Katherine accepts briefs in all areas of commercial and corporate law.
She also accepts (and encourages!) direct briefs from in-house counsel (and is always happy to discuss the in-house counsel direct briefing process with anyone who might be interested).
More generally, wherever possible, Katherine prefers to receive electronic briefs, as she finds that these are more cost effective, convenient and efficient than paper briefs. She is always very happy to discuss the most effective way in which instructors may provide briefing materials to Counsel, in order to expedite the briefing process for all concerned.
In terms of her educational achievements, Katherine has a Bachelor of Laws degree with First Class Honours and a Bachelor of Science degree with a Genetics major, both from the University of Melbourne (2008).In 2022, she completed her study of a Master of Business Administration and is also enrolled in paramedics college to study Emergency Medicine.
Before coming to the Bar, Katherine was an Associate at the Federal Court of Australia, first to the Honourable Justice Michelle Gordon in 2011, and then to the Honourable Justice John Middleton in 2012 and 2013. Prior to that Katherine was a solicitor at Arnold Bloch Leibler, in the firm’s Litigation department.
Since coming to the Bar, Katherine has been briefed to act for a range of regulators, government departments, companies and individuals. She appears both led and unled in all Victorian and federal tribunals and courts.
She has worked on a range of complex matters, involving banking and finance, bankruptcy, insolvency, taxation, intellectual property, health, civil penalties, class actions, professional negligence and corporations law (including a number of matters involving liquidators’ examinations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)).
She has also worked on numerous regulatory and disciplinary matters (both advice and appearance work), involving entities such as the Medical Board of Australia, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Australian Tax Office and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
She also has considerable Royal Commission experience, having been briefed in the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements and the Royal Commission into the Casino Operator and Licence. Katherine also appeared in the COVID-19 Hotel Quarantine Inquiry in 2020.
Katherine has previously been a reporter for the Thomson Reuters Federal Law Reports and Federal Court Reports, and a member of the teaching staff at Monash University Law School (where she taught a mixture of undergraduate, postgraduate (JD) and Masters classes).
Until early 2023, Katherine was the Chairperson of the Firearms Appeals Committee, a statutory body (independent of government) established under the Firearms Act 1996 (Vic) to determine applications for review of certain decisions of the Chief Commissioner of Police made under that Act.
In October 2017, Katherine won the award for “Barrister of the Year” at the Lawyers’ Weekly Women in Law Awards. In August 2018, Katherine won the award for “Barrister of the Year” at the Lawyers’ Weekly Australian Law Awards. She is frequently listed in Doyle’s Guide.
Katherine read with Andrew Hanak KC of the Victorian Bar.
Click here to view Katherine’s CV.
*Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation