Educated at Cleveland State Primary School and Somerville House, Naida Haxton graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Arts in 1963 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1965. In 1966 she completed her three year articles of clerkship under Elizabeth Hart at Flower & Hart. Naida then decided to go to the Bar rather than be a solicitor and was the first woman to practice at the Bar in Queensland.

When she first went to the Bar, she was required to robe in the Supreme Court in a room shared with the all-male Bar members. To overcome the problems this presented, she had a jacket designed which resembled a bar jacket under robes but which was suitable to be worn as a suit jacket on the street. Nevertheless, she was instructed by the Chief Justice to use another room to robe when it was revealed that she had seen a barrister "shirtless and in his singlet".

Naida was invited to a number of functions involving Bar members. They were often held at locations which required her to be escorted through back doors because women were not allowed on the premises.

Naida's first appearance was an undefended divorce matter in Chambers. In 1967 she received her first junior brief in the Supreme Court and in 1969, her first brief in the High Court.

As well as maintaining a busy practice Naida lectured at the University of Queensland, was a member of a large number of committees and was frequently invited to give speeches to women's organisations.

I firmly believe that I was admitted to practice as a "barrister" not as a "female barrister" or as a "woman barrister".

In 1971, Naida married and moved to Sydney. There she practised at the NSW Bar, continued to lecture and became very involved in Law Reporting. From 1972 to 1981 she was Editor of the PNGLR and in 1981 was appointed Assistant Editor of the NSWLR. In 2000, Naida was appointed Editor of the NSWLR.