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New silks on the block
Trevor Monti’s clients, who are mostly personal injury plaintiffs, probably won’t be as impressed by his silk appointment yesterday (27 November) as the solicitors working with corporate barristers, but he is still pleased to have made the list.
Digital
Monti, who works from Owen Dixon Chambers East in Melbourne, is among 20 Victorian barristers who have been appointed silk by Chief Justice Marilyn Warren. Three of the appointees were female; 17 were male.
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Monti revealed that he never would have applied for silk but for the insistence of a colleague. “I had to apply to keep him quiet.”
He explained that the title would make little difference to his clients, who he describes as “working people”. But, Monti added, his new status will have benefits.
“I would like to think that having the mantle of senior counsel behind me will be beneficial,” he said.
The successful barristers were chosen from 71 applicants (66 men and five women).
Warren said that appointees were selected after “a wide and demanding consultative process” involving the higher courts and tribunals, the Victorian Bar and senior members of the legal profession.
She also revealed that the new silks represent a wide cross-section of advocates that range in age from 37 to 66 and are drawn from most areas of practice.
Monti hasn’t yet had time to celebrate his appointment, but said he does plan to take a number of colleagues, including barristers and solicitors, to a “good Chinese restaurant at my expense”. He also plans to treat a client he has worked with since 1972, when he joined the profession, to an equally “good establishment”.
The 20 barristers appointed as senior counsel for Victoria are:
- Trevor Stanley Monti
- Suzanne Bridget McNicol
- Peter George Sest
- Aileen Mary Ryan
- Christopher William Beale
- George Anthony Georgiou
- Mark Andrew Robins
- Benjamin Andrew Shnookal
- Philip David Corbett
- Michael Grant Roberts
- Alistair Neill Murdoch
- Nicholas Pane
- Nicholas David Hopkins
- Carolyn Hayley Sparke
- Kevin Joseph Aloysius Lyons
- Edvard William Alstergren
- Andrew David Clements
- Adrian John Finanzio
- Bernard Francis Quinn
- Saul Conrad Holt
