Ian Kennedy AM
Ian is a founder and Senior Partner of Kennedy Partners. He has an extensive and highly-regarded national and international family law practice, primarily in major financial cases and difficult multi-jurisdictional matters. Ian has been recognised in Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession as “pre-eminent in Victoria” for his expertise and position as “Australia’s best” in cross-border matters “widely noted”.
In 2004 Ian was appointed a member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day Honours List for his services to the law, legal education and national and international professional organisations.
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Biography
Ian’s stature in the national legal fraternity is without equal, having been at the forefront of the development of family law as a speciality area of practice. He is a highly regarded presenter of family law and related issues nationally and internationally and has spoken at conferences and seminars in all Australian States and Territories and more than 20 countries around the world. He is the author of numerous articles, papers and publications on family law and associated topics, and is a former Australian correspondent for International Family Law.
Ian served as President of the International Academy of Family Lawyers from 2008 to 2020 and Chair of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia from 2005 to 2008. He was Editor of Australian Family Lawyer from 1988 to 2016 and is a former Executive Member of the International Bar Association Family Law Committee and a former director of the Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators and Mediators.
Throughout Ian’s career he has been honoured numerous times by his peers in the Australian and international legal communities for his contributions to family law. In November, 2004, he received the inaugural Law Institute of Victoria President’s Award for outstanding contributions by a practitioner in specialised practice which promote and advance the legal profession and benefit the community. He was awarded the Law Council of Australia President’s Medal for 2015 (the first family lawyer to be accorded that honour) for his outstanding contributions to the development of family law and professional standards both in the Australian and international legal communities, and the International Academy of Family Lawyers Medal in New Delhi in September 2016 honouring his world-wide influence on family law practice.
Ian has been recognised each year by the Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession for his expertise, particularly in high value and complex financial disputes and international family law and has been involved in cases in the High Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the Supreme Court of the United States and the Cour d’Apel (Supreme Court of France). Ian has been described in Legal Profiles as “very highly regarded by his fellow practitioners both in Australia and overseas” and “especially held in high esteem for handling difficult and complex matters”.
Ian is a member of the Law Institute of Victoria, the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (life membership), the LawAsia Family Law and Family Rights Section, the Medico-Legal Society of Victoria and the Family Law Section of the New Zealand Law Society. He has been a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers since 1993.
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Expertise
Ian’s practice encompasses every aspect of family law including trial and appellate work. His particular focus and expertise are complex financial matters, expert evidence and opinion, advice, multi-jurisdiction financial agreements and mentorship. He is widely regarded as a leading authority in Australia on international family law.