Jenny Blokland

Blokland was born in Ardrossan, South Australia, one of two children of Joan and Frank Blokland. Her father was a boilermaker/fitter & turner while her mother was a legal secretary. Blokland went to school at Modbury High School in Adelaide before studying at the University of Adelaide, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws.[1]

To become a solicitor Blokland needed to complete a period as an articled clerk, which she did at the Northern Territory Department of Law in 1980-1, where she worked with Ian Barker QC. She then worked for the North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service, until 1987, predominantly in criminal and family law. Blokland again studied at the University of Adelaide, obtaining a Master of Laws, before returning to the Northern Territory in 1990 where she became a lecturer at the Northern Territory University, in 1996 becoming the Dean of the Law Faculty. In December 1994 Blokland was also appointed as a part-time Judicial Registrar of the Industrial Relations Court of Australia.[2]

Blokland worked at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions from 1998 until 2000 when she briefly practiced as a barrister. Blokland then worked at the Department of Justice as Director of Policy, before being appointed as a magistrate to the Magistrates court in 2002, becoming Chief Magistrate in 2006.[1]