Speaker details

Biography

Brett McGrath is a Partner at Marsdens Law Group in Sydney, Australia where he leads the firm's Family Dispute Resolution department. A graduate of Western Sydney University with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB), Brett has combined over a decade of family law practice with a long-standing commitment to legal education, serving as a sessional lecturer at his alma mater since 2016, where he has coordinated and taught subjects in Family Law, Advanced Family Law, and Family Dispute Resolution. Brett's career spans private practice, the judiciary, and professional leadership. He began his legal career in 2012 at Marsdens Law Group before joining national firm Gadens in 2018 to practise exclusively in family law. He subsequently served for four years as a Senior Judicial Registrar at the Sydney Registry of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, where he built a reputation for resolving complex property and parenting disputes and was later appointed Director – National Registrar Operations (Dispute Resolution), helping to develop a co-mediation model now used nationally. He returned to Marsdens as a Partner in 2023, and is recognised as one of Australia's leading family law mediators. Brett has been an active leader within the Law Society of New South Wales since his election to its Council in 2018, rising through the roles of Treasurer, Junior Vice President and Senior Vice President before serving as President of the Law Society of NSW in 2024 to lead the state's 40,000-strong legal profession. Over this period he has chaired the Audit, Risk & Finance Committee, served as Deputy Chair of the Professional Conduct Committee, and contributed to the Diversity & Inclusion Committee. He was appointed Co-Chair of the Family Law Committee in 2025 and continues to serve on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, reflecting his enduring dedication to the profession and to the practice and advancement of family law. Brett's leadership extends to the international stage as the Law Society of NSW's representative to the International Bar Association, where he has served as a member of the Bar Issues Commission Policy Committee since 2025. Through this role, he contributes to the development of global policy affecting the legal profession and strengthens the ties between the Law Society of NSW and the broader international legal community.