5.30pm Thursday 27 September 2018 Union University & Schools Club, 25 Bent St, Please note etiquette and dress code at the Union University & Schools Club. http://uusc.com.au/the-club/etiquette-and-dress-code/

The First 100 Years is an inspirational history project, supported by the Law Tax Invoice / Registration Society of NSW and Women Lawyers Association of NSW, charting the journey Please keep a copy for your records, no receipts issued. of women in law since enactment of enabling legislation throughout Australia in the early 1900s. 2018 marks the centenary of the Women’s Legal Status Act Company …………………………………………….………………………… 1918 (NSW) which paved the way for women to become lawyers for the first Contact ………………………….…………………………...... time in NSW, as well as allowing women to stand for the NSW Parliament. Phone …………………………………………………………….………….…. Women Lawyers Association , in Email …………………………………………………………………………..… partnership with the Jessie Street National Women’s Address ……………………………………………………….………………… Library, is proud to present an evening with the

Honourable Justice Virginia Bell AC and author Anne Attendee’s Name(s) Please circle as appropriate: (WLANSW McLeod, examining the events that surrounded the Member-M; Jessie Street Member – JS; Non-Member NM) passing of the Women’s Legal Status Act 1918 (NSW), and the remarkable story of Marie Byles, first female ……………………………………………………………………………… M JS NM solicitor to practise in New South Wales. ……………………………………………………………………………… M JS NM ……………………………………………………………………………… M JS NM SPEAKERS: ……………………………………………………………………………… M JS NM The Honourable Justice Virginia Bell AC was appointed ……………………………………………………………………………… M JS NM to the High Court in February 2009. At the time of her appointment she was a judge of the New South Wales WLANSW & Jessie Street National Women’s Library Members Court of Appeal. She graduated from the University of $45pp/ Non-Members $60pp (inc. GST) Sydney as a in 1977. After seven years as a solicitor with the Redfern Legal Centre, she was Total payment for $ ……………………………… (inc. refreshments) admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1984 and was I am paying by Cheque / Visa / Mastercard / AMEX / EFT appointed a Senior Counsel in 1997. Justice Bell practised as a public defender between 1986 and 1989 before returning to the Please note that we require 48 working hours-notice for refunds. private Bar. Between 1994 and 1997 she was a counsel assisting the Royal Card No: …………………………………………… Expiry Date ……………. Commission into the New South Wales Police Service. She served as president of the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration Cardholder’s Name: …………………………………………………………….. 2006 to 2008 and was Chair of the University of Wollongong Law Faculty Advisory Committee from 2007-2008. From 1998-1999, she served as a part- Signature: …………………………………………………………………………….. time Commissioner of the NSW Law Reform Commission. On 26 January 2012, Please advise us of your payment by email. Justice Bell was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for "eminent Account Name: Women Lawyers’ Association of NSW service to the judiciary and to the law through leadership in criminal law BSB No. 082-053 Account No. 45342-1772 reform and public policy development, to judicial administration, and as an advocate for the economically and socially disadvantaged". Bank: NAB, Law Courts Branch, 75 Elizabeth St, Sydney

RSVP with payment or book online via our website: Anne McLeod is the author of “The summit of her Kathryn McKenzie, Executive Officer ambition: the spirited life of Marie Byles”, published in Women Lawyers’ Association of NSW Inc. 2016. Her writing has been inspired by exceptional people ABN 19 092 974 880 who devoted themselves to protecting Australia’s natural heritage and through their activism, writing and PO Box R1120 Royal Exchange photography, have educated Australians about its P 0466 157 087 immense significance. She first discovered Marie Byles when travelling through E [email protected] northern visiting the sites where Buddha lived and taught, and was W www.womenlawyersnsw.org.au impressed to learn that she was also the first female solicitor to practise in New South Wales in 1924. Over the years her extensive research has provided Principal Sponsor: her with an education in the history of feminism and women's rights in law, the conservation movement in New South Wales, and the introduction of Buddha's teachings into the West.