Council members
The Attorney-General appoints members to the council on the basis of their individual expertise and not on the basis of their membership of any organisation. Members come from around Australia and bring to the council a broad range of experience in the area of dispute resolution. Members are available to give speeches in each State and Territory. Invitations can be sent to the Attorney-General's Department.
Mr Jeremy Gormly SC (Chair)
Mr Jeremy Gormly SC currently practices at the NSW Bar. He was admitted to the Bar in 1985 and became Senior Counsel in 2001. He has appeared in numerous commissions of inquiry as counsel assisting including the CAA-Seaview Aviation Royal Commission, the Thredbo Landslide Inquiry and the Andrew Mallard Murder Conviction Inquiry in Western Australia. Mr Gormly is also a practising mediator, and has mediated numerous commercial, equity and negligence actions. Under a joint Commission from the Commonwealth Attorney-General and the Minister for Science and Personnel he was appointed to and completed the task of concluding outstanding claims arising from the 1964 collision of HMAS Melbourne with HMAS Voyager. Mr Gormly is a member of the Legal Profession Admission Board, the NSW Bar Council, the Chairman of one of the Council’s Professional Conduct Committee and former Chairman and member of numerous other committees and boards.
Dr Andrew Bickerdike
Dr Andrew Bickerdike is currently the CEO at Relationships Australia in Victoria where he has worked since 1999 specialising in family dispute resolution programs and mediation. He has been a member of the Family Court of Australia Expert Reference Panel since 2007, and lectured at Latrobe University from 1998 to 2004. Dr Bickerdike has qualifications in economics and behavioural science and holds a PhD from La Trobe University in Melbourne.
Mr David Fredericks
Mr David Fredericks is Deputy Secretary, Civil Justice and Legal Service Groups in the Attorney-General’s Department. He is responsible for matters including legal services provided to the Australian Government, federal court administration, family law, administrative law, international law, human rights, legal assistance, indigenous policy, native title, classification and legislative drafting. Before being promoted to this role, Mr Fredericks was First Assistant Secretary in the Priorities and Coordination Division. Before joining the department in 2010, he held senior Ministerial Adviser roles, including for the Prime Minister and Minister for Climate Change. Mr Fredericks has also served as the Director of the Economic Reform Unit in the Solomon Islands Ministry of Finance on secondment from the Australian Treasury and he was previously Executive Director of the Policy Division in the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet. He also practised as a barrister in Sydney for five years.
Ms Margaret Halsmith
Ms Margaret Halsmith is Director and Principal Mediator of Halsmith Consulting Pty Limited, through which she mediates full time in a wide variety of settings for business, government, families and individuals. She holds bachelor degrees in Psychology and Arts, is a registered Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner and is accredited by the International Mediation Institute, at the advanced level by LEADR and also under the National Mediator Accreditation System. She has taught Dispute Resolution at Edith Cowan University, University of Notre Dame Australia, Curtin University and the University of Western Australia. Ms Halsmith is the Chair of LEADR Australasia. She is also the Deputy Convenor of the Western Australian Dispute Resolution Association under the auspices of which she convened the sub-committee responsible for the National Mediator Accreditation System. She was Co-convenor of the National Mediation Conference held in Perth in 2008 and has continued as a member of that Board since 2006.
Mr Tom Howe QC
Mr Tom Howe QC is the Chief Counsel, Dispute Resolution at the Australian Government Solicitor (AGS), where he has worked for the last 25 years. Prior to joining AGS, he worked in private practice and as a solicitor with ACT Legal Aid. He is a member of the Federal Litigation Section of the Law Council, and the Council of the ACT Bar Association.
Mr Stephen Lancken
Mr Stephen Lancken practises as a mediator and teacher and is the Australian Principal of the Trillium Group. He is also Program Director in Conflict Management and Negotiation for AGSM Executive Programs. Mr Lancken is a member of the New South Wales Law Society's Dispute Resolution Committee. He is an accredited mediator under the National Mediator Accreditation System and an accredited specialist in mediation, dispute resolution and commercial litigation with the Law Society of New South Wales. Mr Lancken is also a director of the Mediator Standards Board.
Ms Helen Marks
Ms Helen Marks is the Director of Alternative Resolutions and Equity at the Department of Defence. Before this appointment, she was the Director of the Alternative Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management program for Defence. Ms Marks worked for many years as a legal officer with the Royal Australian Navy before retiring in January 2005. She has qualifications in Law and Psychology and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Criminology, Graduate Certificate in Family Mediation and a Masters Degree in Military Law. She has extensive experience in mediation, conflict resolution, group facilitation and negotiation skills.
Ms Lindsay Smith
Ms Lindsay Smith is the Executive Manager for the Dispute Resolution Branch of the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General. She was formerly the Coordinator of the Dispute Resolution Branch's Mackay Dispute Resolution Centre. She is a former Deputy Principal of Mackay State High School and consulted on conflict resolution at FH Collins Secondary School in Canada. She is an accredited mediator under the National Mediator Accreditation System and an appointed mediator under the Dispute Resolution Centres Act 1990.
Professor Tania Sourdin
Professor Tania Sourdin is the Foundation Chair and Director of the Australian Centre for Court and Justice System Innovation (ACCJSI) at Monash University. She is a member of several boards and advisory bodies including the Board of the Mediator Standards and the Law Council of Australia Collaborative Law Committee. Professor Sourdin is also a member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, as well as a number of panels as an advanced mediator. Professor Sourdin wrote the National Mediator Accreditation Standards and has led national research projects and produced important recommendations for court and non-adversarial justice reform. She has conducted research into conflict resolution and disputant perceptions in eight courts and four independent conflict schemes and currently has two major evaluation projects in this area and an ARC project in online dispute resolution. Professor Sourdin has also written and published widely in several areas of ADR, including online dispute resolution, mediation, collaborative lawyering and organisational change.