Peter Young AM KC served almost eleven years as a judge of the Family Court of Australia, and now conducts family law mediations and settlement conferences. He was appointed to the Bench in mid-2002 and resigned in May 2013. He holds a current Victorian practising certificate as a Barrister, recorded on the register as practising under the name Peter Charles Young KC.
Doyle’s Guide ranks him as one of only three Preeminent Victorian family law mediators in 2026, in a list of twenty-nine across three tiers, and he has been named in that list in every edition since 2017. In 2017 — while he was still off the Bench only four years — Doyle’s placed him at Market Leader, the tier above Preeminent, which it awards sparingly. He has held Preeminent in seven of the ten editions since. Doyle’s rankings are produced by peer survey, and this profile is not a paid placement.
Background. His clerk’s profile records a Bachelor of Jurisprudence from Monash University in 1969 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1971, and says he first signed the Roll of Counsel in 1975. After a diverse practice in his first five years he specialised in family law and de facto relationship cases, primarily larger property, financial and commercial matters, and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1997. Outside the law he is a Deputy Chancellor of Monash University, chairman of its Audit and Risk Committee and a member of its Selection and Remuneration and Honorary Degree committees. He is a former chairman of the Melbourne Racing Club, was a government appointee to the Victorian Thoroughbred Racing Integrity Council, and served on the Epworth Hospital Ethics and Medical Research Committee from 2013 to 2018.
Peter Young AM KC’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 Peter Young AM KC, from 2017 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. Market Leader in 2017, Leading in 2018, Preeminent from 2019 to 2023, Leading in 2024, and Preeminent again in 2025 and 2026. The 2017 listing records Owen Dixon Chambers East; every edition since records Holmes List. Doyle’s published the name as “Peter Young QC” until the change of sovereign and “Peter Young KC” since.
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 clerk’s profile describes a practice now confined to dispute resolution:
How a barrister is engaged. Barristers in Victoria are ordinarily briefed by a solicitor rather than retained directly by a client, and are booked through a clerk — here, Holmes List. His profile carries the standard notice that liability is limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation, from 16 May 2013.
Source: his Holmes List profile, reviewed 15 September 2026. Practice areas are as published by the practitioner or the firm. This site does not verify outcomes in individual matters.
Peter Young AM KC 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.
A note on the entry. Barristers in Victoria are sole practitioners, which is why the “practising at” field shows his own name rather than a firm, and why accredited specialisation is recorded as not applicable — the Law Institute of Victoria scheme is for solicitors. The register records no nominated areas of practice for him. The post-nominal AM used by his clerk denotes a Member of the Order of Australia; we have reproduced the name as his clerk publishes it and have not independently searched the honours list.
Holmes List is a barristers’ clerking list, not a law firm. It handles bookings and administration for independent barristers who remain sole practitioners. Doyle’s also ranks Joseph Melilli of Holmes List as Preeminent in the same 2026 Victorian mediators list — two of the three names in that tier are on this list — and Martin Bartfeld KC as Leading.
Doyle’s does not rank clerking lists in its family law firm rankings, so there is no firm-level tier to report, and there is no firm Google Business Profile that would be meaningful for an individual barrister.
The register records his address as Melbourne VIC 3000. Bookings are made through Holmes List, and his profile says he is available to conduct mediations electronically by Zoom.
Barristers are normally briefed by a solicitor. If you do not yet have one, our matching service can put your matter in front of a family lawyer who can then brief counsel if your matter needs it.
Have you worked with Peter Young KC? 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. Peter Young KC 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.
Tell us about your matter and we’ll point you to the right starting place — free for the public.
Get matched to a family law lawyer →