David enjoys a busy mediation practice after 30 years appearing for plaintiffs and defendants in common law trials as well as other jurisdictions including racing tribunals.
His areas of expertise includes TAC claims, Medical Negligence, Insurance, Personal Injuries, Professional Negligence, Sports Law, WorkCover/ComCare and Torts.
Mediations are able to be held in his own Mediation Centre located on Level 10, 488 Bourke St Melbourne.
He is currently the Secretary of the Common Law Bar Assocation Committee and the List Secretary of Dever's List.
Sarah practices in a wide range of civil litigation including commercial and common law. She has a particular interest in contractual disputes and personal injury law including worker's compensation, TAC, public liability and medical negligence claims.
Since signing the Bar Roll in April 2015, Sarah has appeared in stautory benefits claims, interlocutory proceedings, serious injury applications and damages trials. She has experience drafting pleadings, interrogatories, serious injury documents and advices.
Prior to coming to the bar, Sarah was Associate to Justice Tracey AM RFD at the Federal Court of Australia. She completed her articles in Maurice Blackburn. As a solicitor, Sarah worked in a range of areas, including medical negligence, workcover and comcare.
Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Japanese) and a Juris Doctor (with Honours). She read with James Nixon, and her Senior Mentor was Mary Anne Hartley QC.
From 1st May 2015, liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation.
Denis was a partner of Macpherson and Kelley Solicitors where he practiced in all aspects of Family Law, de facto matrimonial relationships and family violence cases as an Accredited Family Law Specialist. He has continued his focus on advising and representing clients in these areas since coming to the Bar in 2000. He has a special interest in conducting and appearing at mediations.
Denis is a nationally accredited Mediator and a qualified Family Law Arbitrator.
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation.
Works at trial and appellate level and in recent years has appeared in a number of special leave applications and full appeals in the High Court in the area of Tort Law.
Since coming to the Bar Carmelina has predominantly appeared in personal injury related matters. She regularly appears in damages trials, serious injury applications, review hearings and appeals. Carmelina prepares advice and paperwork in relation to transport accidents, workplace injuries, medical negligence and public liability matters
Some recent matters and appearances include:
Prior to coming to the Bar Carmelina was a Senior Solicitor at the Transport Accident Commission.
From 23 Oct 2014, liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation
Practises exclusively in Family Law.
Ben accepts briefs in all area of criminal law. Ben also accepts briefs to advise and appear in common law matters, with particular focus on personal injury, intentional torts and insurance law.
He is available to appear in all metropolitan and regional courts.
Prior to coming to the Bar, Ben was Associate to his Honour Judge Brookes of the County Court of Victoria. He provided legal support to his Honour and gained practical experience across the common law and criminal law divisions. Within the criminal division Ben assisted with the hearing and management of criminal trials, pleas, bail applications and appeals from the Magistrates’ Court. In the common law division Ben assisted his Honour in the hearing and management of civil trials (jury and judge alone), serious injury applications and interlocutory matters.
Previously Ben was Associate to his Honour Judge Murphy of the County Court of Victoria and assisted him in the commercial, common law, criminal law divisions and in the management of the Confiscation List.
Ben has previously undertaken work at the Wyndham Legal Service primarily in the areas of Youth Crime and as a Family Violence Intervention Order duty lawyer, appearing in the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria and Children’s Court.
Ben read with Dugald McWilliams.
From 7 May 2021, liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation.
Judicial Background
The Hon Marilyn Warren AC QC is the former Chief Justice of Victoria (2003-2017).
At the time she stepped down she was the longest serving of the then state and
federal Chief Justices.
Earlier she was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria (1998-2003) including
sitting as the Judge in Charge of the Commercial List and the Corporations List (now
combined as the Commercial Court). She presided over hundreds of commercial
trials and appeals.
Arbitrations
The former Chief Justice presently sits as a domestic and international arbitrator.
She is a member of the Dawson Chambers Senior Arbitration Group.
She is co-author with Croft and Stamboulakis of the major arbitration text,
International and Australian Commercial Arbitration (LexisNexis 2021).
As a former elite athlete (Squash), and former sports appellate tribunal member, she
also sits on international and national sports arbitrations and mediations.
Academia
She is a Vice Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow of Monash University and a member
of the Monash University Global Leaders’ Summit.
As a Professor, she is involved in teaching advanced commercial law, international
arbitration and transnational dispute resolution in the Monash University Faculty of
Law postgraduate programs.
She was the Judge in Residence 2020-21 at the University of Melbourne Law
School.
Professional Life
The former Chief Justice has been a member of the Victorian Bar since 1985. She
was appointed a Queen’s Counsel (QC) in 1997. At the Bar she practised in
commercial and administrative law including environmental, town planning and local
government law.
Appointments
Lieutenant Governor of Victoria (2006-2017)
Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)
Former Chair: Courts Council of Victoria; Judicial Commission of Victoria; Judicial
College of Victoria; Victoria Law Foundation; Council of Legal Education; and
Council of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine
Founding Member of the Board of Governors of the Asian Business Law Institute
Contact c/- Dever’s List, Sir Owen Dixon Chambers, 205 William St, Melbourne,
Victoria, Australia, 3000; telephone +61 3 92257999;
email jdever@vicbar.com.au or pdever@vicbar.com.au
The Hon Ross Robson QC was admitted in 1972, signing the Victorian Bar Roll in 1973.
He had a very busy practice as a barrister and later as a silk, appearing in some of the important trials in and out of Victoria.
In addition to his practice Ross was chairman and director of Barristers Chambers Limited and Barfund Pty Ltd and a trustee of the Victorian Bar Superannuation Fund for over twenty years.
He was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2007, where he was the Head of Corporations List until 2016.
Ross returns to the Victorian Bar to provide strategic advice to clients and as a Mediator or Arbitrator.
Michael accepts commercial law and taxation law briefs.
Before coming to the Bar, Michael was a Managing Solicitor in the Tax Controversy and Dispute Resolution team at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Michael was involved in some of Australia’s largest and most complex tax disputes. He advised on a variety of technical areas including income tax, Part IVA, transfer pricing, capital/revenue, land tax, GST and R&D. He worked with a diverse range of clients from multinational corporations to individual taxpayers.
Michael has twice been recognised as a finalist in Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 awards for Tax (2019, 2020). He was recently a member of the Tax Institute of Australia’s Young Professionals Board where he organised panel discussions on the topic of dispute resolution.
After graduating, Michael worked at Telstra as a Product Strategy Analyst focusing on the development of new consumer products. While at Telstra Michael spent time as in-house-counsel where he provided legal advice to Telstra’s operational divisions.
A former Senior Student of Trinity College, Michael graduated with a Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne. He is a candidate for the Master of Laws program at the University of Melbourne.
Michael read with Charles Parkinson SC and his senior mentor is Philip Solomon QC.
Recent cases:
Toma v Workforce Recruitment and Labour Services Pty Ltd [2022] FCAFC 100;
McConvill & Associates v Carbone [2022] FCA 265;
From 22 Oct 2021, liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation.
Rachel practices in common law, family law and general commercial law.
Rachel has experience acting in a broad range of common law matters for both plaintiffs and defendants. She has a particular interest in personal injury and professional negligence claims.
She appears in the Supreme, County and Magistrates’ Courts of Victoria in damages trials, statutory recovery proceedings, serious injury applications, interlocutory applications and Workcover/TAC statutory benefits applications. She appears led and unled.
Rachel is also briefed to prepare advices, statements of claim, serious injury applications, Medical Panel referrals and interrogatories/answers to interrogatories.
Rachel has a general commercial practice, including contract claims and property disputes.
Rachel is also experienced in representing clients in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Divisions 1 and 2) in all aspects of family law litigation. She is regularly briefed to advise and appear (led and unled) in complex property and parenting matters. She is also regularly briefed for third parties in property proceedings.
Before coming to the Bar, Rachel was the senior associate to the Honourable Justice Incerti at the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Prior to working as an associate, Rachel worked as a solicitor in the family law and commercial litigation and insolvency teams at a national firm.
Rachel read with Dugald McWilliams and her senior mentor is Ross Gillies QC.
From 27 October 2017, liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation
Ed has a broad commercial practice, including financial services, international arbitration, professional negligence, civil fraud, class actions, corporations, insolvency, and regulatory matters. He also acts in media / defamation matters and disciplinary proceedings.
Ed has been recognised in Doyle's Guide as a leading commercial litigation and dispute resolution barrister in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Ed graduated with first class honours in law from Melbourne University and completed the BCL (Distinction) at the University of Oxford in 2011.
From 1st May 2015, liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation.
Retired 2023
Retired 2023
Retired 2023
Sashi has a broad national practice with primary focus on Federal and State government work. She regularly appears as lead counsel in appellate and judicial review work in the Federal Court, State Supreme Courts and the High Court.
Her broad areas of practice span public law, commercial, common law and also include: law enforcement and regulatory law, administrative law, migration, taxation, corporate and personal insolvency, corporations law, constitutional law, consumer protection and trade practices, superannuation, and veterans’ law.
Sashi has held a national retainer as senior counsel since 2007 for significant law enforcement litigation and advising work on behalf of the Commonwealth. As junior counsel she was retained to conduct immigration cases for the Commonwealth in the Federal Court. She has conducted in excess of 200 migration matters including Full Court appeals involving test points in the Federal Court on behalf of the Commonwealth. Sashi has been recognised in Doyles “Best Barristers” guide. She holds a top-secret security clearance from the Commonwealth.
She is currently acting as lead counsel for the Commissioner of Police (Vic) in various Gobbo related and significant litigation pending in the Victorian Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
She has appeared as lead counsel in (a) well in excess of 100 Full Court of the Federal Court appeals and judicial reviews (b) several State Supreme Court appeals and judicial reviews and (c) well in excess of 300 first instance matters in the Federal Court involving significant test points and statutory construction issues involving federal law matters. She has also appeared as junior to the Solicitor General of the Commonwealth in several significant High Court matters for the Commonwealth.
Some of the more notable appearances are as follows:
Full Court of the Federal Court
Lead counsel in the following significant appeals involving federal laws:
Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police v Oke (Legality of AFP search warrants tested) JJ v Board of the Australian Crime Commission; C Incorporated v Australian Crime Commission; S v Australian Crime Commission; CC Pty Ltd v Australian Crime Commission; P* v Board of the Australian Crime Commission; GG v Australian Crime Commission; and CXXXVIII v The Commonwealth (Administrative Law – statutory construction – test cases on legality of executive acts of the Commonwealth)
Significant Supreme Court matters including Intermediate Appellate Courts
Acted as lead counsel in the following significant cases:
High Court matters
Appeared with the Solicitor General of the Commonwealth in the following significant matters involving federal laws:
Acted as lead counsel in other Federal Court significant cases in which she has acted as lead counsel
Prior to joining the Bar, Sashi was an Associate to the Chief Justice of Tasmania, Sir Guy Green and then Senior Executive Officer and General Counsel with the Australian Government Solicitor. As General Counsel for the AGS she appeared as lead counsel in a wide range of federal law appellate and trial proceedings including public and administrative law, tax, veterans matters, migration, corporate and personal insolvency, trade practices and constitutional law matters.
Sashi’s resume including details of significant court appearance is annexed here
MEMBERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATIONS
Vice Chairperson of the Essoign Club (Victorian Bar)
Women Barristers' Association
Member of the Australian Constitutional Law Association
Asian Australian Lawyers Association
Sashi has formerly served as a member of the South Australian Bar Council and Chairperson of the SA women at the Bar Committee of the SA Bar, the Deputy Chairperson of the SA Disciplinary Appeals Tribunal and the Vic Bar Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She has been a mentor of Indigenous law students.
Articled to Messrs. Kenna Croxford where he was exposed to criminal and commercial litigation. Later as a Senior Associate with Clayton Utz he practised in corporate and commercial litigation including Securities Law, Takeovers, Corporate Crime, Insolvency and matters relating to the exercise of power by the Australian Securities Commission (serving a secondment with the ASC). For two years, James worked in stockbroking with a special interest in derivative markets.
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation.
Retired from practice.
From 2nd Dec 2010, liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards legislation.
Retired as of July 1st 2023