Date & time
Venue
Building 7, Law School, Room 7.4.1, Phillipa Weeks Staff Library
Register for the event
Event description
The Centre for International and Public law is proud to present this event exploring women’s leadership in law and the judiciary through the insights and lived experience of two distinguished speakers: The Honourable Chief Justice Lucy McCallum and The Right Honourable Tun Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat. Bringing together senior judges from Australia and Malaysia, the conversation offers a rare opportunity to hear cross-jurisdictional perspectives on leadership at the highest levels of the judiciary.
In conversation, they will share reflections on lived experience, leadership in practice, and the challenges and opportunities that have shaped their careers. The discussion will also look to the future, considering how the next generation of women leaders in law can build on the significant contributions of women who have shaped the profession and the judiciary over time.
The discussion will be chaired by Associate Professor Heather Roberts FAAL (ANU Law School).
Registration is required for this event.
Speakers
The Right Honourable Tun Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat
Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat was Malaysia’s first female Chief Justice, appointed in 2019 and retired in July 2025. She holds a law degree from the University of Malaya and was called to the Bar in 1995. She was appointed to the Superior Court Bench in 2006, elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2013, and to the Federal Court in 2018, before being appointed Chief Justice in 2019. As Chief Justice, following Malaysia’s first regime change in 2018, she presided over several landmark rulings, including the conviction of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, decisions upholding the constitutional right to peaceful assembly, and reaffirming the illegality of unilateral child conversion. Her tenure reinforced public confidence in the rule of law, constitutional supremacy, and judicial integrity in Malaysia.
The Honourable Chief Justice Lucy McCallum
On 8 March 2022, Lucy McCallum was sworn in as the sixth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory.
Her Honour attended the University of New South Wales where she graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in philosophy. She worked in Sydney as a solicitor in commercial litigation for 18 months, as a prosecutor in Canberra and as a trial advocate in Queensland before becoming a barrister in Sydney in 1991. She was appointed senior counsel in 2005.
In 2008, her Honour was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in the Common Law Division. She was elevated to the New South Wales Court of Appeal in February 2019 where she remained until her appointment as Chief Justice in the Territory.
In 2024, her Honour was appointed as the Chair of the Council of the National Judicial College of Australia. In March 2025 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of NSW.