Wendy Anne Harris QC [1] (born 14 December 1967) is an Australian barrister, former president of the Victorian Bar and past president of the Commercial Bar Association of Victoria. [2] She is a commercial barrister and Queen's Counsel specialising in complex disputes, transactional advice and class actions.
Harris was born in Melbourne to Jan and John Harris. She was educated at Nunawading High School and studied law at the University of Melbourne. She has twin daughters, Ingrid and Ava, born in 2007. Harris is the sister of Claire Harris QC, [3] the current president of the Commercial Bar Association of Victoria.
Harris was admitted to practice as a lawyer in 1992 and was a solicitor from 1992 to 1997 at Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks (now Allens). She became a barrister in 1997 and is a member of List A Barristers. [4] She was appointed Senior Counsel in 2010, Queen's Counsel in 2014 and elected president of the Victorian Bar in November 2019. [5] She specialises in complex disputes and transactional advice, particularly in the banking and finance, insurance and securities sectors. She has a large class action practice and has acted in numerous securities class actions for Australian Securities Exchange-listed entities. Her banking and finance experience includes acting for the National Australia Bank in the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry and in the bank bill swap rate litigation brought by ASIC, [6] and acting in the context of many large-scale insolvencies. She represents clients in all Victorian courts including the Supreme Court of Victoria and has acted in a significant number of matters in the original jurisdiction of the High Court of Australia and in its appellate jurisdiction.
Harris has held a number of non-executive director roles, including chair of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the board of Barristers’ Chambers Limited. [7] She is currently a non-executive director of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare. [8]
A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching the philosophy, hypothesis and history of law, and giving expert legal opinions.
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a Queen's Counsel during the reign of a queen, or King's Counsel during the reign of a king, is a lawyer who is a senior counsel in court cases; in important cases each side is typically led by one. Technically, they are appointed by the monarch of the country to be one of 'Her [His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law'. The position originated in England. Some Commonwealth countries have either abolished the position, or renamed it so as to remove monarchical connotations, for example, 'Senior Counsel' or 'Senior Advocate'.
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.
The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictions that have chosen to change the title "Queen's Counsel" to a name without monarchical connotations, usually related to the British monarch that is no longer head of state, such that reference to the Queen is no longer appropriate. Examples of jurisdictions which have made the change because of the latter reason include Mauritius, Zambia, India, Hong Kong, Ireland, South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Singapore, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Jurisdictions which have retained the monarch as head of state, but have nonetheless opted for the new title include some states and territories of Australia, as well as Belize.
The Victorian Bar is the bar association for the Australian State of Victoria. The current President of the Bar is Roisin Annesley QC. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 30 June 2020 there were 2,179 counsel practising as members of the Victorian Bar. Those who have been admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Victoria, are eligible to join the Victorian Bar after sitting an entrance exam and completing a Bar readers' course. The Victorian Bar is affiliated with the Australian Bar Association and is a member of the Law Council of Australia.
Lex Lasry is an Australian lawyer and a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria from 2007 to 2018.
Stuart Morris QC is an Australian lawyer. He served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria and as President of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) from 2003 until 2007. Former Chairman of the Victorian Government's Local Government Commission, 1986 under the Cain Government. Stuart Morris worked as a barrister, and was one of Australia's leading lawyers in planning law. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1991.
Ross Ray QC was an Australian barrister and the President of the Law Council of Australia.
Neil Trevor Kaplan, QC (1982), JP (1984), CBE (2001), SBS (2007) is an international arbitrator, licensed to practise law in Hong Kong, Australia and New York. He is currently an international arbitrator at Arbitration Chambers Hong Kong, and has been described as the "Father of Hong Kong Arbitration". Chambers and Partners ranks Kaplan as one of the Most In Demand Arbitrators in Global Market.
One Essex Court is a set of barristers' chambers in London, specialising in commercial litigation, which was founded in 1966.
Donnell Michael Ryan is a barrister, solicitor and former Judge of the Federal Court of Australia. He served on the Federal Court of Australia from 29 September 1986 until 2 June 2011. He is currently a member of the Victorian Bar.
Neil John Young is a Melbourne barrister, Queen's Counsel, and former Judge of the Federal Court of Australia. He served on the Federal Court from 30 November 2005 to 24 January 2007.
John Digby is an Australian lawyer and a judge in the Supreme Court of Victoria, in the Australian state of Victoria.
Simon Molesworth AO, QC is an Australian attorney, environmentalist and diplomat. With an experience extending over 35 years of community leadership and corporate governance, Molesworth has been a director of some 22 corporations and chairman or president of 14.
Ian Freckelton is an Australian barrister, judge, international academic, and high-profile legal scholar and jurist. He is known for his extensive writing and speaking in more than 30 countries on issues related to health law, expert evidence, criminal law, tort law, therapeutic jurisprudence and research integrity. Freckelton is a member of the Victorian Bar Association, the Tasmanian Bar Association, and the Northern Territory Bar Association in Australia.
Maree Evelyn Kennedy is a judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria. She was appointed to the Court of Appeal in December 2020.
Matthew John Collins is an Australian barrister. He practises predominantly in media law, particularly defamation, as well as constitutional and commercial law. He is best known for having acted in a number of high-profile defamation and free speech cases. In the Queen's Birthday honours list for 2019 he became a member of the Order of Australia (AM) for “significant service to the law, to legal standards, and to education.” He is the current President of the Australian Bar Association.
Lady Camilla Bloch QC is a British barrister.
Stuart John Wood AM QC is an Australian barrister. In 2019, Wood was appointed for Australia Day Honours as a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia "for significant service to the legal profession, particularly in the area of industrial relations". Wood is a current member of the board of the National Portrait Gallery, non-executive chairman of Great Southern Press and the Secretary of the Samuel Griffith Society. He first signed the Bar roll on the 25th of May 1995 and was appointed as Queens Counsel on the 22nd of November 2011. His principal chambers are in Melbourne.
Christopher Jessup is an Australian lawyer who serves as Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security. Between 2006 and 2017, he was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia.