Louise Taylor (jurist)

Last updated


Louise Taylor
Magistrate of the Australian Capital Territory
Assumed office
10 September 2018 (2018-09-10)
Personal details
NationalityAustralian
Children2
Alma mater Australian National University
OccupationLawyer, Jurist

Louise Taylor is a Magistrate of the Australian Capital Territory. She was sworn in as a Magistrate on 10 September 2018. [1]

Contents

She is the first Aboriginal to be appointed as a judicial officer in the Australian Capital Territory. [2] [3]

Early life

Taylor grew up in Sydney. [4] She moved to Canberra during high school. [5]

She attended the Australian National University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts as well as a Bachelor of Laws. [4] [5]

Career

Taylor was admitted to practice as a solicitor and barrister in 2001. [4]

She first worked as a prosecutor with the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions. [2] She also worked at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. [6]

Taylor then worked as a defence lawyer. [2]

She received the ACT International Women's Day Award in 2009. [4] [7] She has served as Chair of the Women's Legal Centre ACT. [4] [7] [8] She has also served as Chair of the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Women and the ACT Domestic Violence Prevention Council. [4]

In 2014, Taylor was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Legal Aid ACT. [2] [7] [9]

She was appointed a magistrate on 10 September 2018. [1]

Taylor serves as a member of the Law Council of Australia's Indigenous Legal Issues Committee and as an Associate of the University of New South Wales Indigenous Law Centre. [6] [8]

Personal life

Taylor is a Kamilaroi woman. [5] She has a husband and four children. [2]

Related Research Articles

Justice of the peace Judicial officer elected or appointed to keep the peace and perform minor civic jobs

A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or puisne court, elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the same meaning. Depending on the jurisdiction, such justices dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions. Justices of the peace are appointed or elected from the citizens of the jurisdiction in which they serve, and are usually not required to have any formal legal education in order to qualify for the office. Some jurisdictions have varying forms of training for JPs.

Magistrate Officer of the state, usually judge

The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judicial and executive powers. In other parts of the world, such as China, a magistrate was responsible for administration over a particular geographic area. Today, in some jurisdictions, a magistrate is a judicial officer who hears cases in a lower court, and typically deals with more minor or preliminary matters. In other jurisdictions, magistrates may be volunteers without formal legal training who perform a judicial role with regard to minor matters.

Patricia June O'Shane is a retired Australian teacher, barrister, public servant, jurist, and Aboriginal activist. She was Australia's first Aboriginal magistrate, serving the Local Court in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia between 1986 until her retirement in 2013.

Larissa Behrendt Indigenous Australian academic and writer

Larissa Yasmin Behrendt is a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman, an Aboriginal Australian legal academic and writer. She is currently a Professor of Indigenous Research and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney.

Marcia Lynne Langton holds the foundation chair in Australian indigenous studies at the University of Melbourne in the Faculty of Medicine. In 2016 she became distinguished professor and in 2017, associate provost.

Federal Circuit Court of Australia Australian court

The Federal Circuit Court of Australia, formerly known as the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia or the Federal Magistrates Service, is an Australian court with jurisdiction over matters broadly relating to family law and child support, administrative law, admiralty law, bankruptcy, copyright, human rights, industrial law, migration, privacy and trade practices.

Sue Gordon is an Aboriginal retired magistrate from Western Australia who has been locally and nationally honoured for her work with Aboriginal people and in community affairs. She is known for being chair of the Gordon Inquiry in 2002.

Richard Blackburn Australian judge

Sir Richard Arthur Blackburn, was an Australian judge, prominent legal academic and military officer. He became a judge of three courts in Australia, and eventually became chief justice of the Australian Capital Territory. In the 1970s he decided one of Australia's earliest Aboriginal Land rights cases. His service to the Australian legal community is commemorated by the annual Sir Richard Blackburn Memorial lectures in Canberra.

Ruby Florence Hammond was an Australian indigenous rights campaigner and the first indigenous South Australian to seek election to the Federal Parliament.

Robyn Ann Layton is an Australian lawyer, who worked in a diverse range of legal roles, including as a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia and judge of the South Australian Industrial Court. She was author of the South Australian Child Protection review known as "the Layton report" in 2003, and a member and then chair of the International Labour Organization's Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations from 1993 to 2008.

Pat Turner, AM is an Aboriginal Australian of Gudanji-Arrernte heritage who has worked as a civil administrator for policies which guarantee the right to self-determination for Indigenous people. She was awarded the Order of Australia in 1990 for her service.

Karen Fryar is a former Magistrate of the Australian Capital Territory. She was sworn in as a Magistrate on 6 September 1993. She retired on 8 March 2019.

Brigadier Bernadette Carmel BossCSC is a Magistrate of the Australian Capital Territory. She was appointed as a magistrate on 11 June 2012.

Margaret Anne Hunter is a Special Magistrate of the Australian Capital Territory. She was appointed as a special magistrate and coroner on 21 May 2014.

Indigenous treaties in Australia describe legal documents defining the relationship between Indigenous Australians and the Government of Australia or the government of an Australian state or territory. As of 2020 there are no such treaties in existence, and Australia is the only Commonwealth country to lack a treaty between its government and its First Peoples.

Kirstie Parker is a Yuwallarai journalist, policy administrator and Aboriginal activist. From 2013 to 2015 she served as the co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples and during her tenure pressed for policies which allowed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to gain the ability for self-determination. She has served on the board of Reconciliation Australia and other public policy commissions aimed at improving the lives of Indigenous people. She was the third Aboriginal person to serve on the Australian Press Council. In 2018, her unpublished manuscript The Making of Ruby Champion won the David Unaipon Award of the Queensland Literary Awards, which included both publication and prize money. She is currently the Director of Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation for the government of South Australia.

Maree Clarke is a Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, BoonWurrung/Wemba Wemba woman, curator, and artist. Clarke is a multidisciplinary artist renowned for her work in reviving South-eastern Aboriginal Australian art practices.

References

  1. 1 2 Ramsay, Gordon (8 October 2018). "Eighth Magistrate appointed". Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Foden, Blake (17 September 2018). "'You can't be what you can't see': ACT's first Aboriginal magistrate". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  3. "Historic Judicial Appointment". ABC Radio. 3 September 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Louise Taylor". Indigenous Law Centre: UNSW Law. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 "Louise Taylor LLB '01, BA '01". ANU. 17 September 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  6. 1 2 Inman, Michael (10 August 2018). "ACT appoints its first Aboriginal judicial officer". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 Bushnell, Ian. "Louise Taylor becomes ACT's newest magistrate and first Aboriginal judicial officer". The RiotACT. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Louise Taylor". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  9. "Historic day as Louise Taylor appointed ACT's first Aboriginal magistrate". Women's Agenda. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.