Chief District Court Judge Jan-Marie Doogue will present this year's New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Commemorative Address in Dunedin on 15 October.
The annual event, now in its 22nd year, is facilitated on by the Otago Women Lawyers' Society and is a celebration of the achievements of women in law and the continuing preservation and pioneering spirit of Aotearoa’s first woman lawyer, Ethel Benjamin.
The Annual New Zealand Law Foundation Ethel Benjamin Commemorative Address also encourages education and achievement in the women of today and stimulates debate about issues affecting social justice and gender.
Her Honour Judge Jan-Marie Doogue was appointed the Chief District Court Judge of New Zealand in September 2011. She leads a bench of more than 170 judges in what is Australasia's biggest court. She has been a District Court Judge since 1994, firstly in the Family Court, extending to the criminal jurisdiction with a jury trial warrant in 2007. Previously she had been a barrister sole for nine years after practising law in Auckland since 1980. Originally from Christchurch, she gained her LLB from Auckland University, and acquired a Diploma in Mediation from Bond University, Queensland in 1994.
As well as being New Zealand’s judicial representative to The Hague on civil aspects of international child abduction, Judge Doogue chaired the Drafting Committee of a Global Treaty on Child Support, was Vice President of the 21st Diplomatic Session of The Hague Private International Law Conference and was appointed President of the Commission of The Hague Private International Law Conference (Child Support Convention).
Attendance at this year's address is by RSVP to members.owls@gmail.com by 14 September 2018.