More than a few pairs of eyes were suspiciously moist in the Local Court as former Sydney prosecutor Imad Abdul-Karim was sworn in as a magistrate.

"I know that my story is part of the Australian story," the 46-year-old said to a packed courtroom on Monday.

Mr Abdul-Karim and Sydney barrister Julie Soars are among the latest recruits to the Local Court and both were celebrated on Monday for breaking stereotypes in the legal profession.

A former Commonwealth prosecutor who oversaw high-profile terrorism cases, including Operation Pendennis which uncovered jihadist cells in Melbourne and Sydney, Mr Abdul-Karim joked that "I lost my hair working on some of these matters".

His father Nicola and mentor, Supreme Court justice Geoffrey Bellew, were among the crowd as the legal profession turned out in support of the former criminal lawyer.

Mr Abdul-Karim's eyes shone with tears as he thanked his late mother Salwa, who came from a "poor and illiterate" background and went on to become a teacher, first in Lebanon and then in Australia.

His voice also cracked as he paid tribute to his wife and "best friend" Salma, an honours law graduate who made "many sacrifices" to allow him "selfishly" to pursue his legal career.

Arthur Moses, SC, the senior vice-president of the Bar Association, said it gave him "added pleasure as a child of Lebanese parents who fled their country to the safety and prosperity of this country as teenagers" to speak at Mr Abdul-Karim's swearing-in ceremony.

"Upon arrival in Australia as a teenager Your Honour was fluent in Arabic and French - but did not speak a single word of English," Mr Moses said.

Mr Abdul-Karim was enrolled at the co-educational Endeavour High School in Caringbah but could not be accepted at the school until he learnt English.

Aged 15, he attended an English course first in an annex to Beverly Hills Girls High School and then an English as a Second Language course at a second all-girls school.

"You were a lucky young man - I was stuck in an all-boys school," quipped Mr Moses.

Mr Abdul-Karim worked as a taxi driver and a kitchen hand to support his young family while he studied Science at the University of Wollongong and later at Western Sydney University Law School, where he was in the first class of graduates.

"You now hold the distinction of being the first judicial appointee from Western Sydney University," Mr Moses said.

Mr Moses said Mr Abdul-Karim and Ms Soars represented "the great diversity of talent and life experiences that are the underlying strength of the legal profession in this state".

Ms Soars, who was in the first female-dominated class to graduate from Sydney Law School in 1988, said her careers counsellor at Port Hacking High School had advised her "not to get my hopes up".

"The challenge helped to fire me up," she said.