 October 2017.
Marilyn Louise Warren is a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria and lieutenant-governor of Victoria, Australia.
Monash University Faculty of Law, or Monash Law School, is the law school of Monash University. Founded in 1964, it is based in Melbourne, Victoria and has campuses in Malaysia and Italy. It is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools in Australia and globally, and entry to its Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme is highly competitive.
Gillian Doreen Triggs is an Australian academic specialising in public international law. In 2019, she was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. In this capacity, she will serve as the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection in the team of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.
Professor Bryan Horrigan is an Australian legal academic and a past Dean of the Faculty of Law at Monash University in Australia (2013-2024). He previously held positions at Monash University as the Louis Waller Chair in Law and Associate Dean (Research). Formerly a senior associate and long-standing consultant with a leading international law firm, he holds a doctorate in law from Oxford University under a Rhodes Scholarship.
Julian Gardner is an Australian lawyer renowned for his promotion of human rights through the practice of law. In 2015 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for "significant service to the community through leadership roles with social welfare, mental health, legal aid and other legal organisations".
Felicity Pia Hampel is a prominent Australian human rights lawyer and, since 2005, judge of the County Court of Victoria. Hampel's career as a barrister began in 1981, and she became a Senior Counsel in 1996.
Ian L. Gray AM is a retired Victorian lawyer, and former judge, chief magistrate and State Coroner at the Coroners Court of Victoria.
Enid Mona Campbell, AC, OBE, FASSA was an Australian legal scholar, and was the first female professor and Dean of a law school in Australasia. She is known for her work on constitutional law and administrative law, as well as her contribution to legal education.
Peter Louis Waller was an Australian jurist. He was particularly well known for his work in evidence, medical and criminal law. He was Sir Leo Cussen Professor of Law at Monash University from 1965 until 2000, and thereafter Emeritus Professor. From 1968 to 1970 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Law at Monash University. From 1982 to 1984 he was the Law Reform Commissioner of Victoria. In 1984 he was appointed the Chairman of the Law Reform Commission, and from 1986 to 1992 he served as a part-time Commissioner. He has also served as the chairman of a number of medical and legal organisations, including the Infertility Treatment Authority, International Humanitarian Law Committee of the Australian Red Cross Society, Ethics Committee of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, and the Appeals Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Professor Waller previously served as Visiting Professor and Research Fellow in several universities in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Israel.
Jennifer Ann Coate is an Australian jurist. Coate was a Judge of the Family Court of Australia and one of the six Royal Commissioners appointed by the Australian government Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Kevin Harcourt Bell is a former judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria, in the Australian state of Victoria.
Linda Marion Dessau is an Australian jurist and barrister who served as the 29th Governor of Victoria from 2015 to 2023. She is the first female and the first Jewish holder of the office. She was previously a judge of the Family Court of Australia from 1995 to 2013.
Hilary Christiane Mary Charlesworth is an Australian international lawyer. She has been a Judge of the International Court of Justice since 5 November 2021, and is Harrison Moore Professor of Law and Melbourne Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne, and Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University.
Anne Ferguson is an Australian judge and former lawyer who has served as Chief Justice of Victoria since 2 October 2017. She was first appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2010.
Bernadette McSherry is a lawyer, writer and Emeritus Professor at the University of Melbourne. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and a Commissioner with the Victorian Law Reform Commission.
Anna Shelley Brown is a lawyer and advocate, particularly in the area of LGBTIQ rights. After working for the Human Rights Law Centre for around seven years, in December 2018 she was appointed chief executive of new LGBTI advocacy organisation Equality Australia