Speaker details

Biography

The Hon Steven Rares KC was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 3 February 2006 until his retirement on14 November 2023. He was an additional judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory from 2007 and a judge of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island from 2018. He successfully completed the Harvard Law School’s Mediating Disputes course in December 2022 and since November 2023 has been a supporting member of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA) and a member of the London Court of International Arbitration Asia pacific Users' Council (LCIA).He is a fellow of the Australian Centre for Commercial Arbitration (ACICA) and a member of the Panel of the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitrators (SCMA) a professional member of the Resolution Institute. He graduated in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney and, after two years working in a solicitors’ firm, he was called to the New South Wales Bar in 1980. He was appointed a Senior Counsel for New South Wales in 1993 and Queen’s Counsel for Western Australia in 1994. In 2004 and 2005, he was an appointed member of the Judicial Commission of New South Wales under the Judicial Officers Act 1986 (NSW). Steven was a Federal Court national co-convening and list judge for Admiralty and Maritime mattters and a co-convening judge for Defamation in the Other Federal Jurisdiction Area. In June 2023 he was made a titulary member of the Comité Maritime International and has been a member of its International Working Group on Offshore Activities since its creation in 2012. Between February 2012 and October 2016, he was a member of the Governing Council of the Judicial Conference of Australia and was also its President from October 2014. Between October 2019 and 2021 he was President of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration. He joined the Consultative Council of Australian Law Reporting in 2008 and was Chair from 2012 to 2019. He has been the presiding member of the Admiralty Rules Committee since 2011. Steven delivered over 1200 judgments at first instance and on appeal in all areas of the Federal and Supreme Courts’ jurisdictions. At the Bar he had practiced in defamation, media law (including contempt), trade practices, commercial and corporations law (including takeovers), administrative law, maritime and aviation law (including cargo claims), professional negligence, criminal law, land and environment, trade practices, constitutional and appellate areas. Between 2001 and 2005 he was Chair of the New South Wales Bar Association’s Defamation Working Group. For many years was a member and in 2001 a chair of a Professional Conduct Committee and the NSW Bar Association’s Mediation Committee and convenor of its Mediation Forum in 2001 to 2002. He was a member of Bar Council last serving in 2001. He was Chair of Counsel’s Chambers Limited from 2002 to 2005.