Profile
Julie was admitted to the legal profession on 1 April 1996 and signed the Bar Roll on 26 October 2017.
Julie practises in commercial law, public and administrative law, coronial inquests and inquiries and crime, and is available to accept briefs in these areas.
Background
Prior to joining the Bar, Julie was the Human Rights and Youth Justice Adviser to Victoria’s Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People. She was also a Senior Adviser of the Koori Justice Unit within the Victorian Department of Justice and has worked with the United Nations Serious Crimes Unit in Timor-Leste.
In 2016, Julie was invited to participate as an expert panellist in the Regional Consultation on Transitional Justice for the Asia-Pacific in Colombo, Sri Lanka, co-hosted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence on the topic of Reparations through a gender perspective – the case of Indigenous Peoples in Australia.
In 2012, Julie was engaged by the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service (now Djirra) to research and write the organisation’s ten-year history. The book, entitled “A Force to Be Reckoned With”, was launched at the first national conference on Aboriginal family violence in Melbourne, accompanied by a screening of the short film Julie co-produced documenting the history of the service.
Barrister at Victorian Bar
Public and Administrative Law
Julie accepts briefs to advise and appear in all public and administrative law matters. As a barrister with a focus on public and administrative law, Julie is sought after mainly in appearance and advice work in the County Court and Supreme Court. She has appeared in professional disciplinary and discrimination hearings in VCAT.
Julie also accepts briefs to appear and advise in coronial inquests. In June 2022, she was instrumental in assisting the National Justice Project in making a successful submission to the NSW State Coroner to resume an historical inquest into the death of two Aboriginal girls in Bourke in 1987.
Commercial Law
Julie accepts briefs to appear and advise in commercial law. She came to the Bar equipped with a diverse background in legal, commercial and policy roles. She has extensive experience in the private, government and not-for-profit sectors. Having commenced her career in commercial litigation and then in property, planning and environmental law with Dunhill Madden Butler (now Norton Rose Fulbright), Julie has undertaken a range of legal, commercial, management and consulting roles in Australia and overseas and with government departments and agencies.
Her diverse experience, together with her commercial expertise, provides her with a unique ability to deal with complex corporate disputes and provide practical, clear and concise advice and advocacy.
Criminal Law
Julie also accepts briefs to appear and advise in criminal law. She has appeared as Junior Counsel in criminal trials as well as numerous pleas, committals, contravention hearings and bail applications in the Magistrates’, County Court and Supreme Court (including pleas in the Koori Court). She has also provided assistance to the RMIT Innocence Initiative which works to address wrongful convictions in the justice system.
Qualifications and Awards
Julie holds a Master of Public and International Law, with a focus on human rights, a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne.
In 2020, she was awarded a position in the Victorian Legal Aid Trial Counsel Development Program that is designed to deliver on-the-job training and mentoring to selected Junior Counsel at the Bar by partnering her with a senior trial advocate in criminal trials.
In 2016, she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study international models of truth-telling and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. This fellowship is awarded to Australians who are innovative, filled with a spirit of determination and who possess a strong ethos of wanting to benefit the community rather than themselves.
Directorships and Committees
Julie holds several directorships, including Cool Australia Ltd and the Mai Wiru Sugar Challenge Foundation Ltd.
She is a current member of the Law Council of Australia’s Indigenous Legal Issues Committee, the Victorian Bar’s Indigenous Justice Committee and Human Rights Committee and the Judicial Officers’ Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Committee.
Julie is an Ambassador of, and adviser to, the Bridge of Hope Foundation which, among other things, supports girls and young women transitioning from out-of-home care to independent living.
From 2019 to 2021, Julie was the representative of the Bar who co-ordinated the Victorian Bar Pacific Rim Training Program in conjunction with the Legal Training Institute in Papua New Guinea.
From 2016 to 2018, Julie was the Chair of the Law Institute of Victoria’s Reconciliation and Advancement Committee.
Julie read with Anna Robertson (now Judge Robertson). Her Senior Mentors are Susan Brennan SC and Julian McMahon AC SC.
Commercial Law
+61 3 9225 7222
clerkb@greenslist.com.au