Katherine Bourke

Last updated

Judge
Katherine Louise Bourke
Judge of the County Court of Victoria
Assumed office
11 December 2007
Personal details
Born (1961-07-05) 5 July 1961 (age 62)
Nationality Australian
EducationO'Neill College
Presentation Convent
University of Melbourne
OccupationJudge, lawyer

Katherine Louise Bourke is an Australian lawyer and judge. She has been a Judge of the County Court of Victoria since December 2007.

Contents

Biography

Judge Bourke was born in Melbourne on 5 July 1961. She is one of five children, all girls, of Dr John Bourke AM . [1] Bourke was educated by the Presentation Sisters, first at O'Neill College and then at Presentation Convent. She was dux of her school in her final year, and finished in the top hundred students in the state. She subsequently studied Arts and Laws at the University of Melbourne, graduating B.A and LL.B. She later completed a Master of Laws degree from UM; her thesis was Crimes Compensation.

While in secondary school Bourke played cello in the school orchestra and in the State Catholic Schools orchestra. At UM she played competitive soccer, and was a foundation member of the University Women's Soccer Club at UM. After sustaining an injury from playing soccer, Bourke later underwent extensive knee reconstructive surgery.

Bourke completed her Articles of Clerkship at Ford & Co, solicitors (later Nevett Ford) and subsequently worked for that firm as a solicitor and as an associate partner. She was called to the Victorian Bar in 1989, and practiced as a barrister for 18 years, principally in the common law jurisdictions of the Victorian courts, before being appointed to bench of the County Court of Victoria (2007) by the Attorney-General of Victoria, Rob Hulls.

Bourke was appointed Chair of the Bookmakers and Bookmakers' Clerks Registration Committee in 2000. She also served on the Victorian Bar Council from 2000 to 2002.

In 2014 Bourke's younger sister Claire Quin was also appointed a judge of the County Court. [2]

Horse racing interests

Bourke was born into a prominent horse-racing family. Her father was Chief Veterinary Surgeon for the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) for many years. Her paternal uncle, David Bourke CBE, was VRC chairman for 7 years.

Judge Bourke has been part-owner of several race horses and in July 2004 was elected to the committee of the Victoria Racing Club, of which she remains a director.

Related Research Articles

The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to the bar". "The bar" is now used as a collective noun for barristers, but literally referred to the wooden barrier in old courtrooms, which separated the often crowded public area at the rear from the space near the judges reserved for those having business with the court. Barristers would sit or stand immediately behind it, facing the judge, and could use it as a table for their briefs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Gavan Duffy</span> Australian judge

Sir Frank Gavan DuffyKCMG PC KC was an Australian judge who served as the fourth Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1931 to 1935. His total service on the High Court of Australia was from 1913 to 1935. Prior to his judicial career, he was one of Victoria's most prominent barristers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magistrates' Court of Victoria</span> Lower court of Victoria, Australia

The Magistrates' Court of Victoria is the lowest court in the Australian state of Victoria.

Marilyn Louise Warren is a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria and lieutenant-governor of Victoria, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Madden (judge)</span> Australian politician

Sir John Madden, was an Australian judge and politician who was the fourth and longest-serving Chief Justice of Victoria, in office from 1893 until his death. He was acting governor on a number of occasions.

Arthur Warren Samuels was an Irish Unionist Alliance Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom Parliament and subsequently a judge. The Irish Unionists were the Irish wing of the Conservative Party.

John Spence Winneke, was a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria and President of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian state of Victoria.

John David Phillips KC is an Australian lawyer and judge who served on the Supreme Court of Victoria from 1990 to 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Coate</span> Australian judge

Jennifer Ann Coate is an Australian jurist. Coate was a Judge of the Family Court of Australia and one of the six Royal Commissioners appointed by the Australian government Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Sir Edward Eyre Williams was an English-Australian lawyer, politician and judge. He was a nominated member of the Victorian Legislative Council and Solicitor-General of Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Kendal Bushe</span> Irish lawyer and judge (1767–1843)

Charles Kendal Bushe, was an Irish lawyer and judge. Known as "silver-tongued Bushe" because of his eloquence, he was Solicitor-General for Ireland from 1805 to 1822 and Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland from 1822 to 1841.

Elizabeth Helen Curtain is a retired judge, serving successively on the benches of the County Court of Victoria and the Supreme Court of Victoria, in the Australian state of Victoria, and currently Chair of the Adult Parole Board of Victoria.

Kate McMillan was a judge in the Trial Division of the Supreme Court of Victoria. She formerly worked as a solicitor before becoming a barrister where she was appointed a Senior Counsel.

Anne Ferguson is an Australian judge and former lawyer who has served as Chief Justice of Victoria since 2 October 2017. She was first appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court in 2010.

Karin Leigh Emerton is a justice of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria in Australia.

Jennifer Davies is an Australian judge who sat in the Supreme Court of Victoria from 2009 until she was appointed to the Federal Court of Australia in 2013.

Michelle Marjorie Gordon is a Justice of the High Court of Australia. She was appointed to the High Court in June 2015. Prior to her appointment, she was a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, to which she was appointed in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Harris (lawyer)</span> Australian barrister

Wendy Anne Harris is an Australian barrister, former president of the Victorian Bar and past president of the Commercial Bar Association of Victoria. She is a commercial barrister and King's Counsel specialising in complex disputes, transactional advice and class actions.

Kristen Walker is an Australian lawyer. She is a judge in the Court of Appeal of Victoria and former Solicitor-General of Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannah Cutts</span> British High Court judge

Dame Johannah Cutts DBE, styled Ms Justice Cutts, is a British High Court Judge.

References

  1. ↑ Peter Riordan SC (18 December 2007). "Address on the occasion of the swearing in of and welcome to Her Honour Judge Katherine Bourke in the County Court of Victoria" (PDF). Victorian Bar Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2008.
  2. ↑ "Claire Quin and Katherine Bourke become first sisters on the same bench". The Age. 18 March 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.