In July 2022, Dina Yehia became the first person of Greek Egyptian descent to sit on the Supreme Court of New South Wales. However, it was challenging for her as “As a woman and an immigrant”.
Justice Yehia was seven-years-old when her family arrived in Australia from Egypt and didn’t speak any English. Since then, Justice Yehia, who is of Greek-Egyptian descent, has done a lot of fitting into an entirely new different ethnic and cultural background.” I was very fortunate that I always had some supportive mentors from the very beginning.”, Dina stated.
“Diversity on the bench,” she had stated then, “is an essential component of a fair and impartial judiciary. She was one of the 10 female judges who joined their ranks in the Supreme Court over the past eight years
She got her start as a defense attorney for the Western Aboriginal Legal Service in 1989, where she represented thousands of Indigenous clients. In 1999 she became a public defender and was appointed the first female Deputy Senior Public Defender in 2013. As judge to the District Court, a role she assumed in May 2014, she pushed for the Walama List.
“It wasn’t easy but I think I’m very privileged to have been given these opportunities,” she said.
