Executive Biographies

Catherine Gale, President

Catherine Gale is a former President of the Law Institute of Victoria and runs her own family law practice based in Melbourne, specialising in mediation, collaboration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

Now in her 34th year of practice, Cathy has been a partner in two Mid Tier Melbourne Law Firms working in personal injuries and family law and has also spent seven years practising in Hong Kong where she worked principally in the areas of civil litigation and administrative law.

Cathy was first appointed as a Law Council Director in 2006 and was appointed to its Executive in November 2008, and served as treasurer in 2010. She is the Chair of the Law Council's National Collaborative Practice Committee and sits on the Board of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, an American based board, where she is the only member from the southern hemisphere.

Cathy is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a current Director of the College of Law Victoria, the Law Institute of Victoria and the West Gippsland Regional Tourism Association.

Joseph Catanzariti,President-Elect

Joseph Catanzariti (Joe) is a past President of the Law Society of New South Wales and a partner of one of Australia's leading Law Firms, Clayton Utz.

Now in his thirtieth year of practice, Mr Catanzariti is a commercial litigator who has expertise in workplace relations and employment law and has extensive experience in advising major corporate and public sector clients on strategic workplace relations matters.

Mr Catanzariti has been extensively involved in the review and development of legal practice and policy. Mr Catanzariti was on the Consultative Committee of the National Legal Profession Reform Project and was heavily involved with the move towards creating national legal profession.

Mr Catanzariti is the Law Council representative of the Law Admissions Consultative Committee and is involved in the Law Council's Legal Education Committee, Audit Committee and Recruitment Retention of Lawyers Working Committee.

Mr Catanzariti is also an Adjunct Professor, Work and Organisational Studies, Business School of University of Sydney.

Mr Catanzariti is the Chair of the College of Law, the Chair of the Law Society of New South Wales Employment Law Committee and a past Secretary for the Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association from 1997 to 2011.

In 2011, Mr Catanzariti was awarded Life Time Recognition of the Industrial Relations Society of Australia/Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association.

Michael Colbran QC,Treasurer

Michael Colbran joined the Victorian Bar in 1982 and was appointed Queens Counsel in 1997. He has trial and appellate experience around Australia in general commercial litigation and advice work including trusts, property, probate, trade practices and professional negligence matters.

Michael Colbran is the Chairman of the Victorian Bar Council. He was for many years the secretary and a member of the Bar's Ethics Committee and a director of Barristers' Chambers Ltd, the property subsidiary of the Victorian Bar. He was also a director and Chairman of the Essoign Club Ltd.

Michael became a director of the Law Council in 2006. He has been Chairman of the National Judicial Issues Working Group since 2008 and a member of the International Strategy Working Group since 2009. He is actively involved in projects of the Law Council and the Australian Bar Association to develop National Rules of Conduct.

Duncan McConnel, Executive Member

Duncan commenced practice in 1994 as a litigation solicitor practising in general litigation, worker's compensation and commercial litigation. Duncan became a Partner in 1998. He has practiced for most of his career as a solicitor and partner in a private firm in the Northern Territory.

Duncan has practiced law in the Northern Territory for over 15 years in a wide range of litigation areas. He studied law in Darwin and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in 1994. He now works as a barrister, practising predominantly in commercial litigation and worker's compensation.

Duncan has had a long association with national legal affairs, originally as a member of the Law Council's Access to Justice Committee. In 2007 Duncan became the president of the Law Society of the Northern Territory. In 2008 he became the Northern Territory Law Society representative on the Law Council of Australia and in November 2009 Duncan was elected as a member of the Law Council Executive.

Leanne Topfer, Executive Member

Leanne Topfer was President of the Law Society of Tasmania in 2006 and has been a member of the Council of the Law Society of Tasmania since 1999.

Leanne gained a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours from the University of Tasmania in 1982 and was admitted to practice in 1983. She has worked as a lawyer since then and is a partner in a regional firm where she has a general practice with an emphasis on civil litigation.

Leanne is on the Law Council Recruitment and Retention of Lawyers working group, which has been focussing primarily on the problem of recruitment and retention of lawyers in rural, regional and remote areas of Australia. She is also a member of the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal.

Leanne was appointed a Director of the Law Council of Australia in 2010.