Kathleen Farrell is an Australian judge. She has been a judge of the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

since 2012 and among the very few solicitors to have been appointed directly to the court. Farrell went to school at

Monte Sant'Angelo Mercy College Monte Sant'Angelo Mercy College (commonly referred to as Monte Sant'Angelo or ''Monte'') is an independent Roman Catholic single-sex secondary day school for girls, located in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded by the Sisters ...

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

, and studied law and arts at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

graduating with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts in 1979. Farrell worked for her entire career as a solicitor at

Freehills Freehills was a commercial law firm operating in the Asia Pacific region. It was one of the Big Six Australian law firms. In 2012 it merged with Herbert Smith to become Herbert Smith Freehills. History The firm's predecessors include the prac ...

, from when she was admitted in July 1979, working with

Kim Santow The Honourable Justice Geza Francis Kim Santow AO (11 March 1941 – 10 April 2008) was an Australian Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Court of Appeal. Santow was the son of Geza Santow, a surgeon and obstetrician who immigrat ...

David Gonski David Michael Gonski (born 1953) is an Australian public figure, corporate lawyer, and businessman. He is best known for his recommendations on funding education in Australia, schools in Australia, in a document known as the Gonski Report (or ...

and

James Allsop James Leslie Bain Allsop (born 7 April 1953) is an Australian judge, currently serving as a foreign Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. He was the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, in office from 1 Marc ...

. She was promoted to partner in 1984, aged 28. In 1992 and 1993 Farrell was seconded from Freehills to be the National Coordinator for Enforcement at the Australian Securities Commission. In 2000 Farrell stepped back from partnership, becoming a consultant. Farrell also has experience as a director of various companies. Farrell was appointed a member of the

Australian Takeovers Panel The Australian Takeovers Panel, a statutory authority of the Australian Government, is the primary Australian forum for resolving disputes about a takeover bid during the bid period itself. The panel is a peer review body, made up of part-time m ...

in 2001 and elevated to President of the panel from 2010, the first lawyer and first woman so appointed. In 2012 Farrell was appointed a judge of the Federal Court due to her expertise in business and corporate law. Chief Justice Allsop attributed the appointment of women solicitors to the bench, such as Federal Court judges Farrell, and Brigitte Markovic, NSW Supreme Court judge Julie Ward and Anne Ferguson of the Supreme Court of Victoria, as being a function of the shortage of women barristers aged 50–55, with women being just 10% of senior counsel and 20% of barristers. Farrell decided to retire as a judge of the Federal Court effective from 1 August 2023. In July 2023, she was publicly excoriated by her colleague Justice Jackman, to whom one of her extant matters had been allocated. In his judgment on the relevant case, Justice Jackman remarked on the lack of any evidence as to why Farrell had not herself delivered judgment on the matter despite its trial having occurred years prior: "As far as the evidence indicates, Farrell J has not suffered a protracted illness or otherwise become unable to continue with, or to give judgment in, the proceedings. I am not aware of any medical evidence to that effect." Justice Jackman also delivered apologies to the litigants on behalf of both himself and the Chief Justice: "The Chief Justice has apologised in correspondence to the parties and their legal representatives on behalf of the Court for this situation. I wish to add my own apology for what has transpired."https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2023/2023fca0826

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farrell, Kathleen Judges of the Federal Court of Australia Living people Australian women judges Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Monte Sant'Angelo Mercy College

See also

References