On 2 September 1923 , Joan Rosanove (née Lazarus) became the first woman to sign the Bar Roll in Victoria .

When Joan appeared in the High Court in 1924, she was asked " And with whom is my learned friend appearing?" Joan retorted, "I am appearing with myself. I am the leader of the female Bar."

During her first two years as a barrister, Joan had no proper chambers of her own. When one of Joan's colleagues Philip Jacobs offered her his chambers, the news sparked an emergency meeting of the chambers' directors. They threatened to cancel Jacobs' lease if he lent his room to Joan.

Humiliated, Joan left the Victorian Bar in 1925 and established a thriving legal practice as a solicitor specialising largely in matrimonial and criminal cases.

"To be a lawyer, you must have the stamina of an ox, and a hide like a rhinoceros, and when they kick you in the teeth, you must look as if you hadn't noticed it." - Joan Rosanove QC

In 1949, Joan returned to the Bar and accepted a position as a reader to the less experienced Edward Ellis. Joan soon became a prominent barrister in matrimonial law. She could argue a case standing all day - a feat that male barristers had previously deemed too physically demanding for women who sought success at the Bar.

In 1965, Joan was appointed Victoria 's first female Queen's Counsel.

Since her death in 1974, Joan has continued to be remembered for blazing a trail for women at the Bar. In 2000, the Victorian Bar named Joan Rosanove Chambers in her honour.

"I can never see why it is not considered the hallmark of success to have a brain like a woman!" - Joan Rosanove QC

Joan Rosanove QC - 1965 Interview from "On Being a Sheila", courtesy Nine Network Australia.