Region Area

Barristers

Anthony  Besanko AC

Anthony Besanko AC

Position

The Hon Anthony Besanko KC was a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia from April 2006 to May 2024.

Prior to that period, he was a Judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia from October 2001 to March 2006. Anthony was a judge of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island from 2013 and Chief Justice of that Court from February 2015 to May 2024. He was an additional Judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory from March 2007 to May 2024. In January 2025, Anthony was appointed an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court.

Anthony acts as arbitrator, mediator and early neutral evaluator and as an expert for the purposes of expert determinations

As a barrister from 1984, and senior counsel (in South Australia) from 1994, Anthony practised in a wide variety of areas including (primarily) in commercial and company law.

Anthony’s expertise as counsel included commercial and company law, administrative law, the law of trusts and estates and general appellate work. He was counsel in a number of long-running cases involving, in particular, professional negligence actions against directors, accountants and auditors. As a judge, his expertise included commercial and company law, equity (including trusts, fiduciary duties and equitable accounting), intellectual property, admiralty, public law (including judicial review), insurance, bankruptcy and general appellate work.

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