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Experience
Stephanie Carmela Batsakis Brenker has a broad civil practice, practising in commercial law, public law and tort.
Before coming to the Bar, Stephanie was an Associate to the Hon Justice M M Gordon AC at the High Court of Australia.
Stephanie also practised in London and Tokyo as a solicitor in commercial litigation and arbitration: first, as a graduate solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP and then as an associate in general commercial, and banking and finance, litigation at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.
Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford, where she attended on an Allan Myers QC Scholarship. She also holds two first class honours degrees from the University of Melbourne: an undergraduate degree in Arts, which she attended as a Melbourne National Scholar, and a Juris Doctor degree in Law, where she was awarded the Joan Rosanove QC Memorial Prize.
Stephanie read with Meg O’Sullivan KC and her senior mentor was Rowena Orr KC.
Selected cases:
Class actions (commercial and common law)
- Raeken Pty Ltd v James Hardie Industries Plc, Supreme Court of Victoria, ongoing (acting for respondent in shareholder class action) (led by Dr M Rush KC, K Loxley and A Batrouney).
- KTM24 v Rio Tinto Ltd; KXO24 v BHP Group Ltd, Federal Court of Australia, ongoing (acting for applicants in two class actions alleging negligence and sex discrimination at mining sites) (led by K Foley SC and A Edwards).
- Janssen & Anor v OnePath Custodians Pty Ltd & Ors, Federal Court of Australia, 2024, settled (acting for applicants in superannuation class action) (led by Dr K Hanscombe KC and A Folie, with J Page and M Agnoletti).
- Yasmin v Commonwealth [2023] FCA 1661 (acting for Indonesian youth applicants in class action alleging negligence, false imprisonment and breach of Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) due to age assessments based on wrist x-ray analysis. Successfully obtained Court-approved settlement of AU$27.5 million) (led by A Strahan KC, P Tierney and T Jeffrie, with E Brumby and H Canham).
- Southernwood v Brambles Limited, Federal Court of Australia, 2022 (acting for respondent in five-week trial of shareholder class action) (led by M Borsky KC and K Loxley).
- Agnello v Heritage Care Pty Ltd; Fotiadis v St Basil's Homes for the Aged [2021] VSC 838 (successfully defended strike-out applications in class actions acting on behalf of plaintiffs against aged care facilities) (led by A Broadfoot KC)
- Sharma v Minister for the Environment [2021] FCA 560; Sharma v Minister for the Environment (No 2) [2021] FCA 774 (class action on behalf of Australian children, successfully arguing at first instance that Minister owed a duty of care to avoid causing harm to Australian children from climate change by the exercise of her statutory powers). Reversed on appeal: Minister for the Environment v Sharma [2022] FCAFC 35 (led by N Hutley SC, E Nekvapil and K Brazenor, with N Petrie).
Commercial (other)
Public law
Common law (other)
- Tziotzis & Anor v Nine Digital Pty Ltd & Ors, Supreme Court of Victoria, 2025 (acting for defendants in five week defamation trial) (led by S Mukerjea, with C O'Beirne).
- We R Somewhere Pty Ltd & Ors v Legal Practitioners' Liability Committee, Supreme Court of Victoria, 2025 (acting for plaintiffs in professional negligence case, settled part-way through trial) (led by N Andreou then M Tehan).
- Healy v Bird [2022] VSC 823 (successfully defended strike-out application in proceeding alleging novel duties against Catholic Diocese of Ballarat) (unled for hearing of application; led by L de Ferrari SC in matter generally).
- Jackson v Jones [2021] VCC 638 (acting for successful plaintiff in seven-day personal injury and battery trial, obtaining judgment and damages for the plaintiff) (led by P Hayes KC).
- Chen v Gibson Importing Co (Aust) Pty Ltd, Supreme Court of Victoria, 2020 (acting for plaintiff pro bono in 10-day personal injury trial, settled on the 10th day) (led by F McLeod SC and B Johnson).
Awards:
Daniel Pollak Readers’ Award for first-year pro bono advocacy (2021).
From 8 May 2020, liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation