Dianne Pendergast specialises in family law and child protection, guardianship and administration, and disputes concerning wills, estates and powers of attorney.

She was admitted as a Solicitor in 1987 and, in 1990, was one of the first solicitors trained to conduct mediation through Legal Aid Queensland.

In 1992, she was appointed as a registrar of the Family Court of Australia, an appointemnt which she held for 14 years.  During that time, she sat in every major regstry in Australia except for Western Australia, deciding interim children’s matters and interlocutory applications, and dealing with case management.  She served as a member of the National Rules Committee, the Coordinating Registrar for all lawyers within the Court between Coffs Harbour and Cairns, a member of the Brisbane Registry Case Management Committee, and the Listings Registrar.  She was also one of the early lawyer mediators in the Family Court.

In 2006, Dianne was appointed by the Queensland Attorney-General to the statutory position of Adult Guardian.  In that role, she was responsible for making decisions for adults who lacked capacity, and for investigating allegations of abuse, neglect and exploitation.  She was appointed to the Reference Group that advised the Queensland Law Reform Commission on changes to the law in respect of guardianship and administration, and provided advice to the Queensland Government concerning the introduction of the forensic disaibility legislation.  From 2009 to 2010, she was the National Chair of the Australian Guardianship and Admnistration Council.  She also served as the Deputy Chair of the neuropsychiatry and intellectual disabilty working group at Queensland Health, from 2009 to 2011.

Dianne was called to the Bar in 2012.  She regularly appears in the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court on interim hearings, final hearings and appeals, in both parenting and property matters.   She is often asked to convene mediations in family law property disputes, having completed further study of mediation at Bond University.   She also appears in the District and Supreme Courts, on disputes concerning wills, estates and powers of attorney.

Dianne  is a member, and past chair, of the Elder Law Committee of the Queensland Law Society, and has been a legal member of the Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee since 2007.  She is also member of the Family Law Practitioners Association of Queensland (FLPA).

She is listed in Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession, an independent ranking of legal practitioners based on peer review:

• Leading Parenting & Children’s Barristers – Queensland, 2018: Junior Counsel – Recommended