Bhutan and a swearing in

Ambassador of Bhutan

His Excellency Mr Sonam Tobgay, Ambassador of Bhutan visited the Governor on his first official visit to WA.

On the arrival of the Ambassador, Mr Sonam Togbay, he presented the Governor with a white scarf – representing the purity of the giver’s heart and to wish the Governor good health and prosperity.

The Governor was delighted to learn that Western Australia is home to the biggest population of Bhutanese outside the relatively small country – predominantly university students – up to 8,000 –  studying and living in Perth.

The Ambassador and the Governor also discussed the importance of happiness as a measure of life in Bhutan. The country has a Gross National Happiness Commission – designed to blend the economic development, preservation of culture and tradition, environment and good governance of Bhutan for the betterment and ultimately, happiness, of the people.

Bhutan and Western Australia also share a special place in the recent Lonely Planet top travel picks for 2023.

Swearing in

The Governor today swore in Ms Rebecca Nicole Hall as a Magistrate to preside in the Family Court of Western Australia.

Ms Hall was admitted to practice in April 2008, serving as a solicitor with three separate law firms from mid-2008 until 2011. These years exposed Ms Hall to all areas of family law, especially in relation to complex financial matters such as property settlement, spousal maintenance, child support payments and the like.

Increasingly, her experience exposed her to criminal matters as well as involvement in training, mentoring and even recruiting solicitors to work in the family law field.

In August 2014, Ms Hall commenced as a Senior Associate with Paterson & Dowding, where she practiced until mid-2016.  This period saw Ms Hall complete Independent Children’s Lawyer training, develop experience interviewing children as well as in child protection and violence restraining matters. Ms Hall also made regular appearances in both the Family and Children’s courts of Western Australia.

In June 2016, Ms Hall became a Principle and co-owner of the Calverley Johnston Family Lawyers practice, where she remained until 2019.  This experience further developed Ms Hall’s talent for managing staff and overseeing administrative functions necessary to managing a law firm.

In 2019 Ms Hall sold her interests in Calverley Johnston Family Lawyers to prioritise practice in Dispute Resolution and as an Independent Children’s Lawyer.  As Associate Principal, she spent the next two years regularly undertaking mediations, providing family law advice and as counsel on family law trials.

In 2022, Ms Hall attained Mediator accreditation and also became a Registrar of the Family Court of Western Australia, where she continued to draw upon her wide-ranging experiences in supervising and mentoring less experienced practitioners, overseeing dispute resolution as well as mediating in parenting, care and protection orders.  As Registrar, Ms Hall has routinely undertaken tasks such as the management of Divorce Lists, Registrar’s Duty Lists, Readiness Hearings, Conciliation Conferences, Pre-Trial Conferences, Contravention Case Assessment Conferences and Assessment of Costs.

Ms Hall remains a member of The Law Society (WA) and Family Lawyers Practitioners Association, as she has been since 2007. In 2016 and 2017 she was elected to Committee Member for this Association.  Ms Hall has also been a Law Council of Australia Member (Family Law Section) since 2010.

Ms Hall took the oath in front of family, friends and colleagues.

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