On 15 April 2024, Rashelle Seiden SC was sworn in as a judge of the District Court of New South Wales and appointed Deputy President and Head of the Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division and Occupational Division of the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (‘NCAT’). A measure of the professional respect for her Honour is the fact that the ceremony was attended by the president of the Court of Appeal, the Honourable Justice Ward; the president and former president of NCAT, the Honourable Justices Armstrong and Wright of the Supreme Court; the New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions, Sally Dowling SC; and the president of the Law Society of New South Wales, Brett McGrath, and was presided over by the Chief Judge of the District Court, the Honourable Justice Price.

Also in attendance, either online or in person, was her precious family, including her husband, Ross Buckley; their children, Ariella, Tara and Marcus, and their partners, Abdullah, Matt and Suzie; and her sister, Joanette, and Joanette’s husband, Mal. Sadly missing from the ceremony were her late parents, Vera and Michael Seiden.

Rashelle was born in Sydney and grew up in the Coogee–Randwick area, enjoying reading, spending time with family and friends and going for long walks with Pepe the dog. She was educated at Claremont College in Randwick in a class with only four classmates and at Sydney Girls High School where she enjoyed maths and science. She gained a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Sydney, followed by a Master of Taxation from the University of Melbourne, before embarking on a career as an investment banker.

In Rashelle’s words, though, ‘there was no question of not doing law’. In 1993, she enrolled at Bond University and undertook a Bachelor of Laws, completing her studies in only 18 months and gaining first class honours, finding the experience ‘calming and enjoyable’. While studying at Bond, she met husband-to-be, Ross, a lecturer. This necessitated Ross informing the Dean, who said, ‘There is the matter of the power balance between you two in this situation, but having met Rashelle, I feel the power imbalance is in her favour.’

In 1996, Rashelle was called to the Queensland Bar and joined Sir Harry Gibbs Chambers in Brisbane, where she stayed for four years and where she was quickly blessed with opportunities to work on intellectually stimulating cases. In 2000, she moved back to Sydney and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar, joining Ground Floor Wentworth Chambers and flourishing, with mentors such as Tony Slater KC and John Durack SC. From 2014 to 2016 and again from 2021 to 2023, she was head of chambers at Ground Floor Wentworth Chambers.

Rashelle has areas of expertise including taxation, tax crime, administrative and constitutional law, bankruptcy and insolvency law; has published extensively over the years, including in the Australian Tax Forum and Taxation in Australia; and is a qualified mediator with certification from the Dispute Resolution Centre and Bond University. She was made silk in 2013. From 2012, she was a principal member of NCAT and appeal panel member until 2019, and lately has been a principal member of the Occupational Division.

Rashelle’s comfort zone is not confined to complex tax law and constitutional writs, having sought out and accepted briefs in all areas of the law, which she immediately mastered. To mention just a few examples in the past few years, she has advised on, and appeared in, important cases in areas including immigration, discipline, succession, privacy, human rights, valuation, inquiries into convictions, and criminal appeals.

Rashelle has excelled in the most complex of cases, acting for both the government and private citizens, most recently leading two silks in the High Court of Australia on a constitutional challenge to the payment of notional GST. In the words of the New South Wales Attorney-General, the Honourable Michael Daley MP, at her swearing in, there are many headline cases that she has worked on and ‘[i]f I mentioned them all, then our celebration morning tea would turn into a midnight snack’.

The Attorney-General also noted that Rashelle is known for being hard working, well prepared and an astute strategist with a reputation for bringing order and clarity to complex cases, and colleagues can only offer positives, finding her to be always smiling, welcoming, calm and charming, admiring her lightness in communication and ability to elucidate complex propositions eloquently, and valuing her incredible work ethic and skills.

As to what the law means to her, Ross – now a board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia – sums it up best when saying ‘Rashelle would rather be doing law than anything else, including eating chocolate ice cream’.

Colleagues have benefitted from Rashelle being generous with her time, mentoring junior barristers and providing opportunities for others to learn. They will miss going for walks around the Botanic Gardens – even when it rains – to discuss current cases. Yet our loss is the judiciary’s gain. Serving the community is a passion. Described by colleagues as a ‘wonderful person’, everyone will feel that they’ve been listened to and respected. Rashelle’s kindness, deep sense of fairness and incisive mind will ensure that her Honour excels as Deputy President and Division Head of NCAT and in her judicial career.