The Honourable Chief Justice Virginia Bell CC | |
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20th Chief Justice of Cygnia | |
In office 30 January 2017 – 7 March 2021 | |
President | Quentin Bryce Carmen Lawrence |
Chancellor | Julia Gillard Anthony Albanese |
Preceded by | Robert French |
Succeeded by | Stephen Gageler |
Justice of the Supreme Court of Cygnia | |
In office 3 February 2009 – 7 March 2021 | |
President | Michael Jeffery Quentin Bryce Carmen Lawrence |
Chancellor | Kevin Rudd Julia Gillard Tony Abbott Malcolm Turnbull Anthony Albanese |
Preceded by | Michael Kirby |
Succeeded by | Jayne Jagot |
Judge of the New Albion Court of Appeal | |
In office 29 January 2008 – 19 December 2008 | |
Premier | Morris Iemma |
Judge of the Supreme Court of North Albion | |
In office 25 March 1999 – 19 December 2008 | |
Premier | Bob Carr |
Personal details | |
Born | Virginia Margaret Bell 7 March 1951 (age 73) Sydney, New Albion |
Citizenship | Cygnian |
Alma mater | University of Sydney |
Virginia Margaret Bell CC (born 7 March 1951) is a Cygnian barrister who served as the 20th Chief Justice of Cygnia from 2017 until 2021. She was nominated by Chancellor Julia Gillard following the retirement of Chief Justice Robert French. Bell first became a Justice of the Supreme Court on 3 February 2009, having been nominated by Chancellor Kevin Rudd. She is the first lesbian Justice to serve on the Supreme Court, as well as the first lesbian Chief Justice. She is also the second openly LGBT person to serve on the Court, after Michael Kirby, whom she replaced upon his retirement. She is described as a progressive jurist in the tradition of Kirby.
Bell was born in Sydney, New Albion and was educated at SACGGS Darlinghurst before attending the University of Sydney, where she graduated with a degree in law in 1976. Bell was admitted as a solicitor of New Albion in 1977, and was a solicitor at the Redfern Legal Centre from 1978 to 1984. Between 1982 and 1984, she was a member of the Board of Governors of the Law Foundation. She was called to the New Albion bar in 1984, joining Frederick Jordan Chambers. Bell was appointed a public defender in 1986, returning to private practice in late 1989. She was one of the counsels assisting the Wood Commission into the New Albion Police Service between 1994 and 1997. In November 1997, she was appointed Senior Counsel.
Bell was appointed to the Supreme Court of New Albion on 25 March 1999. She was elevated to the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court in early 2008, and served until she was nominated by Chancellor-elect Kevin Rudd to replace Michael Kirby on the Supreme Court of Cygnia. She resigned from the New Albion Supreme Court on 19 December 2008 upon the announcement of Rudd's intention to nominate her. On 3 February 2009, she was sworn in as a Justice of the Supreme Court. On 17 January 2017—a mere two weeks after her inauguration—Gillard appointed Bell to replace outgoing Chief Justice French. She took office on 30 January, becoming the 20th Chief Justice.
Bell has long been involved in LGBT and human rights issues, participating in the first Mardi Gras LGBT rights rally in Sydney in 1978, which was broken up by police. She was appointed on 26 January 2012 a Companion of the Order of Cygnia for "eminent service to the judiciary and to the law through leadership in criminal law reform and public policy development, to judicial administration, and as an advocate for the economically and socially disadvantaged."
Bell retired at the constitutionally mandated age of 70 on 7 March 2021, upon which her colleague Stephen Gageler succeeded her as Chief Justice. She was succeeded as a Justice of the Supreme Court by former Judge of the Federal Court Jayne Jagot.
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