She was once the state’s solicitor-general
Victoria attorney-general Sonya Kilkenny has announced that former state solicitor-general Rowena Orr will be succeeding Karin Emerton as the president of the Victoria Court of Appeal.
Orr has been serving as an appeals court judge since 18 April 2024. She is also a renowned jurist in Australia.
During her near-three year tenure as solicitor-general, she appeared in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and Federal Court in relation to constitutional, administrative, criminal and commercial matters. She practised as a barrister for about 22 years, working with corporate entities and individuals as well as the state and Commonwealth governments.
Orr became a senior counsel in 2014. In this capacity, she assisted the commissioner for the the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (2018-2020). She was also the senior counsel representing Victoria in the state’s Royal Commission into Family Violence (2015).
She signed the bar roll in 2002. She obtained her law and economics degrees from the University of Queensland; she also received a master of philosophy in criminology from the University of Cambridge.
Orr steps into the president role on 29 September. She will be the fourth to hold the post. Kilkenny said in a media release that she was eager to see Orr take the lead; the Victoria Supreme Court also praised the appointment.
Orr’s appointment aligns with the government’s $240m investment to enhance court services. Since April, the government has named 8 County Court judges, 13 magistrates, 2 Supreme Court judges, a deputy chief magistrate and a coroner.
Orr’s predecessor Emerton retires on 28 September. Emerton was the first woman to preside over the Court of Appeal, having been appointed in 2022.
Last month, Liberal Party leader Jess Wilson unveiled a plan to split the Victoria Court of Appeal into a Court of Criminal Appeal and a Court of Civil Appeal. The criminal appeals court would be authorised to supervise other courts in the state to align serious crime sentences with community expectations.
The Victoria Bar opposed the plan, cautioning against the politicisation of courts. It expressed concern about threats to the judiciary’s independence, with bar president Fiona Ryan SC noting that judges “must always be appointed on merit, and never with a view to influencing outcomes”.
