Federal Court of Australia

Qualifications

LLB
BSc

External links

Federal Court

Qualifications

• LLB University of Melbourne (1985)

• BSc University of Melbourne  (1985)

• Admitted to practice (2 March 1987)

• Signed bar roll (23 May 2002)

• Appointed Silk (22 Nov 2011)

Relevant work history

• 2019- Judge, Federal Court of Australia (since 26 February 2019)

• 2011-2019 - Senior Counsel, Ninian Stephan Chambers

• 2014 - 2015, Competition Policy Review Panel

• 2002-2011 - Barrister

• 1992-2002 - Partner, Minter Ellison (competition law group)

• 1988-1990 - Solicitor, Simmons & Simmons (London)

• 1986 - Commenced articles, Minter Ellison

Relevant memberships and affiliations

• Member and Past Chairman of the Trade Practices Committee of the Law Council of Australia

Relevant judgments

See database links (under construction)

BlueScope Steel (cartel conduct)

• ACCC v BlueScope Steel Limited (No 6) [2023] FCA 1029 (penalty)

• ACCC v BlueScope Steel Limited (2022) FCA 1475 (liability)

ACCC v IVF Finance Pty Ltd (No 2) [2021] FCA 1295 (merger injunction)

ACCC v Pacific National [2020] FCAFC 77 (appeal - mergers)

Publications

• 'Refusal to License Intellectual Property Under the Australian Trade Practices Act' (May 1992), Patent World

• 'Section 46: Law Or Economics?' (1993) 1 CCLJ

• 'Access Pricing: Law before Economics?' (1996) 4 CCLJ

• 'Section 46: Legal and Economic Principles and Reasoning in Melway and Boral' (2001) 8 CCLJ

• 'Cartel Conduct Bill- Double Jeopardy' (paper delivered at the Joint Federal Court/Law Council Conference, April 2009)

• 'The case for increased private enforcement of cartel law' (paper delivered at a Law Council Conference, November 2011)

• 'Standard of proof in section 50 cases – commentary on ACCC v Metcash' (delivered at the Annual Conference of the Victorian Bar, March 2012)

• 'Issues arising from the extraterritorial reach of Australian cartel laws' (paper delivered at the Federal Court / Law Council of Australia International Commercial Law And Arbitration Conference, August 2013)

• 'Are there stresses and strains in the remedial structure of the Competition And Consumer Act 2010?' (commentary delivered at the Law Council Competition and Consumer Law Workshop, August 2013)

• ‘The repeal of s 51(3) of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (LESAN Breakfast Meeting, 10 April 2019)

Appointment to bench

• Attorney General, 'Appointments to the Federal Court of Australia' (Media Release, 22 Feb 2019)

  'Mr O'Bryan will commence in the Melbourne registry on 26 February 2019. He completed a Bachelor of Laws with Honours and a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne in 1985, and was admitted as a practitioner of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1987. Mr O'Bryan was called to the Bar in 2002 and appointed silk in 2011. He has extensive experience in competition and consumer law, commercial law, corporate and securities law, administrative law and constitutional law.'

• Michael Pelly, New Federal Court judges to handle Hayne cases (AFR, 22 February 2019)

• List A congratulates the Honourable Michael O'Bryan QC