Royal Commissions: Essential nutrient or junk food?
From left, Rachel Doyle SC and James Waters of the Vic Bar Melbourne Law School Foundation Board.
The James Merralls Fellowship in Law lecture welcomed notable barrister Rachel Doyle SC to present the 2026 iteration of the event, hosted in partnership with the Victorian Bar and the Melbourne Law School Foundation Board.
It was also the second year that hundreds of MLS alumni gathered for a post-lecture event, the 'Back to Law School' function. Alum mingled, ate, drank, and joined student-guided tours of the law school.
Rachel Doyle SC is leading specialist in Class Actions, Industrial, Employment and Discrimination Law, and Public Law – with extensive experience in Royal Commissions and inquests.
She joined the Bar in 1996 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2009.
She was one of the counsel assisting team in the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, and has appeared for parties in the Esso Longford Royal Commission, the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry, the Heydon Trade Union Governance and Corruption Royal Commission, and The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
More recently she has appeared for parties in the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.
Rachel has been a previous member of the Advisory Board to Melbourne University’s Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law and has guest lectured in our Melbourne Law Masters subject, Royal Commissions and Public Inquiries.She is also the author of Power & Consent, a text on sexual harassment in the legal profession.
It was a pleasure to have her with us to explore whether we have become too reliant on Royal Commissions to resolve our most difficult public questions.
The welcome address was provided by Dean, Professor Michelle Foster; and the post-lecture Q+A moderated by barrister and Melbourne Law School Foundation board member, James Waters.
