At Victoria Legal Aid Family Dispute Resolution Service (FDRS) we refer to our family dispute resolution practitioners as chairpersons.
All our chairpersons are registered family dispute resolution practitioners under the section 10A Accreditation Rules of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth). The register is maintained by the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department.
What they do
The chairperson is a trained family dispute resolution practitioner that helps parties to a family law dispute isolate the issues, develop and consider options, and work towards an agreement. They have authority to issue a section 60I certificate under the Family Law Act in parenting cases. They can also facilitate family dispute resolution conferences in property and financial cases.
They do not give anyone tailored legal advice. Each party has the right to obtain their own legal advice at any stage of the family dispute resolution process.
Find out more about the Family Dispute Resolution Service process.
Who they are
The professional backgrounds of our chairpersons are in law, social science or other tertiary fields. Some chairpersons are also accredited mediators under the National Mediator Accreditation System.
Meet our chairpersons
Manager Freia Carlton, Victoria Legal Aid Family Dispute Resolution Service
Freia is the associate director of mediation at Victoria Legal Aid and manager of our Family Dispute Resolution Service. A nationally accredited mediator, she has also trained in mediating international parental child abduction cases in both Australia and Japan. She is a Law Institute of Victoria accredited specialist in children’s law, having served as chair of the first children’s law specialisation advisory committee and a former board member of International Social Service Australia. She is a current steering committee member of the Greater Melbourne Family Law Pathways Network. Freia has practised in family, civil and criminal law and has previously led the independent children’s lawyer team in the Family Law Program at Victoria Legal Aid.
Managing Practitioner Samantha Lawry, Family Dispute Resolution Service
Sam is the managing family dispute resolution practitioner at Victoria Legal Aid Family Dispute Resolution Service. She has practised at Victoria Legal Aid in children’s law, family law (as an independent children’s lawyer) and crime and has also delivered family dispute resolution services at a Family Relationship Centre, where part of her role included developing a legally assisted family dispute resolution model. She has held a range of management roles in different agencies, also working as a trainer and consultant, and her current role includes the facilitation of peer supervision with the Chairperson panel. She has also trained in Child Inclusive Mediation and Counselling.
Senior Practitioner Mary-Jo Anagnos, Family Dispute Resolution Service
Mary-Jo is a social worker and in-house senior family dispute resolution practitioner at Victoria Legal Aid Family Dispute Resolution Service. Mary-Jo has worked within community legal centres, supporting people to navigate their legal issues and the legal process; as well as working within various community and government services. Mary-Jo has worked in the areas of family violence, elder abuse prevention, supported decision making for adults with disabilities, homelessness for older people, and in a teaching capacity with social work students at university. Mary-Jo has practiced as a family dispute resolution practitioner since 2020, working within Family Relationship Centres until joining Victoria Legal Aid in 2023. Mary-Jo facilitates conferences, provides peer support and supervises the practice components of Victoria Legal Aid staff undertaking family dispute resolution practitioner training.
Paul Ban
Paul is a social worker, family consultant, sessional mediator, trainer, consultant and expert witness and panel member for various agencies, including consultancy work with First Nations groups, and training nationally and internationally on family group conferencing. He has a background in child protection and child welfare and was a dispute resolution convenor at the Children’s Court of Victoria. He he also worked as a family consultant providing reports to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia and has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2003.
Natasha Belmont
Natasha is a psychologist, accredited mediator and family dispute resolution practitioner, group facilitator and former lawyer. She has qualifications in arts, law, psychology and training. She works with parents, families and children in the family services and dispute resolution sector as a practitioner and remains involved with training and supervising new and experienced professionals in the field. Natasha also has an appointment with the Victorian Restorative Engagement and Redress Scheme and is an expert panel member for the Department of Education’s Student Safety and Wellbeing panel. Natasha became a member of the FDRS Chairperson and Child Consultant panels in 2022.
Kathy Cullen
Kathy is a Koori woman from Wiradjuri Country, a lawyer and a nationally accredited mediator and member of the Tarwirri Indigenous Lawyers Association. With more than 20 years’ experience working in and with Aboriginal communities, she has worked as a lawyer in family, criminal, family violence, and youth law, and established her own family law practice. Kathy has worked for the Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Aboriginal Legal Service of New South Wales, Katherine Women’s Information and Legal Service, and the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service Victoria as well as in private practice. She has also taught Aboriginal history and culture at the University of Wollongong and has undertaken additional training in applied family law and psychology. She provides advice to the service on delivering dispute resolution services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients, as Aboriginal consultant chairperson. Kathy has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2012.
Carmel Cumberbatch
Carmel is a family lawyer who has worked extensively in the family law and dispute resolution sector. Carmel previously worked at the FDRS as a case manager and since her accreditation as a family dispute resolution practitioner has worked both at government-funded agencies and in private practice as a mediator and family lawyer, and at Deakin University. She became a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel in 2022.
Anthea Dacy
Anthea is a nationally accredited mediator who has worked extensively in family relationship services, including in family dispute resolution. She also has experience as a bilingual consultant specialising in trade and investment with China, including working for consulting firms and the Australian Trade Commission. Anthea is currently undertaking additional qualifications in family therapy. Anthea has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2012.
Jodie Grant
Jodie is a social worker and nationally accredited mediator, who has worked in community agencies and now has her own private practice. Jodie is an accredited trainer and coach in mediation theory, practice, and techniques, training family dispute resolution students, law students and lawyers, and provides regular supervision to family dispute resolution practitioners and other mediators, and to restorative engagement practitioners. Jodie is appointed as a defence abuse response taskforce restorative engagement facilitator. Jodie became a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel in 2022.
Susan Hamilton-Green
Susan is a nationally accredited mediator, trainer and Law Institute of Victoria accredited specialist in mediation and family law. Susan is also on the Independent Children's Lawyer Panel at Victoria Legal Aid and continues to work privately as a lawyer, family dispute resolution practitioner and mediator. Susan is also a trained conflict coach, arbitrator, and lecturer at the College of Law. Susan has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2003.
Mary Louise Hatch
Mary Louise is a collaboratively trained family lawyer, nationally accredited mediator, and parenting coordinator, working in the public sector and private practice. A former executive member of Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria and Victorian Women Lawyers, she is currently deputy president of Victorian Association of Collaborative Professionals. Mary Louise provides mediation and dispute resolution training and coaching for private organisations and a university, and lectures in family law. Mary Louise is also on the VCAT Mediation panel. Mary Louise became a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel in 2022.
Mark Hebblewhite
Mark is a nationally accredited mediator, former chair of the Mediator Standards Board and barrister who has combined legal practice with extensive mediation work in family law and other jurisdictions. He is a former chair of the Mediator Standards Board and is an accredited course presenter, trainer, coach, and assessor. Mark has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2003.
Walter Ibbs
Walter is a social worker, nationally accredited mediator and former family consultant at the Family Court of Australia who has worked as a practitioner, trainer, and manager in dispute resolution for decades. When the service started in 2003, he was one of the founding team members and has since held roles as clinical services coordinator, supervising consultant, and manager, regularly supervising mediators. Walter is also a member of the FDRS Child Consultant Panel, delivering Kids Talk services.
Valda Marino
Valda is a family lawyer and nationally accredited mediator, Law Institute of Victoria accredited specialist in family law, former Family Court of Australia registrar and mediator. Having worked in private practice and the legal assistance sector, she now undertakes private family law locum and dispute resolution work. Valma has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2012.
Tony O’Dwyer
Tony is a family consultant, providing reports to the family law courts and working in private practice offering counselling and family therapy. He has worked in child protection as a dispute resolution convenor at the Children’s Court of Victoria and as a family group conference convenor and in corrections providing individual counselling to prisoners, particularly around drug-related offending behaviour. Tony has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2003 and is also a member of the FDRS Child Consultant Panel, delivering Kids Talk services.
Jill Raby
Jill is a family lawyer, nationally accredited mediator and arbitrator, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia sessional judicial registrar and was previously a senior registrar and court mediator. She worked for many years with the Child Support Agency, determining applications for review of child support assessments. She works privately as a family dispute resolution practitioner and mediator. Jill has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2003.
Kalman Rubin
Kalman is a practising psychologist, focused on family law mediation, counselling, individual and family therapy. He worked as a manager and mediator in the Family Court of Australia and continues his clinical, counselling and mediation practice privately. Kalman has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2003.
Graeme Sharkey
Graeme is a lawyer with a practice spanning family, family violence, and children’s law, primarily in the Western district of Victoria, having also been a Magistrates’ Court registrar. He has also worked as a family dispute resolution practitioner in community agencies in Warrnambool. Graeme has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2012.
Rosa Silvestro
Rosa is a psychologist and collaborative law professional practitioner who has worked as a family counsellor/consultant for the family law courts, including as a child dispute services manager and dispute resolution coordinator, and in private practice, where she has continued to provide family reports for the courts. She is a trainer of family consultants and independent children’s lawyers and is also member of the FDRS Child Consultant panel, delivering Kids Talk services. Rosa has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2012.
Nigel White
Nigel has a background in the community sector, including youth support, supported housing for youth, public housing advocacy, private rental brokerage, consumer affairs advocacy, drug and alcohol support, multicultural mental health and for the Office of Corrections, and then as a family dispute resolution practitioner. Nigel has been a member of the FDRS Chairperson panel since 2012.
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