| Hon. Justice Carolyn Chalmers Simpson | |
|---|---|
| Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1994 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 March 1946 Forbes, New South Wales |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Residence | Sydney, New South Wales |
| Alma mater | Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney Bathurst Teachers College University of Sydney |
Carolyn Chalmers Simpson (born 30 March 1946) is a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.[1] Simpson made legal history in 1999 as one of three women judges who formed the first all-female bench to sit in an Australian court.[2]
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Simpson was born 30 March 1946, at Forbes in the Central West of New South Wales, to William George and Janet Bower Chalmers.[1]
She received her education as a boarder at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney at Croydon,[3] and following matriculation attended Bathurst Teachers College[1] (an antecedent to Charles Sturt University), graduating in 1965.[2] After five years of teaching, a friend of Simpson's suggested she study law.[2] She graduated from the University of Sydney in 1971.[4]
Simpson served as an associate to a District Court judge. It was here that Simpson realised her passion for law, stating: "I got hooked."[2]
Simpson was a member of the University of Sydney Law Extension Committee from 1972–76, an Officer of the Department of Youth and Community Services from 1974–76, President of the Society of Labor Lawyers, and President of the Council for Civil Liberties from 1976 to 1979.[1] She was admitted to the New South Wales bar in 1976 and appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1989. In 1994, she was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.[2]
Simpson made headlines in April 1999, when she and Justices Margaret Beazley and Virginia Bell sat in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney.[2] The judges threw out an appeal from a convicted computer hacker who had, out of "sheer maliciousness", been posting offensive messages on Ausnet's homepage. According to the Women Lawyers Association of NSW, there had never been an all-female bench in England or New Zealand at the time.[4]
Subsequently, Simpson expressed the view that as more women are appointed judges in the Supreme Court, there will be more benches of three. "Given the opportunity, women achieve and do as well as men", she said.[2]
Justice Simpson has presided over a number of high profile cases. She was the judge responsible for sentencing Neddy Smith, a notorious gangland murderer, to life imprisonment in 1989.[4]
In 2005, Simpson presided over the much publicised case of Network Ten v. Jessica Rowe, claiming the 5pm Ten News reader had breached her "open-ended" contract by failing to give six months' notice in writing. Simpson dismissed the action and ordered Ten to pay Rowe's court costs, finding the contract was for a closed period of two years and expired at the conclusion of the case.[5]
Further, Simpson set a precedent in 2007 when she awarded around A$1 million to a teenager who was bullied at primary school. She concluded the school had "grossly failed" in its duty of care to Benjamin Cox, who now suffers from a severe psychiatric condition.[6]