Trailblazer Project

Australian Women Lawyers has been asked by the researchers at ANU College of Law to pass on the following information to all con-bods of AWL (that means us) to assist the Women Lawyer Trailblazers project. See details below.

Now is the time to nominate your heroes and help the researchers capture their stories. See the contacts at the end of this email for more.

Law have seed funding from the ANU to develop an Australian Research
Council Linkage grant on Australian Trailblazer Women Lawyers. The
project will largely involve gathering a large and rich oral history
record at the National library of Australia (which has indicated it is
interested in supporting this project as a partner) of these Australian
Women Trailblazers, but it will also involve analytical work on
biography, gender and the law.

In order to develop the application Kim and Heather would be extremely
grateful if people could send through their suggestions of women they
know of in their State or Territory who they think should be included in
the list of possible interviewees.

The project will include trailblazer lawyers in all spheres - Judges,
Barrister, Solicitors, Academics, Tribunal members, Parliamentary
lawyers, Government lawyers, Women partners in law firms, In house
lawyers, Union lawyers, Legal librarians etc etc. If the contact
details of those individuals are known that will also be helpful.

Finally, in addition to gaining your assistance on names, Kim and
Heather are keen to hear from individuals who may be interested in
contributing financially to the project. Regarding the budgetary aspects
of the application, if successful, we understand that the Australian
Research Council meets the cash and in-kind contribution provided by the
partners. If individual lawyers are interested in making tax deductable
donations to one of the partners in the project, specifically targeted
for this work, this would enhance the potential of what could be sought
from the Australian Research Council. Kim would be also keen to hear
from you as soon as possible.

As a preliminary deadline, we'd be grateful to hear from people by
Friday 1 May 2009 but if this message is seen after that date, please
still contact us.

Professor Kim Rubenstein, ANU College of Law, ANU
Email: Kim.Rubenstein@anu.edu.au

and Dr Heather Roberts, ANU College of Law
Email: Heather.Roberts@anu.edu.au