Debra Sue Mortimer is an Australian judge who has been the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia since 7 April 2023.
12 Facts About Debra Mortimer
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Debra Mortimer was born in New Zealand but has practised law in Australia.
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Debra Mortimer has been a judge of the Federal Court of Australia since 2013, having previously been a Senior Counsel practising at the Victorian Bar in migration law, environmental law and anti-discrimination law.
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Debra Mortimer studied arts and jurisprudence at the University of Auckland before transferring to Monash University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Jurisprudence in 1985 and a Bachelor of Laws with 1st Class Honours in 1987.
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Debra Mortimer was an Editor of the Monash University Law Review in 1985 and 1986.
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Debra Mortimer did her articles at Goldberg and Window Solicitors before becoming an associate to Sir Gerard Brennan, then a justice of the High Court of Australia in 1988 and 1989.
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Debra Mortimer became a barrister in 1989 and was appointed as a Senior Counsel in 2003.
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Debra Mortimer appeared in environmental cases, including representing Bob Brown, an Australian Greens Senator, in a case against Forestry Tasmania, concerning the Wielangta forest.
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Since her elevation to the Federal Court, Debra Mortimer has been the trial judge in a number of high-profile cases, including Wotton v Queensland, a case concerning the events following the 2004 death in custody of Palm Island, Queensland resident, Cameron Doomadgee.
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Debra Mortimer was the trial judge in a case brought by Consumer Affairs Victoria against wellness blogger Belle Gibson and her companies for misleading or deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct contrary to the Australian Consumer Law.
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Debra Mortimer has sat as a member of the Full Court of the Federal Court hearing appeals, and was a member of the bench that was critical of the approach of Judge Alexander Street in hearing applications by asylum seekers.
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In 2018 Debra Mortimer presided over an historic judgement resulting in an Indigenous land use agreement, after a claim brought by Kaurna elders in Adelaide 18 years earlier.