Family law barrister · Parenting orders & children’s matters · Melbourne, Victoria
Barrister, Victorian Bar (Bar Roll 1990) · Holmes List Barristers · on the register as Mary E Agresta
Melbourne, VIC
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Quick answer
Mary Agresta (on the register as Mary E Agresta) is a family law barrister at the Victorian Bar in Melbourne, clerked by Holmes List. She was admitted on 3 March 1986, practised as a solicitor, and signed the Victorian Bar Roll on 31 May 1990. Her practice is parenting orders and children’s matters. Doyle’s Guide has listed her among Victoria’s parenting and children’s matters barristers in every edition from 2018 to 2026, Preeminent in 2024 and Recommended in 2026.
Admitted
3 March 1986
Victorian Bar Roll
31 May 1990
Practice area
Family law · Parenting orders
Clerk / list
Holmes List Barristers
Doyle’s Guide
Recommended 2026 · parenting · listed every year since 2018
Qualifications
LLB (Melb)
Register
Barrister · VLSB+C, checked 24 Sep 2026
Also listed
Northern Territory (jurisdictions, Vic Bar profile)
Mary Agresta is a barrister at the Victorian Bar whose practice is family law, concentrated on parenting orders and children’s matters. She was admitted to practise on 3 March 1986 and worked as a solicitor before coming to the Bar: her Victorian Bar profile records her previous occupation as solicitor. She first signed the Victorian Bar Roll on 31 May 1990, is listed in the Bar’s division of Victorian Practising Counsel, and holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne. She has now been at the Bar for 36 years and in practice for 40.
She is clerked by Holmes List, one of the Victorian Bar’s barristers’ lists, which handles her briefs, availability and fees. Both her Victorian Bar profile and her Holmes List profile give a single practice category, Family Law and Guardianship — Parenting Orders. Her Victorian Bar profile also lists the Northern Territory under jurisdictions.
Doyle’s Guide has recognised her in nine consecutive editions. Since the 2018 edition she has appeared every year in Doyle’s list of leading parenting and children’s matters barristers in Victoria: Preeminent in 2024, Leading in 2018, 2020, 2023 and 2025, and Recommended in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2026. Doyle’s names Holmes List as her clerk in every edition. The full record, with each source page, is set out below.
She practises as junior counsel. The Victorian Bar lists her without a KC or SC post-nominal, and Doyle’s lists her among junior counsel.
Mary Agresta is the wife of Len Lindon (Leonard John Lindon), an Australian legal practitioner who was known during 1980s litigation over protests at Pine Gap as “Citizen Limbo”, and whose litigation record is set out in a separate Lawyer Reviews profile, according to information provided to and confirmed by Lawyer Reviews.
Lawyer Reviews has not independently located a public record confirming the marriage. The relationship is identified as information confirmed directly to Lawyer Reviews rather than independently verified public-record information.
The connection is personal rather than professional. Nothing on this page, or on his, suggests that Ms Agresta participated in Mr Lindon’s historical litigation or is responsible for his conduct, arguments, costs orders or litigation strategy. Her work as a barrister should be assessed on its own record.
Lawyer Reviews’ founder, Jackson Agresta, has disclosed that he is Ms Agresta’s nephew by marriage. This family relationship is formally disclosed in the interests of transparency, so that readers can weigh this profile accordingly.
This profile is compiled from the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner register, the Victorian Bar Find-a-Barrister register and Holmes List. Ms Agresta has not paid for placement and holds no commercial relationship with Lawyer Reviews. She may seek a correction or a right of reply at any time: hello@lawyerreviews.com.au
Mary Agresta’s current ranking, from the 2026 edition of Doyle’s Guide. Every earlier edition is set out in the full ranking history below.
Doyle’s Guide publishes a separate annual list for each practice area and state. Below is every Doyle’s listing we could verify for Mary Agresta. Each list was opened individually on doylesguide.com on 24 September 2026 — no run of years has been inferred from a single page.
| Edition | Tier | Section of the list | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Recommended | Junior counsel | Doyle’s 2026 list → |
| 2025 | Leading | Junior counsel | Doyle’s 2025 list → |
| 2024 | Preeminent | Junior counsel | Doyle’s 2024 list → |
| 2023 | Leading | Junior counsel | Doyle’s 2023 list → |
| 2022 | Recommended | Junior counsel | Doyle’s 2022 list → |
| 2021 | Recommended | Junior counsel | Doyle’s 2021 list → |
| 2020 | Leading | Junior counsel | Doyle’s 2020 list → |
| 2019 | Recommended | Junior counsel | Doyle’s 2019 list → |
| 2018 | Leading | List not split by seniority | Doyle’s 2018 list → |
What the record shows. Nine consecutive editions in Doyle’s Victorian parenting and children’s matters list, moving between its tiers: Leading in 2018, Recommended in 2019, Leading in 2020, Recommended in 2021 and 2022, Leading in 2023, Preeminent in 2024, Leading in 2025 and Recommended in 2026. Holmes List’s own announcements of the 2024 and 2025 lists name her in the same tiers.
Doyle’s did not publish a Victorian parenting and children’s matters list for 2016 or 2017 (those pages do not exist on doylesguide.com), and the 2018 list did not separate junior from senior counsel. She is not in Doyle’s Victorian family law junior counsel lists for 2024 to 2026, or its Melbourne family law barristers lists for 2015 and 2016, which we confirmed by opening those pages.
Holmes List has 21 barristers in the 2026 list. The junior counsel with profiles on this site, by Doyle’s tier:
Recommended in 2026, alongside Ms Agresta: Sally Bastick, Hilary Bonney, Therese Borger, Jenny Brennan, Patricia Byrnes, George Glezakos, Bridgette Kildea, Rory McIvor. The complete list, including senior counsel, is on our Melbourne family law barristers page and on Doyle’s own page. Tiers are Doyle’s; we add nothing to them.
Submitted review · received 20 September 2026
Since the search log below was compiled, one review arrived through the form on this page. It is published here in full, exactly as it was sent. We have not been able to verify it, and the reasons are set out underneath it so you can weigh it for yourself.
“Would win the contest for the world’s most miserable human. But an amazing barrister. Would recommend if you want to win. 5 stars.”
What we can and cannot tell you about this review
The rating shown is the one the sender selected. The wording is theirs, not ours, and the opinion in it is not shared or endorsed by Lawyer Reviews Australia. If you are Ms Agresta you can publish a reply, ask us to take it down, or issue a concerns notice, and we respond within 48 business hours. Our review policy sets out how submissions are assessed.
Review search log · searched 11 September 2026 · revised 20 September 2026
Our editorial team searched every public review platform, business directory, map service, social network and forum we could reach for client reviews of Ms Agresta. Across all of them we found exactly one review. No other review of Ms Agresta — positive or negative — exists on any platform we checked, in Australia or anywhere else. This log records what our search of public platforms found. One review has since been submitted directly through this page, on 20 September 2026; we could not verify it, and it is published above with that stated.
That single review sits on Ms Agresta’s unclaimed Yelp listing and was posted on 9 November 2022. The Yelp account gives its location as San Francisco, California. The reviewer has since been in contact with Lawyer Reviews and has told us they are in Australia, and that the location shown on the account is not where they live. We have not independently verified their identity, and we have not established what connection — if any — they had to Ms Agresta or to any matter she was briefed in. While that remains unverified we do not reproduce the review, its rating or its wording on this page. It is public on Yelp, and anyone who wants to read it can do so at the source:
More than 36 years at the Bar. Our search located one public review.
Mary Agresta has practised at the Victorian Bar since 1990. Our search of the accessible sources listed below located just one public review, on Yelp. We have not verified the reviewer’s connection to her practice.
For a career spanning more than 36 years, we find that a surprisingly limited amount of publicly accessible client feedback. It gives prospective clients little firsthand information to draw on when choosing counsel. Our search is not exhaustive, and review numbers alone do not establish the quality of a barrister’s work.
We would like to hear from people with firsthand experience of her work. Have you instructed or briefed Mary Agresta, or been the client in a matter in which she appeared? Tell us about your experience—positive, negative or mixed.
Submissions are assessed under our published verification and moderation policy before publication. If you know of an existing review our search missed, please send us the link.
Lawyer Reviews Australia is not the publisher of anything on Yelp. If you are Ms Agresta, you can publish a reply or issue a concerns notice, and we respond within 48 business hours. Verified reviews submitted through the form directly below are read by an editor before publication.
| Source | What we found |
|---|---|
| Yelp | Unclaimed listing “Agresta Mary”, Melbourne. Carries the single review described above — posted 9 November 2022, with one photo attached. The account’s stated location is San Francisco, California; the reviewer has since told us they are in Australia. Their connection to Ms Agresta is not verified. Yelp’s “not recommended” bucket is empty. |
| Google Maps / Google Business Profile | No listing in Ms Agresta’s own name. |
| Google reviews of Holmes List Barristers (her clerks’ List) | 4.5 stars from 11 reviews. We read all 11. None mentions Ms Agresta; they name other barristers. A List-level rating is not a rating of her and we do not attribute it. |
| Victorian Bar register | Register profile only (Family Law and Guardianship – Parenting Orders). No review facility. |
| Holmes List profile | Biography only: admitted 3 March 1986, called to the Bar 31 May 1990, LLB (Melb). No testimonials. |
| Public profile behind a login wall. No recommendations visible. | |
| POI Australia | Directory listing. Reviews section: “No Records Found”. |
| AussieWeb | Directory listing. No reviews. |
| Word of Mouth | Not listed. |
| Trustpilot, ProductReview.com.au, Yellow Pages, TrueLocal, Localsearch, Hotfrog, Cylex, StartLocal, WOMO | No listing for Ms Agresta on any of them. |
| Facebook, X, Threads | No business page. |
| Reddit, Whirlpool | No threads mention her. |
| Holmes List social posts (Instagram 2023, 2025, 2026; LinkedIn 2024) | Professional announcements about her practice. Comments are peer congratulations, not client reviews. |
| Victorian Legal Services Board & Commissioner | No published disciplinary finding surfaced in search. |
Google web search blocked our automated checks, so a Google knowledge panel for Ms Agresta, if one exists, was not read directly. LinkedIn recommendations and Instagram comment threads sit behind logins. Yelp blocks automated access, so we could not verify the reviewer’s identity or connection from the listing itself. Court judgments were not searched; they are not reviews. If you know of a review we have missed, email hello@lawyerreviews.com.au with the link and we will assess it under our review policy.
Have you worked with Mary Agresta? Share your experience to help others choosing a lawyer.
Every review is checked by an editor and verified against an engagement record before publication. Nothing you submit here appears on the site automatically. Mary Agresta receives a right of reply before any review goes live. Your email is used for verification only and is never published; your display name can be initials or “Verified client”. See our review policy and what verification involves.
Her Victorian Bar profile and her Holmes List profile each list one practice category: Family Law and Guardianship — Parenting Orders. That is the parenting side of family law: disputes about where children live and who they spend time with, parental responsibility, and the parenting orders made under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. Holmes List describes the Doyle’s list she appears in as covering counsel practising in parenting, custody and matters relating to the children of a relationship.
What we do not claim. We do not list individual cases, clients or outcomes, and we have not found a published description of her practice beyond the category above, so this profile does not attribute other areas of family law to her. If your matter is mainly about property or a financial settlement, a barrister whose listed practice matches it may be a better fit; see our Melbourne family law barristers page.
How a barrister is engaged. Barristers in Victoria are sole practitioners. They are ordinarily briefed by a solicitor rather than retained directly by a client, and their availability and fees are arranged through their clerk.
Sources: her Victorian Bar profile and her Holmes List profile, both reviewed 24 September 2026, and Holmes List’s announcement of the 2025 Doyle’s list. Practice descriptions are supplied by the barrister and are not independently verified by the Victorian Bar, her clerk or this site.
Mary Agresta is listed on the Victorian register of lawyers kept by the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner. The entry below is reproduced as it appeared on 24 September 2026.
Barristers in Victoria are sole practitioners, which is why the “practising at” field shows her own name rather than a firm. No alternate or former name is recorded. When we last read the entry’s practice-area field, on 13 September 2026, it listed Family Law.
Her Victorian Bar profile (Find a Barrister, profile 22398), reviewed 24 September 2026, records:
Contact Holmes List Barristers, her clerk, on 03 9225 6444 or holmeslist@vicbar.com.au. Holmes List’s office is at Isaacs Chambers, Ground Floor, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000. Barristers are ordinarily briefed by a solicitor, so your family lawyer will usually make the approach and send the brief. If you do not yet have a family lawyer, our free matching service can put your matter in front of one, who can then brief counsel if the matter needs it. Our family law calculator explains which level of lawyer a matter usually needs, and the family law cost guide sets out typical fee ranges.
Answers are drawn from the Victorian Bar, the VLSB+C register, Holmes List and Doyle’s Guide, with the source named in each section above.
Mary Agresta is a family law barrister at the Victorian Bar in Melbourne, clerked by Holmes List Barristers. She was admitted on 3 March 1986, practised as a solicitor, and signed the Victorian Bar Roll on 31 May 1990. Her listed practice area is parenting orders and children’s matters. Doyle’s Guide has listed her among Victoria’s parenting and children’s matters barristers in every edition from 2018 to 2026.
Yes. In the 2026 edition Doyle’s Guide lists her as Recommended among Victorian junior counsel for parenting and children’s matters. She has appeared in that list every year since 2018: Preeminent in 2024, Leading in 2018, 2020, 2023 and 2025, and Recommended in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2026. Each year’s list page is linked from the ranking history on this profile.
Her Victorian Bar and Holmes List profiles list one practice category: Family Law and Guardianship, with Parenting Orders. That is the parenting side of family law, meaning disputes about where children live, who they spend time with, parental responsibility and the parenting orders made under the Family Law Act 1975 in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. We have not found a published description of her practice beyond that category.
No. She practises as junior counsel. The Victorian Bar lists her without a KC or SC post-nominal, and Doyle’s Guide lists her among junior counsel.
Yes. The Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner register records her as Mary Agresta, a barrister practising as Mary E Agresta, and her Victorian Bar profile is headed Mary E Agresta. No alternate or former name is recorded on the register.
She was admitted to practise on 3 March 1986 and first signed the Victorian Bar Roll on 31 May 1990. Her Victorian Bar profile records her previous occupation as solicitor and her qualification as LLB (Melb).
She practises in Melbourne. Contact is through her clerk, Holmes List Barristers, on 03 9225 6444 or holmeslist@vicbar.com.au. Holmes List’s office is at Isaacs Chambers, Ground Floor, 555 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.
Barristers in Victoria are ordinarily briefed by a solicitor. Your family law solicitor contacts Holmes List, her clerk, about availability and fees and sends the brief. Barristers may accept some work directly under the Barristers’ Conduct Rules, so a member of the public can ask the clerk whether a matter is one she would take without a solicitor. If you do not yet have a family lawyer, this site’s free matching service can put your matter in front of one.
Her fees are not published. Brief fees and conference rates are set by the barrister and disclosed through her clerk at Holmes List. The Legal Profession Uniform Law requires written costs disclosure as soon as practicable after instructions are given, and it does not allow conditional (no win, no fee) costs agreements for proceedings under the Family Law Act, so a family law barrister cannot be engaged on that basis.
Lawyer Reviews searched every public review platform, directory and register it could reach and found one review of Mary Agresta: a single review on her unclaimed Yelp listing, posted on 9 November 2022, whose author’s identity and connection to her are unverified, so it is linked from this profile rather than reproduced. One further review was submitted through this page on 20 September 2026; it could not be verified and is published with that stated. No verified client review has been published. Verified reviews can be submitted on this profile, are checked by an editor before publication, and Ms Agresta has a standing right of reply.
Holmes List is one of the barristers’ lists (clerking offices) at the Victorian Bar. The list’s clerks handle briefing, availability and fee arrangements for its member barristers. Mary Agresta is a member of Holmes List, and Doyle’s Guide names Holmes List as her clerk in every edition from 2018 to 2026.
Availability is managed by Holmes List. An instructing solicitor should contact the clerk on 03 9225 6444 to confirm current capacity.
Related
This profile is published under the Lawyer Reviews Australia Editorial Policy and Methodology. It aggregates publicly available information about Mary Agresta from authoritative sources, with citation:
Author: Editorial team, Lawyer Reviews Australia · Last verified against source registers: 24 September 2026 · Right of reply: hello@lawyerreviews.com.au
Free for you. Tell us about your matter and we’ll point you to the right path to brief counsel like Ms Agresta — starting with a family law solicitor, which is how barristers are engaged in Australia. A real person reads every enquiry during business hours.
Start enquiry →Family and domestic violence can affect people from all backgrounds. If you or someone you know is experiencing or at risk of domestic, family or sexual violence, these services are free and confidential.
For clarity, Lawyer Reviews Australia does not allege, suggest or imply that Mary Agresta has ever been personally involved in family violence. The services listed here are provided solely to assist readers who may need support, in the context of Ms Agresta’s practice area, parenting and children’s matters, in which family violence is often an issue the court must consider.
As a matter of editorial policy, this support-services section is not used to publish allegations or information about any individual’s private circumstances. Even if information concerning such matters were known to us, we would not publish or discuss it here. This statement describes our editorial policy and does not imply that we possess any such information concerning Mary Agresta.
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