Michael Laurence Barker is a former Australian judge who served as 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 ...

from 9 February 2009 to 11 February 2019. He previously served as a Judge of the

Supreme Court of Western Australia The Supreme Court of Western Australia is the highest state court in the Australian State of Western Australia. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters (although it usually only hears matters involving sums of or more ...

and as President of the Western Australian State Administrative Tribunal. Barker studied at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

and was admitted to practice in 1973. He practiced in Perth for several years, before undertaking postgraduate study at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

in Canada. He returned to Australia in 1981, and was a member of the faculty of law at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

in Canberra from 1981 to 1985. Barker returned to practice in Perth in 1986. While a practicing barrister, he served a term as counsel assisting the

WA Inc Royal Commission WA Inc was the name for a set of public-private partnerships in Western Australia in the 1980s associated with the Western Australian Development Corporation, which became a political scandal. The state government, which was led for much of t ...

in 1991-1992, and spent four years as Chairman of the Western Australian Town Planning Appeals Tribunal from 1990 to 1994. He was appointed as a Queens Counsel in 1996. Barker was appointed to the

in 2002, replacing retired judge Henry Wallwork, and was further appointed to head the State Administrative Tribunal in 2004. He was appointed to the Federal Court in February 2009, following the appointment of veteran Perth-based judge

Robert French Robert Shenton French (born 1947) is a former judge of the Federal Court of Australia and was Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from 2008 to 2017. From 2017 to 2024, he was chancellor of the University of Western Australia, of whi ...

as Chief Justice of the High Court. Barker retired as a judge of the Federal Court on 10 February 2019. He is now an associate member of Murray Chambers, Barristers, Perth, Western Australia and acts as a mediator and consultant. He is now also the writer and editor of Fremantle Shipping News.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Michael Australian King's Counsel Living people Judges of the Federal Court of Australia Judges of the Supreme Court of Western Australia Year of birth missing (living people)