Profile & Services
experience with resultsPenny Feil, Principal of Accord Mediation, brings decades of mediation experience to the negotiation table.
Penny was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia in 1982. She has over thirty years experience as a mediator and actively assists parties in conflict to find solutions in a range of legal disputes.
From this experience, Penny understands the need to guide parties through the mediation process in a neutral, confidential and independent manner, to ensure that parties to a mediation can move forward in a positive direction having reached a practical and durable solution to their issues.
Penny’s mediation experience in family law includes parenting and property settlement matters, child support and spousal maintenance claims. In mediations involving child support matters, Penny brings her experience as a former Child Support Agency Senior Case Officer from 1997 to 2011. Penny was a member of the Legal Aid Queensland Panel of Mediators from 1991 to 2022..
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Penny has been a registered Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner with the Attorney General’s Department since 2009. She is able to issue Section 60 I Certificates in respect of family dispute resolutions. She is an Accredited Mediator under the NMAS (National Mediator Accredited System) and an Advanced Mediator with Resolution Institute.
Penny was a sessional legal member of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) since its inception in December 2009 until November 2022. Prior to that appointment, she was appointed in 2002 as a member of the Guardianship and Administration Tribunal. In 2003 Penny was appointed as a member of the Children Services Tribunal. As a QCAT member, Penny used her dispute resolution skills in conducting compulsory conferences in a range of commercial disputes.
Penny was a legal member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal from 2005 to 2017. She brings a high level of experience and understanding of mental health issues and the impact of mental health on parties to the mediation process.
In the criminal law jurisdiction, Penny has successfully conducted Restorative Justice Mediations between victims and offenders, leading to the settlement of compensation claims and prosecutions by the Queensland Police Service.
Penny is a member of the following organisations:
- Queensland Law Society
- Family Law Practitioners Association
- Australian Institute of Family Law Arbitrators & Mediators
- Resolution Institute
- Women Lawyers Association of Queensland
- Sunshine Coast Law Association
- Downs and South West Law Association
- Former member, Queensland Law Society Alternate Dispute Resolution Sub Committee
- Australian Association of Women Judges
- Penny has experience over many years as a former mediation coach with Bond University,
QUT, Resolution Institute and the College of Law. She was engaged as a supervisor of Family Dispute Resolution Practitioners with the Toowoomba Family Relationship Centre in 2010 and 2011.
Penny has presented papers at the following conferences:
- 2001 Presenter – Downs & South West Law Association Mediation Training Seminar
- 2004 Queensland Law Society Seminar on Capacity
- 2005 Queensland Law Society Family Law Residential “Mediation – A Perspective from the Coal Face”
- 2007 Queensland Law Society Family Law Residential Panel Member – “The role of mediation, arbitration, collaborative law and family dispute resolution practitioners in every day practice”
- 2008 Darling Downs Family Law Workshop – Family Law Practitioners Association of Queensland Panel Member – “Building effective working relationships with ADR Providers”
- 2008 Queensland Law Society ADR Section Conference “Building a Mediation Practice”
- 2009 Mental Health Review Tribunal – Members Professional Development “The intersection of the Guardianship and Administration Act and the Mental Health Act.”
- 2010 Toowoomba Family Pathways Network – Professional Conversation
- 2010 Family Law Practitioners Association – Dispute Resolution in Family Law Seminar “Section 60 I Family Law Act Certificates”
- 2010 Enduring Powers of Attorney and QCAT – Presentation to the Department of Communities, Toowoomba
- 2013 “A review of Alternative Dispute Resolution processes used in QCAT Matters”
- 2013 “Ethics and Obligations of Mediators – Family Law Focus” University of Southern Queensland – Legal Conflict Resolution Unit
- 2013 Queensland Law Society Proctor Article “A review of Alternative Dispute Resolution processes used in QCAT matters”
- 2019 Sunshine Coast Law Association – Child Support Reviews
- 2020 “Preparation for Mediation” Presentation to Sunshine Coast Early Career Lawyers
- 2020 “Enduring Power of Attorney & Powers of Attorney Act” Presentation to Sunshine Coast Law Association.
In 2005, Penny was nominated as Regional Woman Lawyer of the Year with the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland. She was a short listed finalist for this award in 2007 and 2013.