This week we welcome Her Honour Magistrate Urfa Masood, former criminal barrister, and the first Muslim woman to sit on any bench in Victoria.

Urfa left Sri Lanka and moved to Australia with her immediate family at the age of 11, leaving behind a civil war and a large, deeply connected extended family.

After adjusting quickly to life in Australia and excelling at school, Urfa began her law degree at 16 and graduated with honours.

So when she started applying for legal positions, it was confronting, to say the least, to be met with comments from interview panels like, “No client is going to want to engage someone who looks like you.”

How Urfa got from there to becoming a Victorian Magistrate is a tale of talent, hard work, self-belief, resilience, and a love of the law that just would not leave her alone.

www.greenslist.com.au/podcast