Rosemary Balmford

Rosemary Anne Balmford (; 15 September 1933 – 8 August 2017) was an Australian judge, barrister, solicitor and legal academic. She was the first female judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and the first female lecturer in the law faculty of the University of Melbourne.

Early life and education Balmford was born in 1933 in Melbourne. Her parents were Sir John Norris, also a barrister and Supreme Court judge, and Dame Ada Norris . Her mother taught her to read at the age of three, and she was educated at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne Church of England Girls' Grammar School, and the University of Melbourne where she resided at Janet Clarke Hall. At Melbourne, she was awarded the Supreme Court Prize in 1954 for achieving the highest examination scores in her year.

Legal career In 1957, Balmford was appointed the first female lecturer in law at Melbourne Law School, the law faculty of the University of Melbourne. She would later write about her academic career in her memoir, A Funny Course for a Woman.

She then joined the firm Whiting & Byrne as a solicitor and partner, where she met and married Peter Balmford in 1963. She returned to the University of Melbourne, working at the university's in-house legal department and studying a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

In 1993, Balmford served as the only woman on the bench of the County Court of Victoria, and in 1996, became the first woman to serve as a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Honours In 1998, Balmford was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) by Monash University.