Jessie Taylor BA(Hons) LLB(Hons) MSc(HA) is a leading junior with a broad practice spanning appellate advocacy, complex public law, regulatory litigation, and other civil and quasi-criminal matters.
Jessie is a trusted advisor and accomplished advocate for a diverse range of clients including corporations, government and statutory agencies, industry bodies, healthcare providers, private sector enterprises, individuals and advocacy organisations.
She is regularly instructed in proceedings involving novel questions of statutory interpretation, constitutional issues, evidentiary challenges, and contested expert evidence. Jessie appears in intermediate and superior courts including the Supreme Court and the Federal Court of Australia.
Jessie’s practice has a strong appellate dimension.
At first instance, Jessie is briefed in complex, multi-party and high-impact litigation, including:
- Regulatory and disciplinary proceedings including multi-day hearings and matters involving professional standards, investigative bodies, and statutory regulators;
- Public law and judicial review, including challenges to administrative decisions, systemic failures, and statutory powers, matters engaging human rights, freedom of expression, discrimination frameworks, and complex statutory schemes.
- Institutional abuse, negligence and historical wrongdoing litigation, including claims raising vicarious liability, non-delegable duties, and failures to protect;
- Serious criminal and quasi-criminal matters, including cases under supervision and detention regimes, high-risk offender legislation, and evidentiary contests involving complex expert evidence.
Jessie is sought after for difficult evidentiary issues arising in civil litigation.
Jessie also maintains a strong public-interest practice. She has a balanced and pragmatic understanding of litigation risk, statutory frameworks, and institutional decision-making.
A respected teacher in the Law Faculty at Monash University, Jessie brings academic depth to her advocacy, particularly in matters requiring interdisciplinary or expert material, or in appeals turning on issues of legal principle.
Jessie is briefed in matters requiring:
- appellate strategy and written advocacy
- complex or contested evidentiary rulings
- statutory interpretation and Charter arguments
- multi-party or multi-respondent litigation
- examination of experts and vulnerable witnesses
- strategic risk analysis
- proceedings with significant regulatory, systemic or public-interest dimensions
Jessie was first elected to the Victorian Bar Council in 2022, and is currently serving her fourth consecutive term (2025-26).
She was the President of the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties (Liberty Victoria) from 2016 to 2019. She is a former Director of Donkey Wheel Ltd (2018-2024) and a founding member of The Justice Project Inc (2003).
Jessie is a member of the Australian Lawyers’ Alliance, the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and the Law (ANZAPPL), the Australian Institute of Administrative Law (AIAL), and the Australian-Hazara Legal Network.
She was Chair of the LIV’s Refugee Law Reform Committee and sat on the Executive Committee of the LIV Administrative and Human Rights Law section (2009 & 2010).
She speaks French and Hazaragi (Dari).
Jessie is a Foundation Member of Parnell’s Barristers. She read with Bill Gillies under senior mentor Julian W K Burnside AO KC.
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.
