Rebecca Gilsenan

She has over 25 years’ experience in the area and is recognised by the market for her expertise. Best Lawyers lists Rebecca as one of the top class actions lawyers in Australia, and across several years has recognised her as Class Actions Lawyer of the year in Sydney. She is also recognised in Doyle’s Guide as a leading dispute resolution and commercial litigation lawyer.

Rebecca is an experienced director and currently holds a number of governance roles. She is on the board of Maurice Blackburn and is on the Advisory Committee for the Australian Human Rights Institute. Until recently, she was the chair of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. Rebecca frequently writes and presents on issues in class actions.

Rebecca’s major cases have included the NSW Junior Doctor’s Underpayment class action, the Montara Oil Spill class action, the Brisbane Floods mass tort class action, the Amcor & Visy price fixing class action, securities actions against CBA, Leighton and CIMIC and the landmark High Court decision D’Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc in which human gene patents were declared invalid.

Rebecca also acts for Greenpeace Australia Pacific Limited.

Memberships & accreditations

• Best Lawyers | Class Actions | 2026
• Director and Deputy Chair, Maurice Blackburn Pty Ltd
• Graduate, Australian Institute of Company Directors, Company Directors Course
• Federal Court of Australia Class Actions Users’ Committee
• Supreme Court of NSW Class Actions Committee
• Public Interest Advocacy Centre: Director 2012 – 2023; Chair 2018 – 2023

Awards

• Leading Lawyer 2024, Dispute Resolution and Class Actions, The Legal 500 - Asia Pacific
• Doyle’s Guide 2023 Recommended Lawyer for Litigation and Dispute Resolution, NSW
• Doyle’s Guide 2023, Leading Class Actions Lawyer, Australia
• Doyles Guide 2024, Recommended Leading Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution Lawyers, NSW
• Best Lawyers 2023, Class Actions Lawyer of the Year, Sydney
• Listed by the AFR Best Lawyers since 2016 as one of the best class action lawyers in Australia; and Class Actions Lawyer of the Year Sydney across several years
• Listed by Doyle’s Guide since 2017 as a leading or recommended Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Lawyer