Female High Court judges are "far more likely" than their male counterparts to be interrupted by lawyers during oral argument and appear to be "subject to the same dominating behaviours" in court that women may expect in everyday conversation with men, a study has found.

The research, to be published later this year by the Melbourne University Law Review, also found the rate of interruption of female judges "counter-intuitively increased" after the High Court's first female chief justice, Susan Kiefel, took on the top job in 2017.

Chief Justice Susan Kiefel, pictured in November 2016. Credit:Robert Shakespeare

The study by Sydney graduate lawyer Amelia Loughland analysed 2.5 years of transcripts of High Court full bench hearings, starting in June 2015 when Justice Michelle Gordon's appointment took the number of female judges to a historic high of three of seven members.

The research concluded at the end of 2017, covering the retirement of Chief Justice Robert French and Chief Justice Kiefel's first year in the role.