Michelle Gordon appointed to High Court

Former Western Australian lawyer Michelle Gordon has been appointed as the next Justice of the High Court of Australia, replacing her husband, Justice Kenneth Hayne, who soon reaches the mandatory age of retirement.

Justice Gordon has been a judge of the Federal Court of Australia since 2007, having previously worked as a barrister in Victoria.

Growing up in Perth, she finished her schooling at Presbyterian Ladies College and studied law at the University of Western Australia from where she graduated in 1987. She started her legal career, which has had a significant focus on commercial law, at Robinson Cox, which is now Clayton Utz. Justice Gordon moved to Melbourne the following year to practice at Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks (now Allens), joined the bar in 1992 and took silk in 2003.