Marita Ham

Marita has over 30 years experience in the law, and has been a barrister since 2008, and a nationally accredited Mediator since December 2023.

Marita specialises in Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal matters, including counsel assisting, VCAT appeals/reviews and Sentencing Act applications.   She provides training and mentoring to practitioners in these areas.  

Marita also practices in Family Law matters, and has a particular interest in supporting women and children throughout this process.  She is also briefed in intervention orders, summary crime, Children's Court (both family and criminal division),  and undertakes regional work. 

Marita has a strong interest in therapeutic justice, and appears in the specialist courts including the Assessment and Referral Court.   She has completed the Group Conferencing Convenor's course in restorative justice through the Australian Association of Restorative Justice (AARJ), and is an active participant in the Victorian Restorative Justice Practice Group. 

Prior to coming to the Bar, Marita  was National Compliance Manager at Australia Post, specialising in trade practices, privacy, intellectual property and contractual matters.   She trained staff in trade practices law across Australia.    

For 5 years prior, she was a lawyer within the Department of Justice, putting two Acts through Parliament and prosecuting offences in the consumer affairs portfolio. She was for 6 months Victoria's MinFIN Officer and a member of the federal Ministerial Council for Financial Institutions, and a member of the National Working Party for non-financial banking institutions. 

Marita completed her Articles with Maddock Lonie and Chisholm (now Maddox), then worked as a solicitor for 2 years at O'Moore Hertzberg in Byron Bay, New South Wales, in a general practice, focussing on family law and summary crime. 

Since 2019, Marita has been a director of Hagar Australia Ltd, an organisation committed to supporting victims of human trafficking and slavery, and which has projects in Cambodia, Vietnam and Afghanistan.   

In 2017, Marita presented her paper on 'Forced Marriage in Victoria', at the World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights in Dublin, Ireland.  

Recent cases:

MZB v Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (Review and Regulation) [2024] VCAT 288 - successfully overturned a VOCAT decision resulting in VCAT finding that the applicant was raped as opposed to sexually assaulted, and awarding her self defence and counselling both of which were initially refused by VOCAT. 

NFL v Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (Review and Regulation) [2023] VCAT 877 - successfully overturned a VOCAT decision increasing the amount of special financial assistance to a victim of rape and physical abuse in a long term marriage, and obtaining assist recovery items.

ZHC v Victims of Crime Assistance (Review and Regulation) 2022 VCAT 333 (30 March 2022) - successfully overturned a VOCAT decision which struck out a claim under section 52 for failing to report the act of violence to police within a reasonable time. 

PTR v Victims of Crime Assistance (Costs) (Review and Regulation) [2019] VCAT 1644 - (21 October 2019) - successfully opposed VOCAT's application to pay costs on a lesser scale than the County Court Scale, after VOCAT was unsuccessful at VCAT in the substantive case (see below).

PTR v Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal [2019] VCAT 1204 (8 August 2019) - represented a school boy victim of grooming,  successfully overturning VOCAT's decision to refuse him lost earnings and tutoring expenses.

HUM v Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (Review and Regulation) [2019] VCAT 443 (29 March 2019) - successfully overturned  VOCAT's decision to refuse a claim from a woman who experienced sexual offending as a child from a police officer. 

QMX v Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (Review and Regulation) [2018] VCAT 614 (20 April 2018) - represented a mother and her children who, at VOCAT,  were refused security expenses, a holiday and other items to assist recovery, and were not awarded the maxium Special Financial Assistance, successfully overturning  VOCAT's decision.