Telephone: 02 9235 1657
Fax: 02 8815 9303
Admitted as Barrister: 1974
Appointed Queen’s Counsel: 1992
Practice areas:
EDUCATION
After completing his secondary education in Sydney Peter Semmler was educated at Cambridge University (where he obtained an MA) and the College of Law in London. He was admitted as a barrister-at-law of the Inner Temple, London in May 1973.
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
He has practised at the New South Wales Bar since 1974, primarily in common law claims, on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants.
He was appointed Queens Counsel in 1992. He received an Order of Australia Medal in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for service to the law.
He has appeared in several important High Court appeals including Wynn v New South Wales Insurance Ministerial Corporation (1995) 184 CLR 485, Tame v New South Wales (2002) 211 CLR 317 and Vairy v Wyong Shire Council (2005) 223 CLR 422.
He has also appeared in numerous High Court special leave applications and in the Federal Court as well as in many appeals to the Court of Appeal of New South Wales and of South Australia. He has conducted many trials in the Supreme Courts of New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory as well as in the District Court and Dust Diseases Tribunal of New South Wales.
He has delivered lectures on various aspects of personal injuries litigation to numerous bodies including the NSW College of Law, the Medico Legal Society of NSW, the Australian Lawyers Alliance, the Northern Clinical School of Sydney University and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.
In recent years he has undertaken mediations in a variety of types of dispute. In doing so he has successfully applied his knowledge gained over decades of court appearances to assist parties to avoid the uncertainty, cost, stress and delay associated with going to court, by settling their disputes at mediation in an efficient, cost-effective, timely and civilised manner.
MEMBERSHIPS
Peter Semmler is a former Barrister-Member of the Legal Services Tribunal of New South Wales and a former Commissioner of the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales.
