Susan Coralie Kenny AM (born 29 November 1953) is a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia, and formerly a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria, where she was the first woman to serve on the Court of Appeal.

Early life and education

Kenny was born in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1953. She attended various schools in the United States of America and Australia, completing her secondary education at

Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne ("For God and for Home") , established = , type = Independent, single-sex, day and boarding school , denomination = Uniting , slogan = "MLC girls become world-ready women"

. Kenny studied at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

, graduating in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws, winning the Dwight's Prize for history and sharing the Supreme Court Prize for law. She was an editor of the '' Melbourne University Law Review'' in 1975. In 1985 Kenny was awarded the Menzies Scholarship in Law, which together with a grant from the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Trust enabled her to attended

Magdalen College Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, completing her doctorate in 1988 which was supervised by

John Finnis John Mitchell Finnis, , (born 28 July 1940) is an Australian legal philosopher, jurist and scholar specializing in jurisprudence and the philosophy of law. He is the Biolchini Family Professor of Law, emeritus, at Notre Dame Law School and a ...

Career

Kenny was associate to Sir Ninian Stephen, then a High Court judge in 1979 and 1980. From 1981 she practised as a barrister, working in constitutional, public, commercial and tax law. Kenny appeared in notable cases including the ''Tasmanian Dams case'',. Kenny appeared for the Commonwealth, led by the Solicitor-General Sir

Maurice Byers Sir Maurice Hearne Byers (10 November 191717 January 1999) was a noted Australian jurist and constitutional expert. He was the Commonwealth Solicitor-General from 1973 to 1983, in which capacity he played a role in the Gair Affair and the 197 ...

. War Crimes case,. Kenny appeared for the Commonwealth, led by the Solicitor-General

Gavan Griffith Gavan may refer to: People First name *Gavan Daws (born 1933), American writer, historian, and filmmaker from Hawaii * Gavan Duffy (1874–1958), Canadian lawyer, judge, and political figure *Gavan Herlihy (born 1947), New Zealand politician * Ga ...

. and in the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

in East Timor (Portugal v Australia), and Nauru v Australia. Kenny was a President of the

Administrative Review Council Australian administrative law defines the extent of the powers and responsibilities held by administrative agencies of Australian governments. It is basically a common law system, with an increasing statutory overlay that has shifted its focus ...

from 9 February 1993 to 30 September 1995. She was appointed a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1996.

Supreme Court of Victoria

Kenny was appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria sitting between 25 July 1997 and 15 October 1998, the first woman to be appointed to this court.

Federal Court

Kenny was sworn in as a judge of the Federal Court on 16 October 1998. In November 2010, she was appointed a presidential member of the

Administrative Appeals Tribunal The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) is an Australian tribunal that conducts independent merits review of administrative decisions made under Commonwealth laws of the Australian Government. The AAT review decisions made by Australian Gover ...

. As a judge Kenny hears the wide range of matters before the Federal Court, both as a trial judge and on appeal, including workplace relations (''AWU v BHP Iron Ore'' ) employment law (''Walker v Citigroup Global Markets Pty Ltd'' ) intellectual property (McCormick & Co Inc v McCormick, '' D'Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc'' anti-discrimination law (''Rainsford v Victoria'', and ''AB v Registrar of Births, Deaths & Marriages'' ) migration appeals (''ALA15 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection'' ) environmental law (''Alpine Grazing Trial case ) and

taxation law Tax law or revenue law is an area of legal study in which public or sanctioned authorities, such as federal, state and municipal governments (as in the case of the US) use a body of rules and procedures (laws) to assess and collect taxes in a ...

(''Haritos v Commissioner of Taxation'' ).

Australian Electoral Commission

On 17 September 2020 she was appointed Chairperson of the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

for a 5-year term.

Published articles

* 'Constitutional Fact Ascertainment' (1990) 1 Public Law Review 13
LawCite record
* 'Important changes to migration review', in ''Major Changes to Immigration Law'' (Leo Cussen Institute, Melbourne, 1993) * (1998) 20 ''Adelaide Law Review'' 159. * (2003) 26 University of New South Wales Law Journal 210. * (2015) 38 Melbourne University Law Review 996, special issue in memory of Sir Zelman Cowen *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenny, Susan 1953 births Living people Judges of the Federal Court of Australia Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria Fellows of the Australian Academy of Law Australian women judges University of Melbourne alumni Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Members of the Order of Australia Australian King's Counsel