Matt Foley was admitted to the Bar in 1983, and has a broad civil law practice:
Family law
Succession – family provision, wills and estates
Alternative dispute resolution
Appellate
Commercial
Inquests/inquiries
Matt served as Attorney-General of Queensland and Arts Minister in 1995-96, and 1998-2001. He introduced Queensland’s first legislation on de facto property rights for opposite and same sex couples, and the Guardianship and Administration Act 2000, which enhanced access to justice for persons with a decision-making incapacity.
Before becoming a barrister, he was a social worker in family and child welfare and with the Aboriginal and Islander Legal Service. He was also a lecturer and Sub-Dean of the Social Work Faculty at Queensland University.
He has served as President of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties (1985-87) and Chair of the Queensland Writers Centre (2004-08).
Matt is also admitted as a barrister in New Zealand. He has appeared in the High Court of New Zealand and the Court of Appeal.
He is an Adjunct Professor of Social Work at the University of Queensland, where he delivers lectures to undergraduate and post-graduate students on laws governing child protection, family law, mental health and migration.
He is a member of the Family Law Practitioners Association of Queensland (FLPA).
E [email protected]
T 07 3181 5576
M 0418 156082
W www.brisbanechambers.com
Thorne v Kennedy [2017] HCA 49 (setting aside financial agreement on grounds of unconscionable conduct and undue influence)
Clarence & Crisp [2016] FamCAFC 157 (parenting order for child born of artificial conception procedure; principles for determining de facto relationship)
Barber v Walfor [2015] FamCAFC 97 (parenting orders for children – allegation by father of “gender bias” against him by the trial judge)
Jones & Jones v Jones & Lindsay as executors of the Estate of T G Jones deceased [2012] QSC 113 (testamentary capacity on making of a will)
Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services & Lasko (No. 2) [2012] FamCA 941 (child abduction – Hague Convention)
Hoch v R (1988) 165 CLR 292 (similar fact evidence)
Aldridge v Booth (1988) 80 ALR 1 (sexual harassment)
Allen’s Asphalt P/L v SPM Group P/L [2010] 1 Qd R 202 (caveat)
Setting aside Binding Financial Agreements – duress, undue influence and unconscionable conduct November 2017
Caveats on land titles – uses and abuses November 2016
Family provision – courts overriding wills December 2016
The revolution in law – towards a jurisprudence of social justice Australian Journal of Law and Society, Vol 1 No. 2, 1983, pp 60 - 79
Barristers