Advocate Kate Donohue has been appointed to the Jersey Bench.
Advocate Donohue (pictured) will be joining Judges McFadzean, Daultrey and Wright in the Family Division.
Kate has years of varied experience as a family lawyer and more recently as a family and civil proceedings Judge in the UK. Kate qualified as a solicitor in England in 2009 and was granted Law Society Family Accreditation in 2015. She was appointed regional head of the Family Law at Simson Millar.
After being granted Higher Rights of Audience (Civil) in 2016 and then qualifying as an English Barrister in 2017 she became a tenant at 18 St John Street Chambers and was consistently ranked as a Leading Junior Counsel by the prestigious Legal 500.
Kate moved to Jersey in 2020 and started studying toward her Jersey advocate’s exams. She worked at another local family law firm before joining Corbett Le Quesne in 2022. Having passed her local exams with flying colours, achieving the Family Law Award for achieving the highest marks in the Jersey Law Course family paper, she was sworn in as a Jersey Advocate in January 2023.
On 19 April 2023 Kate was appointed to the Public Law Children Panel. Members of this panel represent individuals in public law proceedings when the Court is making decisions regarding the safety and welfare of children and young people who are most at risk.
In 2024 Kate was appointed a Deputy District Judge sitting within the family jurisdiction on the Northern Circuit of England and Wales. She remained working at Corbett Le Quesne and travelled to England to sit as a Judge.
Advocate Barbara Corbett said: “We are immensely proud that Kate has been appointed to the Royal Court of Jersey as a Family Judge. She will be an excellent addition to the team, although she will be missed a great deal by all of us here. Kate is not only an excellent family lawyer but a really wonderful, kind, friendly and funny person.”
Kate said: “I am very much looking forward to taking up my new role as a family Judge. I have been a family lawyer for many years in the UK and in Jersey and I know how important the role is. Decisions impact lives and I take that very seriously. We are incredibly lucky here to have so many really excellent judges across the board and I am so pleased to be joining such a well-respected, diligent and conscientious group of people.
“I will miss my lovely colleagues at Corbett Le Quesne; they have been inordinately supportive, especially Barbara and Nick when I wanted to work as a District Court Judge in the North of England. The selection process to be a Judge in the UK is extremely rigorous and the training was demanding and thorough.
“Presiding over family and civil cases in the UK, with the time pressures, volume of work and different situations you see in a different jurisdiction has given me a range of useful experience which I am pleased to bring to my role here in Jersey.”
