Briana Kotzapavlidis established Arkadia Family Law in Hawthorn in 2024, and 2026 is the year Doyle’s moved her to the top tier. She holds a current Victorian practising certificate as a Principal with Trust at Arkadia Family Law Pty Ltd. Family law is the only area of practice recorded against her name on the Victorian register of lawyers.
Doyle’s Guide lists her as one of six Preeminent lawyers for parenting and children’s matters in Victoria in 2026, up from the Leading tier she held in that list from 2022 to 2025 and the Recommended tier in 2020 and 2021. In the same edition she is Leading in the Melbourne family and divorce list, where she has been ranked since 2021. The promotion came in her second year running her own firm. Doyle’s rankings are produced by peer survey, and this profile is not a paid placement.
Background. Her firm’s biography describes more than two decades in practice. Doyle’s earlier listings record where that practice was: Tisher Liner FC Law in 2020 and 2021, then Hargreaves Family Law from 2022 to 2024, before her own firm from 2025. The biography says her approach is founded in empathy and practicality, and that she takes time to understand each client’s worries, priorities and goals before setting out clear options and realistic advice.
Briana Kotzapavlidis’s current rankings, from the 2026 edition of Doyle’s Guide. Firm affiliation is shown as published by Doyle’s. 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, so one lawyer can hold different tiers in different lists in the same year. Below is every published Doyle’s listing we could verify for Briana Kotzapavlidis, from 2020 to 2026, with the tier reached in each edition. Each list was opened individually on doylesguide.com on 15 September 2026 — no run of years has been inferred from a single page.
What changed in 2026. The parenting list is where her ranking has moved, one tier at a time and without a step backwards: Recommended in 2020 and 2021, Leading from 2022 to 2025, Preeminent in 2026 — alongside Georgia Hargreaves, Paula Leslie, Kate Mitchell, Ben Sayer and Jason Walker. Her firm affiliation in Doyle’s changes with it, from Tisher Liner FC Law to Hargreaves Family Law to her own firm.
Years are the edition years Doyle’s publishes. Where a year is missing from a run, the practitioner was not in that edition of that list, which we confirmed by searching the page rather than assuming it. See also our hub of Doyle’s-ranked Melbourne family lawyers.
Her firm’s biography lists the following areas of expertise:
How the firm describes itself. Arkadia publishes five values — empathy and expertise, clarity and confidence, practical solutions, enduring partnerships, and positive change — and says it sits in Hawthorn deliberately, “out of the direct hustle and bustle of the city”. It says it prides itself on “forthright, realistic advice” and on exploring settlement pathways. It does not publish fees.
Source: the firm’s team and about pages, reviewed 15 September 2026. Practice areas are as published by the practitioner or the firm. This site does not verify outcomes in individual matters.
Briana Kotzapavlidis is listed on the Victorian register of lawyers maintained by the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner. The entry below is reproduced as it appeared on 15 September 2026.
Arkadia Family Law is a family-law-only firm of nine in Hawthorn, founded in 2024. Besides the principal partner, the firm lists partners Liz Weldon and Rachel Peattie, special counsel Georgia Radman, lawyers Natasha El Shafei and Alice Parsons, a practice manager, a law clerk and a legal assistant. Liz Weldon has been an Accredited Family Law Specialist since 2015 and Rachel Peattie since 2011; Doyle’s ranks Liz Weldon Leading for parenting and children’s matters in Victoria in 2026 and Recommended in the Melbourne family and divorce list.
The firm itself is ranked. In its second year, Doyle’s placed Arkadia Family Law in the Third Tier of its 2026 Melbourne family law firm rankings. The firm’s Google Business Profile carried a 4.7 rating from 14 reviews when we retrieved it on 12 September 2026.
The register records her address as Hawthorn VIC 3022, and the firm works from Hawthorn rather than the Melbourne CBD.
We are not her office and cannot make appointments on her behalf. Contact the firm directly, or use our matching service if you would like us to put your matter in front of a family lawyer.
Firm-level rating aggregated from Arkadia Family Law’s Google Business Profile, retrieved 2026-09-12. Reviews are of the firm, not an individual rating of Briana Kotzapavlidis. View on Google →
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