Jennifer Coate

Jennifer Ann Coate (born 8 February 1953) is an Australian jurist. Coate was a Judge of the Family Court of Australia and one of the six Royal Commissioners appointed by the Australian government Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Early life Coate studied law at Monash University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1979, and a Bachelor of Laws in 1984. Coate worked part-time as a teacher while she studied law.

Career Upon graduating, Coate worked as a solicitor and then a barrister. She also served as an academic, and contributed to a range of social policy groups and committees.

In 1992, Coate was appointed a magistrate. Coate left the Children's Court in April 2006.

On 29 November 2007, she formally took up responsibilities as State Coroner of Victoria, marking the first time a woman had taken on the role; and served in that role until her appointment to the Family Court. Until 2006, she served as the first female President of the Children's Court of Victoria.

Additionally, Coate has been involved in a wide range of charitable and community organisations. She has served as Chair of the Health Services for Abused Victorian Children Advisory Group and Chair of the Anglicare Steering Committee for Group Conferencing Restorative Justice. She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2025.

Personal Coate is reportedly highly respected in legal circles as an extremely bright, thoughtful lawyer, who occasionally acts unconventionally to demonstrate a point. In 1993, when Coate had only recently been appointed a magistrate, a controversy broke out in a Victorian court, when a female solicitor was criticised by a judge for coming to court in polka-dot stockings and a suit with a skirt that finished above the knee. The incident attracted widespread media attention and sparked extensive debate. In a silent protest against her colleague's comments, Coate spent the remainder of the week dressed in outlandishly coloured and patterned stockings, ensuring that she was seen widely and publicly in Melbourne's legal precinct.