In this episode, we sit down with the Honourable Chief Justice Helen Bowskill. What an amazing and humbling moment for us to share space with her Honour. Her honour was sworn in as Chief Justice of Queensland on 22 March 2022, having served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland from 10 July 2017, and as the Senior Judge Administrator of the Supreme Court of Queensland from 24 August 2021.

Her Honour previously served as a Judge of the District Court of Queensland from 10 November 2014, in that capacity also sitting as a Judge of the Children’s Court of Queensland and the Planning and Environment Court. Her Honour holds the degree of Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) from the Queensland University of Technology, and was awarded the University Medal in 1995. Her Honour served as the Associate to the Honourable Justice Drummond of the Federal Court of Australia in 1996, and completed articles of clerkship with Minter Ellison in 1997.

Her Honour was admitted as a solicitor in January 1998, and as a barrister in July 1998. She commenced practice at the private Bar in Brisbane in July 1998. Her Honour took silk in November 2013. As a barrister, she practised widely in public, administrative and commercial law areas, with a particular focus on native title law. Her Honour is the Chair of the Judicial Council on Diversity and Inclusion.

Digressions include a desire to have dinner with Colin Firth, Taylor Swift-inspired career/life advice and her Honour's surprising (and refreshing) biggest accomplishment.

AUDIO NOTE: The audio is not at the level we want it to be, and we are still investigating if there’s a way to improve it (if you’re a sound technician who can help, please reach out!) and we will re-publish at a later date if we can fix it. The Chief Justice’s episode was just too good not to publish! We are working on transcripts for all of our episodes if this is of any consolation, we have also invested in new mics and technology moving forward. Thank you for your support!