Jennifer Ann Coate AO (born 8 February 1953)[1] is an Australian jurist.

[5] On 11 January 2013, Judge Coate was named as one of the six Royal Commissioners appointed to investigate child sexual abuse by the Australian government Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

[7] Coate is reportedly highly respected in legal circles as an extremely bright, thoughtful lawyer, who occasionally acts unconventionally to demonstrate a point.

In 1993, when Coate had only recently been appointed a magistrate, a controversy broke out in a Victorian court, when a female solicitor was criticized by a judge for coming to court in polka-dot stockings and a suit with a skirt that finished above the knee.

In a silent protest against her colleague's comments, Coate spent the remainder of the week dressed in outlandishly coloured and patterned stockings, ensuring that she was seen widely and publicly in Melbourne's legal precinct.