Highly awarded retired judge and former president of the Queensland Court of Appeal, the first female president of an appellate court in Australia and recipient of an Order of Australia Medal, Margaret McMurdo will be guest speaker in Noosa on International Women’s Day.
The Zonta Club of Noosa will host the breakfast event at Noosa Springs Resort, Links Drive, Noosa Heads from 7am on International Women’s Day on Wednesday 8 March.
Margaret McMurdo graduated from The University of Queensland in 1976 with a Bachelor of Laws while at the time holding the position of clerk to Judge Alan Demack.
In the same year she was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland and practised from 1989 until 1991. Her Honour worked in the Public Defender’s Office (1976–1989), holding the office of assistant public defender (1978–1989).
Justice McMurdo served as member of the Criminal Justice Commission’s Misconduct Tribunal (1990–91), and was founding committee member (1978–1982) and president (1980–81) of the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland. She is a founding fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.
In 1991 Ms McMurdo became the first woman to be appointed a judge of the District Court of Queensland and the Childrens Court of Queensland (1993–98).
Justice McMurdo was appointed President of the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Queensland in 1998. She was the second president and first woman appointed as a presiding judge of an appellate court in Australia.
In 2001 her service to the law and judicial administration in Queensland, particularly in the areas of legal education and women’s issues, was recognised when she was awarded the Centenary Medal and later appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (2007). In 2006 she was presented the Agnes McWhinney Award for outstanding professional contribution by a woman lawyer.
Ms McMurdo retired as president of the Court of Appeal on 26 March 2017. On 5 May 2017 Justice McMurdo was appointed Chair of the Legal Aid Board of Queensland.
Tickets to the International Women’s Day breakfast are $45 and available until 1 March at trybooking.com/CFOSQ
For more information visit the Zonta Club of Noosa on Facebook.
