OUR PATRONS
AALA NATIONAL PATRON
HON DIANA BRYANT AO QC
AALA is very pleased to have the Hon Diana Bryant AO QC as our National Patron. Ms Bryant brings to this role an esteemed service to the Australian judiciary and Australian public life.
From 2000 to 2004, Ms Bryant was the inaugural Chief Federal Magistrate of Australia, the head of the Federal Magistrates’ Court. From 2004 to 2017, she then served as the Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, while also acting as Patron of the Women Lawyers Association from 2009 until her retirement as Chief Justice. She has supported and contributed to the development of family law systems in Singapore and Indonesia.
She is the current President of the Graduate Union of the University of Melbourne. In 2012, she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for “distinguished service to the judiciary and to the law, particularly to family law policy reform and practice, through the establishment of the Federal Magistrates Court, and to the advancement of women in the legal profession”.
Diana Bryant’s credentials and abilities will significantly assist AALA as it continues to broaden its benefits to members, build its legal policy and advocacy capabilities and contribute to advancing cultural diversity in the law.
AALA EMERITUS PATRON
HON MICHAEL KIRBY AC CMG
AALA NATIONAL PATRON: 2013 - 2021
EMERITUS PATRON: 2021 - CURRENT
AALA are pleased to have the Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, who served as AALA’s National Patron from 2013 to 2021, as our Emeritus Patron. Michael Kirby is an international jurist, educator and former judge. He was a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1996 to 2009.
Mr Kirby’s presence at many of our formal events and member gatherings, and as our inaugural National Patron has inspired and energised our activities since AALA was founded in Victoria in 2013. AALA now has seven State and Territory Branches across Australia and plans to open a branch in the Northern Territory in 2021.
AALA INTERNATIONAL PATRON
THE RT. HON LORD JUSTICE RABINDER SINGH
Sir Rabinder Singh brings to this role a wealth of judicial experiences, and unequivocal support to promote the diversity value enshrined in our organisation.He currently sits as a Lord Justice of Appeal in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the President of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal and a member of the Privy Council appointed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
He was born in 1964 in Delhi to a Sikh family who came to the UK and settled in a working-class area of Bristol. He graduated with a double first at Cambridge University and obtained an LLM at UC Berkeley. He co-founded Matrix Chambers and was appointed silk in 2002.
Sir Rabinder Singh reached one of the highest ranks achieved by a non-white judge in Britain, and was thought to be the youngest judge to sit in the High Court.
NEW SOUTH WALES STATE PATRON
MS KATRINA RATHIE
In July 2021, the NSW Branch proudly announced and warmly welcomed Ms Katrina Rathie as the inaugural NSW Patron. Ms Rathie is an Australian with a Chinese cultural background, her family originating from Guangzhou Province in Southern China. Katrina brings to this role distinguished service to the Australian legal profession, extensive cross-border leadership and cultural skills honed through an esteemed 36-year career spanning Australia, Asia and the USA.
Katrina is a pre-eminent lawyer, well-known business leader and non-executive director who is proud to be a role model and champion for Asian Australians. She was named the overall winner in the prestigious Board & Management category in the 2019 AFR 100 Women of Influence list, recognised for her outstanding contributions to leadership in the law, advancement of gender and cultural diversity across Australia and Asia.
Katrina is excited to be named as NSW Patron of AALA and looks forward to continuing to advocate for greater diversity and inclusion in business, boards and throughout the legal profession. Her wisdom and lived experience will be valued by AALA members.
VICTORIAN STATE PATRON
HON GARETH EVANS AC QC
Professor Evans is Distinguished Honorary Professor at the Australian National University, where he was Chancellor from 2010 to 2019, and President Emeritus of the International Crisis Group, the Brussels‐based independent global conflict prevention and resolution organisation which he led as President and CEO from 2000 to 2009.
During his 21 years in Australian politics, from 1978 to 1999, he was a Cabinet Minister in the Hawke and Keating Labor Governments in the posts of Attorney General, Minister for Resources and Energy, Minister for Transport and Communications and Foreign Minister, and both Leader of the Government in the Senate and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives.
He has written or edited thirteen books and published around 150 journal articles, chapters, and reports, and many more opinion articles, on foreign relations, human rights and legal and constitutional reform; has honorary doctorates from Melbourne, Sydney, Carleton and Queen's Universities; and has lectured at many universities around the world.
He has co‐chaired two major International Commissions, on Intervention and State Sovereignty, and Nuclear Non‐Proliferation and Disarmament, and has been a member of a number of others. He currently chairs the International Advisory Board of the New‐York based Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, the Asia Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non‐Proliferation and Disarmament (APLN) and the Advisory Board of the ANU Centre for Asian‐Australian Leadership.
Gareth Evans was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2012 for his "eminent service to international relations, particularly in the Asia‐Pacific region, as an adviser to governments on global policy matters, to conflict prevention and resolution, and to arms control and disarmament", and in the same year was elected an honorary Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia (FASSA). In 2016 he was awarded by the Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop Asialink Medal "for long‐term commitment to improving Australia‐Asia relations". In December 2015 he was made a Companion of the Order of O.R. Tambo by South African for his contributions to the anti‐apartheid movement. Foreign Policy magazine cited him as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers for 2011 "for making 'the responsibility to protect' more than academic". In 2010 he was awarded the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute Four Freedoms Award for Freedom from Fear, for his pioneering work on the Responsibility to Protect concept and his contributions to conflict prevention and resolution, arms control and disarmament.
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN STATE PATRON
HON ROBERT FRENCH AC
The Hon Robert French AC served as Chief Justice of Australia from 1 September 2008 until 29 January 2017. He is a graduate of the University of Western Australia in science and law. He served as a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia from November 1986 until his appointment as Chief Justice of the High Court on 1 September 2008. From 1994 to 1998 he was the President of the National Native Title Tribunal.
Since his retirement as Chief Justice, Mr French has been appointed as a Non-Permanent Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (May 2017), as an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court (January 2018) and as a Judge of the Court of Appeal of the Dubai International Financial Centre (June 2019).
He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia and Monash University, a Distinguished Honorary Professor at the Australian National University and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at Melbourne University Law School. He was elected as Chancellor of the University of Western Australia in December 2017.
The announcement can be read here.
QUEENSLAND STATE PATRON
DEPUTY CHIEF MAGISTRATE ANTHONY GETT
Deputy Chief Magistrate Gett was appointed a Magistrate in January 2013 and then appointed as Deputy Chief Magistrate in March 2021. Prior to his appointment as a Magistrate, his Honour was called to the bar in 2001. Since 2004 he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian-based International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law. In 2006, his Honour was awarded that society’s John Kable QC award for Young Lawyer of the Year and in 2019 he was awarded the society’s Presidential Medal. Prior to becoming a Magistrate, his Honour spent thirteen years at the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions as a prosecutor, where he appeared as counsel in various matters in all courts from the High Court of Australia to the Magistrates Court of Queensland. As a prosecutor he was a member of the Interpol Experts Group for Online Child Sexual Offences and a lecturer at the Management of Serious and Organised Crime Program. His Honour has presented papers at numerous international and domestic conferences, including as a keynote speaker to Council of the European Union where he presented on Australia’s online child exploitation laws. Deputy Chief Magistrate Gett is currently based in the Brisbane Magistrates Court after initially serving in far North Queensland. In 2014 and 2015 his Honour travelled to Indonesia as part of a judicial assistance program with the Indonesian judiciary. In April 2021, he was appointed an Acting Judge of the Local Court of the Northern Territory. He belongs to a number of judicial committees, including the national Cultural Diversity Justice Network.
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