Beryl Donkin was appointed as Assistant Secretary of the Queensland Law Society on 24 April 1941, at the salary of £4 per week. Thirteen years later she assumed the statutory position of "Secretary" of the QLS - the first female secretary of a Law Society in the British Commonwealth, a position which earned her Honorary Membership of the English Law Society.

For the next 27 years, Beryl was responsible for the day-to-day management of the Society’s office, gaining respect and notoriety amongst the law societies of the English speaking world. By 1974, Beryl managed her own administrative staff. In 1975 her "dedicated and untiring services to the Queensland Law Society" resulted in the award of an OBE. For 40 years, Beryl worked with utmost dedication to the profession and she retired from the Society in 1981. Five years later the Society’s rules were changed to allow Beryl to be made an Honorary Life Member of the QLS.

Beryl was the only Honorary Member of the Women Lawyers' Association of Queensland and following her retirement, she spent more of her time assisting the Social Secretary of the WLAQ.

Beryl died on 1 February 1991.

"It has become commonplace to eulogise Miss Beryl Donkin....But only a President can really know her boundless energy, her inimitable interest and her unparalleled efficiency in every phase of her work."

John Casey

President of the QLS 1957