Kathryn McMillan KC was called to the Bar in 1987 and was appointed Silk in 2006.
Relevantly, she has been an ethics Counsellor for the Bar for many years and has been appointed to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal as an assessor in legal disciplinary matters. She was an Adjunct Professor of Law at the TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland until late 2020 and lectured in a number of areas including ethics.
Kathryn practices in personal injuries (particularly cases concerning complex medical evidence and historic sexual abuse claims), public law, disciplinary matters, discrimination proceedings together with a long-standing practice in family law and child protection proceedings. Kathryn was recognised consistently in Doyle’s Guide as a “leading” Queensland barrister both in the Family Law and Divorce category and the Parenting and Children’s Matters category. She was “Lawyers Weekly” female barrister of the year in 2019.
She has appeared in five Royal Commissions/Commissions of Inquiry: the Public Hospitals Commission of Inquiry (as Counsel for the Medical Board), the Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry (as Senior Counsel Assisting), the Barrett Adolescent Centre Commission of Inquiry (as lead Counsel for a health authority), the Royal Commission into Institutional Sex Abuse (as Queen’s Counsel for the State of Queensland) and the Youth Detention Review as Commissioner. She is currently briefed in two Royal Commissions – into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation into People with Disability and Defence And Veteran Suicide.
Kathryn has held a number of Ministerial appointments, including on the Child Death Case Review Panel and until recently the Premier’s Domestic & Family Violence Prevention Council. She has previously served on the Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, the Psychologists Tribunal and the Mental Health Review Tribunal.
Kathryn was appointed on 16 December 2022 for a five-year term.