Editorial rankings, never soldDoyle’s Guide tiers and our lists cannot be bought. Sponsored placements are labelledWhere a placement is paid for, it is marked Sponsored and kept out of rankings. We say what we have checkedEvery profile shows whether we checked the register listing, and when. Reviews are checked before they go liveClient reviews are matched to an engagement record and offered for reply first.

A key area for Lawyer Reviews

Audit the Independent Children’s Lawyers.

By statute the ICL is “not the child’s legal representative”. The role shapes the evidence in the hardest parenting cases, carries weight with the judge, and nobody audits the work. We are asking for independent audits, published numbers and a complaints path that works. Add your support.

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Practice areas

Start with the
area of law.

Explore lawyers by area of law across Australia. Every profile shows what we have checked and where the information came from.

Editorial guide

Melbourne’s leading
family lawyers.

Ninety-three Doyle’s Guide-ranked family lawyers, listed tier by tier.

93Doyle’s Guide-ranked, by tierSee the guide

Locations

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every capital.

Law differs by state, so we index city by city. We research profiles in Melbourne and Sydney, and reproduce Doyle’s Guide rankings, with a link to each list, for the rest of the country.

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Indicative numbers drawn from patterns in published Australian matters. A starting point for a conversation with a lawyer, not legal advice.

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What family lawyer do I need?

Six short steps about your separation, property, children and any court proceedings. See how complex your matter looks, the level of representation to consider, and what to budget at each stage.

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In the spotlight

Five practitioners and a firm, this edition.

One sponsored placement, labelled. Five editorial selections, none of them paid.

Gillian Coote, founder and managing partner, Coote Family Lawyers

EditorialLawyer profile18 September 2026

What this top family lawyer did early in her career

Gillian Coote · Founder and managing partner, Coote Family Lawyers · Camberwell, Melbourne

Three dates carry the story. She commenced practice in 1986, became a Law Institute of Victoria accredited family law specialist five years later, and in 2002 left the large city firms to found her own. Doyle’s Guide has ranked her Preeminent in its Melbourne family and divorce list in every edition from 2015 to 2026. What forty years on the public record say to lawyers in their first decade.

Read the article →Her profile and ranking history →

Editorial profile. Compiled from public sources. Gillian Coote was not interviewed or consulted, has not paid for this placement and has no commercial relationship with lawyerreviews.com.au. The article has not been reviewed by a lawyer.

Debra Cherrie and Paul Fildes, founding principals of Taussig Cherrie FildesDebra CherriePaul Fildes

EditorialFirm profile19 September 2026

Taussig Cherrie Fildes: a market leader in Australian family law

Specialist family law firm · Lonsdale Street, Melbourne · Founded 2000

Doyle’s Guide ranks six family law firms First Tier in Australia and five in Melbourne. Only two appear in both, and Taussig Cherrie Fildes is the only one that practises nothing but family law. Both named principals, Debra Cherrie and Paul Fildes, are ranked Preeminent in Melbourne. How a two-founder boutique got to the top of the list.

Read the firm profile →The firm and its ranked lawyers →

Editorial profile. Compiled from public sources. Taussig Cherrie Fildes was not interviewed, has not paid for this placement and has no commercial relationship with lawyerreviews.com.au. The article has not been reviewed by a lawyer.

Alison Trapski, Trapski Family Law

SponsoredLawyer in the spotlightSeptember 2026

Alison Trapski

Family law · Williams Landing (Point Cook) & Geelong

Principal lawyer of Trapski Family Law. Accredited by the Law Institute of Victoria as a family law specialist, according to the firm, and a Recommended family lawyer for Regional Victoria in Doyle’s Guide 2026. The firm has advised us it now accepts legally aided family law matters.

Read her profile and the firm’s reviews →

Sponsored by Lawyer Reviews. This spotlight is our decision: this placement is independently published and funded by lawyerreviews.com.au. Alison Trapski and Trapski Family Law have not paid for, approved or endorsed it.

Mary Agresta, barrister, Victorian Bar

EditorialBarrister in the spotlight17–23 September 2026

Mary Agresta

Family law barrister · Parenting & children’s matters · Melbourne

Barrister at the Victorian Bar since 1990, briefed through Holmes List. Her practice centres on parenting and children’s matters in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, including parenting orders and changes of residence.

Read her profile →

Editorial selection. Not a paid placement. Mary Agresta has no commercial relationship with lawyerreviews.com.au and has not claimed her profile.

Chris Young KC, barrister, List A

EditorialSilk in the spotlight17–23 September 2026

Chris Young KC

King’s Counsel · Public, commercial & construction law · List A, Melbourne

On 4 September 2026 he was appointed counsel assisting Victoria’s royal commission into the integrity of major public and civil infrastructure construction projects, which holds its opening hearing on 23 September. He practises in constitutional, administrative and tax law and in building and construction disputes, signed the Bar roll in 2006 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2019. Doyle’s Guide lists him among Victoria’s construction and infrastructure senior counsel and its administrative and public law barristers.

Read his profile →

Editorial selection. Not a paid placement. Chris Young KC has no commercial relationship with lawyerreviews.com.au and has not claimed his profile.

Belle Lane, barrister, Victorian Bar

EditorialBarrister in the spotlight17–23 September 2026

Belle Lane

Family law barrister & mediator · Foley’s List · Melbourne

Admitted in 1994 and at the Victorian Bar since 1998, she has worked in family law throughout. Her clerk’s profile records her as the first barrister at the Victorian Bar to be accredited as an AMDRAS Leading Mediator, and she teaches mediation with AIFLAM and the University of Western Australia. Doyle’s Guide has ranked her Preeminent among Victorian family law mediators every year since 2022, one of three in the 2026 list.

Read her profile →

Editorial selection. Not a paid placement. Belle Lane has no commercial relationship with lawyerreviews.com.au and has not claimed her profile.

Insights

Explainers, commentary and legal news.

All insights →

EditorialEmployment law24 September 2026

Silence Is No Longer for Sale. Victoria Has Rewritten the Rules on Sexual Harassment Settlements, and Lawyers Who Ignore Them Face Discipline

Employment law · Sexual harassment · Victoria

An NDA after workplace sexual harassment must now be the complainant’s own request, with 21 days to think, an information statement and no pressure. Get it wrong and it is unenforceable. Not reviewed by a lawyer.

Read the article →

Commentary on the law. Describes the Act and the regulator’s guidance; names no employer or complainant. It has not been reviewed by a lawyer.

Message from the founder

Keeping Legal Professionals Accountable.

Lawyer Reviews exists to put real experiences at the centre of the legal industry. We give people a voice, promote transparency and help raise standards across the profession.

A fairer legal system starts with informed people.

Jackson Agresta

Founder, Lawyer Reviews

More about Jackson
Jackson Agresta, founder of Lawyer Reviews, at his desk

The Lawyer Reviews Awards

Recognition you cannot buy.

Australia’s existing legal awards ask the profession what the profession thinks. Ours will count what clients said, in verified reviews, and publish the arithmetic. Nothing has been awarded yet — the first list is published on 1 July 2027, from reviews verified between 15 September 2026 and 31 May 2027. The rules are published now, in advance, so the list can be measured against them.

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  • Computed, not judged
  • Any lawyer may decline
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