The Honourable Margaret Jean Nyland AM came from relatively  humble beginnings. Neither of her parents had the benefit of a secondary nor tertiary education and both entered the work force at a very young age. Following an industrial accident, her father was forced to give up his trade as a boilermaker and became a taxi driver. Her mother’s first job was as an  egg wiper but she later became qualified as a tent and sail maker. Her Honour was one of only two women to be admitted as a lawyer in South Australia in March 1965. As a woman, she thereafter encountered difficulty obtaining articles of clerkship which were a prerequisite for admission to the bar. With the assistance of the late John Bray QC, who had been one of her university  lecturers, she obtained a clerkship with Pam Cleland. A few years later, she became a partner in Pam’s legal practice and eventually established a practice of her own.

In 1987, after more than two decades in private practice primarily working as a family lawyer , Her Honour was appointed a judge of the District Court of South Australia. In 1993, she became the second woman after the late Dame Roma Mitchell to be appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia. This was approximately 28 years after Dame Roma’s appointment which coincidentally had occurred in the same year that Her Honour was admitted to the bar.

Her Honour retired from the bench in November 2012. At that stage, she had served on the bench of the Supreme Court for 19 years. In August 2014, she was appointed the Royal Commissioner to investigate the Child Protection System in South Australia. This was a task she undertook for a period of about two years.

In November 2020, Audrey Bosboom, Leanne Larosa and Julia Davey, the co-founders of Nyland Chambers, formally approached Her Honour with the idea of naming a chambers after her. Nyland Chambers was officially launched by Her Honour on 30 April 2021.

“Although there have been many advances for women in the law since those early days I don’t think Dame Roma nor Pam Cleland – nor for that matter myself nor anyone else ever envisaged a day when it would be possible or feasible for a barristers’ chambers to be established where all the barristers were women.

So I think it is fair to say that this is another historic occasion for women in the law. I feel privileged to be here tonight to take part in the celebration of these new chambers and I am honoured that they will bear my name”.

-The Honourable Margaret Jean Nyland AM, Nyland Chambers Launch, 30 April 2021