Debra Cherrie co-founded the firm that carries her name in July 2000, with the late Michael Taussig QC, and has been in legal practice since 1980. She is a Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialist in Family Law and holds a current Victorian practising certificate as a Principal with Trust at Taussig Cherrie Fildes Pty Ltd. Her firm biography says she practised in Western Australia first, and in Victoria since 1984.
She is one of seven lawyers in Australia, and one of five in Melbourne, ranked Preeminent by Doyle’s Guide in 2026 — and she holds the top tier in all three of the lists she appears in. Doyle’s has ranked her in the Melbourne family and divorce list in every edition since 2015, Preeminent in ten of those twelve years. She is also Preeminent in the Victorian high-value and complex property list and in the national family and divorce list. Doyle’s rankings are produced by peer survey, and this profile is not a paid placement.
Background. Her firm biography records ten years on the Family Law Advisory Committee to the Accreditation Board of the Law Institute of Victoria, and a period as a sessional member of the Legal Practice List in the Civil Division of the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal. She has served on several Law Institute of Victoria committees including its Executive, Courts Practice and Collaborative Practice committees, and was co-editor, with Michael Taussig QC, of the professional journal Current Family Law.
Debra Cherrie’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 Debra Cherrie, from 2015 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 the record shows. Hers is not a straight line. Doyle’s ranked her Preeminent in Melbourne from 2015 to 2022, dropped her to Leading in 2023 and 2024, then restored the top tier in 2025 and 2026. The national list moved the same way and further — Preeminent 2017 to 2022, then Leading, Recommended and Leading in the three years to 2025, and Preeminent again in 2026. The Victorian high-value property list shows the same dip and recovery. She is one of the few lawyers on this list to have regained the top tier after losing it.
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 biography describes a practice built on complex financial property disputes, and Taussig Cherrie Fildes publishes the following areas of work:
Published work. Her biography lists articles and papers on international child abduction, child support, setting aside transactions to defeat claims, injunctions, third-party interests, financial agreements, bankruptcy and taxation issues. The firm does not publish fees.
Source: the firm’s biography and expertise 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.
Debra Cherrie 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.
Taussig Cherrie Fildes is a family-law-only firm in the Melbourne CBD. It began as Taussig Cherrie & Associates in July 2000 and took its present name in 2010, when Paul Fildes merged the family law practice group he led at Middletons into it. Both are principals. Doyle’s also ranks firm lawyers Kylie Sanders and Kristy Fuge in its 2026 Victorian lists.
The firm itself is ranked. Doyle’s places Taussig Cherrie Fildes in the First Tier of its 2026 Melbourne family law firm rankings, and the firm says it is one of only five ranked First Tier nationally.
The register records her address as Melbourne VIC 3000. The firm’s published switchboard is 03 9605 1700 and her biography gives a direct line of 03 9605 1761.
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Team as listed on the firm’s website, checked 19 September 2026.
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