Robyn Layton

Robyn Ann Layton (born 16 August 1945) is an Australian lawyer and former judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia from 2005 to 2010. She created the 2003 South Australian Child Protection Review, known as the Layton Report.

Layton was born in Adelaide and raised in Glenelg, she attended the Dominican convent primary school in Glenelg and eventually joined Cabra Dominican College. After her schooling, she became part of the South Australian Council for Civil Liberties before pursuing her law course at the University of Adelaide. Being among the nine women in a group of over 90 people, she acquired a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1967, while a Master of Laws degree followed in 2000.

Layton completed her articles of clerkship at Thomson Muirhead Ross & McCarthy and was admitted to the bar in 1968. After practising as a solicitor and later becoming a partner at Johnston Layton Withers and Co, she represented protestors, conscientious objectors and Aboriginal people during the Vietnam War, and was appointed solicitor to the Central Aboriginal Land Rights Committee in 1972. In 1978, she became the youngest judge in Australia upon her appointment to the South Australian Industrial Court and as Deputy President of the South Australian Industrial Commission, later serving as chair of the Classification of Publications Board and the South Australian Sex Discrimination Board, Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal from 1985 to 1989, and a commissioner of the Health Insurance Commission.

Appointed Queen's Counsel in 1992, she became the first Australian member, and later the first female chair, of the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. She later appeared in cases before the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of South Australia, served on the ILO Commission of Inquiry into forced labour in Myanmar in 1997, led South Australia's 2002–2003 Child Protection Review, and was appointed the fourth woman judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 2005, serving until her retirement in 2010. After retiring from the bench, she continued working in judicial education, labour law, human rights, academia and community organisations.

Early life and education Robyn Ann Layton was born on 16 August 1945 in Adelaide to Dick Alex Stewart George "Barney" Layton and Mary Agnes Layton (née Halloran). Her father initially worked as a social worker before becoming a manager in the motor industry, while her mother was a teacher. Layton was raised in Glenelg and educated at the Dominican convent primary school in Glenelg before attending Cabra Dominican College. She later credited her Catholic education, especially the role played by some teachers in inspiring her interest in social justice issues. After leaving school, she joined the South Australian Council for Civil Liberties. She proceeded to study law at the University of Adelaide, having ruled out the options of becoming a teacher, a social worker, and a pharmacist. At university, she was among nine women in a class of more than 90 law students, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1967. In 2000, she went on to earn a Master of Laws in general studies from the same university.

Legal career

Early career and public advocacy (1968–1973) After completing her articles of clerkship at Thomson Muirhead Ross & McCarthy, She remained with the firm as a solicitor, where she was mentored by James Henry Muirhead, John von Doussa and Allan McGregor. She later joined the Adelaide firm of Elliott Johnston, becoming a partner in what was then Johnston Layton Withers and Co (now Johnston Withers).

In 1972, Layton was appointed as solicitor for the Central Aboriginal Land Rights Committee, an experience that later informed her ongoing involvement with Aboriginal legal matters and contributed to later work with the Central and Northern Land Councils.

Industrial court and tribunal appointments (1978–1990) In 1978, at the age of 32, Layton was appointed a judge of the South Australian Industrial Court and Deputy President of the South Australian Industrial Commission, becoming the youngest judge in Australia at the time. Before accepting the appointment, she sought advice from Roma Mitchell and John Jefferson Bray, both of whom encouraged her to pursue a career at the Bar. She also served as chair of the South Australian Sex Discrimination Board. On 24 October 1979, she approved a three-year exemption under the state's anti-discrimination legislation to permit affirmative action measures aimed at increasing the number of women appointed as deputy principals in secondary schools. In August 1982, Layton ruled that successive South Australian police commissioners had unlawfully discriminated against women in recruitment, duty allocation, promotion and transfer practices following hearings that had lasted nearly two years. On 21 March 1985, Layton was appointed a full-time Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal by Governor-General Ninian Stephen, while continuing to serve on the Industrial Court until her return to private practice in 1989. Layton returned to practice as a barrister, initially at Torrens Chambers before joining Murray Chambers, following administrative changes that centralised decision-making under a new president and reduced the autonomy previously exercised by state deputy presidents under Gerard Brennan and Trevor Davies.

Queen's Counsel (1992–2010)

In 1992, she was appointed Queen's Counsel, During her second period at the Bar, Layton appeared in matters before the Federal Court and the Supreme Court of South Australia, including proceedings arising from the Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy. After the application was refused, she continued to represent the organisation during the royal commission proceedings, challenging the admission of evidence relating to Aboriginal traditions and confidential women's cultural knowledge before withdrawing the organisation from the inquiry.

In 1997, Layton was appointed to a three-member ILO Commission of Inquiry into Myanmar's compliance with the Forced Labour Convention, alongside Sir William Randolph Douglas and P. N. Bhagwati. Between 2002 and 2003, she conducted the South Australian Government's Child Protection Review, examining child protection policy and practice across government agencies. As a result of this report, reforms were suggested, such as the introduction of a paedophile register and financial investment in the protection of children. In June 2004, Premier Jay Weatherill announced that the report had provided a structure for rebuilding child protection within South Australia. The resulting report, commonly known as the Layton Report, was released in March 2003 and contained around 190–206 recommendations. The report suggested an increase in funding, better coordination among agencies, the creation of legislation for protecting children from abuse and a child sex offender register because of the findings that showed that the resources for dealing with child abuse was inadequate.

Following her retirement from the bench, Layton undertook consultancy work with the Asian Development Bank on gender and development projects, including poverty reduction initiatives for women in the Philippines, Kazakhstan and Cambodia between 2011 and 2013, legal frameworks addressing climate change and disaster resilience in Fiji, Laos and Mongolia from 2018, and legal literacy and gender-based violence programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2017. In the same year, she led an independent review panel on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act (APYLRA) Review, which conducted consultations on the APY Lands through multiple field visits and meetings before submitting its report to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation in 2014; several recommendations were later incorporated into legislative amendments introduced in 2016. In 2017, she was involved with Justice Reinvestment South Australia. On 10 March 2019, she concluded her term on the board of the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority. She has also been a patron and ambassador for organisations including the Australian Migrant Resource Centre (AMRC) and has served as Human Rights Ambassador for the United Nations Association of Australia. In 2012, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the law and the judiciary, particularly through the Supreme Court of South Australia, and for advocacy in relation to Indigenous, refugee and children's rights, In 2013, she was a joint recipient of the Law Society of South Australia Justice Award, and in 2016 she received the Australian Women Lawyers Australian Woman Lawyer of the Year Award. In 2017, she was made a life member of the Women Lawyers Association of South Australia (WLASA).

Personal life Layton married John Bannon, and the couple had a daughter, Victoria, before divorcing in 1978. She later had a second daughter, Anne Sibree, with Chris Sibree. In December 2015, Layton attended Bannon's state funeral at St Peter's Cathedral and later joined members of her immediate family at his private burial in West Terrace Cemetery.

Selected publications As of 2024, Layton's most recent publications include two articles on equal compensation and the gender pay gap, as well as a 2017 co-authored book on Australian evidence law.