Shan Tennent

Shan Eve Tennent is a former Australian judge. She was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania between March 2005 and October 2017, and was the first woman to be appointed to the Court.[1]

Tennent studied law at the University of Queensland, subsequently moving to Tasmania in 1977. She practiced law in Hobart, specialising in family law cases, and worked as a partner at Hobart firm Page Seager for fifteen years.[2] In 1998 she was appointed as both a magistrate and a coroner, leading to her high-profile 2001 inquest into prisoner deaths in custody at Risdon Prison, the state's largest prison. The subsequent report resulted in a number of sackings, and ultimately led to the decision to completely rebuild the prison.[3][4]

Tennent was appointed to the Supreme Court of Tasmania on 15 March 2005 by Governor William Cox, making her the first woman to sit on the court in its 180-year history.[2] Tennent retired with effect on 3 November 2017.[5][6] In March 2019 Tennent was inducted into the Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women for "service to justice and human rights".[7]