Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business
Acting Attorney-General
Acting Minister for Industrial Relations
Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate
Senator The Hon. Michaelia Cash
On behalf of the Australian Government, I am pleased to announce that Mr John Halley SC and Ms Elizabeth Cheeseman SC have been appointed as judges of the Federal Court of Australia. Mr Halley and Ms Cheeseman have both been appointed to the New South Wales Registry and will commence on 19 March and 12 April 2021 respectively.
Mr Halley was admitted as a legal practitioner in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1986 and began his career as a solicitor at Allen Allen & Hemsley. Mr Halley was called to the Bar in 1993 and has since practiced widely in competition, corporations and commercial law.
Ms Cheeseman was admitted as a legal practitioner in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1991 and began her career as a solicitor at Blake Dawson Waldron. Ms Cheeseman was called to the Bar in 1996 and has specialised in commercial, corporate, banking, regulatory and insurance law. Ms Cheeseman also practices in proceeds of crime litigation.
I congratulate Mr Halley and Ms Cheeseman on their appointments and thank them for their willingness to serve the people of Australia as judges of the Federal Court of Australia.
Mr John Halley SC
Mr Halley graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in 1983 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1985.
He was called to the Bar in 1993 and appointed as Senior Counsel in 2008. At the Bar, Mr Halley has specialised in competition, corporations and commercial law (including matters involving market power, merger clearances, price fixing, market manipulation, insider trading, abuse of breaches of directors' duties and continuous disclosure obligations).
Mr Halley was a member of the NSW Bar Association's Professional Conduct Committee from 2008 to 2015 and has presented papers and lectured on regulatory litigation and competition law to students and practitioners in the legal profession.
Ms Elizabeth Cheeseman SC
Ms Cheeseman graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts in 1990, and was admitted as a legal practitioner in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1991.
Ms Cheeseman was called to the Bar in 1996 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2012. At the Bar, Ms Cheeseman has specialised in commercial, corporate, banking, regulatory (focussing on financial services, superannuation and markets) and insurance law. She also practises in proceeds of crime litigation.
Ms Cheeseman was the chair of the New South Wales Bar Association Practice Development Committee from 2015 to 2019, and was chair of the New South Wales Bar Association Working Party on the Australian Law Reform Committee Inquiry on the Australian Law Reform Committee Inquiry into Class Action Proceedings and Third Party Litigation Funders in 2018.
