The Honourable Chief Justice Richard Niall was appointed as the 13th Chief Justice of Victoria from 3 February 2025 following a long and distinguished career. His Honour commenced practice in 1990. He was Associate to the Hon Justice Ryan of the Federal Court before signing the Bar Roll in 1995. His Honour was appointed silk in 2010. He was then appointed as Solicitor-General for Victoria in 2015. In 2017 his Honour was appointed as a judge of appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria. The Chief Justice is also the chair of the Judicial College of Victoria and the Judicial Commission of Victoria. The Chief Justice is a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne, teaching public law and separation of powers in the graduate program. His Honour is a Fellow of Monash University and the Australian Academy of Law, and a member of the Australian Judicial Officers Association; the Australian Association of Constitutional Law; and the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration.

The Honourable Justice Lincoln Crowley holds a Bachelor of Laws from James Cook University, a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Queensland University of
Technology and a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Political Science, from the University of New England. He was admitted to practice in Queensland in 1997. His first role after admission was as a solicitor with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service, initially in Townsville and then later in Brisbane. After several years he moved to New
South Wales, where he worked as a senior solicitor within the New South Wales Crown Solicitor’s Office, and later was called to the Sydney private bar. There he practised in
both civil and criminal fields before returning to the public sector as in-house Counsel with the Sydney office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. After
several years in that role his Honour returned to Queensland to take up a position as a Principal Crown Prosecutor for the Queensland Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, before finally settling into practise at the Queensland private bar, where he specialised in crime and all areas of public law for many years. In 2018, his Honour became the first Indigenous person appointed as Queen’s Counsel in and for the State of Queensland. On 13 June 2022, Justice Crowley was sworn in as a judge of the
Supreme Court of Queensland, becoming the first Indigenous judge appointed to a superior court in Australia.

Judge Blake was appointed to the Federal Circuit Court of Australia on 30 January 2019. Prior to his appointment, Judge Blake was a Partner in large law firms where he practised in the areas of Employment, Discrimination, Workplace Safety and Industrial Law. His Honour was consistently recognised as a leading practitioner in these areas. He was considered to be a pre-eminent practitioner in Australia by Asia-Pacific Legal 500 in the area of Employment Law.  He was year after year recognised as a leading practitioner by Best Lawyers and Doyle’s Guide.

Since his appointment, Judge Blake hears cases across the jurisdictions of the Federal Circuit Court including employment disputes, migration, family law, bankruptcy and administrative law.

Justice Hament Dhanji was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of NSW on 20 September 2021.

Justice Dhanji graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts degrees before beginning his career as a solicitor for Legal Aid NSW.

He was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1990 and practiced as a solicitor at the Legal Aid Commission of NSW before being called to the Bar in 1997. He took silk in 2010.

He was a barrister in private practice at Forbes Chambers engaged predominantly in criminal defence work. In addition to first instance work across the range of criminal matters including complex corporate crime matters he had a substantial appellate practice. He appeared as lead counsel in a number of important cases in the High Court and appeared in approximately 350 cases in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

In addition to his defence work Justice Dhanji also conducted prosecutions on behalf of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, appeared as counsel assisting the coroner and represented clients before the Police Integrity Commission and the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Justice Judith Kelly completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973 and a Diploma of Education in 1976, working as a teacher in Batchelor, in the Northern Territory, from 1977 to 1982.  She graduated in Law with honours from the University of Queensland in 1985 and was first admitted as a barrister in Queensland in 1986, then worked as a solicitor in the Northern Territory, becoming a partner of Morris Fletcher and Cross (later Philip & Mitaros, then Clayton Utz).  She went to the independent bar, joining William Forster Chambers in Darwin, in 1996.  Her practice had a focus on commercial litigation, banking and insolvency with some insurance, construction, admiralty and native title law.  She was appointed Senior Counsel in 2008 and a Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in 2009.

Alison is the Executive Director of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration (AIJA). The principal objectives of the AIJA include research into judicial administration and the development and conduct of educational programmes for judicial officers, court administrators and members of the legal profession in relation to court administration and judicial systems. With an Arts/Law degree from The University of Sydney, Alison began her career as a solicitor and then for over 25 years has held executive roles with a variety of professional associations including The Law Society of NSW; The Law Society of England & Wales; and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, where most recently she held the position of NSW Regional Manager. She has also worked in senior marketing positions in law and accounting firms. Since 2014, Alison has been a member of the New South Wales Professional Services Panel for the Winston Churchill Memorial trust.

Magistrate Gett was appointed a Magistrate in January 2013 and thereafter spent three years in Far North Queensland, which included presiding in regional indigenous communities in Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands. Prior to becoming a Magistrate, he was admitted as a barrister and spent almost thirteen years at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions as a federal prosecutor.

For some eight of those years as a Federal Prosecutor he worked mainly in the prosecution of child exploitation offences.  He appeared as counsel in the prosecution of such offences in all courts from the High Court of Australia to the Magistrates Court of Queensland.  He has presented papers at numerous international and domestic conferences on child exploitation offences, including as a keynote speaker to the Council of the European Union in 2012 in Copenhagen.

More recently in 2015 and in 2016, Magistrate Gett travelled to various parts of Indonesia on nine occasions as part of an Australian Government assistance program for judicial co-operation and capacity building with that country’s judicial officers.  Magistrate Gett has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian-based International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law since 2004 and in 2019 he won that society’s President’s Medal.

Justice Raper was appointed to the Federal Court in 2022. Prior to her Honour’s appointment, she was a barrister for 17 years practising primarily in employment and industrial disputes, and discrimination and administrative law matters. Her Honour was made Senior Counsel in 2019. Her Honour has been a lecturer at the University of Sydney – Law School for many years, lecturing in the undergraduate and post-graduate programmes primarily in employment and discrimination law. Her Honour together with Chris Ronalds AO SC, has co-authored two editions of the legal text Discrimination Law and Practice (Federation Press).

Mark joined National Accreditation Authority for Translators (NAATI) as Chief Executive Officer in July 2015 and has overseen the organisational transformation of NAATI including the implementation of the national system of Certification.

Prior to this appointment, he held a number of corporate and operational roles at senior executive levels in the Australian Public Service. In addition to his public sector career, Mark also has experience as a Director on a commercial board and a number of governance and audit committees. He has also been a lecturer/tutor at TAFE and university levels.

Mark holds a Master of Public Administration, a Graduate Certificate in Management and a Bachelor of Business Degree. Mark is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Institute of Management and Leadership and an Executive Fellow of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG).

Judge Soulio was appointed to the District Court of South Australia in 2006. His Honour has been the Chair of the Migrant Resource Centre of South Australia since 2003. He was Chair of the Australian Multicultural Council between 2011 and 2014 and in that capacity was a member of the national Access and Equity Inquiry Panel which conducted an inquiry into the availability and accessibility of government services to people from culturally diverse backgrounds. Between 2011 and 2014 he also served as a member of the National Anti-Racism Partnership Strategy. Judge Soulio was previously Deputy Chair of the Australian Multicultural Advisory Council, which provided advice to government on multicultural policy, until the completion of the Advisory Council’s term in 2011.

Judge Pillay was appointed to the County Court of Victoria in August 2019. Judge Pillay sits in the Common Law Division and hears trials involving work accidents, transport accidents and medical negligence.

Prior to his appointment, Judge Pillay worked as a solicitor before then signing the Victorian Bar roll in 2003 where he worked mainly in the occupational health and safety, administrative law and personal injury fields.

Whilst at the Victorian Bar, Judge Pillay appeared in a number of complex matters including appearing in the first case of damages brought by an asylum seeker for injuries sustained while detained on Manus Island in February 2014. He also represented numerous statutory bodies including the Medical Panels Victoria, the Nurses Board of Victoria, the Victims of Crimes Assistance Tribunal and the Legal Aid Commission.

Ms Wilshire is the CEO of the Migration Council Australia (MCA). The MCA was set up to provide independent research and policy advice on migration, settlement and social cohesion. Ms Wilshire has a background in public policy and has worked as public servant and advisor to Government on multicultural affairs. She has a background in tertiary research and policy development.

Justice Wood was appointed to the Supreme Court of Tasmania on 9 November 2009. Prior to this appointment Her Honour served as a Magistrate, and was the first woman appointed to that role in Tasmania. Previously, Justice Wood practised in criminal law as Crown Counsel with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and later in civil litigation as a barrister and solicitor with a Hobart law firm. Her Honour has a longstanding interest in human rights and equal opportunity matters, having served as Chairperson of the Sex Discrimination Tribunal (1996-1999) and the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal (1999-2009).

Ms Una Doyle is the Chief Executive of the Judicial Commission of NSW, and was previously the Director, Education at the Commission since December 2015. She has worked for over 22 years in law, legal education and executive management. Previously Ms Doyle was the Head of Professional Development, Membership and Communications, at the Law Society of NSW and the Director of Continuing Professional Education at the College of Law. She is a past President of ACLEA, the International Association for Continuing Legal Education (2016–2017) and co-chaired ACLEA’s International Committee from 2007-2009. She was President of the Continuing Legal Education Association of Australasia from 2005-2007, and has served as a member of its Executive for five terms, including as Treasurer from 2019 to 2021.

Justice Marcus Solomon was appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia as a Judge of the Court on 4 August 2021.

Justice Solomon graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Western Australia, and commenced his legal career in 1991, where he completed his articles of clerkship at Dwyer Durack. From 1992-2000, Justice Solomon continued at Dwyer Durack, attaining partnership in 1995. From 2000-2006, he worked at Gadens Lawyers, where he was the managing partner and senior property and litigation partner. In September 2006, Justice Solomon joined the Independent Bar. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2013, undertaking a wide commercial practice until his appointment to the Bench.

Alongside his judicial career, Justice Solomon remains a teacher of Jewish studies and the senior rabbi of the Beit Midrash of WA Inc., an institution dedicated to advanced Jewish studies and Talmudic law for both children and adults.   He is the first rabbi to be appointed as a Supreme Court justice in Australia or elsewhere.  Justice Solomon is also the Governor of the Carmel School Board, the community school of the Perth Jewish community where he taught Jewish studies prior to completing his legal studies.

Ms Karen Gregory is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Judicial College of Australia. Prior to this role, she was the Education Director and Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the NJCA. Karen is an exceptionally experienced educator, having worked in senior roles at the College level, where she created centres of excellence, devised curriculum, designed and developed innovative education programs. Prior to becoming an educator, Karen spent almost ten years as a lawyer in private practice at Kings & Wood Mallesons in Canberra, Allens Linklaters and KPMG Legal in Sydney. Prior to this, she worked and played as a tennis professional in Australia and overseas.

Karen has a Bachelor of Business Administration (Marketing) from Texas Christian University, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney, a Diploma of Legal Practice from the NSW College of Law and a Diploma of Teaching (Secondary) from the University of Canberra.

Justice Kari was appointed to the Division 1 of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia in October 2021. Prior to her appointment, to Division 1, she served as a Judge of Division 2 of the Court from March 2019.

Her Honour holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Adelaide. She has practiced almost exclusively in family law throughout her career; including admission to practice in England and Wales while working in London as a solicitor. Her Honour worked as a solicitor in private practice before moving to the independent Bar to practice exclusively as a Barrister in 2010.

During her time in practice, her Honour was the Chair of the Family Law Committee of the Law Society of South Australia, an active member of the Family Law Section of Law Council and a Council Member of the South Australian Bar Association. In addition to these responsibilities, she wrote and presented numerous papers and articles. Her Honour Co-Chaired the National Conference held by the Family Law Section of Law Council in Adelaide in 2022, and since her appointment has remained a regular presenter and contributor of professional education seminars.

Both of her Honour’s parents migrated to Australia from Greece as young children. At the time of her appointment to Division 1, her Honour was the first Judge appointed to the Court of Greek heritage. Her Honour speaks fluent Greek and is a member of the Supervisory Committee of the Hellenic Studies Foundation of South Australia.

Kate is the CEO of the Judicial College of Victoria, which exists to inform, support and enrich all judicial officers in the State of Victoria. Prior to joining the College, Kate worked for several years across legal policy, people services, performance & strategy at the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria. Kate’s career spanned two decades working in private practice and as in-house counsel in Australia, the UK and Oman, before returning to work with the court system in Victoria.