Katherine Johnson is an internationally and nationally accredited mediator, serving on various mediation panels including the International Mediation Institute (IMI), Papua New Guinea Supreme Court (PNG), and the Supreme Court of NSW. She has been a barrister at the NSW Bar since 1993 and a counselling, organisational, and community psychologist in private practice from 1984 to 2017. Since 2000, she has trained and assessed mediators across multiple jurisdictions.

Katherine served as a mediator for the Workers Compensation Commission of NSW (WCC) from its inception in 2001 until 2021 and continues to serve as a nationally accredited Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner (FDRP) on the Attorney General’s Panel. She has also served on the Family Law Settlement Services Panel (FLSS) of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and works as a Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) for the Legal Department of Communities and Justice.

She is the founder of PAVE the Way to PEACE (PAVE), an interest group of educators meeting in NSW Parliament House since 1996, and co-founder of the DR Interest group of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and the Industry Forum of Dispute Resolution (now the Council for Alternate Dispute Resolvers, CADR). Katherine has held multiple leadership roles, including President and Vice President of the Australian Dispute Resolution Association (ADRA) and Vice President of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law (ANZAPPL).

Katherine’s extensive practice across psychology, law, and education has shaped her interdisciplinary approach, using mediation as a social constructionist tool that empowers parties to respond constructively to crises and access social justice. Her research led to a PhD in Law from Macquarie University in 2015. She has been described as a ‘prac-ademic’ for translating academic insights into practice and using practical experience to generate grounded research.

She holds multiple national and international accreditations, including:

• Nationally Accredited Mediator: Supreme and District Court, Land and Environment Court of NSW; Workers Compensation Commission; APRA; Resolution Institute (Grade 3 Arbitrator, advanced mediator).

• Internationally Accredited Mediator: IMI, Papua New Guinea Supreme Court, Mongolia Judicial Council.

• Fellow of ADRA (since 2018) and Resolution Institute (since 2017).

• Fellow of the World Mediation Organisation.

Education:

• 2015: PhD in Law (Dispute Resolution), Macquarie University

• 1994: LLM, University of Technology Sydney (UTS)

• 1993: Admitted as Barrister under Legal Profession Act 1987

• 1992: B Leg S, Macquarie University

• 1990: Admitted as Psychologist (NSW, Ps 0000126)

• 1980: MA (School Counselling), Macquarie University

• 1975: BA (Psychology & Education), Macquarie University

• 1972: Diploma in Teaching, Kuringai Campus, UTS

• 1969: HSC, Fort Street Girls’ High

Katherine’s practice demonstrates a rare combination of legal expertise, psychological insight, and academic research, enabling her to lead innovative approaches in mediation, arbitration, and dispute resolution globally.