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Experience

Stephanie Carmela Batsakis Brenker has a broad civil practice, practising in commercial law, tort and public law.

Stephanie’s expertise has been recognised by Doyle’s Guide, as a leading Australian class actions barrister.

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, at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP and then 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 (as her Honour then was).

Selected cases:

Commercial

• 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).
  • Raeken Pty Ltd v James Hardie Industries PLC [2024] VSC 173
    
• 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).
  
• 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).
  
• Citius Property Pty Ltd v Logos Australia Group Pty Ltd [2022] VSC 656 (acting for successful defendant in ten-day trial of breach of contract claim) (led by A Strahan KC).
  
• Ford v Commissioner of Taxation, in the matter of Careers Australia Group Limited (in liq); Ford, in the matter of Careers Australia Group Ltd (in liq) v Mansfield, Federal Court of Australia, 2022 (acting for director respondent in insolvency proceedings) (led by A Broadfoot KC).
  • Ford v Commissioner of Taxation, in the matter of Careers Australia Group Limited (in liq) (No 2) [2022] FCA 1151
  • Ford, in the matter of Careers Australia Group Ltd (in liq) v Mansfield [2022] FCA 173
    
• Keybridge Capital Ltd v Bell Potter Securities Ltd [2022] NSWSC 1022 (acting for plaintiff in three-day trial of breach of warranty of authority claim) (led by A Broadfoot KC).
  
• SAS (Vic) Pty Ltd v Urban Ecological Systems Ltd [2021] VCC 31 (acting for successful defendant in three-day trial of breach of contract claim at first instance) (unled). SAS (VIC) Pty Ltd v Urban Ecological Systems Ltd [2021] VSCA 335 (successfully defended judgment on appeal) (led by K O'Gorman).

Common law

• 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, with T Scott).
  
• 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).
  
• Al-Iboody v Crown Melbourne Ltd & Ikon Services Australia Pty Ltd, Supreme Court of Victoria, 2025, settled (acting for employer defendant in case alleging negligence and sexual assault by employee) (led by P Hayes KC).
  
• 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).
  
• Yasmin v Commonwealth [2023] FCA 1661 (acting for Indonesian youth applicants in class action alleging negligence, false imprisonment and racial discrimination 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).
  
• 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).
  
• 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).
  
• 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).
  
• 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).

Public law

• Drumgold v Board of Inquiry & Ors (No. 3) [2024] ACTSC 58 (acting for successful plaintiff in application for judicial review of Board of Inquiry report on grounds of, inter alia, apprehended bias) (led by D O'Gorman SC and S Blewett).
  
• Kuksal v State of Victoria [2023] VSC 625 (acting for IBAC in 9-day hearing of various applications relating to judicial review application) (unled).
  
• Gerner v Victoria [2020] HCA 48 (acting for plaintiff in constitutional law matter) (led by B Walker SC, M Wyles KC and R Pintos-Lopez).
  
• Armidale Regional Council v O'Connor [2020] NSWLEC 77 (acting for successful respondents in two-day trial, defending action to restrain threatened breach of Local Government Act 1993 (NSW)) (led by S Prince SC, F Berglund and T Wong).
  
• Pro bono migration matters: Williams v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2021] FCAFC 182 (unled); SZQKE v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2021] FCA 833 (led by S Prince SC).

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