Helen Gay Murrell is an Australian lawyer and judge who was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. She is the first woman to be appointed Chief Justice.

Early life

Murrell grew up in Seaforth, New South Wales. She then studied at the University of New South Wales and graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws.

Career

Murrell was admitted to practise in 1977. She first worked at the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor's Office and then at Legal Aid NSW. In 1981, Murrell was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

and was appointed senior counsel in 1995. She also attended the University of Sydney and graduated with a Diploma of Criminology. In 1996, she was appointed a Judge of the District Court of New South Wales. She was also an Acting Judge in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales during this year. She served as President of the

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and as Deputy President of the

Administrative Decisions Tribunal of New South Wales The Administrative Decisions Tribunal of New South Wales (ADT) was established in 1997 and was replaced in 2014 by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT). It did not have general jurisdiction, but had various jurisdictions conferred by ...

from 1997 to 1999. In 1998, Murell was involved in establishing the Drug Court of New South Wales. She was the first Senior Judge of that court and served until 2003. In 2005, she was appointed the Deputy Chairperson of the New South Wales Medical Tribunal. On 12 September 2013, Attorney-General Simon Corbell announced the appointment of Murrell to replace the retiring Chief Justice Terence Higgins. Murrell was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Australian Capital Territory on 28 October 2013 and is the first woman to have been appointed to that role. She currently also serves on the committee of the

National Judicial College of Australia National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. Murrell retired as Chief Justice in March 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murrell, Helen Chief Justices of the Australian Capital Territory Women chief justices University of New South Wales alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Australian judges 21st-century Australian judges Judges of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory 20th-century women judges 21st-century women judges People educated at Redlands, Cremorne