Latest Message from the President

Dear Members and Friends,

Our Awards Gala Presentation Dinner was a sold out success and a fabulous celebration!

Held on Friday, 11 August 2017 at the Grand Ballroom, Doltone House Hyde Park, Sydney which was packed to capacity, we were joined by the Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC of the High Court of Australia as our guest speaker. The Chief Justice shared some amusing renditions of her early years at the Bar and similar stories of her colleagues, during a personal address to the audience.

The NSW Women Lawyers Achievement Awards recognise and celebrate the achievements of outstanding women lawyers, mentors and firms that have achieved excellence in their area of practice and helped create opportunities for women in the law.

We are grateful for the support of the Law Society of NSW, the NSW Bar Association, the Department of Justice, the Association of Corporate Counsel, Australia and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency for the Awards this year. We also extend our special thanks to each of the Award Prize Sponsors, affiliated supporting organisations, the NSW Bar Association as our Major Awards Sponsor and Allygroup as Awards Media Sponsor for their generous contributions. Our thanks also to the Law Society of NSW as our Principal Sponsor for their ongoing support, and Crowd & Co as a new Silver Sponsor this year.

I have great pleasure in announcing our winners:

Change Champion of the Year, sponsored by The College of Law
Winner: Kate Eastman SC
Outstanding Law Firm of the Year, sponsored by Watts McCray Lawyers
Winner: Gilbert + Tobin
Woman Lawyer of the Year, sponsored by Thomson Reuters
Winner: Kylie Beckhouse
Barrister of the Year, sponsored by Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers
Winner: Chrissa Loukas SC
Private Practice Lawyer of the Year, sponsored by the Law Society of NSW
Winner: Kate O’Grady
Highly Commended: Teresa Nicoletti
Corporate Counsel of the Year, sponsored by Thomson Reuters
Winner: Anna-Athanasia Dervenis
Community Lawyer or Academic of the Year, sponsored by Department of Justice
Winner: Sarah Hopkins
Highly Commended: Gabrielle Appleby
Mentor of the Year, sponsored by Bartier Perry
Winner: Claire Bibby
Rising Star of the Year, sponsored by UNSW Law – Continuing Legal Education
Winner: Hannah Morris
The Lifetime Achievement Award was announced by our Patron, the Honourable Acting Justice Jane Mathews AO, and presented to the Honourable Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC.
Life Membership Honours were awarded to:
Louise Byrne, Frederick Jordan Chambers
Chris Ronalds AM SC, Frederick Jordan Chambers
Elizabeth Willis

Thank you and congratulations to all our winners, finalists, nominees and nominators, members and guests for your overwhelming support of our Awards.

We look forward to providing a full wrap up of Awards, the video and photos from the event, later in the week. Please check into #WLANSWawards in the meantime.

Please ensure that you are signed up to our enews and social media platforms for the latest updates, events and news and share with your friends and colleagues. We have some great speakers and events coming up in the next few months as noted, and posted in our Event Calendar.

Please click here to view photos from the well-attended ‘Stop fixing women’ book launch event featuring Catherine Fox, and please ‘save the date’ for 19^th September Sydney launch of the pilot ‘Advancement of Women in Law Firms Project’ and this year’s Law Firm Comparison Data report; and 21^st September Newcastle event ‘Vicarious Trauma’ with Dr Colin James’ – details will confirmed shortly and registration open.

Kind regards

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