Role gives 'unique experience and insight into being a judicial officer': William Alstergren
William Alstergren, chief justice of Division 1 and chief judge of Division 2 of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA), praised Michelle Rowland, Australia’s attorney-general, for her insight in recently promoting five senior judicial registrars to judges.
Last month, the federal government announced the appointments of the following judges to the second division– Kara Best (Brisbane), Celia Conlan (Melbourne), Kathryn Heuer (Adelaide), Sharney Jenkinson (Melbourne), Amy McGowan (Parramatta), and James Renwick (William Street, Sydney) – effective 17 September 2025.
Five of these judicial appointees – Best, Conlan, Heuer, Jenkinson, and McGowan – were women and senior judicial registrars in the FCFCOA.
In a media release, Alstergren shared that 21 of the FCFCOA’s current roster of family law and general federal law judges previously worked as the courts’ registrars.
“The role of Judicial Registrar or Senior Judicial Registrar is the perfect environment in which to prepare for judicial office,” Alstergren said. “Those roles provide unique experience and insight into being a judicial officer, and that our Registrars are being recognised in this way is a matter of great pride for the Courts.”
The FCFCOA noted in its news release that the duties of senior judicial registrars include sitting in court and hearing matters through their delegated judicial powers.
In the media release, Conlan, Best, and Heuer shared their thoughts on how their experience as senior judicial registrars would assist them as they settled into their new judicial roles.
“I am so encouraged by the recent national elevation of a significant number of our Senior Judicial Registrars to Judge,” Best said. “Each have served a remarkable apprenticeship of sorts in the exercise of delegated judicial power at the coal face of the work that we do, making decisions under pressured circumstances, often in the face of contentious evidence and with significant risks arising to children and their carers.”
“The appointment of Senior Judicial Registrars is testament to the success of the Courts’ revised case management system,” Heuer said. “The high volume and complex nature of interim work done by Senior Judicial Registrars demands the ability to work calmly and effectively under pressure whilst addressing risk and delivering prompt and sound decisions. These are some of the many attributes of the judges in our courts.”
“I have enjoyed the wonderful experience of collaborating with an extraordinary array of talented professionals such as our Court Child Experts and our co-located organisations with the aim of continuing to hone and improve the services the FCFCOA provides to the community,” Conlan said. “This has been a highlight of my time at the FCFCOA to date.”
Conlan added that she intended to utilise her experience and the skills she learned from these collaborative interactions to improve her service to the community and navigate her duties as a new judge.
“The skills of the SJRs, together with the Courts’ extensive focus on continuing legal development particularly in the area of family violence, ensures SJRs hit the ground running and immediately contribute to the delivery of services to the families in our court,” Heuer said.
“My hope is that the privilege of this work will allow for each of us to contribute significantly from Day 1 as Judges of Division 2 of the Court,” Best said.
