On Friday 16 June 2023, the new Joanna Knight Scholarship was launched at the Mint Museum with over 100 attendees. Joanna was a much loved and respected member of the NSW Bar. She was called to the Bar in 2020 and practised from Frederick Jordan and then Culwulla Chambers, and remains a much loved and missed member of the 2020 Bar Practice Course.

Following Joanna’s death in 2022, her family and colleagues, including those at the NSW Bar, worked to create scholarships which will honour Joanna’s dedication to social justice by providing financial support to First Nations people and women in pursuit of a career in law.

After a moving welcome to country by Aunty Deborah Lennis, speakers included:

• Naomi Sharp SC on behalf of the Women Barristers Forum

• Her Honour Judge Robyn Tupman of the NSW District Court

• Brett McGrath, the Senior Judicial Registrar of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and Vice President of the Law Society

• Katrina Ironside, Executive Director of Community Legal Centres NSW; and

• The Honourable Michael Knight AO, former member for Campbelltown in the NSW Legislative Assembly, Minister for the Olympics, and Joanna’s father.

A silent auction was held along with a live auction featuring two special items donated from the Prime Minister’s Office. Sue Chrysanthou SC was the winning bidder on the bill initiating the Voice Referendum signed by the Prime Minister. Mark Maconachie won the bidding on a signed commemoration of the First Ministry of the Albanese Government. Suzie Miller’s signed script for Prima Facie and a special portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsberg by Sarah Sulman (also photographer for the night and the great-great-granddaughter of Sir John Sulman) were also subject to frenzied bidding, with the portrait of RBG going home with a member of the judiciary.

A beautiful sculpture created by Olympian and artist Clementine Stoney Maconachie was subject to competitive bidding between junior and senior counsel and the Honourable Michelle Rowland employed a winning bidding strategy on four auction items. The success of the auction was due to generous donations by many individuals and businesses including the Pier One Hotel, The Sydney Theatre, Sydney Bridge Climb, MAC, Four Pillars, Margan Wines and Sydney Motorsports.

The scholarship fund raised a substantial sum through auctions and donations. Culwulla Chambers generously sponsored one scholarship, and Thos Hodgson of Edmund Barton Chambers sponsored another.

The scholarship applications will be open in December 2023 and the award of scholarships will commence in 2024. The scholarship fund aims to level the playing field for entry into a career in the legal profession, making it more accessible for people from diverse backgrounds to gain professional experience in community legal centres, become lawyers, and join the NSW Bar. The scholarship has three streams:

• Stream 1: For women law students experiencing financial disadvantage wanting to be admitted as a lawyer. This scholarship will provide $5,000 of financial support for each student who undertakes a 75-day volunteer practical legal training placement at community legal centre/s in New South Wales.

• Stream 2: For First Nations law students wanting to be admitted as a lawyer. This scholarship will provide $5,000 of financial support for each student who undertakes a 75-day volunteer practical legal training placement at a community legal centre/s in New South Wales. Priority will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

• Stream 3: For women experiencing financial disadvantage wanting to be admitted to the NSW Bar. This scholarship will provide recipients with $10,000 to support women solicitors to study the Bar Practice Course for course fees, robes and readers chambers fees. Successful recipients will be asked to donate one half day/month to a community legal centre during their readership year. The first Stream 3 award will be made in the May 2024 reader intake.

Community legal centres will begin advertising in July 2023 and share the scholarship with current and future First Nations and women PLT students. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and scholarship awards will be assessed by a panel of Jo Knight’s family, friends and colleagues.

The Scholarship Fund intends to present as many awards as possible in streams 1 and 2. BN

More information can be found at https://australiacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/ create/fund?funit_id=1737 and donations are most welcome for this new initiative.