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Diane New (B.A., LL.B.) was admitted in Victoria in 1996 and signed the Bar Roll in 1997. After talking with various members of the judiciary, senior counsel and solicitors, I chose to complete the requirements for admission to practice through the practical training course at the Leo Cussen Institute. The breadth of exposure to all areas of law was comprehensively addressed through this course and formed a foundation for me to proceed straight to the Bar Readers’ Course by offering extensive training in, and the opportunity to practice advocacy skills. I had the good fortune to read with John Champion of Counsel whose extensive criminal practice, which encompassed both prosecution and defence briefs gave me the opportunity to experience my preferred field of law right from the outset of coming to the Bar. In my first year of practice I appeared extensively in the Magistrates’ Court (Civil and Criminal matters), Children’s Court, Family Court, Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, Coroner’s Court and the County Court. I appeared in my first criminal jury trial as counsel for one of two co-accused. I have been briefed subsequently in numerous criminal jury trials. It is in this jurisdiction that I have specialised. The jury trials I have had involved sexual offences, both recent and of considerable antiquity, and serious assaults and one murder trial. I have also appeared in the SCA on 3 occasions. I have had considerable experience in contested matters in the Magistrates’ Court covering many criminal offences, ie. drugs, assault (including sexual assault), theft (included armed robbery) and all traffic offences. I have been briefed and appeared for protection applications; Children’s Court criminal matters; intervention orders and a Coroner’s Inquest. I have accepted pro bono briefs and regularly accept Legal Aid briefs through private solicitors, community legal centres and directly. Before coming to the Bar, I had a career in science combined with raising a family. I travelled extensively and lived overseas in various countries (Malawi, India and Russia) for considerable periods. During the 1980s I demonstrated and taught biology, chemistry and physics at a high school. I was also a research assistant in reproduction and marsupial biology at La Trobe University for two years (1970s). Additional research has included the construction of a database catalogue for the British Museum (Natural History) (early 1960s), organisation of a public survey on fishing recreational use of Port Phillip Bay and a report on the New Zealand Dairy Industry’s involvement in India (1971/2). In the period 1964-73 I was involved with the unclassified and classified registries of the British Foreign Office in several overseas countries. I am an accredited mediator, having complete the Noble Park Family Mediation Course, and I have been a Bail Justice since this voluntary position was introduced in 1990. I worked at the Fitzroy Legal Service as a day volunteer during my first degree, which was a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Aboriginal Studies Legal Studies and a double minor in Aboriginal Linguistics and Linguistics. I was a volunteer Newsreader at the Association for the Blind for four years. Following my BA I completed first year psychology, and courses in legal psychology and criminology. I was invited to tutor at La Trobe University in Criminology and Legal Studies (first degree level) for three years from 1993-96. After completing law at Monash University I returned to La Trobe University in 1995 to lecture in Legal Psychology; Criminology; Criminal Law; Law and Social Justice and Alternative Dispute Resolution and Mediation (post graduate level). I have been a member of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law since 1991 and was a committee member of this organisation from 1995-97. I delivered the opening address at the First International Conference on Missing persons deputising for Dr Andros Kapardis, (who went missing at the last minute!) in 1995. Tel 9225 6955 | Mobile 0408 606 955 |
Fax 9225 8480 Areas of Practice
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Accredited Mediator