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Rohan practices predominantly in common law with a particular focus on public liability, dust diseases, and insurance claims. He has appeared led and unled in County Court and Supreme Court matters, acting for both plaintiffs and defendants.

In 2025, Rohan was recognised by Doyle’s Guide as recommended Insurance & Personal Injury Junior Counsel.

Before coming to the Bar, Rohan worked as a Senior Associate in the General Insurance team at Wotton Kearney and as a solicitor at DLA Piper in the Litigation & Regulatory team.

Rohan holds a Bachelor of Laws with honours from the University of Melbourne, as well as a Bachelor of Arts and an Associate Performance Diploma (Piano).

Rohan read with Mr Daniel Wallis and his senior mentor is Ms Roisin Annesley KC.

Prior to joining the Bar, Stephen practised as a solicitor for almost eight years. During this time, he specialised in workers’ compensation litigation.

Stephen accepts briefs in all common law matters (including damages trials and ‘serious injury’ applications), for both plaintiffs and defendants, as well as statutory workers’ compensation disputes in the Victorian and Commonwealth jurisdictions.  Stephen also accepts briefs to appear, and to provide advice, with respect to transport accident (TAC) statutory benefits disputes; judicial review applications; and employment / industrial disputes.

Stephen completed his Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts degrees at the University of Melbourne in 2008.  In 2016, Stephen completed a Master of Laws at Monash University.

With more than 30 years’ experience as an advocate at The Victorian Bar, John appears regularly as leading counsel for plaintiffs in common law personal injury damages trials before the County Court of Victoria inclusive of WorkCover, TAC and public liability matters. For more than 15 years, John has appeared at trial in numerous VWA recovery actions for and against plaintiffs seeking statutory indemnity against third parties in accordance with s.138 of the (old) Act, now replaced by s 369 of the (new) Act as well as appearing in worker’s serious injury applications.

John also has a special interest in advising and appearing in product liability and insurance matters (personal injuries and torts other than personal injuries). Recent product liability matters include acting for an injured plaintiff against the manufacturer of an allegedly defective truck and a primary producer, as the plaintiff, against the importer and retail distributor defendants of an allegedly deficient product in proceedings filed in the Major Torts List of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

John has also worked for leading Australian national law firms, US Attorneys and English law firms in tobacco, pharmaceutical and medical device product liability litigation. He also regularly undertakes briefs in common law matters to protect the interests of clients in commercial law, insurance, occupational health and safety, professional negligence, trade practices and Australian Consumer Law matters.

Recent common law personal injury damages cases:

Rawlins v Coca Cola Europacific Partners Australia Pty Ltd [2026] VCC 341 (30 March 2026)

Rawlins v Coca Cola Europacific Partners Australia Pty Ltd [2026] VCC 191 (18 February 2026)

Terceros v Allen Foundry Company Pty Ltd [2024] VCC 1831 (21 November 2024)

Pirrone v Bostik Australia Pty Ltd [2024] VCC 11 (29 January 2024)

Primmer v Don Watson Pty Ltd [2024] VCC 2045 (18 December 2024)

Chol v Pickwick Group Pty Ltd [2023] VCC 66 (6 February 2023)

Lenon v Australian Skydive Pty Ltd [2023] VCC 1255 (25 July 2023)

Recent commercial case:

Al Shawi v Ghaffari – Hesari [2026] FCA 68 (5 February 2026) – interlocutory application seeking removal of a party granted

Professional memberships:

· Victorian Bar

· Commercial Bar Association (Victorian Bar)

· Common Law Bar Association (Victorian Bar)

· Australian Insurance Law Association (AILA) – committee member of AILA (Victoria)

Legal articles and papers:

· Searching for a causal explanation in liability cases

· International Trends in Products Liability – “Forewarned is forearmed”

· Products Liability for the cosmetic manufacturer

· The State-of-the-Art Defence – What state of whose art?

· A Strict Approach to Liability for Defective Products under the EEC Product Liability Directive

Ray is an experienced lawyer, having practised as a barrister for more than ten years, and as a solicitor prior to coming to the Bar.  He works primarily in personal injury law, but also appears regularly in a variety of other matters, particularly administrative law and employment law matters.

Ray has particular experience in claims for psychiatric injury, and acts for clients in statutory entitlement schemes and the common law area including historical abuse matters.  He has significant expertise in handling all types of claims under the Commonwealth workers’ compensation system (‘Comcare’ work).

Ray was awarded the Public Interest / Justice Innovation Pro Bono Award in 2016, as part of team of three barristers, for work on the Hazelwood Mine Fire Board of Inquiry.

Ray was the Treasurer of the Compensation Law Bar Association from 2015 to 2024.  He has acted as reviewing author for the LexisNexis legal publication Court Forms, Precedents and Pleadings Victoria.

Ray completed degrees in Arts and Law (with Honours) at Monash University and then undertook articles at Sparke Helmore Lawyers.  He practised at that firm for a number of years until he took up a position at one of Australia’s best-known companies, where he worked for several years before coming to the Bar.

Ray is pleased to accept e-briefs or conventional hard-copy briefs.

Some notable and recent cases in which Ray appeared include:

• Aguilar and Australian Postal Corporation [2015] AATA 420
  
• Goulburn Valley Suns FC, 2015 FFV Tribunal (TA15022)
• Tye and Tase 0508 P/L [2016] FWCFB 8733
• Arumugam and TNT Australia P/L [2017] AATA 2660
• Halliday v Pomare & Pazzan [2017] MCV (21/6/17, a bailment case)
• Gates v Robinson [2018] VCAT 40
• KR v BR & Anor [2018] VSCA 159 (led by I Fehring)
• Gropel v Comcare [2018] FCA 1146 (led by N Horner)
• Li v West Sands P/L & Gao [2018] MCV (20/11/18, a civil penalties case under the Fair Work Act 2009)
• Courtney v Ray & State of Victoria [2019] VSC 175
• Barnes and Victorian Building Authority [2019] AATA 4796
• Davis and Australian Postal Corporation [2021] AATA 30
• Chung and Secretary, Attorney-General’s Department [2021] AATA 4804
• Sestan v Hollow Core Concrete [2022] VCC (21/9/22, a jury trial, led by T Tobin)
• Palin and National Disability Insurance Agency [2023] AATA 94

For a full list of decisions in cases where Ray appeared, please contact him directly.