Gillian Doreen Triggs AC (born 30 October 1945) is an Australian and British public international lawyer, specialising in human rights and trade and commercial law.

Her father was a major in the British Army, and her mother a WREN (member of the Women's Royal Navy Service).

[1][2] After her admission to the Supreme Court of Victoria as a barrister and solicitor in 1969,[2] Triggs gained a scholarship to Southern Methodist University in Texas and was awarded a Master of Laws in 1972.

From 2000 until 2004 she was associate dean of the School of Graduate Studies, and also held a number of other roles within the Faculty of Law during this time.

Following the resignation of Helen Szoke, she was Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner from 30 July 2012 to 19 August 2013, until Tim Soutphommasane was appointed to the role.

[17] From this time, there was an increase in tensions between the Australian Government under Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Office of the President of the HRC.

[19] She received significant public support, and a censure motion was passed in the Senate against Attorney-General George Brandis over his attacks on her as the president of the HRC.

[22] One of the students was alleged to have breached Section 18C because of a Facebook post which read: "Just got kicked out of the unsigned Indigenous computer room.

[23][24][25] In November 2016, the Federal Court threw out the lawsuit and Judge Michael Jarrett concluded the claim had no reasonable prospects of success.

[22] Tony Morris, the lawyer who represented the students, claimed that Triggs was to blame for the case making it to court after 14 months.

[29] An article by two authors affiliated with the Liberal Party and a PhD student, published in The Conversation, questioned why the AHRC did not initially reject the complaints.

[48] Among others, past roles include: Apart from the countries mentioned above, Triggs has also worked in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Germany, and Iran.

[50] Triggs first married Melbourne law professor Sandy Clark, with whom she had two daughters and a son in close succession.

Their third child, Victoria, was profoundly disabled,[50][20] being born with a rare chromosomal abnormality called Edwards syndrome, and was not expected to live.