Dr Cate Banks is a trauma-informed lawyer, mediator and sociolegal researcher who worked in both the community and in universities for over 30 years. 

Cate's strength in trauma-informed work laid the groundwork for her expertise in health justice partnerships and interdisciplinary collaborations with social work, medical, nursing, linguistic and interpreting services. Her work aims to interrogate the law and access to justice in innovative, therapeutic and preventative ways. Her work provides clients with client focused, wrap-around services with other professional disciplines. 

Cate is a committed teacher, role model, and mentor. She believes that we learn by doing, and her role as a senior supervising lawyer in the first health justice partnership she set up at Monash Law Clinics is testament to that work. In that legal clinic, Cate teaches students to apply trauma-informed skills to assist clients that live on the precipice of disadvantage.  

Cate took a significant break from full-time employment during 2000 - 2018 juggling her roles and being mother to her family.  

Cate's research interests are at the intersections of social, health and law particularly

• substituted decisionmaking 
• family and gender violence
• Family law and social policy
• Child protection
• Non-adversarial justice (particularly restorative processes)
• Access to justice
• Dispute resolution
• trauma informed practice
• ethics and professional responsibility

Cate is a member of: 

• Faculty Research Committee
• Wellbeing Committee