Meet Alice Byrnes, Independent Children’s Lawyer
What do you, as an Independent Children’s Lawyer, do?
As soon as I am appointed, I read all the Court material – usually the first document I go to is the Child Impact Report or the Family Report to see what the children’s views are (if any). I then arrange to meet with the children in my boardroom – with toys, colouring, Lego, fidgets, etc – or via Zoom if the children are not in the Central West of NSW. I explain the role of the ICL in an age-appropriate way and see if the children wish to tell me anything that they’d like to but noting it is not a confidential process.
Why is this role important?
The role of the ICL is the voice of the child. It removes the need for the child to be involved/present at Court. We want the child to have as limited amount of touchpoints with the Family Court as possible. The ICL then ensures that the views of the child are before the Court (the ICL does not have to agree with those views).
The ICL then submits to the Court at Final Hearing what is in the best interests of the child. ICLs are also very effective at Interim Hearings as well as mediations, reducing the amount of Court resources.
Why have you chosen to be an ICL?
As a family law practitioner, being an ICL is probably the most rewarding role in family law. You feel like you can have a real impact on a positive outcome for children in incredibly stressful, high conflict cases and where the children are either being abused or are at risk of being abused.
Can you give an example from your own personal experience of the impact ICLs can have?
I acted for “Claire” as her ICL many years ago. Reading her voice in the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 May 2026 was very emotional for me and a proud moment.
What are the biggest challenges you think currently face ICLs in Australia?
Insufficient funding has always been an issue. ICLs are typically appointed in the worst cases which usually means there are 1000s if not 10,000s of documents to read and be a top of in our duty to the Court. We do not get paid adequately to be across this huge amount of content, some of which can cause secondary trauma.
Sometimes we are not funded at all for Final Hearings that are one day – we are not allowed to have Counsel. This is putting the child’s case at risk. I’ve kept a record of all my hours for my ICL work. A typical case to completion is 50-90 hours. It stings when the parties file their final cost notices and the private practitioners in the same proceedings are earning in excess of $200,000. I’d be earning $10,000-$15,000 at best for the same amount of work.
Last Updated on 09/06/2026