Paul Fildes has practised exclusively in family law since 1988, and built the family law practice group at a commercial firm that had none. He 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.
Doyle’s Guide has ranked him Preeminent in the Melbourne family and divorce list every year since 2018 — nine consecutive editions — and he is one of five in that tier in 2026. He is also Preeminent for high-value and complex property matters in Victoria, a list Doyle’s reserves for lawyers with a track record in matters where the contested net asset pool exceeds AUD $100 million or where complex commercial, property, estate planning and taxation structures have to be unpicked. He is Leading in the national list, where he has held Preeminent in four separate years. Doyle’s rankings are produced by peer survey, and this profile is not a paid placement.
Background. His firm biography records that he was a partner of Middletons — a legacy firm of K&L Gates — from 1993 to 2010. It says that when he joined, Middletons was a commercial and mercantile firm with no family law expertise, and that over fifteen years he built a substantial practice as head of its Family Law Practice Group, which he merged with Taussig Cherrie & Associates in 2010 to form Taussig Cherrie Fildes. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, a qualified family law mediator and a trained collaborative lawyer, and holds a Bachelor of Economics (1981) and a Graduate Diploma of Family Law (1990).
Paul Fildes’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 Paul Fildes, 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. The Melbourne list is the steady one: Leading from 2015 to 2017, Preeminent in every edition since 2018. The national list has moved more — Recommended in 2016 and 2017, Leading in 2018 and 2019, Preeminent in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024, Leading again in 2025 and 2026. The Victorian high-value property list has him Preeminent in 2021 and from 2023 to 2026. He appears once in the parenting list, as Recommended in 2020.
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.
His firm biography names complex property litigation as his specialty, and lists the following focus areas:
Teaching and professional service. His biography lists him as a presenter of Case Watch on the Television Education Network, a regular seminar presenter for professional bodies, a former Chair and Executive member of the Family Law Section of the Law Institute of Victoria, a former Victorian Solicitor Representative of the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia, a former Chair of the Family Law Section National Biennial Conference, and a former board member of Relationships Australia (Victoria). 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.
Paul Fildes 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 was founded as Taussig Cherrie & Associates in July 2000 by Debra Cherrie and the late Michael Taussig QC, and took its present name in 2010 when Paul Fildes merged his Middletons practice group into it. Both are principals, and both are ranked Preeminent in Melbourne in 2026. 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.
The register records his address as Melbourne VIC 3000. The firm’s published switchboard is 03 9605 1700 and his biography gives a direct line of 03 9605 1746.
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Team as listed on the firm’s website, checked 19 September 2026.
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