Rowena Orr QC

“I have been very fortunate to be given opportunities to use my legal skills not only to advance the interests of a diverse range of clients, but also to contribute to the development of public policy in Australia.”

Widely regarded as one of Australia’s leading Queen’s Counsel, Rowena Orr regularly appears in a variety of courts across Australia.  Orr is a member of the Victorian Bar and maintains a broad practice incorporating commercial law, competition law, criminal law and constitutional law.

Orr was admitted to the legal profession in Queensland in 1998, following time as an associate to the Honourable John Macrossan, then chief justice of Queensland, and the Honourable Michael McHugh, then justice of the High Court.

Orr subsequently worked as a solicitor with the Melbourne office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and received a Masters of Philosophy (Criminology) from the University of Cambridge.

In 2002, Orr joined the Victorian Bar and in 2014 was appointed Queen’s Counsel.

In 2015, Orr led a team of barristers who represented the State of Victoria in the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence.  In 2017, Orr was selected for the career defining role of senior counsel assisting Commissioner Hayne for the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. Orr and her team conducted seven rounds of public hearings over 68 days, calling evidence from more than 130 witnesses in Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales and the Northern Territory.

Orr has been described by her colleagues as exemplifying all that is best about the Victorian Bar.