Shan Tennent

The Honourable Justice
Shan Eve Tennent
Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania
In office
15 March 2005 – 3 November 2017
Personal details
Born1952 (age 71–72)
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
EducationUniversity of Queensland
OccupationJudge, lawyer

Shan Eve Tennent (born 1952) is a former Australian judge. She was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania between March 2005 and October 2017, and was the first woman to be appointed to the Court.[1]

Tennent studied law at the University of Queensland, subsequently moving to Tasmania in 1977. She practised law in Hobart, specialising in family law cases, and worked as a partner at Hobart firm Page Seager for fifteen years.[2] In 1998 she was appointed as both a magistrate and a coroner, leading to her high-profile 2001 inquest into prisoner deaths in custody at Risdon Prison, the state's largest prison. The subsequent report resulted in a number of sackings, and ultimately led to the decision to completely rebuild the prison.[3][4]

Tennent was appointed to the Supreme Court of Tasmania on 15 March 2005 by Governor William Cox, making her the first woman to sit on the court in its 180-year history.[2] Tennent retired with effect on 3 November 2017.[5][6] In March 2019 Tennent was inducted into the Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women for "service to justice and human rights".[7]

References

  1. ^ Fromberg, Annah (2 October 2017). "Tasmania's trailblazing Supreme Court judge Shan Tennent given ceremonial send-off". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b Lower, Gavin. "Tassie gets first female Supreme Court judge". The Mercury, 1 February 2005.
  3. ^ Whinnett, Ellen. "Woman set to be new judge". The Mercury, 29 January 2005.
  4. ^ Paine, Michelle. "New jail to be built at $53m cost". The Mercury, 11 April 2001.
  5. ^ "The Puisne Judges of Tasmania". Supreme Court of Tasmania. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  6. ^ Fromberg, A (2 October 2017). "Tasmania's trailblazing Supreme Court judge Shan Tennent given ceremonial send-off". ABC News. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  7. ^ "Women in Tasmania". www.dpac.tas.gov.au. Retrieved 16 March 2019.


This Australian law-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.