Nola Karapanagiotidis, the new County Court Judge in Victoria

The news of this remarkable young lawyer to reach the position of County judge at the age of 46, is something Greek Australians are extremely proud of, judging from all the comments that are flooding social media platforms. Photo: Supplied

Βικτόρια.- Nola Karapanagiotidis, 46, is the first Greek-Australian woman to have reached the appointment of County Court Judge, a huge recognition for her extensive expertise in the justice system.

The news of this remarkable young lawyer to reach the position of County Court judge at a young age, is something the Greek Australians are particularly proud of, judging from all the comments that are flooding social media platforms.

Ms Karapanagiotidis has led a life inspiring others with her dedication, her work ethic and commitment to social justice. Along with her volunteer work, her work as lawyer and pro bono cases, Ms Karapanagiotidis would also dedicate her time to mentoring many young women taking their first steps in their legal career.

A barrister for close to two decades, Ms Karapanagiotidis has practiced across the Magistrates, County and Supreme Courts and has also appeared in the Federal Court, High Court and coronial inquests. She has previously worked at Victoria Legal Aid and as a solicitor advocate while also holding a range of community based and volunteer legal positions.

Justice, hard work, commitment, seem to be at the very core of everything she has done in her life.

From the age of 18, Ms Karapanagiotidis started volunteering in legal aid centres, while studying for her Law and Arts degree at Melbourne University. She didn’t stop volunteering for the next 28 years, even as she faced difficult personal challenges when she suddenly lost her father just as she started her legal career.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a prouder day,” wrote her brother Kon Karapanagiotidis, a human rights lawyer, activist and founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

“My sister has spent the last 28 years of her life giving, donating thousands and thousands of hours as a volunteer to women’s causes, to refugee causes, to broader social justice causes,” Mr Karapanagiotidis told Neos Kosmos.

“She was my very first volunteer at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. She would do whatever it took. At 28 years of age, just as she was appointed a barrister, she represented us by taking on a case for a person seeking asylum, arguing in the federal court for the first time.

“That is the sort of person my sister is. For the last 20 years she has helped refugees, she has donated all the proceeds back to charity, never kept anything for herself,” her brother says adding how amazed he is of her.

“I don’t know anyone more hardworking or selfless with such integrity and principle, as my sister,” he said, adding that his sister expresses how grateful she is for this recognition and the opportunity, though so humble, that she would rather avoid talking about herself.

A fantastic migrant story

“We often look at migrants as if they come from nothing but we come from such wealth. Wealth of values, community, filoxenia, the love for the stranger, which is at the core of the work we do with my sister,” Mr Karapanagiotidis said.

Their late father, Leo Karapanagiotidis, was of Pontian heritage, so they share a deep understanding for what their grandparents went through, which cultivated in them a fight for justice, standing up to what is fair and what is just and really believing in that.

Their parents arrived in Australia from poverty-stricken Greece after WWII. They were on their own, with hardly any money and could not speak English, but they had the will to work hard to give their children the opportunities they themselves never had.

“My father always dreamt of becoming a lawyer, and my mother, too, would dream of studying, but we were the first to even go to high school. So even going to high school was a big deal for my family,” Mr Karapanagiotidis said.

“When they came here they started working as tobacco farmers in Mt Beauty, and then in factories, when we moved to Melbourne.”
All they wanted, was for their children to have choices, to live out their dreams and fulfil their potential, something they could never do, because of the poverty they grew up in.

The Karapanagiotidis siblings attended Thornbury High after the family moved to Melbourne. Even though their parents wanted to send them to a Greek private school, they both felt very strongly about going to a public school insisting that they didn’t want a privileged education.

Their parents never pressured them to become lawyers, Mr Karapanagiotidis explained.

“They just wanted us to be happy and have the choices that they didn’t have.”

And as their mother, Sia Karapanagiatodis, heard the news she became quite emotional, thinking of how proud their father would have been on this day.

We congratulate and wish Nola Karapanagiotidis all the best in her new role as she continues to inspire us, thanks to her achievements and her deep sense of humanity and social justice.

S: neoskosmos.com