Career
Simpson served as an associate to a District Court judge. It was here that Simpson realised her passion for law, stating: "I got hooked."
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. 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.
Simpson made headlines in April 1999, when she and Justices Margaret Beazley and Virginia Bell sat in the Court of Criminal Appeal in Sydney. 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.
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.
Read more about this topic: Carolyn Simpson (judge)
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“I seemed intent on making it as difficult for myself as possible to pursue my “male” career goal. I not only procrastinated endlessly, submitting my medical school application at the very last minute, but continued to crave a conventional female role even as I moved ahead with my “male” pursuits.”
—Margaret S. Mahler (1897–1985)
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces every one to take sides. We live in the age of the overworked, and the under-educated; the age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)