Judge Thomas Altobelli has been appointed as a judge of the Family Court of Australia and will commence in the Sydney Registry on 23 November 2020.
The appointment of Judge Altobelli elevates him from his current position as a judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia.
Judge Altobelli was admitted to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1981. He has practiced primarily as a family lawyer and civil litigator and has also published widely on the subjects of family law and alternative dispute resolution. Judge Altobelli joined the bench in 2006, where he hears matters predominantly in the family law jurisdiction of the Federal Circuit Court.
Ms Kylie Beckhouse has been appointed as a judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and will commence in the Sydney registry on 30 November 2020.
Ms Beckhouse was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of New South Wales (NSW) in 1994 and was accredited by the Law Society of NSW as a specialist in family law in 2001. She is currently the Director of the Family Law Division of Legal Aid NSW and has published and presented widely on the involvement of children in family law matters and family law court processes.
On behalf of the Government I congratulate Judge Altobelli and Ms Beckhouse on their appointments and thank them for their willingness to serve the people of Australia as judges of the Family Court of Australia and Federal Circuit Court respectively.
Biographies
Judge Thomas Altobelli
Judge Thomas Altobelli graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws in 1981. In 1986, Judge Altobelli completed a Master of Laws at the University of Sydney followed by a Doctorate in Juridical Science from the University of Technology Sydney in 2000. He is also accredited by the Law Society of NSW as a specialist in the areas of family law, children’s law, and mediation.
Immediately prior to his appointment to the Federal Circuit Court in 2006, Judge Altobelli held the positions of Special Counsel at Watts McCray Lawyers, a specialist family law firm, and Associate Professor at the School of Law, University of Western Sydney. Before this, he had practiced primarily as a family lawyer and civil litigator and also published widely on the subjects of family law and alternative dispute resolution. At the Bench, Judge Altobelli hears matters predominantly in the family law jurisdiction of the Federal Circuit Court.
Ms Kylie Beckhouse
Ms Kylie Beckhouse was admitted to the Supreme Court of NSW in 1994 after completing a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts at Macquarie University in 1991. She also completed a Diploma of Business (Frontline Management) at the University of Technology Sydney in 2005, and the Leading Executives Program through the NSW Leadership Academy in the Public Service Commission in 2018.
In addition to her present position as Director of the Family Law Division of Legal Aid NSW, Ms Beckhouse has also served as Acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer and held various positions at Legal Aid NSW. Prior to this, she worked as a Senior Associate at Abrams and Associates.
Since 2010, Ms Beckhouse has held a statutory appointment to the NSW Children’s Court Advisory Committee, and is currently appointed to the Law Society of NSW Family Law Issues Committee, the Family Court’s National Children’s Committee and the NSW Children’s Court Advisory Committee. She has published and presented widely on the involvement of children in family law matters and family law court processes.
