“I greatly respect any lawyer who conducts themselves with integrity, who has professional pride and knows the value of being courteous but firm, and who has the insight to realise that to personally invest themselves in the issues of their client devalues their worth as a lawyer” Experience Deborah commenced her experience as a lawyer in a general law firm at Ipswich, she is an accredited family law specialist and has over 20 years exclusive experience in Family Law. During this time Deborah has worked on the following cases: Hague Convention – international custody disputes Property Settlements De facto property settlements Divorce Adult child maintenance claims Child support matters Spousal Maintenance Contravention Applications (for breach of Court orders) Appeals Domestic Violence Applications Child Protection Proceedings Acting as Litigation Guardian Binding Financial agreements Binding Child Support Agreements Pre-Nuptial agreements Surrogacy – advising on surrogacy arrangements Deborah is also on the panel of Independent Children’s Lawyers, which enables her to be appointed by the Court to represent the interests of children in court proceedings both in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and the Children’s Court of Queensland. Deborah appears regularly in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, Family Court of Australia and the Children’s Court, often as a Solicitor Advocate, avoiding the need to retain separate counsel. She also regularly participates in private mediations and roundtable conferences. Deborah’s approach is to work collaboratively with the client and other practitioners to resolve disputes in a cost-effective logical manner. Professional background and education Qualifications Bachelor of Information Technology (QUT) 1996 Bachelor of Laws (QUT) 1996 Accredited Family Law Specialist (Queensland Law Society) 2006 Practice Management Course (Queensland Law Society) 2005 Admissions Supreme Court of Queensland 1996 High Court of Australia 1998 Professional memberships Queensland Law Society Family Law Practitioners Associations Queensland Australia Law Council Family Law Section Child Protection Practitioners’ Association (Qld) Panel of Independent Children’s Lawyers and Separate Representatives Family Law Pathways Network Babes in Business Queensland Collaborative Law Family Law Section Australian Mediation Association Positions Steering member of Greater Brisbane Family Law Pathways Immediate Past President of Family Law Practitioner’s Association (Qld) Vice President of the Queensland Law Society – from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2015 Member of the family law advisory committee for College of Law Member of the Professional Conduct Committee – Queensland Law Society Queensland Executive Member of Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia from 2012 to 2014 Personal Deborah is an avid hockey player, previously representing Queensland and enjoys running and watching her children play sport. Practising Certificate QLS Certificate LinkedIn Doyles List