“Justitia wishes to acknowledge the invaluable and long-lasting contribution Mary-Jane has made to the firm and its clients from the day the firm was established,” said co-founder Sarah Rey, who will assume the role of managing partner.

“The appointment is wonderful and highly appropriate recognition of Mary-Jane’s wide-ranging skills and experience, and her principled character. 

“She is a very highly respected member of the profession and my colleagues and I feel much pride in her appointment. She will be greatly missed.”

Ms Ierodiaconou has also worked at Dunhill Madden Butler (now Norton Rose Fulbright) and Blake Dawson Waldron (now Ashurst). She was a councillor of the Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) between 2010 and 2012.

“Mary-Jane was a powerful and inspirational voice on our council, urging more to be done to promote flexible work practices and to fight depression in the legal profession,” said LIV president Katie Miller.

“Through her work as co-founder of Justitia, she demonstrated that it was not only possible to offer flexible work places in the law, but also to be successful as well.

“In doing so, Mary-Jane was a trailblazer in adopting New Law principles for law firm practice.”

As a councillor, Ms Ierodiaconou acted as chair of the Diversity Taskforce, was involved in Lawyers with disAbilities Committee and was a member of the Law Institute Journal editorial committee and LIV Mental Health Steering Committee. 

In 2013, Justitia was announced as Law Firm of the Year by the LIV and in 2014 the firm was awarded the Sir Ken Robinson Award for Workforce Flexibility by the Australian Human Resources Institute.

The federal government also listed Justitia as one of the top 10 pro bono contributors in 2013/2014.