Carmel Joy McLure is an Australian jurist who previously served as President of the Court of Appeal of the

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of or more ...

Career

McLure was born around 1955 in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia, and was educated at St Joachim's and the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

. She commenced working for the Australian Attorney-General's Department in 1977 before being articled as a

legal clerk A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant or paralegal specialist, is a legal professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with an admission to practice law. The market for p ...

in the 1980s. She became a partner in the firm later known as

Corrs Chambers Westgarth Corrs Chambers Westgarth (often referred to as ''Corrs'') is an Australian commercial law firm founded in 1841. Corrs has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Port Moresby. Corrs' clients include national and international corporat ...

in 1987 and took silk in 1997, appointed as a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

. McClure was a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

until her appointment to the bench in 2001, as a

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Appointed a member of the Court of Appeal in 2005, McLure was promoted as President in 2009, the first woman to be appointed to the position. She retired in 2016.

Michael Buss Michael John Buss is a former judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. He was the President of the Court of Appeal from 18 July 2016 to 4 June 2025. Education Buss was born in Western Australia and grew up in New South Wales. He ret ...

was appointed as her successor as President of the Court of Appeal. In 2016 McLure was appointed

Companion of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for eminent service to the law and to the judiciary in Western Australia, to legal administration and professional development, and to the community through contributions to tertiary education and arts organisations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLure, Carmel 1950s births Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Judges of the Supreme Court of Western Australia Australian women judges Australian King's Counsel Australian barristers University of Western Australia alumni Companions of the Order of Australia