His Honour Judge Philip Misso is an Adjunct Professor in the Victoria Law School, and serves as a Judge of the County Court of Victoria.
Judge Misso has given lectures at Victoria University, Deakin University and Monash University in the areas of torts, contract, advocacy, civil procedure and alternative dispute resolution.
His Honour attended Monash University where he obtained the degrees of Bachelor of Jurisprudence and Bachelor of Laws in 1977. He signed the Bar Roll in 1979.
In 2007 His Honour was appointed a Judge of the County Court of Victoria after having practised as a Barrister for almost 30 years.
In his earlier years at the Bar, Judge Misso practised in the areas of family law, administrative law, industrial law and criminal law. In the latter part of His Honour's work as a Barrister, he practised almost exclusively in the common law jurisdiction. He appeared in a wide variety of common law negligence claims arising out of:
- medical negligence
- workplace accidents
- transport accidents
- public liability claims
- professional negligence claims
- general tortious claims.
Judge Misso regularly grants internships to students to work under his supervision in the County Court. This program has become part of the School of Law & Justice curriculum.
Industry experience
His Honour is the chair of the Judicial Professional Development Committee at the County Court. Since his appointment, his Honour has heard trials in the civil division of the County Court across a broad range of civil disputes, and trials in the criminal division.
Having been principally involved in the development of alternative dispute resolution in the Court, his Honour has conducted over 250 settlement conferences since September 2008.
In a project conducted under the auspices of the Judicial College of Victoria, his Honour was one of six judges from the Supreme Court and the County Court to draft model charges for use in civil jury trials.
His Honour's career highlights include several high-profile positions in Victoria's judicial system:
- October 2013 - November 2014: appointed Judge in charge of the Common Law Division (required supervision of all common law claims).
- 2009 - 2014: served as Chairman of the County Court Rules Committee (required His Honour to organise for the drafting of rules relevant to Court practice and procedure).
- 2008 - 2014: appointed Judge in charge of the Family Property Division (required supervision of de facto partner property claims and testator's family maintenance claims).
Conferences
His Honour has spoken at conferences organised by the Law Institute of Victoria, the Victorian Bar and the Australian Lawyers Alliance on domestic partnership disputes; testator's family maintenance claims and general common law claims.
