The Australian federal government has recommended Dr Ruth Higgins SC to be appointed as Australia’s next solicitor-general, making her the first woman to hold the post.
Higgins, who is the immediate past president of the New South Wales (NSW) Bar Association, will succeed Dr Stephen Donaghue KC, who was appointed as an appellate judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria in January. Higgins will hold the post for a five-year term from June.
Australia’s attorney-general, Michelle Rowland MP, congratulated Higgins, saying it was a “vitally important position” that plays “a significant role in promoting the integrity of the rule of law and trust in government and public institutions”.
Rowland added: “Dr Higgins’ experience, ability and acumen will see the Commonwealth well represented in significant legal matters, and I have every confidence in her ability to undertake this important work.”
Higgins is a member of Banco Chambers and has more than three decades of legal experience, including nearly 10 years as senior counsel. She was called in 2006 and specialises in competition law, constitutional law, class actions, energy, media, corporate criminal law and company law.
Her set said Higgins is a valued and respected colleague and friend in chambers, and wished her “the very best for her appointment”.
Between 2023 and 2026, she was also a part-time member of the Takeovers Panel, while serving as senior counsel to numerous public inquiries and advising Australia’s anti-corruption enforcer ICAC, alongside a busy appellate and first-instance court practice across both federal and state courts.
Higgins has combined her legal practice with various academic appointments, including a doctorate from Oxford – a distinction she shares with Donaghue – as well as subsequent teaching roles at Columbia and Oxford Universities. She studied for her first degree in law and a subsequent diploma in legal practice at the University of Glasgow, before requalifying when she emigrated to Australia 25 years ago.
Unlike Donaghue, she practised directly at the Bar without first practising as an associate or partner at a major Australian law firm. Donaghue previously practised at Minter Ellison.
Higgins has also served as a director of the Australian Bar Association and the pan-professional Law Council of Australia, which recently contributed to a report on gender equality in the Australian legal profession, including the Bar.
She is the first woman ever appointed as solicitor-general of Australia, and acts as the second law officer of the federal government, to whom she is principal legal counsel. Her appointment also marks the first time both Australia’s law officers have been women, with Rowland having qualified as a solicitor at Gilbert + Tobin, and follows a period in which women made up a majority in Australia’s apex court, the High Court.
In addition to representing the federal government in significant matters in court, the solicitor-general advises the government on questions of law as they arise, particularly those relating to the constitution and public law. Past incumbents include the current chief justice of the High Court, Stephen Gageler AC.
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